Do you have bright ideas? Ideas or inventions that change society or, at least, make life easier for somebody? Perhaps we all do sometimes, but we don’t often make the idea a reality. Recently, in Britain, there was a competition called British Designers for Tomorrow. The competition encourages young people to carry out their bright ideas. There were two groups in the contest; Group One was for schoolchildren under 16; Group Two was for schoolchildren over 16. And there were eleven prize-winners altogether.

Neil Hunt, one of the prize-winners, was called “Sunshine Superman”. It’s important when people study the weather to be able to record sunshine accurately. We need to know how many hours of sunshine we have and how strong it is. Most sunshine recorders only record direct sunlight. Neil’s is more accurate(精确的) and this is very important for research into the way of using solar power.

You can do so much with animated cartoon. Look at Simon West’s idea for animated road signs. He uses pictures which appear to move as you go nearer to or farther from them. This isn’t a new idea. But it is new to use these pictures on road signs. “We found that people were more likely to see moving signs,” said Simon. So now, you can really see rocks falling, trains moving , horses running or a car falling over the edge of a cliff(悬崖). Quite a warning!

The ideas in the competition were so inventive that we are surprised that British industry doesn’t ask more schoolchildren for suggestions. Perhaps this will be the start of “pupil power!”

1. The writer holds that people seldom ______.

   A. have bright ideas       B. turn their bright ideas into reality

   C. make their life easier    D. think of inventing something

2. Neil Hunt’s design would finally lead to the improvement of the way of _______.

   A. recording direct sunshine        B. recording the hours of sunshine

   C. using the energy of the sun       D. knowing how strong sunlight is

3. What’s the use of Simon West’s animated road signs?

   A. To warn people to be careful while working.

   B. To warn people on the roads of the danger ahead.

   C. To add to the beauty of a city.

   D. To help make a car trip more exciting.

4. The writer seems to be encouraging the British industry to ______.

   A. take better care of schoolchildren   

B. help schoolchildren in their studies

   C. stop asking schoolchildren for suggestions

   D. pay more attention to schoolchildren’s inventive power

阅读下面短文，从各题A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳答案。
People who smoke could lose around one third of their daily memory, researchers say.
A study by a team at Northumbria University showed that smokers lost more of their memory when compared to non-smokers.
And the research also found that those who kicked the habit saw their ability to recollect information restored to almost the same level as non-smokers.
The study involved more than seventy 18-to-25-year-olds and included a tour of the university’s campus. Those who took part were asked to recall small details, such as a list of songs played at a campus concert and tasks completed at various points－known as real world memory test. Smokers performed badly, remembering just 59 percent of tasks. But those who had given up smoking remembered 74 percent and those who had never smoked recalled 81 percent of tasks.
Dr. Tom Heffernan, who leads Northumbria University’s Collaboration for Drug and Alcohol Research Group, said the findings would be useful in anti-smoking campaigns. He said, “Given that there are up to 10 million smokers in the UK and as many as 45 million in the United States, it's important to understand the effects smoking has on everyday cognitive（认知的）function-of which prospective memory is an excellent example. ”
“This is the first time that a study has set out to examine whether giving up smoking has an impact on memory. We already know that giving up smoking has huge health benefits for the body, but this study also shows how stopping smoking can have knock-on benefits for cognitive functions too. ’’
The research will now investigate the effects of passive smoking on memory, while Dr. Heffernan and Dr. Terence O’Neil will look into the effects of third-hand smoking－toxins left on curtains and furniture.
【小题1】What’s the main idea of the passage?

One morning a few years ago, Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept. For this busy man, it was a sort of alarm: after years of non-stop hard work, he might wear himself out and die an early death.

Only after a week’s leave—— during which he read novels, listened to music and walked with his wife on a beach—— was Rudenstine able to return to work.

In our modern life, we have lost the rhythm between action and rest. Amazingly, within this world there is a universal but silly saying: “I am so busy.”

We say this to one another as if our tireless efforts were a talent by nature and an ability to successfully deal with stress. The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others. To be unavailable to our friends and family, and to be unable to find time to relax—— this has become the model of a successful life.

Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the guide telling us where to go, the food providing is with strength, the quiet giving us wisdom.

How have we allowed this to happen? I believe it is this: we have forgotten the Sabbath, the day of the week—— for followers of some religions—— for rest and praying. It is a day when we are not supposed to work, a time when we devote ourselves to enjoying and celebrating what is beautiful. It is a good time to bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals, walk and sleep. It is a time for us to take a rest, to put our work aside, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world.

Rest is s spiritual and biological need; however, in our strong ambition to be successful and care for our many responsibilities, we may feel terribly guilty when we take time to rest. The Sabbath gives us permission to stop work. In fact, “Remember the Sabbath” is more than simply permission to rest; it is a rule to obey and a principle to follow.

The “alarm” in the first paragraph refers to “_______”.

A. a signal of stress

B. a warning of danger

C. a sign of age

D. a spread of disease

According to Paragraph 4, a successful person is one who is believed to _______.

