根据短文内容,从短文后的七个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Every animal sleeps, but the reason for this has remained foggy. When lab rats are not allowed to sleep, they die within a month. 1

One idea is that sleep helps us strengthen new memories. 2 We know that, while awake, fresh memories are recorded by reinforcing (加强) connections between brain cells, but the memory processes that take place while we sleep have been unclear.

Support is growing for a theory that sleep evolved so that connections between neurons(神经元) in the brain can be weakened overnight, making room for fresh memories to form the next day. 3

Now we have the most direct evidence yet that he is right. 4 The synapses in the mice taken at the end of a period of sleep were 18 per cent smaller than those taken before sleep, showing that the connections between neurons weaken while sleeping.

If Tononi’s theory is right, it would explain why, when we miss a night`s, we find it harder the next day to concentrate and learn new information — our brains may have smaller room for new experiences.

Their research also suggests how we may build lasting memories over time even though the synapses become thinner. The team discovered that some synapses seem to be protected and stayed the same size. 5 “You keep what matters,” Tononi says.

A. We should also try to sleep well the night before.

B. It’s as if the brain is preserving its most important memories.

C. Similarly, when people go for a few days without sleeping, they get sick.

D. The processes take place to stop our brains becoming loaded with memories.

E. That’s why students do better in tests if they get a chance to sleep after learning.

F. “Sleep is the price we pay for learning,” says Giulio Tononi, who developed the idea.

G. Tononi’s team measured the size of these connections, or synapses, in the brains of 12 mice.

C

A new commodity brings about a highly profitable, fast-growing industry,urging antitrust(反垄断)regulators to step in to check those who control its flow. A century ago, the resource in question was oil. Now similar concerns ares being raised by the giants(巨头)that deal in data, the oil of the digital age. The most valuable firms are Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft. All look unstoppable.

Such situations have led to calls for the tech giants to be broken up. But size alone is not a crime. The giants’ success has benefited consumers. Few want to live without search engines or a quick delivery. Far from charging consumers high prices, many of these services are free (users pay, in effect, by handing over yet more data). And the appearance of new-born giants suggests that newcomers can make waves, too.

But there is cause for concern. The internet has made data abundant, all-present and far more valuable, changing the nature of data and competition. Google initially used the data collected from users to target advertising better. But recently it has discovered that data can be turned into new services: translation and visual recognition, to be sold to other companies. Internet companies’ control of data gives them enormous power. So they have a “God’s eye view” of activities in their own markets and beyond.

This nature of data makes the antitrust measures of the past less useful. Breaking up firms like Google into five small ones would not stop remaking themselves: in time, one of them would become great again. A rethink is required—and as a new approach starts to become apparent, two ideas stand out.

The first is that antitrust authorities need to move form the industrial age into the 21st century. When considering a merger(兼并), for example, they have traditionally used size to determine when to step in. They now need to take into account the extent of firms'data assets(资产) when assessing the impact of deals. The purchase price could also be a signal that an established company is buying a new-born threat. When this takes place, especially when a new-born company has no revenue to speak of, the regulators should raise red flags.

The second principle is to loosen the control that providers of on-line services have over data and give more to those who supply them. Companies could be forced to consumers what information they hold and how many money they make form it. Govemments could order the sharing of certain kinds of data, with users' consent.

Restarting antitrust for the information age will not be easy But if govemments don't wants a data oconomy by a few giants, they must act soon.

1.Why is there a call to break up giants?

A. They have controlled the data market

B. They collect enormous private data

C. They no longer provide free services

D. They dismissed some new-born giants

2.What does the technological innovation in Paragraph 3 indicate?

A. Data giants’ technology is very expensive

B. Google’s idea is popular among data firms

C. Data can strengthen giants’ controlling position

D. Data can be turned into new services or products

3.By paying attention to firms’ data assets, antitrust regulators could .

A. kill a new threat B. avoid the size trap

C. favour bigger firms D. charge higher prices

4.What is the purpose of loosening the giants’ control of data?

A. Big companies could relieve data security pressure.

B. Governments could relieve their financial pressure.

C. Consumers could better protect their privacy.

D. Small companies could get more opportunities.

We’d arrived at Rockefeller Center station on the D train. As in many of New York’s underground stations, trains pull in at both sides of the platform. Or rather, they seem to erupt into the station first on one side, then on the other.

Abruptly, my wife stopped.

“Uh, what’s this?” she said.

I looked over her shoulder. There at our feet lay a young woman of about 20. She was on her stomach with the top half of her body on the platform, while her legs hung over the tracks kicking powerlessly.

She was stuck. She had also, clearly, been down on the tracks and discovered that climbing back up is really hard.

But unlike in our imaginings, this woman was not in panic, expecting her approaching death by the F train which would be screaming into the station in the next few minutes, if not seconds.

She was laughing! So was her friend who half-heartedly leant down to assist. The assistance was somewhat weakened by the fact that the friend was holding her smartphone. Was she hoping to capture this moment with a picture? Or composing a text?

It’s well known that people’s compulsive checking of their phones can be deadly. Among young people in America, texting is now the number one cause of car crashes. Maybe it’s also a leading cause of leaving friends to die when they fall in the river or on to the train tracks.

I stepped forward, leant out as far as I could, got hold of her leg somewhere near the knee and, together with her finally-engaged friend, dragged the young woman on to the platform.

And you can guess why she'd been on the tracks. Still laughing, but maybe chastened (内疚)by my look of horror she said, “Thanks. Sorry. My phone fell down there. ”

While I turned to hold my daughter’s hand and head upstairs, the young woman and her friend walked away. I wonder when she'll be scared.

1.What was the young woman doing on the edge of the platform?

A. Trying to get down on to the train tracks to pick up her phone.

B. Trying to get back on to the platform after jumping down.

C. Desperately waiting for someone to help her get back her phone.

D. Posing for her friend to capture a good picture with her smartphone.

2.Which of the following did the author think was NOT a cause of the young woman’s dangerous situation?

A. The station was too crowded.

B. She did not realize the danger.

C. She cared too much about her phone.

D. Her company didn't assist her whole-heartedly.

3.What was the author’s worry about people like this young woman?

A. They would cause damage to the underground system.

B. They knew too little about how to help others as well as themselves.

C. It would be too late when they understood how dangerous the situation is.

D. They would send misleading information to the public with their smartphones.

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