When we can see well, we do not think about our eyes often．It is only when we can not see perfectly that we come to see how important our eyes are．

       People who are nearsighted can only see things that are very close to their eyes．Many people who do a lot of close work, such as writing and reading, become nearsighted．Then they have to wear glasses in order to see distant things clearly．

       People who are farsighted face just the opposite problem．They can see things that are far away, but they have difficulty reading a book unless they hold it at arm’s length．If they want to do much reading, they must get glasses too．

       Other people do not see clearly because their eyes are not exactly the right shape．This, too, can be corrected by glasses．Some people’s eyes become cloudy because of cataracts．Long ago these people often became blind．Now, however, it is possible to operate on the cataracts and remove them．

       When night falls, colors become fainter to the eyes and finally disappear．After your eyes have grown used to the dark, you can see better if you use the side of your eyes rather than the centers．Sometimes, after dark, you see a small thing to one side of you, which seems to disappear if you turn your head in its direction．This is because when you turn your head, you are looking at the thing too directly．Men on guard duty sometimes think they see something moving to one side of them．When they turn to look straight at it, they can not see it any more, and they believe they were mistaken．However, this mistake happens because the center of the eye, which is very sensitive in daylight, is not as sensitive as the sides of the eye after dark．

We don’t know that our eyes are of great importance until ________．

       A．we think about our eyes      B．we cannot see clearly

       C．we wear glasses              D．we have to do much reading

According to the passage, a ________ is more likely to be nearsighted．

       A．student    B．doctor          C．guard           D．painter

People who are farsighted ________ ．

       A．can do a lot of close work without glasses

       B．can only see things that are very close to their eyes

       C．have difficulty reading a book if they hold it at arm’s length

       D．can correct their eyes by glasses

To see a small thing at night, it is better to look ________ ．

       A．with wide open eyes     B．with half shut or narrowed eyes

       C．straight at it                 D．in a slightly different direction

Birds that are half-asleep—with one brain hemisphere (半球) alert and the other sleeping—control which side of the brain remains awake, according to a new study of sleeping ducks.
Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere’s eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
Decades of studies of bird groups led researchers to predict extra alertness in the end-of-the-row sleepers which tend to be attacked more easily. Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction.
Also, birds napping at the end of the line depend on single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Turning 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found that compared with 12 percent for birds in internal spots, outer birds half-asleep during some 32 percent of napping time.
“We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness at the same time in different regions of the brain,” the researchers say.
The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing assumption that single-hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lookout side could be widespread, he predicts. He’s seen it in a pair of birds napping side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror. The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open.
Useful as half-sleeping might be, it’s only been found in birds and such water animals as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning.
Studies of birds may offer unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds’ half-brain sleep “is just the tip of the iceberg.” He supposes that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.
【小题1】According to the passage, birds often half sleep because ______.

What exactly is a lie? Is it anything we say which we know is untrue? Or is it something more than that? For example, suppose a friend wants to borrow some money from  you. You say “I wish I could help you, but I am short of money myself.” In fact, you are not short of money but your friend is in the habit of not paying his debts and you don’t want to hurt his feelings by reminding him of this. Is this really a lie?
Professor Jerald Jellison of the University of southern California has made a scientific study of lying. According to him, women are better lies than men, particularly when telling a “white lie”, such as when a woman at a party tells another woman that she likes her dress when she really thinks it’s terrible. However, this is only one side of the story. Other researchers say that men are more likely to tell more serious lies, such as making a promise that they have no intention of carrying out. This is the kind of lie politicians and businessmen are supposed to be particularly skilled at: the lie from which the liar hopes to profit or gain in some way.
Research has been done into the way people’s behavior changes in a number of small, unimportant ways when they lie. It has been found that if they are sitting down at the time, they tend to move about in their chairs more than usual. To the trained observer they are saying “I wish I were somewhere else now”. They also tend to touch certain parts of the face, particularly the nose. One explanation of this may be that lying causes a slight increase in blood pressure. The tip of the nose is very sensitive to changes and the increased pressure makes it itch.
Another gesture that gives liars away is what the writer Decmond Morris in his book Man Watching calls the “mouth cover”. He says that there are several typical forms of this, such as covering part of the mouth with the fingers, touch the upper lip or putting a finger of the hand at one side off the mouth. Such a gesture can be understood as an unconscious(未察觉的) attempt on the part of the liar to stop himself from lying.
Of course, such gestures as rubbing the nose or covering the mouth, moving about in a chair can not be taken as proof that the speaker is lying. They simply tend to happen more often in this situation. It is one gesture alone that gives the liar away but a whole number of things, and in particular the context(上下文) which the lie is told.
【小题1】According to the passage, a white lie seems to be a lie ______.

