It’s in the 2010s.You feel sick, so you go to the doctor. She checks your fever, looks at your throat, and asks what you’ve been thinking about lately. When you leave, she gives you some medicine, but also a list of thinking skills that you are supposed to practice daily. She says that the way you think is causing some of your illness.
Doctors and other scientists who study the human mind and try to explain why people act in the way that they do, called psychologists (心理學(xué)家), are starting to believe it. You know that your brain (腦) is connected to every part of your body through your nervous system (神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)). Now scientists have proved that how you think and feel can have an influence on the health of your body.
Stress is caused whenever there is a problem or a change in your life. Of course, everybody has stress more or less; nobody’s life is perfect. In fact, stress is necessary. Without stress, we would never learn anything or grow or change. We would probably be bored to death. But too much stress can hurt you. It can weaken your body’s protection so that you are more likely to catch diseases. It can even make you more likely to have an accident.
When you feel stressed, your brain sends a message to your body to produce a chemical called adrenaline (腎上腺素). Adrenaline speeds up your breathing and your heartbeat. Today you have a different kind of stress. Problems like endless homework or troubles with your family are the kind of things you can’t fight or run away from, so you don’t use up all that adrenaline. It just stays bottled up inside you, and that’s what can do something bad to you.
What can you do about stress? First, you can try to find ways to change things so you aren’t under so much stress. You can set up a plan to finish homework or go to a doctor or a psychologist to try to work things out with your family or your friends. But sometimes you can’t change a stressful situation. Sometimes you don’t even want to. A big change might be a good change, but it will still be stressful.
The link (關(guān)聯(lián)) between your body and brain works in two ways. Your body can help your mind deal with stress. If you are under stress, you need to take especially good care of your body. It’s important to get enough sleep and eat nutritious (有營(yíng)養(yǎng)的) meals. Some people take a vitamin-mineral pill every day. Another thing that you can do is daily exercise. If you go walking or do aerobic dancing or work out at the gym (體育館), you give your body a chance to burn up some of that adrenaline. Of course, a person who isn’t used to much physical activity should start slowly. Anyone with a continuing physical problem should check with a doctor before starting any exercise programs.
小題1:Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．You shouldn’t go to the gym if you are under stress.

B．One can do his homework to burn up adrenaline.

C．Disease and accidents are caused by stress.

D．Everyone needs stress to improve himself.

小題2:From the last sentence of Paragraph 5 we can infer (推斷) that _____________.

A．it’s difficult to change a stressful situation

B．it’s not stressful when a good change takes place

C．a(chǎn) big change will cause another stressful situation

D．a(chǎn) stressful situation can’t be changed without any effort

小題3:What is probably the best title for this passage?

A．The Body-Brain Link	B．The Causes of Stress
C．The Advice on Health	D．The Nervous System

When you read an article you will understand and remember it better if you can work out how the writer has put the ideas together．Sometimes a writer puts ideas together by asking questions and then answering them．For example，if the article is about groundhogs（土撥鼠），the set of questions in the writer’s head might be：
What does a groundhog look like？
Where do groundhogs live？
What do they eat？…
In the article，the author might answer those questions．
Sometimes an author writes out her questions in the article．These questions give you signals．They tell you what the author is going to write next．Often an author has a question in her head but she doesn’t write it out for you．You have to work out her question for yourself．Here’s a sample reading for you to practice this method.
Earthworms
Do you know how many kinds of earthworms there are？There are about 1800 kinds in the world！ They can be brown，purple，green．They can be as small as 3 cm long and as large as 3 m long．
The best time to see earthworms is at night，especially a cool，damp night．That’s when they come up from their burrows（地洞）to hunt for food．Earthworms don’t like to be in the sun．That’s because they breathe through their skin，and they can’t breathe if their skin gets too dry．Earthworms must come out of the earth if it rains a lot，because they can't breathe in their flooded burrows．What a dangerous life！
Earthworms don't have eyes，so how can they tell when it's dark？ They have special places on their skin that are sensitive to light．These spots tell whether it’s light or dark．If you shine a flashlight on an earthworm at night，it will quickly disappear into the ground．
Earthworms don't have ears either，but they can hear by feeling movements in the earth．If you want to hear like an earthworm，lie on the ground with your fingers in your ears．Then have a friend stamp his or her feet near you．This is how earthworms feel birds and people walking，and moles digging，near them．
Earthworms are useful．Farmers and gardeners like having lots of earthworms in their land because the worms help to make better soil when they dig．That digging keeps the soil loose and airy（通風(fēng)的）．In one year earthworms can pile up as much as 23,000 kg of castings in an area about the size of a football field．
小題1:What’s the purpose of reading Earthworms?

A．To show the special life facts of earthworms.

B．To explain the differences from the groundhogs.

C．To put the writer’s idea into real use.

D．To make the readers think more clearly.

小題2:Which question CANNOT be answered in the passage?

A．How do earthworms help with gardeners?

B．What life are earthworms living with?

C．When may people observe earthworms?

D．Why can human listen like earthworms?

小題3:How can you understand Earthworms better according to this passage?

A．Read, ask and answer questions in your own head while reading.

B．Read to work out all the questions in the writer’s head while reading.

C．Read and check all the things that are not clear to you again and again.

D．Read for general ideas and discuss or compare with other similar topics.

小題4:What’s the best title for the passage?

A．One way to help with understanding

B．One way to practice with a new idea

C．One way to learn to be a wise writer

D．One way to be clearer about worms