【推荐1】For hundreds of years, people have been wondering about the strange places that they seem to visit in their sleep.     1     However, they have been valued as necessary to a person's health and happiness. Historically people thought dreams contained messages from God. It was only in the twentieth century that people started to study dreams scientifically believing that they tell about a person’s character.    2     He believed that dreams allow a person to express fantasies or fears, which would be socially unacceptable in real life.

The second theory to become popular was Carl Jung’s compensation theory Jung, a former student of Freud, said that the purpose of a dream is not to hide something, but rather to communicate it to the dreamer.    3     Thus, people who think too highly of themselves may dream about falling; those who think too little of themselves dream of being heroes.

Using more recent research, William Domhoff from the University of California found that dreaming is a mental skill that needs time to develop in humans.    4     Until they reach age five, they cannot express very well what their dreams are about. Once people become adults, there is little or no change in their dreams. The dreams of men and women differ. For instance, the characters that appear in the dreams of men are often other men, and often involve physical aggression.

The meaning of dreams continues to be difficult to understand.     5     If you dream that a loved one is going to die, do not panic The dream may have meaning, but it does not mean that your loved one is going to die.

A．Dreams make up for what is lacking in waking life.

B．However, people should not take their dreams as reality.

C．They have been considered as meaningless nighttime journeys.

D．It gives scientists chances to better understand human mind.

E．Children do not dream as much as adults.

F．They think their mind is trying to tell them something.

G．First, there was Sigmund Freud’s theory.

【推荐2】Putting a dinosaur skeleton (骨架) together is not easy. The skeletons are usually very incomplete. Many dinosaur fossils(化石)   are discovered badly damaged. Bones are often found crushed (压碎) or bent by the great weight of the dirt and rock above. Sometimes parts from different creatures are mixed together. This just adds to the confusion.

Unfortunately, some scientists have not been careful enough in their descriptions of dinosaurs. They have told grand stories of how dinosaurs looked and behaved. All of these descriptions are based on guesswork—the imaginations of people who have never seen a living dinosaur. Some scientists have made complete pictures of dinosaurs based on just a single bone or tooth or leg. Such pictures are based on many guesses and very little facts. The scientists’ ideas often turn out to be wrong when more facts are discovered.

Dinosaur fossils are not found with labels attached showing what the animals looked like. That is why no pictures of dinosaurs are exactly right. Every dinosaur painting is sure to contain at least some wrong information. No artist in the twentieth century ever saw the living, breathing animals—complete with skin, flesh, and color.

For instance imagine never having seen or heard of a peacock. One day you find the jumbled bones of it buffed in the ground. You try to put the bones together to form a skeleton. And then you try to draw a picture of what the animal looked like when it was alive. But bones cannot tell the whole story. Even if you are a very good artist, it would be a miracle if you drew a tree picture of a peacock just from the bones and your imagination.

1. Which of the following is NOT a reason why putting a dinosaur skeleton together is difficult?

A．No one has seen a living dinosaur.

B．Dinosaur bones are too complicated when found.

C．Dinosaur bones are crushed or bent when found.

D．Dinosaur bones are mixed with other animals’ bones when found.

2. According to Paragraph 2, we can infer that 　　　.

A．the descriptions of dinosaurs contain some wrong information

B．some scientists are very careful in their descriptions of dinosaurs

C．some scientists have made complete pictures of dinosaurs based on facts

D．the ideas of scientists are often proved wrong when more facts are discovered

3. Taking a peacock as an example, the author shows that　　　.

A．it is easy to put the peacock bones together to form a skeleton

B．it is not easy to put the peacock bones together to form a skeleton

C．a very good artist can draw a good picture even if he has never seen a peacock

D．it is impossible to draw a correct picture based on the bones and one’s imagination

【推荐1】The iPhone, the iPad: each of Apple’s products sounds cool and has become a fashion. Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i” —and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer —which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet —used the title in 2008. A lovely bear— popular in the US and UK—that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”. A slimmed-down version(简装本) of London’s Independent newspaper was started last week under the name “I”.

