题目内容

We all remember seeing hitchhikers, standing by the side of the road, thumb, sticking out, waiting for a lift. But it is getting rare nowadays. What killed hitchhiking? Safety is often mentioned as a reason. Movies about murderous hitchhikers and real-life crime have put many drivers off picking up hitchhikers. That no single women picked me up on my journey to Manchester no doubt reflects the safety fear: a large, strangely dressed man is seen as dangerous.

But the reason may be more complex: hitchhiking happens where people don’t have cars and transport services are poor. Plenty of people still hitchhike in Poland and Romania. Perhaps the rising level of car ownership in the UK means the few people lift hitchhiking are usually considered strange. Why can’t they afford cars? Why can’t they take the coach or the train?

Three-quarters of the UK population have access to a car; many of the remainder will be quite old. The potential hitchhiking population is therefore small. Yet my trip proves it’s still possible to hitchhike. The people who picked me up were very interesting-lawyer, retired surgeon, tank commander, carpenter, man who live in an isolated farmhouse and a couple living up in the mountains. My conclusion is that only really interesting people are mad enough to pick up fat blokes in red, spotted scarves. Most just wanted to do someone a good turn; a few said they were so surprised to see a hitchhiker that they couldn’t help stopping.

The future of hitchhiking most likely lies with car-sharing organized over the Internet, via sites such as hitchhikers.org. But for now, you can still stick your thumb out (actually, I didn’t do much of that, preferring just to hold up my destination sign) and people-wonderful, caring, sharing, unafraid people-will stop.

In the UK, with its cheap coaches and reasonable rail service, I don’t think I’ll make a habit of it. But having enjoyed it so much, I’m ready now to do a big trip across Europe and beyond. In the 1970s a female friend of my wife’s hitchhiked to India. How wonderful it would be to have another go, though Afghanistan might be a challenge. I wish I’d got that tank commander’s mobile number.

1.The author tried to hitchhike but was rejected by single women drivers because          .

A．they were not heading towards Manchester

B．they thought most hitchhikers were dangerous

C．hitchhiking had been handed and they didn’t want to break the law

D．he was a strong man in strange clothes who seemed dangerous

2.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Movies have discouraged people from hitchhiking

B．Car ownership levels are lower in Romania than in the UK.

C．25% of UK people don’t have access to cars.

D．Increased car ownership has reduced the need for hitchhiking.

3.The “fat blokes in red, spotted scarves” in Paragraph 3 most likely means    .

A．murderous hitchhikers

B．friendly and talkative hitchhikers

C．typical hitchhikers

D．strange hitchhikers like the author

4.According to the author, future hitchhikers are more likely to                .

A．visit websites and find people to share cars with

B．stand by roads with their thumbs sticking out

C．stick out signs with their destinations written on

D．wait for some kind people to pick them up

5.From the last paragraph, we know that the author         .

A．frequently hitchhikes in Britain

B．plans to hitchhike across Europe

C．thinks public transport is safer for travel

D．is going to contact the tank commander

 

【答案】

1.D

2.A

3.D

4.A

5.B

【解析】文章讨论的是为什么搭便车这种现象越来越少？并给出了令人信服的原因。

1.D 推理题。根据文章第一段最后一行a large, strangely dressed man is seen as dangerous可知他很高大穿着很奇怪的衣服人让他看起来很危险，这让单身的女司机不敢让他搭便车，故D正确。

2.A 推理题。根据第二段第一句But the reason may be more complex可知作者认为搭便车这种现象越来越来的原因很复杂，不仅仅是第一段中提到的电影的问题。故A正确。

3.D 推理题。文章第二段中提及他自己来路边搭便车，结果没有人愿意带他。原因也许是因为他的长相和衣着。第三段中My conclusion is that only really interesting people are mad enough to pick up fat blokes in red, spotted scarves. pick up停车接的也许就是我这样穿着和长相的人，故D正确。

4.A 细节题。根据文章倒数第二段1,2行The future of hitchhiking most likely lies with car-sharing organized over the Internet, via sites such as hitchhikers.org.可知在未来，人们可能在通过网络来寻找搭车的人。故A正确。

