The reading skills of young male students may improve more when huts are tutored (辅导) by women, a Canadian study shows, contradicting some school policies to hire male teachers to improve boys' literacy.
Herb Katz, an education professor at the University of Alberta, took 175 boys in the third and fourth grades, identified as struggling readers, and paired them with a research assistant who worked on their reading skills for 30 minutes a week over 10 weeks.
On average, the boys paired with female tutors felt better about their reading skills after the 10 weeks than those who were guided by a male research assistant, the study found.
Katz said the study, published in the US journal Sex Roles, may cause educational policy - makers in countries such as Australia and Britain to rethink policies that call for more male teachers to be hired to provide role models for boys whose reading skills fall behind their peers (同龄人). "It tells us that the way governments respond with policy is perhaps a little too quick and a little too simple," Katz said." Boys and girls enter kindergarten with similar reading skills, Katz said, but by the end of the third grade, boys have lower reading scores than girls. The reasons behind that difference are not entirely clear. "I don't know that reading skills fade so much as teachers may not recognize what boys are doing," he said. "We don't really know a lot about boys, even in those early years."
The boys involved in the study attended 12 schools in the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Most were from downtown neighborhoods. About a third were native Canadians and 55 percent came from ethnic minority groups.
60. What's the purpose of this passage?
A. To encourage boys to do more reading. B. To persuade schools to hire female teachers.
C. To advise good ways for reading skills. D. To provide some information about a study.
61. The underlined word "contradicting" in the first paragraph probably means"_________".
A. finding out B. going against C. standing by D. bringing about
62. Which of the following is TRUE about the boys taking part in the study?
A. They have difficulty in reading. B. They take no interest in reading.
C. They come from different Canadian cities. D. They have no female teachers at school.
63. It can be known from the passage that _________.
A. women must be better al teaching than men
B. girls do more reading than boys
C. male teachers are preferred to help reading- troubled boys in Australia
D. governments will change their policy on hiring teachers
Mozart was a great man born with a given talent. He was writing songs at the age of five and performing before the queen by the time he was six years old. Early on, Mozart realized what his talents were, practiced or honed what he was born to do and used his natural abilities to create amazing pieces of music.
Mozart was not the first to be born with natural talents and he wasn't the last. We all have them. We only need to discover what they are and use them to the best of our abilities. You have been given amazing gifts that are meant to be shared with the world. Your job is to find out what those talents are and master them.
Finding your natural talents may not be an easy task. Perhaps your parents except fewer wouldn't approve of （赞成）your artistic ability to paint or sing, because they want you to be a successful doctor or lawyer. Maybe your gift wouldn't seem to have the ability to bring the kind of wealth you hope. These may be excuses; it's up to you. Have you ever noticed that when you engage in an activity in which you are naturally talented, you feel active and excited? That's a sign that these are the things you should do. Discover your brilliance （才华）in life and practice, practice, practice.
Look at the world's greatest athletes. They practice what they're naturally good at, and what they love. You don't see Jordan sitting trying to study DNA. If that was something he was talented at, that's what he would be doing. But it's not. He's a brilliant athlete. He sticks to what he does best and he realizes his dream.
There are only two steps to success-discover your brilliance and perfect it.In the writer's opinion Mozart's success lies in __________.
| A．his great given talent |
| B．making good use of his natural talent |
| C．learning from others |
| D．his favorable conditions |
What does the underlined word " honed" in Paragraph 1 probably mean?
| A．To do something repeatedly to improve one's skill. |
| B．To find out what one is always good at doing. |
| C．To do what one likes and what is interesting. |
| D．To ask others for some advice of doing something. |
In Paragraph 4 the writer advises us to __________.
| A．work hard at what we are engaging in |
| B．fear no difficulty and realize our dream |
| C．practice what we are naturally good at |
| D．become a great athlete like Jordan |
When something goes wrong, it can be very satisfying to say，"Well, it's so-and-so's fault. " or " I know I'm late, but it's not my fault; the car broke down. " It is probably not your fault, but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation, you are a loser. You have no power and could do noting that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner's key to success.
Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your colleague causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don't rely on this person. You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well.
This is what being a winner is all about-creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what hap-pens. Winners don't have fewer problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents. So, stop focusing on “whose fault it is.” Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stop on for success.According to the passage, winners __________.
| A．deal with problems rather than blame others |
| B．meet with fewer difficulties in their lives |
| C．have responsible and able colleagues |
| D．blame themselves rather than others |
The underlined word “remedy" in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to __________.
| A．avoid | B．accept |
| C．improve | D．consider |
When your colleague brings about a problem, you should __________.
| A．find a better way to handle the problem |
| B．blame him for his lack of responsibility |
| C．tell him to find the cause of the problem |
| D．ask a more able colleague for help |
When problems occur, winners take them as __________.
| A．excuses for their failures |
| B．barriers to greater power |
| C．challenges to their colleagues |
| D．chances for self-development |
On April 24th, another natural disaster-the oil spill（泄露）in the Gulf of Mexico, happened. Millions of dollars have been used to help stop the spill and to clean up the animals, beaches, and land spoiled by the oil. Unfortunately, when many of these chemicals are used, more damage is caused to the environment, especially to lives in the sea.
