People who averaged fewer than seven hours of sleep per night in the weeks before being exposed to the cold virus were nearly three times as likely to get sick as those who averaged eight hours or more, a new study found．
Researchers used frequent telephone interviews to track the sleep habits of more than 150 men and women aged 21 to 55 over the last few weeks．Then they exposed the subjects to the virus, quarantined（检疫隔离）them for five days and kept track of who got sick．
Besides sleeping more, sleeping better also seemed to help the body fight illness: Patients who fared better on a measure known as “sleep efficiency”—the percentage of time in bed that you’re actually sleeping—were also less likely to get sick．
The results held true even after researchers adjusted for elements such as body-mass index, age, sex, smoking and pre-existing antibodies（抗体）to the virus．
The researchers aren’t exactly sure why sleeping better makes you less likely to develop a cold．But they do try to give an answer: “Sleep disturbance influences the regulation of symptom mediators（调节因子）that are released in response to infection．” In plain English, maybe tossing and turning when you’re infected with the cold virus contributes to the symptoms that define a cold．
The researchers were based at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Virginia, and the study was funded by the National Institutes of Health．According to the passage, what does the underlined word “subjects” mean in paragraph 2?
| A．areas of knowledge in a school |
| B．people being studied in an experiment |
| C．research topics |
| D．animals being tested |
It is shown in the passage that _______．
| A．the researchers obtain information about the sleep habits by frequent interviews |
| B．the researchers do their research in the National Institutes of Health |
| C．people hope to avoid being infected with a cold by sleeping as much as possible |
| D．sleeping more and better helps regulate the symptom mediators |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．The Relationship Between Virus and Cold |
| B．How to Sleep Well |
| C．Good Sleep Helps Fight a Cold |
| D．The More the Sleep, the Better Your Body |
Advertisers tend to think big and perhaps this is why they’re always coming in for criticism. Their critics seem to resent them because they have a flair for self-promotion and because they have so much money to throw around. ‘It’s iniquitous,’ they say, ‘that this entirely unproductive industry (if we can call it that) should absorb millions of pounds each year. It only goes to show how much profit the big companies are making. Why don’t they stop advertising and reduce the price of their goods? After all, it’s the consumer who pays…’
The poor old consumer! He’d have to pay a great deal more if advertising didn’t create mass markets for products. It is precisely because of the heavy advertising that consumer goods are so cheap. But we get the wrong idea if we think the only purpose of advertising is to sell goods. Another equally important function is to inform. A great deal of the knowledge we have about household goods derives largely from the advertisements we read. Advertisements introduce us to new products or remind us of the existence of ones we already know about. Supposing you wanted to buy a washing machine, it is more than likely you would obtain details regarding performance, price, etc., from an advertisement.
Lots of people pretend that they never read advertisements, but this claim may be seriously doubted. It is hardly possible not to read advertisements these days. And what fun they often are, too! Just think what a railway station or a newspaper would be like without advertisements. Would you enjoy gazing at a blank wall or reading railway byelaws while waiting for a train? Would you like to read only closely printed columns of news in your daily paper? A cheerful, witty advertisement makes such a difference to a drab wall or a newspaper full of the daily ration of calamities.
We must not forget, either, that advertising makes a positive contribution to our pockets. Newspapers, commercial radio and television companies could not subsist without this source of revenue. The fact that we pay so little for our daily paper, or can enjoy so many broadcast programmes is due entirely to the money spent by advertisers. Just think what a newspaper would cost if we had to pay its full price!
Another thing we mustn’t forget is the ‘small ads.’ which are in virtually every newspaper and magazine. What a tremendously useful service they perform for the community! Just about anything can be accomplished through these columns. For instance, you can find a job, buy or sell a house, announce a birth, marriage or death in what used to be called the ‘hatch, match and dispatch’ column but by far the most fascinating section is the personal or ‘agony’ column. No other item in a newspaper provides such entertaining reading or offers such a deep insight into human nature. It’s the best advertisement for advertising there is!What is main idea of this passage?
| A．Advertisement. |
| B．The benefits of advertisement. |
| C．Advertisers perform a useful service to communities. |
| D．The costs of advertisement. |
The attitude of the author toward advertisers is
| A．appreciative. |
| B．trustworthy. |
| C．critical. |
| D．dissatisfactory. |
Why do the critics criticize advertisers?
| A．Because advertisers often brag. |
| B．Because critics think advertisement is a “waste of money”. |
| C．Because customers are encouraged to buy more than necessary. |
| D．Because customers pay more. |
Which of the following is Not True?
