The beginning of our sleep deficit crisis can be _1_ to the invention of the light bulb a centuryago. From diary entries and other personal _2_ from the 18th and 19th centuries, sleepscientists have reached the conclusion that the average person used to sleep about 9.5 hoursa night. By the 1950s and 1960s, that sleep schedule had been reduced _3_ to between 7.5and 8 hours, and most people had to wake to an alarm clock. “People cheat on their sleep, andthey don’t even _4_ they’re doing it,” says Dr. David. “They think they’re okay because theycan get by on 6.5 hours, when they really need 7.5，8 or even more to feel ideally _5_.”

　　Perhaps the most merciless robber of sleep, researchers say, is the _6_ of the day. Wheneverpressures from work, family, friends and community mount, many people consider sleep theleast _7_ item on the agenda. “In our society, you’re considered dynamic if you say you onlyneed 5.5 hours’ sleep. If you say you’ve got to get 8.5 hours, people think you lack _8_ andambition.”

　　To assess the _9_ of sleep deficit, researchers have put subjects through a set ofpsychological and performance tests requiring them. “We’ve found that if you’re sleep-deprived, performance _10_,” says Dr. David. “Short-term memory is impaired, as are abilitiesto make decisions and to concentrate.”

　　A) consequences B) complexity C) ingenious D) dramatically

　　E) suffers F) tracked G) realize H) expensive

　　I) slightly J) traced K) detaches L) vigorous

　　M) inspiration N) accounts O) drive

　　解題思路

　　1.[J]can be表明此處需填入名詞、形容詞或分詞作表語，且能與介詞to搭配。由句子主語The beginningof our sleep deficit crisis(初現睡眠不足)和賓語the invention of the light bulb a century ago(一世紀前發明了電燈)，可知此處在探尋睡眠不足的原因。traced“追溯……的發展”可與to搭配，符合上下文語境。tracked表示“追蹤，跟蹤”時,是及物動詞，故排除。

　　2.[N]此處需填人personal所修飾的名詞，與句中的diary entries(日記)并列，因此應該也是復數形式。Personal accounts指“個人敘述”，符合此處語境。

　　3.[D]此處需填入副詞，修飾謂語動詞reduced。根據空格后between 7.5 and 8 hours,可知相比之前的9.5hours,睡眠時間減少了很多，故選用dramatically“顯著地”。

　　4.[G]空格前出現否定助動詞don’t,故此處需填入動詞原形。上文說人們偷走了(cheat on)睡眠時間，空格前的even “甚至”表示遞進關系，realize “意識到”符合句意，表示他們甚至都沒有意識到這一點。

　　5.[L]此處需填入名詞、形容詞或分詞，作feel的表語。本句意為:他們認為睡6.5小時也沒有問題(okay),而實際上他們需要睡7.5或8個小時，甚至更多才能感覺……。由前后兩個時間的對比和空格前的ideally(理想地)可知，vigorous“精力充沛的”符合句意。

　　6.[B] the…of結構表明此處需填入名詞。由下文“來自工作、家庭、朋友及社會的壓力”，可知填人的名詞表消極含義，故complexily“錯綜復雜”符合句意，表示睡眠被無情奪走的原因是每天各種錯綜復雜的事務。

　　7.[H]此處需填入名詞、形容詞或分詞，修飾item(項目)。上文提到人們的睡眠時間越來越少，由此可知很多人不重視睡眠時間。空格前的least表示否定,故填入expensive“昂貴的;浪費的”。

　　8.[O]此處需填入與ambition(抱負)并列的抽象名詞，作lack的賓語。drive作名詞時意為“干勁”，符合此處語境，表示“如果你說要睡8.5小時，人們就會覺得你缺少干勁和抱負”。

　　9.[A] the... of結構表明此處需填入名詞。由后文We’ve found that...可知，研究專家做試驗的目的是為了知道睡眠不足的后果，consequences指不太好的后果，故為正確答案。

　　10.[E]此處需填入謂語動詞，由主語performance可知是第三人稱單數形式。根據后文提到的Short-termmemory is impaired(短期記憶受損)等，可知在sleep-deprived(睡眠不足)的情況下，行為應該會受到不良影響，故 suffers“受損害”符合語境。'

　　A study conducted by an Australian science agency has discovered signs that the country’sancient Aborigines may have been the world’s first astronomers, _1_ Stonehenge (巨石陣)inBritain by more than a thousand years.

