All over the world, children in hospital are being treated with a new kind of medicine:Laughter.Lucy
is 23 and works for Theodora Children's Trust.She is one of many clown (小丑) doctors who bring a
smile to the faces of sick children.
     "I'm a Theodora clown doctor.I call myself Dr Looloo.I spend two days a week in children's hospitals, making funny faces, telling jokes, and doing magic tricks.As I walk into the wards I blow bubbles, shake
hands with the kids, and make up nonsense songs for those children well enough to sing.I take special
balloons to make 'balloon animals' and tell funny stories about them.
      I'm naturally a very cheerful person.I've always been a clown.In fact my father's a clown and I started working with him when I was eight years old.I knew it was just the job for me and I became a clown
doctor because I think it's a great way to cheer up sick, frightened children in hospital.
     Being a clown in hospital is very tiring both physically and emotionally.We have to learn not to show
our feelings, otherwise we'd be useless.Clown doctors are sensitive but this is not a side most people see.
To the children we're happy all the time.I'm still learning to allow myself to feel sad occasionally.There
working with a very sick little girl from Bosnia who speaks no English, so our only common language is
laughter.
     At weekends I participate in events to raise money for Theodora Children's Trust.It's a charity, so
we are paid with the money people give.Being a clown doctor makes the worries of everyday life seem
small.All in all I feel honoured to do this job."

1. Lucy works as a clown doctor because________.

A. her father is a clown
B. she has been a clown since she was eight
C. laughter is a great help to sick children
D. working in hospital brings her extra money

2. What do clown doctors usually do in hospital?

A. Teach kids how to speak English.
B. Cheer kids up with funny stories.
C. Join in activities to raise money.
D. Develop kids' sense of humour.

3. Lucy thinks that being a clown doctor is________.

A. an honourable and meaningful practice
B. an interesting job to make a living
C. a good way of getting rid of her worries
D. an experience of great fun

1. Which saying can best describe children's fighting for the same toy?

A. Losers are always in the wrong.
B. You cannot eat your cake and have it.
C. Nothing is impossible to a willing mind.
D. The grass is always greener on the other side.   

2. When children are fighting for one toy, parents or childcare workers can ______________.

A. impress on them the importance of rules
B. teach them to think more of other people 
C. sit back and let them solve their own problem
D. guide them to solve their problem through teamwork

3. Which of the following can replace the underlined word "render"?

A. show            
B. borrow            
C. give          
D. throw

4. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. What are children's favorite toys?
B. When do children fight over the same toy?
C. Why do children like to fight over the same toy?
D. How to solve children's fight over the same toy?

     We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively. We achieve it actively by direct experience,
by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning.
     We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else. Most of the learning that takes place
in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is
passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it's not surprising that we depend on it in our
everyday communication with friends and co-workers.
     Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we are told
even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor(謠言).
     Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn't
show it to anyone. Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person. That person, in turn,
whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game. The last person writes
down the message word for word as he or she hears it. Then the two written statements are compared.
Typically, the original message has changed.
     That's what happens in daily life. The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words
changes the story. Then, too, most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own creative
touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping(打上標記)it with their own personal style. Yet those
who hear it think they know.
This process is also found among scholars and authors: A statement of opinion by one writer may be
restated as a fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue,
unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to
challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.

1. According to the passage, passive learning may occur in _______.

A. doing a medical experiment    
B. solving a math problem
C. visiting an exhibition    
D. doing scientific reasoning

2. The underlined word "it" in Paragraph 2 refers to _____.

A. active learning
B. knowledge
C. communication    
D. passive learning

3. The author mentions the game Rumor to show that _____.

A. a message may be changed when being passed on 
B. a message should be delivered in different ways
C. people may have problems with their sense of hearing
D. people tend not to believe in what they know as rumor

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A. Active learning is less important.
B. Passive learning may not be reliable.
C. Active learning occurs more frequently.
D. Passive learning is not found among scholars. 

     A group of teenagers: they laugh and talk over each other, dance and make faces - you wouldn't
believe they had just played on the same stage as famous American singers Kid Cudi and Eminem.
     These seven kids, all under the age of 20, are members of the band Kids These Days (KTD).
     Fresh out of high school, the band already has done things that most teens couldn't even imagine.
They played at festivals including the recent SXSW in Austin and Lollapalooza in their hometown,
Chicago, to crowds of loyal fans.
     KTD uses a mix of hip-hop, jazz, blues and classic rock to make a sound of their own.
     "KTD simply mixes most, if not all of my favourite music styles," said Kamia Jones, as Chicago high
school student."I like that they aren't afraid to be different and that their music is real and speaks to the
soul."
     The band formed two years ago. Now, as well as local fans, they are becoming popular around the
world. Their facebook page is filled with supportive posts from admirers from California to Tokyo. 
     "It's really strange to me that people from London, Australia and Russia... They have heard
of us and they like our music because it's really cool feeling," says Marcie Stewart, who plays
keyboard for the band.
     Despite their recent fame, KTD is a group of normal teenagers and they remain very close to one
another. While talking to the reporters, they dance and make fun of each other.
    When asked what advice they would give to other teen musicians, Greg Landfair, KTD's drummer,
said, "Keep your heart in it. Never lose the music and what you are doing, because that's what you're
here for. Let the music always be first."

1. KTD's music is popular among teenagers mainly because ________.

A. it is about the strange life of teenagers
B. it mixes many music styles teenagers love into their music
C. all the band members are young and handsome
D. the band members dance and make fun of each other

2.What do we know about KTD?

A. They are all of the same age.
B. They are as famous as Kid Cudi and Eminem.
C. There are five members in the band.
D. They have fans around the world.

