阅读理解

Directions：Read the passage carefully and then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words.

Hard work over a long period of time brings genuine tiredness, to which body and mind eventually make the natural response of sleep. But long before this point is reached we are often afflicted with lassitude. After a day' s work, for instance, we settle down in an easy chair to watch television. Before long we feel drowsy and nod off to sleep perhaps, we stay in front of the screen all evening, intermittently dozing, until finally we decide that our day' s work was exhausting and we retire to bed early. On another occasion, after a similar day' s work, we may spend the evening playing tennis, or building a needed bookcase, or mapping out a planned addition to the house, or in delightful conversation with charming friends, without any feeling of exhaustion or weariness. Now, on the television evening were we genuinely tired or not? And is such an evening refreshing or exhausting?

There is a need for much more careful study of the nature of play, rest, and fatigue, and the relationship between them. Cyril Burt carried out an experiment with two matched groups of children who were very backward in arithmetic. One group was given an extra arithmetic lesson every afternoon while the other group slept. At the end of the term the "sleepers" had improved in arithmetic more than those specially coached. Of course, there are many Variables that might be causally involved here, but the results should make US question the assumption that work is the productive sphere and "play" the unproductive sphere.

We all need to rest. But in order to understand the kind of rest an organism needs, we must study the nature of the organism. After running to catch a train, our lungs are overworked and need to rest. The way in which they rest, however, is by gradually returning to the normal rhythm of breathing, not by stopping. This is because they are built for action. Similarly everything intended to act, from muscles to minds, can find rest in natural action as well as in inertia. "To act in accordance with the hidden law of nature—that is rest, " said Maria Montessori, "and in this special case, since man is meant to be an intelligent creature, the more intelligent his acts are, the more he finds rest in them. " Leisure should be regarded not as an opportunity to collapse, but as an opportunity to seek out ways of acting that are suitable to our nature but are not encouraged or permitted by our working conditions.

Questions：

问答题 From the part dealing with watching TV as a way of rest we can infer that the author

【正确答案】found the boundaries between play, rest, and fatigue are quite blurred.

【答案解析】由第一段结尾和第二段开头“Now, on the television evening were we genuinely tired or not? And is such an evening refreshing or exhausting? There is a need for much more careful study of the nature of play, rest, and fatigue,and the relationship between them” ，可知看电视这个例子引发了作者对玩、劳、逸的定义和关系的思考。

问答题 Cyril Burt’ s experiment suggests that

【正确答案】work is not necessarily the productive sphere

【答案解析】由第二段结尾“the results should make US question the assumption that work is the productive sphere and play the unproductive sphere” ，可知实验结果应该使我们质疑工作是生产性领域而玩耍时非生产性领域的假设。

问答题 What kind of rest does the writer think most beneficial to us.

【正确答案】To act in accordance with the hidden law of nature

【答案解析】由最后一段第三句“The way in which they rest, however, is by gradually returning to the normal rhythm of breathing, not by stopping” 以及后面Maria Montessori的话“To act in accordance with the hidden law of nature—that is rest” 可知，真正对我们有益的休息是按照体内的自然规律去行动。

问答题 The phrase "an opportunity to collapse" means

【正确答案】It means interruption of the normal rhythm of our organisms.

【答案解析】由最后一段可知，休息是将身体机能逐渐恢复到一个常规的自然节律，而不是将其打断、中止，给一个人在工作条件所允许或者鼓励的情况下完全松垮掉的机会。

问答题 What is the writer' s attitude toward "appropriate rest"?

【正确答案】Agreeable

【答案解析】通读全文可知，作者虽然没有直接表达出对该理论的态度，但就“什么是真正的休息” 这个中心话题，只从正面列出了这一种理论。由此可以推断，作者对这种理论至少是赞同的。