Advice to "sleep on it" could be well founded, scientists say. After a good night's sleep a problem that couldn't be solved the night before can often appear more manageable. Researchers at the University of Luebek in Germany have designed an experiment that shows a good night's sleep can improve insight（顿悟）and problem-solving ability.
“If you have some newly-got memories in your brain, sleep acts on these memories and restructures them, so that after sleep the insight increases," said Dr Jan Born, a neuroscientist, at the University. To test the discovery, they taught volunteers two simple rules to help them turn a string of numbers into a new order. There was also a third, hidden rule, which could help them increase their speed in solving the problem. The researchers divided the volunteers into two groups: half were allowed to sleep after the training while the rest were forced to stay awake. Dr Jan Born and his team noticed that the group that had slept after the training were twice as likely to figure out the third rule as the other group. "Sleep helped," Born said in a telephone interview .¨The important thing is that you have to have a memory description of the problem you want to solve in your brain and then you sleep, so it can act on the problem."
But Born admitted that he and his team don't know how restructuring of memories occurs or what controls it. Pierre Maquet and Perrine Ruby of the University of Liege in Belgium said the experimental evidence supports the suggestion that sleep can help develop creative thinking. Although the role of sleep in human creativity will still be a mystery, the research gives people good reasons to fully respect their periods of sleep, they added.What is the purpose of the experiment?
| A．To test problem-solving ability in sleep. |
| B．To discover people's insight during sleep. |
| C．To prove a good sleep helps solve problems. |
| D．To discuss how to improve sleeping quality. |
How did Jan Born and his team carry out the experiement ?
| A．Through comparison. | B．Through interview. |
| C．Trough talking | D．Through imagination. |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 2 ?
| A．Sleep can help solve problems. |
| B．People should sleep as long as they want. |
| C．Different people have various periods of sleep. |
| D．Scientists know how sleep restructures memories from now. |
Which of the following is TRUE about the experiments evidence?
| A．It helps scientists control memories. |
| B．It explains the role of sleep in human. |
| C．It shows people's sleeping well helps a lot. |
| D．It shows how to develop creative thinking. |
Goats are being hired to do the work of people near SanDiego. The fires that occurred in Hillborbough four years ago destroyed thirty homes, most of which have been rebuilt. While people were rebuilding the homes, the grasses and bushes were growing back. The area is now so overgrown in bushes that there is again a major danger of fire.
The city council asked for offers to remove the bushes. The lowest bid they received was $50,000-----and that was if the city provided breakfast and lunch for the workers for thr six weeks it would take to clear the overgrown area. The city only wanted to give unlimited coffee and a piece of bread a day for each person. When that offer was rejected, the city asked for help on its website.
A sheepherder（养绵羊的人） in Montanta and a goatherder（养山羊的人） in San Bernardino read about the city’s plight （困境）while surfing the Web on their laptops. They both offered to do the job for $25,000. The council chosed the goatherder because he lived closer. When he was told that the city dump（垃圾场） was overflowing , the gotherder said, “No problem. My goats will eat everything in your dump, except the car engines, of course.” So ,for another $5,000, the city killed two birds with one stone. If all goes well, they will invite the goatherder and his “family” back every three years. The goatherder said that he would probably visit San Diego while his goats were in the dump. “I want to go there by plane, I just hope we don’t crash. My goats will miss me a lot.” He said.Why did the city council want to remove the bush?
| A．Because the fires in hillborbough destroyed 30 homes. |
| B．Because people wanted to build their homes there. |
| C．Because the overgrown bushes could cause fires again. |
| D．Because two sheeherder offered to do the job. |
The goatherder was chosen to do the job because
| A．He offered to do it for the lower price |
| B．It was easier to transport his goat |
| C．Goats can do the job better than the job |
| D．The city wanted to raise more goats |
According to the passage,
A．the sheepherder off ered to do the job for $50.000 |
| B．the lowest bid to remove the bushes was $50,000 |
| C．the sheepherder and the goatherder were both addicted to surfing the Internet. |
| D．hiring goats to do the job saved the government lots of money. |
we can infer from the passage that
| A．the city will remove the bushes in this area regularly |
| B．the goatherder asked for $50,000 to kill the birds with stones. |
| C．the goatherder was invited to San Diego to do some sightseeing. |
| D．the city council was not kind to the people who worked for it. |
Not many people know that U.S. President Calvin Coolidge did not always live in the White House. Sometimes he lived in the nearby Willard Hotel.
