The United States will introduce a new and comprehensive(综合的) exam for students who seek to study in American and other English-speaking countries, Xinhua News Agency reported from New York.
The exam, which stands for a great change from the current English level test, was disclosed by Theresa Chang Wei Jen, associate director of the International Service of the US College Board, America’s leading educational organization.
The Advanced Placement International English Language (APIEL) will be offered for the first time throughout the world, said Jen.
However, the APIEL is a strange title to most Chinese students, and it is unlikely to soon gain the similarity of other already existing exams, such as the TOEFL(Test of English as a Foreign Language), the GRE(Graduate Record Examination), or the IELTS(International English Language Testing System).
“I have never heard of such a test and I would prefer the IELTS if I need another exam,” said Xu Jingyan, a graduating student from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, who wants to study in England and has already taken the TOEFL.
Most of Xu’s classmates have never heard of the APIEL. “The APIEL is designed for international students who wish to get university studies in English-speaking countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, and Australia.” said Jen.
The APIEL has been adopted, said Jen, because the TOEFL can no longer accurately reflect the abilities of students of using the English language comprehensively in an academic environment. Xinhua reported that a fairly large number of foreign students who earned high scores in TOEFL exam turned out to be very ordinary educational performers after admission.
Compared with the TOEFL, the APIEL measures a student’s ability to read, write, speak and understand English through testing his or her skills in listening comprehension, speaking with accuracy(精确) and resourcefulness, and writing with clarity and fluency(流畅), Jen said.
60. The United States will introduce a new exam because _______.
A. it will bring the US government quite a lot of money
B. the Chinese people pay special attention to English studies
C. the already existing exam systems seem to be far from perfect
D. more and more students want to get further education in the USA
61. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the selection？
A. The TOEFL is more popular with the Chinese than the IELTS.
B. It will take quite a period of time for people to accept the APIEL.
C. Chinese students will prefer the IELTS rather than the APIEL even in the future.
D. A student will have to take the APIEL if he or she wants to study in English-speaking
countries.
62. The best title for this news report is_____.
A. New Exam Designed for Students
B. The Key to Improving Your English
C. TOEFL, IELTS and GRE to be Out of Date
D. The Four Skills in Learning English
Some people believe that a Robin Hood is at work, others that a wealthy person simply wants to distribute his or her fortune before dying. But the donator who started sending envelopes with cash to deserving causes，accompanied by an article from the local paper, has made a northern German city believe in fairytales (童话）•
The first envelope was sent to a victim support group. It contained €10,000 with a cutting from the Braunschtveiger Zeitung about how the group supported a woman who was robbed of her handbag； similar plain white anonymous (匿名）envelopes, each containing €10,000, then arrived at a kindergarten and a church.
The envelopes keep coming, and so far at least €190,000 has been distributed. Last month, one of them was sent to the newspaper ’s own office. It came after a story it published about Tom, a 14-year-old boy who was severely disabled in a swimming accident. The receptionist at the Braunschweiger Zeitung opened an anonymous white envelope to find 20 notes of €500 inside , with a copy of the article. The name of the family was underlined.
"I was driving when I heard the news,” Claudia Neumann, the boy s mother, told DerSpiegel magazine. “I had to park on the side of the road； I was speechless. ”
The money will be used to make the entrance to their house wheelchair-accessible .and for a course of treatment that their insurance company refused to pay for.
“For someone to act so selflessly, for this to happen in such a society in which everyone thinks of himself, was astonishing," Mrs. Neumann said. Her family wonder whether the donator is a Robin Hood character, taking from banks to give to the needy.
Henning Noske, the editor of the Braunschweiger Zeitung, said： “Maybe it is an old person who is about to die. We just do not know. ” However, he has told his reporters not to look for the city’s hero, for fear that discovery may stop the donations.The Braunschweiger Zeitung is the name of .
| A．a church | B．a bank | C．a newspaper | D．a magazine |
Which of the following is TRUE about the donation to Tom?
| A． The donation amounted to €190,000. |
| B． The donation was sent directly to his house. |
| C． The money will be used for his education. |
| D． His mother felt astonished at the donation. |
It can be inferred from the passage that .
| A． the donator is a rich old man |
| B． the donation will continue to come |
| C． the donation comes from the newspaper |
| D． the donator will soon be found out |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A． Money Is Raised by the Newspaper |
| B． Newspaper Distributes Money to |
| C． Unknown Hero Spreads Love in Envelopes |
| D． Robin Hood Returns to the City |
The Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, is the best place in Europe for discovering dinosaur bones. Dinosaur Farm Museum was established in 1993. Since then, the museum has introduced the study of old bones to many more people.
