Advice to “sleep on it” could be well founded...

Advice to “sleep on it” could be well founded, scientists say. After a good night’s sleep, a problem, which couldn’t be solved the night before, can often seem more manageable, although the evidence until now has been anecdotal (个人体验的). But researchers, at the University of Luebek in Germany, have designed an experiment that shows a good night’s sleep can improve insight (顿悟) and problem-solving.

“If you have some newly-got memories in your brain, sleep acts on these memories and restructures (重新组织) them, and as a result, after sleep, the insight into problem which you could not solve before increases,” said Dr Jan Born, a neuroscientist (神经科学家), at the university.

To test the theory, they taught volunteers two simple rules to help them turn a string of (一连串) numbers into a new order. There was also a third, hidden rule, which could help them increase their speed in solving the problem. The researchers divided the volunteers into two groups: Half were allowed to sleep after the training, while the rest were forced to stay awake. Dr Jan Born and his team noticed that the group that had slept after the training were twice as likely to figure out (想出) the third rule as the other group.

“Sleep helped,” Born said in a telephone interview. “The important thing is that you have to have a memory representation (描绘，表现) of the problem you want to solve in your brain and then you sleep, so it can act on the problem.” But Born admitted that he and his team don’t know how restructuring of memories occurs or what governs it.

Pierre Maquet and Perrine Ruby of the University of Liege in Belgium said the experimental evidence supports the anecdotal suggestions that sleep can help develop creative thinking. Although the role of sleep in human creativity will still be a mystery, the research gives people good reason to fully respect their periods of sleep, they added.

1.The underlined phrase “sleep on it” in Paragraph 1 probably means ______.

A. to delay deciding something until the next day

B. to get as much sleep as possible

C. to go on sleeping without being disturbed

D. to sleep till after the time you usually get up in the morning

2.Jan Born and his team carried out the experiment through ______.

A. comparison       B. interview         C. survey       D. imagination

3.It can be inferred from the passage that ______.

A. people should sleep so long as they have time

B. sleep is the only way to solve hard problems

C. people have various periods of sleep

D. people know how sleep reconstructs memories

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A. How Sleep Works                       B. Sleep Helps Solve Problems

C. No Evidence, But Well Founded         D. Born’s Discovery On Sleep

高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Scientists have found what look like caves on Mars, and say they could be protecting life from the planet’s terrible environment.

The first caves discovered beyond the Earth appear as seven mysterious black dots on the pictures sent back by NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter. Each as large as a football field, they may be openings into natural caves below the Martian surface.

“If there is life on Mars, there is a good chance you’d find it in caves,” said Jut Wynne, one of the researchers who noticed the features while working on a US Geological Survey Mars Cave Detection Program.

Jonathan Clarke, a geologist with the Mars Society of Australia, yesterday described the discovery as exciting.

One photo taken at night by an infrared imager(红外线成像器) showed one hole to be unusually warm, suggesting hot air trapped during the day is flowing out.

“I said: ‘Wow, that’s a cave’.” Dr. Clarke said excitedly. “People have been looking for these for a long time; now we have found them.”

He agreed such caves would be perfect places to hunt for life escaping from the bitterly cold, radiation-soaked(充满辐射的), dry surface.

“Tiny drops of water could collect inside,” he said. “If there are gases coming out, they could provide energy for a whole range of bacteria. A cave is also a protection from radiation; the surface of Mars is exposed to high levels of space radiation.”

The caves probably formed when tube-shaped lave flows(管状岩浆流) spread across the planet long ago. The outside of the tubes cooled, forming solid walls, while something hotter inside allowed the remaining have to flow out, forming caves.

1.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. How the caves were formed on Mars.

B. How scientists found these caves on Mars.

C. Caves on Mars may be full of hot air or a sign of life.

D. Scientists have completely recognized the surface of Mars.

2.What can the “cave” be used for according to the scientists?

A. They can protect life from the planet’s terrible environment.

B. They can provide energy for people’s life.

C. They can be used to prevent space radiation

D. Both A and C.

3.We can learn from the passage that　　　　 .

