In her new book, “The Smartest Kids in the World,” Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist, tells the story of Tom, a high-school student from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, who decides to spend his senior year in Warsaw, Poland. Poland is a surprising educational success story: in the past decade, the country raised students’ test scores from significantly below average to well above it. Polish kids have now outscored(超过……分数) American kids in math and science, even though Poland spends, on average, less than half as much per student as the United States does. One of the most striking differences between the high school Tom attended in Gettysburg and the one he ends up at in Warsaw is that the latter has no football team, or, for that matter, teams of any kind.

That American high schools lavish more time and money on sports than on math is an old complaint. This is not a matter of how any given student who plays sports does in school, but of the culture and its priorities. This December, when the latest Program for International Student Assessment(PISA) results are announced, it’s safe to predict that American high-school students will once again display their limited skills in math and reading, outscored not just by students in Poland but also by students in places like South Korea, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Singapore, and Japan. Meanwhile, they will have played some very exciting football games, which will have been breathlessly written up in their hometown papers.

Why does this situation continue? Well, for one thing, kids like it. And for another, according to Ripley, parents seem to like the arrangement, too. She describes a tour she took of a school in Washington D.C., which costs thirty thousand dollars a year. The tour leader—a mother with three children in the school—was asked about the school’s flaws(暇疵). When she said that the math program was weak, none of the parents taking the tour reacted. When she said that the football program was weak, the parents suddenly became concerned. “Really?” one of them asked worriedly, “What do you mean?”

One of the ironies(讽刺) of the situation is that sports reveal what is possible. American kids’ performance on the field shows just how well they can do when expectations are high. It’s too bad that their test scores show the same thing.

1.Tom decides to spend his senior year in Poland because _______.

A. there are striking differences between the 2 countries

B. Polish kids are better at learning

C. sports are not supported at schools in Gettysburg

D. he intends to improve his scores

2.According to Paragraph 2, we know that _______.

A. too much importance is placed on sports in America

B. little time is spent on sports in Japanese schools

C. American high schools complain about sports time

D. PISA plays a very important role in America

3.The underlined sentence in the last paragraph means _______.

A. American students’ academic performance worries their parents a lot

B. high expectations push up American students’ academic performance

C. low expectations result in American students’ poor PISA performance

D. lacking practice contributes to American students’ average performance

4.The purpose of this article is to _______.

A. draw public attention to a weakness in American school tradition

B. call on American schools to learn from the Polish model

C. compare Polish schools with those in America

D. explain what is wrong with American schools and provide solutions

Four years ago my sweet mom went to be with her Lord. She did it her way.

I got the call at work, and I headed home quickly. Mom and Dad lived on a small farm that they had owned since I was seven. I hated going there every weekend. There was nothing for a young girl to do but watch the one station on the old TV set, if the weather allowed reception.

My mom, on the other hand, loved the peace and quiet of the land. The place was rustic, with no indoor plumbing or heat. We had a big wood stove in the kitchen that did its best to heat the little farmhouse, but it always seemed cold and too quiet to me.

In the evenings, my mom and I would sit for hours singing in the little kitchen. I sang the melody and Mom harmonized. Her favorite song was "Moon River" and we sang it over and over. Mom told me stories about how when I was a little girl, I could sing before I could talk.

As time passed, I had my own children and went to visit them every week or two. The kids loved the farm and the tractor rides with my dad. Me, well, I still hated the silence of the farm. While my mom loved to sit at her kitchen table and look out at her garden and flowers and retell all the old stories, I missed the hustle and bustle（喧闹）of my life at home. But I sat there listening quietly as she reminisced.

Now, I sat back in the silence and the silence was deafening so I finally leaned over to turn on an old radio. Music always comforted me.

My heart skipped a beat. "Moon River" was playing on the radio. I sat there stunned, with a tear running down my cheek, as I listened to every familiar note.

1.From the first paragraph, we know that the writer’s mother ________.

A. passed away four years ago

B. left the small farm with Lord

C. left for Lord to live her own way

D. preferred to be with Lord

2.The underlined word reminisced in the fifth paragraph probably means ________.

