牛津版（深圳·广州）初中英语八年级上册期末复习（题型专练）：阅读理解

    Picture the scene: It's midnight. You're very hungry after studying for a long time. Then you see a nice pie in the fridge. Do you eat it? It seems that you shouldn't, for many reasons, including its influence on your studies.

    Scientists have long known that eating late at night can make us gain weight. But now a new study has shown that late— night eating can also have a bad influence on our brains—it might hurt our ability to learn new things and store memories.

    “We believe that late—night eating may affect(影响) our learning by affecting the parts of the brain that control learning and memory, "Dawn

Lon, PhD, a project scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles said," we believe the timing of when we eat is the main cause of the damaged (受损的) memory."

    For the study, the researchers looked at mice with strict feeding plans for two weeks, the mice were either allowed to eat during the time when they are usually the most active, or during the time when they usually sleep.

    The mice received the same amount of sleep and calories.

    Then the researchers tested the brains of the mice. In one test, the researchers tried to find out whether the mice could remember that a room was connected to an electric shock(电击) after 24 hours had gone by.

    The researchers noticed that when the mice were put in the room again hose mice that ate when they should have been sleeping were less likely(可能的) to get scared than those mice that ate during usual hours. It means that they didn't remember.

    So think twice before the midnight snack— it might be bad for more than your weight.

    A well—known poem by the Tang Dynasty's poet Du Mu tells a sad scene in early April, Rain falls heavily as Qingming comes, and passersby with low spirits go."

    This scene takes place on Tomb Sweeping Day, also known as the Qingming Festival. Tomb Sweeping Day is a traditional Chinese festival. It began in the Zhou Dynasty, over 2,500 years ago Chinese people celebrate it to remember and honor their ancestors(祖先). This year, it falls on April 4. Tomb Sweeping Day became a public holiday on the Chinese mainland in 2008. People have one day off for that day.

    On this day, families bring flowers, food and wine to the gravesites(墓地) of their ancestors. They place cakes, fruit in front of the graves and some may burn joss paper, as money for the dead. After that, they sweep the tombs and cherish(怀念) the memories of their dead family members

Tomb Sweeping Day gives us a chance to show respect to our ancestors and family members who have passed away and show that we miss them. This tradition shows that family values are an important part of Chinese culture.

    Tomb Sweeping Day is also the beginning of the time for gardening and outdoor active China. Families often get together for outings or to fly kites.

    Once upon a time, there lived an old man. He had three sons. One day, he called them together and said, "Sons, I will die soon. To my eldest son give half my camels, to my second, one third(三分之ー), and to my youngest, one ninth(九分之一)." Soon after that he died.

    The old man had seventeen camels, and the three brothers didn't know how to do as their father said. They thought for a long time about the problem, and it seemed that they must either kill some of the camels and cut them into pieces, or disobey their father. At last, they went to their father's old friend and asked for his advice. As soon as he heard their story, he said. "I will help you. I was a good friend of your fathers. I am old. I have only one camel, but take it. It is yours."

    The three sons thanked the old man and took his camel. Now they found it was easy to do as their father wished. The eldest took half—that was nine camels; the second took one third—that was six; and the youngest took one ninth—that was two.

    After each had got his camels, they found that there was still a camel there. To show their thanks to their father's friend, they gave the camel back to him.

    Have you ever heard of Ayusa? It is a high school exchange program, and it helps international students experience life in America, and students can also learn about its history and culture.

    Ayusa is one of the best student exchange programmes. Only the best and the brightest students can take part in the programme. Every year, students from over 60 different countries, including African countries, come to America to live with American families and attend American schools. Since 1981, Ayusa has helped more than 40.000 students from around the world live and study in America.

    Do you want to experience a different culture and learn a new language? Take action now we are glad to help students between age 15 and 18. We also support our host families. Our website(网站) is also here to help you. If you're interested in this programme go to http://www. ayusa. org/families/host-student and write your information on it, including your name, email address, phone number, as well as your state. After this, press the button "Submit", and then you can start your new application. Besides, you can also call us at 010-12378912 or send emails to Evisit @hotmail.com.

    Are you able to send a letter with pictures and sounds to someone around the world without putting a stamp on it? With an email you can just do that. By using computers you can send emails quickly and easily. An email can send its messages to the other side of the world in seconds

However, the post is much slower than the email.

