The Two-way Radio

　　Australia is nearly as large as the United States, but most of it is too dry for people to live in. Around the edge (边缘) of this huge dry part are large sheep and cattle (牛群，家畜) . farms. A few of them are as large as the smallest states in America. Often the nearest neighbours (邻居) are many hundred miles away.

　　The two-way radio is very important to people who live on these great Australian farms. It works much like a telephone. A person can listen to someone else talk and then give an answer.

　　When these radios first came into use, the Australian government (政府) set up a special (专门的，特别的) two-way radio programme (节目). Then, people on the large farms could talk to a doctor hundreds of miles away. They could tell the doctor about someone who was sick, and the doctor could let them know how to care for the sick person.

　　Since the large farms were so far from towns, the children could not go to school. Radio schools were set up for them in some places. At a certain time each day, the boys and girls turn on their radios and listen to teachers in cities miles away.

　　Families on the large farms wanted to give news to their neighbours. “Round robin (知更鸟)”talks by radio were started to keep families in touch with each other. They could talk about who was getting married or who was sick or who was going away. The men could talk about their sheep and cattle and how much money the markets would pay for them. In many ways the radio became a newspaper for the farm people of Australia.

1．This passage tells us something about ________.

[　　]

A．how the radio is used in Australia

B．why the radio is important in Australia

C．how large Australia is

D．both A and B

2．Australia is ________America.

[　　]

3．How many examples were given by the writer to show the use of radio on the great farms? ________.

[　　]

4．Families on the large farms kept in touch with each other by

________.

[　　]

5．The two-way radio is something like a telephone because

________.

[　　]

A．you can talk and listen to somebody by radio at the same time.

B．people could talk to a doctor hundreds of miles away

C．the radio has two telephones

D．the government has set up a special two-way radio programme

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

【小题2】“Flattened wheat” means ___________.
　　  

A．broken wheat

B．lying wheat

C．harvested wheat

D．growing wheat

【小题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

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

 

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.