Do you find getting up in the morning so difficult that it's painful? This might be called laziness, but Dr. Kleitman has a new explanation. He has proved that everyone has a daily energy cycle.         

During the hours when you labor through your work you may say that you're “hot”. That's true. The time of day when you feel most energetic is when your cycle of body temperature is at its peak(高峰). For some people the peak comes before noon. For others it comes in the afternoon or evening. No one has discovered why this is so, but it leads to such familiar monologues ( 自言自语 ) as: “Get up, John! You'll be late for work again!” The possible explanation to the trouble is that John is at his temperature-and- energy peak in the evening. Much family quarrelling ends when husbands and wives realize what these energy cycles mean, and which cycle each member of the family has.

You can't change your energy cycle, but you can learn to make your life fit it better. Habit can help, Dr. Kleitman believes. Maybe you're sleepy in the evening but feel you must stay up late anyway. Counteract ( 对抗 ) your cycle to some extent by habitually staying up later than you want to. If your energy is low in the morning but you have an important job to do early in the day, rise before your usual hour. This won't change your cycle, but you'll get up steam ( 鼓起干劲 ) and work better at your low point.

Get off to a slow start which saves your energy. Get up with a leisurely yawn and stretch. Sit on the edge of the bed a minute before putting your feet on the floor. Avoid the troublesome search for clean clothes by laying them out the night before. Whenever possible, do routine work in the afternoon and save tasks requiring more energy or concentration for your sharper hours.

1.If a person finds getting up early a problem, most probably________.

A. he is a lazy person              

B. he refuses to follow his own energy cycle

C. he is not sure when his energy is low     

D.he is at his peak in the afternoon or evening

2.Which of the following may lead to family quarrels according to the passage?

A.Unawareness of energy cycles.      B.Familiar monologues.

C.A change in a family member's energy cycle.

D.Attempts to control the energy cycle of other family members.

3.. If one wants to work more efficiently at his low point in the morning, he should________.

A.change his energy cycle                B.overcome his laziness

C.get up earlier than usual                D. go to bed earlier

4.Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A.Getting off to work with a minimum effort helps save one's energy.

B.Dr. Kleitman explains why people reach their peaks at different hours of day.

C.Habits help a person adapt to his own energy cycle.

D.Children have energy cycles, too.

No matter where he lives, 16-year-old Danny Lopez feels like an outsider: he is half-Mexican and half-white.

    At his private high school in wealthy northern San Diego, California, US, Lopez is too brown to fit in, whereas for the Mexican side of his family in National City, just a dozen miles from the border, he is too white to belong.

    Different from both sides, Lopez is silent in school. He focuses on his passion for baseball and working hard to improve the pitches (球场) that have kept him off the school team.

    Mexican Whiteboy, by Matt de la Pena, is about a teenager’s search for identity. It was named as one of the Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults in 2009 by the US Young Adult Library Services Association.

    When Lopez’s mother decides to go to live with her wealthy white boyfriend in San Francisco, he chooses to spend the summer with his father’s family in San Diego. It’s a trip to explore roots and self-identity, filled with unexpected friendship.

    There he meets Uno, of mixed heritage (遗传) like himself, also with a divorced mom. Uno understands Danny’s split background and helps him improve his baseball skills. Both boys have big league dreams, but they both have to learn to come to terms with their mixed heritages before they can achieve their goals.

    Aside from discussions of racism, Mexican Whiteboy takes on other issues, such as the importance of family and the negative influence of hiding the truth. It also shows how sports can draw cultures together.

1.The reason why Lopez feels like an outsider lies in the fact that ___________.

A. he is a Mexican                                             B. he lives in San Diego

C. he is half-white and half-Mexican            D. he studies in a private school

2.Most probably “Mexican Whiteboy” is a ____________.

A. book                 B. club               C. newspaper           D. organization

3.When Lopez found it is hard for him to fit in, he ____________.

A. starts writing a book about himself

B. begins to look for identity with the help of Mexican Whiteboy

C. loses his interest in baseball

D. works in the fields in which he was kept off the school team

4.Lopez and Uno have a lot in common except that ____________.

A. they both have a divorced mom

B. they both have mixed heritage

C. they were both in the school baseball team

D. both of them have big league dreams

A peer is a person who is about the same age as you. Peers affect your life, whether you know it or not, just by spending time with you.

Peers can have a good effect on one another. Maybe another student in your science class taught you an easy way to remember the planets in solar system. Maybe you got others excited about your new favorite book and now everyone’s reading it.