| A．Advertisement makes contribution to our pockets and we may know everything. |
| B．We can buy what we want. |
| C．Good quality products don’t need to be advertised. |
| D．Advertisement makes our life colorful. |
The passage is
| A．Narration. |
| B．Description. |
| C．Criticism. |
| D．Argumentation. |
Vocabulary
come in for ( sth. ) 是某事物的对象，吸引（某事物），获得
flair 天资，天分
iniquitous 极邪恶的，极不公正的
drab 单调的，乏味的
subsist 活下去，生存下去，维持下去
hatch 孵化（指生孩子）
match 匹配，婚姻
dispatch 派遣，发送
agony 极大痛苦，煎熬
agony column （报刊中关于个人疑难问题征询意见的）读者来信专栏
难句译注
Advertisers tend to think big and perhaps this is why they’re always coming in for criticism.
【参考译文】广告商总是雄心勃勃（想得很大），也许这就是为什么他们老挨批评。
Their critics seem to resent them because they have a flair for self-promotion.
【参考译文】他们的批评者似乎对他们很气愤，因为他们在自我抬高/标榜上很有天分。
No other item in a newspaper provides such entertaining reading or offer such deep insight into human nature.
【参考译文】报纸任何其他栏目都难以提供如此有趣的文章，或提供对人性的内涵如此深刻的洞察。
It’s the best advertisement for advertising there is.
【参考译文】这是广告中最佳的广告。
写作方法与文章大意
文章以因果、对比的手法写出有没有广告的后果及广告的真正作用。文章首先指出广告商遭批评的原因：广告商夸大和人们认为广告浪费钱财、商品价格就搞；然后作者以有无广告的后果突出其功能，没有广告，商品价更高，生活单调、乏味。有了广告，商品价低，生活丰富多彩，人们获取各种信息。
Businesses are witnessing a difficult time, which has in turn produced influence on consumers’ desire to go green. However, shoppers are still laying stress on environmental concerns.
Two thirds of customers say that environmental considerations inform their purchases to the same degree as they did a year ago, while more than a quarter say that they are now even better aware of the environmental effect on what they buy.
This may help to influence how shops store goods on their shelves. And the companies should still make efforts to become more environmentally friendly. Two out of three people think it is important to buy from environmentally responsible companies, with about one in seven saying that they had even decided to take their custom elsewhere if they felt a company’s environmental reputation was not good enough.
Harry Morrison, chief executive（主管）of the Carbon Trust, sympathizes：“I understand this situation where survival is very important now. But from environmental considerations, the clock is ticking—we don’t have much time. In addition, cutting carbon has an immediate effect as costs drop and a medium-term benefit for the brand.”
Larger companies have an extra motivation to look at reducing their carbon footprint, as new rules next year will require businesses to buy carbon allowances to make up for their emissions（排放）. Those that have taken early action will have a head start. More than two thirds of consumers are not clear about which companies are environmentally responsible. This suggests that firms that are able to relay clearly their message to the public will be in a pole position to attract shoppers.
The Carbon Trust believes that it can help by informing customers about the good work companies are doing. “When companies are granted（授予）the standard, they can use a logo（标识）in all their marketing which makes it clear that they are working towards cutting emissions,” Mr. Morrison said. What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Businesses are finding ways to send their message to the shoppers. |
| B．Companies will soon get information about cutting carbon emissions. |
| C．Firms are making efforts to encourage customers to keep goods at home. |
| D．Firms are urged to cut carbon emissions by shoppers’ environmental awareness. |
The underlined word “inform” in Paragraph 2 probably means“”.
| A．affect | B．change | C．disturb | D．reject |
According to Harry Morrison, businesses .
| A．will benefit from cutting carbon emissions |
| B．should buy carbon allowances for shoppers |
| C．are required to make up for their carbon emissions |
| D．have encouraged shoppers to take their custom elsewhere |
We can learn from the passage that businesses will.
| A．have a strong desire to reduce costs |
| B．use the same logo in their marketing |
| C．gain advantages by taking early action |
| D．attract more shoppers by storing goods |
When you think of the tremendous technological progress we have made, it’s amazing how little we have developed in other respects. We may speak contemptuously of the poor old Romans because they relished the orgies of slaughter that went on in their arenas. We may despise them because they mistook these goings on for entertainment. We may forgive them condescendingly because they lived 2000 years ago and obviously knew no better. But are our feelings of superiority really justified? Are we any less blood-thirsty? Why do boxing matches, for instance, attract such universal interest? Don’t the spectators who attend them hope they will see some violence? Human beings remains as bloodthirsty as ever they were. The only difference between ourselves and the Romans is that while they were honest enough to admit that they enjoyed watching hungey lions tearing people apart and eating them alive, we find all sorts of sophisticated arguments to defend sports which should have been banned long age; sports which are quite as barbarous as, say, public hangings or bearbaiting.
