Scientists have proved that sleeping and learning go hand in hand. Even a short nap can boost our memory and sharpen our thinking. But the relationship goes deeper than that.

“The brain is not passive while you sleep,” scientist Anat Arzi said. “It’s quite active. You can do many things while you are asleep.”

Arzi and her coworkers didn’t try to teach the sleeping volunteers any complex information, like new words or facts. Instead, the scientists taught volunteers to make new connections between smells and sounds.

When we smell something good, like a flower, we take deep breaths. When we smell something bad, we take short breaths. Arzi and her co-workers based their experiment on these reactions.

Once the volunteers fell asleep in the lab, the scientists went to work. They gave them a whiff of something pleasant and meanwhile played a particular musical note. They didn’t wake up, but they heard—and sniffed(吸气) deeply. Then the scientists gave the volunteers a whiff of something terrible and played a different musical note. Again, the volunteers heard and smelled—a short snort this

time—but didn’t wake up. The researchers repeated the experiment.

After just four repetitions, volunteers made a connection between the musical notes and their paired smells. When the scientists played the musical tone that went with good smells, the sleepers breathed deeply. And when the scientists played the musical tone that went with bad smells, the sleepers breathed briefly—despite there being no bad smell.

The next day, the volunteers woke up with the sound-smell connection. They breathed deeply when hearing one tone and cut their breaths short when hearing the other, which must have been unusual for them. Imagine walking down the street and taking a deep breath upon hearing a particular sound!

1.In the study, the volunteers were taught _______. 

A．to become active during sleep

B．to tell the difference between smell

C．to learn new words and scientific facts

D．to make sound-smell connections

2. How did the volunteers react when smelling something nice and hearing musical notes?

A．They took a deep breath.                 B．They had a wonderful dream.

C．They woke up at once.                   D．They took a short breath.

3. When the volunteers woke up the next day, they_______.

A．learned how to play to musical tones

B．forgot what happened during their sleep

C．continued with the sound-smell connection

D．changed their reaction when hearing.

4.The passage mainly tell us______

A．special smells and sounds can improve our memory.

B．our brain can actually learn something new during the sleep.

C．the volunteers will always hear similar sounds in the street.

D．our brain can tell the difference between smells during the sleep.

5.Which of the following is NOT true?

A．A short sleep can improve our memory and sharpen our thinking.

B．Arzi and her coworkers didn’t try to teach the sleeping volunteer some simple information.

C．When the volunteer smelt something terrible, they didn’t wake up.

D．After four repetitions, volunteers made a connection between the musical notes and their pared smells.

Kelly Reeves was getting ready for a trip when her phone slipped into a sink full of water. Panic moment! She quickly picked up the wet phone and tried to turn it on, but nothing worked. Her first reaction? She got dressed, drove to the nearest store, and bought a new mobile at full price.
A new study finds that fear of losing your phone is a common illness. About 66 percent of those surveyed suffer from nomophobia or “no mobile phone phobia”. Interestingly, more women worry about losing their phone than men.
Fortunately, there’s a solution.
The first step is to figure out if you have nomophobia. Checking your phone too often is one thing, but the true sign of a problem is that you can’t conduct business or go about your routine when the fear becomes so severe.
Do you go to unusual lengths to make sure you have your phone? That’s another sign of a problem. If you find you check your phone plenty of times per hour, or a total of an hour per day, there may be a problem.
Some of the treatments are similar to those for treating anxiety attacks: leaving the phone behind and not checking e-mail or text messages, and then learning to tolerate the after anxiety. Even if this leads to a high level of worry and stress, the solution is to push through the fear and learn to deal with not having your phone.
Of course, there are also technological alternatives. Luis Levy, a co-founder at Novy PR, says he uses an application called Cerberus that can automatically track the location of his phone. To find it, he can just go to a website and see the phone’s location.
He also insures his phone through a service called Asurion. The company’s description of its product reads like a prescription for anxiety:”60 million phones are lost, stolen or damaged each year. You’ll have complete peace of mind knowing that your phone is protected and you can quickly reconnect with family, friends and work, as soon as the very next day!”
【小题1】Why does the author mention Kelly’s experience in the first paragraph?

The rumors had been spreading for months but it still came as a shock when the hospital would be closing. It had served this poor neighborhood for nearly 100 years but it would close because of the health care crisis.

The day after the announcement co-workers found out that pretzels(椒盐饼干) had been eliminated. Soft pretzels are the lifeblood of this city. So losing access to soft pretzels is no small matter.

I said, “I only have $6. I’m not sure how many pretzels I need. You see, I work at a hospital and it’s closing and they stopped selling pretzels.” The man’s smile disappeared. “What hospital?” “Oh, Northeastern Hospital.”

The guy looked deeply shocked. “I used to sell medical supplies and that was one of my hospitals.” Then he turned around and grabbed a box of 25 pretzels and slid them across the counter.

