1 . Every animal sleeps, but the reason for this has remained foggy. When lab rats are not allowed to sleep, they die within a month.     1    

One idea is that sleep helps us strengthen new memories.     2     We   know that, while awake, fresh memories are recorded by reinforcing (加强) connections between brain cells, but the memory processes that take place while we sleep have been unclear.
Support is growing for a theory that sleep evolved so that connections between neurons(神经元) in the brain can be weakened overnight, making room for fresh memories to form the next day.       3    

Now we have the most direct evidence yet that he is right.     4    The synapses in the mice taken at the end of a period of sleep were 18 per cent smaller than those taken before sleep, showing that the connections between neurons weaken while sleeping.

If Tononi’s theory is right, it would explain why, when we miss a night’s, we find it harder the next day to concentrate and learn new information — our brains may have smaller room for new experiences.

Their research also suggests how we may build lasting memories over time even though the synapses become thinner. The team discovered that some synapses seem to be protected and stayed the same size.     5     “You keep what matters,” Tononi says.

A．We should also try to sleep well the night before.

B．It’s as if the brain is preserving its most important memories.

C．Similarly, when people go for a few days without sleeping, they get sick.

D．The processes take place to stop our brains becoming loaded with memories.

E．That’s why students do better in tests if they get a chance to sleep after learning.

F．“Sleep is the price we pay for learning,” says Giulio Tononi, who developed the idea.

G．Tononi’s team measured the size of these connections, or synapses, in the brains of 12 mice.

2 . I first met Paul Newman in 1968, when George Roy Hill, the director of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, introduced us in New York City. When the studio didn’t want me for the film - it wanted somebody as well known as Paul — he stood up for me. I don’t know how many people would have done that; they would have listened to their agents or the studio powers.

The friendship that grew out of the experience of making that film and The Sting four years later had its root in the fact that although there was an age difference, we both came from a tradition of theater and live TV. We were respectful of craft(技艺) and focused on digging into the characters we were going to play. Both of us had the qualities and virtues that are typical of American actors: humorous, aggressive, and making fun of each other — but always with an underlying affection. Those were also at the core(核心) of our relationship off the screen.

We shared the belief that if you’re fortunate enough to have success, you should put something back — he with his Newman’s Own food and his Hole in the Wall camps for kids who are seriously ill, and me with Sundance and the institute and the festival. Paul and I didn’t see each other all that regularly, but sharing that brought us together. We supported each other financially and by showing up at events.

I last saw him a few months ago. He’d been in and out of the hospital. He and I both knew what the deal was, and we didn’t talk about it. Ours was a relationship that didn’t need a lot of words.

1. Why was the studio unwilling to give the role to author at first?

A．Paul Newman wanted it.

B．The studio powers didn’t like his agent.

C．He wasn’t famous enough.

D．The director recommended someone else.

2. Why did Paul and the author have a lasting friendship?

A．They were of the same age.

B．They worked in the same theater.

C．They were both good actors.

D．They han similar charactertics.

3. What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Their belief.

B．Their care for children.

C．Their success.

D．Their support for each other.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the test?

A．To show his love of films.

B．To remember a friend.

C．To introduce a new movie.

D．To share his acting experience.

3 . Street dances are dance styles that evolved (演变)outside of dance studios in any available open space.They are often improvisational (即兴的）and social in nature, encouraging interaction and contact with audiences and the other dancers.These dances generally evolve out of urban and suburban spaces and are a part of the native culture of that geographical area.Some examples of street dances include b-boying, or breakdancing, which originated in New York City.

Street dances are dances that evolve between people in a social environment, although it cannot be always determined as to how they actually do evolve between people.In theory, as one person comes up with a move that looks good to another person, the other person tries to copy that move.Similar to the game of Chinese whispers, the effect is that the other person cannot absolutely perform that move the same way as the other person, thus leading to the dancers creating their own style or entirely new moves.

There is a small difference between entirely freestyle dance and an absolute street dance.While freestyle dance is random and a personal dance invented by a single person (even if it’s based on someone else’s dance style) , a full street dance is a collection of the various similar dance moves and styles collected into one practice and regarded as the same dance.For example, when b-boying evolved out of the early hip-hop culture, people came up with their own moves，and other people improved them.Street dances constantly evolve for as long as they are now and then practiced and regarded as the same dance.All the moves danced to breaks in hip-hop culture were regarded as b-boying.

Sometimes it is possible to trace back street dance styles that were mostly pioneered by specific (具体的）people.One example is locking, which is often regarded as being started by Don Campbell, who was a 1970s pioneer of American street dance.Most of the time it is impossible to owe street dances to specific people, since the dances evolve outside of professional dance environments, and there is no social or legal record.Street dance pioneers also rarely have professional degrees in dance, thus distinguishing street dances from other modern dance forms.

1. Paragraph 1 is intended to tell us the _________of street dances.

A．varieties	B．changes
C．characteristics	D．distributions

2. What do we know about street dances?

A．Dancers perform them in dance studios.

