Jenny Bowen, an American living in Beijing, has been selected as the only American to carry the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch on Chinese soil. She and seven other non- Chinese winners were from a pool of 262 applicants from 47 countries.
When Bowen runs with the Olympic torch, she will not only be representing the United States. She will also be representing thousands of Chinese orphans, ABC news said.
Bowen, a mother of two adopted (领养的) Chinese daughters, is executive director of Half the Sky Foundation, an organization which was set up in 1998 and aims to enrich the lives and improve the future for orphaned children in China.
Nearly 10 years later, Bowen and Half the Sky Foundation have touched the lives of over 13,000 children. Half the Sky Foundation is now present in 36 welfare institutions in 28 Chinese cities. About 4,000 children are active in the program, which provides trained staff, educational tools, medical support and love for orphans.
Bowen hopes that running with the Olympic torch will help draw attention to the children in China. She will be among the 19,400 runners who will carry the flame along an 85,000-mile,130-day route across five continents. Beijing organizers say it will be the longest torch relay in the Olympic history.
Like Bowen, the seven other non-Chinese winners, including a German engineer and a Venezuelan designer, live in China. The other countries represented will be the Philippines, Colombia, India, Japan and Russia.
According to Olympic organizers, candidates (候选人) were selected based on their “love of Chinese culture and history” and devotion to “ communicating information about a real China to their native countries.”
Each runner will carry the torch for 200 meters on Chinese soil.
1. Jenny Bowen will represent thousands of Chinese orphans mainly because _______.
A. she is an American orphan who lives in China.
B. she likes Chinese orphans very much.
C. she is director of the Half the Sky Foundation.
D. she has done a lot to the welfare of Chinese orphans.
2. Which of the following statements is false about Jenny Bowen?
A. She has been communicating information about the real China to the USA.
B. She is executive director of Half the Sky Foundation.
C. She loves Chinese culture and history very much.
D. She will carry the flame along an 85,000-mile route.
3. How many factors for selecting a candidate are mentioned in the passage?
A. One B. Two C. Three D. Four
4. What is the passage mainly about ?
A. Jenny Bowen, executive director of Half the Sky Foundation
B. The longest torch relay in the Olympic history.
C. Eight non-Chinese persons to carry the Olympic torch in China.
D. A US woman to carry the Olympic torch in China.
Sport is very popular in England. In other words lots of English people like the idea of sport and watch sport on TV. But the number who takes part in sport is quite small. On the whole, English people prefer to
be fat rather than be thin.
The most popular sport in England is football. Football is played on Saturday afternoon in most towns and the supporters of a certain team will travel from one end of the country to the other to see their team play. There are four divisions (级别 ) of the footbaLl league. Not surprisingly the best teams are in the first division. But the best supporters are often in the fourth division. You have to be a good supporter to watch the fourth division football! is the most popular sport in England.
| A．Basketball | B．Football |
| C．Golf | D．Tennis |
You have to be a good supporter to watch division football.
| A．the first | B．the second |
| C．the third | D．the fourth |
Why do many English people not take part in sport?
| A．They are too busy. |
| B．They like watching sport on TV. |
| C．They would like to be fat. |
| D．They prefer to be thin. |
Fifty years ago not many people would have something repaired by themselves. In those days labour was fairly cheap and most people would have thought it worthwhile to have somebody repair their things unless they were very poor. Today, however, it is quite a different story. Men and women in all walks of life turn their hands to all kinds of jobs round the house. Some people have even successfully built their own houses. These jobs have been made easier today by using prepared materials.
In every high street throughout Britain nowadays there is at least one “DIY” shop. And “Do-it-yourself” is a booming business. A lot of people visit these shops every day because of the high cost of the present-day labour. Fifty years ago if people needed some repairs, they would .
| A．try to mend them by themselves |
| B．throw them away |
| C．repair them in their homes |
| D．have somebody repair them unless they were poor |
Many jobs have been made easier today because .
| A．some people have successfully built their own houses |
| B．men and women turn their hands to all kinds of jobs |
| C．they can be done by using prepared materials |
| D．a lot of people are very hard up for money |
From the passage we know that
| A．there are many “DIY” shops in Britain |
| B．not every high street in Britain has one “DIY” shop |
| C．people can do nothing without using prepared materials |
| D．"Do-it-yourself" is a lazy business in cities |
Why do a lot of people visit “DIY” shops every day?
| A．Because people are used to doing things at home. |
| B．Because the present-day labour is no longer cheap. |
| C．Because they are interested in shopping. |
| D．Because they enjoy the high cost of present-day labour. |
Tim Richter and his wife, Linda, had taught for over 30 years near Buffalo, New York — he in computers, she in special education. "Teaching means everything to us," Tim would say. In April 1998, he learned he would need a heart operation. It was the kind of news that leads to some serious thinking about life's purpose.
Not long after the surgery, Tim saw a brochure describing imagination Library, a program started by Dolly Parton's foundation (基金会) that mailed a book every month to children from birth to age five in the singer's hometown, Tennessee." I think, maybe Linda and I can do something like this when we retire," Tim recalled. He placed the brochure on his desk, "as a reminder".
Five years later, now retired and with that brochure still on the desk, Tim clicked on www.imaginationlibrary.com. The program had been opened up to partners who could take advantage of books and postage discounts.