3. According to Greg, teen musicians should________.

A. make music close to their lives
B. always think of the needs of the fans
C. love the music they are playing
D. stay close to the group member

4. The author wrote this article to_______.

A. show the kind of music teenagers love
B. encourage young musicians to play music
C. describe a special music style
D. introduce a successful band of teenagers

     Most people feel lonely sometimes, but it usually only lasts between a few minutes and a few hours. This
kind of loneliness is not serious. In fact, it is quite normal. For some people, though, loneliness can last for
years, Now researchers say there are three different types of loneliness.
     The first kind of loneliness is temporary. This is the most common type. It usually disappears quickly and
does not require any special attention, The second kind, situation-for example, family problem, the death of a
loved one, or moving to a new place. Although this kind of loneliness can cause physical problems. such as
headaches and sleeplessness, it usually does not last for more than a year.
     The third kind of loneliness is the most severe. Unlike the second type, chronic (the opposite of
"temporary") usually lasts more than two years and has no specific cause. People who experience habitual
loneliness have problems socializing and becoming close to others. Unfortunately, many chronically lonely
people think there is little or nothing they can do to improve their condition.
      Psychologists agree that one important factor in loneliness is a person's social contacts, for example,
friends, family members. co-workers, etc. we depend on various people for different reasons; For instance, our
families give us emotional support, our parents and teachers give us guidance, and our friends share similar
interests and activities. However, psychologists have found that, though lonely people may have many social
contacts, they sometimes feel they should have more, They question their popularity.
     Psychologists are trying to find ways to help habitually lonely people for two reasons: they are unhappy and
unable to socialize and there is a connection between chronic loneliness and serious illness as heart disease,
while temporary and situational loneliness can be a sad, and sometimes dangerous condition.
      Loneliness and Disease

     By creating a distinctive username-and reusing it on multiple websites-you may be giving online marketers
and scammers a simple way to track you. Four researchers from the French National Institute of Computer
Science ( INRIA) studied over 10 million usernames-collected from public Google profiles, eBay accounts,
and several other sources. They found that about half of the usernames used on one site could be linked to
another online profile, potentially allowing marketers and scammers to build a more complex picture of the
users.
     "These results show that some users can be profiled (勾勒輪廓) just from their usernames," says Claude
Castelluccia, research director of the security and privacy research group at INRIA, and one of the authors
of a paper on the work. "More specifically, a profiler could use usernames to identify all the profiles that belong
to the same user, and then use all the information contained in these sites to profile the victim."
     Those who have more unique usernames are more likely to be attacked. The INRIA researchers have
created a tool that can check how unique a username is, and thus how easily an attacker could use it to build
a profile of a person.
     Researchers are exploring ways that the traces of data that people leave on different websites could be
combined and used to track them. A 2010 paper showed that the online groups to which people belonged
could be used to infer their real identity in 42 percent of cases.
     Building profiles of consumers using online information has already become a major industry for marketers
as well as online criminals.

1. What, would be the best title for the passage?

A. Look out for online criminals
B. Your username may betray you
C. Don't ]eave your traces online
D. A unique username is more attractive

2. Online marketers may use your username to ____.

A. get a picture of yours
B. steal from your online account
C. get useful information about you
D. find out your interest or hobbies

3. The main purpose of the passage is probably to ____.

A. warn us of the possible dangers of a unique username
B. tell us how to manage our online information
C. advise us on how to choose a proper username
D. tell us the importance of a username

4. We can infer from the passage that ____.

A. it's hard to build a profile of a person from a username online
B. it's better to use a more complex username online
C. a username online has little to do with the real person
D. we'd better not use the same username on different sites

5. The underlined word "scammers" in Paragraph l most probably means ____.

A. friends
B. criminals
C. victims
D. salesmen

     Are you sometimes a little tired and sleepy in the early afternoon? Many people feel this way after lunch.
They may think that eating lunch is the cause of the sleepiness. Or, in summer, they may think it is the heat.
However, the real reason lies inside their bodies. At that time-about eight hours after you wake up-your body
temperature goes down. This is what makes you slow down and feel sleepy. Scientists have tested sleep habits
in experiments where there was no night or day. The people in these experiments almost always followed a
similar sleeping pattern. They slept for one long period and then for one short period about eight hours later.
     In many parts of the world, people take naps (小睡) in the middle of the day. This is especially true in
warmer climates (氣候), where the heat makes work difficult in the early afternoon. Researchers are now
saying that naps are good for everyone in any climate. A daily nap gives one a more rested body and mind
and therefore is good for health in general. In countries where naps are traditional (傳統(tǒng)的), people often
suffer less from problem such as heart disease.
     Many working people, unfortunately, have no time to take naps. Though doctors may advise taking naps,
employers do not allow it! If you do have the chance, however, here are a few tips about making the most
of your nap. Remember that the best time to take a nap is about eight hours after you get up. A short sleep
too late in the day may only make you feel more tired and sleepy afterward. This can slao happen if you sleep
for too long. If you do not have enough time, try a short nap-even ten minutes of sleep can be helpful.

1. If you get up at 6:30 am, what is the best time for you to take a nap?

A. About 12:30 pm
B. About 2:30 pm
C. About 1:30 pm
D. About 3:30 pm

2. What advice does the writer give on taking a nap?

A. You'd better take a nap about an hour after you have lunch.
B. You can sleep as long as you like so that you will not feel tied or sleepy.
C. Only people in warmer climate need to take a nap.
D. If your time is limited, a short nap can also help.

3. Naps are good for everyone in any climate because _________ .

A. a nap makes both your body and mind have a good rest.
B. a daily nap benefits your health.
C. people who often take naps suffer less from problems such as heart disease than those who don't.
D. All the above.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A. Just for a Rest
B. All for a Nap
C. A Special Sleep Pattern.
D. Taking Naps in Warmer Climate.