Are you having difficulty falling asleep? Try drinking a glass of warm milk. If that doesn’t work, listen to some soft, beautiful music. Still no luck? Try think about sheep jumping over a fence. If you are still awake, take a sleeping pill. People who take pills often become dependent on the drugs. So you lie awake knowing that the new workday will soon arrive. If you have been in such condition for at least one month, you may have primary insomnia(失眠症).
A new study has found that you might fall asleep more quickly and stay asleep longer if you try “cerebral hypothermia.” It is not a complex medical process. It just means cooling down your brain. Eric Nofzinger and Naniel Buysse from the University of Pittsburgh Medical School led the study. They examined twelve people who had sleeping problems. Twelve others had no sleeping problems. Each of them wore a soft plastic cap on their head at bedtime.
The caps had tubes inside filled with water. The researchers moved the water through the tubes and then changed the temperature of the water. Other studies showed that people who had sleeping problems often had more chemical reactions in the front of their brain. The researchers thought cooling down the brain might help.
On the first two nights of testing, the patients wore caps with no water. On the next two nights, the caps were worn, but the water was not cooled. Then the researchers cooled the water a little for another two nights. On the final two nights of the study, the temperature of the water was made much cooler. The researchers found that the water caps didn’ t help the patients until the temperature was about 14℃. Most of the patients fell asleep faster and slept better when the coolest water was moving around their head.
Dr Nfzinger and Dr. Buysse noted that this was only the beginning of the brain temperature study. But they believed they had discovered something important that needed more research.
1. The first paragraph is written to _________.| A．put forward the topic of the passage. |
| B．explain how serious insomnia is |
| C．tell us the causes of sleeping problems. |
| D．tell us the danger of having sleeping problems. |
| A．a complex medical process. |
| B．a psychological treatment. |
| C．a simple physical treatment. |
| D．a difficult scientific theory. |
| A．increasing chemical reactions in the front of their brain. |
| B．making them feel safe with a cap on their head |
| C．asking them to drink water to cool down |
| D．lowering the temperature of their brain |
| A．The cause of the study. |
| B．The function of the caps. |
| C．People’s reactions to the study. |
| D．Some details of the study. |
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【推荐1】Psychological science is full of interesting topics, many of which tell a coherent picture of human nature, but some of which create seemingly contradictory stories. A case in point is the misunderstood overlap(交叠) between strengthbased science and the research on narcissism (自恋).
There is now convincing evidence to show that narcissism is on the rise, especially in our youth. Some researchers say that about 25% of young people showing symptoms of narcissism.
We are correct to be concerned about this phenomenon, but our fear that all kids are potential narcissists has caused an unhelpful reaction against approaches that seek to make our children and teens feel good about themselves.
In my own research on strengthbased parenting, it is common for people to wrongly think this approach to be the cause of narcissism. Their argument seems to be that a child who knows their strengths will automatically view themselves as better than everyone else. It is argued that the selfassurance that comes with identifying and using their positive qualities will make a child selfish and uncaring.
Why does this occur? It’s partly because more is known about narcissism than strengths. While strengths psychology has largely stayed within the limit of academic journals, research on narcissism has made its way into the mass media and our daily life.The New York Times noted that narcissism is a favored topic and that people everywhere are diagnosing others with it.
The fear that a strengthbased approach will cause narcissism also occurs because of our binary (非此即彼的) thinking. We mistakenly believe that one cannot be both confident and humble. Without confidence in their strengths, Gandhi and Mother Teresa couldn’t have achieved so much, and yet modesty and selflessness are their qualities.
When we assume that strengthfocus is the same as selffocus, we fail to make the idea clear that people who know their strengths are, actually, more likely to be prosocial and ready to help others.
It’s easy to conclude that every young person is at risk of becoming a narcissist but I’d like to stand up for the thousands of young kids I have worked with who are caring, thoughtful and humble—even when they use their strengths.
