American society is not nap (午睡)-friendly. In fact, says David Dinges, a sleep specialist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, “There’s even a prohibition against admitting we need sleep”. Nobody wants to be caught napping or found asleep at work. To quote a proverb: “Some sleep five hours, nature requires seven, laziness nine and wickedness eleven.”
Wrong. The way not to fall asleep at work is to take naps when you need them. “We have to totally change our attitude toward napping,” says Dr. William Dement of Stanford University, the godfather of sleep research.
Last year a national commission led by Dement identified an “American sleep debt” which one member said was as important as the national debt. The commission was concerned about the dangers of sleepiness: people causing industrial accidents or falling asleep while driving. This may be why we have a new sleep policy in the White House. According to recent reports, President Clinton is trying to take a ha1f-hour snooze (瞌睡) every afternoon.
About 60 percent of American adults nap when given the opportunity. We seem to have “a mid afternoon quiet phase,” also called “a secondary sleep gate.” Sleeping 15 minutes to two hours in the early afternoon can reduce stress and make us refreshed. Clearly, we were born to nap.
We Superstars of Snooze don't nap to replace lost shut-eye or to prepare for a night shift.Rather, we “snack” on sleep, whenever, wherever and at whatever time we feel like it. I myself have napped in buses, cars, planes and on boats; on floors and beds; and in libraries, offices and museums.
【小题1】It is commonly accepted in American society that too much sleep is        .

. ——I wonder where Peter is. He said he’d be here for lunch.

——Don’t worry! He _____ be caught in the rush hour.

A. will         B. should       C. can        D. may

Have you ever heard the story of the four-minute mile? Many years ago, people believed that it was impossible for a human being to run a mile in less than four minutes until Roger Banister proved it wrong in1954.
What happens if you put an animal in a pond? Any animal, big or small, will swim its way through. What happens when someone, who does not know how to swim, falls in deep waters? They drown. If an animal who has not learned swimming could escape by swimming, why not you? Because you believe you will drown while the animal does not.
Have you ever wondered why the letters are organized in a particular order on hour keyboard? You might have thought it is to increase the typing speed. Most people never question it. But the fact is that this system was developed to reduce the typing speed at a time when typewriter parts would jam if the operator typed too fast.
These three cases show the power of our beliefs. There is no other more powerful directing force in human behavior than belief. Your beliefs have the power to create and to destroy. A belief delivers a direct command to your nervous system.
I used a snake in my workshops for children to show them how unrealistic some of their beliefs are. Students of a school in India, said snakes were slippery, slimy (黏糊糊的) and poisonous. After doing an exercise for changing beliefs, they handled my snake and found it to be dry and clean. They also remembered that only three types of poisonous snakes exist in India.
Did this story end the way you thought? Review your beliefs now and find out which ones you need to change.
36. In the author’s opinion, if a person in deep water doesn’t know how to swim he will drown because _________.
A. he is afraid of water               B. he doesn’t want to live in the world
C. he hasn’t learned to swim before     D. he believes he will drown
37. The author thinks that the letters are organized in a particular order on your keyboard in order to _________.
A. reduce one’s typing speed          B. satisfy the operator
C. save more space                  D. increase one’s typing speed
38. The author’s experiment shows that __________.
A. snakes in India aren’t poisonous       B. snakes can be caught easily
C. snakes are slimy and poisonous       D. snakes are dry and clean
39. According to the passage, we know that ________.
A. students from India have unrealistic beliefs on how to live a better life
B. an animal who has not learned to swim will drown if you put it in a pond.
C. Roger Banister was the first person who ran a mile in less than four minutes.
D. most people don’t like the order the letters are arranged on your keyboard
40. The main idea of this passage should be that _______.
A. beliefs make us seem stupid           B. beliefs are very powerful
C. changing your beliefs now if necessary  D. people should always believe in themselves

Looking out of the window, my son saw a tree whose branches were strongly swaying back and forth. “How does the tree move its branches like that?” He asked.

Without rising from my chair, nor looking up from my book, I started to answer, “The tree is not moving the branches, son. The wind is…” But before the words were out, I caught myself. Instead I rose from my chair and moved to the window to join my son. I looked at the tree. From inside our room, from behind the window, I could neither feel nor hear the wind. I saw instead a tree with its branches silently moving and thought to myself, from inside this room, how could I possibly be sure that the branches were moving because of the wind rather than from the tree’s own willing?

        As I stood there with my son watching the tree, I became struck by the movement of the branches, the shimmer of the leaves. My mind quieted and I became less sure myself of what was causing the branches to move. Was it the wind, or was it some expressive, independent movement of the tree? “I see what you mean,” I said to my son. “The movement of the tree is very beautiful.”

         “Do you think the tree is dancing?” asked my son. “Why would it be dancing?” I asked. “Maybe it is happy because the sun is shining,” he said. “Perhaps,” I said. “Or because it’s spring,” he added, “and it’s not cold any more.” “Perhaps,” I said.

