Have you winterized your horse yet? Even though global warming may have made our climate more
mild，many animals are still hibernating(冬眠). It's too bad that humans can't hibernate.In fact, as a
species, we almost did.
     Apparently, at times in the past, peasants in France liked a semistate of human hibernation.So writes
Graham Robb, a British scholar who has studied the sleeping habits of the French peasants.As soon as the weather turned cold, people all over France shut themselves away and practiced the forgotten art of doing nothing at all for months on end.
     In line with this, Jeff Warren, a producer at CBC Radio's The Current, tells us that the way we sleep
has changed fundamentally since the invention of artificial (人造的 )lighting and the electric bulb.
     When historians began studying texts of the Middle Ages, they noticed something referred to as “first
sleep”, which was not clarified, though.Now scientists are telling us our ancestors most likely slept in
separate periods.The business of eight hours' uninterrupted sleep is a modern invention.
     In the past, without the artificial light of the city to bathe in, humans went to sleep when it became dark and then woke themselves around midnight.The late night period was known as  “The Watch”. It was
when people actually kept watch against wild animals, although many of them simply moved around or
visited family and neighbours.
     According to some sleep researchers, a short period of insomnia(失眠)at midnight is not a disorder.It
is normal.Humans can experience another state of consciousness around their sleeping, which occurs in the brief period before we fall asleep or wake ourselves in the morning.This period can be an extraordinarily
creative time for some people.The impressive inventor, Thomas Edison, used this state to hit upon many of his new ideas.
     Playing with your sleep rhythms can be adventurous, as anxiety may set in.Medical science doesn't help much in this case.It offers us medicines for a full night's continuous sleep, which sounds natural; however,
according to Warren's theory, it is really the opposite of what we need.
1．The example of the French peasants shows the fact that_____ .
A．people might become lazy as a result of too much sleep
B．there were signs of hibernation in human sleeping habits
C．people tended to sleep more peacefully in cold weather
D．winter was a season for people to sleep for months on end
2．The late night was called “The Watch” because it was a time for people_____.
A．to set traps to catch animals
B．to wake up their family and neighbours
C．to remind others of the time
D．to guard against possible dangers
3．What does the author advise people to do?
A．Sleep in the way animals do.
B．Consult a doctor if they can't sleep.
C．Follow their natural sleep rhythm.
D．Keep to the eighthour sleep pattern.
4．What is the author's purpose in writing the passage?
A．To give a prescription for insomnia.
B．To urge people to sleep less.
C．To analyze the sleep pattern of modern people.
D．To throw new light on human sleep.

     The multimillion pound new Library of Birmingham (LoB) will be the most visible sign of the way the
city is accepting the digitalization (数字化) of everyday life.
Set to open in 2013,the￡188m LoB is already beginning to take shape next to the Birmingham Repertory   Theatre, with which it will share some equipment.
      As digital media(媒介) is important to its_idea,_the project is already providing chances for some of
the many small new local companies working at the new technologies.
     Brian Gambles, the LoB project director, says it is about giving people the right tools for learning:"The
aim is to mix the physical with the digital, providing 24hour services which can be used through many
different ways.It is important to enable us to reach more people,more effectively."
     The digital library will, he says, be as important as the physical one, allowing the distant use of the
services, making sure that it is never closed to the public.
     Even before the LoB is complete, the public has been able to go online to visit the Virtual (虚拟的)
LoB, designed by Baden, the Birmingham virtual worlds specialists.Not only have the public been able
to learn about the LoB, but the virtual one has also enabled those working on the LoB to understand the
building and how it will work before it even opens.
      Two other small Birminghambased digital companies are also working on the LoB projects.Substrat,
a digital design company, is developing what it calls an example of an "enlarged reality" project.It is about
the use of an exciting smart phone, an important part of the LoB which is in the early stages of
development.And The People's Archive is an online library of historical figures of the city being built up
by a digital content company in Cahoots, in which users will be encouraged to add to and comment on
the material.
      Gambles says:"Technology will enable us to make the library's content and services open to citizens
as never before."