B．They are developed by professional dancers.

C．They are collected from different moves and styles.

D．Dancers create moves based on other people’s moves.

3. Chinese Whispers are mentioned in Paragraph 2 to_________.

A．stress a street dancer's own style

B．show the effect of Chinese Whispers

C．introduce a popular Chinese game

D．explain the characteristics of street dances

4. The passage is probably taken from__________.

A．a travel journal

B．a history textbook

C．a popular magazine

D．a museum brochure

4 . Basketball Statistician Help Wanted

The Athletic Department is looking for students to help assist staff during the Fall 2016, Winter 2016-17 and Spring 2017 semesters. Students in this position will be keeping live statistics during basketball games. Students must meet all of the following requirements:

•Good computer skills

•Available evenings and weekends

•Knowing basketball rules and statistics

Students interested in working for the Athletic Department should contact the Athletic Coordinator at their respective(各自的) campuses.

•TP/SS Athletic Coordinator, Michael Simone, 240-567-1308

•Rockville Athletic Coordinator, Jorge Zuniga, 240-567-7589

•Springfield Athletic Coordinator, Gary Miller, 240-567-2273

•Germantown Athletic Coordinator, Gauri Chavan, 240-567-6915

1. When will the job start?

A．In May 2016.	B．In May 2017.
C．In September 2016.	D．In September 2017.

2. Who is more likely to get the job?

A．Sam, English major, member of the college basketball team.

B．Judy, IT staff with night classes, children’s basketball team coach.

C．Ted, computer major, basketball fan, free on evenings and weekends.

D．Molly, part-time programmer, high school basketball player, new mother.

3. Whom should you contact if you want to apply for the job in Rockville?

A．Michael.	B．Jorge.
C．Gauri.	D．Gary.

5 . House Sitting

In many countries of the world people do what is called house sitting. It means that if owners of the house are going away, they want someone to come into their home and look after the house and maybe pets while they are away.

In Australia, many people travel. After people retire, they might buy a van and travel all over the country.     1    

So if someone wants to travel or go away for some reason, they might want someone in their home to care for it and keep the gardens tidy. House sitters might have to care for pets. Also, quite a few people have swimming pools in their back yard and they need cleaning.    2     I feel it is a great way of seeing the country, because you go and stay in a new city, get to meet new people, and have time to go sightseeing in a new area.

    3     There are websites where you find the advertisements by people who want to travel, and by replying to the advertisement, you can make arrangements to go and look after their home.

There are some requirements to be a house sitter. You must be a trusted person, so that the home owner knows you will not steal anything. You must be able to go when the house owner wants you to go, so you need lots of free time.    4     You need to be good with pets, able to care for cats and dogs, or other pets they may have.

Some house sitting jobs are just for a few days or a couple of weeks while the house owners have a short holiday. Sometimes it is for much longer. We have had one house sit for six months, while the home owner travelled to Europe.

    5     Then you can travel to many different countries and stay there. One of the important things to get is references from the home owners where you have stayed. A reference is a written letter to say that you are trustworthy and have looked after their home well. You can show these letters to possible house sitting jobs and they know you will do a good job.

A．I have done house sitting many times.

B．Thousands of people do this all the time.

C．It is also possible to do house sitting in other countries.

D．Generally you have many opportunities to get a house sitting job.

E．You must take a little care over what your description says about you.

F．This is an international house sitting service for all city and country areas.

G．You must have a good car, so you can travel to different parts of the country.

6 . Fish Ears Tell Fish Tales

　 Fish have ears. Really. They’re quite small and have no opening to the outside world carrying sound through the body. For the past seven years, Simon Thorrold, a university professor, has been examining fish ears, small round ear bones called otoliths (耳石).
　 As fish grow, so do their otoliths. Each day, their otoliths gain a ring of calcium carbonate (碳酸钙). By looking through a microscope and counting these rings, Thorrold can determine the exact age of a young fish. As a fish gets older, its otoliths no longer get daily rings. Instead, they get yearly rings, which can also be counted, giving information about the fish’s age, just like the growth rings of a tree.
　 Ring counting is nothing new to fish scientists. But Thorrold has turned to a new direction. They’re examining the chemical elements (元素) of each otolith ring.
　 The daily ring gives us the time, but chemistry tells us about the environment in which the fish swam on any given day. These elements tell us about the chemistry of the water that the fish was in. It also says something about water temperature, which determines how much of these elements will gather within each otolith ring.
　 Thorrold can tell, for example, if a fish spent time in the open ocean before entering the less salty water of coastal areas. He can basically tell where fish are spending their time at any given stage of history.
　 In the case of the Atlantic croaker, a popular saltwater food fish, Thorrold and his assistant have successfully followed the travelling of young fish from mid-ocean to the coast, a journey of many hundreds of miles.
　 This is important to managers in the fish industry, who know nearly nothing about the whereabouts of the young fish for most food fish in the ocean. Eager to learn about his technology, fish scientists are now lending Thorrold their ears.
1. What can we learn about fish ears from the text?

