Sleepless in Seattle? Hardly. West Virginia is where people are really staying awake, according to the first government study to monitor state-by-state differences in sleeplessness. West Virginians’ lack of sleep was about double the national rate, perhaps a side effect of health problems such as obesity (肥胖), experts said.
Nearly 1 in 5 West Virginians said they did not get a single good night’s sleep in the previous month. The national average was about 1 in 10, according to a federal health survey. Tennessee, Kentucky and Oklahoma also were notably above average with nearly 1 in 7 people reporting in a lack of sleep. In contrast, North Dakota was below average, with only 1 in 13 reporting that degree of sleeplessness. Health officials do not know the exact reasons for the differences.
In the survey, people weren’t required to answer the question why they were not able to get enough rest or sleep. But experts noted several possible explanations: West Virginia ranks at or near the bottom of the nation in several important measurements of health, including obesity, smoking, heart disease and the proportion of adults with disabilities.
Studies have increasingly found that sleeping problems often occurred among people with certain health problems, including obesity. “You would expect to see poorer sleep within a chronically (慢性地) diseased population,” noted Dr Ronald Chervin, a sleep disorders expert in University of Michigan.
Financial stress and work shifts (倒班) can play roles in sleeplessness, too, Chervin added. He suggested those may be contributing factors in West Virginia, an economically depressed state with tens of thousands of people working in coal mining.
The report was based on results of an annual telephone survey of more than 400,000 Americans, including at least 3,900 in each state. The survey did not include people who use only cellphones.
小題1:What is the main idea of Paragraph 1? (No more than 15 words.)
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小題2:What does the underlined word “notably” in Paragraph 2 mean? (No more than 3 words.)
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小題3: What was the possible reason for the high rate of sleeplessness in West Virginia according to Paragraph 3?  (No more than 12 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________
小題4:List three factors that contribute to sleeplessness based on the passage.
(No more than 8 words.)
①____________________ ②_____________________ ③______________________
小題5:How was the research carried out? (No more than 10 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________

Who’s in control of your life? Who is pulling your string? For the majority of us, it’s other people—society, colleagues, friend, family or our religious community. We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make other people like us.
So when people tell us how wonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We long for this good feeling like a drug—we are addicted to (沉溺于) it and seek it out wherever we can. Therefore, we are so eager for the approval of others that we live unhappy and limited lives, failing to do the things we really want to. Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live worsened lives to keep getting their fix (一劑毒品), we worsen our own existence to get our own constant fix of approval.
But just as with any drug, there is a price to pay. The price of the approval drug is freedom—the freedom to be ourselves. The truth is that we cannot control what other people think. People have their own agenda（心思，計謀）, and they come with their own baggage and, in the end, they’re more interested in themselves than in you. Furthermore, if we try to live by the opinions of others, we will build our life on sinking sand. Everyone has a different way of thinking, and people change their opinions all the time. The person who tries to please everyone will only end up getting exhausted and probably pleasing no one in the process.
So how can we take back control? I think there’s only one way—make a conscious decision to stop caring what other people think. We should guide ourselves by means of a set of values—not values imposed（強(qiáng)加） from the outside by others, but innate values which come from within. If we are driven by these values and not by the changing opinions and value system of others, we will live a more authentic, effective, purposeful and happy life.
(Note: Answer the questions in NO MORE THAN TWELVE WORDS.)
小題1:What happens to people if they care too much for the approval of others?
小題2:The price of the approval of others is ______________
小題3:Why is it unreliable for us to live by the opinions of others?
小題4:What’s the main idea of this article?

Brazil has become one of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had better result without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard.
Brazil’s population growth rate has dropped from 2.99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93% a year between 1981 to 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries.
Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas and installment plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although in direct, role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world’s biggest producers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil’s most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities.
“ Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction, they describe middle and upper class values ---- not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working,” says Martine. “ They sent this image to all parts of brazil and made people conscious of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package.”
Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. “ This led to an enormous change in consumption patterns and consumption was incompatible with unlimited reproduction.” says Martine.
小題1:According to the passage, the two factors that lead to the success of population control in Brazil are _______________________________________.
小題2:The underlined phrase “ put down to ” in paragraph 3 has the closest meaning to _________________________________.
小題3:What made Brazil the envy of many other Third World countries?
_________________________________________________________________
小題4:Why did the author say that soap operas helped in lowering the birth rate?
_________________________________________________________________

