If your head is overheating, you are very likely to yawn(打哈欠) soon, according to a new study that has found the main purpose of yawning is to control brain temperature. The study explains several mysteries about yawning, such as why it’s most commonly done just before and after sleeping, why certain diseases lead to too much yawning, and why breathing though the nose often stops yawning.
“Brains are like computers,” Andrew Gallup, a researcher in the department of Biology at Binghamton University who led the study, said. “They operate best when cool.”
He and his co-workers Micheal Miller and Anne Clark did researches on yawning in parakeets(长尾小鹦鹉) , which have relatively large brains, live wild in Australia, often experience temperature changes, and, most importantly, do not yawn when others yawn, as humans and some other animals do.
For the study, the scientists put parakeets under three different conditions: increasing temperature, high temperature and normal temperature. While the frequency(频率) of yawns did not increase under the latter two conditions, it increased greatly when the researchers increased the temperature.
It’s now believed yawning operates like a radiator(散热器).
If air in the atmosphere is cooler than the brain and body temperatures, taking it in quickly cools blood, which in turn cools the brain. The new findings also explain why tired people often yawn. Both tiredness and sleep loss can increase brain temperature, while yawning can cool down the brain.
In the future, researchers may focus more on brain temperature and its role in diseases and their symptoms. But the new study on yawning changes the popular idea that yawns are just signs of getting tired of something.
49. What’s the best title for the passage?
A. Why don’t people yawn at normal temperature?
B. The yawn explained—it cools your brain.
C. Yawning operates like a radiator.
D. The cause of yawning—finally found out.
50. The main reason why researchers chose parakeets to do the research is that parakeets______.
A. have very large brains                
B. live wild in Australia
C. are not affected by others’ yawning       
D. experience frequent temperature changes
51. The writer may suggest doing all of the following to stop yawning EXCEPT______.
A. breathing through the nose          
B. turning up the heat
C. enjoying some cool wind               
D. putting a cold towel on your forehead
52. In which section of a newspaper would you most probably read this passage?
A. Discovery.        B. Education.         C. Health.              D. Mystery.

Monkeys prefer heavy metal to classical music, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin whose findings are published this week in Biology Letters.

Scientists played a selection of music to a group of South American cotton-top monkeys but the only sound that got a reaction were from the heavy metal band Metallica. They were seemingly disinterested in Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis and Bach, but after the beautiful sound of Master of Puppets by Metallica was played the monkeys calmed down.

"Monkeys interpret rising and falling sounds differently than humans. Oddly, their only response to several samples of human music was a calming response to the heavy-metal band Metallica," said Professor Charles Snowdon, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Rather than making them excited or aggressive, the heavy metal tracks had a comforting effect. Dr Snowdon, who teamed up with National Symphony Orchestra musican David Teie, also played the monkeys music composed specifically for them. Although they enjoyed Metallica, they were much more interested in these pieces.

A melody(乐曲) based on the short calls of scared monkeys led to anxiety levels rapidly growing, researchers found, while one based on long calls the creatures make when they are happy had a calming effect.

Frans B.M. de Waal, a professor of psychology at Emory University who studies animals, said the findings appear to say more about how monkeys respond to the sounds they make than they do about music or the evolution of music.

Dr Snowdon no longer has a monkey colony to use in his research, but he said his co-author David Teie is exploring the concept of music for cats.

"If we understand how we can affect their emotional states through using musical sound and aspects of our speech, maybe those of us living with companion animals can have a better relationship with them, too," Snowdon said.

1.The research mentioned in the passage is mainly about ______.

A. the change of music over time         B. animals’ response to music

C. special music for animals               D. the origin of music

2.When the monkeys heard the music they liked, they ______.

A. looked anxious                       B. became restless

C. felt at ease                             D. made long calls

3.According to the passage, the monkeys are most interested in the music ______.

A. of Led Zeppelin                        B. of Miles Davis

C. of Metallica                            D. specially composed for them

4.The aim of the research, according to Professor Snowdon, is to ______.

A. build better ties between animals and humans

B. compare monkeys and cats in term of music

C. develop new music based on animals’ calls

D. find better ways to keep animals under control

If your head is overheating, you are very likely to yawn(打哈欠) soon, according to a new study that has found the main purpose of yawning is to control brain temperature. The study explains several mysteries about yawning, such as why it’s most commonly done just before and after sleeping, why certain diseases lead to too much yawning, and why breathing though the nose often stops yawning.

“Brains are like computers,” Andrew Gallup, a researcher in the department of Biology at Binghamton University who led the study, said. “They operate best when cool.”

He and his co-workers Micheal Miller and Anne Clark did researches on yawning in parakeets(长尾小鹦鹉) , which have relatively large brains, live wild in Australia, often experience temperature changes, and, most importantly, do not yawn when others yawn, as humans and some other animals do.