A．They are small soft rings.	B．They are not seen from the outside.
C．They are openings only on food fish.	D．They are not used to receive sound.

2. Why does the writer compare the fish to trees?

A．Trees gain a growth ring each day.	B．Trees also have otoliths.
C．Their growth rings are very small.	D．They both have growth rings.

3. Why is it important to study the chemistry of otolith rings?

A．The elements of the otoliths can tell the history of the sea.

B．Chemical contents of otoliths can tell how fast fish can swim.

C．We can know more about fish and their living environment.

D．Scientists can know exactly how old a fish is.

4. How would you understand “fish scientists are now lending their ears”?

A．They are very interested in Thorrold’s research findings.

B．They want to know where they can find fish.

C．They lend their fish for chemical studies.

D．They wonder if Thorrold can find growth rings from their ears.

7 . When I was a kid, I always used to wonder how in the world my father worked outside in the winter without a coat. It could be minus 20 degrees centigrade and there’d be Dad, removing snow, or perhaps chopping(砍) some wood — his coat thrown aside — wearing a shirt, a cap, and a pair of gloves.
“Aren’t you cold, Dad?” I’d ask. “No,” Dad would reply. “I’m not cold—working too hard to be cold.”
Many times I wondered whether my father was an extremely tough man, or whether he was foolish.
One time when I was quite young, perhaps five or so, I went ice fishing with Dad. It was a bright, clear day—and bitterly cold.
After we’d been out on the ice for a little while, my feet started getting cold.
“Daddy, my feet are cold.” I said.
“Yeah, it’s cold out here today,” he replied.
“Tell you what,” he said. “Walk around. Make some circles in the snow. See how many different patterns you can make. That will get your feet warm.”
I was just a little girl at the time but I remember thinking, “How in the world will walking around in the snow make my feet warm? Dad must be out of mind.”
But he was my father, after all. I made circles in the snow. I made squares. Pretty soon I was having so much fun making patterns in the snow. I forgot about my feet being cold.
Now, all these years later, I know, too, from personal experience how my father was able to take his coat off and work outside in the winter wearing just a shirt, a cap and gloves. Because I do it, too. “Aren’t you cold?” my husband asked one winter day. “No,” I replied. “I’m not cold—working too hard to be cold.”
I hope my husband has decided I’m both tough and smart. But I guess quite a bit of the time he thinks I’m foolish.
Wherever Dad is on that great big farm in the sky—I’m sure he can’t help but smile whenever I take my coat off while I’m working outside in the winter.
1. When the author’s feet felt cold, her father advised her to ________.

A．go home alone first	B．keep walking in the snow
C．draw pictures in the snow	D．light a fire on the ice

2. Hearing her father’s advice, the author thought her father ________.

A．forgettable

B．warm-hearted

C．crazy

D．cruel

3. What might the author’s husband think of her?

A．Tough.

B．Smart.

C．Brave.

D．Foolish.

4. The author’s purpose of writing this passage is to ________.

A．remember her tough and smart father

B．show how her father cared about her

C．describe memories of her childhood

D．explain why her father loved her so much

8 . D
Parents who help their children with homework may actually be bringing down their school grades. Other forms of prenatal involvement, including volunteering at school and observing a child's class, also fail to help, according to the most recent study on the topic.
The findings challenge a key principle of modern parenting(养育子女) where schools except them to act as partners in their children's education. Previous generations concentrated on getting children to school on time, fed, dressed and ready to learn.
Kaith Robinson, the author of the study, said, "I really don't know if the public is ready for this but there are some ways parents can be involved in their kids' education that leads to declines in their academic performance. One of the things that was consistently negative was parents' help with homework." Robinson suggested that may be because parents themselves struggle to understand the task." They may either not remember the material their kids are studying now, or in some cases never learnt it themselves, but they're still offering advice."
Robinson assessed parental involvement performance and found one of the most damaging things a parent could do was to punish their children for poor marks. In general, about 20% of parental involvement was positive, about 45% negative and the rest statistically insignificant.
Common sense suggests it was a good thing for parents to get involved because "children with good academic success do have involved parents ", admitted Robinson. But he argued that this did not prove parental involvement was the root cause of that success." A big surprise was that Asian-American parents whose kids are doing so well in school hardly involved. They took a more reasonable approach, conveying to their children how success at school could improve their lives."
1. The underlined expression "parental involvement " in Paragraph 1 probably means       .

A．parents' expectation on children's health

B．parents' participation in children's education

C．parents' control over children's life

D．parents' plan for children's future

2. What is the major finding of Robinson's study ?

A．Modern parents raise children in a more scientific way.

B．Punishing kids for bad marks is mentally damaging.

C．Parental involvement is not so beneficial as expected.

D．Parents are not able to help with children’s homework.

3. The example of Asian-American parents implies that parents should       .

A．help children realize the importance of schooling

B．set a specific life goal for their children

C．spend more time improving their own lives

D．take a more active part in school management