In the summer of 1978 an English man named Steven was driving his tractor through a field of wheat when he discovered something strange. Some of his wheat was lying on the ground. The flattened wheat formed(形成)a circle about six meters across . Around this circle were four smaller circles of flattened wheat.

　 Three years later a farmer who lived nearby discovered almost the same circles in one of his fields. These circles were larger—nearly 15 meters across . That same year , another English farmer discovered three circles of flattened wheat on his land—one large circle between two small circles. During the following years, farmers in England found circles in their fields more and more often.

　 The circles are called “crop circles” because they usually appear in fields of wheat or corn. The wheat in the circles lies on the ground but is never broken; it keeps on growing, and the farmers can later harvest it. Farmers always discover the crop circles in the morning, so the circles probably form at night. They appear only in the months from May to September. What causes the crop circles?

　 At first, people thought that some kids were making them as a joke, or that farmers were making them to attract tourists.(In fact, in 1991, two men said they made the circles themselves, but many scientists don’t believe them.) People tried to copy them: They tried to make circles exactly like the ones the farmers had found. They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t enter a field of wheat without leaving tracks, and they couldn’t flatten the wheat without breaking it.

　 Several times people reported seeing stranger objects near the fields where crop circles later appeared. Many people believe that these crop circles are the messages sent by living things from outer space(外层空间)or the marks left by their spaceships.

　 Scientists who have studied the crop circles try to find out what causes them. In the summer of 1990 some scientists spent three weeks in the part of England where many circles have appeared. They had all the latest high-tech equipment(最新高科技设备). The equipment—worth 1.8 million dollars—got nothing. But one night, as the scientists were watching a field, crop circles formed in the field behind them, which were quite different from the others. The scientists had neither seen nor heard anything.

　 When Steven discovered the crop circles on his land in 1978, he said, “It was just like something that had landed in the field from the air and gone back up again. I don’t know what to make of these things.”

　 Crop circles have appeared in England, Japan, the United States and Russia. Experts from all over the world have studied them, and they say what Steven said: They don’t know what to make of these things.

1.Which picture is probably the one formed in the field behind the scientists?

2.“Flattened wheat” means ___________.

　　   A. broken wheat             B. lying wheat

　　   C. harvested wheat          D. growing wheat

3.The passage is mainly about something ___________ .

A. that is done by living things from outer space

B. that cannot be solved but found all around the world

C. that cannot be made clear or understood

D. that is discovered and copied by the farmers

Are two holidays not enough? Do you dream of three, or even four? 1.这不再是梦想! Last month, the State Council(国务院) encouraged primary and high schools to give students a spring or autumn break without changing the total number of student vacation days.

Students in China currently only have long holidays in two seasons —summer and winter. These holidays are usually 10 to 12 weeks in total.“If we had spring and autumn breaks, 2.I would have time to taste all four seasons instead of burying (埋) myself in my studies,”Gao Yiran, a 15-year-old boy told China Daily. Seasonal holidays during autumn and spring may be something new in China, but not in other countries.

In the US, students usually have three holidays. Summer holiday is the longest one, and runs from mid-June until early September. Summer camp is one of kids’ favorite places to go to, where they can make new friends and try some new activities. Winter holiday starts from mid-December and ends in early January. Most kids and their parents go to spend time together over the Christmas period. Spring break comes in mid- March and 3.it is usually a 10-day holiday.

Schools in Japan start in April, as most people think that spring is the perfect time for new things. For school children ,summer holiday lasts from July 20 to August 31. Most kids are busy with club activities including sports and dancing. Spring break starts at the end of March and continues till early April. It is a good chance for a short family trip around the city.

阅读短文，按要求完成下面的任务。

任务一　将4.处的中文翻译成英文。

任务二　将5.处斜体部分的英文翻译成中文。

任务三　写出6.处“it”指代的内容。

任务四　7.What do Japanese kids usually do in their spring break?

任务五　8.为该文段拟写一个标题。

It's the end of class. When the bell rings, students of Luohu Foreign Languages School in Shenzhen quickly take out their cell phones. They want to log on* to their micro blogs to check the interesting things that have happened in the last hour.
　　Since last year, the trend* of micro blogging has swept the country. Recent surveys shows that most students in middle schools have a micro blog and some even update* their blogs over five times per day.
　　"We learn many fresh and interesting things on micro blogs and they have become popular topics in class," said Andy Liang, 14. "If you do not know about them, you are out of the loop."
　　It is also a great place for students to let out stress. "My parents always ask me to study all the time, and encourage me before exams, but it really adds pressure," said Simon Zhang, 15. "When I share these feelings on my micro blog, I get many replies from friends in the same situation, which makes me feel better."
　　But parents are worried that micro blogging could be a waste of time. Some misleading messages may even cause danger to kids, they said.
　　Mr. Shen, a professor at the China Education Association, suggests parents not worry too much as long as kids are not crazy about micro blogging. Maybe it can become a window for parents to understand their children. "If parents can read their children's micro blogs, they'll know their thoughts, thus leading to better communication and solutions to problems," he said. He also gives some tips for kids.
　　---Don't micro blog for more than one hour a day.
　　---Never micro blog in class.
　　---Try to talk face to face with people from time to time.
　　---Be critical*. Don't trust all the messages on a micro blog.
【小题1】The underlined part "out of the loop" in the passage probably means                 .

A Brown University sleep researcher has some advice for people who run high schools: Don’t start classes so early in the morning. It may not be that the students who nod off at their desks are lazy. And it may not be that their parents have failed to enforce(确保) bedtime. Instead, it may be that biologically(生物学上)these sleepyhead(贪睡者)students aren’t used to the early hour.

　　“Maybe these kids are being asked to rise at the wrong time for their bodies,” says Mary Carskadon, a professor looking at problem of adolescent (青春期的)sleep at Brown’s School of Medicine.

　　Carskadon is trying to understand more about the effects of early school time in adolescents. And, at a more basic level, she and her team are trying to learn more about how the biological changes of adolescence affect sleep needs and patterns(方式).

　　Carskadon says her work suggests that adolescents may need more sleep than they did at childhood, no less, as commonly thought.

　　Sleep patterns change during adolescence, as any parent of an adolescent can prove. Most adolescents prefer to stay up later at night and sleep later in the morning. But it’s not just a matter of choice---their bodies are going through a change of sleep patterns.

　　All of this makes the transfer(迁移)from middle school to high school---which may start one hour earlier in the morning----all the more difficult, Carskadon says. With their increased need for sleep and their biological clocks set on the “sleep late, rise late” pattern, adolescents are up against difficulties when they try to be up by 5 or 6 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. first bell. A short sleep on a desktop may be their body’s way of saying. “I need a timeout.”

1.Carskadon suggests that high schools should not start classes so early in the morning because _______.

A．it is really tough for parents to enforce bedtime

B．it is biologically difficult for students to rise early

C．students work so late at night that they can’t get up early

D．students are so lazy that they don’t like to go to school early

2.The underlined phrase nod off most probably means _______.

A．turn around       B．agree with others   C．fall asleep         D．refuse to work

3.What might be a reason for the hard transfer from middle school to high school?

A．Adolescents depend more on their parents.

B．Adolescents have to choose their sleep patterns.

C．Adolescents sleep better than they did at childhood.

D．Adolescents need more sleep than they used to.

4.What is the test mainly about?

A．Adolescent health care.

B．Problems in adolescent learning.

C．Adolescent sleep difficulties.

D．Changes in adolescent sleep needs and patterns.