In general, single-letter prefixes(前缀) have been popular since the 1990s, when terms like e-mail first came into use.

Most “i” products are aimed at young people and considering the major readers of independent’s “i”, it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.

But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”. Why not use “a”, “b”, or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, head of the Language Center at King’s College, London, “i” works because its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”, no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or interactive, Thorne told BBC Magazines. “Even when Apple created the iPod, it seems it didn’t have one clear definition,” he says.

“However, thanks to Apple, the term is now connected with portability (轻便) .”adds Thorne.

Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western World is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and we love personalized products for this reason.

Along with “Google” and “blog”, readers of BBC Magazines voted “i” as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last ten years.

But as history shows, people grow tired of fashions. From the 1900s to 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was connected with all things advanced and modern. However, as we entered the new century, the fashion disappeared.

1. People use iPlayer to __________.

A．read newspapers	B．watch TV programs online
C．make a call	D．listen to music

2. We can infer that the Independent’s “i” is designed for _________.

A．engineers	B．old readers
C．fashionable women	D．young readers

3. The underlined word “ambiguous” means “__________”.

A．popular

B．clear

C．uncertain

D．unique

4. Paragraph 6 connects the power of “i” with ________.

A．Apple’s products	B．information technology
C．the Western culture	D．the Internet

5. The last paragraph suggests that __________.

A．the popularity of “i” products may not last long

B．the letter “b” replace letter “i” to name the products

C．fashions don’t necessarily change with time

D．“i” products are often of high quality

【推荐2】In the long dispute over whether dogs are smarter than cats, a recent study published in the journal Learning & Behavior suggests that dogs are no more exceptional than other animals when it comes to smartness and intelligence.

The news is sure to cause the debate among dog owners and scientists who study dog behaviors. The authors reviewed existing studies and data on animal cognition (认知) and found that while dogs are smart and trainable, they are not “super smart”, despite what most dog owners will tell you. Dog research was quite popular in the 1990s and continues to be so. When it came to other animals, though, scientific studies on intelligence were barely involved in, despite evidence to suggest that horses, chimpanzees ( 黑猩猩 ) and cats had tricks of their own. Almost everything a dog claimed to do, other animals could do too.

Researchers set out to test the supposition (假设，猜想). They compared dog cognition with members of three similar groups: meat-eating animals, social hunters and farm animals. Among the animals they studied were wolves, cats, chimpanzees, dolphins, horses and pigeons. What they found was that “dog cognition does not look exceptional”. Dogs can not use tools, unlike dolphins, New Caledonian crows and chimpanzees, which have been observed using plant stems to hunt for termites (白蚁). Homing pigeons are trained to fly home, sometimes crossing hundreds of miles of unfamiliar area. At the same time, farm animals share similar characters with their dog partners. Horses, like dogs, perform complex tasks. And cats? They have more in common with dogs than one might think. Still it is much easier to show intelligence in dogs because they like to be trained. Dogs are not smarter than they are supposed to be, given what they are.

1. What opinion does the recent study hold about dogs?

A．They can be trained to do many things.

B．They don’t have any intelligent advantage.

C．They’re lazy compared with chimpanzees.

D．They show exceptional smartness when trained.

2. How did the researchers conduct the study?

A．By referring to existing studies and data.

B．By comparing animals’ cognition ability.

C．By questionnaire surveys on dog owners.

D．By observing different animals’ behaviors.

3. What do we infer about cats from the last paragraph?

A．Cats can use tools to fish.

B．Cats can go home from far away.

C．Cats can learn to do complex tasks.

D．Cats are more unwilling to be trained.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Cats are smarter than they were.

B．Dogs aren’t so clever as we think.

C．Any animal is smart and trainable.

D．All animals should be treated equally.