It really is incredible that in this day and age we should still allow hunting or bull-fighting, that we should be prepared to sit back and watch two men batter each other to pulp in a boxing ring, that we should be relatively unmoved by the sight of one or a number of racing cars crashing and bursting into flames. Let us not deceive ourselves. Any talk of ‘the sporting spirit’ is sheer hypocrisy. People take part in violent sports because of the high rewards they bring. Spectators are willing to pay vast sums of money to see violence. A world heavyweight championship match, for instance, is front page news. Millions of people are disappointed if a big fight is over in two rounds instead of fifteen. They feel disappointment because they have been deprived of the exquisite pleasure of witnessing prolonged torture and violence.
Why should we ban violent sports if people enjoy them so much? You may well ask. The answer is simple: they are uncivilized. For centuries man has been trying to improve himself spiritually and emotionally – admittedly with little success. But at least we no longer tolerate the sight madmen cooped up in cages, or public floggings of any of the countless other barbaric practices which were common in the past. Prisons are no longer the grim forbidding places they used to be. Social welfare systems are in operation in many parts of the world. Big efforts are being made to distribute wealth fairly. These changes have come about not because human beings have suddenly and unaccountably improved, but because positive steps were taken to change the law. The law is the biggest instrument of social change that we have and it may exert great civilizing influence. If we banned dangerous and violent sports, we would be moving one step further to improving mankind. We would recognize that violence is degrading and unworthy of human beings.It can be inferred from the passage that the author’s opinion of nowadays’ human beings is
| A．not very high. | B．high. |
| C．contemptuous. | D．critical. |
The main idea of this passage is
| A．vicious and dangerous sports should be banned by law. |
| B．people are willing to pay vast sums money to see violence. |
| C．to compare two different attitudes towards dangerous sports. |
| D．people are bloodthirsty in sports. |
That the author mentions the old Romans is
| A．To compare the old Romans with today’s people. |
| B．to give an example. |
| C．to show human beings in the past know nothing better. |
| D．to indicate human beings are used to bloodthirsty. |
.How many dangerous sports does the author mention in this passage?
| A．Three. | B．Five. |
| C．Six. | D．Seven. |
The purpose of the author in writing this passage is
| A．that, by banning the violent sports, we human beings can improve our selves. |
| B．that, by banning the dangerous sports, we can improve the law. |
| C．that we must take positive steps to improve social welfare system. |
| D．to show law is the main instrument of social change. |
Vocabulary
relish 从……获得乐处，享受
orgy 狂欢，放纵
arena 竞技场，活动或斗争的场所
blood-thirsty 残忍的，嗜血的
bear-baiting 逗熊游戏
bull-fight 斗牛
batter 猛击，连续地猛打/捶，乱打
pulp 成纸浆，成软块
burst into flames 突然燃烧起来/着火
grim 令人窒息的，简陋的
coop up 把……关起来
难句译注
bear-baiting 逗熊游戏。这是一种十六、十七世纪流行于英国的游戏――驱狗去咬绑着的熊，很残忍，后被禁止。
…two men batter each other to pulp in the boxing ring.
【结构简析】batter one to pulp =" beat" one to a pulp 狠揍某人，打瘫某人
【参考译文】两个人在拳击场内彼此狠揍，知道一个人被打倒在地，爬不起来。
…unmoved by the sight of one or a number of racing cars crashing and bursting into flames.
【参考译文】眼见一辆或多辆赛车相互撞击，突然烧起来而无动于衷。
A world heavy weight championship match is front page news.
【参考译文】世界重量级冠军赛总是头版头条新闻。
写作方法与文章大意
作者采取先对比、后分析的写作手法。先是今人和古罗马人对暴虐体育上对此两者都欣赏。后者坦率成人“欣赏暴力体育”，前者施以各种接口、实际都是嗜血成性者。第二段进一步剖析今人欣赏暴虐体育的种种实例，最后指出改善“暴虐”的根本嗜为改善法律采取积极的步骤，法律才能施以巨大的文明影响，否则人类很难改变。
Disposing(处理)of waste has been a problem since humans started producing it.As more and more people choose to live close together in cities,the waste-disposal problem becomes Increasingly difficult.
During the eighteenth century,it was usual for several neighboring towns to get together to select a faraway spot as a dump site.Residents or trash haulers(垃圾拖运者)would transport household rubbish,rotted wood,and old possessions to the site.Periodically(定期的)some of the trash was burned and the rest was buried.The unpleasant sights and smells caused no problem because nobody lived close by.
Factories,mills,and other industrial sites also had waste to be disposed of.Those located on rivers often just dumped the unwanted remains into the water.Others built huge burners with chimneys to deal with the problem.
