If Confucius(孔子) were alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He’d need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.
While many people in China remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It’s nothing personal. Most Americans don’t even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.
But that doesn’t mean that Americans don’t care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.
In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually include Chinese art, history and philosophy(哲学). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantage of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up the drawbacks of Western philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.
So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well.
Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.
As for the old thinker, he will not be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.
【小题1】The purpose or the first paragraph is mainly to ________.

A．attract the readers’ interest in the subject

B．provide some key facts about Confucius

C．show great respect for the ancient thinker

D．prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations

【小题2】We can learn from Paragraph 4 that American students ________.

A．take an active part in Chinese competitions

B．try to get high scores in Chinese exams

C．fight for a chance to learn Chinese

D．show great interest in studying Chinese nowadays

【小题3】What is the best title for this passage?

A．Forgotten Wisdom in America

B．Huge Fans of the Chinese Language

C．Old Thinker with a Big Future

D．Chinese Culture for Westerners

   Everybody sleeps，but what people stay up late to catch or wake up early in order not to miss varies by culture.

From data collected，it seems the things that cause us to lose the most sleep，on average，are sporting events，time changes，and holidays.

Around the world，people change sleep patterns thanks to the start or end of daylight-saving time（夏令时间）. Russians，for example，began to wake up about a half-hour later each day after President Vladimir Putin shifted the country permanently to“winter time”starting on October 26.

Russia's other late nights and early mornings generally correspond（相一致）to public holidays. On New Year's Eve，Russians have the world's latest bedtime，hitting the hay at around 3:30 a. m.

Russians also get up an hour later on International Women's Day，the day for treating and celebrating female relatives.

Similarly，Americans' late nights，late mornings，and longest sleep fall on three-day weekends.

Canada got the least sleep of the year the night it beat Sweden in the Olympic hockey（冰球）final.

The World Cup is also chiefly responsible for sleep deprivation. The worst night for sleep in the U. K. was the night of the England-Italy match on June 14. Brits stayed up a half-hour later to watch it，and then they woke up earlier than usual the next morning thanks to summer nights，the phenomenon in which the sun barely sets in northern countries in the summertime. That was nothing，though，compared to Germans，Italians，and the French，who stayed up around an hour and a half later on various days throughout the summer to watch the World Cup.

It should be made clear that not everyone has a tool to record their sleep patterns；in some of these nations，it's likely that only the richest people do. And people who elect to track their sleep may try to get more sleep than the average person. Even if that's the case，the above findings are still striking. If the most health-conscious among us have such deep swings（明显改变）in our sleep levels throughout the year，how much sleep are the rest of us losing？

【小题1】What do we learn about the Russians regarding sleep?
A. They don't fall asleep until very late.
B. They don't sleep much on weekends.
C. They sleep longer than people elsewhere.
D. They get less sleep on public holidays.
【小题2】The underlined word“deprivation”in the last paragraph but one means ___________.
A. depression B. loss
C. observation     D. trouble
【小题3】What is the most probable reason for some rich people to use a tool to record their sleep patterns?
A. They have trouble falling asleep.
B. They are involved in sleep research.
C. They want to get more sleep.
D. They want to go to bed on regular hours.
【小题4】What does the author imply in the last paragraph?
A. Sleeplessness does harm to people's health.
B. It is important to study our sleep patterns.
C. Few people really know the importance of sleep.
D. Average people probably sleep more than the rich.

语法填空

In recent years,American teens 【小题1】（earn） less than stellar（优秀的）scores on the national exam. A new analysis from the Center for American Progress argues for one simple step 【小题2】（help）raise these scores:Start school later in the day.

【小题3】（delay）start time by an hour across the country could improve students math scores up to eight 【小题4】（point）, the analysis says. That's almost one grade level of learning. The idea is that giving sleep-lacking teens more time to sleep 【小题5】 they hit the books will help them learn better.

In the previous study conducted in 2012 , middle school students 【小题6】 switched schedules to start school an hour later saw their test scores increase. And among them the low-performing students saw the 【小题7】（big）increase.

The Center for American Progress considered what would happen if those results 【小题8】（repeat） around the country.