5.B 细节题。根据文章最后一段2,3行I’m ready now to do a big trip across Europe and beyond.可知他打算靠搭车环游欧洲。故B正确。

 

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HOW would you like to step into the world of other people’s dreams? That’s just what Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) does. His work is to steal secrets from people when they are asleep and dreaming. He has an even rarer ability: He can plant an idea in someone’s sleeping mind, and watch it grow and take root in reality. This ability is called inception.
The movie Inception (《盗梦空间》) was on show in Chinese cinemas not long ago. It is imaginative, of course. The movie leads one to wonder just how much we know about dreams. For years, scientists and researchers have been trying to solve sleep’s greatest mystery.
Is it possible to enter someone’s dreaming mind? In the movie, DiCaprio uses a drug and a dream machine to put a scenario (某一特定情节) into someone’s sleeping mind. He then goes to sleep himself, connected to the machine, and enters the other person’s dream.
In real life, there is a machine that can read someone’s mind. A brain scanner takes pictures of brain activity, and then the software recreates images of what the person was looking at.
Researchers say it may be possible one day to record someone’s dream – without the danger (or the fun) of actually sharing that dream.
What’s a dream, anyway? A dream is a group of images and sounds our brain creates when we’re sleeping. In the 1950s, researchers discovered a sleeping condition that happened around every 90 to 120 minutes during sleep: rapid eye movement, or REM. During this period you’re fast asleep, yet your eyes move around quickly under your eyelids (眼皮) and your brain is nearly as active as during the day. That’s when most dreams happen.
What do dreams mean? Dreams are not always filled with meaning. Sometimes dreams are just your mind playing with thoughts and images from your life, or things you may have read or seen on TV. But at other times, dreams show things that you want to achieve in real life, or things that cause you trouble or stress.
【小题1】The movie Inception is mentioned at the beginning of the article to ______.

A．encourage readers to watch the movie
B．tell readers about people with special dreaming abilities
C．inform readers about the science of dreams
D．warn reader about the threat of dream stealers
【小题2】According to the article, how does a brain scanner work?
A．It records dreams.
B．It uses a special drug that causes no pain.
C．It finds out what dreams mean.
D．It takes pictures of brain activity and recreates images.
【小题3】 According to the article, which of the following statements about REM sleep is TRUE?
A．Most dreams occur in REM sleep.
B．Over the last ten years scientists have solved the mystery of REM sleep.
C．People always remember what they have dreamed in a REM sleep.
D．People can have REM sleep all night.
【小题4】 The article claims that ______.
A．dreams tell us a lot about a person’s character
B．dreams are connected to real life
C．dreams are useful and help keep our brains active
D．dreams are usually about meaningful things

If you dream in color, you’re not alone: the majority of people today claim to have colorful dreams. But it wasn’t always thus. Research conducted in the early part of the last century consistently found that people reported dreaming most often in black and white.
According to Eva Murzyn at the University of Dundee, there are at least two possible explanations for this strange situation.
The first is the methods used in the researches. The early studies tended to use questionnaires（问卷）, while more modern studies use dream diaries (filled in upon rising in the morning) or so-called “REM-awakening”, which involves interrupting people’s dream-filled periods of sleep to find out what they were dreaming about. People’s memories of their dreams are likely to be less accurate by using the questionnaire approach and they are more likely to reflect their beliefs about the form dreams generally take in an unclear way.
The second explanation has to do with black and white television and film. It's possible that the sudden increase in black and white film and television during the first half of the last century either affected the form of people’s dreams at that time, or affected their beliefs about the form dreams generally take.
According to Murzyn’s findings, it’s the explanation based on media exposure that carries more weight. She used both questionnaire and diary methods to study the dreams of 30 older (average age 64) and 30 younger people (average age 21).
The methodological technique made no difference to the type of dreams people reported. However, the extremely important thing was that, across both questionnaires and diaries, the older participants (who had had significant early life exposure to black and white media) reported experiencing significantly more black and white dreams over the last ten days than the younger participants (22 per cent vs. 4 per cent).
Another finding was that older participants reported black and white dreams and colorful dreams to be of equal clearness. By contrast, the younger participants reported that the quality of black and white dreams was poorer. This raises the possibility that the younger participants didn’t really have any black and white dreams at all, but were simply regarding poorly remembered dreams as black and white.
【小题1】We learn from the text that ______.

