Yawning (打哈欠) is something we all do — maybe because we’re bored carrying out boring tasks or because we’re tired. Sometimes, just seeing other people yawn can set you off.
Many of us think we open our mouths when we yawn to take in more air, but in fact there is no clear connection. A new research suggests it might be because yawning lower the temperature of the brain and prevents it from overheating, much like the fan in your computer. This might be why we’re more likely to feel sleepy and yawn in warm temperatures.
We yawn more when we’re tired and ready for a sleep, and we can’t control when we do it! But it’s also true that yawning is a very contagious behaviour. John Drury, a researcher from Sussex University, told the BBC that “it’s something that you can’t stop. Dogs yawn when their owners yawn, and animals yawn to each other. It happens whether you want to or not.”
His research into this behaviour showed that there is a connection with our social group and how close we are to the people in it. If we are closely connected with the person who has the behaviour, we are likely to copy it too.
Another research by the University of Nottingham found similar results. Researchers found people hardly avoided yawning when others around them yawned. They also found, when using electrical stimulation (刺激), that they were able to increase people’s wish to yawn. These findings could be useful because they could help treat other conditions like Tourette’s (图雷特氏综合症).
1. We may yawn in a warm house because ________.| A．yawning helps us take in warm air | B．yawning helps cool the brain down |
| C．the warm temperature makes us sleepy | D．yawning can make us have a clear mind |
| A．文明的 | B．常见的 | C．有传染性的 | D．可控制的 |
| A．We yawn more to take in more air. |
| B．We can’t control ourselves when we yawn. |
| C．Two universities found the similar result on yawning. |
| D．We will yawn when we are close to the people who yawn. |
| A．Why Do We Yawn | B．The Secret of Sleep |
| C．The Advantages of Yawning | D．How Does Yawning Influence Us |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Sleep and Weight
A couple of groups of researchers have found the reason why people are getting fatter. Researchers from the University of Chicago recruited (征募) 12 young men who came to their sleep lab on four different nights. Two nights, the men slept only four hours. The other two nights, they slept ten hours. Researchers Van Carter headed the study.
"After two nights of either short sleep or long sleep, we checked in their blood every 20 minutes or 30 minutes the levels of the hormone stimulating appetite (刺激食欲)."
They also checked the hormone that signals the brain when you're full. They found that when the men slept 10 hours, they woke up with normal levels of hormone and normal appetite. But when they slept only four hours, they had higher levels of hormone that stimulates appetite and lower levels of the hormone that signals fullness.
"Yeah, our study suggests that short sleep does modify the hormone that controls appetite in such a way that one is hungrier."
And not only were the men hungry, but also what they wanted to eat wasn't nutritious (有营养的).
"The foods that they preferred were candy, cookies, cake, ice cream, potato chips, pretzels, bread, pasta, rice, all high carbohydrate (碳水化合物) food."
Another study came to similar results. Researchers at Stanford University analyzed (分析) data from over 1, 000 volunteers who answered questions about sleep habits and also had their hormone levels measured. Psychiatrist (精神病专家) Emmmanuel Meno saw the same increase in the hormone stimulating appetite, and the same decrease (降低) in hormone that signals fullness.
"What's interesting about it is that it's counter-intuitive (反直觉的), because most people would say, 'Oh, yes. If you sleep a lot, you are lazy and you're going to be overweight.' and actually that's not what we observe (观察)."
Over the past forty years, American adults have cut down their average sleep time. They slept about eight and a half hours. Today, it's down to seven or less. Meno says Americans might want to reconsider (重新考虑) the amount of time they sleep.
"Now I think what we are finding is that it's important to sleep the right amount, and healthy sleep is as important as exercise and nutrition. I think, indeed, people who are overweight should sleep a little more. But if they treat better their sleep, it may help them to lose weight."
1. According to the passage, the researchers find that ________.| A．it's easier to get overweight if we don't have enough sleep |
| B．our emotions make great influence on the quality of sleep |
| C．we will lose weight more easily if we often stay up late |
| D．taking enough exercise will make us keep good shapes |
| A．have a pale face and feel very tired the next morning |
| B．feel a little hungry and have something to eat eagerly |
| C．have no sense of sleep and keep awake all the night |
| D．have high blood pressure and result as a bad headache |
| A．provide | B．prevent | C．change | D．improve |
| A．Most of the Americans will insist on increasing their sleeping time. |
| B．Overweight people will control their food instead of taking exercise. |
| C．It's necessary to check the levels of hormone in our blood every day. |
| D．Americans are facing the problem of getting overweight at present. |
【推荐2】The Internet is a big place. Nobody has time to look at every website to find something. Search engines(引擎) like Yahoo give us the help we need.
