A strange thing happens to nearly everybody at night. They turn off the lights, put up the covers and close their eyes. Six or seven hours later, they wake up again. Strange, isn’t it?

    Sleep puzzles science. Scientists and doctors would rather talk about why one can’t fall asleep. They are not so sure what causes sleep.

    The best conditions for sleep, they say, are good health and meal neither too big nor too small. No worries and a comfortable place to sleep in are important, too. They advise against two in one bed.

    Strange things happen during sleep. For example, you move often. You would feel tired if you didn’t. You also dream. Part of your brain is still awake when you dream. Dreaming happens when the memory and imagination parts of your brain are still awake. Experiments have shown that bad dreams may be caused by a stomachache.

    Don’t worry if you dream. Some great stories and poems were begun while the writers slept.

41. Sleep puzzles scientists because they are not certain _______. 

why one can’t fall asleep

why one wakes up six or seven sleeping hours later

both A and B

D. what causes sleep

42. You would feel tired during sleep if you ________.

A. move often           B. sleep on your back     C. didn’t move    D. went back too later

43. Dreaming happens when _______.

   A. you are in a deep sleep                           B. you are not comfortable

   C. part of our brain is still awake               D. there’s too much noise  in the room

44. The best title for this passage is ________.

   A. Why You Dream                              B. The Strangeness of Sleep

   C. What Happens During Sleep            D. The Cause of Sleep    

Once again, I was in a new school. So was a girl in my class named Lisa. That’s where the similarities ended.

I was tall and she was small. My thick black hair had been recently cut short into an untidy style. Her natural blonde hair flowed to her waist and looked great. I was 12 and one of the oldest in the class while she was 11 and the youngest. I was awkward and shy. She wasn’t. I couldn’t stand her, considering her my enemy. But she liked me and wanted to be friends.

One day, she invited me over and I said yes—I was too shocked to answer any other way. My family had moved six times in six years, and I had never managed to develop any friendships. But this girl who wore the latest fashions wanted me to go home with her after school.

She lived in a fun part of town that had two pizza places, an all-right bookstore, a movie theater and a park. As we walked from the school bus stop through her neighborhood, I tried to guess which house might be hers. Was it the white one with the perfect lawn or the three –story house with a front porch? I got very surprised when she led me into an old apartment building. She lived on the fourth floor in a two-room place with her mother, her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister.

When we got into the room she shared with her sister, she took out a big case of Barbies, which was my next surprise. I had never played with them. We sat on the floor, laughing as we made up crazy stories about the Barbies. We found out that we both wanted to be writers when we were older and both had wild imaginations. We had a great day that afternoon .

Lisa was loved by the whole neighborhood. The bookstore owners lent her fashion magazines; the movie theater gave her free tickets…. Soon I was included in her magic world. We slept over at each other’s houses and spent every free moment together.

Lisa, my first real friend since childhood, helped me get through the rough years of early adolescence and taught me an amazing and very surprising thing about making friends: your worst enemy can turn out to be your best friend.

1.The writer and Lisa were similar in the way that          .

A．they were both new students

B．they had the same hair styles

C．they were both tall

D．they were of the same age

2.One day Lisa invited the writer         .

A．to go to the movie

B．to go to walk in a park

C．to go to her home

D．to go to a pizza place

3.In the passage the writer described Lisa as a girl who was       .

A．friendly and lovely                      B．rich and happy

C．quiet and lonely                        D．awkward and shy

4.Which of the following did the writer learn from Lisa?

A．How to make up stories.                  B．How to deal with enemies.

C．How to live a better life.                  D．How to make friends.

 I told my friend Graham that I often cycle t miles to my company, but unfortunately there is a big hill on my way. He replied, “You are    1   .” He explained that I should be thankful for the extra exercise that the hill provided.

My attitude to the hill has now changed. I used to    2    as I approached it, but now I think that this hill will exercise my heart and lungs and it will    3    me to lose weight and get fit. This hill is my friend. I even feel sorry for those who    4    to go to a gym and sit on exercise bicycles    5    I can get the same value for free.

We cannot achieve anything with an easy life. Helen Keller was the first deaf and blind person to gain a university    6   . She wrote, “Character cannot be developed    7   . Only through experiences of trial and    8    can the soul be strengthened, ambition    9    and success achieved.”

