.

Some people can stay up all night and still get work done the next day. I’m not one of them. After a night without enough sleep, I feel sleepy. I have trouble remembering things. And all I want to do is to go back to bed and sleep.

How do you feel after you’ve stayed up late to finish schoolwork? Or the day after a slumber(睡眠) party? Scientists now say that your answers to these questions may depend on your genes, which tell our bodies and brains what to do. People have about 40,000 genes, and each gene can have different forms.

A new research suggests that a gene called period3 affects how well you function without sleep. The discovery adds to older evidence that period3 helps determine whether you like to stay up late or get up early.

The period3 gene comes in two forms: short and long. Everyone has two copies of the gene. So, you may have two longs, two shorts, or one of each. Your particular combination depends on what your parents passed on to you.

Scientists studied 24 people who had to stay awake for 40 hours straight. Then they took tests that measured how well they could remember lists of numbers.

Results showed that the people with the short form of period3 performed much better than those with the long form did. In both groups, people performed worst in the early morning. After the first round of experiments, participants were finally allowed to sleep. People in the group that performed well on the tests took about 18 minutes to nod off(瞌睡).

People with long period3 gene fell asleep in just 8 minutes. They also spent more time on deep sleep. That suggests that people with the long form of the gene need more and deeper sleep to keep their brains working in top form.

I think I must have the long form period3. What about you?

68. The purpose of the writer in the first paragraph is to ____________.

   A. attract readers to the topic of the passage

   B. show his /her poor memory for things

   C. show his /her envy of those energetic people

   D. prove his/her need for sleep

69. Whether you can stay up or not depends on___________.

   A. the size of your brain         B. the kind of genes you have

   C. your health                 D. your will

70. The aim of the research is to _______.

   A. find a new gene called period3   B. find out how genes affect a person’s need for sleep

   C. test how long you can stay awake   D. measure how good your memory is

Some people can stay up all night and still get work done the next day. I’m not one of them. After a night without enough sleep, I feel sleepy. I have trouble remembering things. And all I want to do is to go back to bed and sleep.

How do you feel after you’ve stayed up late to finish schoolwork? Or the day after a slumber party? Scientists now say that your answers to these questions may depend on your genes, which tell our bodies and brains what to do. People have about 40,000 genes, and each gene can have different forms.

A new research suggests that a gene called period3 affects how well you function without sleep. The discovery adds to older evidence that period3 helps determine whether you like to stay up late or get up early.

The period3 gene comes in two forms: short and long. Everyone has two copies of the gene. So, you may have two longs, two shorts, or one of each. Your particular combination depends on what your parents passed on to you.

Scientists studied 24 people who had to stay awake for 40 hours straight. Then. they took tests that measured how well they could remember lists of numbers.

Results showed that the people with the short form of period3 performed much better than those with the long form did. In both groups, people performed worst in the early morning. After the first round of experiments, participants were finally allowed to sleep. People in the group that performed well on the tests took about 18 minutes to nod off(磕睡)

People with long period3 gene fell asleep in just 8 minutes. They also spent more time on deep sleep. That suggests that people with the long form of the gene need more and deeper sleep to keep their brains working in top form.

I think I must have the long form period3. What about you?

58. The purpose of the writer in the first paragraph is to ____________.

   A. show his /her envy of those energetic people

   B. show his /her poor memory for things

   C. attract readers to the topic of the passage

   D. prove his/her need for sleep

59. Whether you can stay up or not depends on___________.

   A. the size of your brain        B. your will

   C. your health                      D. the kind of genes you have

60. The aim of the research is to _______.

   A. find a new gene called period3

   B. find out how genes affect a person’s need for sleep

   C. test how long you can stay awake

   D. measure how good your memory is

“Get yourself up and make something of yourself，buddy！”Though my mother has passed away，her words are as clear in my head today as when I was a boy．

??? “Christ！”I said，“I have made something of myself. I want to sleep late as I like．”

??? “If there’s one thing I can’t stand，it’s a quitter．”Her voice in my head is more powerful than my will to refuse，so I pull myself from bed．

????? Before I was out of primary school，mother could see I lacked the gifts for either making millions or winning the love of crowds．So she began pushing me toward working with words．Words ran in her family．There seemed to be a word gene that passed down from her mother’s grandfather·

The greatest proof was my mother’s first cousin Edwin．He was the managing editor of the New York Times and had gained a name in his career．

??? In 1947 1 graduated from Johns Hopkins and applied for a job with the Baltimore Sun as a police reporter．It paid＄30 a week ．When I complained the wage was shameful for a learned man，mother refused to sympathize．“If you work hard at this job，”she said，“maybe you can make something of it．”

??? After a while，I was asked to cover diplomats（外交官）at various African embassies. Then，

seven years later I was arranged by the Sun to cover the White House，a task that was as close to heaven as a journalist could get．However，whatever achievement of mine only seemed insignificant in her eyes．Uncle Edwin’s success was really annoying during my early years as a reporter．What a thrill，I thought．

