Question

Willi around 100 students scheduled to be in that 9 am Monday morning lecture, it is no surprise that almost 20 people actually make it to the class and only 10 of them arc still awake after the first IS minutes; it is not even a surprise that most of them are still in their pyjamas (睡衣). Obviously, students are terrible at adjusting their sleep cycles to their daily schedule.

All human beings possess a body clock. Along with other alerting (警报) systems, this governs the sleep/wake cycle and is therefore one of the main processes which govern sleep behaviour. Typically, the preferred sleep/wake cycle is delayed in adolescents, which leads to many students not feeling sleepy until much later in the evenings. This typical sleep pattern is usually referred to as the "night owl" schedule of sleep.

This is opposed to the "early bird" schedule, and is a kind of disorder where the individual tends to stay up much past midnight. Such a person has great difficulty in waking up in the mornings. Research suggests that night owls feel most alert and function best in the evenings and at night. Research findings have shown that about 20 percent of people can be classified as "night owls" and only 10 percent can be classified as "early birds" - the other 70 percent are in the middle. Although this is clearly not true for all students, for the ones who are true night owls this gives them an excellent excuse for missing their lectures which unfortunately fall before midday.

1.What docs the author stress in Paragraph I?

A. Many students are absent from class.

B. Students are very tired on Monday mornings.

C. Students do not adjust their sleep patterns well.

D. Students are not well prepared for class on Mondays.

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

A. Most students prefer to get up late in the morning.

B. Students don't sleep well because of alerting systems.

C. One's body clock governs the sleep/wake cycle independently.

D. Adolescents' delayed sleep/wake cycle isn't the preferred pattern.

3.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word "classified"?

A. Criticised.                  B. Grouped.                 C. Organised.                D. Named.

4.What docs the text mainly talk about?

A. Functions of the body clock.                          

B. The "night owl" phenomenon.

C. Human beings' sleep behaviour.                      

D. The school schedule of "early birds".

Answer

1.C

2.D

3.B

4.B

【解析】

试题分析: 本文属于说明文范畴。在文中作者通过介绍一堂课中学生迟到和准时到的情况，提出了学生不擅长调整自己的生物钟而去适应白天的学业安排。然后在文中分析了目前青少年睡眠存在的问题，提出了两种不同的睡眠模式，即“early bird ”（早起型） 和“night owl”（夜猫子型），并主要介绍了晚上不困，白天困的“night owl” 现象。

1.考查主旨大意。在文章首段作者首先通过数字说明许多学生早晨不能准时起床的一种情况，然后用一句话Obviously, students are terrible at adjusting their sleep cycles to their daily schedule.来解释这种现象的原因，提出文章中心，然后围绕此中心展开行文，故答案选C。

2.考查细节理解。根据第二段Typically , the preferred sleep / wake cycle is delayed in adolescents …可知学生们对他们自己的睡眠模式不熟悉，没有能够恰当地去调整适应自己的生物钟，因而造成了睡眠问题，故答案选D。

3.考查词义推断。A批评；B分类；C 组织；D命名。根据上文第三段末句This typical sleep pattern is usually referred to as the "night owl" schedule of和第四段首句This is opposed to the "early bird" schedule,可知睡眠模式有两种，即”night owl” 和”early bird”，而此处把20%归到night owls类，由此判断该词意思为“分类”，选B。

4.考查主旨要义。在文章开头介绍一堂课中学生的迟到和准时到的情况，提出了学生不擅长调整自己的生物钟而去适应白天的学业安排这一问题。然后在下文对此现象进行分析并介绍造成这种情况的原因，所以答案选B。A选项内容“人体生物钟的功能”，B选项“人体的睡眠行为”都比较片面，不能反应文章中心；而D选项“早起者的时间安排”在文中没有涉及。

考点：考查社会生活类短文阅读。