閱讀下面短文，并根據(jù)要求完成文章后的題目。
【1】The other day my cousin sent me a message asking me, “How can I improve my English ?” I shut my eyes for a few seconds, during which, my mind went back to the early 90s when I was a ninth grader.
【2】Our English teacher was Mrs. Dubei at that time. She was a small, round woman with white and grey hair. As a loud woman she made her presence felt everywhere. Whether in the classroom, during a discussion, or just when greeting us, she would stop to ask us how much reading we had done on that particular day. She always advised and encouraged us to read, read and read. It didn’t matter whether it was an article, a page form a novel, or just a paragraph from a school magazine. She would always urge (力勸) us to "read, read and read" in order to learn new words and use them in our daily writing and conversation.
【3】Today, I feel strongly that it was because of the continuous, strong support of my English teacher that ________________. “You needn’t be a bookworm,” she would say. “Read, so that you can move ahead and journey into the depths of knowledge.”
【4】In addition to my teacher’s advice, my most important secret of learning English is: Don’t be in too much of a hurry. You are setting off on a long journey and there will be delays(耽擱) along the way. You should stick to it and take your time to really enjoy the happiness that English can bring.
小題1:What is the main idea of the text? ( no more than 6 words )
___________________________________________________________________________
小題2:Complete the following statement with proper words. ( no more than 4 words )
Mrs. Dubei thought that ________________ was very important for us to improve English.
小題3:Fill in the blank in Paragraph 3 with proper words. ( no more than 6 words )
___________________________________________________________________________
小題4:What’s the author’s own advice on learning English? ( no more than 10 words )
___________________________________________________________________________
小題5:What does the word “it” (line 3, paragraph 4 ) probably refer to? ( no more than 3 words )
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When older honeybees take on tasks usually handled by younger bees, aging of their brains is effectively changed, a new study finds. The discovery suggests that in humans, social involvement ought to be considered
in addition to drugs as a way to treat age-related dementia(癡呆).
“We knew from previous research that when bees stay in the nest and take care of larvae—the bee babies---they remain mentally able as long as we observe them,” explained Gro Amdam, who led the research at Arizona State University. “However, after a period of nursing, bees fly out gathering food and begin aging very quickly.”
“After just two weeks, foraging(覓食的)bees have worn wings, hairless bodies, and more importantly, lose the brain function—-basically measured as the ability to learn new things,” Amdam said in a statement.
Amdam and his colleagues wanted to find out what would happen if they “asked” the foraging bees to take care of larval babies again. To find out, they removed younger nurse bees from a nest, leaving the older foraging bees to face a choice: forage or care for the larvae. Some of the older returned to searching for food, and others switched to caring for the nest and larvae. After ten days, about fifty percent of the older bees that had chosen to care for the nest and larvae had “greatly improved their ability to learn new things.”
The researchers also discovered changes in the proteins in the brains of the bees whose learning ability had improved. One of the proteins that changed, called Prx6, is also found in humans and is known to help protect against dementia.
“Maybe social involvement is something we can do today to help our brains stay younger,” Amdam says. “Since the proteins being researched in people are the same proteins bees have, these proteins may be able to respond to specific social experiences.”
Other studies have shown several non-drug methods can help improve brainpower in older people, including going for walks and taking music lessons.
The findings, announced this week, are detailed in the journal Experimental Gerontology.
小題1:What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 4 refer to? （No more than 5 words）
小題2:When do the brains of older bees age very fast? （No more than 9 words）
小題3:What is Amdam’s suggestion for old people to prevent dementia? （No more than 6 words）
小題4:What is the best title for the text? （No more than 6 words）

I still remember the days when I was a youthful student in an engineering school. I lived a casual life, without caring about the future. I smoked, drank with friends and made girl friends. Little did I realize that casualness would certainly lead to loss.
Two years had passed and I was staring down a report card that highlighted FALL in more than half the subjects. I didn’t care, at least not until my dad found about it. You see, I studied In India and unlike the United States where the students are expected to finance their own education, my dad financed me.
Then came the day when my dad found out my habit of smoking. He lost his temper but he just told me, “Son, your allowance is cut in half from this moment on”. It hit me like a roundhouse kick.(回旋踢) from Bruce Lee. I was shocked out of my bones. I couldn’t comprehend how to pay off the debts that I had accumulated in college. I owed everybody money: the grocery store, the bars, the restaurants, my friends, etc. I was living a life filled with credit.
When I went back to college, I knew that if I don’t change the way I live my life I won’t be able to pay everybody off. So I decided to make some changes. I quit smoking, cut off from my friends who led me down the wrong the road, starting hanging out in libraries and reading my engineering books.
One year later, I went from a miserable failure to a magna cum laude(優(yōu)等成績). Life was never the same again. This incident made me know that anything is possible if you take action and do something about it, however small or large. Even today it still motivates me when I feel that I’m about to lose or give up. It reminds me that I can do it.
小題1: What kind of life did the author live in the engineering school? (No more than 12 words)                                                     
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小題2: When did the author begin to care about the serious situation? (No more than 14 words)
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小題3:How did his father deal with his son’s problem? (No more than 8 words)
_______________________________________________________________________
小題4: What did the author learn from this incident? (No more than 12 words)
_______________________________________________________________________