　　Professor Ray Norris, of the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization (CSIRO), said_2_ knowledge of the stars through songs and stories had been passed down throughgenerations by the Aboriginal people, whose history dates back tens of thousands of years.

　　“We know there are many stories about the sky: songs, legends, myths to mark out theseasons， so they are very _3_,” Norris said. “People _4_ changed settlement, so when Pleiades(the Seven Sisters star _5_ ) was up they would move to where the nuts and berries are.Another sign and it would be time to move to the rivers to fish for barramundi, and so on.”

　　Norris, who has studied Aboriginal culture _6_ and has made several journeys to Arnhem Landin Australia’s Outback, said the research also _7_ more detailed astronomical thought. “Clearly some thinker in the past has been sitting down in the bush, watching the _8_ andtrying to figure out how it works,” he said. “Those thoughts are then encoded in the songsand ceremonies.” Norris is now looking for _9_ that might date the earliest signs of Aboriginalastronomy, such as a stone carving of a meteor strike or comet.

　　Norris is confident that the Aborigines pre-dated European astronomers, including Stonehengeand Egypt’s great pyramid Giza, both of which are _10_ at around 3100 BC. “We’veestablished there is all this astronomy, what I don’t know is how far back this goes. If it goesback 10,000 or 20,000 years, that makes Aborigines the world’s first astronomers,” he said.

　　A) detailed B) boosted C) eclipse D) vigorous

　　E) practical F) evidence G) revealed H) estimated

　　I) regularly J) routine K) cluster L) preceding

　　M) extensively N) rectifying O) respectively

　　解題思路

　　1.[L]空格所在部分意為“比英國的巨石陣要……一千多年”,結合前面的the world’s first,可推斷填入空格的詞應含“早于，先于”之義。詞庫中現在分詞preceding“先于……發生”符合句法和句意，preceding…years在句中作狀語。

　　2.[A]空格處需要一個名詞、形容詞或分詞修飾knowledge，詞庫中的形容詞detailed最符合上下文的意思，表示“詳細的星象知識”。由于本段沒有提及土著人的星象學怎么有用，因此practical不如detailed合適。

　　3.[E]空格在they are very之后，應為形容詞或分詞。空格前的連詞so表明此部分內容與前一分句存在因果關系。前面說到土著有許多描繪季節如何更替的歌謠、傳說和神話，可見這些故事都很“實用”，故此處應選practical。

　　4. [I]空格在主語和動詞之間，應為副詞。根據so分句提到的“他們會遷移到有堅果和架果的地方”可知，土著人會隨季節變換遷移居所，regularly能體現遷移的規律性，符合文中語境。

　　5.[K] the Seven Sisters star...是對Pleiades的進一步解說。空格有可能是分詞或形容詞作后置定語，修飾名詞star;也有可能是名詞，star作其定語。詞庫中，名詞cluster可以與star搭配，意為“星團”，符合句子語境。

　　6.[M]空格所在的定語從句已有謂語動詞和賓語，因此空格最有可能填入副詞。Norris是研究土著文化的專家，extensively最切文意，表示Norris“大量、深人”地研究過土著文化。regularly填入句中，句法雖正確但不足以說明Norris在這方面的權威，故排除。

　　7.[G]從句the research... astronomical thought缺少謂語動詞，根據主句謂語said判斷該動詞應為過去式。此處應選用revealed，表示“研究揭示了土著人對于天文學的更多想法”。

　　8.[C]承接上一句，本句的內容應該也與“天文”有關。根據空格后的“努力弄明白它是怎么運行的”，可推知填入空格的名詞可能是某個天文現象。eclipse“日食，月食”為本題答案。

　　9.[F] for提示空格處應填入名詞。根據后面內容“可以追溯土著天文學的最早標記，比如記錄流星撞擊或彗星的石刻”,可知Norris正在尋找的是證據，evidence符合句意。

　　10.[H] around 3100 BC提示空格所在從句補充說明巨石陣和吉薩金字塔的年代，但對于它們的建造年代并沒有確切的記錄，只能推測，estimated符合句意，與系動詞are構成被動語態。