A. water has already been found on Mars

B. the scientists found all the caves at night

C. it is certain that there is life in these caves

D. the surface of Mars is bitterly cold, radiation-soaked and dry

4.According to the passage, Dr. Clarke was so excited because　　　　 .

A. such caves could provide energy for life

B. they had finally found the caves on Mars

C. such caves would be perfect places to hunt for life

D. scientists had long been looking for these caves

5.Necessary conditions for life on Mars mentioned in the passage may include　　　　 .

A. lave and energy

B. water and radiation from space

C. gases and lave

D. water and protection from radiation

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

“Global warming could make humans shorter,” warn scientists who claim to have found evidence that it caused the world's first horses to shrink(收缩) nearly 50 million years ago. In fact, a team from the universities of Florida and Nebraska says it has found a link between the Earth heating up and the size of mammals – horses, in this case.

The scientists used fossils to follow the evolution of horses from their earliest appearance 56 million years ago. As temperature went up，their size went down, and vice versa（反之亦然）;“ At one point they were as small as a house cat,” said Dr Jonathan Bloch, curator（博物馆长） of the Florida Museum of Natural History, which was quoted by the "Daily Mail" as saying.

The scientists say that the current warming could have the same effect on mammals and could even make humans smaller."Horses started out small, about the size of a small dog . What's surprising is that after they first appeared, they then became even smaller and then dramatically increased in size, and that exactly corresponds to the global warming event, followed by cooling”

"It had been known that mammals were small during that time and that it was warm, but we hadn't realized that temperature specifically was driving the evolution of body size," Dr Bloch said in the "Science" journal.

1.How did scientists find out the horses’ earliest appearance millions of years ago?

A. searching the data on the net

B. sorting through the pictures of ancient times

C. using fossils to follow the evolution

D. analyzing the related images

2.What can we infer form the passage?

A. As temperatures went up, horses dramatically increased in size

B. The temperature has no effect on mammals’ evolution

C. As temperatures went up, horses’ size went down

D. In history, it used to be warm at early times , followed by a certain period of sharply cooling down.

3.Which is the most closest meaning to the underlined words most probably mean _______.

A. react to　　　　　　　　　　 B.　 be contradictory to　

C. be consistent with　　　　　　 D.　 differ from

4.What is the best title of the passage?

A. Global warming is to disappear

B. The temperature on earth is to decrease

C. Global warming makes human shorter

D. Mammals are dying out.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

We found the baby  ____ on the floor.

A. slept          B. sleep         C. to sleep         D. sleeping

高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

Scientists found many stones ________ with numbers on the mountains.

高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

Sleep to Lose Weight

A recent study found that people who sleep less tend to be fat. Experts said it's time to find out if more sleep can fight obesity.

Nowadays, the most popular method to keep fit is doing more exercise and eating less. Some people even take weight-loss drugs to keep slim, which is unhealthy and harmful to your body. " 1.As a result, we’ve failed to recognize the value of good sleep," said a physician.

Men sleep an average of 27 minutes less than women, and overweight and fat patients sleep less than patients with normal weights. In general, fat people just sleep about 1.8 hours less a week than those with normal weights.2.Only an extra 20 minutes of sleep per night contributes to a lower BODY MASS INDEX （身体质量指数）.

We caution that this study does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between limited sleep and fatness.3.Therefore, let's stay thin by sleeping more!

Here are some other advantages of sleeping more.

• You'll learn better.

This isn't just for children. Adults who get enough sleep also do better on tests of short-term memory.

•4.

After getting enough sleep, you will find yourself feeling happy and delighted.

• Lower stress.

5.With that people can better control their blood pressure.

A.Better mood.

B.You will be energized.

C.Sleep can definitely reduce levels of stress.

D.We've put so much emphasis on diet and exercise.

E.The study is intended to offer a healthy way to help people sleep longer.

F.The experts suggest that too much extension of sleep time not be necessary.

G.However, investigations of successful weight loss by sleeping more help prove such a connection.

高二英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析

A study published Monday found that people who sleep less tend to be fat，and experts said it’s time to find out if more sleep will fight fatness.

“We’ve put so much emphasis on diet and exercise that we’ve failed to recognize the value of good sleep，”said Fred Turek，a physician at Northwestern University.

