About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York City when a woman and a young boy sat down at the next table. I couldn’t help overhearing parts of their conversation. At one point the woman asked,“So, how have you been?”And the boy who could not have been more than seven or eight years old replied,“Frankly, I’ve been feeling a little depressed lately.”
This incident stuck in my mind because it strengthened my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can remember, my friends and I didn’t find out we were“depressed”until we were in high school.
The evidence of a change in children has increased steadily in recent years. Children don’t seem childlike any more. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and behave more like adults than they used to.
Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it certainly is different. Childhood as it once was no longer exists. Why?
Human development is based not only on born biological states, but also on patterns of access to social knowle
dge. Movement from one social role to another usually involves learning the secrets of the new situation. Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages: traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.
In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation machine has been fixed in 98 percent of American homes. It is called television. Television passes information, indiscriminately, to all viewers alike, whether they are children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation, many children turn thei
r attention from printed texts to the less challenging, more vivid moving pictures.
Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information to which children have access. Reading and writing involve a complex code of symbols that must be memorized and practised. Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials.
1.Traditionally, a child is supposed to learn about the adult world _________ .
A. through touch with society
B. gradually and under guidance
C. naturally and by biological instinct
D. through exposure to social information
2.In the author’s opinion, the phenomenon that today’s children seem adultlike is caused by _____.
A. the widespread influence of television
B. the poor arrangement of teaching content
C. the fast step of human intellectual development
D. the constantly rising standard of living
3. Why is the author in favor of communication through print for children?
A. It enables children to gain more social information.
B. It develops children’s interest in reading and writing.
C. It helps children to memorize and practise more.
D. It can control what children are to learn.
4.What does the author think of the change in today’s children?
A. He feels amused by the children’s adultlike behavior.
B. He thinks it is a phenomenon worthy of note.
C. He considers it a positive development.
D. He seems to be upset about it.
经过调查，人们对于学生上网交友持不同意见（见下表）。请你以“Should students make friends on line?”为题，用英语写一篇关于学生上网交友的短文，介绍人们的不同观点，并表达自己的看法。
词数：120左右
参考词汇： 网络朋友 on-line friend（s）；
上当受骗 to be cheated
I have a good friend w_1.___ name is Liu Mei. She is our____2._ （班长）and one of the excellent students in our class. Clever ___3.__ she is, she works very hard. We have a lot in c____4.___ and have a lot to talk about. One evening shetold me that something h____5.__ when her parents were out.She was doing her homework one Sunday morning __6.___ she smelt something __7.__（燃烧）.She stopped to look out of the window ____8._ found a cloud of smoke coming outof her neighbour’s house. She called 119 ___9.___ （立刻）. Ten minutes later, firemen came and put o__10.___ the fire. Her neighbor was very thankful for her help.
A recent study of ancient and modern elephants has come up with the unexpected conclusion that the African elephant is divided into two distinct(不同的) species.
The discovery was made by researchers at York and Harvard Universities when they were examining the genetic relationship between the ancient woolly mammoth and mastodon to modern elephants — the Asian elephant, African forest elephant, and African savanna elephant.
Once they obtained DNA sequences(序列) from two fossils(化石), mammoths，and mastodons the team compared them with DNA from modern elephants. They found to their amazement that modern forest and savanna elephants are as distinct from each other as Asian elephants and mammoths.
The scientists used detailed genetic analysis to prove that the African savanna elephant and the African forest elephant have been distinct species for several million years. The divergence of the two species took place around the time of the divergence of Asian elephants and woolly mammoths. This result amazed all the scientists. There has long been debate in the scientific community that the two might be separate species, but this is the most convincing scientific evidence so far that they are indeed different species.
Previously, many naturalists believed that African savanna elephants and African forest elephants were two populations of the same species, despite the elephants’ significant size differences. The savanna elephant has an average shoulder height of 3.5 metres while the forest elephant has an average shoulder height of 2.5 metres. The savanna elephant weighs between six and seven tons, roughly double the weight of the forest elephant. But the fact that they look so different does not necessarily mean they are different species. However the proof lay in the analysis of the DNA.
Alfred Roca, assistant professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois, said, “We now have to treat the forest and savanna elephants as two different units for conservation purposes. Since 1950，all African elephants have been conserved as one species. Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very distinctive animals, the forest elephant should become a bigger priority(优先) for conservation purposes.”
1.One of the fossils studied by the researchers is that of _____.