[1]One Friday night in May 2010, Oliver and Ione Kleven heard angry shouts coming from their front lawn(草坪). Ione, 65, stepped onto the porch(門廊) and saw two men in dark clothes struggling with something on the ground—right where she and her grandson had planted a flower bed the weekend before.
[2] “Go fight somewhere else!” she shouted, worried her plants would getdamaged. At the sound of her voice, the face of a boy appeared from beneath the two men. He looked 14. “They’re trying to kill me!” the boy screamed. Ione ran toward them and, without hesitation, caught the boy’s arm, pulling him out.
[3] “Leave him alone!” she shouted. When the men stood up, Ione saw what looked like a sharp object in one man’s hand. When she turned back toward the boy, he was moaning(呻吟) in pain and holding his stomach. The attackers began to move in on the boy again when Ione’s husband shouted: “Get lost!” The two men walked quickly and quietly across the street and drove off in a dark car.
[4]“I have to get to the hospital!” the boy cried. He lifted his shirt, and Ione could see a bloody wound on his stomach. Oliver hugged the trembling(發(fā)抖的) boy while Ione caught her cell phone and car keys inside the house. She handed the phone to Oliver. “Call 911,” she told him. “I’m going after them.” Ione took off but was unable to find the car.
[5]The Klevens then learned what had happened. Earlier that night, as the boy waited for his parents to pick him up from the high school across the street from the Klevens’ house, two men approached and demanded his wallet. When he refused, one of the men hit him in the face. The boy ran across the street. The men caught up with him, and one hurt him in the back and stomach with a sharp knife. That’s when Ione stepped in.
小題1:When was Ione born? (within 2 words)
                                                                   
小題2:Why did Ione shout at the two struggling men? (within 8 words)
                                                                    
小題3:Whom does the underlined word “him” (in Para.3) probably refer to? (within 3 words)
                                                                    
小題4:Why did Ione hand the phone to Oliver? (within 8 words.)
                                                                    
小題5:What was the boy doing when the two men approached him? (within 10 words.)
                                                                   

閱讀下面短文并用英語回答問題，然后將答案寫到答案卡相應(yīng)的位置上（請注意每個小題后面的詞數(shù)要求）。
[1] Sometimes you are just having a really bad day, and it is easy for you to feel unhappy the whole day. If this is not dealt with properly, it really does harm to your health. Here are a few methods to help you out of trouble.
[2] Smile. Scientists say there is a direct connection between smiling and being happy. They found that smiling can produce a kind of substance (物質(zhì)) in the body which helps to reduce the chance of getting ill. And they have discovered that most people who live long ______________.
[3] Exercise. Doing sports and games can help you forget your daily problems and make you happy. At the same time, it will help you stay in shape. You can choose from swimming, hiking or running. They are indeed helpful.
[4] Do something you love. Spend your time doing something that you like, such as cooking, reading, or shopping. If you don’t want to go outside, just watch some amusing programs on TV.
[5] Listen to positive music. Listening to happy music while singing along or dancing will take the anger or sadness right out of you! With the help of pleasant music, you will forget your daily problems and keep yourself in a good mood. You will feel that life is not so hard as you thought before.
[6] Think of others. It is better to forget yourself and look for ways to help others when you are feeling down. Look around and you will find there is surely someone in the world who is feeling worse than you. Try to help him and make his day better. In this way, you make yourself happy!
小題1:What does the word “it” (Line2, Paragraph1) probably refer to? (no more than 3 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
小題2:Fill in the blank in Paragraph 2 with proper words. (no more than 3 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
小題3:Point out the advantage of taking part in sports. (no more than 15 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
小題4:What will happen if you help those who are feeling even worse? (no more than 6 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
小題5:What is the passage mainly about? (no more than 8 words)
____________________________________________________________________________