A．are better at telling less serious lies than men

B．generally lie for more than men do

C．often make promises they intend to break

D．lie at parties more often than men do

My mind seems always to return to the day when I met Carl. The city bus stopped at a corner to pick up the daily commuters (someone who travels regularly to and from work), a group in which I was included. Boarding the bus, I looked for a place to sit. At last, I found a place near the back.

The man in the seat next to the one I was going for was an older man in a grey suit, well-worn dress shoes, and a black hat like I always pictured reporters wearing, but without the little press card. Seated, I began to read the book I had been carrying, which was Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. The man in the seat next to me introduced himself by asking if I had read any other book like the one I was holding. When I told him I had, he seemed to become interested, and so did I. He introduced himself as Carl and asked if I liked jazz, and I told him that I didn’t really listen to it, and that I liked rock and roll. Waiting for Carl to tell me that I should listen to real music, I was shocked when he just smiled and nodded. He said, "You remind me of myself when I was your age. I remember how my parents hated jazz and how they couldn’t see how I could listen to that awful noise. I bet your parents say the same thing, don’t they?" Now it was my turn to smile, amused with how right he was.

As the bus carried us from one side of the city to the other, Carl and I talked about a lot of different things. The more we talked, the more amazed I became at how much the two of us really had in common, despite the age difference. I haven’t seen him since we parted, but the thought of our connection that day rarely leaves my mind.

       Carl really made me think about how much we can learn from each other if we just break through the blocks between us we’ve got. I mean, I would have never thought before that day that I could have anything in common with someone so much older than I. But Carl taught me that no matter what we are, we are all just people, and that we should make an extra effort to try and get to know our neighbors and people we see every day, regardless of age, race, religion, sex, or anything else. If we all take the time to attempt to understand each other, I think that the world would be a much better place that we could share together, as humans.

1.From the first paragraph we know that the author _____________.

A. did not mind whether there was a seat or not

B. hoped to have a seat when getting on the bus

C. thought the bus was overcrowded

D. looked for a seat but failed

2.The author usually imagined a reporter as one who _____________.

A. liked jazz music

B. enjoyed talking with others

C. liked reading Jack Kerouac’s works

D. usually wore a black hat and press card

3. After talking with Carl, the author realized that _____________.

A. older people were nice to talk to

B. he should have known Carl earlier

C. his parents were so different from Carl in listening to music

D. age was not necessarily a problem in heart-to-heart communication

4.It can be inferred from the passage that _________.

A. the author hasn’t seen the old man since then

B. jazz music used to be more popular than rock and roll

C. the author was not satisfied with human relationships in the world

D. Carl made the author realize we humans live in peace and brotherhood

Hong Kong, major commercial center for Asia, and with a population which has grown at an alarming rate to over 5 million, is a city highly dependent on mass (大量的, 大规模的) transit of all sorts, both local and long distance. An ordinary Hong Kong worker or businessman, going about his daily activities, simply must use transportation at one time or another.    

Because Hong Kong is in two parts, Kowloon, on the mainland side, and Hong Kong, the island, with Hong Kong's harbor in between Hong Kong's mass transit systems, in addition to going over land they must also cross water.    

Going from home to work, or going shopping from one side of the harbor to the other, the Hong Kong resident has three choices. One way is to take a bus which will cross the harbor through an under water traffic tunnel moving slowly through bumper- to-bumper (一辆接一辆) traffic．Another way is by ferry boat , a pleasant ride which crosses the harbor in from seven to fifteen  minutes.    

But by far the fastest way of crossing the harbor is the newly built underground electric railway, the Hong Kong Metro(地铁). If one gets on the train in the Central District,the commercial area of Hong Kong on the island side, he can speed across the harbor in an astonishing three minutes. On the other side of the harbor the railway continues, snaking back and forth through the outlying districts of Kowloon, allowing one to get off a short distance from his destination.    

       The story of the Metro is an encouraging one for supporters of mass transit. Although building the system was certainly a challenging task, the Japanese firm hired to construct it did so in record time. Construction got underway in 1979 and it was completed in 1980.    

       For the average commuter (一般持月票往返两地的乘客) the system has only one disadvantage; it is more expensive than by bus or ferry. One can ride the bus across the harbor for half as much or he can ride the ferry across for less than one-fifth as much.

Hong Kong public transportation extends ________.

     A．over hills and valleys             B．across land and water   

     C．through mountains               D．throughout the Kowloon area

Crossing the harbor by train is ________. 

     A．by far the most economical methods

B．the most pleasant method   

     C．the least pleasant method         

D．the fastest method

The business area on the island side of Hong Kong is referred to as ________.  

     A．Kowloon                          B．the Central District   

     C．the Hong Kong Metro       D．downtown Hong Kong

The underground railway ________.   

     A．winds through Kowloon              B．ends when it reaches Kowloon   

C．snakes across the harbor                D．circles Kowloon