阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Why do many of us find 1. difficult or impossible to fall asleep in a bed other than our own? Is it because the bed is 2.(comfort)? According to a new study published in Current Biology, a significant reason is 3. the scientists call “first night effect”. They believe that one side of the brain acts as a “night watch” to warn us about potential dangers. It forces us 4.(stay) awake on the first night in a new environment.
For the study, 35 young volunteers 5.(ask) to sleep in a sleep lab for several days. Meanwhile, researchers watched their brain activities.
According to the researchers, on their first night, the left brains were 6.(active) than the right brains and people had a hard time sleeping. However, left-brain activity decreased as days went by, 7.(fall) even to the point of complete calm. In this process, the participants got an increasingly better sleep experience.
The 8.(finding) suggest that the different rhythms of the sides of the brain affect our sleep. When the two sides work 9.(different), the balance between them is broken. Thus, the brain can’t relax and is sensitive to anything strange in the surroundings, just 10. it is in the daytime.
In the summer before I entered middle school, I read the book They Cage the Animals at Night. It’s a story about Jennings, a boy living in various orphanages（孤儿院）with only his stuffed animal（毛绒玩具）, Doggie, for companionship. It’s a fascinating book, but little did I know how it would _______ my life and the lives of others.
One day, as I looked across my room at the pile of stuffed animals, a(n) _________ came to me. I would _________ stuffed animals for children like Jennings. _________ , I contacted agencies that support those children and they said the stuffed animals would certainly _________ children’s spirits.
I named my project “Cuddle Buddies”. I wrote articles for the local and school newspapers, _________ donations of the “buddies”— stuffed animals. My phone _________ ringing; schools, families, and toy factories all wanted to help. Much to my _________ , by the second week my living room looked like a zoo. Whenever Mom and I _________ the “buddies” to the agencies, the kids would be waiting there with their eyes down, too ____________ to look but shaking with excitement.
Six years after its launch, Cuddle Buddies continues to ____________ . Now over 25,000 stuffed animals have been ____________ to agencies worldwide. Simon, a seven-year-old boy in an African Children’s Home, couldn’t sleep at night after he lost his parents. When asked to choose his “buddies”, Simon ____________ a panda and soon after was sleeping through the night. I never dreamed Cuddle Buddies would ____________ this way.
Upon graduating from high school, I designed a website, www.cuddlebuddies.net, to ____________ the project. The response was ____________ . More and more people joined me and two dozen Cuddle Buddies ____________ were established across the nation.
This has been a great experience. I’ve learned how to follow through on an idea and how to ____________ impact a life. I will go to college with these ____________ in mind and continue my work with Cuddle Buddies, even when I ____________ a whole new set of exciting academic and nonacademic pursuits.
1.A. touch B. risk C. lead D. save
2.A. chance B. idea C. explanation D. word
3.A. display B. repair C. purchase D. collect
4.A. Previously B. Occasionally C. Immediately D. Gradually
5.A. capture B. reflect C. lift D. record
6.A. putting aside B. turning down C. asking for D. getting back
7.A. delayed B. kept C. stopped D. meant
8.A. knowledge B. taste C. regret D. delight
9.A. delivered B. applied C. rented D. returned
10.A. shy B. content C. weak D. eager
11.A. reform B. expand C. dominate D. divide
12.A. produced B. adopted C. sold D. donated
13.A. picked out B. came across C. showed off D. brought up
14.A. decline B. work C. increase D. react
15.A. promote B. start C. evaluate D. examine
16.A. confusing B. amusing C. automatic D. enthusiastic
17.A. companies B. committees C. branches D. institutes
18.A. financially B. positively C. socially D. physically
19.A. plans B. images C. lessons D. motives
20.A. work out B. keep off C. rely on D. engage in
Last summer over 12,000 fans were at Wembley Arena in London, shouting and cheering. Thousands more were watching online. 1. It was e-sports, or competitive computer gaming.
Millions of people in the UK play computer games for fun. Some of them have become professional gamers, playing games as their full-time job. 2. They practice for ten or more hours a day, five or six days a week. They do exercises like typing something and trying to type it faster and faster. They also study videos of other players and plan ways to beat them.
3. Are players athletes? Some say no. E-sports players don’t need to run, jump, throw or do big physical actions. At the moment, the UK government classifies e-sports as kinds of games, not as sports.
But others say yes: e-sports are sports. Players do need some physical skills, especially hand-eye coordination, reflexes, accuracy and timing. If darts, snooker and shooting are classified as sports, then perhaps e-sports should be too.
4. And they will be an official medal sport in the Asian Games starting from 2022. Next step: the Olympics?
For many e-sports fans and players, though, the most important thing is that e-sports are growing in popularity and importance. 5.
A. But are e-sports really sports?
B. All like playing computer games.
C. It’s not easy being a professional gamer, though.
D. But this wasn’t a football, basketball or tennis match.
E. It is certain that e-sports will come into the 2024 Olympics.
F. In fact, China and South Korea do classify e-sports as sports.
G. If e-sports are not as important as sports now, they definitely will be in the near future.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be? Other than flying and communicating with someone from his mind (which, let’s be honest, would probably actually be awful), breathing underwater is one of the favorites. You can hang out with Aquaman and Ursula, and when the end of the world comes and we’re all living under water, you’ll be fine.
With this in mind, a student at the Royal College of Art, London has designed a 3D-printed amphibious garment called AMPHIBIO — essentially a set of gills(鳃) — for this very purpose.
According to Jun Kamei, a biomimicry designer and materials scientist, it is "for a future where humankind lives in the water".
With the world set for a global temperature increase of 3.2°C (5.7°F) by 2100, rising sea levels are a very real threat to large coastal cities, potentially affecting up to 2 billion people — or 26 percent of the current global population.
