Almost a decade ago, the federal government dropped $10 million for an Earth-monitoring satellite that never made it into space. Today it sits in a closet in Maryland. Cost to taxpayers for storing it: $1 million a year. And that's just what's hiding in one closet. Who knows what's in the rest of them?
Because we think the government should be held to at least the same standards as a publicly traded company, and because as taxpayers, we're America's shareholders, we performed an audit （财务检查）of sorts of the federal books. We're not economists, but we do have common sense. We tried to get help from Congressional staffers from both parties, as well as various watchdog groups and agencies. In the end, we found that the federal government wastes nearly $1 trillion every year.
That's roughly equal to the amount collected annually by the Internal Revenue Service in personal income taxes. Put another way, it's also equal to about one-third of the country's $2.9 trillion total annual budget. And reclaiming that lost trillion could help wipe out the country's annual budget deficit（赤字）, improve education, and provide health insurance for those who don't have it.
So how do you define "waste"? David Walker of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a federal watchdog agency, calls it "the government's failure to give taxpayers the most for their money." For our part, we used the kind of household test you would use on a piece of meat sitting in your refrigerator: If it smells rotten, it's waste. Our government regularly pays for products and services it never gets, wildly overpays companies to do things it could do more cheaply itself, loses money outright due to lax（不严格的）accounting and oversight, and spends money randomly on unnecessary programs.
How exactly does the federal government waste your hard-earned tax dollars? We've identified what we consider ten of the worst ways.
1.The underlined sentence in Paragraph1 really means .
A．there are many other closets B．there are some other satellites
C．there is something else in the closets D．the waste may be quite amazing
2.Which of the following can best describe the feeling of the author?
A．Annoyed. B．Calm. C．Surprised. D．Not concerned.
3.Which of the following statements may be right?
A．The country’s annual budget is usually decided by the public.
B．The government failed in launching the satellite.
C．The government is only wasting money in space experiments.
D．The amount collected annually in personal income taxes is equal to the country’s budget.
4.The best title for the passage would be .
A．Protecting Our Rights!
B．Our Country Is In Danger!
C．The Government Is Wasting Our Tax Dollars!
D．How to Prevent Government from Wasting Money!
5.What might be talked about if the passage is continued?
A．The government’s taking some steps to stop wasting taxes.
B．Presenting people’s feelings against the government’s wasting taxes.
C．Giving suggestion to help the government solve the financial problem.
D．Listing how the government is wasting taxes.
Until the 1980s, the American homeless population comprised mainly older males. Today, homelessness strikes much younger part of society. In fact, a 25-city survey by the U. S. Conference of Mayors in 1987 found that families with children make up the fastest growing part of the homeless population. Many homeless children gather in inner cities; this transient and frequently frightened student population creates additional problems — both legal and educational — for already overburdened urban school administrators and teachers.
Estimates of the number of homeless Americans range from 350,000 to three million. Likewise, estimates of the number of homeless school children vary radically. A U.S. Department of Education report, based on state estimates, states that there are 220,000 homeless school-age children, about a third of whom do not attend school on a regular basis, But the National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that there are at least two times as many homeless children, and that less than half of them attend school regularly.
One part of the homeless population that is particularly difficult to count consists of the “throwaway” youths who have been cast of their homes. The Elementary School Center in New York City estimates that there are 1.5 million of them, many of whom are not counted as children because they do not stay in family shelters and tend to live by themselves on the streets.
Federal law, the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, includes a section that addresses the educational needs of homeless children. The educational provisions of the McKinney Act are based on the belief that all homeless children have the right to a free, appropriate education.
1.It is implied in the first paragraph that ____.
A. there is a serious shortage of academic facilities.
B. homeless children are denied the opportunity of receiving free education.
C. the writer himself is homeless, even in his eighties.
D. many older homeless residents are going on strike in 25 cities.
2.The National Coalition for the homeless believes that the number of homeless children is _____.
A. 440,000 B. 110,000 C. 350,000 D. 1,500,000
3.One part of the homeless population is difficult to estimate. The reason might well be ____.
A. the homeless children usually stay outside school.
B. some homeless children are deserted by their families.
C. the homeless children are too young to be counted as children.
D. the homeless population is growing rapidly.
4.The McKinney Act is mentioned in this passage in order to show that ___.