The quality of the books was of great concern to the Richters. Rather than sign up online, they went to Dollywood for a look-see. "We don't want to give the children rubbish, "said Linda. The books — reviewed each year by teachers, literacy specialists, and Dollywood board members - included classics such as Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day and newer books like Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama series.
Satisfied, the couple set up the Richter Family Foundation and got to work. Since 2004, they have shipped more than 12,200 books to preschoolers in their area. Megan Williams, a mother of four, is more than appreciative: "This program introduces us to books I've never heard of."
The Richters spend about $400 a month sending books t0 200 children. "Some people sit there and wait to die, "said Tim. "Others get as busy as they can in the time they have left."What led Tim to think seriously about the meaning of life?
| A．His health problem. |
| B．His love for teaching. |
| C．The influence of his wife. |
| D．The news from the web. |
What did Tim want to do after learning about Imagination Library?
| A．Give out brochures. |
| B．Mailing books to children. |
| C．Write books to children. |
| D．Retire from being a teacher. |
According to the text, Dolly Parton is____.
| A．a well-known surgeon |
| B．a mother of a child |
| C．a singer born in Tennessee |
| D．a computer programmer |
Why did the Richters go to Dollywood?
| A．To avoid signing up online. |
| B．To meet Dollywood board members. |
| C．To make sure the books were the newest. |
| D．To see if the, books were of good quality. |
The news report that night was about a famine(饥荒) in Ethiopia. The pictures were of people who were so thin that they looked like beings from another planet. The camera(摄像机) focused(聚焦 ) on one man so that he looked directly at me, sitting in my comfortable living room. All around was the sound of death.
It was clear that the world had not noticed this until now. You could hear the sadness in the voice of the reporter, Michael Buerk. At the end of the report he was silent. Paula started crying, and then rushed upstairs to check our baby, Fifi, who was sleeping peacefully.
I kept the news' pictures in my mind. What could I do? I was only a pop singer and by now not a very successful pop singer. All I could do was to make records which no one bought. But I would do that. I
would give all the profits(利润) of the next Rats(the name of the music group he was in) record to Oxfam, an organization in Britain which helps poor people around the world. What good would that do? It would only be a little money but it was more than I could give just from my bank account. Maybe some people would buy it because the profits were for Oxfam. And I would be protesting about this disaster(灾难). But that was not enough. What do we Learn about the writer from the text?
| A．He felt really bad because the news report made him think of his own hard life. |
| B．After he saw a news report on TV about the famine in Ethiopia, he decided that he had to do something about the problem. |
| C．His ideas on how to collect money for the people in Ethiopia were very successful. |
| D．He wanted to do nothing but be a famous singer. |
Which paragraph describes(描写) what he thought about after watching the news?
| A．Paragraph l. |
| B．Paragraph 2. |
| C．Paragraph 3. |
| D．None. |
The writer wished that ____ .
| A．he would be a very successful pop singer if he could have sold all his records |
| B．he would rather give all his money from his bank account than the little money made by making new records |
| C．perhaps people would be interested in his records because they knew that the money they paid for them would go to Oxfam. |
| D．he would make records which no one bought |
Do American children still learn handwriting in school? In the age of the keyboard, some people seem to think handwriting lessons are on the way out. 90% of teachers say they are required to teach handwriting. But studies have yet to answer the question of how well they are teaching it. One study published this year found that about three out of every four teachers say they are not prepared to teach handwriting. Some teachers are teaching handwriting by providing instruction for 10 to 15 minutes a day, and then other teachers who basically teach it for 60 to 70 minutes a day—which really for handwriting is pretty much.
Many adults remember learning that way—by copying letters over and over again. Today’s thinking is that short periods of practice are better. Many experts also think handwriting should not be taught by itself. Instead, they say it should be used as a way to get students to express ideas. After all, that is why we write.
Handwriting involves two skills. One is legibility, which means forming the letters so they can be read. The other is fluency—writing without having to think about it. Fluency continues to develop up until high school.
But not everyone masters these skills. Teachers commonly report that about one fourth of their kids have poor handwriting. Some people might think handwriting is not important any more because of computers and voice recognition programs.
But Steve Graham at Vanderbilt says word processing is rarely done in elementary school, especially in the early years. American children traditionally first learn to print, and then to write in cursive, which connects the letters. But guess what we learned from a spokeswoman for the College Board, which administers the SAT college admission test. More than 75 percent of students choose to print their essay on the test rather than write in cursive.Which of the following is WRONG for traditional handwriting in the USA?
| A．The students are taught by practicing a long period. |
| B．The letters are repeated many times. |
| C．Handwriting includes two skills. |
| D．To write in cursive is taught first. |
The underlined word “legibility” in Paragraph 3 means _____.
| A．easy to read |
| B．complex |
| C．unexpected |
| D．unreadable |
The best title for the passage is _____.
| A．How to improve handwriting in school |
| B．Right or wrong: the death of handwriting |
| C．Handwriting involves two skills |
| D．Handwriting lessons are on the way out |
The author’s attitude towards whether still to learn handwriting in school is _____.
| A．negative |
| B．objective |
| C．critical |
| D．optimistic |
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