Kamei’s little device uses a specially designed porous(多孔的) material that fills oxygen again in the water and releases carbon dioxide. It is inspired by water-diving insects that create their own little scuba diving set by creating a protective bubble of air around their body thanks to their water repellent(防水的) skin.
The technology is easily 3D-printable too, which will be great when we need them together. These "gills" could replace heavy and clumsy scuba equipment, making it more similar to free diving but for longer. This could have immediate applications for underwater rescue plans — the 12 boys rescued by divers from a flooded cave in Thailand, for example, where it took weeks to work out how to get the boys and the vital breathing equipment through those narrow tunnels.
So far, the tech has only been tested as a working prototype, not actually on humans, so the dream may have to be on hold for now. And scaling up and testing on humans is Kamei’s next plan. This may sound unbelievable, but Kamei insists he has a much more optimistic vision of the future.
1.What can be inferred about Aquaman and Ursula?
A. They can read minds.
B. They can breathe underwater.
C. They often cause huge disasters.
D. They can’t live underwater.
2.What can we learn about AMPHIBIO?
A. It can produce oxygen in the water.
B. Its user can communicate with others from their mind.
C. It is the unique useful tool against the threat of rising sea levels.
D. The designer drew his inspiration from a certain natural species.
3.Why did the author mentioned the rescue of the boys in Thailand?
A. To present the success of the new device.
B. To compare the new device with the old one.
C. To prove the advantage of the new device.
D. To show the new device is easily 3D-printable.
4.What is the author’s attitude to the future of the new design?
A. Objective. B. indifferent. C. Doubtful. D. Critical.
It was once common to regard Britain as a society with class distinction. Each class had unique characteristics.
In recent years, many writers have begun to speak the 'decline of class' and 'classless society' in Britain. And in modern day consumer society everyone is considered to be middle class.
But pronouncing the death of class is too early. A recent wide-ranging society of public opinion found 90 percent of people still placing themselves in particular class; 73 percent agreed that class was still a vital part of British society; and 52 percent thought there were still sharp class differences. Thus, class may not be culturally and politically obvious, yet it remains an important part of British society. Britain seems to have a love of stratification.
One unchanging aspect of a British person's class position is accent. The words a person speaks tell her or his class. A study of British accents during 1970s found that a voice sounding like a BBC newsreader was viewed as the most attractive voice. Most people said this accent sounded 'educated' and 'soft'. The accents placed at the bottom in this study, on the other hand, were regional city accents. These accents were seen as 'common' and 'ugly'. However, a similar study of British accents in the US turned these results upside down and placed some regional accents as the most attractive and BBC English as the least. This suggests that British attitudes towards accent have deep roots and are based on class prejudice.
In recent years, however, young upper middle-class people in London, have begun to adopt some regional accents, in order to hide their class origins. This is an indication of class becoming unnoticed. However, the 1995 pop song 'Common People' puts forward the view that though a middle-class person may 'want to live like common people' they can never appreciate the reality of a working-class life.
1.A recent study of public opinion shows that in modern Britain ________.
A. people regard themselves socially different
B. most people belong to middle class
C. it is easy to recognize a person’s class
D. it is time to end class distinction
2.The word “stratification” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ________.
A. variety B. qualification C. authority D. division
3.British attitudes towards accent ________.
A. are based on regional status
B. have a long tradition
C. are shared by the Americans
D. have changed in recent years
4.What is the main idea of the passage?
A. The middle class is expanding
B. A person’s accent reflects his class
C. Class is a key part of British society
D. Each class has unique characteristics.
Most of us might only begin to think about dinner in the late afternoon: What should I make today? But Jelena Petrovic begins to think about her big meal early each morning. After morning tea, she and her husband, Milan, begin their plans for a traditional Serbian dish. The cooking method they use probably comes from Jelena’s mother or grandmother. Each recipe uses local foods found in Serbian markets.
Milan goes to the market to get the food they need. And the 69-year-old Jelena makes plans for how she will explain the cooking process to her 150,000 followers on YouTube. Once she is ready, Jelena films her cooking show from a small kitchen table. Milan holds the camera.
Jelena has many years of cooking experience at home. Ten years ago, she started an online program, where she shared recipes and cooking suggestions for meat, soup, bread, sweet treats and more.
Her number of followers grew over time. She decided to start a blog and began also making videos she filmed with her mobile phone. Today, her videos on YouTube have over 50 million views.
Last year, “Granny’s Kitchen” was named one of the Top 50 YouTube channels in Serbia.
Now her YouTube channel takes up much of her day. She works from her small kitchen and home office. Colorful plants and flowers fill the room. A bright cloth covers the table where she works. She says she gets tired from cooking long hours each day. But, she said, “My viewers wait for a new recipe every morning. If I am late, they will ask if I am well or what is happening.”
Often, her viewers write that the recipes bring back happy memories of their childhood. “My recipes are all local, traditional home-food recipes,” Jelena said. “I make things my mother or grandmother used to make.”
1.What is special about Jelena’s dealing with dinner?
A.She prepares dinner with special foods. B.She considers her dinner plan earlier.
C.She asks her husband to prepare dinner. D.She completes dinner in the late afternoon.
2.Which of the following can best describe “Granny’s Kitchen”?
A.Boring. B.Simple. C.Little-known. D.Popular.
3.How does Milan help his wife make the cooking program?
A.By cooking food.
B.By explaining the cooking process.
C.By buying goods and shooting the videos.
D.By analyzing cooking methods for dinner.
4.What encourages Jelena to continue her cooking program?
A.Her viewers’ care and expectation.
B.Her love for traditional home food.
C.Her happy memories of childhood.
D.Her real interest in cooking food.