Monday’s study from Eastern Virgnia Medical School in Norfolk covered 1,000 people and found that total sleep time decreased as body mass index－a measure of weight based on height increased.

“Men slept an average of 27 minutes less than women and overweight and fat patients slept less than patients with normal weights，”it said.In general the fatter subjects slept about 1.8 hours a week less than those with normal weights.

“Americans experience insufficient sleep and fat bodies.Clinicians are aware of the burden of fatness on patients，”the study said.

“Our findings suggest that major extensions of sleep time may not be necessary，as an extra 20 minutes of sleep per night seems to be associated with a lower body mass index，”it added.

“We caution that this study does not set up a cause­and­effect relationship between restricted sleep and fatness，but investigations indicating success in weight loss via extensions of sleep would help greatly to set up such a relationship.”

The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine along with an editorial by Turek and Northwestern colleague Joseph Bass commenting on it and related research.

Inan interview，Turek said some studies have shown the lack of sleep causes declines in an appetiteholding back protein hormone，and increases in another hormone that cause a longing for food.“In addition neuropathies(神经疗法)in the brain governing sleep and fatness appear to overlap(部分重叠)，”he said.

“Fatness has been rising dramatically in developed countries and reached epidemic(流行病)levels in the United States，”it added，“leading to a variety of health problems.”

高二英语任务型阅读困难题查看答案及解析

Scientists think that growing garden grass could be the secret to solving our energy needs, and we may soon be able to replace our gasoline with “grassoline”.

The team, including experts from Cardiff University in Wales, has shown that hydrogen can be taken from grass in useful amounts with the help of sunlight and a cheap catalyst (催化剂) — something that speeds up a chemical reaction without being used up.

It is the first time that this has been shown and it could lead to a sustainable (可持续的) way of making hydrogen, reported Asian News International. This could be an important kind of renewable energy because it is high in energy and it does not give out harmful gases when it is burned.

Study co-author Michael Bowker said, “This is really a green source of energy. Hydrogen is seen as an important future energy carrier as the world moves from fossil fuels to renewable energy, and our research has shown that even garden grass could be a good way of getting it.”

Cellulose (纤维素), which is a key part of plants and the biopolymer (生物聚合物) found in the largest numbers on the earth, could be a great source of hydrogen.

In its study, the team looked at the possibility of getting hydrogen from cellulose using sunlight and a simple catalyst.

This is called photocatalysis (光催化作用) and in it, the sunlight starts the catalyst, which then makes cellulose and water into hydrogen. The researchers studied the effectiveness of three metal-based catalysts, of which nickel (镍) especially interested the researchers, as it is a much more common metal than gold and palladium (钯) and it saves more money.

According to Bowker, producing hydrogen from cellulose using photocatalysis has not been studied in detail. The team’s research shows that large amounts of hydrogen can be produced using this method with the help of a bit of sunlight and a cheap catalyst.

The study shows that it is effective to use real grass taken from a garden. “This is important as it avoids the need to separate and clean up cellulose, which can be both difficult and costly,” said Bowker.

1.What are needed to get hydrogen from grass?

A.A catalyst and palladium. B.Water and cellulose.

C.Sunlight and a biopolymer. D.Sunlight and a catalyst.

2.Why is the new way of making hydrogen considered significant?

A.It is cheap, green and sustainable.

B.It is the best to produce the renewable energy.

C.It is more productive and efficient than other methods.

D.It can replace the way to make fossil fuels completely.

3.Why does nickel interest the researchers in making hydrogen from cellulose?

A.It can produce the largest amount of hydrogen.

B.It can avoid separating and cleaning up cellulose.

C.It is more common than other metals and costs less.

D.It works quicker than other metals during photocatalysis.

4.What does the author intend to tell us mainly in this passage?

A.Catalysts that could be taken from grass.

B.A new way of making hydrogen from cellulose.

C.The potential of hydrogen as a renewable energy.

D.The connection between hydrogen and photocatalysis.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The well was found __________ when we got there.

A. digging                    B. to be dug

C. to dig                      D. being dug

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

The well was found __________ when we got there.

A. digging    B. to be dug        C. to dig              D. being dug

高二英语单项填空困难题查看答案及解析