March 21^st is World Sleep Day. This year’s slogan is “Breathe Easily, Sleep Well”. It

   1    to celebrate the benefits of good and healthy sleep.

Sleep is like food for the    2   . Enough sleep helps the body and brain grow and

   3   . According to the National Sleep Foundation in the US,    4    need seven to nine hours of sleep every night. For students aged 10 to 17, a    5    amount is about eight to nine hours per night.

But many students don’t get    6    sleep because of early school start times and heavy   7  . About 80 percent of middle school students don’t get enough sleep, the China Youth and Children Research Center reported. For some students, they want to sleep    8  , but they keep worrying about their schoolwork and can’t fall asleep   9  . For others, they may even have insomnia (失眠症), which might keep them    10    all night.

These sleeping problems greatly    11    people’s life. Experts have shown that lack of sleep for teenagers leads to poor    12   . Students without enough sleep cannot

   13    in class or do well in sports. Also, the lack of sleep may make them depressed.

Research shows that with    14   sleep habits it is easier to fall asleep. Some of these good habits include    15    drinks that make people excited late in the day, going to sleep at the same time each night, and sleeping in a comfortable place that is dark, quiet, and neither too hot nor too cold.

Fitzgerald, a very wealthy English man, had only one child, a son, who naturally was the apple of his eye. His wife died when the child was in his early teens. So Fitzgerald devoted himself to fathering the kid. Unluckily the son died in his late teens.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald's wealth was increasing all the time. He spent a lot on art works of the masters. Later Fitzgerald himself became seriously ill. Before his death, he had carefully prepared his will as to how his wealth would be settled——to sell his entire collection at an auction(拍卖）.

Because of the large quantity and high quality of his collection, a huge crowd of possible buyers gathered for the auction. Many of them were museum directors and private collectors eager to bid（出价）. Before the auction, the art works were shown, among which was a painting of Fitzgerald's son by an unknown artist. Because of its poor quality, it received little attention.

When it was time for the auction, the auctioneer gaveled（敲槌）the crowd to attention. First the lawyer read from Fitzgerald's will that the first art work to be auctioned was the painting of his son.

The poor-quality painting didn't receive any bidders except one——the old servant who had attended to the son and loved him, and who for emotional reasons offered the only bid.

As soon as the servant bought the painting for less than one English pound, the auctioneer stopped the bidding and asked the lawyer to read again from the will. The crowd became quiet, and the lawyer read from the will: “Whoever buys the painting of my son gets all my collection.” Then the auction was over.

26. Fitzgerald was __________.

A. a museum director 

B. a master of art 

C. an art auctioneer 

D. an art collector

27. Which of the following is TRUE according to the story?

A. Fitzgerald took care of his son all by himself.

B. Fitzgerald became seriously ill because of the death of his son.

C. Fitzgerald lost his wife and his only son within 10 years.

D. Fitzgerald decided to leave everything he had to his servant.

28. Fitzgerald's will showed __________.

A. his desire to fool the bidders 

B. his invaluable love for his son

C. his sadness at the death of his son  

D. his regret of having no heir (继承人）

29. What helped the old servant win the whole collection of Fitzgerald's?

A. No more than one pound. 

B. Great increase of his wealth.

C. His strong passion for art. 

D. His emotion for his young master.

30. At the result of the auction, the old man would feel more than ______________.

A. surprised       B. sad      C. interested       D. expected

Forgiving someone who has hurt you or let you down is never an easy thing. Several new studies, however, say that it could have a lot of health benefits. When you think of forgiveness, you probably don’t think of it as being a health or medical problem. Studies from Stanford University, on the other hand, show that something like anger can change your well-being.

When cartoon book characters like the Incredible Hulk(绿巨人) get angry, they change colors and often gain special power. In the real world, anger is less obvious and may be more dangerous. That’s why Professor Fred Luskin, founder of the Stanford Forgiveness Project and author of Forgive for Good, says holding on to anger and hatred can harm your physical and mental health. Two new studies seem to show the same idea.

The studies find that people who are able to forgive feel less stress, less back pain, and less depression. They also have fewer headaches, lower blood pressure, and fewer problems on sleeping.

So it doesn’t matter if your anger is caused by the traffic or other things. Learning to let it go is important. Techniques such as deep breath or thought can help. Or just ask yourself if it’s worth hurting yourself by staying angry with someone else.

Forgiveness does not mean that you simply accept what happened and say it’s OK. Instead, it’s a way of making peace with yourself about what happened in the past.