Yahoo started in 1994 as the work of two Stanford University students, David Filo and Jerry Yang. They started by making a list of their favorite websites. As their websites got more , they made a database (数据库) to keep their information. They let everybody use it for free. Soon, thousands of people were using their service.
Then they made a new kind of software (软件). It looked at websites all over the Internet. It could take the information and plan for people to look at. If you search for “blue whales”, the engine will give you all the websites with those words.
Yahoo became a public company in 1996. Filo and Yang, still young men, had much money. As their company grew, they still worked hard. They improved their software. They also added (增加) more services like shopping, free e-mail, to many different countries with different languages.
Yahoo. com is famous on the Internet. And unlike most other web companies, Yahoo earns (挣) money in fact.
1. When Yang and Filo wrote the first Yahoo software, they ________.| A．made people pay to use it |
| B．were still university students |
| C．knew it wasn’t useful |
| D．were high school students |
| A．became lazy |
| B．worked less |
| C．kept working hard |
| D．stopped working at Yahoo |
| A．Buying and selling stocks (股票). |
| B．E- mail. |
| C．Search engine. |
| D．Shopping. |
| A．Yahoo was always a big company. |
| B．Yahoo is a private (私有的) company. |
| C．Yahoo does not make people pay for their e-mail service. |
| D．Yahoo is losing money. |
| A．They don’t earn any money. |
| B．They’re all famous. |
| C．They’re just like Yahoo. |
| D．They’re all in English. |
【推荐3】Scientists in Britain and the United States have made a new kind of enzyme（酵素）that eats plastics（塑料）. With its help, plastics can be turned into smaller parts and go away quickly. Scientists believe that, in the future, it could solve the problem of plastic pollution.
The enzyme is able to break down PET, a form of plastic. PET was first made in the 1940s and is now widely used to make plastic bottles. It can remain in the environment for many years and pollute large areas of land and water. So it has always been a headache to deal with the waste from PET and other plastics.
The researchers made the discovery（发现）while examining the structure of a natural enzyme in Japan. They found that the natural enzyme was helping to break down PET plastics. So, they decided to make small changes to the enzyme by adding some amino acids（氨基酸）. It made the natural enzyme’s plastic-eating abilities work faster and better.
John McGeehan, one of the lead researchers, said, “We’ve made an improved enzyme. It’s better than the natural one. And we are trying to make more improvements to it.” He went on, “The enzyme is not harmful to humans or animals, and it is friendly to the environment. So we are considering putting it into wider use.”
The team is now trying to make the enzyme break down PET in large quantities（大量的）. “We’ll see that the plastic pollution may be stopped with this technology. However, there is still a long way to go,” John McGeehan added.
1. According to the scientists, the enzyme may solve the problem of ________ pollution.| A．air | B．water | C．light | D．plastic |
| A．It’s a form of plastic. |
| B．It was first made in 1940. |
| C．It is widely used to make plastic flowers. |
| D．It won’t pollute large areas of land or water at all. |
| A．in | B．in the US | C．in Japan | D．in China |
| A．The scientists are sill trying to improve the enzyme. |
| B．The enzyme will pollute large areas of land and water. |
| C．The natural enzyme woks better than the improved one. |
| D．The natural enzyme is harmful to humans and animals. |
China has sent the final section of its Tiangong space station into space. After a 13-hour trip, the new section, known as Mengtian, docked(对接) with Tiangong space station on the early morning of November 1st, 2022, finally completing it. The new section was launched from Hainan Island in the south of China.
For years, China has been working hard to create its own space station. Last year, China began to launch three modules(舱) of Tiangong space station, one at a time. The main module, Tianhe, was launched in April 2021. It holds the power source and main controls for the station, as well as the astronauts’ living area. In July 2022, China launched its first laboratory module, Wentian, which is the country’s largest ever spacecraft.
The new module, Mengtian (meaning “dreaming of the heavens”), is also designed as a laboratory. It is about 18 meters long and has 8 special research areas for experiments(实验). Mengtian is set up so that experiments can also be run outside the module itself. Chinese astronauts can use special robotic arms to run experiments from inside Tiangong.