??? Then，out of my wildest childhood fantasy，the Times came knocking．It was sad that Uncle Edwin had passed away by this time．In 1979 I won the Pulitzer Prize．Unfortunately，my mother’s brain and health broke down the year before，leaving her in a nursing home，out of touch with life forevermore ．She never knew of my Pulitzer．

????? I can probably guess how she’d have responded．“ That’s nice，buddy．It shows if you work hand，you’11 be able to make something of yourself one day，”

1.The first three paragraphs are intended to＿＿＿＿＿＿

A．draw readers’attention to the author’s success

B．remind readers that the road to success is rough

C．serve as an introduction to the author’s mother

D．explain why the author’s mother kept blaming him

2.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 probably means that tier families＿＿＿＿

A. were gifted at language? B．never broke their promise

C. were fond of reading ? D. stuck to their family belief

3.What can we learn about the author

A．He got a good salary working as a police reporter．

B．He lived a rich life with his mother in his childhood．

C．It was proud of her mother to see his winning the Pulitzer Prize．

D．It was beyond his wildest dream that he could work for the Times．

4.The author regards Uncle Edwin’s success as a thrill because＿＿＿＿＿＿．

A．he himself was less smart than Uncle Edwin

B．his mother’s family thought Uncle Edwin to be a good reporter

C．few reporters can become the managing editor of the New York Times

D．Uncle Edwin spared no effort to get the Pulitzer Prize at the cost of his life

B
The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to represent all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on Earth.
An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if, in his words,“the worst came to the worst.” Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above zero degrees Celsius. The seeds will be protected behind concrete walls a meter thick and high—security doors.
The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will come from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present all the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below zero Celsius. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.
Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s most secure gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason. Norway first proposed the idea in the 1980s. But security concerns delayed the plan. At that time, the Soviet Union was permitted use of Spitsbergen. New Scientist says the plan won United Nations approval in October at a meeting in Rome of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
55.The project is meant to_______.
A.increase the world’s food production in the future
B.carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes
C.protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters
D.build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds
56.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?
A.The government of Norway will perform the project alone.
B.Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousand years ago.
C.Spitsbergen is chosen because it is away from the threat of unclear war forever.
D.Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.
57.We can infer from the text that_______.
A.People will get newly?developed seeds from the center every year
B.The storage center will greatly promote the development of world agriculture
C.Norway meant to have built the storage centre more than 20 years ago
D.There haven’t been any seed storage centers in the world before
58.What is probably the best title of the passage?
A.Noah’s Ark(诺亚方舟) of Plant Seeds in Plan.      B.The Best Place to Store Seeds.
C.Concerns of World Food Supply.                 D.A New Way to Feed the World.

By day he is just a normal cat but when the lights go out, he glows (发光) in the dark.

Scientists have genetically modified (更改) a cat as part of an experiment that could lead to treatments for diseases.

   Named Mr. Green Genes, he looks like a six-month-old cat but, under ultraviolet (紫外线的) light, his eyes, gums (牙龈) and tongue glow green. That is the result of a genetic experiment at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans, US.

   Mr. Green Genes is the first fluorescent (荧光的) cat in the US and probably the world, said Betsy Dresser, the center's director.

   The researchers made him so they could learn whether a gene could be introduced harmlessly into a cat's genetic sequence (次序).

   If so, it would be the first step in a process that could lead to the development of ways to treat diseases via gene therapy (治疗).

   The gene, which was added to Mr. Green Genes' DNA, has no effect on his health, Ms Dresser said.

   Cats are ideal for this project because their genetic makeup is similar to that of humans, said Dr Martha Gomez, a scientist at the center.

   To show that the gene went where it was supposed to go, the researchers settled on one that would glow.

   The gene "is just a marker"， said Leslie Lyons, an assistant professor at the University of California, Davis. Lyons is familiar with the center's work.

   "The glowing part is the fun part," she said.

   Glowing creatures made international news earlier this month when the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists who had discovered the gene through their work with jellyfish (水母).

51. Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A. A Glowing Cat         B. Mr. Green Genes

C. One Cat’s Life         D. An experiment on cats

52. What can we conclude from the passage?

A. Fortunately, scientists have found ways to treat diseases via gene therapy.

B. Scientists think cats’ genetic makeup is the same as that of human beings.

C. Three scientists who had discovered the gene were given Nobel Prize in  Physics.

D. Scientists have managed to introduce a gene into a cat’s genetic sequence.               

53. What does “settled on”  most probably mean in Paragraph 9?

A. chose       B. killed     C. took        D. raised

54. From the passage we can see that ____.

A. Mr. Green Genes was made by researchers to treat diseases

B. the cat named Mr. Green Genes can glow when it is dark

C. Mr. Green Genes is the first fluorescent cat in the world

D. Mr. Green Genes is a cat of seven months old up to now

55. Which of the following is WRONG according to the text?

A. The gene added to Mr. Green Genes’ DNA doesn’t affect its health at all.

B. The scientists came up with the idea of the glowing genes totally for fun.

C. Earlier this month glowing creatures became news all through the world.

D. Scientists had discovered the gene from the jellyfish they worked with.