A. the address of grade-school children should be located.
B. all homeless people are entitled to free education.
C. the educational problems of homeless children are being recognized.
D. the estimates on homeless children are hard to determine.
5.The passage mainly deals with ____.
A. the social status of older males.
B. estimates on the homeless population.
C. the legal problems of the homeless children.
D. the educational problems of homeless children.
Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, jerky movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate. Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span or the visual span. The length of time in which the eyes stop ---the duration of the fixation ----varies considerably from person to person. It also varies within any one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.
1.The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following facts except ________ .
A. the length of a group of words.
B. lighting and tiredness.
C. one’s familiarity with the text.
D. one’s purpose in reading.
2.The author may believe that reading ______.
A. demands an deeply-participating mind.
B. demands more mind than eyes.
C. requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation.
D. requires a reader to see words more quickly.
3.What does the author mean by saying “but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently.” in the second paragraph?
A. The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve an efficient reading.
B. The reading exercises mentioned has done a great job to improve one’s ability to see words.
C. The ability to see words is not needed when an efficient reading is conducted.
D. The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve both the ability to see or comprehend words.
4.Which of the following is NOT true?
A. The emphasis on the purely visual aspects is misleading.
B. The eye training will help readers in reading a continuous text.
C. The visual span is a word or a group of words we see each time.
D. Many experts began to question the efficiency of eye training.
5.The tune of the author in writing this article is ________.
A. pessimistic B. optimistic C. critical D. neutral
“Dash” is a symbol which represents every day we’re spreading alive on earth. Therefore, how you spend your “dash” is important.
Recently I 1 about a little girl named Hope. After learning more about her life, I couldn’t help but feel it was not by 2 ,nor happenstance, that she had been named “Hope”. The strong feeling of sympathy and generosity 3 in her young heart made a lasting impression on me and countless others. 4 I never had the opportunity to meet her, I wish I had. It seems as though she was beyond her tender years and very, very special. Hope was a twelve-year-old girl who was 5 a “wish” in early December 2010 by the “Make-A-Wish” Foundation after being 6 that she had a rare type of bone cancer. However, when she found out that more than 150 7 in her area like her were waiting for their wishes to be granted, she unselfishly used her wish to 8 that those children have their wishes granted. She also hoped that it could be done 9 January 16, 2011.Unfortunately, however, the organization told her that her 10 request couldn’t be granted as the funds were simply 11 . They calculated that they would need to raise more that one 12 dollars in thirty days in order to grant her wish. 13 , but not discouraged, she turned her disappointment into an enthusiasm that inspired warm-hearted 14 to take up helping grant the wishes of the other children, and eventually 15 as well. Newspaper columnists and reporters for radio and TV stations 16 the story of this 17 young girl who had touched the hearts of so many and as word spread, the community was challenged. Committees were fanned and schools, corporations and various organizations assisted in 18 money to help make Hope's dream come true.
Her efforts were not in vain as they continued to help others, not only 19 , but spiritually and emotionally as well. At the gathering to celebrate her life, “A Celebration of Hope” on January 16,2011, the 20 was made that they had indeed received donations totaling more than one million dollars. Her wish had been granted!
1.A. heard B. thought C. cared D. talked
2.A. coincidence B. independence C. convenience D. intelligence
3.A. lost B. carried C. expected D. housed
4.A. Until B. Unless C. Though D. If
5.A. expressed B. offered C. made D. sent
6.A. recognized B. informed C. reminded D. understood
7.A. children B. citizens C. villagers D. relatives
8.A. tell B. ask C. arrange D. order
9.A. for B. to C. on D. by
10.A. final B. formal C. simple D. noble
11.A. unbearable B. unbelievable C. unavailable D.uncomfortable
12.A. thousand B. hundred C. million D. billion
13.A. Disappointed B. Surprised C. worried D. Embarrassed
14.A. committees B. individuals C. corporations D.organizations
15.A. theirs B. ours C. hers D. yours
16.A. wrote B. read C. broadcast D. shared
17.A. caring B. tiring C. annoying D. worrying
18.A. finding B. spending C. raising D. borrowing
19.A. perfectly B. physically C. healthily D. thankfully
20.A. proposal B. decision C. conclusion D. announcement
Persons under 18 _____ not be employed in night work in the US.
A. can B. may C. will D. shall
Suddenly, the lightning flashed through the clouds, nearly ____ Paul.
A. beating B. blinding C. burning D. touching
