Late-night drinking

Coffee lovers beware. Having a quick “pick-me-up” cup of coffee late in the day will play havoc with your sleep. As well as being a stimulant, caffeine interrupts the flow of melatonin, the brain hormone that sends people into a sleep.

Melatonin levels normally start to rise about two hours before bedtime. Levels then peak between 2 a.m. and 4 a. m, before falling again. “It’s the neurohormone that controls our sleep and tells our body when to sleep and when to wake,” says Maurice Ohayon of the Stanford Sleep Epidemiklogy Research Center at Stanford University in California. But researchers in Israel have found that caffeinated coffee halves the body’s levels of this sleep hormone.

Lotan Shilo and a team at the Sapir Medical Center in Tel Aviv University found that six volunteers slept less well after a cup of caffeinated coffee than after drinking the same amount of decaf. On average, subjects slept 336 minutes per night after drinking caffeinated coffee, compared with 415 minutes after decaf. They also took half an hour to drop off---twice as long as usual---and jigged around in twice as much.

In the second phase of the experiment, the researchers woke the volunteers every three hours and asked them to give a urine sample. Shilo measured concentrations of abreakers were half those in decaf drinkers. The results suggest that melatonin concentrations in caffeine drinkers were half those in decaf drinkers. In a paper accepted for publication in Sleep Medicine, the researchers suggest that caffeine blocks production of the enzyme the drives melatonin production.

Because it can take many hours to eliminate caffeine from the body, Ohayon recommends that coffee lovers switch to decaf after lunch.

1. The author mentions “pick-me-up” to indicate that ______.
A. melatonin levels need to be raised.
B. Neurohormone can wake us up.
C. Coffee is stimulant.
D. Decaf is a caffeinated coffee.

2. Which of the following tells us how caffeine affects sleep?
A. Caffeine blocks production of the enzyme that stops melatonin production.
B. Caffeine interrupts the flow of sleep hormone.
C. Caffeine halves the body's levels of sleep hormone.
D. Caffeine stays in the body for many hours.

3. What does paragraph 3 mainly discuss?
A. Different effects of caffeinated coffee and decaf on sleep.
B. Different findings of Lotan Shilo and a team about caffeine.
C. The fact that the subjects slept 415 minutes per night after drinking decaf.
D. The evidence that the subjects took half an hour to fall asleep.

4. What does the experiment mentioned in paragraph in paragraph 4 prove?
A. There are more enzymes in decaf drinkers' urine sample.
B. There are more melatonin concenrrations in caffeine drinkers' urine sample.
C. Decaf drinkers produce less melatonin.
D. Caffeine drinkers produce less sleep hormone.

5. The author of this passage probably agrees that ______.
A. coffee lovers sleep less than those who do not drink coffee.
B. We should not drink coffee after supper.
C. People sleep more soundly at midnight than at 3 a.m.
D. If we feel sleepy at night, we should go to bed immediately.

閱讀三
1．C．分析：利用題干中的核心結(jié)構(gòu)（也是特殊結(jié)構(gòu)）作為答案線索，這樣找到答案相關(guān)句Coffee lovers beware（謹(jǐn)慎）. Having a quick “pick-me-up” cup of coffee late in the day will play havoc with you sleep. (暗示咖啡影響睡眠) As well as being a stimulant（刺激物）（直接揭示答案）, caffeine interrupts the flow of melatonin（褪黑激素），the brain hormone（激素）that send people into a sleep.

2．C. 分析：利用題干中的核心詞caffeine，作為答案線索，這樣發(fā)現(xiàn)答案相關(guān)句：But researchers in Israel have found that caffeinated （caffeine的家族詞匯）coffee halves the body‘s levels of this sleep hormone（根據(jù)halves這個(gè)詞的使用判斷C是答案。）

3．A. 分析：該題考察判斷指定段落的大意。
Lotan Shilo and a team at the Sapir Medical Center in Tel Aviv University found that six volunteers slept less well after a cup of caffeinated coffee than after drinking the same amount of decaf. （概括句，直接與問(wèn)題相關(guān)）On average, subjects slept 336 minutes per night after drinking caffeinated coffee, （when they are）compared with 415 minutes after decaf .They also took half an hour to drop off (睡著）---twice as long as usual---and jigged around in bed （輾轉(zhuǎn)反側(cè)）twice as much..（具體例子用以證明前面概括句中的觀點(diǎn)）

4．D. 分析：注意到備選項(xiàng)都是涉及到細(xì)節(jié)內(nèi)容，因此在指定段落中一一進(jìn)行查找和確認(rèn)。同時(shí)注意每個(gè)備選項(xiàng)中的核心詞/短語(yǔ)。The results suggest that melatonin concentrations in caffeine drinkers were half those in decaf drinkers (該句句意表明B的說(shuō)法錯(cuò)誤). In a paper accepted for publication in Sleep Medicine, the researchers suggest that caffeine blocks production of the enzyme that drives melatonin production（該句句意表明A和C的說(shuō)法錯(cuò)誤）.

5．B. 分析：該題涉及到文章主題，首先把四個(gè)備選項(xiàng)一一進(jìn)行分析比較，然后首先把剩下的文章最后內(nèi)容看完：Because it can take many hours to eliminate caffeine from the body, Ohayon recommends that coffee lovers switch to decaf after lunch.（從該句中可以推導(dǎo)出B的內(nèi)容）