Europe’s deadly outbreak of a rare form of E. coli bacteria (大肠杆菌) has brought new attention to food safety issues. One of the problems when people get sick from food is that the simplest question is often difficult or even impossible to answer. Just what did the people eat that made them sick?
Of course, one way to avoid these medical mysteries is to keep dangerous organisms out of the food supply. This is easier said than done, but scientists keep looking for new ways.
Scientists in the United States have developed an experimental system that uses a high-tech optical scanner. The system is designed to identify the presence of contaminants(致污物) like soil or animal waste on fresh produce. These can be sources of E. coli. E. coli bacteria naturally live in the intestines (肠) of humans and many animals. Most kinds of E. coli are harmless but some can make people sick.
The new scanner can also show damage and imperfections that might make the produce unappealing to shoppers.
Scientists designed the system at a Department of Agriculture research center in Beltsville, Maryland. Moon Kim of the Agricultural Research Service led the team.
MOON KIM: “We were requested, we were asked, to develop a method to detect contamination in produce. So we started with the apple as the model sample.”
The scanner uses a high-speed camera placed over the conveyer belt that moves the produce along. As the apples move along the belt, the scanner captures images of each piece of fruit.
Moon Kim says the team hopes the system will be available before long.
MOON KIM: “We are targeting for development in commercial plants for the next several years.”
The scanner can direct a sorting machine to separate the bad apples from the good ones. The system is currently able to show the surface of only half the apple as it speeds by. The inventers hope to improve the process so it can show the whole surface.
1.What is the main topic of the text?
A. Bacteria B. A high-tech scanner
C. A camera D. Food safety
2.E. coli bacteria ________.
A. broke out all over the world
B. comes from soil or animal waste
C. is extremely harmful to health
D. does not cause illness
3.The high-tech scanner ________.
A. can help to sort out different fruits
B. make the produce appeal to shoppers
C. can only capture images of the whole apple
D. can identify the presence of contaminants
4.What can be inferred from the text?
A. The scanner needs to be improved.
B. The scanner will be available in the next several years.
C. Moon Kim is unwilling to develop the scanner.
D. The scanner is connected to a sorting machine.
The New York Times’ Room for Debate blog has a panel (专门小组) considering the pluses and minuses of summer homework. This has been the subject of debate in our house. Our 11th-grade daughter’s summer assignments were very challenging, to the point where I sometimes wondered if more of her time would have been better spent just riding a bicycle or swimming around a pool.
Here are some opinions from the panel:
Harris Cooper, psychologist, Duke University: “The long summer vacation disrupts the rhythm of instruction, leads to forgetting and requires time be spent reviewing old material when students return to school in the fall. My advice? Teachers, you need to be careful about what and how much summer homework you assign. Summer homework shouldn’t be expected to overcome a student’s learning deficits; that’s what summer school is for. Parents, if the assignments are clear and reasonable, support the teachers.”
Nancy Kalish, co-author of the Case Against Homework: “Schools should rethink summer homework, and not just because it stresses out kids (and parents). The truth is, homework doesn’t accomplish what we assume it does. According to a Duke University review of more than 175 studies, there is little or no connection between homework and standardized test score or long-term achievement in primary school.”
Mark Bauerlein, professor of English at Emory University: “To the general question of whether or not schools should assign summer homework, the answer is ‘Yes.’ The reason comes not only from the brain drain of summer. It relates also to an attitude young people take toward education. They tie knowledge to the syllabus, not to themselves. They read and study to write the paper and score highly in the test, not to furnish their minds. In a word, they regard learning as a classroom thing. That’s all.”
It seems to me that summer homework is a good idea to keep the brain cells moving, but like everything else it should be given in moderation.
1.Harris Cooper seems to believe that ________.
A. more summer homework causes students’ learning difficulties
B. students should go to summer school if they have no homework
C. teachers should give careful consideration to summer homework
D. parents should tell teachers how much homework their kids need
2.In the 4th paragraph, Nancy Kalish explains her idea by________.
A. making comparisons B. giving research findings
C. raising questions D. telling stories
3.Mark Bauerlein might agree that summer homework ________.
