Sleep is very important. A person who does not sleep dies faster than a person who does not eat. We spend about a third()of our lives in sleep. That’s about 121 days a year!
How much sleep do we need? We are all different. A baby needs 16 hours of sleep every day. Children of 6 to 12 years of age need an average(平均)of 10 to 12 hours of sleep. Teenagers need 9 to 10 hours of sleep. An adult needs an average of 7 to 8 hours a day. There are some people who need only 3 hours of sleep; others need 10 hours of sleep. After the age of 50, the average sleep time goes down to 6.5 hours a day. We need less sleep as we get older.
About one in three Americans has a problem with sleep. Many of these people cannot fall asleep. The name for this problem is insomnia. Some people say, “I didn’t sleep all night.” But that’s not really true. They may sleep lightly and wake up several times. In the morning, they only remember the time they were awake, so they think they were awake all night.
This is not a new problem. Many famous people in history had insomnia. Some of these people had special ideas to make themselves sleep. Benjamin Franklin had four beds. He moved from one to the other to fall asleep. Mark Twain had a different way. He lay on his side across the end of the bed!
【小题1】How long do we spend in sleep a year?

A．Less than three months.	B．More than five months.
C．About four months.	D．Less than 2000 hours.

【小题2】If you are thirteen years old, you need at least __________ hours of sleep.

A．16

B．12

C．9

D．7

【小题3】What does the underlined word “insomnia” mean in this passage?

A．No sleep.

B．Fast sleep.

C．Slow sleep.

D．Sleep with many dreams.

【小题4】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．We will die soon if we don’t sleep well.

B．The older we get, the less sleep we need.

C．We can tell a person’s age from his sleep time.

D．Famous people move from one bed to the other to fall asleep.

【小题5】Which would be the best title for this passage?

A．Sleep less	B．Go to sleep
C．Age and sleep time	D．Famous people and sleep

Experts(专家) say that students usually need eight to ten hours’ sleep at night, but most Chinese students do not get enough sleep. Some Chinese parents are usually glad to see their children studying late. They will think their children work very hard, but not all parents are happy about this. Once a mother told us that every morning her 10-year-old boy put up one finger with his eyes still closed, begging for one more minute to sleep. Like thousands of students “ early birds” in China, he has to get up before six every morning.

A report shows that without a good night’s sleep, students seem to be weaker (虚弱)than they should be. Many students have fallen asleep during class at one time or another. Too much homework is not the only reason why students stay up late. Some watch TV or play the computer games late into the night.

Experts have ever said that the students should develop good study habits. So some clever students never study late, they are able to work well in class.

1.The 10-year-old boy begged for more minute to sleep because__________

A．he didn’t have enough sleep             B．it wasn’t time for him to get up

C．he didn’t want to go to school             D．he wanted his mother to wake him up

2.In this passage we know if students don’t get enough sleep, they may________

A．become too weak to sleep                B．not work well in class

C．go to bed early                         D．be weak in English

3.In this passage “early birds” means “persons who ______________”

A．get up early        B．get up late         C．sleep less         D．don’t want to sleep

4.According to the passage, which of the following is right?_________

A．If you want to study better, you must work hard at night.

B．Sleeping less means working hard.

C．Some clever students are able to work well in class because they have good study habits.

D．Students don’t have enough sleep because they have lots of homework to do.

 

How do you remember the way to your house? Where do dreams come from? It is your brain(大脑) that does these things. A British scientist showed that “sleep can improve one’s memory.” It’s not a dream for students to study when they sleep. In fact, your brains is working day and night. If you learn words before bed, a certain part of the brain may help you to remember the words while you sleep. What’s more, another scientist in the USA found that there was a “talent button(天才按钮)” in the human brain. It might make a person more talented.
There are more interesting things about the brain. Your brain uses less energy than a fridge light. Just two bananas can give the brain enough energy to work for a whole day. According to some scientists, yawning(打哈欠) keeps our brains “cool”, which makes us think quicker.
Here are some pieces of advice to keep a good brain:
Eat healthy food.
Get a lot of playtime or exercise.
Don’t drink or smoke.
Use your brain a lot.
【小题1】 A British scientist found out that ________ could improve our memories.

