1 . Are you sometimes a little tired and sleepy in the early afternoon? Many people feel this way after lunch. They may think that eating lunch is the cause of the sleepiness. Or, in summer, they may think it is the heat (热). However, the real reason lies inside their bodies. At that time—about eight hours after you wake up - your body temperature goes down. This is what makes you slow down and feel sleepy. Scientists have tested sleep habits in experiments where there was no night or day. The people in these experiments almost always followed a similar sleeping pattern (模式). They slept for one long period and then for one short period about eight hours later.
In many parts of the world, people take naps (小睡) in the middle of the day. This is especially true in warmer climates (气候), where the heat makes work difficult in the early afternoon. Researchers are now saying that naps are good for everyone in any climate. A daily nap gives one a more rested body and mind and therefore is good for health in general. In countries where naps are traditional (传统的), people often suffer less from problem such as heart disease.
Many working people unfortunately, have no time to take naps. Though doctors may advise taking naps, employers do not allow it! If you do have the chance, however, here are a few tips about making the most of your nap. Remember that the best time to take a nap is about eight hours after you get up. A short sleep too late in the day may only make you feel more tired and sleepy afterward. This can also happen if you sleep for too long. If you do not have enough time, try a short nap - even ten minutes of sleep can be helpful.
1. Why do people feel sleepy in the early afternoon according to the text?| A．They eat too much for lunch. | B．They sleep too little at night. |
| C．Their body temperature becomes lower. | D．The weather becomes a lot warmer. |
| A．About 12:30 pm. | B．About 1:30 pm. | C．About 2:30 pm. | D．About 3:30 pm. |
| A．Just for a Rest | B．All for a Nap |
| C．A Special Sleep Pattern. | D．Taking Naps in Warmer Climate. |
2 . In a recent announcement, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology（MIT）said that they have joined forces to offer free online courses in an effort to attract millions of online learners worldwide.
Beginning this fall, a number of courses developed by teachers at both universities will be offered online through a new $60 million program, known as edX. “Anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world can use our online courses,” Harvard President Drew Faust said during a meeting to announce the plan.
MIT has offered a program called OpenCourseWare for ten years that makes materials from more than 2,000 classes free online. It has been used by more than 100 million people. In December, the school announced it also would begin offering a special certificate, known as MITx, for people who complete certain online courses. Harvard has long offered courses to a wider population through a similar program.
The MITx will serve as the foundation for the new learning platform.
MIT President Susan Hockfield said more than 120,000 people signed up for the first MITx course. She said Harvard and MIT hope other universities will join them in offering courses on the open-source edX platform.
“Fasten your seatbelts,” Hockfield said.
Other universities, including Stanford, Yale and Carnegie-Mellon, have been experimenting with teaching to a global population online.
The Harvard-MIT program will be monitored by a not-for-profit（非盈利的）organization based in Cambridge, to be owned equally by the two universities. Both MIT and Harvard have provided $30 million to start the program. They also plan to use the edX platform to research how students learn and which teaching methods and tools are most successful.
1. According to this text, edX is _______.| A．a part of the free MIT OpenCourseWare |
| B．a free computer program by MIT and Harvard |
| C．a Harvard-MIT platform of free online courses |
| D．a free program online for universities worldwide |
| A．Universities have been trying online courses. |
| B．About 2,000 online courses have been offered. |
| C．Over 100 million people have finished courses online. |
| D．Stanford and Yale together have courses similar to edX. |
| A．Get ready for the difficulties |
| B．Get ready for this educational change |
| C．Get prepared to complete the online courses |
| D．Get prepared to make materials for the edX courses |
| A．It is first offered as part of the edX learning program. |
| B．It is another free MIT-Harvard online learning program. |
| C．It is a standard to recognize online learners’ achievement. |
| D．It is a new kind of free online course of Harvard and MIT. |
3 . With around 100 students scheduled to be in that 9:00 am Monday morning lecture, it is no surprise that almost 20 people actually make it to the class and only 10 of them are still awake after the first 15 minutes; it is not even a surprise that most of them are still in their pajama’s(睡衣). Obviously, students are terrible at adjusting their sleep cycles to their daily schedule.
All human beings possess a body clock. Along with other alerting systems, this governs the sleep/wake cycle and is therefore one of the main processes which govern sleep behaviour. Typically, the preferred sleep/wake cycle is delayed in adolescents, which leads to many students not feeling sleepy until much later in the evenings. This typical sleep pattern is usually referred to as the “night owl” schedule of sleep.
