Nowadays the U.S. students are sleepy in school because they spend too much time texting, playing video games, watching TV and using the media in other ways.

“Heavy media use interferes with sleep by reducing sleep duration, making it harder to fall asleep, and lowering sleep quality,” Meilan Zhang, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, wrote in her research review in the journal, Sleep Medicine.

But the relationship between youth’s media use and sleep is not so simple, said Michael Gradisar, who authored both that review and the Sleep Medicine meta-analysis. “Technology use is the new evidence when we are trying to answer ‘Why are school-age children sleeping less?’” said Mr. Gradisar, an associate professor of psychology at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.

There may be safe limits to technology use, Mr. Gradisar stated. For instance, recent research results indicate that using a bright screen for an hour before bed or even playing violent video games for less than that will not necessarily interfere with teenagers’ sleep, he wrote.

But longer periods of usage can be harmful to sleep, Mr. Gradisar added. Rather than delaying school start times, he said, the first step should be educating parents about limiting the hours that their children are using technology before bed, and enforcing a consistent bedtime.

Early school start times are also commonly blamed for students’ sleepiness, especially for adolescents. Secondary schools around the nation and the world have been delaying start times, often with positive results.

Mr. Minnich of the TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center hesitated to put blame to any particular factor. But he did think that cost-saving measures to consolidate(合并)bus routes might help explain U.S. students’ sleepiness.

“For those children who board the bus first, they must get up earlier, may end up sleeping on the way to school, and may end up arriving at school sleepy.” he said.

1.Which of the following may be the best title for the text?

A. Kids benefit a lot from technology.

B. Several sleep troubles appear at school.

C. Some tips can help kids sleep well.

D. Several factors affect kids’ sleep.

2.Which of the following may be the good way to help kids sleep better?

A. Parents should be well educated.

B. Technology is forbidden at home.

C. Their playing time must be limited.

D. They are allowed to go to school early.

3.Who are most likely to be interested in the text?

A. The teachers. B. The parents.

C. The officials. D. The researchers.

Face-book chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and Anna Maria Chavez, chief of American Girl Scouts, are leading a campaign to discourage the use of the word “bossy”. Does the term destroy the confidence of young girls?

The campaign claims that terms like “bossy” are improperly applied to females, preventing schoolgirls from seeing themselves as future “leaders”. From its first application, the word has been definitely connected more with women than with men. It first appeared in 1882,according to the Oxford English Dictionary, mentioning “a lady manager who was extremely bossy”. As late as 2008, the word appeared in reference to females four times more often than males, claim the Ban Bossy campaigners. “To me, the reference is always in association with women,” says Helen Trim, director of Fresh Minds. “I have three brothers and my family still call me ‘bossy’ today. ” Her father is the only other family member who could be considered in that way, says Trim,but nobody would ever call him so.

Some educators recommend that the word should be reclaimed, rather than banned. “But the thing with ‘bossy,is that there’s an infantile (幼稚的)element to it,” says Sara Mills, professor at Sheffield University. “You think of 'bossy' as being like a little kid who's claiming more than he has the right to claim. ”

It's not just “bossy” under fire. “Pushy” is another Face-book chief operating officer Sheryl Sandbergtarget. The implication is that women shouldn’t present themselves as powerful and confident, Mills suggests, which some women are willing to listen to and accept. Trim points out that many modern female business role models are able to be bosses without being labeled ‘bossy'. And she rarely, if ever,hears the word used within her company. But she says that the damage may be done much earlier in a woman’s life. “It does come about from those early teenage years. ” she says. “I think it’s impossible to ban a word, but if people are replacing it with words like 'confidence' or ‘assertiveness’,we would all be in a much better place. ”

1.More evidence is provided to show "bossy" is more applied to females by _ .

A. the Oxford English Dictionary

B. the Ban Bossy campaigners

C. Helen Trim at Fresh Minds

D. some experts in education

2. Trim's family still consider her bossy because .

A. she is expected to lead in her family

B. she is the boss of her company

C. she is a powerful and confident female

D. her father considers her that way

3.The underlined part "under fire most probably means .

A. definitely replaced

B. strongly criticized

C. improperly applied

D. eagerly expected

4.How does the author sound when referring to the campaign against "bossy"?

A. Objective. B. Angry.

C. Doubtful D. Optimistic.

I was desperately nervous about becoming car-free. But eight months ago our car was hit by a passing vehicle and it was destroyed. No problem, I thought: we’ll buy another. But the insurance payout didn’t even begin to cover the costs of buying a new car—I worked out that, with the loan (贷款) we’d need plus petrol, insurance, parking permits and tax, we would make a payment as much as £600 a month.

And that’s when I had my fancy idea. Why not just give up having a car at all? I live in London. We have a railway station behind our house, a tube station 10 minutes’ walk away, and a bus stop at the end of the street. A new car club had just opened in our area, and one of its shiny little red Peugeots was parked nearby. If any family in Britain could live without a car, I reasoned, then surely we were that family.

But my new car-free idea, sadly, wasn’t shared by my family. My teenage daughters were horrified. What would their friends think about our family being “too poor to afford a car”? (I wasn’t that bothered what they thought, and I suggested the girls should take the same approach.)

My friends, too, were astonished at our plan. What would happen if someone got seriously ill overnight and needed to go to hospital? (an ambulance) How would the children get to and from their many events? (buses and trains) People smiled as though this was another of my mad ideas, before saying they were sure I’d soon realize that a car was a necessity.

