C

This month, my 7-year-old daughter invited her friend to sleep over. Her mom, who had told me before she did not allow sleepovers, explained that she did not think the kids were ready for a sleepover until the age of 10. I then started to wonder whether there actually was a "right" age for a sleepover.

I remember the first real sleepover I ever had. It happened when I was about 13 and a friend of mine invited me to sleep at her house. Luckily for me, her parents were not strangers.

I think I cried for 2 months straight before being allowed my first sleepover. My parents were not completely heartless, though. I was actually sick at the time and had to take medication and they were very concerned about that, but I still did not like them saying "no".

I remember my excitement the day before I finally got my sleepover. I could not sleep that night from the excitement. When I got there, my friend' s house looked so beautiful and her parents were so nice and welcoming.

Unfortunately  though,  the  number  of sleepovers I had throughout my childhood can be counted on two hands. And after every one of them, I realized exactly how much I was missing. It was only as an adult, when I was studying education,  that  I  actually  learned about the

importance of sleepovers in kids' development no matter how old they are.

A sleepover is one of those things every child needs to experience on their own. It can do them a lot of good.

9. The friend of the author' s daughter __

A. is less than ten years old

B. is too sick to sleep over

C. has grown tired of sleepovers

D. never listens to her mother

10. How was the author' s first sleepover?

A. She can' t remember it.

B. It was really boring.

C. She thinks it was enjoyable.

D. It was a painful experience.

11. The author writes the text mainly to __

A. discuss how strict parents should be

B. explain what kids' development is

C. ask parents to keep an eye on their children

D. encourage children to have sleepovers

D

In the summer of 2014, about 17 million people posted videos of themselves dumping (倾倒) ice water over their heads. Even many famous people, including singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, basketball player LeBron James, and former U.S. President George W. Bush, took part. Why did they do such a strange thing?

Those in the Ice Bucket Challenge all helped raise  awareness  (意识)  and money  to  fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a deadly disease. It is also known as Lou Gehrig' s disease, after a famous baseball player who had it. It destroys neurons (nerve cells) that control muscle (肌肉) movement.

Each year, about 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed (诊断) with ALS. The disease leads to the inability to move. Many people die two to five years after learning they have it. Right now, there's no right treatment for ALS. But the Ice Bucket Challenge may help lead to one.

"Before the Ice Bucket  Challenge, few people knew about this terrible disease," Jonathan Ling said. He is one of the scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. His team was unable to complete its research without the money raised through the Ice Bucket Challenge, Ling says.

Through their research, Ling and his team discovered that a protein (蛋白质 ) is damaged in most ALS patients. The scientists also found that nerve cells with these damaged proteins die quickly. But when the scientists put a new protein that acted like the damaged one into the nerve cells, the neurons came back to life!

Thanks to the team' s research, experts believe they may be one step closer to a treatment that slows down or even stops ALS. Still, more research needs to be done, Ling admits. With that in mind, the ALS Association is promising that the Ice Bucket Challenge will continue every August until a good treatment is found.

12. What can we learn about ALS?

A. No one knows how to treat the disease.

B. It is also named after a singer.

C. People will die a few days after they have it.

D. It can make people lose the ability to hear.

13. What might be Ling's attitude to the Ice Bucket Challenge?

A. Worried.           B. Doubtful.

C. Uninterested.       D. Thankful.

14. According to the text, Ling' s team __

A. knows little about ALS

B. is now short of money

C. has made some progress

D. needs more researchers

15. What would be the best title for the text?

A. How the Ice Bucket Challenge started

B. The Ice Bucket Challenge and ALS

C. Jonathan Ling, great ALS researcher

D. Some little-known facts about ALS