阅读理解。
Do you know why you sleep? You may think it's because you're tired. Or perhaps you've been told sleep
is good for you. Yet no one knows exactly why or how people sleep.
Until the early 1950s, most scientists thought the body and brain rested during sleep. Then a scientist
watched people sleep. He noticed that during periods of between 5 and 30 minutes, sleepers' eyes made
rapid movements, as if they were watching something. He called these periods REM (Rapid Eye Movement)
sleep. He called periods when sleeper's eyes did not move non-REM sleep.
Whenever the scientist woke people during REM sleep, they were having vivid dreams. Measurements
showed that sleepers' pulses (脉搏) went up quickly during REM sleep. Their breathing, heartbeat, and the
blood going to the brain also increased. Far from being a time of rest, sleep is a time when the body is hard
at work. Scientists still don't know the reason for this. Some believe REM sleep makes learning easier.
Babies spend a lot of time on REM sleep. Because of this, some scientists believe that REM sleep helps
the brain grow. Others think REM sleep is a time for the brain to empty the day's garbage.
One thing all the scientists agree on is that sleep is necessary. Without enough sleep, people make
mistakes. Most car accidents happen during the early morning hours, when people are sleepiest.
1. During REM sleep, a person's breathing and heartbeat ______.
A. stop
B. sleep
C. increase
D. stay the same
2. The underlined word "vivid" means ______.
A. easier
B. large
C. empty
D. clear anti lively
3. ______ tells what happens when people don't get enough sleep.
A. Paragraph 1
B. Paragraph 2
C. Paragraph 3
D. Paragraph 4
4. The main idea of this passage is ______.
A. that REM sleep can help the brain grow
B. about the scientific research of REM sleep
C. about how to empty the day's garbage
D. that our body is good at work when sleeping
5. We can know from the passage that _______.
A. enough sleep is very important to people
B. young people can experience REM sleep
C. the speed of sleepers' pulses will slow down during the REM sleep
D. all scientists have the same opinion on REM sleep
