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 ______.

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.

1. 1.

   The late night was called “The Watch” because it was a time for people ______.

   1. A.
      to set time to catch animals
   2. B.
      to remind others of the time
   3. C.
      to guard against possible dangers
   4. D.
      to wake up their family and neighbors
2. 2.

   We can infer from the last paragraph that people should ______.

   1. A.
      sleep in the way animals do
   2. B.
      follow their natural sleep rhythms
   3. C.
      keep to the eight-hour sleeping way
   4. D.
      ask doctors for help if they can’t sleep
3. 3.

   What is the writer’s purpose in writing the passage?

   1. A.
      To throw new light on human sleep.
   2. B.
      To encourage people to sleep less.
   3. C.
      To give some suggestions on insomnia.
   4. D.
      To find out people’s hibernating history.

Though the ways of teaching have come a long way, the ways of communicating between teachers and students are almost the same. But now, a European country is trying to change that by building schools that have no classrooms, no subject lessons and best of all, no grades.

The idea behind the special school is that children are creative. And researchers also think that kids’ learning and ideas are as important as those of the CEO of Google, so why not give them a similar environment? Kids may be successful in such an environment.

To make kids more creative, the schools are built with special learning areas instead of traditional classrooms. And even the lessons are taught in a special way, with mobile phones and computers.

There is no “right” or “wrong” kind of education. The school believes that everything is a learning experience, whether it is about a serious science project or making a movie inside the school’s recording studio.

One of the special schools opened in August, 2011. It has five learning areas. The Cave is a secluded place where students fix their attention on individual (个人的) projects without being bothered (打扰). The Lab is a place where students can do all kinds of experiments and test their ideas. Kids can work in groups in the same projects in The Camp Fire. The Show Off is where kids can show their inventions. And if the kids need a rest, they can visit The Watering Hole, which has all kinds of fun activities.

Sounds great? And the coolest thing is that the school is free! I hope more schools like this will appear in the world!

1.What is the idea behind the special school?

A. The children are creative.

B. All the students need to be taught.

C. All the students must be successful.

D. All the students must have high grades.

2.From the passage we can infer (推断) that ?????? in the special schools.

A. students are bored???????????????? B. students are tired

C. students learn freely?????????????? D. students learn from their teachers

3.“The Cave is a secluded place ….” The word “secluded” probably means “??? ” in Chinese.

A. 清静的?????? ????????????? B. 固定的?????? ????????????? C. 吵闹的?????? ????????????? D. 混合的

4.Paragraph 5 mainly tells us that ????? .??????????????

A. the school doesn’t have grades

B. the school has clever students

C. the school has five learning areas

D. the school doesn’t have classrooms