Eight months on, I wonder whether we’ll ever own a car again. The idea that you “have to” own a car, especially if you live in a city, is all in the mind. I live—and many other citizens do too—in a place that has never been better served by public transport, and yet car ownership has never been higher. We worry about rising car costs, but we’d be better off asking something much more basic: do I really need a car? Certainly the answer is no, and I’m a lot richer because I dared to ask the question.

1.The author decided to live a car-free life partly because ______.

A. most families chose to go car-free

B. he was hurt in a terrible car accident

C. the cost of a new car was too much

D. the traffic jam was unbearable for him

2.What is the attitude of the author’s family toward his plan?

A. Supportive. B. Disapproving.

C.Optimistic. D. Unconcerned.

3.What did the author suggest his daughters do about their friends’ opinion?

A.Argue against it. B. Take their advice.

C. Think it over. D. Leave it alone.

4.What conclusion did the author draw after the eight-month car-free life?

A. Life cannot go without a car.

B. Life without a car is a little bit hard.

C. His life gets improved without a car.

D. A car-free life does not suit everyone.

In her outstanding book, “Choose the Happiness Habit”, Pam Golden wrote, “Take the story of two twin brothers for example. One grew up and became an alcoholic (酒鬼), while the other became a successful businessman. When asked why he became an alcoholic, the alcoholic replied, “Because my father was a drunk.” However, the successful businessman’s answer was also “Because my father was a drunk.” when asked why he succeeded. The same background. The same upbringing (培养). However, the results were quite different. Why? The reason is that they had different choices. The brothers chose different thoughts which formed the situations they found themselves in at last, so they had different experiences.

There was a time in my life when I thought difficulty was due to “bad luck”. Have you ever heard the saying “When it rains, it pours”? That was my answer when others asked me how things were going on when I was in trouble. So what do you think I got? “RAIN”. More and more “RAIN”. I couldn’t understand why bad luck was always with me.

Pam Golden says, “You’re either living in the problem or you’re living in the solution.” Now, when I’m faced with what I used to think was a negative (消极的) situation, I use a different way to think about it. I force myself to replace those negative thoughts that make me lose heart in my mind with positive thoughts which encourage me to fight against the difficulty bravely. Sometimes I write down some ideas that may be a solution, which I combine with the lessons I have learned from the bad situations and the difficulties that troubled me in the past, and often, I find a solution to the problem soon. It seems that I should thank the difficulty I met with. The RAIN that poured in my world has become great experiences that provide me with valuable experience, from which I can benefit.

Now, it doesn’t “rain” as much in my life as it used to. In fact, most days are beautiful, cloudless and sunny! Sometimes I do get a rain, but I think it makes me stronger just like the rain helps plants grow up.

1.The example of the twin brothers shows that ________.

A. making good choices is the most important

B. education decides a person’s future

C. upbringing makes a big difference

D. it is luck that leads to success

2.What does “RAIN” mentioned in the second paragraph refer to?

A. Water. B. Good luck. C. Success. D. Difficulty.

3.What is talked about in the third paragraph?

A. How the author collects useful experience.

B. How the author deals with difficulty now.

C. How the author gets help from others.

D. How the author lives in the problem.

4.Now, the author’s attitude towards “RAIN” is ________.

A. negative B. unclear C. positive D. unknown

We all know what a brain is. A doctor will tell you that the brain is the organ of the body in the head. It controls our body's functions, movements, emotions and thoughts. But a brain can mean so much more.

A brain can also simply be a smart person, If a person is called brainy, she is smart and intelligent. If a family has many children but one of them is super smart, you could say, "She's the brains in the family." And if you are the brains behind something you are responsible for developing or organizing something. For example, Bill Gates is the brains behind Microsoft.

Brain trust is a group of experts who give advice. Word experts say the phrase "brain trust" became popular when Franklin D. Roosevelt first ran for president in 1932, Several professors gave him advice on social and political issues facing the US. These professors were called his "brain trust."

These ways we use the word "brain" all make sense. But other ways we use the word are not so easy to understand. For example, to understand the next brain expression, you first need to know the word “drain." As a verb to drain means to remove something by letting it flow away. So a brain drain may sound like a disease where the brain flows out the ears. But, brain drain is when a country's most educated people leave their countries to live in another. The brains are, sort of, draining out of the country.

However, if people are responsible for a great idea, you could say they brainstormed it. Here, brainstorm is not an act of weather. It is a process of thinking creatively about a complex topic. For example, business leaders may use brainstorming to create new products, and government leaders may brainstorm to solve problems.

If people are brainwashed, it does not mean their brains are nice and clean. To brainwash means to make someone accept new beliefs by using repeated pressure in a forceful or tricky way. Keep in mind that brainwash is never used in a positive way.

1.According to the text, if you're the CEO of Bai Du you can be called

A. the organ of Bai Du

B. Bai Du's brain trust

C. the brain drain of Bai Du

D. the brains behind Bai Du

2.Why did Roosevelt successfully win the election?

A. Because he was smart at giving advice.

B. Because word experts were popular.

C. Because he got his brain trust.

D. Because he was the brains behind America.

3.Which of the following expression is always used in a negative way?

A. Brain trust B. Brain drain

C. Brainwash D. Brainstorm

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