People with disabilities make up a large part of the population. It is estimated that over 35 million Americans have physical, mental, or other disabilities. About half of these disabilities are “developmental", i.e., they occur before the individual's twenty-second birthday, often from genetic conditions, and are severe enough to affect three or more areas of development, such as mobility, communication, employment, etc. Most other disabilities are considered “adventitious", i.e., accidental or caused by outside forces.
Prior to the 20th century, only a small percentage of people with disabilities survived for long. Medical treatment for these disabilities was unavailable. Advancements in medicine and social services have created a climate in which people with disabilities can expect to have such basic needs as food, shelter, and medical treatment. Unfortunately, these basics are often not available. Civil liberties such as the right to vote, marry, get an education, and gain employment have historically been denied on the basis of disability.
In recent decades, the disability rights movement has been organized to fight against these infringements（违反；侵犯）of civil rights. Congress responded by passing major legislation recognizing people with disabilities as a protected class under civil rights statutes.
Still today, people with disabilities must fight to live their lives independently. It is estimated that more than half of qualified Americans with disabilities are unemployed, and a majority of those who do work are underemployed. About two-thirds live at or below the official poverty level.
Significant barriers, especially in transportation and public awareness, prevent disabled people from taking part in society. For example, while no longer prohibited by law from marrying, a person with no access to transportation is effectively excluded from community and social activities which might lead to the development of long-term relationships.
Only when public attitudes advance as far as laws have will disabled people be fully able to take their rightful place in society.
36. A “developmental" disability ______.
A. develops very slowly over time
B. is caused by forces
C. occurs in youth and affects development
D. is getting more and more severe
37．Most disabled people used to die early because ______.
A. disabilities destroyed major bodily functions
B. they were not very well looked after
C. medical techniques were not available
D. they were too poor to get proper treatment
38. In the author's opinion, to enable the disabled people to take their rightful place in society, ______.
A．more laws should be passed
B．public attitudes should be changed
C．government should provide more aids
D．more public facilities should be set up
39. Which of the following cannot be inferred（推断）from the passage ?
A．Many disabled people may remain single for their whole life.
B．The public tends to look down upon the disabled people.
C．The disabled people feel inferior to those surrounding them.
D． Discriminatory laws prevent the disabled from mixing with others.
40. The best title for this passage might be ______.
A．Handicaps（不利条件；障碍；）of People with Disabilities
B．The physical difficulties of the Disabled
C．The Causes for Disabilities
D．Medical Treatments for Disabilities
New York, 10 November — 5:27 pm, yesterday. Biggest power failure in the city’s history.
* Thousands of people got stuck in lifts. Martin Saltzman spent three hours between the 21st and 22nd floors of the Empire State Building. “There were twelve of us. But no one panicked. We passed the time telling stories and playing word games. One man wanted to smoke but we didn’t let him. Firemen finally got us out.”
* “It was the best night we’ve ever had,” said Angela Carraro, who runs an Italian restaurant on 42nd Street. “We had lots of candles on the tables and the waiters were carrying candles on their trays. The place was full — and all night, in fact, for after we had closed, we let the people stay on and spend the night here.”
* The zoos had their problems like everyone else. Keepers worked through the night. They used blankets to keep flying squirrels and small monkeys warm. While zoos had problem keeping warm, supermarkets had problems keeping cool. “All of our ice cream and frozen foods melted,” said the manager of a store in downtown Manhattan. “They were worth $ 50,000.”
* The big electric clock in the lobby(大厅) of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in downtown Manhattan started ticking again at 5:25 this morning. It was almost on time.Throughout the period of darkness, Martin Saltzman and the eleven others were _________.
| A．nervous | B．excited | C．calm | D．frightened |
In what way was the night of November 9 the best night for Angela Carraro?
| A．She had a taste of adventure. |
| B．Burning candles brightened the place. |
| C．Business was better than usual. |
| D．Many people stayed the night in her restaurant. |
How long did the power failure last?
| A．Nearly 12 hours. | B．More than 12 hours. |
| C．Nearly 24 hours. | D．More than 24 hours. |
There was once a professor of medicine, who was very strict with his students. Whenever he took the chair on the exam committee, the students would be in fear, because he was seldom pleased with the answers they gave. A student would be lucky enough if he or she could receive a good mark from him. At the end of the term, the students of medicine would take their exam again. Now a student entered the exam room and got seated before the committee. This student was a little nervous as he knew it would not be so easy to get through the exam at all.
