My oldest child, Emma, just returned to campus after a long holiday break to finish up her last period of college. These days, friends and family have begun flooding me with one question: What is she going to do after graduation?
The job market is, after all, awfully tough. Just this month the Federal Reserve Bank published a study showing that “recent graduates are increasingly working in low-paid jobs or working part-time.” The bright spot, according to the study, is for students who majored(主修) in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — areas in which recent graduates “have tended to do relatively well”.
But Emma is a student of the humanities(人文) at a small college. She’s an American Studies major with a focus on the politics and culture of food. For quite a while, I think her field of study is so fashionable right now that I’m not the least bit worried she will find a good job. Yet the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve decided to be honest. “I’m not sure what Emma is going to do,” I now say. “But she’s gotten a great education and has really found her interest. — and I know those things will serve her well over the course of her life.”
Nowadays, more and more universities and colleges are being measured by the salaries of their recent graduates. In this climate, encouraging your kid to study the humanities, seems, at best, unwise or, at worst, unconcerned with earning a living. But a college is not a vocational(职业) school. And promoting STEM subjects should not be society’s only answer to helping the next generation grow in a competitive world.
From the beginning, we never urged Emma to pick a college or a major with an eye on its expected return on money, as more and more families are doing. To Emma, what really matters will be something that we may not be able to measure for quite a long time: Emma’s contribution to the world and how happy she is in it.
1.The author’s friends and family_________.
A. are worried about Emma’s safety
B. have been worrying about the flood
C. are concerned about Emma’s future
D. are worried about the job market
2.What can we learn from Paragraph 2?
A. The number of the graduates is increasing.
B. STEM graduates can be better employees.
C. STEM graduates are in relatively greater demand.
D. More and more graduates like to do a part-time job.
3.Why did Emma choose a major in the humanities?
A. Because she is interested in it.
B. Because her mother told her to.
C. Because it is increasingly popular.
D. Because she wants further education.
4.According to the author, what matters most in choosing a major is that_________.
A. it should be among the STEM
B. it should be fashionable and interesting
C. it should allow a good job and a high salary
D. it should bring achievements and happiness
I used to think of myself as a fairly open person, but my bookshelves told a different story. Apart from a few Indian novels and the Australian and South African book, my literature collection consisted of British and American titles. Worse still, I hardly ever read anything in translation. My reading was limited to stories by English-speaking authors.
So, at the start of 2012, I set myself the challenge of trying to read a book from every country in a year to find out what I was missing. As I was unlikely to find publications from nearly 200 nations on the shelves of my local bookshop, I decided to ask the planet’s readers for help. I created a blog called A Year of Reading the World and put out an appeal for suggestions of titles that I could read in English.
The response was amazing. Before I knew it, people all over the planet were getting in touch with ideas and offers of help. Some posted me books from their home countries. Others did hours of research on my behalf. In addition, several writers sent me unpublished translations of their novels, giving me a rare opportunity to read works otherwise unavailable to the 62% of the British who only speak English. Even so, selecting books was no easy task. With translations making up only around 4.5 percent of literary works published in the UK and Ireland, getting English versions (版本)of stories was difficult.
But the effort was worth it. I found I was visiting the mental space of the storytellers. These stories not only opened my mind to the real life in other places, but opened my heart to the way people there might feel.
And that in turn changed my thinking. Through reading the stories shared with me by bookish strangers around the globe, I realised I was not alone, but part of a network that spread all over the planet.
1.Which of the following might be found on the blog A Year of Reading the World?
A. Lists of English version books.
B. Research on English literature.
C. Unfinished novels by British writers.
D. Comments on English literature.
2.Why was it hard for the author to select the right books to read?
A. The author had a busy schedule.
B. The author was only interested in a few topics.
C. The author could only read books written in English.
D. Most books recommended are not available in local bookshops.
3.The author is probably from_________.
A. America B. the UK C. Australia D. Canada
4.Which of the following words can best describe the author’s experience?