1. The underlined part "its idea" in Paragraph 3 refers to the idea of ________.

A. the equipment          
B. the project
C. the digital media        
D. the physical library

2. While visiting the Virtual LoB the public can ________.

A. get a general idea of the LoB
B. meet many worldfamous experts
C. learn how to put up a library building
D. understand how the specialists work on the project

3. Which of the following is true of the LoB when it opens?


A. a,b,d      
B. a,c,e
C. b,c,d      
D. b,d,e

4. The text is most probably taken from ________.

A. a computer book        
B. a library guide
C. a project handbook      
D. a newspaper report

     Nuclear radiation from power plant leaks and bomb tests resulted in millions of fewer baby girls
born worldwide, according to a new study.
      Scientists noted these types of atmospheric blasts rather than ontheground incidents like Chernobyl
(切尔诺贝利), effected birth gender across the globe.
      Scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum M?nchen, Germany, analysed population data from 1975 to 2007
for the U．S. and 39 European countries.
      There was an increase in the number of baby boys relative to girls in all of the countries from 1964
to 1975. This was the case in many eastern European countries for several years after 1986.
     Scientists are putting the first spike down to the atomic bomb tests of the 1960s and 1970s where
radioactive atoms were blasted into the atmosphere. Air currents caught these atoms and then distributed
them around the world.
      They think the second spike is due to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in which the reactor exploded in
the Ukraine(乌克兰)．
      The effects of Chernobyl were felt locally and no effect was seen in the U．S., probably because it
was too far from the disaster to have an effect.
      "The closer the country was to Chernobyl, the stronger the effect," said study coauthor Hagen Scherb, a biostatistician(生物统计学家) at the German Research Center for Environmental Health in Munich.
      More males were born relative to females in Belarus-the Ukraine's neighbour-than in France.
      The study is based largely on Cold Warera statistics, but the findings are highly relevant for how
gender could be affected after future nuclear disasters.
      And in the wake of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident experts are predicting
another baby boy boom could come, especially on the U．S. West Coast.
      Previous radiation experiments on animals may give a clue for the increase in male births. Tests showed that radiation caused damage to the X chromosome(染色体) in sperm, Dr Scherb said.
       A human sperm cell contains either an X or Y chromosome, while an egg only has an X chromosome. An XY combination will become a boy, while an XX combination will be a girl.

1．How many nuclear radiation accidents are mentioned in the passage?

A．1.    
B．2.    
C．3.    
D．4.

2．Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．The ontheground incidents like Chernobyl, effected birth gender across the globe.
B．There was an increase in the number of baby boys in many eastern European countries for several
years after 1986.
C．The Japan's nuclear accident will not effect the birth gender of the U．S. because of the long distance.
D．Where radioactive material has spread, women can't give birth to children.

3．How does radiation effect birth gender?

A．It damages the Y chromosome in sperm.
B．It stops X chromosomes and Y chromosomes combining.
C．It kills baby girls before they are born.
D．It damages the X chromosome in sperm.

4．What does the passage mainly tell us?

A．Nuclear age has led to millions of fewer baby girls being born.
B．Nuclear radiation has bad effects upon people's health.
C．Worries about radiation risks.
D．Nuclear age helps reduce the world population.

     Ants have an amazing ability to communicate with each other and work together to accomplish(完成)
difficult tasks.Their specialized behavior due to chemical communication is so well developed, in fact, that
humans can learn a lot from them about how to work best in teams.
      British scientists at the University of Bristol are studying colonies(群体)of army ants to understand
how they organize themselves and share knowledge.These insects-which come in various sizes-are known for using their bodies as living plugs to cover holes on the uneven ground between their nest and their prey.When they meet a hole in their path, they can quickly determine which of them is the best fit.The
appropriate ant then lies across the gap, allowing the remainder of the group-as many as 200,000 other
ants-to step on its back.This important minority of ants makes the food collection of the entire colony in
the best possible way by "paving the way" for the others.
     The collective behavior that emerges from a group of social insects, such as ants, can be called
"swarm intelligence". Swarm intelligence consists of the selforganization of many individuals that work
collectively to find the best solution to a difficult problem.The concepts of swarm intelligence have been
used in a variety of human applications.It has been used as a method that improves the efficiency of
goods transfers on airplanes, and has even become a routing technique for moving data across
telecommunications networks more smoothly.You could say that our daily lives benefit from the tireless
work of ants.