For the study, the scientists put parakeets under three different conditions: increasing temperature, high temperature and normal temperature. While the frequency(频率) of yawns did not increase under the latter two conditions, it increased greatly when the researchers increased the temperature.

It’s now believed yawning operates like a radiator(散热器).

If air in the atmosphere is cooler than the brain and body temperatures, taking it in quickly cools blood, which in turn cools the brain. The new findings also explain why tired people often yawn. Both tiredness and sleep loss can increase brain temperature, while yawning can cool down the brain.

In the future, researchers may focus more on brain temperature and its role in diseases and their symptoms. But the new study on yawning changes the popular idea that yawns are just signs of getting tired of something.

49. What’s the best title for the passage?

A. Why don’t people yawn at normal temperature?

B. The yawn explained—it cools your brain.

C. Yawning operates like a radiator.

D. The cause of yawning—finally found out.

50. The main reason why researchers chose parakeets to do the research is that parakeets______.

A. have very large brains                 

B. live wild in Australia

C. are not affected by others’ yawning       

D. experience frequent temperature changes

51. The writer may suggest doing all of the following to stop yawning EXCEPT______.

A. breathing through the nose           

B. turning up the heat

C. enjoying some cool wind               

D. putting a cold towel on your forehead

52. In which section of a newspaper would you most probably read this passage?

A. Discovery.        B. Education.         C. Health.              D. Mystery.

My parents always raised me to have strong values and hold firm to my confidence in life, and this was never more proved than when a situation arose when it would be easy for most people to ignore it.
A gentleman at my father’s work smelled awful and neglected his behavior, and as the months went by, he showed signs of confusion. After being told to pick up papers at another building, he would be found sitting at his desk staring at his shoes; after being reminded (to which he would completely believe he hadn’t been told the first time), he would be found once again sitting at his desk in the same position. This happened to worsening degrees over a few months and his coworkers either ignored it or were ignorant to this due to a lack of social association with the man.
My father began to mentally record all of this and finally sat down with him one day when he was found two hours after work was out, sitting in his car, looking like he didn’t know where to go. Apparently the gentleman was in the beginning/middle stages of Alzheimer’s and there was someone who used his forgetfulness as a reason to ask him for money every few days. My father took this man to a hospital (for the first time in years) to be properly treated, and then got a caretaker to watch over his condition. He then went to the man’s house and helped him sort out all of his financial matters and get his retirement set up; they went to the bank and had a government worker ensure that his bills would be paid for and his children would no longer get to treat him like a personal ATM.
That my father took his much personal time to help another man that so many had forgotten or would choose to neglect, or even make fun of, truly shows his character

1. 1.

   The author presents this passage by ______

   1. A.
      telling an instructive story
   2. B.
      describing his father
   3. C.
      reasoning with some facts
   4. D.
      giving causes and effects
2. 2.

   What can we infer from the passage?

   1. A.
      The gentleman was ignored by his co-workers
   2. B.
      The gentleman was so serious that no one liked him
   3. C.
      The gentleman was good at communication with his co-workers
   4. D.
      The gentleman was in great need of help because of his illness
3. 3.

   In the eyes of the author, his father is ______

   1. A.
      hopeful
   2. B.
      strict
   3. C.
      stubborn
   4. D.
      helpful
4. 4.

   Which proverb is suitable for the story?

   1. A.
      A friend in need is a friend indeed
   2. B.
      A friend to all is a friend to none
   3. C.
      Friendship cannot stand always on one side
   4. D.
      False friends are worse than open enemies

完形填空

　　Actor Antonio Banderas is used to breaking bones, and it always seems to happen when he's 1 sport. In the film Play It to the Bone he 2 the part of a middleweight boxer 3 Wood Harrelson. 4 the making of the film Harrelson 5 complaining that the flight 6 weren't very convincing, 7 he suggested that he and Banderas should have a fight for real. The Spanish actor wasn't 8 on the idea at first, but he was 9 persuaded by his co-star to put on his gloves and climb into the boxing ring. 10 , when he realized how seriously his 11 was taking it all, he began to regret his decision to fight. And then in the third round, Harrerlson hit Banderas 12 hard in the face that he actually broke his nose. His wife, actress Melanie Griffith, was furious that he had been playing “silly macho games”. “She was right,” confesses Banderas, “and I was a fool to 13 a risk like that in the middle of a movie.”

　　He was 14 of the time be broke his leg during a football match in his native Malaga. He had always 15 of becoming a soccer star, of performing 16 a big crowd, but doctors told him Ms playing days were probably over. “That's why I decided to take 17 acting; I saw it as 18 way of performing, and 19 recognition. What happened to me on that football 20 was, you might say, my first lucky break.

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