【推荐1】Regardless of their preferred mode, bats, elephant, honeybee, humans and more all sleep. In fact, scientists have yet to find a truly sleepless creature. But is sleep really necessary for survival?

Most humans will acknowledge that sleep is absolutely necessary. People often struggle to function after even just one sleepless night. Poor sleep over the long term has been linked to many negative health effects, from heart disease and stroke to weight gain and diabetes(糖尿病) . These connections, and the fact that all animals seem to sleep, suggest that sleep must play an essential function for animals. But what is that function? Does sleep allow the brain to repair damage and process information? Scientists and thinkers have offered explanations for why we sleep, and yet, the exact purpose of sleep remains an open question.

In the 1890s, Marie de Manaceine, a female physician in Russia, was troubled by the mystery of sleep. In her quest to figure out what exactly sleep is, she conducted the firstsleep-deprivationexperiment in animals.

Using an approach that now seems quite cruel, the physician kept puppies continuously awake, finding that they died after a few days of the experiment. Over following decades, further such experiments using other animals found similarly fatal results. However, the underlying cause of death in these cases, and how it relates to sleep are still unknown.

While total sleeplessness seems dangerous, some creatures can get by with a remarkably short sleep. They could be the key to understanding sleep's function, scientists have said.

A study published in Science Advances monitored the sleeping habits of fruit flies. "We found that some flies hardly ever slept," study co-author Giorgio Gilestro told Live Science."But these flies didn't die prematurely(过早)，like the Russian puppies did. These virtually sleepless flies instead lived just as long as a control group that was left to sleep normally"."

In a 2016 study, Rattenborg and his colleagues provided great frigatebirds in the Galapagos Islands with a small device to measure electrical activity in the brain. The study found that the frigatebirds, while flying, slept on average just 42 minutes per day, even though they typically got more than 12 hours of shut-eye on land.

Does Rattenborg think we'll ever find an animal that doesn't sleep at all?

"Anything is possible," he said, "however, an emerging pattern among the studies of short-sleeping animals is that none are completely sleepless. This preservation of a little sleep suggests that there is a minimum amount of sleep that is essential, even in these remarkable short sleepers."

1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．Dangers of sleeplessness.	B．Manners of sleep.
C．Functions of sleep.	D．Survivals from sleeplessness.

2. What does the underlined word "sleep-deprivation" in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Sound sleep.	B．Lack of sleep.
C．Secret of sleep.	D．Amount of sleep.

3. What do all the mentioned findings have in common?

A．Animals need equal amount of sleep.

B．Animals sleep in different ways.

C．Sleep determines creatures' survival.

D．Creatures need more or less sleep for survival.

4. What's the best title for the passage?

A．What Is the Function of Sleep?	B．Do Sleeping Habits Matter?
C．What Is the Mystery of Sleep?	D．Can Any Animal Survive without Sleep?

【推荐2】Children who use screens for seven hours or more a day are showing signs that their brain cortex（大脑皮层）is thinning prematurely（过早地）, according to a new major US study.

The ongoing $300 million research is funded by the National Institute of Health and shows results of the effects of technology on children.   The aim of the study, called Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development, is also to show how screen time affects emotional development and mental health. The researchers also determined that children who spend more than two hours of daily screen time score lower on thinking and language tests.

Researchers made the early findings by scanning the brains of 4, 500 children.

The brain cortex is the outermost layer of neural（神经中枢的） tissue that processes information from the physical world. It is critical for cognitive functions such as perception（直觉）, language, memory and consciousness but thins as we mature into old age.

Though the difference was significant from participants who spent less time using smart devices, the study director cautioned against drawing a conclusion.

Dr Gaya Dowling, an NIH doctor working on the project, cautioned against drawing a conclusion because they aren’t completely sure it’s being caused by the increased use of modern technology. They won’t be able to draw a definitive outcome until they follow them over the course of several years.

