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 waste 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(瑕疵). 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.According to Paragraph 2, we know that ________.
A. little time is spent on sports in Japanese schools
B. too much importance is placed on sports in America
C. American high schools complain about sports time
D. PISA plays a very important role in America
2.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. lacking practice contributes to American students’ average performance
D. low expectations result in American students’ poor PISA performance
3.The purpose of this article is to ________.
A. compare Polish schools with those in America
B. call on American schools to learn from the Polish model
C. draw public attention to a weakness in American school tradition
D. explain what is wrong with American schools and provide solutions
Bad news sells. If it bleeds, it leads. No news is good news, and good news is no news. Those are the classic rules for the evening broadcasts and the morning papers. But now that information is being spread and monitored(监控) in different ways, researchers are discovering new rules. By tracking people’s e-mails and online posts, scientists have found that good news can spread faster and farther than disasters and sob stories.
“The ‘if it bleeds’ rule works for mass media,” says Jonah Berger, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. “They want your eyeballs and don’t care how you’re feeling. But when you share a story with your friends, you care a lot more how they react. You don’t want them to think of you as a Debbie Downer.”
Researchers analyzing word-of-mouth communication—e-mails, Web posts and reviews, face-to-face conversations—found that it tended to be more positive than negative(消极的), but that didn’t necessarily mean people preferred positive news. Was positive news shared more often simply because people experienced more good things than bad things? To test for that possibility, Dr. Berger looked at how people spread a particular set of news stories: thousands of articles on The New York Times’ website. He and a colleague analyzed the “most e-mailed” list for six months. One of his first findings was that articles in the science section were much more likely to make the list than non-science articles. He found that science amazed Times’ readers and made them want to share this positive feeling with others.
Readers also tended to share articles that were exciting or funny, or that inspired negative feelings like anger or anxiety, but not articles that left them merely sad. They needed to be aroused(激发) one way or the other, and they preferred good news to bad. The more positive an article, the more likely it was to be shared, as Dr. Berger explains in his new book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.”
1.What do the classic rules mentioned in the text apply to?
A. Research papers. B. News reports
C. Private e-mails. D. Daily conversations．
2. What can we infer about people like Debbie Downer?
A. They’re socially inactive.
B. They’re good at telling stories.
C. They’re careful with their words.
D. They’re inconsiderate of others.
3.Which tended to be the most e-mailed according to Dr. Berger’s research?
A. Sports news. B. Personal accounts.
C. Science articles. D. Financial reviews.
4.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A. Good News Beats Bad on Social Networks
B .Online News Attracts More People
C. Reading Habits Change with the Times
D. Sad Stories Travel Far and Wide
Hundreds of years ago，a Roman army came north from England to make war on Scotland. The Scots，a brave people，loved their country very much. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland，but there were too many Romans. It looked as if the Romans would win.
One night，the leader of Scots marched his soldiers to the top of a hill. "We will rest here tonight，my men,” he said. "Tomorrow we will fight one more battle. We must win or we will die."
They were all very tired，so they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty, but they were very tired as well and also fell asleep one by one.
The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they climbed up the hillside, taking care not to make a sound. Closer and closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more，the war would be over. Suddenly，one of them put his foot on a thistle(蓟). He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a moment，they were on their feet and ready for battle. The fighting was hard but it did not last long. The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved their country.
The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp needles all over it. Few people like it. But the people of Scotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.
1.Hundreds of years ago there was a war between ________.
A. Roman army and North England
B. a brave people and the Scots
C. England and Scots
D. Roman army and the Scots
2.The Romans climbed up the hill quietly because ________.
A. they wanted to catch the four guards first
B. they didn't want to wake the Scots
C. they wanted to reach the top
D. they were afraid of the sharp needles of the thistle
3.The people of Scotland made thistle their national flower because ________.
A. it is a beautiful plant
B. it was the thistle that helped the Scots to win the battle
C. it had so many sharp needles all over it
D. it is fresh and lovely
最近，某中学生英文报开设了“After-class Activities”的栏目，请你根据以下提示，为该栏目写一篇英文稿件，并鼓励同学们积极参加课外活动。
1.你校开展课外活动的情况以及你参加的课外活动；
2.为同学选择课外活动提出建议；
3.为学校开展课外活动提出建议。
注意：词数100左右。
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（/\），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
People often come up across the word “SOHO” in the newspaper or magazine. But not everyone knows how it means. As the matter of fact, “SOHO” means “Small Office/ Home Office”. Now many people use computer, so it is possible for you to work at their homes. They needn’t go to offices. They can usually work fast and better at home. By work at home, they save a lot of time and energy. They needn’t spend time on the road but they won’t feel tired or angry because the bad traffic. Maybe in the future, more and more people would be “SOHO” workers.
根据所给汉语及首字母提示完成单词拼写。
1.It was __________ (慷慨) of her to contribute so much money.
2.These beds are made of wood and are of high q__________.
3.He has d__________ his whole life to protecting wild animals.
4.Under his g__________, we finished the work in time.
5.It was important for children to learn to __________(表达) themselves clearly.
6.I offered my __________ (祝贺) to him on his success.
7.She’ll be f__________ to death when she sees the way you drive.
8.This is an __________ (极其) difficult task.
9.The balloon will __________ (爆炸) if you blow it up any more.
10.She found pleasure in sitting b__________ the trees.
11.He won’t let you down; he is __________ (可靠).
12.The young man went on working hard and __________ (终于) he succeeded.
13.Don’t let yourself be __________ (说服) into buying things you don’t really want.
14.In order to change __________ (态度) towards employing women, the government is bringing in new laws.
15.He looked calm, but __________ (事实上) he was very nervous.