1. Which of the following opinions may the writer agree with?| A．To state all kids are potential narcissists is overstating the case. |
| B．Strengthbased parenting results in narcissism. |
| C．It’s unhelpful for us to make our children feel good about themselves. |
| D．Children knowing their strengths tend to be more selfish and uncaring. |
| A．Many people are diagnosed with narcissism by doctors. |
| B．There is a shortage of narcissism in our common sense. |
| C．Academic journals report more on narcissism. |
| D．The general public has fewer approaches to strengths psychology. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Neutral. | C．Supportive. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Teens’ Narcissism Diagnosis | B．Teens’ Misunderstood Confidence |
| C．Teens’ StrengthBased Approach | D．Teens’ Psychology Research |
【推荐2】Of all the planets, none has captured the world's imagination like Mars. Its reddish colour and changes in brightness over time make the planet an unforgettable sight.
In Cosmos, the television science series from the 1980s, scientist Carl Sagan talked about some traditional ideas about Mars. Some of these ideas are from the English science fiction writer H. G. Well's The War of the Worlds. Others are from the mistaken science of Percival Lowell, the American astronomer who believed intelligent beings lived on Mars. Wells described Martians as threatening. Lowell imagined them as the hopeful engineers of great works. Carl Sagan said that both ideas influenced the public deeply.
Today, Mars continues to excite humans—not as the object of science fiction but of scientific study. Space scientists have collected a wealth of information from spacecrafts that have orbited, landed on and dug into the Martian surface.
The Smithsonian's "Mars Day" offered a chance for people of all ages to touch Mars, or at least a piece of it. Allison and Alycia from Silver Spring, Maryland, brought their children, Grace, Sam, Ryan and Emma. They heard about Mars and its geology from experts. They could see a test version of the Viking landers that reached Mars in July of 1976. They also saw meteorites（陨星）known to have come from the red, or reddish planet. Eight-year-old Sam learned that the ancient description of Mars as red is not exactly right. He said, “It's actually orangish more than red and it's also kind of brown, too.” Emma is six. She learned about the volcanic activity that has shaped the surface of Mars. She said, “The closest thing to Mars—the stuff—is from volcanoes mostly.”
“Mars Day” offered Allison and Alycia's children a chance to learn more about a world that they are very likely to set foot on within their lifetimes.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Why Martians were considered threatening. |
| B．Why Mars has captured the world's imagination. |
| C．What people generally thought of Mars in the past. |
| D．How H. G. Wells got the idea for his science fiction. |
| A．today's space scientists still know nothing about Mars |
| B．today's space scientists are very interested in Mars |
| C．science fiction films are no longer set in Mars |
| D．space scientists haven't made any progress in knowing Mars |
| A．Mars is not really red |
| B．no meteorites have come from Mars |
| C．Mars cannot be described as a little brown |
| D．the ancient description of Mars' colour is true |
| A．He thinks it may happen in this year. |
| B．He thinks it will always remain a dream. |
| C．He thinks it will come true within hundreds of years. |
| D．He thinks it may happen in the following decades. |
【推荐3】It is the golden decade,the time in your life when you are carefree and at your happiest.Never again will you enjoy the freedom and thrills of your 20s.A new study has now confirmed the fears of anyone approaching middle-age-people's 20s are their happiest years.
But,while researchers warn of lower life satisfaction for 40 years,there is hope.Their findings show that life does get better at 65,with happiness levels rising.Dr Ioana Ramia,from the University of New South Wales in Australia,said,"Satisfaction over life decreases from the early 20s,plateaus for about 40 years and then increases from about 65 up."
The aim of the research was to help develop policy to target specific age groups.Dr Ramia and her team found that happiness follows a U-curve with the highest levels experienced by those aged 15 to 24 and over 75.
Dr Ramia said,couples reported greatest satisfaction at life just before having their first child and a decrease from the child's first year of life through to when the child reaches six years old and starts school.She said,"It then stays low,but increases slightly,and is the highest around the age of 80.So that's something to look forward to."Her team's research shows a strong connection between the middle-age happiness state and employment opportunities and financial situations,when"money and...jobs matter most".