1. What can we learn from ants according to the text?

A. How to help others to achieve great goals.
B. Good communication skills are important.
C. How to achieve the best result by working as a team.
D. The hardworking spirit in teamwork.

2. A study made by British scientists suggests that________.

A. ants are a group of clever insects
B. army ants' behavior is difficult to understand
C. ants enjoy using their bodies as living plugs
D. ants' collective behavior ensures their food supply

3. What can we learn about "swarm intelligence"?

A. It is a kind of collective behavior in social insects.
B. It refers to the selforganization of many insects.
C. The concepts of it will be used by many animals.
D. It is the best method of processing data.

4. The study of ants' behavior can be applied in ________.

A. road transportation and education
B. aerial transport and telecommunications
C. team organization and engineering
D. computer and information technology

     Surface Exploration. Robots make great explorers on planets,moons,and other landing areas.Aside
 from Earth,just about every surface in the solar system is unsafe for humans to explore.The air on most
other planets is insufficient for humans to breathe,making it necessary to wear a space suit and oxygen
equipment.The temperatures on these surfaces are much too hot or much too cold for any humans to
withstand.Plus there would be complications with radiation,weather,and a lack of gravity.Robots have
much less limitation in these areas and can survive much longer under these conditions.
     Data Collection. Robots are designed for collecting scientific data.Robots are also able to perform
many tasks at one time and can process information much quicker and more efficiently.Important scientific projects from detecting minerals,analyzing ground samples,and finding water are all performed much quicker and more accurately(精确地)by robots.
    Cost Effective. The use of robots has made the cost of space exploration much less expensive than it would cost for humans to do the work.In order to successfully send humans into space we would need to build a vehicle that can not only carry humans,but also have enough food and water to keep them alive for
the duration of the trip.Moreover,robots have no problems working for hours on end.Robots never
complain,they don't require food or water,and they never need a bathroom break.
    Space Travel. Over the past 30 years or so there have been many different types of robots used
successfully in the exploration of space.Perhaps the most famous and successful robots are the Spirit and Opportunity who have both been exploring the surface of Mars.They have both been very successful with experiments on soil and rocks and have even found evidence of water in Mars' history.

1. According to the passage,which of the following is NOT true?

A. The use of robots in space exploration costs more than the use of humans.
B. It may be dangerous for human to explore the solar system except the earth.
C. Both the Spirit and Opportunity have found the evidence of water in the Mars.
D. Many different types of robots have explored the space successfully.

2. Which column of the passage could come from?

A. Education.  
B. Finance.
C. Travel.  
D. Science.

3. The underlined phrase "withstand" most probably means "________".

A. arise  
B. bear  
C. defeat  
D. diverse

4. What is the writer's attitude in writing this passage?

A. Negative.  
B. Persuasive.
C. Subjective.  
D. Objective.

     The plan: turn Mars into a blue world with streams and green fields, and then fill it with creatures(生
物) from the earth.This idea may sound like something from a science fiction (科幻小说), but it is
actually being taken seriously by many researchers.
     This suggested future for the "red planet" will be the main topic for discussion at an international
conference hosted by NASA (美国宇航局) this week.Leading researchers as well as science fiction
writers will attend the event.It comes as NASA is preparing a multibilliondollar Mars research programme."Turning Mars into a little earth has long been a topic in science fiction,  "said Dr Michael Meyer, NASA's senior scientist for astrobiology (太空生物学). "Now, with scientists exploring the reality, we can
ask what are the real possibilities of changing Mars."
     Most scientists agree that Mars could be turned into a little earth, although much time and money
would be needed to achieve this goal.
     But many experts are shocked by the idea."We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable
speed and now we are talking about ruining another planet,  " said Paul Murdin, of the Institute of
Astronomy, Cambridge, UK.Over the past months, scientists have become increasingly confident they
will find Martian life forms.Europe and America's robot explorers have found proof that water, mixed
with soil, exists in large amounts on the planet.
     In addition, two different groups of scientistsannounced on March 28 that they had found signs of
methane (甲烷) in the Martian atmosphere (大气). The gas is a waste product of living creatures and
could be produced by microbes (微生物) living in the red planet's soil.
     But scientists such as Dr Lisa Pratt, a biologist at Indiana University, say that these microbes will be
put in danger by the little earth project."Before we have even discovered if there is life on Mars, we are
talking about carrying out projects that would destroy all these native life forms, all the strange microbes
that we hope to find buried in the soil,  " said Dr Pratt.This view is shared by Monica Grady, a planetary
scientist at the Natural History Museum, London."We cannot risk starting a global experiment that would wipe out the precious information we are looking for." she said, "This is just wrong."

