Ⅱ.閱讀理解

　　Are you having difficulty falling asleep? Try drinking a glass of warm milk. If that doesn't work, listen to some soft, beautiful music. Still no luck? Try thinking about sheep jumping over a fence. If you are still awake, take a sleeping pill. But people who take pills often become dependent on the drugs. So you lie awake knowing that the new workday will soon arrive. If you have been in such condition for at least one month，you may have primary insomnia (失眠癥).

　　A new study has found that you might fall asleep more quickly and stay asleep longer if you try “cerebral_hypothermia”. It is not a complex medical process. It just means cooling down your brain. Eric Nofzinger and Daniel Buysse from the University of Pittsburgh Medical School led the study. They examined twelve people who had sleeping problems. Twelve others had no sleeping problems. Each of them wore a soft plastic cap on their head at bedtime.

　　The caps had tubes inside filled with water. The researchers moved the water through the tubes and then changed the temperature of the water. Other studies showed that people who had sleeping problems often had more chemical reactions in the front of their brain. The researchers thought cooling down the brain might help.

　　On the first two nights of testing，the patients wore caps with no water. On the next two nights, the caps were worn, but the water was not cooled. Then the researchers cooled the water a little for another two nights. On the final two nights of the study, the temperature of the water was made much cooler. The researchers found that the water caps didn' t help the patients until the temperature was about 14℃. Most of the patients fell asleep faster and slept better when the coolest water was moving around their head.

　　Dr. Nofzinger and Dr. Buysse noted that this was only the beginning of the brain temperature study. But they believed they had discovered something important that needed more research.

　　文章大意：最近的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，降低大腦的溫度有助于失眠者睡一個好覺。

　　1.The first paragraph is written to ________.

　　A.explain how serious insomnia is

　　B.bring forward the topic of the passage

　　C.tell us the causes of sleeping problems

　　D.tell us the danger of having sleeping problems

　　答案：B　推理判斷題。第一段用問答的方式介紹了幾個對付失眠的方法，接下來文章介紹一個有關(guān)治療失眠的新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，可見第一段是為了引出主題。

　　2.From the passage we know that “cerebral hypothermia” is actually ________.

　　A.a complex medical process

　　B.a psychological treatment

　　C.a simple physical treatment

　　D.a difficult scientific theory

　　答案：C　詞義猜測題。根據(jù)第二段中的“It is not a complex medical process.”及后文對降溫方法的描述可知，它是一種簡單的物理療法。

　　3.In the study，researchers helped people fall asleep faster through ________.

　　A.increasing chemical reactions in the front of their brain

　　B.making them feel safe with a cap on their head

　　C.asking them to drink water to cool down

　　D.lowering the temperature of their brain

　　答案：D　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段中的“Other studies showed that people who had sleeping problems often had more chemical reacitons in the front of their brain. The researchers thought cooling down the brain might help.”可知，應(yīng)選D。

　　4.What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

　　A.The cause of the study.

　　B.The function of the caps.

　　C.Some details of the study.

　　D.People's reactions to the study.

　　答案：C　段落大意題。第四段主要是講這個試驗操作的細(xì)節(jié)。

　　5.Dr. Nofzinger and Dr. Buysse seemed to believe that ____.

　　A.their research wouldn't help people greatly

　　B.more studies would be needed for their research

　　C.cooling down people's brain might be harmful

　　D.the results of their study would be made use of soon

　　答案：B　推理判斷題。根據(jù)最后一段的表述可知，這兩位科學(xué)家認(rèn)為該研究剛開始，今后還需要更多的研究。