A．people in the first half of the last century never had colorful dreams
B．older people are more likely to have black and white dreams
C．the dreams of younger people are always colorful
D．people today don’t have white and black dreams any more
【小题2】What did Murxyn do to find out the explanations for the colors in people’s dreams?
A．She applied both questionnaire and diary methods to study people’s dreams.
B．She used diary methods to record people’s dreams.
C．She chose 60 people to answer her questions about their dreams.
D．She woke people up to record the colors of their dreams.
【小题3】What does the underlined expression “carry more weight” in paragraph 5 mean?
A．be heavierB．be more powerfulC．be more importantD．be more useful
【小题4】From Murxyn’s findings we can infer that ______.
A．both older people and younger people could report colorful dreams clearly
B．young people don’t have any black and white dreams in fact
C．the color of a person’s dream is decided by one’s age
D．it is probably the color of media that affects the color of one’s dream

If you dream in color, you’re not alone: the majority of people today claim to have colorful dreams. But it wasn’t always thus. Research conducted in the early part of the last century consistently found that people reported dreaming most often in black and white.

According to Eva Murzyn at the University of Dundee, there are at least two possible explanations for this strange situation.

The first is the methods used in the researches. The early studies tended to use questionnaires（问卷）, while more modern studies use dream diaries (filled in upon rising in the morning) or so-called “REM-awakening”, which involves interrupting people’s dream-filled periods of sleep to find out what they were dreaming about. People’s memories of their dreams are likely to be less accurate by using the questionnaire approach and they are more likely to reflect their beliefs about the form dreams generally take in an unclear way.

The second explanation has to do with black and white television and film. It's possible that the sudden increase in black and white film and television during the first half of the last century either affected the form of people’s dreams at that time, or affected their beliefs about the form dreams generally take.

According to Murzyn’s findings, it’s the explanation based on media exposure that carries more weight. She used both questionnaire and diary methods to study the dreams of 30 older (average age 64) and 30 younger people (average age 21).

The methodological technique made no difference to the type of dreams people reported. However, the extremely important thing was that, across both questionnaires and diaries, the older participants (who had had significant early life exposure to black and white media) reported experiencing significantly more black and white dreams over the last ten days than the younger participants (22 per cent vs. 4 per cent).

Another finding was that older participants reported black and white dreams and colorful dreams to be of equal clearness. By contrast, the younger participants reported that the quality of black and white dreams was poorer. This raises the possibility that the younger participants didn’t really have any black and white dreams at all, but were simply regarding poorly remembered dreams as black and white.

1.We learn from the text that ______.

       A. people in the first half of the last century never had colorful dreams

       B. older people are more likely to have black and white dreams

       C. the dreams of younger people are always colorful

       D. people today don’t have white and black dreams any more

2.What did Murxyn do to find out the explanations for the colors in people’s dreams?

       A. She applied both questionnaire and diary methods to study people’s dreams.

       B. She used diary methods to record people’s dreams.

       C. She chose 60 people to answer her questions about their dreams.

       D. She woke people up to record the colors of their dreams.

3.What does the underlined expression “carry more weight” in paragraph 5 mean?

       A. be heavier  B. be more powerful      C. be more important     D. be more useful

4.From Murxyn’s findings we can infer that ______.

       A. both older people and younger people could report colorful dreams clearly

       B. young people don’t have any black and white dreams in fact

       C. the color of a person’s dream is decided by one’s age

       D. it is probably the color of media that affects the color of one’s dream

 

Few of us make money by losing sleep．But three graduate students at Brown University in Providence built a company around sleep deprivation （睡眠不足）．

         Jason Donahue, Ben Rubin and Eric Shashoua were working late nights in Brown's business and engineering schools．They began thinking about ways to sleep better．They discovered they weren't alone in burning the midnight oil．Around 20% of Americans get less than six hours of rest a night．

         The friends imagined a smart alarm clock that could track how much time people spend in the most restorative （有回复作用的） stages of the sleep cycle: REM （rapid eye movement） and deep sleep．What would it cost to design such a thing? Five years of research, 20 employees, $14 million and a whole lot of doubting from investors and scientists．