China’s space program is working with the European Space Agency on some experiments on the Mengtian, China says that one day, foreign astronauts will also be able to visit Tiangong.
Tiangong space station is expected to last 10 to 15 years. Though the Mengtian module completes the station, China could add more modules in the future.
China’s space program has grown greatly in recent years with a series of successes. In 2020, for example, its Chang’e 5 probe returned to the earth carrying moon rocks. Those were the first moon samples brought to the earth since the 1970s.
1. The meaning of the underlined word “launched” in the first paragraph is the closest to “________”.| A．sent up | B．landed | C．taken off | D．set up |
| A．Tianhe. | B．Wentian. | C．Mengtian. | D．It is not mentioned. |
| A．In 2020. | B．In April 2021. |
| C．In July 2022. | D．On November 1st, 2022. |
| A．No more modules can be docked with Tiangong in the future. |
| B．Chang’e 5 probe brought moon rocks back to the earth in 2020. |
| C．China created Tiangong space station together with European Space Agency. |
| D．Chinese astronauts can’t use robotic arms to run experiments from inside Tiangong. |
What’s going on in other countries? How do people live in places far away? Is there a good sports game somewhere? What’s the life like in the deepest part of sea? If you want to answer all these questions, just come to the Internet. Of course, people can also learn through reading or listening to the radio. But with the Internet they can learn better and more easily. A lot of information can be collected at a great speed.
Can we go shopping without leaving home? Can we see a doctor without going to the hospital? Can we study without going to school? Can we draw money without going to bank? All these things seemed to be impossible, but now they have become quite possible.
The Internet helps us open our eyes. The Internet also helps open our minds. The Internet often gives us new ideas. In a word, it helps us in many ways. Great changes have taken place in our life since the appearance of the Internet.
根据短文内容，选择正确答案。
1. Some people say the world is smaller than before because.
| A．all people like to search the Internet |
| B．the Internet makes the search smaller in size |
| C．the Internet brings the outside world closer to them |
| D．exploring the Internet is one of the most importantactivities of the day |
Means
| A．the Internet is new to us |
| B．something is wrong with our minds |
| C．our minds can be opened only by the Internet |
| D．we can learn more with the help of the Internet |
| A．know a good sports match somewhere |
| B．cook the meal |
| C．know a lot of information |
| D．see a doctor and study all kinds of subjects |
| A．it’s helpful to explore the Internet |
| B．not to explore the Internet any more |
| C．to stop reading to explore the Internet |
| D．students should not explore the Internet at any time |
| A．The Internet can get the information faster than reading. |
| B．Without leaving home, we can get the money from the bank by the radio. |
| C．People can learn better and more through the Internet. |
| D．People often learn a lot of new ideas from the Internet. |
【推荐3】Are the Olympic Games outdated? That might seem like a strange question. But it’s exactly what the International Olympic Committee (国际奥林匹克委员会) is considering. At the 2012 London Olympics, IOC President Thomas Bach noticed something. “You could see that the younger people did not have interest in watching the Games any more. They were not there.”
To change this, the IOC wants to make the Summer Olympics younger. But that isn’t as simple as just adding more sports. It’s impossible to always add new sports to the Olympics. It would become too much for host cities to deal with. The IOC asks host cities to choose the new sports and then the committee decides which ones can finally be added to that year’s games. The new sports would be included in that year’s Olympics only. The IOC has agreed to add baseball / softball, karate, skateboarding, sports climbing and surfing to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Though the 2020 Olympics have been postponed until next year because of COVID-19, we are still looking forward to them, especially to the new sports.
People are wondering what makes up an Olympic sport. Some people would like to see e-sports at the Olympics, because they are really popular. President Bach thinks video games with killing are not acceptable. One of the main principles (原则) of the Olympics is to encourage world peace. At the moment, the future of e-sports is still unclear.
What about the Winter Olympics? Not to worry. The IOC has already added seven new sports for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The Winter Olympics’ situation is a little different. The Winter Olympics have less than half the sports of the Summer Olympics, so they have room to grow.
1. What did Thomas Bach notice after the 2012 London Olympics?| A．Some sports were less popular. |
| B．There were fewer young players at the Olympics. |
| C．Young people were not interested in the Olympics. |
| A．延期 | B．取消 | C．整改 |
| A．What the influence of COVID-19 is. |
| B．How a new sport is added to the Olympics. |
| C．Why the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo are put off. |
| A．They fail to encourage world peace. |
| B．They are becoming more popular. |
| C．They are for young people only. |