One of the main factors of success in life is our attitude towards adversity (逆境).    10   we face hardships, problems and difficulties. We cannot    11    the adversity, but we can choose our attitude towards it. Douglas Bader was twenty-one when he had both legs cut off following a flying     12   . He was determined to fly again and became one of the leading    13    in Britain. He said, “Don’t listen to anyone    14    tells you that you can’t do this or that. That’s nonsense. Go to school, and join in all the games you can. Make up your mind, and you’ll succeed.”

Great people rise from adversity. Their common quality is that they did not become    15    in face of adversity. They chose to be positive. They took on the challenge and they won.

1.  A. unlucky          B. smart                C. lucky                D. brave

2. A. cry               B. smile                C. sing             D. complain

3. A. advise                B. persuade         C. help             D. expect

4. A. decide                B. manage           C. seem             D. pay

5. A. before                B. while                C. where                D. unless

6. A. degree                B. position         C. course               D. paper

7. A. with fear         B. at work          C. on purpose           D. in ease

8.  A. happiness            B. travel               C. learning         D. suffering

9.  A. inspired         B. developed            C. damaged          D. formed

10.     A. From time to time    B. Day and night        C. Around the clock D. For the time being

11. A. accept               B. recognize            C. stand                D. choose

12. A. accident         B. incident         C. experience           D. test

13. A. soldiers         B. doctors          C. pilots               D. writers

14. A. while                B. whose                C. whom             D. who

15. A. encouraged           B. puzzled          C. defeated         D. shocked

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

How to keep healthy and be happy

 1. Who wouldn’t want to know how to be joyful and enjoy good health?

 2. Try to follow the food pyramid(金字塔). Eat a lot of fresh fruits or vegetables, some whole grains and fiber, a little bit of dairy, a little bit of meat, and very little sugar and fat.

 3. To exercise you can run, do sit-ups, push-ups, etc., lift weights, walk around your neighborhood.

 4. It is best to get at least seven hours of sleep a day because lack of sleep can harm your health. To form a regular sleep habit, go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each morning. It may seem hard at first, but it will get easier after you’ve done it for a while.

Keep yourself busy. This is good because it prevents you from having bad habits, such as smoking and taking drugs. It is also important to keep busy with positive tasks.  5. To keep yourself busy you can work around the house, spend time with your pets. Write in a journal, do a sport, or spend time doing a hobby you enjoy.

Remember that nothing is worth sacrificing(牺牲)health and happiness for, so avoid anything that destroys them. Do not do anything harmful to yourself such as doing drugs, smoking, or hanging around and being influenced by negative people.

A．Be social and have friends.

B．Good health and happiness are important goals in life.

C．Eat balanced meals.

D．Worrying is harmful, and work is good for the mind as well as the body.

E. Take some exercise regularly.

F. Make sure you get eight hours of sleep daily.

G. Form regular sleep habits.

Without plant, people could not live. We eat plants. We breathe the oxygen（氧气）that plants produce. And we need plants for another reason: we need them for their beauty.

Imagine a world with no plants. Imagine no flowers with their sweet smells, their beautiful colors and their lovely shapes. Imagine when the wind blows, not being able to hear the leaves in the trees or watch the branches sway（摇摆）from side to side.

Everywhere people need the beauty of plants. That is why we have parks full of trees and flowers. That is why people always try to design houses with room for some grass and a garden.

Do you talk to your plants? Do you give them love and attention?

Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, writers of a book called THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS, tell of an experiment in which two seeds were planted in different places. While the plants were growing, one plant was given love and hopeful ideas. The other plant was given only hopeless ideas. After six months, the loved plant was bigger. Under the earth it had more and longer roots; above the earth, it had a thicker stem (茎) and more leaves.

1.According to the passage, which of the following is right?

A．If there are no flowers, there will be no sweet smells.

B．Without plants, we can’t hear the wind.

C．We need plants not only for food and oxygen but also for their beauty.

D．We plant trees to watch the branches sway from side to side.

2.In the experiment, the plants were________.

A．of different kinds                       B．Talked to in two different ways

C．both given love and attention              D．grown in the same place

3.At the end of six months,________.

A．one plant had longer roots than the other and had a thicker stem

B．one plant had longer roots while the other had a thicker stem

C．the plants were of the same size

D．one plant had a thicker stem while the other plant had more leaves

4.The experiment has proved（证明） that________-.      

A．without plants people could not live

B．we should talk to plants and give them love

C．we should grow as many plants as possible

D．plants need plenty of water, sunshine and attention