         Their company, Zeo, based in Newton, Mass, launched its product in June, 2009．The Zeo device uses a headband with tiny sensors （传感器） that scan your brain for signs of four sleep states- REM, light, deep and waking sleep．The smart alarm clock displays a graph of your sleep pattern and wakes you as you're not in REM sleep （which is when you're least groggy）．In the morning you can upload the data to the company's Web site, and so track your sleep over time．Most of the feedback comes in the form of Zeo's ZQ score showing how well you've slept．

         "Zeo allows people to unlock this black box of sleep," says Dave Dickinson, a health-care CEO．

         Whether any of this actually improves sleep is up to the consumer, who will also need to make lifestyle changes like cutting out alcohol before bedtime or caffeine after 3 pm．

         For now the company is selling Zeo online only．Dickinson also plans to spread it to countries such as Australia, where sleep deprivation approaches US levels．

1.Who will support Zeo?

         A．People full of imagination．              B．People suffering sleeping problems．

         C．People having access to the Internet． D．People having bad lifestyles．

2.Why did the three graduate students imagine a smart alarm clock?

         A．To wake them up on time in the morning．

         B．To earn enough money for their study．

         C．To improve the quality of people's sleep．

         D．To enjoy their life while working at night．

3.To design the Zeo device, the three graduate students ____．

         A．spent much time and money           B．were widely supported by scientists

         C．worked by themselves all the time        D．attracted many investors

4.What can we know from the passage?

         A．Zeo has a direct effect on users' lifestyles．

         B．It needs more personal efforts to make Zeo function better．

         C．A large quantity of Zeo devices have been sold in Australia．

         D．Consumers can go to the Zeo company to purchase Zeo in person．

 

HOW would you like to step into the world of other people’s dreams? That’s just what Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) does. His work is to steal secrets from people when they are asleep and dreaming. He has an even rarer ability: He can plant an idea in someone’s sleeping mind, and watch it grow and take root in reality. This ability is called inception.

The movie Inception (《盗梦空间》) was on show in Chinese cinemas not long ago. It is imaginative, of course. The movie leads one to wonder just how much we know about dreams. For years, scientists and researchers have been trying to solve sleep’s greatest mystery.

Is it possible to enter someone’s dreaming mind? In the movie, DiCaprio uses a drug and a dream machine to put a scenario (某一特定情节) into someone’s sleeping mind. He then goes to sleep himself, connected to the machine, and enters the other person’s dream.

In real life, there is a machine that can read someone’s mind. A brain scanner takes pictures of brain activity, and then the software recreates images of what the person was looking at.

Researchers say it may be possible one day to record someone’s dream – without the danger (or the fun) of actually sharing that dream.

What’s a dream, anyway? A dream is a group of images and sounds our brain creates when we’re sleeping. In the 1950s, researchers discovered a sleeping condition that happened around every 90 to 120 minutes during sleep: rapid eye movement, or REM. During this period you’re fast asleep, yet your eyes move around quickly under your eyelids (眼皮) and your brain is nearly as active as during the day. That’s when most dreams happen.

What do dreams mean? Dreams are not always filled with meaning. Sometimes dreams are just your mind playing with thoughts and images from your life, or things you may have read or seen on TV. But at other times, dreams show things that you want to achieve in real life, or things that cause you trouble or stress.

1.The movie Inception is mentioned at the beginning of the article to ______.

       A. encourage readers to watch the movie

       B. tell readers about people with special dreaming abilities

       C. inform readers about the science of dreams

       D. warn reader about the threat of dream stealers

2.According to the article, how does a brain scanner work?

       A. It records dreams.

       B. It uses a special drug that causes no pain.

       C. It finds out what dreams mean.

       D. It takes pictures of brain activity and recreates images.

3. According to the article, which of the following statements about REM sleep is TRUE?

       A. Most dreams occur in REM sleep.

       B. Over the last ten years scientists have solved the mystery of REM sleep.

       C. People always remember what they have dreamed in a REM sleep.

       D. People can have REM sleep all night.

4. The article claims that ______.

       A. dreams tell us a lot about a person’s character

       B. dreams are connected to real life

       C. dreams are useful and help keep our brains active

       D. dreams are usually about meaningful things

 

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