-----How was your camping in the mountains last week, Joan?

-----Oh, it was just a ___because we were woken up by a terrible storm at midnight.

If you ask some people, “How did you learn English so well?” you may get a surprising answer: “In my sleep!”

These are people who have taken part in one of the recent experiments (实验) to test “the learn while you sleep” method (方法), which is now being tried in several countries, and with several subjects. English is among them.

Scientists say that this sleep study method greatly speeds language learning. They say that the ordinary person can learn two or three times as much during sleep as in the same period during the day—and this does not affect (影响) his rest in any way. However, sleep teaching will only put into your head what you have studied already while you are awake.

In one experiment, ten lessons were broadcast over the radio for two weeks. Each lesson lasted twelve hours — from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. The first three hours of English grammar and vocabulary (词汇) were given with the students awake. At 11 p.m. a lullaby (催眠曲) was broadcast to send the student to sleep and for the next three hours the radio in a soft and low voice broadcast the lesson again into his sleeping ears. At 2 a.m. a sharp noise was sent over the radio to wake the sleeping student up for a few minutes to go over the lesson. The soft music sent him back to rest again while the radio went on. At 5 o’clock his sleep ended and he had to go through the lesson again for three hours before breakfast.

1.In the experiment, lessons were given____ .

2.Before each lesson finishes, the student has to____ .

3.The sleep study method is being tried in many countries to teach____ .

Can you remember a morning when you’ve woken up to the ring of your alarm clock and wished you could stay in bed? You haven’t slept well, your hair is a mess. Worse, you can’t stop yawning. Yawning is universal to humans and many animals. Cats, dogs and fish yawn just like humans do! Yawning is an involuntary(无意识的,不自觉的) action during which you open your mouth and breathe deeply. The average duration of a yawn is about 6 seconds.
The purpose and cause of yawning are still a mystery. Scientists are not sure what causes a yawn. People yawn when they are tired or bored, but they also yawn when they aren’t. There are many ideas explaining why we yawn.
One idea is that yawning is a way for the body to become more alert by taking in more oxygen. A yawn increases the heart rate, forces carbon dioxide out of the lungs and blood stream, and brings oxygen to the brain. But one study showed that volunteers given a lot of oxygen did not yawn any less than before, while those given a lot of carbon dioxide did not yawn more.
Another idea is that early humans used yawning as a form of communication. If one decided it was time to sleep, they would tell the others by yawning and they would do it in return to show they agreed.
A third explanation comes from psychology professor Gordon Gallup of University at Albany in New York. He said that as people yawn, they cool off their brains. “Brains are like computers.” he said. “They only operate efficiently and effectively when they’re cool. Many things connected to yawning, like being tired, make the brain hot, and yawning can reduce the heat.”
Scientists have sent people into space, and created terrible nuclear weapons, but there are lots of seemingly simple things, such as why we yawn, or hiccup（打嗝）, that they can’t figure out. Next time you are in class in the morning, let out a big yawn and watch to see how many of your classmates yawn in response!
【小题1】What’s the purpose of the description of how bad you may feel when you’re woken up in the morning?

第三部分：阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C 和D）中，选出最佳选项。

Having divorced (离婚) my dad, my mom had to move frequently in order to find a job that would provide her with enough money to support the big family. For three years, we lived in the town of Parkersburg. On the first Christmas there, my brothers and I had been well prepared for a holiday without presents. But we had a surprise on Christmas Eve.

At midnight, we were woken up by someone shouting at our front door, “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!” We jumped up and ran to the door to find no one there, but several boxes and bags! Not only were there gifts, which were our favorite, but there were also clothes and food. Each of us kids, as well as Mom, had gifts with our names on them. And the clothes all fit us!

Another year went by and on Christmas Eve, we again got boxes and bags full of goodies. The next year we moved. We were in the same town but across the other side. Mom was beginning to get on her feet. Since we had moved and Mom had a better job, we were quite certain that “Santa” wouldn’t visit us that year. But we were wrong!

Those “Santa” visits restored in me the belief in the goodness of mankind, though to this day we don’t know who our helper was.

When we grew up, Mom moved to Virginia. She had some extra money one Christmas. She sent it to me and let us know her decision. We then took action. My husband and children had so much fun buying and wrapping presents for the needy family we had chosen. On Christmas Eve, we allowed the excited kids to stay up late to be part of our secret “Santa” project.

Such satisfaction there was in being able to pass on the gift of love to others who needed it. And the gift goes on!

56. From the first paragraph, we can learn that ______.

A. the writer’s family didn’t like to celebrate Christmas

B. the writer felt sorry about not having Christmas presents

C. the writer’s mother couldn’t afford any Christmas presents

D. the writer knew that something surprising would happen

57. The presents that the writer’s family received must be from _______.

A. someone who has no children        B. someone who knew them well

C. the church in the neighborhood       D. the richest family in the town 

58. What decision did the writer’s mom make in the fifth paragraph?

A. To give her extra money to a poor family.   

B. To thank the person who once helped her family.

C. To give some Christmas presents to a poor family in secret.  

D. To invite a poor family to spend Christmas with her family.  

59. This passage is written to ______.

A. show pity to the poor people        B. show human kindness  

C. thank the helper                 D. show the advantages of being rich

Can you remember a morning when you’ve woken up to the ring of your alarm clock and wished you could stay in bed? You haven’t slept well, your hair is a mess. Worse, you can’t stop yawning. Yawning is universal to humans and many animals. Cats, dogs and fish yawn just like humans do! Yawning is an involuntary(无意识的,不自觉的) action during which you open your mouth and breathe deeply. The average duration of a yawn is about 6 seconds.

The purpose and cause of yawning are still a mystery. Scientists are not sure what causes a yawn. People yawn when they are tired or bored, but they also yawn when they aren’t. There are many ideas explaining why we yawn.

One idea is that yawning is a way for the body to become more alert by taking in more oxygen. A yawn increases the heart rate, forces carbon dioxide out of the lungs and blood stream, and brings oxygen to the brain. But one study showed that volunteers given a lot of oxygen did not yawn any less than before, while those given a lot of carbon dioxide did not yawn more.

Another idea is that early humans used yawning as a form of communication. If one decided it was time to sleep, they would tell the others by yawning and they would do it in return to show they agreed.

A third explanation comes from psychology professor Gordon Gallup of University at Albany in New York. He said that as people yawn, they cool off their brains. “Brains are like computers.” he said. “They only operate efficiently and effectively when they’re cool. Many things connected to yawning, like being tired, make the brain hot, and yawning can reduce the heat.”

Scientists have sent people into space, and created terrible nuclear weapons, but there are lots of seemingly simple things, such as why we yawn, or hiccup（打嗝）, that they can’t figure out. Next time you are in class in the morning, let out a big yawn and watch to see how many of your classmates yawn in response!

1.What’s the purpose of the description of how bad you may feel when you’re woken up in the morning?

2.Which is not among the possible reasons for yawning mentioned in the passage?

3.In which situation are you likely to yawn?

4.What can we learn from the passage?