But governments seem to accept the risk of transporting mil-lions of tons of oil by ship every day so that we can fill up our cars and drive around and cause even more environmental damage. Interestingly, the biggest companies in the world produce cars, and the next biggest supply the gasoline to make them run.
Of all of today's environmental disasters, an oil spill may actually be one of the least serious. Although oil is poisonous, it is a natural material. In the end, it breaks down naturally. In 1967 the tanker Torrey Canyon sank off the Scilly Isles near the coast of England and spilled 120，000 tons of oil into the ocean. If you go there today, you will find it hard to see any sign that it ever happened.
However, we should be thinking more about reducing our dependency on oil. Governments should be encouraging research into new technologies, such as cars run by solar power, electricity, hydro-gen, and so on. Much of this research, in the past, was stopped by the oil, gas, and coal.
If the world's millions of cars were 10% more efficient （高效的），we would need many fewer tankers crossing the oceans each year. If this happened, the risks of oil spills would be reduced, and the air we breathe would be cleaner and fresher, too.What is the passage mainly talking about?
| A．Oil spills pollution. |
| B．What oil pollution is. |
| C．Oil tanker accidents. |
| D．How to reduce oil pollution. |
How does the author support the idea that oil spills are not as serious as people believe?
| A．By giving a description. |
| B．By making an argument. |
| C．By giving an example. |
| D．By drawing a diagram（图表）. |
Which suggestion is made for reducing oil tankers according to the passage?
| A．We should build safer tankers in the near future. |
| B．We should develop new technologies to cut oil use. |
| C．Tankers should not be allowed to sail near the coastlines. |
| D．Countries should build more oil pipelines under the sea. |
Where can you read this article?
| A．In a story book. | B．In a science magazine. |
| C．In a novel. | D．In a brochure. |
Without proper planning, tourism can cause problems. For ex-ample, too many tourists can crowd public places that are also enjoyed by the inhabitants of a country. If tourists create too much traffic, the inhabitants become annoyed and unhappy. They begin to dislike tourists and to treat them impolitely. They forget how much tourism can help the country's economy. It is important to think about the people of a destination country and how tourism affects them. Tourism should help a country keep the customs and beauty that attract tourists. Tourism should also advance the wealth and happiness of local inhabitants.
Too much tourism can be a problem. If tourism grows too quickly, people must leave other jobs to work in the tourism industry. This means that other parts of the country's economy can suffer.
On the other hand, if there is not enough tourism, people can lose jobs. Businesses can also lose money. It costs a great deal of money to build large hotels, airports, air terminals, first-class roads, and other support facilities （配套设施）needed by tourist attractions. For example, a major international class tourism hotel can cost as much as 50 thousand dollars per room to build. If this room is not used most of the time, the owners of the hotel lose money.
Building a hotel is just a beginning. There must be many sup-port facilities as well, including roads to get to the hotel, electricity, sewers to handle waste, and water. All of these support facilities cost money. If they are not used because there are not enough tourists, jobs and money are lost.Which of the following do you think has been discussed in the part before this selection?
| A．It is extremely important to develop tourism. |
| B．Building roads and hotels is essential. |
| C．Support facilities are highly necessary. |
| D．Planning is of great importance to tourism. |
The underlined word " inhabitants "（in Paragraph 1） probably means __________.
| A．tourists | B．passengers |
| C．population | D．citizens |
Too much tourism can cause all these problems EXCEPT __________.
| A．a bad effect on other industries |
| B．a change of tourists' customs |
| C．over-crowdedness of places of interest |
| D．pressure on traffic |
The author thinks it is good for local people to know that tourism will __________.
| A．waste a lot of money |
| B．weaken their economy |
| C．help establish their customs |
| D．help improve their life |
Parents have to do much less for their children today than they used to do, and home has become much less of a workshop. Clothes can be bought ready made; washing can go to the laundry; food can be bought-cooked, canned or preserved; bread is baked and delivered by the baker; milk arrives on the doorstep; meats can be had at the restaurant, the work's canteen, and the school dining-room.
It is unusual now for a father to pursue his trade or other employment at home, and his children rarely, if ever, see him at his place of work. Boys are therefore seldom trained to follow their father's occupation, and in many towns they have a fairly wide choice of employment and so do girls. The young wage-earner often earns good money, and soon acquires a feeling of economic independence. In textile areas it has long been customary for mothers to go out to work, but this practice has become so widespread that the working mother is now a not unusual factor in a child's home life, the number of married women in employment having more than doubled in the last twenty-five years. With mother earning and his older children drawing substantial wages father is seldom the dominant figure that he still was at the beginning of the century. When mother works, economic advantages accrue, but children lose some-thing of great value if mother's employment prevents her from being home to greet them when they return from school.The writer mentions home as workshop because __________.
| A．fathers often pursue employment at home |
| B．parents had to make food and necessity themselves for their daily-life |
| C．many families produce goods at home for sale |
| D．both fathers and mothers and mothers in most families are workers |
The writer says that home has become much less of a workshop. He means __________.
| A．in the past, home was more like a workshop |
| B．home is much more of a workshop now |
| C．home-workshops are becoming fewer and fewer |
| D．home was less like a workshop in the past |
The chief reason that boys are seldom trained to follow their father's occupation is __________.
| A．that children nowadays rarely see their fathers at their place of work |
| B．that fathers do not like to pursue employment at home any more |
| C．that there is a wide choice of employment for children |
| D．that children also like to have jobs outside |
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