I was surprised by his generosity and started to reach for my wallet, “Oh I can pay. Please let me …” The guy smiled, “Just tell them Joe Sullivan said to do something nice for someone else.”

And so that day everyone in medical records was treated to a soft pretzel. Word spread fast as people came asking, “Is it really true?” It was as if I’d carried in a box of gold. It mattered to them that a stranger cared.

1.The underlined word “eliminated” in Paragraph 2 means _____.

A. highly priced      B. added        C. overcooked   D. removed

2.Why did the author decide to buy pretzels for his co-workers?

A. To show his generosity.                B. To make them feel less sad.

C. To show his thanks to them.                D. To encourage them to work hard.

3.To buy 25 pretzels, the author should pay ____.

A. $25                B. $12.5            C. $12          D. $50

4.According to the passage, Joe Sullivan used to be a ____.

A. cook               B. doctor       C. shopkeeper   D. salesman

5.What can be the best title of the passage?

A. A nice treat                          

B. The rumor that came true

C. Tell them Joe cared                   

D. Northeastern Hospital is closing down

As any homemaker who has tried to keep order at the dinner table knows, there is far more to a family meal than food. Sociologist Michael Lewis has been studying 50 families to find out just how much more.

Lewis and his co-workers carried out their study by videotaping(录像) the families while they ate ordinary meals in their own homes. They found that parents with small families talk actively with each other and their children. But as the number of children gets larger, conversation gives way to the parents’ efforts to control the loud noise they make. That can have an important effect on the children. “In general the more question-asking the parents do, the higher the children’s IQ scores,” Lewis says. “And the more children there are, the less question-asking there is.”

The study also provides an explanation for why middle children often seem to have a harder time in life than their siblings(兄弟姐妹). Lewis found that in families with three or four children, dinner conversation is likely to center on the oldest child, who has the most to talk about, and the youngest, who needs the most attention. “Middle children are invisible,” says Lewis. “When you see someone get up from the table and walk around during dinner, chances are that it’s the middle child.” There is, however, one thing that stops all conversation and prevents anyone from having attention: “When the TV is on,” Lewis says, “dinner is a non-event.”

1.Parents with large families ask fewer questions at dinner because ______.

A．they are busy serving food to their children

B．they are busy keeping order at the dinner table

C．they have to pay more attention to younger children

D．they are tired out having prepared food for the whole family

2.By saying “Middle children are invisible” in paragraph 3, Lewis means that middle children ______.

A．have to help their parents to serve dinner

B．get the least attention from the family

C．are often kept away from the dinner table

D．find it hard to keep up with other children

3.Lewis’ research provides an answer to the question ______.

A．why TV is important in family life

B．why parents should keep good order

C．why children in small families seem to be quieter

D．why middle children seem to have more difficulties in life

4.Which of the following statements would the writer agree to?

A．It is important to have the right food for children.

B．It is a good idea to have the TV on during dinner.

C．Parents should talk to each of their children frequently.

D．Elder children should help the younger ones at dinner.

5.The writer’s purpose in writing the text is to ______.

A．show the relationship between parents and children.

B．teach parents ways to keep order at the dinner table.

C．report on the findings of a study.

D．give information about family problems.

Some say the Internet will kill off papers. Others say not so fast.

Are newspapers dying?

That’s the heated debate these days. Many say the disappearance of the daily paper is just a matter of time. The future of journalism is in news websites, not newsprint.

However, others say, newspapers have been with us for hundreds of years, and while all news may be online some day, papers can exist for some time.

So who’s right? I’ll outline the arguments on both sides, and then you can decide.

Newspapers Are Dead

Newspapers are in trouble. Circulation is dropping, display and classified ad income is drying up, and the industry has experienced a hard time. Big metro papers like the Rocky Mountain News have stopped operating, and even bigger newspaper companies like the Tribune Co. go bankrupt（破产）.

And where are newspaper readers going? To the Web. A recent study has found that Internet users read online newspapers for an average of 53 minutes per week in 2008. That’s highest level recorded in the eight years when the study has been done.

The study found that 22 percent of users said they stopped their subscription（订阅）to a printed paper or magazine because they could access the same content online.

Some people say the Internet is just a better place to get the news. “On the Web, newspapers are live, and they can supplement（增补）their coverage with audio, video, and the valuable resources of their vast contents,” says Geffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future.

1.How does the author present the topic to be discussed?

A. By presenting others’ prediction

B. By asking a question

C. By providing opposite opinions

D. By talking about the background

2.The purpose of writing the text is to _____.

A. try to draw a general conclusion

B. encourage readers to use their judgment

C. compare the advantages of two media    

D. invite readers to express their opinions freely

3.Some readers no longer buy printed newspapers because they _____.

A. want to save money

B. hope to protect the environment

C. don’t care about news

D. can read online newspapers

4.What’s the advantage of the news website compared with printed newspapers?

A. it provides news vividly      B. the news is more reliable

C. it can reach more readers      D. it is much cheaper in price