There was a greater emphasis on the quality of housing itself into middle age and beyond,along with neighborhood and community."At this time happiness is at its lowest and it only starts to increase when people start focusing on other things,like their free time,"said Dr Ramia.Safety was an important aspect of life satisfaction in every age group,while health appeared twice-in the mid-30s with the first awareness of physical fallibility or illness,and again later in life,she said.
Though her research had shed some light onto the drivers of happiness,Dr Ramia said the peak at young and old age remained poorly understood,with question marks around how satisfaction could remain constant across the major parameters described yet manage to increase with age overall. Defining what"satisfaction"was and how it was rated by subjects was also a challenge for future research,she said.
1. The early 20s are thought to be the happiest years possibly because people| A．enjoy their school life very much then |
| B．can enjoy more freedom during that period |
| C．usually have lots of friends in those years. |
| D．are going to have their own family in their life |
| A．keeps a relatively stable level |
| B．keeps changing |
| C．reaches a very low level |
| D．turns more complex |
| A．the factors influencing people's satisfaction at life |
| B．the differences between the young and the old |
| C．the reasons why happiness follows a U-curve |
| D．the matters concerning the middle-aged group |
| A．We still have a poor understanding on the old. |
| B．The drivers of happiness need further research. |
| C．It's still a challenge to remain happy in our life. |
| D．People are hard to be satisfied because of their age. |
【推荐1】As heat waves continue to ravage the planet, air conditioners are becoming more and more common. However, these "active" cooling devices are posing problems because the electricity consumption which most people are concerned about and the release of ozone-damaging chemicals worsen the greenhouse gas effect, resulting in the creation of heat islands and further thermal pollution. Therefore, "passive" cooling, which doesn't have such effects, has attracted considerable attention from both scientists and ordinary people in recent years.
In a recent study, a team of researchers from China and US presented an eco-friendly, low-cost smart coating to keep buildings cooler while consuming zero electricity. Infrared radiation-based passive cooling has been investigated since 2014, but challenges, mainly the expensive and unsustainable design, have greatly limited their large-scale and widespread application. Besides, the imbalance in cooling ability of these coatings during the day and night tends to lead to great day-night temperature differences as more heat is lost than gained at night.
The solution therefore requires a "smart" mechanism that can both enhance daytime cooling and minimize nighttime heat loss. To do this, the researchers created a new smart coating comprised of conventional building materials, including titanium dioxide nanoparticles, fluorescent microparticles, and glass microspheres that were engineered to reflect most of the sunlight. Specifically, the titanium dioxide particles effectively reflect sunlight through light scattering（撒播）while the fluorescent particles increase the amount of reflection by changing the absorbed sunlight into fluorescence emissions, which drive more heat away from the building. Meanwhile, the glass microspheres re-send mid-infrared broadband radiation, allowing not only heat loss, but allowing heat exchange to take place between the building and the sky.
The coating was tested on a model concrete building. Through this efficient heat exchange with the sky, daytime cooling was strengthened while nighttime cooling was reduced. The building's inside temperature was always maintained at around 26℃, even when the out-side temperature varied from 24℃ to 37℃ during the day. We believe this new coating will make it to commercialization soon, enabling a sustainable, passive cooling technology that could help to fight climate change and the global energy crisis.
1. What is the virtue of passive cooling?| A．It is simple to design. | B．It uses no chemicals. |
| C．It is smart. | D．It uses no power. |
| A．It was hard to design. |
| B．Its material was hard to produce. |
| C．Its heat loss and cooling are imbalanced. |
| D．It wasn't tested on a model concrete building. |
| A．Metal. | B．System. | C．Platform. | D．Building. |
| A．The principle of air-conditioning. |
| B．The differences between active and passive cooling. |
| C．A new coating to keep buildings cool without electricity. |
| D．A new building to maintain its inside temperature without electricity. |
【推荐2】A growing number of American states are requiring schools to teach students “media literacy” skills. California is the latest state to pass such a requirement. Media literacy, also known as news literacy, is the ability to use critical thinking skills to recognize differences between real and “fake” news.
The new law requires California’s Department of Education to provide materials related to media literacy on its website. Its goal is to give students a set of effective tools to “enable them to make informed decisions”.