    The email is easy to use and it saves time and money. You can send an email no matter where you are and when it is. In addition, it does not matter if your friends are in bed when you send an email to them, or you are seeing a film at the cinema when they send an email back.

    The homestay(寄宿家庭) provides English language students with the good chance to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of an American home.

    What to Expect

    The host will provide places to live in and meals. Rooms will be cleaned every day. And the host is there to offer help and advice on your physical and mental(精神的) health.

    Living Area

    Host families are mainly in Zones 2, 3 and 4. Most hosts don't live in Zone 1 because much of central New York is the trading centre. Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger houses in uncrowded areas. But it's very convenient to travel to the centre of New York by subway.

    Meal Plans

    It's important to know that few American families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast. Your breakfast mainly includes fruit juice, bread and coffee. Cheese, fruit and cold neat are not part of the breakfast. Dinners are usually made up of meat or fish with vegetables followed by desserts, fruit and coffee.

    Friends

    If you wish to invite a friend to visit you, you must ask your host for permission(许可)fir because some families feel uncomfortable when there are strangers at their home.

    A few years ago, Masaru Ibuka, the head of Sony, was at a company planning meeting. Suddenly he had an idea. He stopped the meeting an asked everyone what would happen if Sony took away the recording function and speakers and sold headphones with a tape player instead.

Almost everyone thought he was silly. However Ibuka kept his idea and worked at it. The result, of course, turned out to be the successful Sony Walkman.

    Good ideas often start with a really silly question. Bill Bowerman was making breakfast one day. As he stood there making cakes for his son, he asked himself what would happen if he put rubber into his mold(模具) Later, he tried it and the result was something like the bottom of most sports shoes we see today. Still, when he took his idea to several shoe companies, he was laughed at. In fact, every single company turned him down. Though rather disappointed, Bowerman went on to form his own company, making NIKE sports shoes.

    We know today, of course, that each of these ideas caused a successful thing that has changed the way many of us live. The best questions are usually open-ended and are often silly. Children aren't afraid to ask such questions, but adults usually are. Think how different the world might be if people never asked "silly" questions！

    Here are some English study skills for students.

★Listening

    Listening is a great way to improve your pronunciation(31)and intonation(语调). You can start by listening to short stories for children because they are usually easy.

★Reading

    Reading is a good way to help you learn new words. And it will also help you learn English grammar. Children's books are great for beginners.

★Vocabulary

    When you come across new words in the reading, write them in your notebook. You can write down the meaning of the words to help you understand.

★Grammar

    Children's books are great to learn grammar. You can know how people use the basic grammar.

★Speaking

    When doing your reading exercises, read them aloud. You can also look for some articles on the Internet to read.

    Learning any language needs lots of practice. You don't have to spend hours studying each day. Just thirty minutes a day for four or five days a week will help you improve your English skills.

    Imagine the situation. You are an exchange student from China and now you are learning French in a university in Paris, the capital city of France. One day, you come into the kitchen of your flat. Twenty minutes later, you cook several delicious French dishes. To everyone's surprise. You learn the French language at the same time! This kind of wonderful kitchen is called a French Digital Kitchen or a "talking kitchen".

    What do you think of the "talking kitchen" A French Digital Kitchen has been developed at Newcastle University in the UK. It teaches students how to cook French food and speak French at the same time. For the first time, students can learn the language by following cooking steps.

    All grammar and vocabulary have been carefully chosen to make sure the users can understand French well. After learning for some time, the users can test themselves by doing a short test on the computer.

    The kitchen project was started by Professor Paul Seed house. He began to show interest in the idea after he visited another kind of talking. kitchen. He said," the purpose of the French Digital Kitchen is to make learning a language more interesting and more educational."

    How does the kitchen work? There is a computer in the kitchen. With this computer, the users can first choose a French recipe(菜谱) that they want to follow. Using information on the computer, the kitchen starts to guide the users how to make a French dish. If you follow the instructions on the computer, it moves on to the next. If you go wrong, the program goes back and repeats the recipe or information. At any time, the users can ask the kitchen to repeat the recipe on any information.

    The new kitchen can be used in schools, universities and even people's homes. The researchers can also be developing the European Digital Kitchen, for the next three years.