编者：如今的英语高考、模拟考的阅读材料（完形填空、阅读理解、任务型阅读）大都选自中国、欧美等主流媒体的最新时鲜文章，与最新人文科技、政治文化接轨。作为一名考生，在接触阅读世界最新潮流的同时也应该积累素材，并培养相关英语文章的阅读能力。
下面摘取了最新的来自中国日报网（CHINA DAILY）的两篇文章，并做了必要的批注，且于文章末尾增添了几个小习题，可自行按照所附的参考答案检测阅读效果。
Passage 1
中国日报网 2020-02-05 13:35
Sidekix Media
It may be the decor colour of the moment but painting your bedroom wall the same shade as a bleak English sky could actually stop you from getting your eight hours' in.
Grey is one of the colours that you should blacklist（黑名单） when thinking of re-painting your bedroom, according to a sleep expert at mattress company Sealy. However, blue could actually promote（促进） sleep because it sends calming messages to the brain.
And while you might sleep in the dark, creeping light from streetlamps, and clutter（凌乱） from an untidy room could all add up to a night of insomnia.
Grey isn't the only colour you should avoid if you're reaching for a paintbrush.
Reds, browns and purples can all hinder a peaceful night's sleep, says Sealy's sleep expert Natalie Armstrong.
She told Femail: 'While your room is dark when you go to sleep, many of us spend an hour or more in our bedrooms with the light on before going to sleep, which is when the colour of your bedroom can be so disruptive（颠覆性的）.
'Colours that are too bright can put your brain into a state of high alert, which can last long after you’ve turned the light off and can no longer see the colour.
'Grey, while gentle, is also quite suppressive（压抑的）. The absence of any strong colour has a depressive effect on the brain because it is a colour typically used to represent sadness and dreariness（凄凉）. While the current trend for grey is trying to change this, the deep rooted associations of grey as a drab（单调的） colour can make it a bad choice for bedroom décor.'
dreariness[ˈdrɪərinəs]：n.凄凉；沉寂；可怕
Annie Spratt
The real colour champion when it comes to good sleep is blue, which is easily picked up by ganglion cells in the retinas of your eyes. The cells then send a message direct to your brain that you're in a calm environment.
Another well-documented enemy of sleep includes smartphones but it isn't just your mobile that can stand in the way of sweet dreams.
stand in the way of：妨碍
Reading a book on a Kindle or watching your favourite television show while tucked up in bed exposes you to exactly the same kind of 'blue' light.
Says Armstrong: 'These devices emit the same blue light as phones, which has been shown to suppress melatonin, the sleep hormone, and disturb the body’s natural circadian rhythms(昼夜节律), which regulates our sleep-wake cycle.'
circadian [sɜːˈkeɪdiən]：adj.生理节奏的
Black-out blinds and heavy curtains can be the difference between a peaceful night's kip and tossing and turning, with lights from streetlamps outside a trigger to keep your brain activated.
因为室外的路灯灯光可能会使大脑保持活跃，闭合的遮光帘和厚重的窗帘可以让人免于辗转反侧，给人带来宁静的夜间睡眠。
And while the phrase 'tidy house, tidy mind' might be ordinarily used in the daytime, it can be just as pertinent at night-time.
pertinent [ˈpɜːtɪnənt]：adj.相关的，中肯的
If you're trying to sleep in a room that's heavy on clutter, you can carry that unsettled feeling into your subconscious when trying to fall into slumber, says Armstrong.
Passage 2
中国日报网 2019-12-26 09:00
1. LOUISA MAY ALCOTT DIDN'T WANT TO WRITE LITTLE WOMEN.
路易莎·梅·奥尔科特本来不想写《小妇人》
Louisa May Alcott was writing both literature and pulp fiction when Thomas Niles, the editor at Roberts Brothers Publishing, approached her about writing a book for girls. Alcott said she would try, but she wasn’t all that interested, later calling such books “moral pap for the young.”
When it became clear Alcott was stalling（拖延）, Niles offered a publishing contract to her father, Bronson Alcott. Although Bronson was a well-known thinker who was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, his work never achieved much acclaim（赞誉）. When it became clear that Bronson would have an opportunity to publish a new book if Louisa started her girls' story, she caved into the pressure.
cave[keɪv]: v. 屈服
2. LITTLE WOMEN TOOK JUST 10 WEEKS TO WRITE.
《小妇人》只花了10个星期就写完了
Alcott began writing the book in May 1868. She worked on it day and night, becoming so consumed with it that she sometimes forgot to eat or sleep. On July 15, she sent all 402 pages to her editor. In September, a mere four months after starting the book, Little Women was published. It became an instant bestseller and turned Alcott into a rich and famous woman.
3. MEG, BETH, AND AMY WERE BASED ON ALCOTT'S SISTERS.
梅格、贝丝和艾米的原型是路易莎的姐妹
Meg was based on Louisa’s sister Anna, who fell in love with her husband John Bridge Pratt while performing opposite him in a play. The description of Meg’s wedding in the novel is supposedly based on Anna’s actual wedding.