Once, in the middle of a night, the President awoke to see a thief searching his clothes. Coolidge calmy spoke up from the darkness, “I wish you wouldn’t take that watch.”
“Why?” asked the shocked man.
Coolidged answered, “Take it near the window and read what is engraved on the back of it.”
The man read, “Presented to Calvin Coolidged, Speaker of the House, by the Massachusetts General Court.” He was very surprised!
“Are you President Coolidge?” he asked. He had never thought he would find the president sleeping in a hotel!
“Yes, I am” Coolidge said. Then he asked, “Why are you doing this,Son?”
The young man explained that he and a friend traveled to Washington during their college vacation. They spent all of their money and had no money to pay the hotel bill and the train tickets back to school.
Coolidge added up those fees. It came to $32. That may not sound like much now, but it was a big sum then. “I’ll give you the $32 as a loan,” the President said, “And I expect you to pay me back.”
The youth thanked him. Coolidge left him with this warning: “Son, you are a nice boy, you are better than you are acting. You are starting down the wrong road. Just remember who you are.”
It wasn’t until after the death
of Mr.Coolidge that this story was allowed to come out. It was first published in the Los Angeles Times. And the most interesting of all is that the President’s notes show that the young man was indeed better than he was acting. He repaid the $32 loan in full..The president stopped the youth from stealing the watch because
| A．It was his favorite watch. |
| B．He wanted to give some money to the youth |
| C．He wanted to help the young man from getting into trouble |
| D．He used it for work and daily life |
It can be inferred from the passage that
| A．the youth’s family was in financial difficulty |
| B．hotel fees were rather expensive at that time |
| C．the youth never connected with the president again |
| D．the youth learned a lesson from his experience with the president |
How did people first get to know the story of the president with the youth?
| A．From the president himself |
| B．From a newspaper |
| C．From the youth’s notes |
| D．From the youth himself |
We can learn from the passage that
| A．possessions can be given up when necessary |
| B．generosity should be encouraged in some cases |
| C．people can benefit from their unforgettable experiences |
| D．an act of kindness may change a person’s life |
The Internet has opened up a whole new on-line world for us to meet, chat (聊天) and go where we’ve never been before.
But just as in face-to-face communication, there are some basic rules of behavior that should be followed when online. The basic rule is simple: treat others in the same way that you would want to be treated. Imagine how you’d feel if you were in the other person’s shoes.
For anything you’re going to send, ask yourself: “Would I say this in front of the person?” If the answer is no, rewrite and reread. Repeat the process till you feel sure that you’d feel comfortable saying the words to the person’s face.
If someone in the chat room is impolite to you, your feeling is to fight back in the same manner. But try not to do so. You should either ignore (忽略) the person, or use your chat software (软件) to stop their messages. If it was caused by a disagreement with another member, try to fix the situation by politely discussing it. Remember to respect the beliefs and opinions of others in the chat room.
Everyone was new to the network once. Offer advice when asked by newcomers, as they may not be sure what to do or how to communicate. When someone makes a mistake whether it’s a stupid question or an unnecessarily long answer, be kind about it. If it’s a small mistake, you may not need to say anything. Even if you feel strongly about it, think twice before saying anything. Having good manners yourself doesn’t give you the right to correct everyone else.
If you do decide to tell someone about a mistake, point it out politely. At the same time, if you find you are wrong, be sure to correct yourself and apologize to those who you have offended (冒犯).