What we offer
Visitors can enjoy our displays, or watch us cleaning dinosaur bones and other fossils found on the island’s beaches.
The museum has a variety of different fossils, many of them never displayed to the public before. As more are discovered all the time, you can be sure of seeing something new each time you visit.
We have a free Fossil Identification Service, so you can bring in any fossils you have and find out what they are. In addition, we have a reasonably-priced Museum Shop, where you can buy a souvenir of your visit. You could also bring a picnic and relax in our special picnic area.
Activities
Fossil hunts are organized from the museum and run all year round. Groups of up to 25 are guided on a local beach where they can search for fossils. All these hunts are fully licensed and insured, and guides can help to identify any fossils found and point out things of interest.
Due to the popularity of these hunts, all trips must be booked by a personal visit to Dinosaur Farm Museum.
Did you know…?
The BBC programme “Live from Dinosaur Island” was filmed along the coast here, and Dinosaur Farm Museum was the base for the television crew.
Find out more
Check out our website at www.isleofwight/dinosaurfarm to learn in detail how we dig for dinosaurs. You can also read about the many different kinds of dinosaurs which lived in this area, which was connected to Europe 120 million years ago.Why are there always new fossils to see at the museum?
| A．New fossils are discovered constantly. |
| B．People keep donating fossils to the museum. |
| C．Only a few of the fossils are displayed each day. |
| D．The museum exchanges fossils with other museums. |
Which of the following is free of charge at the museum?
| A．Food for a picnic. |
| B．Attending fossil hunts. |
| C．Having fossils identified. |
| D．A souvenir of the museum. |
One can book a fossil hunt _____.
| A．through a BBC programme |
| B．through the museum’s website |
| C．by making a call to the museum |
| D．by visiting the museum personally |
Shirley Temple, who died on February 10, 2014, was that rare example of a Hollywood child star who, when the cameras stopped rolling, carved out a new career.
For four years, she was Hollywood’s biggest box-office star representing the kind of sweet, innocent girl that everyone wanted as their daughter. However, years later, she reappeared as a successful politician.
Shirley Temple was born in Santa Monica, California on 23 April 1928. Encouraged by her mother, she learned to dance while she was just three.
In 1934, Stand Up and Cheer became her first film and the film was a great success. At the age of six she was earning $1,250 a week — more than $21,000 at today’s values.
Across the world, audiences flocked to see her in films such as Little Miss Marker, The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel.
In 1935 she was awarded a special Oscar (Academy Award) and her foot and hand prints were added to those of stars such as Jean Harlow and Mary Pickford outside Grauman’s Chinese theatre in Hollywood. The peak of her film career came in 1939 when The Little Princess became a box-office success.
Temple starred in a total of 43 feature films. But she found it difficult to maintain her film career in adulthood and retired from Hollywood in 1950.
She disappeared from the spotlight for nearly 20 years. She returned to the public eye in 1967, as a Republican candidate for Congress. When Nixon became president, he rewarded her with an appointment to the American delegation to the United Nations. Then, in 1974, President Ford appointed her the United States Ambassador(大使) to Ghana. George Bush Snr, appointed her Ambassador to Czechoslovakia.
Shirley Temple drew a line between her childhood stardom and her later political career. “Some people are stuck on this image of the little girl,” she once said. “She is not me. We shouldn’t live in the past; my life is now.” Nevertheless, for many across the world, the name Shirley Temple always called to mind a superstar child.Shirley Temple died at the age of _____.
| A．75 | B．80 | C．86 | D．90 |
What happened to Shirley Temple when she was 7 years old?
| A．She won a special Oscar. |
| B．She began to learn to dance. |
| C．She appeared in her first film. |
| D．She retired from Hollywood. |
Which of the following represents the peak of Shirley Temple’s film career?
| A．Stand Up and Cheer. | B．Little Miss Marker. |
| C．The Little Colonel. | D．The Little Princess. |
We can infer that _____.
| A．the films in which Shirley Temple starred in adulthood were not popular |
| B．Jean Harlow and Mary Pickford appeared in the same film with Temple |
| C．Shirley Temple succeeded in being elected as Congresswoman in 1967 |
| D．Shirley Temple was the youngest person to receive an Academy Award |
In our world today, the media and entertainment industries are constantly focusing on beauty over brains. Movies, television shows, commercials, and magazines all make use of models and actors whose physical attributes(特性) will sell their product.