A. recalled     B. comforted

C. shouted      D. sighed

3.The writer didn’t like staying in the farm for the following reasons except that ________.

A. it was too cold and quiet

B. she could only sing one song in the small farm

C. there was nothing more that could make her excited

D. the place was rustic, with no indoor plumbing or heat

4.Which of the following would be the best title for this passage? _______

A. Cherish(珍惜) life           B. My happy childhood

C. Our small farmhouse      D. Mom’s music

It was a typical Wednesday. My wife and I were speaking in a nursing home (疗养院) about our successful recoveries from our heart attacks. Afterwards, one of the other residents(住院病人), Miriam, asked if we had a few minutes to talk.

“I’ve always thought that to be    I need three things: someone to    , something to do and something to look forward to,” she said. “I’ve got people here to love, and the activities to    me as busy as I want, but I don’t have anything I’m looking forward to. Do you have any    ?”

“What did you look forward to before you came here?” we asked.

“Oh, I used to love to laugh with others,” Miriam said.

“What did you    about?” we asked.

“Everything I could see, hear, feel, taste or smell,” she said with a smile.

At that very moment, we got the idea to start our    . We began looking for humor, and we used all of our    .We started with a teabag with the    : You are like this teabag… only in hot water do you realize how strong you are.

We continued    and found cartoons and videos filled with humor. People brought us stickers, books, games and magazines. We    together humor baskets with books, tapes, greeting cards and toys for children of all ages.

Of course, we    a humor basket for Miriam, the woman who had   us on this project – “Search for a Smile and Share it”. She told us that the    of her day was sharing the    of her basket with everyone she saw.

The project was so    that other facilities heard of it and made special    . One nursing home asked us to make a humor cart, like a shopping cart. Volunteers    this down the hallways, sharing smiles and laughs with    . Still another nursing home requested that we    a humor room, complete with a projector showing fun videos.

What started as a simple gesture to    one elderly woman turned into a lifetime project.

1.A. busyB. happy C. richD. healthy

2.A. love B. meet C. visit D. respect

3.A. lead B. find C. keep D. encourage

4.A. ways B. opinions C. plans D. ideas

5.A. talk B. worry C. complain D. laugh

6.A. procedure B. project C. research D. preparation

7.A. efforts B. senses C. tools D. families

8.A. message B. letter C. cover D. sign

9.A. explaining B. searching C. exploring D. researching

10.A. gotB. came C. joined D. put

11.A. paid B. made C. filled D. applied

12.A. started B. chosen C. persuaded D. turned

13.A. highlight(精彩) B. satisfaction C. project D. appointment

14.A. designs B. foods C. books D. contents

15.A. touching B. successful C. interesting D. respectful

16.A. giftsB. donations C. requests D. arrangements

17.A. walk B. push C. fix D. perform

18.A. nurses B. workers C. residents D. children

19.A. design B. organize C. decorate D. offer

20.A. saveB. help C. thank D. satisfy

—I’d like a wake-up call at 7:00 a.m., please!

—OK, _______.

A. help yourself

B. You will certainly make it

C. just do what you like

D. I’ll make sure you get one

Shakespeare’s writing is still popular today. It has really ________ the test of time.

A. failedB. stood

C. takenD. conducted

    no modern telecommunications, we would have to wait for weeks to get news from around the world.

A. Were there B. Had there been

C .If there are  D. If there have been

— I’ve prepared all kinds of food for the picnic.

—Do you mean we_____ bring anything with us?

A. can’t B. mustn’t

C. shan’tD. needn't

As a grassroots singer, she reads everything she can     concerning music, and takes every opportunity to improve herself.

A. catch sight of B. get hold of

C. take charge of  D. make mention of

Writing out all the invitations by hand was more time-consuming than we______.

A. will expect  B. are expecting

C. expect         D. had expected

It was only after he had read the papers     Mr. Gross realized the task before him was extremely difficult to complete.

A. when   B. that

C. which    D. What