“What we found is the impact 【小题9】 student achievement would be quite large,” Ulrich Boster, a senior fellow at the center, told The Huffington Post. “Starting school later could 【小题10】（significant）improve students' outcomes. ”

A
Forget Cyclists, Pedestrians are Real Danger
We are having a debate about this topic. Here are some letters from our readers.
■Yes, many cyclists behave dangerously. Many drivers are disrespectful of cyclists. But pedestrians are probably the worse offenders.
People of all ages happily walk along the pavement with eyes and hands glued to the mobile phone, quite unaware of what is going on around them. They may even do the same thing while crossing a road at a pedestrian crossing or elsewhere. The rest of us have to evade (避让) them or just stand still to wait for the unavoidable collision.
The real problem is that some pedestrians seem to be, at least for the moment, in worlds of their own that are, to them, much more important than the welfare of others.
——Michael Horan
■I love the letter from Bob Brooks about cyclists (Viewpoints, May 29). I am afraid they seem to think they own the roads.
I was walking across Altrincham Road one morning when a cyclist went round me and on being asked what he was doing he shouted at me.
The government built a cycle lane on the road but it is hardly used.
The police do nothing. What a laugh they are!
The cyclists should all have to be made to use the cycle lanes and wear helmets, fluorescent (发荧光的) jacket and lights at night and in the morning they should pay some sort of tax and be fined for not wearing them.
——Carol Harvey
■Cyclists jump on and off pavements (which are meant for pedestrians), ride at speed along the pavements, and think they have a special right to go through traffic lights when they are on red.
I was almost knocked down recently by a cyclist riding on the pavement when there was a cycle lane right next to him.
Other road users, including horse riders, manage to obey the rules so why not cyclists?
It's about time they had to be registered and insured, so when they do hit a pedestrian or a vehicle, or cause an accident, at least they can be treated and there might be an opportunity to claim.
——JML
Write to Viewpoints of the newspaper.
【小题1】Michael Horan wrote the letter mainly to show that _______.

A．drivers should be polite to cyclists

B．road accidents can actually be avoided

C．sine pedestrians are a threat to road safety

D．walking while using phones hurts one's eyes

【小题2】Carol Harvey suggests that cyclists should _______.

A．be provided with enough roads

B．be asked to ride on their own lanes

C．be made to pay less tax for cycling

D．be fined for laughing at policemen

【小题3】What is a complaint of JML?

A．Very few drivers are insured.

B．Cyclists ride fast on pavements.

C．Pedestrians go through red traffic lights.

D．Horse riders disrespect other road users.

【小题4】The underlined word "they" in the third letter refers to ______.

A．accidents	B．vehicles
C．pedestrians	D．cyclists

【小题5】The three letters present viewpoints on _______.

A．real source of road danger

B．ways to improve road facilities

C．measures to punish road offences

D．increased awareness of road rules

   “Can I get a light?”This question is the commonest among smokers. What if this question is to come from an unusual source? The National Health Promotion Foundation uploaded an anti-smoking advertisement onto YouTube. The anti-smoking ad has quickly been known as the“most powerful anti-smoking ad”.

The anti-smoking video, called the “Smoking Kid”, features children walking up to adult smokers asking for a light. The children in the ad are actors but the adults smoking are unsuspecting participants in the project.

The video begins with the statement “Adults know that smoking is harmful, but don’t remind themselves of this fact”. Once a “smoking kid” approaches the adults, every adult asked is shocked that the child with a cigarette in his hand is asking for a light. The first adult starts by saying “I’m not giving it to you” and the video goes on to state “every adult filmed said no and reminded the children that smoking is bad”.

Before going away, the kid hands each adult a booklet after being turned down for a light. The booklet says, “You worry about me, but why not about yourself?”Each adult looks around for the child as their faces are filled with confusion and discomfort.

The video shows that a few of the smokers quickly throw away their cigarettes or put their cigarettes away, showing that this experiment was effective at that moment.

The most influential element in the ad isn’t the use of children or the responses from the smoking adults. It comes down to something much simpler than that. Why is it that we worry about other people, forgetting to worry about ourselves?

【小题1】The underlined word “unsuspecting”（in Para. 2）probably means“________”.

A．uninformed	B．unwilling
C．unfortunate	D．unacceptable

【小题2】What was the adults reaction to the children asking for a light?

A．They paid no attention to the children's request.

B．They refused the children's request and educated them.

C．They looked around for the children's parents.

D．They quickly threw the children's cigarettes away.

【小题3】According to the last but one paragraph, the anti-smoking ad is ________.

A．unusual	B．shocking
C．influential	D．encouraging

【小题4】The best title of the text might be “________”.

A．Give up smoking, for your own sake

B．Keep away from smoking, adults.

C．Tell your children not to smoke

D．Refuse a child asking for a light