A. the Asian elephant B. the forest elephant
C. the savanna elephant D. the mastodon elephant
2.The researchers’ conclusion was based on a study of the African elephant’s _____.
A. DNA B. height
C. weight D. population
3.What are Alfred Roca’s words mainly about?
A. The conservation of African elephants.
B. The purpose of studying African elephants.
C. The way to divide African elephants into two units.
D. The reason for the distinction of African elephants.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A. Naturalists’ Beliefs about Elephants
B. Amazing Experiments about Elephants
C. An Unexpected Finding about Elephants
D. A Long Scientific Debate about Elephants
Blind imitation (模仿)is self-destruction. To those who do not recognize their unique worth， imitation appears attractive；to those who know their strength. Imitation is unacceptable.
In the early stages of skill or character development, imitation is helpful. When I first learned to cook, I used recipes (菜谱) and turned out some tasty dishes. But soon I grew bored. Why follow someone else’s way of cooking when I could create my own? Imitating role models is like using training wheels on a child’s bicycle; they help you get going, but once you find your own balance, you fly faster and farther without relying on them.
In daily life, imitation can hurt us if we subconsciously (下意识地) hold poor role models. If, as a child, you observed people whose lives were bad, you may have accepted their fear and pain as normal and gone on to follow what they did. If you do not make strong choices for yourself, you will get the results of the weak choices of others.
In the field of entertainment, our culture glorifies celebrities. Those stars look great on screen. But when they step off screen, their personal lives may be disastrous. If you are going to follow someone, focus on their talent, not their bad character or unacceptable behaviors.
Blessed is the person willing to act on their sudden desire to create something unique. Think of the movies, books, teachers, and friends that have affected you most deeply. They touched you because their creations were motivated by inspiration, not desperation. The world is changed not by those who do what has been done before them, but by those who do what has been done inside them. Creative people have an endless resource of ideas. The problem a creator faces is not running out of material; it is what to do with the material knocking at the door of imagination.
Study your role models, accept the gifts they have given, and leave behind what does not serve you. Then you can say,” I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors tragedies and declare victory, and know that they are cheering me on.
1.Imitation proves useful when you .
A. know you are unique
B. lose the balance of life
C. begin to learn something new
D. get tired of routine practice
2.To avoid the bad result of imitation, we should________.
A. forget daily fear and pain B. choose the right example
C. ask others for decisions D. stay away from stars
3.The trouble a creator faces is .
A. the lack of strong motivation
B. the absence of practical ideas
C. how to search for more materials
D. how to use imagination creatively
4.What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage?
A. To highlight the importance of creatively.
B. To criticize the characters of role models.
C. To compare imitation with creation.
D. To explain the meaning of success.
The word advertising refers to any kind of public announcement that brings products and services to the attention of people．Throughout history, advertising has been an effective way to promote(促进)the trading and selling of goods．In the Middle Ages，merchants employed “town criers” to read public messages aloud to promote their goods．When printing was invented in the fifteenth century, pages of advertisements (ads) could be printed easily and were either hung in public places or put in books．
By the end of the seventeenth century, when newspapers were beginning to be read by more people, printed materials became an important way to promote products and services．The London Gazette was the first newspaper to set aside a place just for advertising. This was so successful that by the end of the century several companies started businesses for the purpose of making newspaper ads for merchants．
Advertising spread quickly throughout the eighteenth century．Ad writers were starting to pay more attention to the design of the ad text．Everything，from clothes to drinks，was promoted with clever methods such as repetition of the firm’s name or product, words organized in eye-catching patterns，the use of pretty pictures and expressions easy to remember．
Near the end of the nineteenth century, companies that were devoted to the production of ads came to be known as “advertising agencies (广告商)” . The agencies developed new ways to get people to think of themselves as members of a group．Throughout the twentieth century, advertising agencies promoted consumerism(消费主义)as a way of life，spreading the belief that people could be happy only if they bought the “right” products.
1.What was advertising like in the Middle Ages?
A．Merchants were employed to promote products．
B．Ad messages were shouted out in public places．
C．Product information was included in books．
D．Ad signs were put up in towns．
2.What does the word “This” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A．Advertising in newspapers． B．Including pictures in ads．
C．Selling goods in markets． D．Working with ad agencies．
3.The l8th century advertising was special in its______．
A. growing spending B．printing materials
C．advertising companies D．attractive designs
4.Which of the following might be the best title for the text?
A．The Story of Advertising
B．The Value of Advertising Designs
C．The Role of Newspaper Advertising
D．The Development of Printing for Advertising