A．drink

B．dreams

C．sleep

D．bananas

【小题2】 According to the passage, if we want to have a good brain, we should ________.

A．use our brains more	B．sleep fewer hours
C．work longer hours	D．remember fewer things

【小题3】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Our brains only work in the daytime.

B．Our brains need much energy every day.

C．Smoking can keep our brains healthy.

D．Getting exercise is good for our brains.

How do you remember the way to your house? Where do dreams come from?
It is your brain (大脑) that does these things. A British scientist showed that sleep can improve one’s memory. It’s not a dream for students to study when they sleep. In fact, your brain is working day and night. If you learn words before bed, a certain part of your brain may help you to remember the words while you sleep. What’s more, another scientist in the USA found that there was a “talent button(按钮)” in the human brain. It might make a person more talented(有才能的).
There are more interesting things about the brain. Your brain uses less energy than a fridge light. Just two bananas can give the brain enough energy to work for a whole day. According to some scientists, yawning（打哈欠）keeps your brain “cool”, which makes us think quicker.
Here are some pieces of advice to keep a good brain:
● Eat healthy food.
● Get a lot of playtime or exercise.
● Don’t drink or smoke.
● Use your brain a lot.
【小题1】A British scientist found out that               .

A．drinking could affect our memories.

B．dreams could affect our memories.

C．sleep could improve our memories.

D．bananas could improve our memories.

【小题2】According to the passage, if we want to have a good brain, we should  .

A．use our brains more

B．sleep fewer hours

C．work longer hours

D．remember fewer things

【小题3】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Our brains only work in the daytime.

B．Our brains need much energy every day.

C．Smoking can keep our brains healthy.

D．Getting exercise is good for our brains.

Even though global warming may have made the weather more mild, many animals are still hibernating（冬眠）. It’s too bad that humans can’t hibernate. In fact we almost did.
Apparently, at times in the past, farmers in France liked a semi-state of human hibernation. So writes Graham Robb, a British scholar who has studied the sleeping habits of the French farmers. As soon as the weather turned cold, people all over the France shut themselves away and practiced the forgotten art of doing nothing at all for months.
In line with this, Jeff Warren, a producer at CBC Radio’s The Current, tells us that the way we sleep has changed since the invention of lighting.
When historians began studying texts of the Middle Ages, they noticed something referred to as “first sleep”, which was not clarified, though. Now scientists are telling us our ancestors most likely slept in separate periods. The business of eight hours’ continuous sleep is a modern invention.
In the past, without the artificial light, humans went to sleep when it became dark and then woke themselves up around midnight. The late night period was known as “The Watch”. It was when people actually kept watch against wild animals, although many of them simply moved around or visited family and neighbors.
According to some sleep researchers, a short of insomnia（失眠）at midnight is not a disorder. It is normal. Humans can experience another state of consciousness（清醒状态）around their sleeping, which happens in the brief period before we fall asleep or wake ourselves in the morning. This period can be a creative time for some people.
Playing with your sleep rhythms（节奏）can be dangerous, as worry may set in. Medical science doesn’t help much in this case. It offers us medicines for a full night’s continuous sleep, which sounds natural; however, according to Warren’s theory, it is really the opposite of what we need.
【小题1】The late night was called “The Watch” because it was a time for people ______.

A．to set time to catch animals

B．to remind others of the time

C．to guard against possible dangers

D．to wake up their family and neighbors

【小题2】We can infer from the last paragraph that people should ______.

A．sleep in the way animals do

B．follow their natural sleep rhythms

C．keep to the eight-hour sleeping way

D．ask doctors for help if they can’t sleep

【小题3】What is the writer’s purpose in writing the passage?

A．To throw new light on human sleep.

B．To encourage people to sleep less.

C．To give some suggestions on insomnia.

D．To find out people’s hibernating history.