Dr Dowling said: “It won’t be until we follow them over time that we will see if there are outcomes that are associated with the differences that we’re seeing in this single snapshot.”

A 2014 study showed that there is a direct correlation between the thickness of the brain cortex and IQ score. The cortex begins to thin after the age of five or six as part of the normal aging process.

The findings showed that people with a significant increase in IQ did not have the expected cortical thinning and people with a significant decrease in IQ had exaggerated（夸张） cortical（皮质的）thinning.

A major data release of the initial data is scheduled for early 2019.

1. What belongs to the findings of the new major US study?

A．Screen time can result in a smaller brain.

B．The brain cortex gets thinner as we mature into old age.

C．Too much exposure to screen can lead to a poorer health.

D．Children who are interested in computer are academically poor.

2. Why is Dr Gaya Dowling against drawing a conclusion?

A．There are some doubts about their findings.

B．He thinks that further study is needed.

C．The number of the participants is not large enough.

D．They should ask for the government’s permission.

3. What is the finding of the 2014 study?

A．The brain cortex has much to do with IQ score.

B．The brain cortex’s thickness is determined by IQ.

C．Different people have different cortical thinning.

D．Aging is a natural process for creatures.

4. What will probably happen when a person reaches the age of five or six?

A．His IQ score will get higher and higher.

B．He will be more addicted to modern technology.

C．He will show more interest in modern technology.

D．His brain cortex will become thinner and thinner.

【推荐3】For much of history, reading was a fairly noisy activity. On clay tablets written in ancient Iraq and Syria some 4,000 years ago, the commonly used words for “to read” literally(照字面地) meant “to cry out” or “to listen”.

    1     The majority of us bottle the words in our heads as if sitting in a quiet library. Reading out loud is largely reserved for bedtime stories and performances.

But a growing body of research suggests that we may be missing out by reading only with the voices inside our minds.     2     It helps improve our memories, understand complex texts and strengthen emotional bonds between people. And far from being a rare or outdated activity, it is still surprisingly common in modern life. Many of us intuitively (直觉地) use it as a convenient tool for making sense of the written word, and are just not aware of it.

Colin MacLeod, a psychologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada, has researched the impact of reading aloud on memory.     3     However, it works for older people, too. “It’s beneficial throughout the age range,” he says.

In one study, a group of children were presented with a list of words and asked to read some silently, and others aloud. Afterwards, they correctly recognized 87% of the words they’d read aloud, but only 70% of the silent ones.

In another study, adults aged 67 to 88 were given the same task. They should read words either silently or aloud.     4     They were able to recall 27% of the words they had read aloud, but only 10% of those they’d read silently.

Many of us are intuitively aware of the benefits of reading aloud and use the technique more than we might realize. Some said they read out funny emails or messages to entertain others. Others read aloud prayers and blessings for spiritual reasons. Writers and translators read drafts to themselves to hear the rhythm and flow. People also read aloud to make sense of recipes, contracts and densely written texts.     5    

A．Today, silent reading is the norm.

B．It is worth making a bit more time for reading out loud.

C．Reading silently has distinct advantages, especially speed.

D．Then they were to write down all those they could remember.

E．The ancient art of reading aloud has a number of benefits for adults.

F．For many, reading aloud brought joy, comfort and a sense of belonging.

G．The memory-boosting effect of reading aloud is especially strong in children.