1. The passage is about________.

A. a plan turning Mars into a little earth
B. the necessity of changing Mars
C. Mars supporting life
D. finding water in the Mars

2. Which of the following is NOT the reason why some scientists are against the plan?

A. The project would wipe out all the native life forms on the Mars.
B. The project will cost too much money and work.
C. We would ruin Mars.
D. We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed.

3. We can infer from the passage that________.

A. water is a crucial factor for life
B. the project will have little effect on the native life forms supposed to live on the Mars
C. Monica Grady is in favour of carrying out the little earth project
D. the idea turning Mars into a little earth is nothing but a science fiction

4. Which of the following supports the conclusion of microbes living in the Mars soil?

A. Scientists found liquid water in the Mars.
B. Scientists found signs of methane in the Martianatmosphere.
C. Scientists found a lot of good soil on the Mars.
D. Scientists found some creatures living on the Mars.

     The latest research suggests that the key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is
not IQ, a generally bad predictor of success. Instead, it's purposeful practice. Top performers spend
more hours practising their craft. If you wanted to picture how a typical genius might develop, you'd take
a girl who possessed a slightly above average language ability. It wouldn't have to be a big talent, just
enough so that she might gain some sense of distinction. Then you would want her to meet, say, a
novelist, who coincidentally shared some similar qualities. Maybe the writer was from the same town,
had the same family background, or shared the same birthday.
    This contact would give the girl a vision of her future self. It would give her some idea of a fascinating
circle she might someday join. It would also help if one of her parents died when she was 12, giving her
a strong sense of insecurity and fuelling a desperate need for success. Armed with this ambition, she
would read novels and life stories of writers without end. This would give her a primary knowledge of her
field. She'd be able to see new writing in deeper ways and quickly understand its inner workings.
     Then she would practise writing. Her practice would be slow, painstaking and errorfocused. By
practising in this way, she delays the automatizing process. Her mind wants to turn conscious, newly
learned skills into unconscious, automatically performed skills. By practising slowly, by breaking skills
 down into tiny parts and repeating, she forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance.
Then she would find an adviser who would provide a constant stream of feedback, viewing her
performance from the outside, correcting the smallest errors, pushing her to take on tougher challenges.
By now she is redoing problems-how do I get characters into a room-dozens and dozens of times. She
is establishing habits of thought she can call upon in order to understand or solve future problems.
    The primary quality our young writer possesses is not some mysterious genius. It's the ability to
develop a purposeful, laborious and boring practice routine. The latest research takes some of the magic
out of great achievement. But it underlines a fact that is often neglected. Public discussion is affected by
genetics and what we're "hardwired" to do. And it's true that genes play a role in our capabilities. But the
brain is also very plastic. We construct ourselves through behaviour.

1. The passage mainly deals with ________.

A. the function of IQ in cultivating a writer
B. the relationship between genius and success
C. the decisive factor in making a genius
D. the way of gaining some sense of distinction

2. By reading novels and writers' stories, the girl could________.

A. come to understand the inner structure of writing
B. join a fascinating circle of writers someday
C. share with a novelist her likes and dislikes
D. learn from the living examples to establish a sense of security

3. In the girl's long painstaking training process, ________.

A. her adviser forms a primary challenging force to her success
B. her writing turns into an automatic pattern of performance
C. she acquires the magic of some great achievement
D. she comes to realize she is "hardwired" to write

4. What can be concluded from the passage?

A. A fuelling ambition plays a leading role in one's success.
B. A responsible adviser is more important than the knowledge of writing.
C. As to the growth of a genius, IQ doesn't matter, but just his/her effort.
D. What really matters is what you do rather than who you are.