Several facts make these choices unacceptable to modern society.The first problem is space Dumps,which are now called landfills,are most needed in heavily populated areas.Such areas rarely have empty land suitable for this purpose.Property is either too expensive or too close to residential(住宅区的) neighborhoods.Long-distance trash hauling has been a common practice but once farm areas are refusing to accept rubbish from elsewhere,cheap land within trucking distance of major city areas is almost nonexistent.
Awareness(意识) of pollution dangers has resulted in more strict rules of waste disposal. Pollution of rivers,ground water,land and air is a price people can no longer pay to get rid of waste. The amount of waste,however,continues to grow.
Recycling efforts have become commonplace,and many towns require their people to take part.Even he most efficient recycling programs,however,can hope to deal with only about 50 Percent of a city’s reusable waste.The most suitable title for this passage would be _______.
| A．Places for Disposing Waste | B．Waste Pollution Dangers |
| C．Ways of Getting Rid of Waste | D．Waste Disposal Problem |
During the 18th century,people disposed their waste in many ways EXCEPT for _______.
| A．burying it | B．recycling it |
| C．burning it | D．throwing it into rivers |
What can be inferred from the fourth paragraph?
| A．Farm areas accept waste from the city in modern society. |
| B．There is cheap land to bury waste in modern society. |
| C．It is difficult to find space to bury waste in modern society. |
| D．Ways to deal with waste in modern society stay the same. |
The main purpose of writing this article is to _______.
| A．draw people’s attention to waste management |
| B．warn people of the pollution dangers we are facing |
| C．call on people to take part in recycling programs |
| D．tell people a better way to get rid of the waste |
It is reported that conservation groups in North America have been arguing about the benefits and dangers of wolves. Some groups believe wolves should be killed. Other people believe wolves must be protected so that they will not disappear from the wilderness (荒野)
For Killing Wolves
In Alaska，the wolf almost disappeared a few years ago，because hunters were killing hundreds of them for sport. However．1aws were established to protect the wolves from sportsmen and people who catch the animals for their fur．So the wolf population has greatly increased. Now there are so many wolves that they are destroying their own food supply．
A wolf naturally eats animals in the deer family. People in the wilderness also hunt deer for food．Many of the animals have been destroyed by the very cold winters recently and by changes in the wilderness plant life．When the deer can’t find enough food，they die．
If the wolves continue to kill large numbers of deer，their prey(猎物)will disappear some day．And the wolves will．too．So we must change the cycle of life in the wilderness to balance the ecology．If we killed more wolves，we would save them and their prey from dying out．We’d also save some farm animals．
In another northern state，wolves attack cows and chickens for food．Farmers want the government to send biologists to study the problem．They believe it necessary to kill wolves in some areas and to protect them in places where there is a small wolf population．
Against Killing Wolves
If you had lived long ago，you would have heard many different stories about the dangerous wolf．According to most stories，hungry wolves often kill people for food．Even today，the stories of the “big bad wolf'＂will not disappear．
But the fact is wolves are afraid of people．and they seldom travel in areas where there is a human smell．When wolves eat other animals，they usually kill the very young．or the sick and injured .The strongest survive .No kind of animal would have survived through the centuries if the weak members had lived．And has always been a law of nature.
Although some people say it is good sense to kill wolves，we say it is nonsense! Researchers have found wolves and their prey living in balance．The wolves keep the deer population from becoming too large, and that keeps a balance in the wilderness plant life．
The real problem is that the areas where wolves can live are being used by people．Even if wilderness land is not used directly for human needs．the wolves can’t always find enough food .So they travel to the nearest source, which is often a farm．Then there is danger．The “big bad wolf” has arrived! And everyone knows what happens next． According to the passage，some people in North America favor killing wolves for all the following reasons EXCET that ．
| A．there are too many wolves |
| B．they kill large numbers deer |
| C．they attack cows and chickens for food |
| D．they destroy the wilderness plant life |
Some people are against killing wolves because．
| A．wolves help to keep the ecological balance in the wideness |
| B．there is too small a wolf population in the wilderness |
| C．there are too many deer in the wilderness |
| D．wolves are afraid of people and never attack people |
According to those against killing wolves，when wolves eat other animals，．
| A．they never eat strong and healthy ones |
| B．they always go against the law of nature |
| C．they might help this kind of animals survive in nature |
| D．they disturb the ecological balance in the wilderness |
The last sentence “And everyone knows what happens next” implies that in such cases .
| A．farm animals will be in danger and have to be shipped away |
| B．wolves will kill people and people will in turn kill them |
| C．wolves will find enough food sources on farms |
| D．people will leave the areas where wolves can live |