Sleepwalking

    Not all sleep is the same every night. We experience some deep, quiet sleep and some active sleep, which is when dreams happen. You might think sleepwalking would happen during active sleep, but a person isn’t physically active during active sleep. Sleepwalking usually happens in the first few hours of sleep in the stage called slow-wave or deep sleep.

    Now all sleepwalkers actually walk. Some simply sit up or stand in bed or act like they’re awake when in fact, they’re sleep! Most, however, do get up and move around for a few seconds or for as long as half an hour.

    Sleepwalkers’ eyes are open, but they don’t see the same way they do when they’re awake and often think they’re in different rooms of the house or different places altogether. Sleepwalkers tend to go back to bed on their own and they won’t remember it in the morning.

    Researchers estimated that about 15% of kids sleepwalk regularly. Sleepwalking may run in families and sometimes occurs when a person is sick, has a fever, is not getting enough sleep, or is stressed.

    If sleepwalking occurs frequently, every night or so, it’s a good idea for your mom or dad to take you to see your doctor. But occasional sleepwalking generally isn’t something to worry about, although it may look funny or even scary for the people who see a sleepwalker in action.

    Although occasional sleepwalking isn’t a big deal, it’s important, of course, that the person is kept safe, precautions should be taken so the person is less likely to fall down, run into something, or walk out the front door while sleepwalking.

1.     Sleepwalking usually occurs ___.

A.     during deep sleep

B.     during active sleep

C.     during dreams

D.     during quiet hours

2.     Which is true of most sleepwalkers?

A.     they simply sit up

B.     they simply stand in bed

C.     they act like they’re awake when asleep

D.     they get up and walk for some time

3.     Sleepwalkers usually go back to bed ___.

A.     after waking up

B.     after being woken up

C.     by themselves

D.     with the help of others

4.     You’d better go and see a doctor if you ___.

A come across sleepwalking often

B have never experienced sleepwalking

C sleepwalk occasionally

D sleepwalk frequently

5.     Precautions should be taken to ___.

A.     prevent people from sleepwalking

B.     keep sleepwalkers safe

C.     avoid running into sleepwalkers

D.     ensure the safety of people asleep

Passage 2

(语言难度B/C级)

 Adaptation of Living Things

    Certain animals and plants develop characteristics that help them cope with their environment better than others of their kind. This natural biological process is called adaptation. Among the superior characteristics developed through adaptation are those that may help in getting food or shelter, in providing protection, and in producing and protecting the young. That results in the evolution of more and more organisms that are better fitted to their environments.

    Each living thing is adapted to its way of life in a general way, but each is adapted especially to its own distinct class. A plant, for example, depends upon its roots to fix itself firmly and to absorb water and inorganic chemicals. It depends upon its green leaves for using the sun's energy to make food from inorganic chemicals. These are general adaptations, common to most plants. In addition, there are special adaptations that only certain kinds of plants have.

    Many animals have adaptations that help them escape from their enemies. Some insects are hidden by their body color or shape, and many look like a leaf or a little branch. The coats of deer are colored to mix with the surroundings. Many animals have the ability to remain completely still when an enemy is near.

Organisms have a great variety of ways of adapting. They may adapt in their structure, function, and genetics; in their development and production of the young; and in other respects. An organism may create its won environment, as do warm-blooded mammals, which have the ability to adjust body heat exactly to maintain their ideal temperature despite changing weather.  Usually adaptations are an advantage, but sometimes an organism is so well adapted to a particular environment that, if conditions change, it finds it difficult or impossible to readapt to the new conditions.

1. Some plants and animals develop superior characteristics so that they may

A. help others of their kind get food, shelter and other things needed.

B. survive even in extremely severe conditions

C. become better adapted to the environments than others of their kind.

D. result in the evolution and production of more intelligent organisms.

2. In the first paragraph, the word "environments" could best be replaced by

A. contexts

B. surroundings

C. neighbors

D. enemies

3. It can be inferred from this passage that the feathers of a bird care colored

A. to frightened its enemies.

B. to attract its enemies

C. to adjust its body heat

D. to match its environment

4. Which of the following is not directly mentioned?

A. A living thing may adapt in its structure.

B. An organism may adapt in its function.

C. A living creature may adapt in its genetic makeup.

D. A living organism may adapt in its sleeping habit.

5. The author cites the behavior of warm-blooded mammals in order to illustrate which of the following?

A. A living thing may have the ability to create an environment of its own

B. A living creature may have the ability to remain still when an enemy is near.

C. A living creature may have the ability to make food from its inorganic chemicals

D. A living creature may have the ability to change the color of its skin.

Passage 3

(语言难度B/C级)

Will Quality Eat up the U.S. Lead in Software?

      If U.S. software companies don't pay more attention to quality, they could kiss their business good-bye. Both India and Brazil are developing a world-class software industry. Their weapon is quality and one of their jobs is to attract the top U.S. quality specialists whose voices are not listened to in their country.

      Already, of the world's 12 software houses that have earned the highest rating in the world, seven are in India. That's largely because they have used new methodologies rejected by American software specialists. For example, for decades, quality specialists, W. Edwards Deming and J. M. Juran had urged U.S. software companies to change their attitudes to quality. But their quality call mainly fell on deaf ears in the U.S -- but not in Japan. By the 1970s and 1980s, Japan was grabbing market share with better, cheaper products. They used Deming's and Juran's ideas to bring down the cost of good quality to as little as 5% of total production costs. In U.S. factories, the cost of quality then was 10 times as high: 50%. In software, it still is.

      Watts S. Humphrey spent 27 years at IBM heading up software production and then quality assurance. But his advice was seldom paid attention to. He retired from IBM in 1986. In 1987, he worked out a system for assessing and improving software quality. It has proved its value time and again. For example, in 1990 the cost of quality at Raytheon Electronics Systems was almost 60% of total software production costs. It tell to 15% in 1996 and has since further dropped to below 10%.

Like Deming and Juran, Humphrey seems to be winning more praises overseas than at home. The Indian government and several companies have just founded the Watts Humphrey Software Quality Institute at the Software Technology Park in Chennai, India. Let's hope that U.S. lead in software will not be eaten up by its quality problems.

1. What country has more highest-rating companies in the world than any other country has?

A) India.

B) The US.

C) Brazil.

D) Germany.

2. Which of the following statements about Humphrey is tree?

A) He is now still an IBM employer.

B) He has worked for IBM for 37 years.    

C) India honors him highly.

D) The US pays much attention to his quality advice.

3.By what means did Japan grab its large market share by the 1970s and the 1980s?    

A)Its advertising was most successful.

B)Its products were cheaper in price and better in quality.

C) The US hardware industry was lagging behind.

D) Japan hired a lot of Indian software specialists.

4. What does the founding of the Watts Humphrey Software Quality Institute symbolize?

A) It symbolizes the US determination to move ahead with its software.    

B) It symbolizes the Japanese efforts to solve the software quality problem.

C) It symbolizes the Indian ambition to take the lead in software.

D) It symbolizes the Chinese policy on importing software.

5.   What is the writer worrying about?

A) Many US software specialists are working for Japan.

B) The quality problem has become a worldwide problem.    

C)India and Japan are joining hands to compete with the US.

D) The US will no longer be the first software player in the world.