I moved to the small, busy town of Edison in New Jersey six years ago. It was during the second term of my fifth grade. My parents got new jobs and higher income, so they decided it was time to move from Woodbridge to a better, more educational town.
In the US, it is unnecessary to take a test to get into a “good” middle or high school. You just attend the school close to where you live. So, many parents will think about the quality of the local school when they decide to buy a new house. My parents did the same. We finally chose Edison mainly because of the high quality of its school.
In New Jersey, an area with a good school usually means a concentration of Asian people. There are about 300 students in our school. 55% are Asians and just under half of that are Chinese. There are so many Chinese people nearby that we even have our own Chinese school.
Edison is an old town, just like thousands of others in the United States. However, I have treated it as my hometown. That’s where I spend much of my youth, and the memories there can’t be moved anywhere else.
【小题1】Why did the writer’s parents move to Edison?

A.Because they were born there.B.Because it was a better educational town.
C.Because the writer began his fifth grade.D.Because the writer didn’t need to take a test.
【小题2】How many students are from Asia in the writer’s school?
A.About 80.B.About 160.C.About 220.D.About 300.
【小题3】What does the underlined expression “a concentration of” mean in Paragraph 3?
A.None of.B.The whole ofC.A large number of D.A small number of
【小题4】Why can’t the writer forget Edison?
A.Because he regards it as his hometown.B.Because his parents got new jobs there.
C.Because there are many Asians there.D.Because it is in the state of New Jersey.

Some of the world’s most famous persons had suffered from a similar disability, such as Albert Einstein, the mathematician; Thomas Edison, the inventor; Auguste Rodin, the artist. What disabled these three famous men? Strange as it may seem, they all suffered from learning disabilities. They had great difficulty learning to read, write or use numbers. Almost always, there is a problem with one of the mental processes needed to understand or use written signs or spoken language. Yet he or she is unable to recognize difference in sizes, shapes or sounds that are easy for others to recognize. Learning disabilities are very common. They affect perhaps 10 percent of all children. Four times as many boys as girls have learning disabilities.

Since about 1970, new research has helped brain scientists understand these problems better. Scientists now know there are many different kinds of learning disabilities and that they are caused by many different things. There is no longer any question that all learning disabilities result from differences in the way the brain is organized.

You can not look at a child and tell if he or she has a learning disability. There is no outward (外部的) signs of disorder (混乱). So some researchers began looking at the brain itself to learn what might be wrong. In one study, researchers examined the brain of a learning-disabled person who had died in an accident. They found two unusual things. One involved cells in the left side of the brain, which control language. These cells normally are white. In the learning-disabled person’s brain, however, these cells were gray . The researchers also found that many of the nerve cells were not in a line the way they should have been. The nerve cells were mixed together.

60. How can we learn whether a person has suffered from a learning disability or not?

A. By judging whether she or he sees or hears perfectly well.

B. By checking whether he or she is of normal or great intelligence.

C. By judging whether he or she is the world’s most famous person or not.

D. By judging whether he or she has any difficulty in recognizing the difference in sizes, shapes or sounds.

61. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Among the children suffering from learning disabilities, girls are fewer than boys.

B. It is reported that many more girls have learning disabilities than boys.

C. All the world’s most famous persons have the chance to get the similar disorder. 

D. All the world’s most famous persons have suffered from learning disabilities.

62. Why did researchers examine the brain of a learning-disabled person who had died in an accident?

A. To try to look at the brain itself to find out the cause of learning disabilities.

B. To see if the person had any outward signs of disorder.

C. To check if the person is of normal or great intelligence.

D. To find out if the person suffered from a learning disability.

63. If someone has a learning disability, _______.

A. his or her nerve cells are in a line

B. he or she is able to recognize difference in sizes, shapes or sounds

C. he or she has no difficulty in learning to read, write or use numbers

D. his or her nerve cells in the left side of the brain are gray and are not in a line

 

Have you winterized your horse yet? Even though global warming may have made our climate more mild, many animals are still hibernating(冬眠).It’s too bad that humans can’t hibernate.In fact, as a species, we almost did.

Apparently, at times in the past, peasants in France liked a semi-state of human hibernation.So writes Graham Robb, a British scholar who has studied the sleeping habits of the French peasants.As soon as the weather turned cold people all over France shut themselves away and practiced the forgotten art of doing nothing at all for months on end.

In line with this, Jeff Warren, a producer at CBC Radio’s The Current, tells us that the way we sleep has changed fundamentally since the invention of artificial(人造的) lighting and the electric bulb.

When historians began studying texts of the Middle Ages, they noticed something referred to as “first sleep”, which was not clarified, though.Now scientists are telling us our ancestors most likely slept in separate periods.The business of eight hours’ uninterrupted sleep is a modern invention.

In the past, without the artificial light of the city to bathe in, humans went to sleep when it became dark and then woke themselves around midnight.The late night period was known as ”The Watch” It was when people actually kept watch against wild animals, although many of them simply moved around or visited family and neighbours .

According to some sleep researchers, a short period of insomnia(失眠) at midnight is not a disorder .It is normal.Humans can experience another state of consciousness around their sleeping, which occurs in the brief period before we fall asleep or wake ourselves in the morning.This period can be an extraordinarily creative time for some people.The impressive inventor, Thomas Edison, used this state to hit upon many of his new ideas.

Playing with your sleep rhythms can be adventurous, as anxiety may set in.Medical science doesn’t help much in this case.It offers us medicines for a full night’s continuous sleep, which sounds natural; however, according to Warren’s theory, it is really the opposite of what we need.

1.The example of the French peasants shows the fact that________.

 A.people might become lazy as a result of too much sleep

 B.there were signs of hibernation in human sleeping habits

C.people tended to sleep more peacefully in cold weather

D.winter was a season for people to sleep for months on end

2.The late night was called “The Watch” because it was a time for people_______.

 A.to set traps to catch animals        B.to wake up their family and neighbours

 C.to remind others of the time       D.to guard against possible dangers

3.What does the author advise people to do?

 A.Sleep in the way animals do.    B.Consult a doctor if they can’t sleep.

 C.Follow their natural sleep rhythm.D.Keep to the eight-hour sleep pattern.

4.What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?

A.To give a prescription for insomnia.   

B.To urge people to sleep less.

C.To analyze the sleep pattern of modern people.  

D.To throw new light on human sleep.

 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网