As our country is trying to reduce the obesity numbers, eating disorder statistics continue to increase due to the push for thinner people. While obesity is a serious medical condition that can lead to many health problems, many of us try to lose weight for appearance purposes. Children as young as elementary school age have begun to worry about the numbers that appear on the scale. In my opinion, it seems that “fat” has become the new“ugly”.
Two weeks ago, 37-year-old Wisconsin television reporter Livingston, who is 235 pounds, received an email from a man named Krause. In the email Krause attacked her, writing,“Your physical condition hasn’t improved for many years. Surely you don’t consider yourself a suitable example for this community’s young people, girls in particular.”
Today, it seems that a vast majority of people care more about how they look and appear to their peers rather than what is inside. The truth is that every person is built differently; we all come in different shapes and sizes. Just because someone is heavier, that doesn’t mean they eat large amounts of junk food around the day. Likewise, even though a person is thin, that doesn’t mean they are necessarily healthy and fit.
If you are reading this and you struggle with your weight or your appearance, please recognize that you are beautiful and special in your own way. You are worth so much more than you realize, and even if I don’t know you, understand that I respect and support you. Beauty is not defined by size; it is defined by how we treat others and respect ourselves. In the words of the talented film actress Kirstie Alley, “There’s a lot more to life than how fat or thin you are.” With so many people losing weight, it will end in .
| A．models’ and actors’ appearance in ads |
| B．the fall of media and entertainment industries |
| C．more and more people becoming obesity |
| D．more people’s suffering from eating disorder |
The underlined phrase “the numbers that appear on the scale” in the second paragraph may mean .
| A．intelligence | B．weight | C．patience | D．strength |
The writer used the example of Jennifer Livingston to show .
| A．people think “fat” looks ugly |
| B．fat people are becoming cleverer |
| C．physical condition is good |
| D．young people never follow example |
What Kirstie Alley said means .
| A．people should pay attention to the appearance |
| B．there is no need for any people to go on diet |
| C．people are beautiful when they concern others |
| D．there’s always someone who understands and supports you |
What is a six-letter word that immediately comes to mind when you need some information on the Internet? You probably thought of Google. But Google wasn’t always the name of the famous search engine. In fact, the original name was BackRub!
BackRub was the name two graduate students gave to the new search engine they developed in 1996. They called it BackRub because the engine used backlinks to measure the popularity of Web sites. Later, they wanted a better name — a name that suggests huge quantities of data. They thought of the word googol. (A googol is a number followed by 100 zeros.) When they checked the Internet registry of names to see if googol was already taken, one of the students misspelled the word by mistake, and that’s how Google was born.
Google is just one example of a name change in the business world. Many other companies have decided to change their names or the names of their products. Here are some more examples:
Jerry Yang and David Filo, two young computer specialists, developed a guide to Internet content in 1994. They called it “Jerry and David’s Guide to World Wide Web.” But they soon realized that this wasn’t a very catchy name, so they searched through a dictionary and found a better one: “Yahoo.”
Sometimes companies change their names because of the popularity of one of their products. In 1962, a young runner named Phil Knight started a company called Blue Ribbon Sports. In 1971, Knight decided to design and manufacture his own brand of shoes. He named the shoes after the Greek goddess of victory — Nike. Nike shoes became so well known that Knight changed the name of the whole company to Nike.According to the text, Google .
| A．has been famous since 1996 |
| B．is a result of a spelling mistake |
| C．means a number followed by 100 zeros |
| D．is the original name of the search engine |
Jerry and David changed the guide’s name to Yahoo because the original name .
| A．had been registered | B．had been forgotten |
| C．was not attractive | D．was too short |
The company Nike got its name from .
| A．its founders | B．its customers |
| C．its popular products | D．its advanced techniques |
Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
| A．The name changes | B．The history of Google |
| C．How to choose a name? | D．Why are names important? |
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