Life on the Earth is wiped out every 27million years---and we have about 16 million years left until the next extinction, according to scientists.
Research into so-called ‘extinction events’ for our planet over the past 500 million years---twice as long as any previous studies ----has proved that they crop up with metronomic(有節(jié)奏的) regularity .
Scientists from the university of Kansas and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC are 99 percent confident that there are extinction every 27 million years.
In the 1980s scientists believed that Earth’s regular extinctions could be the result of a distant dark twin of the Sun, called Nemesis.
The theory was that Nemesis crashed through the Oort cloud every 27 million years and sent a shower of comets in our direction.
The Ocrt cloud is a vast belt of dust and ice that is believed to lie around one light year from the Sun and is the origin of many of the comets that pass through our solar system.
But now scientists claim that the regularity of the mass extinctions actually disproves the Nemesis theory because its orbit would have change over time as it interacted with other stars.
“Fossil data, which motivated the idea of Nemesis, now militate against(妨礙) it,” said the researchers.
The last extinctions event, 11 millions years ago, saw 10 percent of the Earth’s inhabitants (居民) wiped out.
This means there is around 16 million years until the next event takes place, although the graph shows that it occasionally the event takes place up to 10 million years early.
Asteroids(小行星) crashing into the Earth are commonly believed to be one of the main reasons behind mass extinctions like that suffered by the dinosaurs ---the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction (白堊-第三紀(jì)滅絕事件).
The extinction wiped out more than half of all species on the planet clearing the way for mammals to become the dominant species(優(yōu)勢物種) on Earth.
The extinction was caused by a massive asteroid slamming into Earth at Chicxulub in Mexico.
The asteroid, which was around 15 kilometers wide, is believed to have hit Earth with a force one billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima.
小題1: How many years are left until the next extinctions comes? (No more 6 words) (2′)
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小題2:What resulted in the Earth’s regular extinctions according to scientists in the 1980s? (No more than 10words) (2′)
____________________________________________________________________
小題3: What did the last extinction event cause to the Earth? (No more than 10 words)(3′)
____________________________________________________________________
小題4:What’s believed to be one of the main reasons behind mass extinctions like that suffered by the dinosaurs? (No more than 7 words) (3′)
____________________________________________________________________

The people of Dubai have extended their reach－into the sky. In January, the world’s tallest building opened there. The skyscraper, called the Burj Khalifa, is 162 stories high, with 60-mile views from the top of the tower. At 2,717 feet, the structure stands more than 1,000 feet taller than the last tallest building, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
After five years of construction, the Buji Khalifa opened with a party. But now the tower is getting down to business. The skyscraper has 37 floors of office space and 1,000 apartment. It will house the world’s largest mall. The owners hope that eventually more than 12,000 people will live and work in the 6 million square feet inside the building.
The Burj Khalifa was originally named the Burj Dubai, or Dubai Tower, after the region where it was built. Dubai is a sheikdom (酋長國) which is part of the United Arab Emirates. Recently, Dubai needed a loan. Sheik Khalifa, President of the United Arab Emirates and sheik of neighboring Abu Dhabi, helped out. Burj Dubai was renamed Burj Khalifa in his honor.
The towering structure has broken a number of records besides the record for height. It has the world’s highest swimming pool, on the 123^rd floor. It also has the world’s highest outdoor observation deck: Visitors can stand in the open air 124 stories above ground. Fifty-four elevators race up and down, going as fast as 40 miles an hour. Should the elevators stop working, 3,000 stairs go from top to bottom. And when it’s time to clean the windows, 36 workers will spend about three months washing them.
Reaching half a mile into the sky, the Burj Khalifa soars over even the world’s other highest skyscrapers. Its height outstrips the Taipei 101 by 60 stories. It stands more than 1,100 feet taller than China’s Shanghai World Financial Center. And Dubai’s new tower dwarfs one of the most famous skyscrapers of all: it stands more than twice as high as the Empire State Building in New York City, the world’s tallest building for more than 40 years.
小題1:How tall is the Taipei 101?  (no more than 2 words)        (2 marks)
小題2:Why was Dubai Tower changed into the Buji Khalifa?  (no more than 12 words)       (3 marks)
小題3:What’s the main idea of the fourth paragraph?         (no more than 9 words)        (2 marks)
小題4:Please give a suitable title to this passage.          (no more than 10 words)       (3 marks)