A. be able to work without stress

B. be more talented than other people

C. be more important than anyone else

D. be busying working without time to rest

Some people feel guilty when taking time to rest because they _______.

A. think that taking a rest means lacking ambitions

B. fail to realize that rest is an essential part of life

C. fail to realize that religions force them to rest

D. think that taking a rest means being lazy

What is the main idea of this passage?

A. We should balance work with rest.

B. The Sabbath gives us permission to rest.

C. It is silly for anyone to say “I am busy.”

D. We should be available to our family and friends.

首先请阅读以下宠物的信息：

A. Not named yet: baby, female

It’s a small grey cat with long hair and deep blue eyes. It is very friendly and can get along well with dogs. I can’t keep it because I have too many pets, but I can’t just let it go outside. If you are looking for a cat, please let me know. And I will send it to you, but you’ll have to pay my travel fees.

B. Brooke: orange and white, young, female

She’s a shy cat and likes to be alone at first. Once she gets familiar with you, she is very sweet and loves to be in your lap and play with you. She also loves to talk. The owner shouldn’t be a smoker. For free.

C. Sammi Hammi: adult, male

Sammi Hammi, a blue and gold bird, is looking for his forever home. He loves dogs and likes to sing and dance. He will take your ear off while you cook! He loves delicious food and he is a great boy who loves attention. The new owner will have to pay an adoption fee and for his cage.

D. Buster: black and white, young, male

He will be the sweetest cat you will ever meet. He likes to play and gets along well with other pets. Anyone who gets this guy will love him! For free.

E. Zoey: American Bulldog, adult, female

My dog Zoey is three years old and is very outgoing. She loves the outdoors and she loves kids. She is good at looking after other dogs. She also likes being around people. I need to find her a good home. I would like someone with children and other dogs to take her. For free.

F. Rebel and Maverick: young, male

Both Rebel and Maverick will be 2 years old soon. They’re wonderful dogs, but I can no longer keep them for some reasons. They love children. A home with children would be the best. They also get along well with other animals. The most suitable place for them is a home with a yard because they love to be outside. 600 dollars.

阅读以下人员的信息，然后为他们选择合适的宠物：

1.Alice and her 10-year-old twin sons live in a house with a big yard. She’s looking  for some pets to play with the boys. A pair of dogs is preferred. Money isn’t a problem.

2.Tom, 63 years old, has no children. His wife died last year and he’s very lonely. He would like to have a pet that he can talk to. He used to be a cook and loves birds very much, but he doesn’t like cats.

3.Bruce has a dog and he’s looking for another pet. It must be male and be able to get along well with his dog. Also, the pet has to be free.

4.Neil plans to find a female pet for his daughter. She loves orange and white cats. There are no smokers in the family. Free pets are preferred.

5.Max is looking for an adult dog to join his family. He has 3 children and two baby dogs. He hopes the new pet can help look after the baby dogs and play with his children.

Which is sillier: denying we ever went to the moon or trying to convince the true nonbelievers?
Once upon a time – July 20, 1969, to be specific – two men got out of their little spaceship and wandered around on the moon for a while. Ten more men walked on the moon over the next three and a half years. The end.
Unfortunately, not quite. A fair number of Americans think that this whole business of moon landings really is a fairy tale. They believe that the landings were a big hoax (骗局) staged in the Mojave Desert, to convince everyone that U.S. technology was the “bestest” in the whole wide world.
Which is the harder thing to do: Send men to the moon or make believe we did? The fact is the physics behind sending people to the moon is simple. You can do it with computers whose entire memory capacities can now fit on chips the size of postage stamps and that cost about as much as, well, a postage stamp. I know you can because we did.
However, last fall NASA considered spending $15,000 on a public-relations campaign to convince the unimpressed that Americans had in fact gone to the moon. That idea was mostly a reaction to a Fox television program, first aired in February 2001, that claimed to expose the hoax. The show’s creator is a publicity hound (猎狗) who has lived up to the name in more ways than one by hounding Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon. Mr. X (as I will call him, thereby denying him the joyous sight of his name in print) recently followed Buzz Aldrin around and called him “a thief, liar and coward” until the 72-year-old astronaut finally lost it and hit the 37-year-old Mr. X in the face.
Anyway, NASA’s publicity campaign began to slow down. The nonbelievers took the campaign as NASA’s effort to hide something while the believers said that $15,000 to convince people that the world was round — I mean, that we had gone to the moon — was simply a waste of money. (Actually, the $15,000 was supposed to pay for an article by James E. Oberg, an astronomy writer who, with Aldrin, has contributed to Scientific American.)
If NASA’s not paying Oberg, perhaps it could put the money to good use by hiring two big guys to drag Neil Armstrong out of the house. Armstrong is an extremely private man, but he is also the first man on the moon, so maybe he has a duty to be a bit more outspoken about the experience. Or NASA could just buy Aldrin a commemorate plaque (纪念匾) for his recent touch on the face of Mr. X.
【小题1】We can learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that some Americans believe _______.