31. The author of the passage tries to make his viewpoint clear ______.

   A. by raising his own examples

B. based on his own experience

   C. by mentioning some studies

D. by mentioning some typical patients

32. The example of the cartoon book characters is taken in the passage to ______.

   A. show that anger and hatred can result in physical and mental harm

   B. let the reader know the different colors of cartoon faces

   C. show how to control one’s temper

   D. introduce a famous expert

33. The underlined phrase “holding on to” in this passage possibly means“______”.

   A. moving away      B. not letting go   C. getting rid of    D. learning about

34. People who are able to forgive may suffer less             .

   A. stress      B. depression      C. sleeping trouble      D. all the above

35. The best title for this passage is probably _______.

   A. Forgiveness

B. Forgiveness Is Good for Health

C. A Secret to Keeping Health

D. Anger Is Bad for Health

We parents often take material things for love. “I give him everything,” a disappointed mother complains. “New shoes, video-games, and his own TV. You’d think he’d at least show me respect!”

Of course, love and presents are related. Most parents work hard to earn money. They want their children to have more than they did and have better lives. The problem is, most children don’t connect the things parents buy with the labor that pays for them. Children have more, but our culture——and television in particular——teaches them that more is never enough. Having more does not mean that a child feels loved.

From a parent’s point of view, children are not thankful. But this has to do with their natural growth. Young children see their parents as all-mighty(万能的). If parents fail to provide what they want, it must be a matter of choice. It’s normal for children, even school-age ones, not to be able to take another person’s point of view. For example, they may dislike their parents for working long hours, and not realize that the parent would also rather have more time at home.

In addition to giving presents, we have to find other ways to express love and create memories. Reading or telling stories together, making music and playing games are all ways for families to spend time without spending money. Traditions like reading favorite poems and even snowball fights all serve the purpose（达到目的）. Most importantly, as parents, we have to learn to hold back some energy from our tiring jobs. When we’re present for our children, we ourselves become the presents we want to give.

36. The underlined word “them”( in Paragraph 2) refers to______________.

A. parents     B. children     C. the things parents buy     D. better lives

37. According to the passage, children______.

A. want fewer presents

B. are taught to ask for more

C. want presents rather than love

D. prefer their parents to work at home

38. We can judge from the passage that there is _________.

A. misunderstanding between parents and children

B. a heavy job load for some parents

C. a lack of money in some families                

D. love between parents and children

39. The last sentence of the passage means that______.

A. our children are good presents to us              

B. we ourselves need some presents

C. we should spend more time with our children  

D. we should give more presents to our children

40. The best title for the passage is            .

A. Family Life

B. Love and Presents

C. Children’s Education

D. Children and Parents

I now have under my belt four languages—— in order from the most fluent to the least fluent: French, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese. I can also communicate at a basic- level Italian.

    My love of languages starts from childhood, when I began imitating other people’s accents. Although my ability to learn languages fast might be partially genetic(遗传）as my mother is a speech therapist (治疗师) and has a great ear for sounds and accents, I strongly believe my abilities today come more from my personal efforts and interests.

My eagerness for learning foreign languages started when I was 12 years old in junior high school. We were given the choice of French and Spanish. I picked French. On a class trip to Quebec City, I noticed that I was totally crazy about trying my newly-learned French with the local people while my classmates were less interested. This led me to studying French in my junior years of high school, and later, I also studied Chinese in college.

While I’ve never lived in a Spanish-speaking country, I’ve reached a level of fluency in Spanish by watching a ton of Spanish TV series. The Portuguese comes from my own personal efforts while travelling in Brazil.

Below I’ll list the benefits of learning new languages and my personal tips on how to learn new languages:

Children’s development: It’s reported that learning foreign languages improves children’s critical thinking skills. Kids studying foreign languages do better in other subjects including mathematics and science.

Finding a job: If an employer needs to fill a position, he / she will be much more likely to pick the person who knows a second language. Foreign language speakers have more advantages to bridge the link between a company and its customers.

Making new friends: I have met so many friends and nice people around the world, with whom I would not be able to communicate if I couldn’t speak foreign languages.

Travel: When visiting other countries, the ability to speak the local language not only makes the trip more convenient, but also much more enriching.

41. The underlined phrase “under my belt” in the first paragraph means “            ”.

A. hidden something in my pocket         

B. swallowed something in my stomach

C. mastered something well              

D. carried something with my belt

42. What contributes most to the writer’s ability in learning foreign languages?

A. Having personal interest and efforts.     

B. Traveling a lot abroad.  

C. Watching a lot of TV.                 

D. Being a speech therapist’s son.

43. The writer most probably lived_______________.

A. in France    B. in Spain    C. in Brazil    D. in Canada

44. Which of the following benefits of learning a foreign language is NOT mentioned?

A. Learning about different cultures.       

B. Making travel easy.

C. Making friends.                     

D. Finding jobs.

45. What will be most probably talked about in the following paragraphs?

A. The importance of foreign languages.    

B. Examples of learning new languages.

C. The development of language learning    

D. Tips on how to learn new languages.