阅读理解。
It doesn't matter when and how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That's
what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin. Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be
true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.
Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that
he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they
were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw him sleeping.
In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.
The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The
doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They asked him many questions, hoping to
find an answer. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk
about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real
reason? No one could be sure.
Herpin died at the age of 94.
1. The main idea of this passage is that _____. [ ]
A. large numbers of people do not need sleep
B. a person was found who actually didn't need any sleep
C. everyone needs some sleep to stay alive
D. people can live longer by trying not to sleep
2. After watching him closely, the doctors came to believe that Al Herpin _____. [ ]
A. needed some kind of sleep
B. was too old to need any sleep
C. needed no sleep at all
D. often sleep in a chair
3. One reason that might explain Herpin's sleeplessness was _____.[ ]
A. his mother's injury before he was born
B. that he had gradually got rid of the sleeping habit
C. his magnificent physical condition
D. that he hadn't got a bed
4. Al Herpin's condition could be regarded as ______.[ ]
A. a common one
B. one that could be cured
C. very healthy
D. a rare one