Sleep is a basic human need, as basic as the need for oxygen. Getting a good night's sleep is not only directly related to how we feel the next day, but to our long-term health as well. However, many of us suffer from insomnia . Even more odf us report at least one night of restless sleep per week. This is a serious problem. Well, how can we make sure that we rest well and stay healthy? Here are some suggestions. If you can't sleep in the middle of the night, don't get up. The bright light will affect your body clock and worsen your insomnia. Stay in bed! Avoid short sleep during the day, except for a brief ten to fifteen-minute sleep between 2:00 and 4:00 P.M. Limit your time in bed to the average number of hours you 've actually slept per night last week. Don't try to make up for lost sleep. It can't be done. Get regular exercise each day, but finish at least six hours before bedtime. Exercising in the evening can help keep you awake. Take a hot bath for thirty minutes within two hours of bedtime. The bath will warm you, relax you, and make you feel sleepy. Keep our bedroom dark, quiet, and well ventilated . Keep a regular schedule seven days a week. Avoid sleeping late on weekends. Although it may feel good while you're doing it, sleeping late on weekend can lead to insomnia during the week. Don't drink alcohol . Although, having a drink before bed makes you sleep, alcohol loses its effects after a while. The secondary effects of alcohol can wake you up during the second half of your night's sleep. Keep the face of the clock in your bedroom turned away, and don't find out what time it is when you awaken in the night. To sleep well, you need to _ . A) sleep during the day sometimes B) get up late on weekends C) avoid looking at your clock D) have a bath in the morning
C
(Question)
There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have ever taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities of spelling. If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to "play safe". He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurous language. That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability. I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: "This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling errors and your writing is terrible." It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil's technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had omitted to read the essay, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the errors, but if his priorities had centered on the child's ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation to seek improvement. Teachers are different in their opinions about _ . A) the difficulties in teaching spelling B) the role of spelling in general language development C) the complexities of the basic writing skills D) the necessity of teaching spelling
(Answer)
B
Ques: Testing has taken the place of teaching in most public schools. Pretests, drills, tests, and retests. They know that the best way to read a textbook is to look at the questions at the end of the chapter and then read the text quickly for the answers. I believe that my daughter Erica, who gets excellent marks, has never read a chapter of any of her school textbooks all the way through. And teachers are often heard to say proudly and openly that they teach to the test. Teaching to the test is a curious phenomenon . Instead of deciding what skills students ought to learn, helping students learn them, and then using some methods of assessment to discover whether students have mastered the skills, teachers are encouraged to teach the students in the opposite way. First one looks at a test. Then one chooses the skills needed not to master reading, but to do well in the test. Finally, the test skills are taught. The ability to read or write might suggest the ability to do reasonably well on standardized tests. However, neither reading nor writing develops simply through being taught to take tests. We must be careful to avoid mistaking preparations for a test of a skill with the acquisition of that skill. Too many discussions of basic skills make this misunderstanding because people are tested rather than concerned with the nature and quality of what is taught. Recently, many schools have faced what could be called the crisis of comprehension or, in simple words, the phenomenon of students with grammar skills still being unable to understand what they read. These students are quite good at test taking and filling in workbooks. However, they have little or no experience reading or thinking, and talking about what they read. They know the details but can't see or understand the whole. They are taught to be so concerned with grades that they have no time to think about meaning, and reread things if necessary. In the author's opinion, _ . A) some good methods of assessment should take the place of tests B) more attention should be paid to the nature and quality of what is taught C) students should not be concerned with grades but do more reading and thinking D) students needn't learn grammar skills because they are useless for understanding
Ans: B
Question: We can't deny that trees are useful to man in three very important ways: they provide him with wood and other products, they give him shade, and they help to prevent drought and floods. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important. In his eagerness to draw quick profit from the trees, he has cut them down in large numbers, only to find that without them he has lost the best friends he had. Two thousand years ago a rich and powerful country cut down its trees to build warships, with which to gain itself an empire. It gained the empire but, without its trees, its soil became hard and poor. When the empire fell to pieces, the country found itself faced by floods and starvation. Even though a government realizes the importance of a plentiful supply of trees, it is difficult for it to persuade the villager to see this. The villager wants wood to cook his food, and he can earn money by making charcoal or selling wood to the townsman. He is usually too lazy or too careless to plant and look after trees. So unless the government has a good system of control, or can educate the people, the forests will slowly disappear. This does not only mean that the villagers' sons and grandsons have fewer trees. The results are even more serious. For where there are trees ,their roots break the soil up, allowing the rain to sink in and also bind the soil, thus preventing it being washed away easily, but where there are no trees, the soil becomes hard and poor. The rain falls on hard ground and flows away on the surface, causing floods and carrying away the rich topsoil, in which crops grow so well. When all the topsoil is gone, nothing remains but worthless desert. Sooner or later the forests will disappear _ A) unless people are taught the importance of planting trees B) unless people stop cutting down their trees C) unless a county has a plenty supply of trees D) unless the government punishes those who cut trees instead of planting trees
Answer:
A