Do you know why you sleep? You may think it’s because you’re tired. Or perhaps you’ve been told sleep is good for you. Yet no one knows exactly why or how people sleep.

Until the early 1950s, most scientists thought the body and brain rested during sleep. Then a scientist watched people sleep. He noticed that during periods of between 5 and 30 minutes each, sleepers’ eyes made rapid movements, as if they were watching something. He called these periods REM sleep, for Rapid Eye Movement. Periods when sleepers’ eyes did not move he called non-REM sleep.

Whenever the scientist woke people during REM sleep, they were having vivid dreams. Measurements showed that sleepers’ pulses（脉搏）went up quickly during REM sleep. Their breathing, heartbeat, and the blood going to the brain also increased. Far from being a time of rest, REM sleep is a time when the body is hard at work. Scientists still don’t know the reason for this. Some believe REM sleep makes learning easier. Babies spend a lot of time in REM sleep. Because of this, some scientists believe that REM sleep helps the brain grow. Others think REM sleep is a time for the brain to empty the day’s garbage.

One thing all the scientists agree on is that sleep is necessary. Without enough sleep, people make mistakes. Most major car accidents happen during the early morning hours, when people are sleepiest.

1.During REM sleep, a person’s breathing and heartbeat ________.

A．stop   B．increase     C．decrease   D．stay the same

2.Which word in paragraph（段落）3 means “colorful and lively”?

A．easier         B．empty         C．vivid   D．quickly

3.Which paragraph tells what happens when people don’t get enough sleep?

A．1         B．2         C．3         D．4

4.What is the main idea of the article?

A．REM sleep helps the brain grow.

B．REM sleep has been watched and recorded by scientists.

C．REM sleep is a time to empty the day’s garbage.

D．REM sleep is an active time when the body is hard at work.

5.You can decide from the article that REM sleep ________.

A．has a restful effect on people

B．can be avoided with lots of sleep

C．is something that all people experience

D．is something that all scientists agree on

 

We use the Internet for many things: business, shopping, writing letters, talking to people, finding information, and so on. In recent years, a new kind of English has grown on the Internet. There’s no real word for it yet, so we’ll call it e-talk. People don’t like typing too much. To save time, they turn phrases (短语) into a few letters called acronyms(首字母缩略词). Acronyms are often used in chat rooms.
Some of them are:
BTW(by the way)     BRB (be right back)
LOL (laughing out loud) IMO (in my opinion)
People also use many abbreviations. They are shortened forms of words. Some common abbreviations are:
info (information)    puter (computer)    pic (picture)      sec (second)
We usually don’t see people when we communicate on the Net, so people have new ways to show feelings. Most people use their keyboards to draw “feeling”, such as:
: ) (happy)     :-( (sad) ;    : P (joking)   : O (surprised)
These days, many forums have picture feelings. For example:
happy          sad         angry        cool
There are even whole new words, like ‘newbie’ (someone who is new on a chat board or forum). When you write something bad about someone else, it’s called ‘flaming’ the person.
It takes time to get used to e-talk. Also, different groups in the Net have their own special ways of communicating. Newbies sometimes have to ask other people what they mean. As the Internet grows, e-talk will continue to grow and change.
【小题1】 Why do people type acronyms?

A．To show their feelings.

B．To make jokes.

C．Because people can type them quickly.

D．In this way, newbies won’t understand them.

【小题2】What does “My puter is not working well. :-( ” mean?

A．The person is happy about getting a new computer.

B．The person has to go away from their computer.

C．The person is angry at somebody.

D．The person is sad that his computer is having problems.

【小题3】If someone is angry, what may he type?

A．

B．

C．LOL

D．BRB

【小题4】E-talk will probably_________.

A．keep changing

B．stay the same

C．be used by people on the telephone

D．be easy for newbies to understand

【小题5】People can do the following through the Internet except _________.
A. doing shopping                B. writing diaries
C. eating foods                   C. playing games

English words don’t stay the same. People need new words for new ideas and new inventions. Different words come into use, or old words are used in a new way.

English can be changed by borrowing words from other languages. The word “tomato” was borrowed from Mexico and“tea”came from China and so on. Now new space and science words are being borrowed from other countries, too. New words are formed by adding two words together. “Countryside” and “earthquake” are made up of two parts. Sometimes new words are shorter forms of old words. The word  “photo” was made from “photograph” by cutting off the end of the longer word. “Plane” was made by cutting off the front part of “airplane”. The names of people and products can become new words, too. Our “sandwich” was named after a man called Sandwich and “sello tape”(透明胶带) was a name given by the company that first made the product.

1.New English words are needed because _____.

A．people use old words in a new way

B．the population is bigger now

C．the old words are not enough

D．new ideas and new inventions appear all the time

2..Which of the following words came from China?

A．Tea.

B．Earthquake.

C．Airplane.

D．Sello tape.

3.How many ways of developing English words does the passage tell us?

A．Three.

B．Four.

C．Five.

D．Six.

4..The main idea of this passage is _____.

A．that the English language is always changing

B．that there are new ideas in England today

C．how people name new products and inventions

D．how people use old words in a new way