This is opposed to the “early bird” schedule, and is a kind of disorder where the individual tends to stay up much past midnight. Such a person has great difficulty in waking up in the mornings. Research suggests that night owls feel most alert and function best in the evenings and at night. Research findings have shown that about 20 percent of people can be classified as “night owls” and only 10 percent can be classified as “early birds” ------ the other 70 percent are in the middle. Although this is clearly not true for all students, for the ones who are true night owls, this gives them an excellent excuse for missing their lectures which unfortunately fall before midday.
1. What does the author stress in Paragraph 1?| A．Many students are absent from class. |
| B．Students are very tired on Monday mornings. |
| C．Students do not adjust their sleep patterns well. |
| D．Students are not well prepared for class on Mondays. |
| A．Most students prefer to get up late in the morning. |
| B．Students don’t sleep well because of alerting systems. |
| C．One’s body clock governs the sleep/wake cycle independently. |
| D．Adolescents’ delayed sleep/wake cycle isn’t the preferred pattern. |
| A．Criticized | B．Grouped | C．Organized | D．Named |
| A．Functions of the body clock. |
| B．The “night owl” phenomenon. |
| C．Human beings’ sleep behaviour. |
| D．The school schedule of “early birds”. |
| A．turn out | B．bring out |
| C．call out | D．pick out |
1.休息；
2.读书；
3.陪伴父母；
4.参加社会活动。
注意：
1.词数100左右，信的开头和结尾已为你写好(不计入总词数)；
2.可根据内容要点适当增加细节，使行文连贯；
3.参考词汇：
高考—college entrance examination
社会活动—social activities
Dear Henry,
I’m glad to receive your letter.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Best wishes!
Li Hua
| A．the; a | B．a; the | C．the; the | D．a; a |
7 . Sorry to say, our brains naturally start slowing down at the Cruelty young age of 30. It used to be thought that this couldn’t be helped, but new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to work faster. “Your brain is a learning machine,” saying University of California scientist Dr. Michael Merzenich. Given the right tools, we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger. All that’s required is the practice designed just for the purpose: a few exercises for the mind.
Merzenich has developed a computer-based training method to speed up the process (过程) in which the brain deals with information (positscience.com). Since much of the data we receive comes through speech, the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to better speed and accuracy (准确性).
Over the course of training, the program starts asking you to distinguish (辨别) sounds (between “dog” and “bog”, for example) at an increasingly faster speed. It’s a bit like tennis instructor, says Merzenich, hitting balls at you — faster and faster to keep you challenged (受到挑战).You may start out slow, but before long you’re pretty quick.
The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly plastic. If you ask your brain to learn, it will learn. And it may even speed up while in the process.
To keep your brain young and plastic you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you: playing table tennis or bridge, doing crossword puzzles, learning a language...“When it comes to preventing ageing, you really do ‘use it or lose it’,” says Barbara Sahakian, professor at Cambridge University.
1. Dr. Merzenich’s training method mainly depends on______.| A．speech training | B．computer languages |
| C．the activities one joins in | D．the information being dealt with |
| A．used | B．mastered | C．developed | D．researched |
| A．Practice makes a quick mind. |
| B．Brain research started ten years ago. |
| C．Dr. Merzenich is a scientist in computer. |
| D．People believed nothing could stop the brain slowing down. |
| A．The training methods work better for the old. |
| B．People should use the brain to stop it from ageing. |
| C．The training of the brain should start at an early age. |
| D．It’s necessary to take part in as many activities as possible. |
| A．watered | B．watering | C．water | D．to water |
某中学生英文报近期开辟专栏，讨论学习习惯问题。请你结合自身学习实际，按以下提示，用英文为该专栏写一篇稿件。
1. 说明学习习惯与学习效果之间的关系；
2. 介绍一种好的学习习惯并提出养成该习惯的建议；
3. 描述自己在学习习惯方面存在的某个问题并给出改进措施。
注意：
1. 词数120左右，开头语已为你写好；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 文中不得透露个人姓名和学校名称。
It's useful and necessary to discuss learning habits. ._________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
1. 对英语学习的认识；
2. 自己目前的英语水平；
3. 自己英语学习存在的主要问题；
4. 对英语教学的两点建议。
注意：
1. 词数100左右；
2. 信的开头和结尾已给出。
Dear Ms Li,
I’m very happy to have you as our English teacher.
Thank you!
Li Hua