A. fast and effortless B. challenging but rewarding
C. hopeless but beneficial D. meaningful but fruitless
以下是一本图书的基本信息及相关报道
要求：
根据以上信息写一篇图书介绍，内容包括：
1.图书的基本信息
2.图书的相关报道
3. 100词左右。
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处，每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加，删除或修改。
增加： 在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^）,并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改： 在错词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
Patience is of great importance in our daily life. Once I waited a bus to come at a stop. 30 minutes past, but no bus came. Both upset and annoyed, I decided to walk on feet. But no sooner had I left when the bus arrived. I thought if I had waited for one more minute, I would have caught it. If I chose to take a next bus, I would have to wait for other 30 minutes. Only then do I realize my problem. Being impatient will possible waste all the effort that we have put it in. Now whenever I am close to lose my patience, I’ll think of this experience.
阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空。
Since the one-baby policy __1.____(carry) out in China, Chinese families have been shrinking from one with over 10 members to the other with only three including parents and baaby. Things are usually out of our expectation. Apart from the benefits ___2.____ have been mentioned enough, small families are now beginning to have ___3.___own problems. Because parents are having fewer children, they increasingly feel the need ___4.____(control) the lives of those children. As a result, many children are becoming less ___5.____(depend), determined and ambitious than in the past.
Parents today discourage their children from doing housework, extracurricular activities and socializing ___6.___ they fear it will interrupt their education. For example, when I was younger I wanted to learn the guitar ___7.___ my parents wouldn’t allow me because they believed it would distract me from my studies. They are happy as long as I perform ___8.___(wonder) in my exams but don’t seem concerned about how I develop ___9.___ a person.
To some extent, I understand parents’ concerns, but I think they should love their children for __10.__ they are, not what they want them to be. We deserve the chance to chase our own dreams and learn on our own. Even if we fail, we can learn from those failures.
America’s Beauty Is in Its Diversity
America is built on the idea of freedom, and there is no exception for Muslim women. I the freedom of religion and speech. But mostly, I believe it’s OK to be , and to stand up for who and what you are. So I believe in wearing the hijab.
The hijab is a religious head covering, like a scarf. I am Muslim, and keeping my head covered is a of maturity（成熟）and respect toward my and to Allah’s will. , I also like to wear it to be different. I don’t usually like to do what everyone else is doing. I want to be a(n) , not just part of the crowd. But when I first wore it, I was also afraid of the that I’d get at school.
I on my own that sixth grade was the I should start wearing the hijab. I was about what the kids would say or even do to me. I thought they might make fun of me, or be scared of me and my headscarf. Kids at that age usually like to be all the same, and there’s little or no of differences.
On the first day of school, I put all those thoughts behind my back and walked in with my head held high. I was holding my breath a little, but I was also proud to be a Muslim, proud to be wearing the hijab, proud to be different.
I was about everything I thought the kids would say or even do to me. I actually met a lot of people because of wearing my head covering. Most of the kids would come and ask me questions — — about the hijab and why I wore it.
I did hear some kids were making fun of me, there was one girl----she wasn’t even in my class, and we never really talked much---and she spoke me, and I wasn’t even there! I made a lot of new friends that year, friends that I still have until this very day, five years later.
Yes, I’m different, but everyone is different here, in one way or another. This is the of America.
1.A. believe in B. stick to C. carry out D. push for
2.A. dependent B. free C. sensitive D. different
3.A. signal B. sign C. reminder D. cause
4.A. religion B. country C. parents D. status
5.A. In a word B. In general C. To be exact D. To be honest
6.A. princess B. heroine C. individual D. adult
7.A. praise B. punishment C. reaction D. reflection
8.A. hoped B. expected C. realized D. decided
9.A. time B. chance C. case D. occasion
10.A. disappointed B. scared C. enthusiastic D. angry
11.A. still B. already C. even D. ever
12.A. show off B. pull off C. pick up D. put up
13.A. rejection B. ignorance C. awareness D. acceptance
14.A. negative B. optimistic C. serious D. strange
15.A. often B. inside C. only D. outside
16.A. concerned B. particular C. wrong D. convinced
17.A. respectfully B. cautiously C. suspiciously D. critically
18.A. and B. so C. but D. or
19.A. in terms of B. in front of C. in charge of D. in favor of
20.A. significance B. beauty C. value D. power