A. should be based on the school’s teaching program
B. has no direct connection to students’ higher grades
C. brings more pressure to both students and their parents
D. helps students develop the right attitude toward learning
书面表达
假设你是李华，你校英文报“My Point of View”一栏拟刊登“家庭与孩子成长”有关的内容。现在很多家庭只有一个孩子，这样的环境对孩子的成长是否有利？如果一个家庭可以有两个孩子，那对孩子的成长又有什么样的利弊？请你就这个话题给校报编辑写一封信，谈谈你的看法。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头语已为你写好，不计入总词数。
Dear Editor,
With the implementing of family planning policy, most families have only one child.
________________________________________________________________________
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短文改错
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。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：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Have you ever had a headache during a test? Have you ever been too worried about something that you have a headache or even can’t sleep at night? If so, then you know that stress is.
Not all stress is bad for you. Some kinds of stress can help you get things do better, like when you are running towards the finishing line or when you are being asked to give a speech to your class. Stress sometimes can help push you to make full preparation for a test. However, too much stress can result in anger, depression and other related problems, which we need to take serious.
There are many things in our life what might cause stress — having too much homework, taking a difficult test, and having economic problems.
It’s impossible to live in a life completely free of stress, so you should learn to deal with stress. The best way reduce stress is to have a balance life. If you get enough sleep, eat properly, take more exercise and have enough fun time, you’ll probably feel less stressed.
语法填空，阅读下面材料,在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。
A father is very worried about his son, 1. acts like a coward. So his father paid a visit to the master and 2. (ask) him to train his son.
The master said, “I promise I'll be able to train your child 3. a real man in three months.”
Three months later, his father came 4. (pick) the child. The master arranged a match between the child 5. his coach to show the three-month training result.
At Round One, the child 6. (knock) down and fell to the ground. He stood up to meet the challenge. But he was knocked down again, and once again he stood up to fight... this was repeated six times.
The master asked his father, “Do you think your child's 7.(perform) is that of a man?” The father said, “I feel ashamed for 8. ！ I never expected that he would be so weak after three months 9. (train).”The master said, “I don't agree with you, and I regret that you only see _10. surface of things. You have not seen the courage and perseverance in your son. This is the very spirit of a man！”
完形填空，阅读下面短文,从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
Stealing? I guess we were stealing. But in our 13-year-old brains the matter of ownership _________ occurred to us. We just wanted to _________ some strawberries in Mr Jordan’s backyard. So we went _________ into his backyard.
When we started _________ his strawberries, all of a sudden Mr Jordan came outside.
“What are you boys doing out here?” he _________ and tried to grab one or two as my friends rushed past him, but they were too _________ for the older gentleman to seize, and all the boys except me disappeared within seconds.
Speed was never my _________. So I could just stand there and _________ whatever punishment would surely come my way from Mr Jordan.
He marched me to my house and my mother criticized me. My friends gathered to celebrate their _________and observe my capture. They _________ me about it for days afterwards, while all I could do was complain to my father about how _________ it was.
“I don’t think so,” Dad said. “You got the punishment you _________.”
“But what about other guys?” I asked.
Dad said, “You can’t _________what happens to other people. You can only _________ what happens to you. You picked Mr Jordan’s strawberries that night, and you were punished for it. To me, that is completely fair.”
Then I couldn’t _________my father’s words. _________through the years I knew what he talked about. We didn’t come to earth with a _________ that life would treat us fairly.
Like Dad said, the _________ thing we can actually _________ is what happens to us. How we choose to respond to what happens to us is truly the _________ by which the quality of our lives will be measured whether or not we think it happens fairly.
1.A.neverB.everC.oftenD.sometimes
2.A.seeB.plantC.pickD.water
3.A.carelesslyB.sadlyC.secretlyD.calmly
4.A.harvestingB.destroyingC.treatingD.facing
5.A.smiledB.shoutedC.doubtedD.added
6.A.stupidB.quickC.kindD.tall
7.A.characterB.luckC.choiceD.strength
8.A.denyB.judgeC.admitD.accept
9.A.escapeB.unitC.lifeD.holiday
10.A.helpedB.teasedC.blamedD.supported
11.A.illegalB.impracticalC.unfairD.unnecessary
12.A.deservedB.observedC.wantedD.imagined
13.A.ignoreB.expectC.concludeD.control
14.A.faceB.leadC.devoteD.refuse
15.A.markB.improveC.understandD.discuss
16.A.AndB.OrC.SoD.But
17.A.guaranteeB.directionC.questionD.form
18.A.commonB.obviousC.onlyD.easy
19.A.look atB.deal withC.dream ofD.take away
20.A.standardB.viewC.valueD.purpose