         As we continued to watch the tree together, I, too, began to appreciate the dance of the tree. I enjoyed the movement and sway of the branches, seeing little nuances(微妙之处) that I hadn’t noticed before. There seemed to be a rhythm to the movement, first strong and forceful, then light and gentle, then more vigorous, sometimes nearly violent.

         “Are trees alive?” my son asked. “Yes, they are alive. Why do you ask?” “Because this tree looks happy,” he answered. “Can a tree be happy or sad?” “What do you mean?” I asked.

         “In the winter, trees seem sad,” he said. “Their branches hang down, and they look cold and lonely. But now with the leaves on the tree and the sun shining and the birds flying, it looks happy.”

1.What is the meaning of the underlined word “caught” in Para 2?

A. stopped                  B. grasped                   C. seized                      D. held

2.What on earth caused the tree to move?

A. The tree itself felt happy and was dancing.

B. The tree was too sad to sway as if to get rid of all trouble.

C. It was the warm spring.

D. The wind did so.  

3. What do you think of the boy?

A. Naughty.                 B. Imaginative.    C. Clever.                 D. Foolish.

I cheated on a unit test in math class this morning during second period with Mr. Burke. Afterward, I was too sick to eat lunch just thinking about it.

I came straight home from school, went to my room, and lay on the floor trying to decide whether it would be better to run away from home now or after supper. Mostly I wished I was dead. It wasn't even an accident that I cheated.

Yesterday Mr. Burke announced there'd be a unit test and anyone who didn't pass would have to come to school on Saturday, most particularly me, since I didn't pass the last unit test. I did plan to study just to prove to him that I'm plenty smart—which I am mostly—except in math.

Anyway, I got my desk ready to study on . Just when I was ready to work, Nicho came into my room with our new rabbit and it jumped on my desk and knocked the flashcards all over the floor. What a mess! Nicho and I finally took the rabbit outside but then Philip came to my room and also Marty from next door and before long it was dinner.

After dinner my father said I could watch a special on television if I'd done all my homework. Of course I said I had. That was the beginning. I felt terrible telling my father a lie about the homework.

It was nine o'clock when I got up to my room and that was too late to study for the unit test so I lay in my bed with the light off and decided what I would do the next day when I was in Mr. Burke's math class not knowing the 8- and 9-times tables. So, you see, the cheating was planned after all.

The next day, I'd go into class as usual, acting like things were going just great. I'd sit down next to Stanley Plummer—he is so smart in math it makes you sick—and from time to time, I'd glance over at his paper to copy the answers.

Lying on the floor of my room, I begin to think that probably I've been bad all along. It just took this math test to clinch it. I'll probably never tell the truth again. I tell my mother I'm sick when she calls me to come down for dinner. She doesn't believe me, but puts me to bed anyhow. I lie there in the early winter darkness wondering what terrible thing I'll be doing next when my father comes in and sits down on my bed.

"What's the matter?" he asks. "I've got a stomachache," I say. Luckily, it's too dark to see his face. "Is that all?" "Yeah." "Mommy says you've been in your room since school." "I was sick there too," I say. "She thinks something happened today and you're upset." That's the thing that really drives me crazy about my mother. She knows things sitting inside my head the same as if I was turned inside out.

"Well," my father says. I can tell he doesn't believe me. "My stomach is feeling sort of upset." I hedge. "Okay," he says and he pats my leg and gets up.

Just as he shuts the door to my room I call out to him in a voice I don't even recognize as my own. "How come?" he calls back not surprised or anything. So I tell him I cheated on this math test. To tell the truth, I'm pretty much surprised at myself. I didn't plan to tell him anything.

He doesn't say anything at first and that just about kills me. I'd be fine if he'd spank me or something. And then he says I'll have to call Mr. Burke. It's not what I had in mind. "Now?" I ask surprised. "Now," he says. He turns on the light and pulls off my covers. "I'm not going to," I say.

But I do it. I call Mr. Burke, and I tell him exactly what happened, even that I decided to cheat the night before the test. He says I'll come on Saturday to take another test, which is okay with me, and I thank him a whole lot for being understanding and all.

"Today I thought I was turning into a criminal," I tell my father when he turns out my light. Sometimes my father kisses me good night and sometimes he doesn't. I never know. But tonight he does.

1.After the author cheated on the math test, he felt ____________.

A．frightened because he might be caught

B．excited that he had succeeded

C．pleased that nobody knew it

D．unhappy because he had done something wrong

2.By “It wasn't even an accident that I cheated”, the author means that ________.

A．he had planned not to study before the test

B．he decided to cheat when he knew there was going to be a test

C．he decided to cheat after he had wasted the whole evening

D．he had planned to cheat with Plummer before the test

3.The author’ mother often drives him crazy because _____-.

A．She really knows what he is thinking

B．she was very strict with him

C．she doesn’t believe him

D．she asks him to come down for dinner

4.After he was informed of what he had done, the father _______.

A．scolded the author severely

B．didn’t say anything and left

C．called Mr. Burke immediately

D．let the author make a call to Mr. Burke

5.The author’s father kissed the author good night because ________-.

A．he had done something unusual

B．he promised to study math harder

C．he was willing to take a make-up test

D．he realized his mistake and had the courage to admit it