However, sometimes peers affect one another in another way. For example, one kid in school might try to get another to cut class with him, your soccer friend might try to persuade you to be mean to another player and never pass her the ball, or a kid in the neighborhood might want you to shoplift with him.

Some kids give in to peer pressure because they want to be liked, to fit in, or because they worry that other kids may make fun of them if they don’t go along with the group. Others may go along because they are curious to try something new that others are doing. The idea that “ everyone’s doing it” may influence some kids to leave their better judgments or their common senses behind.

Peer pressure can be extremely strong and hard to get rid of. Experiments have shown how peer pressure can influence someone to change her/ his mind from what she/ he knows for sure is a correct answer to the incorrect answer——just because everyone else gives the incorrect answer! That holds true for people of any age in peer pressure situations.

It can be hard to walk away from peer pressure, but it can be done. Paying attention to your own feelings and beliefs about what is right and wrong can help you know the right thing to do. Inner strength and self- confidence can help you stand firm, walk away and resist doing something when you know better.

1. What is the passage mainly about ?

2. The underlined word shoplift in Paragraph Three probably means __________.

3.The writer will not agree that ____.

4.The writer intends to _________ by writing the passage.

5.It can be learned from the passage that_________.

We let ourselves believe that life will be better once we are married, have a baby, then another. Then we get frustrated because our children are not old enough and that all will be well when they are older. Then we are frustrated because they reach teenage years and we must deal with them. Surely we'll be happier when they grow out of the teen years.

We tell ourselves our life will be better when our spouse (配偶) gets his/her act together, when we have a nicer car, when we can take a vacation, when we finally retire. The truth is that there is no better time to be happy than right now. If not, then when? Your life will always be full of challenges. It is better to admit as much and to decide to be happy in spite of it all.

For the longest time, it seemed that life was about to start—real life.

But there were always some obstacles along the way, an ordeal (苦难) to get through, some work to be finished, some time to be given, a bill to be paid. Then life would start. I finally realized that those obstacles were part of life. Little by little, that point of view also helped me see that there isn't any road to happiness.

Happiness is the road. So, enjoy every moment. And keep in mind that __________. So stop waiting for school to end, for a return to school, to lose ten pounds, to gain ten pounds, for work to begin, to get married, for Friday evening, for Sunday morning, waiting for a new car, for your mortgage(借款) to be paid off, for spring, for summer, for fall, for winter, for the first or the fifteenth of the month, for your song to be played on the radio, to die, to be reborn… before deciding to be happy.

Happiness is a voyage, not a destination. There is no better time to be happy than… NOW! Live and enjoy the moment.

1.The most proper title for the passage should be______.

A. Happiness Is a Frustration       B. Happiness Is a Destination 

C. Happiness Is a Dream          D. Happiness is a Process

2.The first two paragraphs mainly tell us_______.

A. life is a worthwhile but challenging voyage       

B. so long as you believe you can, you can

C. people tend to think the future will be brighter than now 

D. people feel confused about their life

3.The writer thinks _______is a real happiness

A. setting our imagination free        B. enjoying our present life

C. finding our own shortcut to success   D. facing obstacles and challenges bravely

4.Which of the sayings can fill in the blank in the fourth paragraph?

A. time waits for no one 

B. time is money

C. tomorrow is another day   

D. time can work wonders

Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy. After all, you probably sing or whistle when you are happy.

   Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy. However they sing most of the time for a very different reason. Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory.

   Do you know what a ‘territory’ is? A territory is an area that an animal, usually the male, claims as its own. Only he and his family are welcome there. No other families of the same species are welcome. Your yard and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome. If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten you, you might shout. Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.

   If so, you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him. A bird does the same thing. But he expects an outsider almost any time, especially at nesting（筑巢）season. So he is screaming all the time, whether he can see an outsider or not. This screaming is what we call a bird’s song, and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.

   Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs.

   You can see that birds have a language of their own. Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.

 Some scientists believe that most of the time bird’s singing is actually________.

A. an expression of happiness                                               B. a way of warning

C. an expression of anger                                              D. a way of greeting

【小题２】What does the underlined word “territory’’ mean?

A. A place where families of other species are not accepted

B. A place where a bird may shout at the top of its voice

C. An area for which birds fight against each other

D. An area which a bird considers to be its own

【小题３】Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season?

A. Because they want to invite more friends

B. Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away

C. Because they want to find outsiders around

D. Because their singing helps get rid of their fears

【小题４】How does the writer explain bird’s singing?

A. By comparing birds with human beings                B. By reporting experiment results

C. By describing birds’ daily life                                   D. By telling a bird’s story