【推荐1】Like people from most countries， the people of the British Isles speak kinds of dialects． A dialect is a different version （版本） of a main language． It has different words and has something to do with the culture of the place in which it is spoken． It is usually spoken with a certain accent． Although it may be different， however， a dialect is usually not so different that an outsider can't understand what is being said．

Speakers of dialects in Britain are often proud of them． For this reason， when you visit an area with a dialect， particularly when it is a place visited by tourists， gift stores will sell books about the local words．

The dialects of Northern Ireland have a great many words that other Britons have never heard of． An unusual example I recently learned from this part of the world is "boke"， which means "vomit （呕吐）"． The nearly poetic words of the Cockneys （伦敦东区的人） of the East End of London are famous throughout the world because they can be so clever and humorous． Here is a piece of rhyming slang （押韵俚语）： A "whistle and flute" is cockney for "suit"．

It is true that there are fewer dialects in Britain today than there were a hundred years ago， and far fewer than there were 200 years ago． The reason is quite clear： The modern world and its opportunities（机会） for communication have made the differences between people much smaller． When people speak and listen to more people from a much larger area than their mothers and fathers did， the differences between the ways they speak get smaller．

This means that there are now far fewer problems understanding each other when British people， say， from the outer Hebrides of Scotland speak with people from Cornwall in the southwest of the country． Also， English speakers from all over the world can generally understand each other． Of course， if dialects had not become less important， it would have been much more difficult for English as a second language to be such a big success all over the world!

1. How do people in Britain usually feel about their dialects？ ______

A．They consider them useless．	B．They often ignore them．
C．They are ashamed of them．	D．They take pride in them．

2. How are dialects in Britain changing according to the text？ ______

A．The number of dialects is getting smaller．

B．There won't be any dialects in the near future．

C．There are fewer dialects in Northern Ireland than in other parts．

D．There were more dialects 100 years ago than there were 200 years ago．

3. What is a result of the change in dialects spoken in Britain？ ______

A．It has caused people more problems in understanding each other．

B．It has made the British culture much less attractive．

C．It has played its part in helping English become a world language．

D．It has created more opportunities for communication．

4. The best title of the text would be ______ ．

A．Dialect speakers in Britain

B．Dialects in Britain

C．The influence （影响） of British dialects

D．The future of British dialects

【推荐2】“All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” But now scientists have given us another warning: too much play with smartphones or computers makes you dull too.

“Many focus on the benefits of digital devices (设备) in education but ignore the costs,” said Patricia Greenfield from the University of California, “losing the ability to understand the emotions of other people is one of the costs.” Greenfield and her research team did an experiment. They worked with 105 children who spend about 4.5 hours in front of screens on a school day. The students were asked to describe the emotions towards the pictures of people who were happy, sad, angry or scared. Then, half of them attended a five-day nature and science camp. There they had no smartphones, TV, or computers. The other half stayed in school and spent the five days as usual. Five days later, all the children took the test again.

Students who had been to the camp got about 5 percent more answers correct than they had done before the camp. But the other group of students didn’t show much improvement. The study is not perfect in some ways, said the researchers. But scientists say that the study is still a warning for us.

“Emotional skills develop in practice and the brain develops through real interaction,” said Professor Taylor, a professor at the University of San Francisco.

Researchers talked to 2,000 parents of children aged 2 — 16 in the UK about what activities their children could do confidently. The results were surprising: their children could use a tablet (平板电脑) (59%) and work a mobile phone (57%) more confidently than they could tie their shoe laces (鞋带) (53%)! So, spend more time away from mobile phones and computers if you want to be an understanding friend, and not a member of what the Daily Mail called “Generation Helpless”.

1. According to Professor Greenfield, what’s the possible result of using digital media in education?

A．Being on bad terms with family members.	B．Making more mistakes when taking exams.
C．Falling far behind others in all schoolwork.	D．Failing to relate to other people’s emotions.

2. What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about?

A．The background of the experiment	B．The process of the experiment
C．The results of the experiment	D．The purpose of the experiment

3. What do scientists think of the results of Greenfield’s experiment?

A．They are alarming for people.	B．They are far from perfect.
C．They are quite surprising.	D．They don’t need to be improved.

4. What’s the purpose of writing the text?

A．To warn us to stay away from the Internet.

B．To explain how people become the Internet addicts.

C．To advise children to spend less time on screens.

D．To show digital devices are essential for modern education.