Peru was a new world to me and I was ______ find out more about it for myself.
A．adapting to B．dying to C．adjusting to D．devoting to
The catalogue website can offer the most useful gifts to ____ poor and bring hope for
a better future to a community in____ need.
A．a ; the B．the ; a C．the; \ D．a; a
—Are you going to attend the academic lecture tomorrow?
—_____. I might have to pick my uncle up at the airport.
A．No problem B．It all depends C．No way D．It sounds great
Nowadays, there’s a lot of debate about single sex education since it has begun to regain its popularity recently. According to long term studies of children from around the world, students achieve more and learn better in single sex schools.
An Australian study of 270,000 students found that both boys and girls performed much higher on standardized(标准化) tests when they attended separate schools. During an experiment in Virginia in 1995, 100 eighth graders were separated just for math and science courses. Almost immediately, the girls began to achieve more, become more confident and take part more often in class activities.
In 2001, a British study concluded that nearly every girl regardless of (不论) her ability or socio-economic status performed better in single sex classrooms than co-ed ones. The study of 2,954 high schools and 979 primary schools showed that while boys at the lowest levels in study improved the most in single sex schools, single sex education was particularly beneficial (有益的) to girls. Every one of the top 50 private elementary schools and top 20 private high schools in Britain are single sex schools.
Girls became more confident in themselves as students and earned higher scores on their College Board and Advanced Placement examinations. A quarter of the female members of the US Congress and one-third of all female members of Fortune 100 boards graduated from all-women’s colleges.
While the statistics are not as dramatic for boys, however, boys tend to soften their competitive edge and become more cooperative in a single sex setting. They can just be boys and not worry about what the girls might think.
Single sex education has a pleasant way of encouraging children to be fearless, to be curious, to be enthusiastic --- in short, to just be themselves. Children are subjected (屈从于) to pressures from every quarter to become adults before they are ready to do so. They grow up too quickly. Why not let them be children for a few more years? Single sex education with its gentler, more controlled social atmosphere is just the right answer for many children.
1.With the experiment in Virginia in 1995, the writer wants to show that .
A．single sex education has become popular in recent years
B．the effect of single sex education on girls is immediate
C．students at separate schools are better prepared for standardized tests
D．both boy and girl students achieve more and learn better in single sex schools
2.According to the article, which of the following statements about single sex education is TRUE?
A．Girls’ performances in single sex classrooms are determined by their ability and socioeconomic status.
B．In all-boys schools boys with the worst academic performances improved the most.
C．Single sex education was particularly helpful for boys.
D．There are more single sex schools than co-ed schools in Britain.
3. In the article, the underlined phrase “soften their competitive edge” probably means .
A．act in a kindly manner B．become less competitive
C．lose interest in something D．take advantage of something
4. What is the main point of the article?
A．Ways to reduce pressure and help children grow.
B．The reason why girls perform better than boys at school.
C．The advantage of single sex education.
D．The development of single sex education in different countries.
I have this old clock that belonged to my mom. My dad gave it to me years ago after mom passed away.
I have mixed feelings about having the clock. I love it because it was my mom’s, but it also holds some bad memories.
You see, it chimes. It counts out the hour and rings once on the half hour. Or at least it used to. Now you never know what number it will ring.
When my mother was at home dying from cancer, she asked for the clock to be unplugged. Hearing the hours count down really angered and frightened her.
Mom passed away. I decided I wanted to get the clock fixed so I could remember the good hours we had with her.
I took it to a local clock shop the other day.
“I know this has no particular value as a clock, but it was my mom’s and I need to get it fixed,” I said to the shop owner.
I went on to describe the problem.
“We get a lot of these in,” he told me. “Here’s what I do. We remove the clock works (机件) and replace it with a battery-operated movement (机芯) that chimes electronically,” he told me.
“You can’t fix this?”
“No, we don’t have the time nor the parts.”
I thanked him and went home. I called a few other places and was told the same thing.
“How incredibly sad,” I told the last one disappointedly.
How incredibly sad that we have become a society that replaces craftsmanship with convenience and easy fixes. We copy the original instead of creating something new. We duplicate (复制); we don’t originate (发明).
Sadly, the same goes for our attitude to life itself.
Each of us is an original, one of a kind. But we find it so much easier to copy another style than to develop our own.
We are wannabes (崇拜别人的人) rather than hey-world-look-at-mes.
We fail to see the real value in who we are, so we spend our lives trying to be someone else.
1. Why did the author decide to get the clock fixed?
A．Because it was a really old and valuable clock.
B．Because it was the only thing that her mother had left her.
C．Because it brought her memories of being with her mother.
D．Because it left the author with mixed feelings.
2. What did the clock shop owners tell the author?
A．The parts that the clock needed were electronic.
B．It would cost a lot to repair the clock.
C．They had never repaired a clock like this before.
D．They could only make the clock electronic.
3. The author intends to ________.
A．criticize the irresponsible clock shop owners
B．criticize people who do not value things with a history
C．criticize people who do not have a creative attitude toward life
D．criticize people’s ignorance of traditional craftsmanship
Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. Like pairs of dogs you can find in any neighborhood, these two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their houses.
One evening, Brownie’s family noticed that Brownie hadn’t returned home. They went looking for him with no success. Brownie didn’t show up the next day, and, although they made their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still missing, Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie’s house alone, barking and jumping. Busy with their own lives, they paid no attention to the nervous little neighbor dog.
Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take “no” for an answer. Ted, Brownie’s owner, was continuously disturbed by the angry, determined little dog. Spotty followed Ted about, barking all the time, then rushing toward a nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, “Follow me! It’s urgent!”
Eventually, Ted followed Spotty across the empty lot as Spotty stopped to race back and barked encouragingly. The little dog led the man to a deserted spot a half mile from the house. There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, one of his legs crushed in a steel trap (圈套). Frightened, Ted now wished he had taken Spotty’s earlier appeals seriously.
Then Ted noticed something. Spotty had done something else besides leading Brownie’s human owner to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog, Ted found some food remains of every meal. Brownie had been fed that week! Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, in the hope of keeping his friend alive. Spotty had actually stayed with Brownie to protect him from hunger and other dangers, and keep his spirits up.
Brownie’s leg was carefully treated and he soon got well again. For many years thereafter the two families watched the faithful friends chasing each other down that well-worn path between their houses.
1.At the very beginning, Ted paid little attention to Spotty because __________.
A．he was not free at the moment
B．he was sure Brownie would be OK
C．he didn’t like Spotty at all
D．his missing dog made him sad
2. After Ted was brought where Brownie was trapped, he ___________.
A．managed to free his dog at once
B．was very thankful to Spotty
C．regretted not following Spotty earlier
D．was angry with the trap-maker
3. The BEST title for this passage might be____________?
A．Dogs in Love B．A Friend in Need
C．Human and dogs D．Dogs Are Communicative
4.We can infer from the passage that ___________.
A．humans and animals depend on each other for comfort
B．It’s not right to hunt for animals in any neighborhood
C．Ted has to take better care of his beloved dog later on
D．Brownie would have died without Spotty’s timely help