It is not polite to ask others personal questions such as their age, sex, and families. Unless you know the person very well, and you are both comfortable with sharing personal information, don’t ask such questions.. When you send short messages to a person, you must .
| A．make sure that they don’t do harm to others | B．read them again and again |
| C．say something good to hear | D．repeat them later to the person’s face |
If you are hurt in the chat room by others, you should .
| A．fight back in the same way | B．take them seriously |
| C．pay no attention to them | D．be angry at them |
If a newcomer who communicates on line makes any mistakes, you .
| A．should point them out sharply |
| B．shouldn’t give any advice unless required by them |
| C．should say something about them |
| D．should correct them at once |
This passage mainly tells us .
| A．some rules of Internet communication |
| B．ways of sending messages |
| C．rules of the face – to – face communication |
| D．ways of making friends on the Internet |
No one knows yet the accurate number of lives which have been lost in this terrible fire. But reports suggest that it is more than one hundred.
A wall of fire fifty feet high and at least one hundred and fifty miles wide is now racing towards the forests and rich farmlands of southern Victoria. Towns less than one hundred miles from Melbourne will be in danger unless the wind changes. People are rushing excitedly into the streets. The police have warned them not to see the fire but many people are doing so.
The cause of the fire is unknown. No rain has fallen in this part of Australia for three months, and the hot, north-west wind from the great central desert is blowing at more than thirty miles an hour.
The firefighters are traveling to the fire by road, rail and air. But it is not easy to get there. Flames and fallen trees have cut off or blocked roads and railway lines. The thick smoke often prevents them from finding the air strips (飞机跑道).
It is said that the fire has brought the greater danger to the country since the Second World War.By the time the article is written, the fire .
| A．has just broken out | B．has been put out |
| C．is spreading fiercely | D．is coming to an end |
The writer writes this article mainly to tell people .
| A．the fire is terrible and dangerous |
| B．it is very easy to put out the fire |
| C．less than one hundred people die of the fire |
| D．to join in the fight against the fire |
In the 4th paragraph, the writer suggests (暗示) that .
| A．the fire would be controlled by the firefighters very soon |
| B．it will be very difficult to put out the fire |
| C．the government is paying great attention to the fire |
| D．the fire has caused great losses and the airport was in danger |
The underlined word “ accurate ” in the first sentence has the same meaning as .
| A．recent | B．false | C．rough（大约的） | D．exact |
Ed Viesturs grew up in Rockford, Illinois, where the tallest thing on the ground was the water tower. But on Thursday, Viesturs became the only American to climb to the top of the world’s 14 highest mountains.
His last hike was up Mount Annapurna, in Asia’s snowcapped Himalayas. At 26,545 feet, its top is the 10th highest in the world. It is the mountain that inspired him to start climbing.
“It seems to be the most difficult, the most dangerous,” said Viesturs. “There’s no simple way to climb it. There are threatening avalanches (雪崩) and ice falls that protect the mountain.”
In high school, Viesturs read French climber Maurice Herzog’s story of climbing the icy Annapurna. Herzog’s story was of frostbite (冻伤) and difficulty and near-death experiences. Viesturs was hooked right away.
Viesturs got his start on Washington’s Mount Rainier in 1977, guiding hikes in the summer. Fifteen years ago, he set out to walk up to the world’s highest tops. Finally, he’s done.
The pioneering climber talks about mountains as if they were living creatures that should be treated with respect. “You have to use all of your senses, all of your abilities to see if the mountain will let you climb it,” said Viesturs. “If we have the patience and the respect, and if we’re here at the right time, under the right conditions, they allow us to go up, and allow us to come down.”
What’s next for a man who can’t stop climbing? “I’m going to hold my wife and kids and enjoy the summer,” says Viesturs. But for a man who has climbed the world’s 14 tallest mountains, he will probably soon start another adventure. The author used Viestures’ words in Paragraph 6 to support an opinion that .
| A．mountain climbing is a dangerous sport |
| B．mountains should be regarded as living creatures |
| C．mountain climbing needs more skills than physical energy |
| D．those who like mountain climbing won’t stop climbing |
The underlined word “hooked” in Paragraph 4 can be replaced by ________.
| A．frightened | B．discouraged | C．interested | D．upset |
What’s the next probable plan of Viestures?
| A．Stopping climbing and staying with his family. |
| B．Climbing to the top of the world’s 14 tallest mountains again. |
| C．Writing down the experiences about his adventure. |
| D．Climbing another one of the highest mountains. |