Beth was based on Lizzie, who contracted scarlet fever in 1856. Though she recovered, the disease permanently(永久地) weakened her; Lizzie passed away in her sleep from a “wasting condition” on March 14, 1858—just shy of her 23rd birthday. Like Beth, Lizzie caught the illness from a poor family her mother was helping.
Amy was based on May (Amy is an anagram of May), an artist who lived in Europe and whose paintings were displayed in the Paris Salon.
anagram[ˈænəɡræm]: n. 相同字母异序词，易位构词，变位词
Jo, of course, is based on Alcott herself.
2017年版电视剧《小妇人》剧照 图片来源：豆瓣
4. THE BOOK AS WE KNOW IT WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN TWO PARTS.
我们现在所熟悉的《小妇人》原先是分成两部分出版的
The first half was published in 1868 as Little Women: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. The Story Of Their Lives. A Girl’s Book. It ended with John Brooke proposing marriage to Meg. In 1869, Alcott published Good Wives, the second half of the book. It, too, only took a few months to write.
5. ALCOTT REFUSED TO HAVE JO MARRY LAURIE.
路易莎拒绝让乔嫁给劳里
Alcott, who never married herself, wanted Jo to remain unmarried, too. But while she was working on the second half of Little Women, fans were clamoring for Jo to marry the boy next door, Laurie. “Girls write to ask who the little women marry, as if that was the only aim and end of a woman’s life," Alcott wrote in her journal. "I won’t marry Jo to Laurie to please anyone.”
As a compromise—or to spite her fans—Alcott married Jo to the decidedly unromantic Professor Bhaer. Laurie ends up with Amy.
6. THERE ARE LOTS OF THEORIES ABOUT WHO LAURIE WAS BASED ON.
关于劳里的原型是谁有很多种理论
People have theorized Laurie was inspired by everyone from Henry David Thoreau to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s son Julian, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. In 1865, while in Europe, Alcott met a Polish musician named Ladislas Wisniewski, whom Alcott nicknamed Laddie. The flirtation between Laddie and Alcott culminated in them spending two weeks together in Paris, alone. According to biographer Harriet Reisen, Alcott later modeled Laurie after Laddie.
How far did the Alcott/Laddie affair go? It’s hard to say, as Alcott later crossed out the section of her diary referring to the romance. In the margin, she wrote, “couldn’t be.”
Mental Floss网站截图
7. YOU CAN STILL VISIT ORCHARD HOUSE, WHERE ALCOTT WROTE LITTLE WOMEN.
你仍然可以拜访路易莎写作《小妇人》的果园屋
Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts was the Alcott family home. In 1868, Louisa reluctantly left her Boston apartment to write Little Women there. Today, you can tour this house and see May’s drawings on the walls, as well as the small writing desk that Bronson built for Louisa to use.
8. LIKE THE MARCH FAMILY, THE ALCOTTS KNEW POVERTY.
和马奇家一样，奥尔科特一家尝过贫穷的滋味
Bronson Alcott’s philosophical ideals made it difficult for him to find employment—for example, as a socialist, he wouldn't work for wages—so the family survived on handouts from friends and neighbors. At times during Louisa’s childhood, there was nothing to eat but bread, water, and the occasional apple.
When she got older, Alcott worked as a paid companion and governess, like Jo does in the novel, and sold “sensation” stories to help pay the bills. She also took on menial jobs, working as a seamstress, a laundress, and a servant. Even as a child, Alcott wanted to help her family escape poverty, something Little Women made possible.
menial[ˈmiːniəl]: adj. 卑微的；仆人的；适合仆人做的
1994年版《小妇人》剧照 图片来源：豆瓣
9. LITTLE WOMEN HAS BEEN ADAPTED A NUMBER OF TIMES.
《小妇人》被改编过很多次
In addition to a 1958 TV series, multiple Broadway plays, a musical, a ballet, and an opera, Little Women has been made into more than a half-dozen movies. The most famous are the 1933 version starring Katharine Hepburn, the 1949 version starring June Allyson (with Elizabeth Taylor as Amy), and the 1994 version starring Winona Ryder. It's also been adapted for the small screen a number of times, most recently in 2018 for PBS's Masterpiece, by Call the Midwife creator Heidi Thomas. Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig’s version of the story, which will star Saoirse Ronan as Jo and Timothée Chalamet as Laurie, will arrive in theaters on Christmas Day 2019.
图片来源：豆瓣
10. IN THE 1980S, A JAPANESE ANIME VERSION OF LITTLE WOMEN WAS RELEASED.
20世纪80年代曾播出过日本动画版《小妇人》
In 1987, Japan made an anime version of Little Women that ran for 48 half-hour episodes.
Questions
Translate the underlined sentence.
1.It may be the decor colour of the moment but painting your bedroom wall the same shade as a bleak English sky could actually stop you from getting your eight hours' in.
2. And while you might sleep in the dark, creeping light from streetlamps, and clutter（凌乱） from an untidy room could all add up to a night of insomnia.
Answer
1. 灰色可能是时下的流行装饰色，但把卧室墙壁刷成和英国阴冷的天空一样的颜色，实际上会让你无法入眠。
2. 虽然睡觉的时候屋里是暗的，但路灯微弱的光线和房间的凌乱都可能导致失眠。
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