The media literacy efforts were based on a Stanford University study from 2016. It found that 80 percent of U.S. middle school students failed to recognize an advertisement that looked like a real news story. The researchers also found that high school students had trouble telling the difference between a real and a fake news website.
The study called for more efforts to help students recognize false information on the internet. It said that young people also need the skills to find out where news stories come from, and to be able to judge the trustworthiness of sources and writers.
Carolyn Edy is a professor of communication at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. She said she has seen a clear change in her students’ abilities to judge news sources. Edy said that when students used to read printed newspapers, it was easier for them to recognize fact from opinion. Now, it’s necessary to teach students how to fully examine websites.
One of Edy’s goals is to teach students how to research the news organizations responsible for the stories they are reading. One way to do this is for students to ask a series of questions. One example is, “What is the overall mission of the organization?”
Edy said young people also need to judge whether news organizations identify any possible conflicts of interest. Another question to ask is, “What do they do when they get a story wrong?” Responsible and trustworthy news organizations issue corrections if something is falsely reported, she said.
Edy added that one good thing to come out of the rise of misinformation and fake news is that it has made many people seek out good reporting.
1. The new law passed in California mainly aims at _____.| A．helping students identify fake news | B．improving students’ critical thinking skills |
| C．offering students real information | D．enabling students to make quick decisions |
| A．To present the details of the law. | B．To provide a set of tools for the law. |
| C．To show the reason behind the law. | D．To indicate the efforts based on the law. |
| A．Identifying the conflicts of interest in it. |
| B．Correcting its falsely reported news stories. |
| C．Learning about its background information. |
| D．Asking a series of questions about its news. |
| A．can contribute to the rise of good news reporting |
| B．is becoming much more important with the law passed |
| C．can improve American students’ understanding of news |
| D．is increasingly recognized as essential for students in the US |
【推荐3】Wildlife in New York City tends to be headline news. These animals' admirable ability to live with humans in peace draws our attention and sympathy. Yet, what most New Yorkers don't even know is that another animal, the Quaker Parrot, has invaded (入侵) the city with surprising results.
Quaker parrots originally came from the mild regions of Argentina and Brazil. The details related to the birds' arrival to the U. S. have become a thing of legend. During the 1960s, workers at JFK International Airport reported that the parrots—then products of the pet trade—escaped from broken shipping trunks (箱子). Others say the birds escaped from their homes or were intentionally released by their owners, some of whom may have been unprepared to deal with the birds' unpleasant screams. Either way, the birds have now infiltrated (渗透) all five districts in New York within the last five years. They've also expanded into the lower Hudson Valley and major cities around the U. S.
Each bird is born knowing how to build a nest, although this skill is adjusted slightly with age and experience. The birds use their soft feet to build these free-standing nests in between tree forks. Nest structures can grow to the size of a refrigerator, housing up to 200 pairs of birds. Each nest can weigh more than a ton.
Unfortunately, these parrots' unique habit of building nests on public facilities can cause their homes to catch fire, taking down the electrical network. Con Edison, New York City's energy services company, realized about 14 years ago that these nests were behind a series of Power outages (停电) in Brooklyn. So the company partners with wildlife specialists to carefully remove nests from dangerous areas before they become a security risk.
Despite the challenges these parrots present for the public, they are one of the few invasive species stories with a fairly happy outcome. The parrots seem to pose no risk of overpopulating the neighborhood or outcompeting native species for food. And public service corporations arrange special teams to keep equipment free from birds, and the parrots have become a largely welcomed addition to New York's wildlife scene.
1. What do we know about Quaker parrots according to the passage?| A．They have charming voices. | B．They are from South America. |
| C．They are only active in New York. | D．Their nests look like a refrigerator. |
| A．Size. | B．Screams. |
| C．Popularity. | D．Nest building. |
| A．The birds are welcome. | B．The birds need protection. |
| C．The birds are in danger. | D．The birds are trouble makers. |
| A．Magical Birds' Nest. | B．Prefer Jungle to Buildings? |
| C．Parrots Living in Urban Jungle. | D．Help Parrots Survive in Cities? |