The professor began to ask. The student was required to describe a certain illness, his description of which turned out to be OK. Then the professor asked about the cure for the illness, and the student, too, answered just as right. “Good,” said the professor, “and how much will you give the patient?” “A full spoon,” answered the student. “Now you go out and wait for what you can get,” said the professor. At the same time the committee discussed carefully the answers the student had given. Suddenly the student noticed there was something wrong with his last answer. “A full spoon is too much,” he thought to himself. Anxiously he entered the room and cried, “Mr. Professor, I’ve made a mistake! A full spoon is too much for the patient. He can take only five drops. ”
“I’m sorry, sir,” said the professor coldly, “but it’s too late. Your patient has died.”The students were afraid of the professor because ___________.
| A．they often angered and disappointed him |
| B．their answers often astonished him |
| C．their answers seldom satisfied him |
| D．he often misunderstood them and gave them bad marks |
Before he left the room, the student probably ___________.
| A．believed that he had passed the exam |
| B．thought five drops of medicine would cure the patient |
| C．knew he had made a mistake |
| D．felt he had not done well in the exam |
Which of the following is NOT true according to this text?
| A．The patient will be in danger if he’s taken as much as a full spoon. |
| B．The doctor will be in trouble if he has given the patient a full spoon. |
| C．Since one spoon is more than five drops, the patient will be all right soon after taking one spoon. |
| D．If the patient wants to remain safe, he should take no more than five drops at a time. |
We can learn from this text that ___________.
| A．someone died in the exam |
| B．the student would probably not pass the exam |
| C．the professor was pleased to see the students’ improvement |
| D．the slight change may not cause big difference in medical treatment |
Everyone has done experiments in high school laboratories, but have you ever thought about designing a satellite to explore space?
On Nov. 19, a team of students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in the US awed peers and even scientists by successfully launching a satellite.
The first satellite designed and built by high school students was sent up into space along with a record-setting. 28 other small ones on a rocket were sent from a NASA center in Virginia, CNN reported. It took the students seven years to build.
The students call their tiny satellite TJ3Sat, which is named after their school. It is just 10x10x12 centimeters and weighs only 0.89 kilograms, according to Orbital Sciences, a company which developed the rocket and supported the students’ project. It can be controlled with a smartphone.
Like most satellites, TJ3Sat can send and receive data. The small spacecraft is equipped with a voice synthesizer (合成器), which can switch text to voice and transmit those sounds back to Earth over radio waves, said Orbital officials. In this case, anyone can give it a try via the project’s website (school website) by submitting (提交) a text. The texts that get approved will be sent to the satellite, changed to voice and then broadcast back to Earth via radio waves.
“I can say ‘Go Colonials’ on our ground station and when it is on the other side of the world, in India, someone can hear ‘Go Colonials’over the radio,” the team explains on the website.
The satellite will stay in space for at least three months.
School principal Evan Glazer told The Washington Post that the project started in 2006 as an activity in the spare time. Later it became a research project for a select group of seniors.
At a time when American students are busy with SATs, the launch of the satellite shows what diligent teenagers can achieve when allowed to pursue their own curiosities, Glazer said.
“It used to be that kids growing up wanted to be an astronaut,” Andrew Petro, program executive (主管) for small spacecraft technology at NASA, said in a statement. “I think we might be seeing kids saying what they want to do is build a spacecraft. The idea here is that they really can do that.”The underlined word “awed” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to ___.
| A．influenced | B．amazed |
| C．delighted | D．inspired |
Which of the following statements about TJ3Sat is TRUE according to the article?
| A．It took a group of students about a decade to build the satellite. |
| B．Besides TJ3Sat, 28 other small satellites were built by the students. |
| C．TJ3Sat can receive text messages that the students send into space, which can be changed to voice messages and broadcast back to Earth. |
| D．TJ3Sat is expected to stay in orbit for the next year, sending out messages together with information about its position in space. |
According to the article, the launch of the satellite _______.
| A．is evidence of the advance of spacecraft technology |
| B．proves that hard-working teenagers can achieve a lot |
| C．shows the importance of extracurricular activities at school |
| D．has inspired many people to take an interest in space travel |
Whether you’re eating at a fancy restaurant or dining in someone’s home, proper table manners are likely to help you make a good impression. According to a US expert, Emily Post, “All rules of table manners are made to avoid ugliness.”
While Henry Hitchings of the Los Angeles Times admits that good manners can reduce social conflict, he points out that mostly their purpose is protective – they turn our natural warrior-like selves into more elegant ones.
So where did table manners come from?
In medieval England, a writer named Petrus Alfonsi took the lead to urge people not to speak with their mouths full. And King David I of Scotland also proposed that any of his people who learned to eat more neatly be given a tax deduction (减除).
Disappointingly, that idea never caught on. It was during the Renaissance, when there were real technical developments, opinions of correct behavior changed for good. “None of these was more significant than the introduction of the table fork,” wrote Hitchings. “Gradually, as forks became popular, they brought the new way of eating, making it possible, for instance, to consume berries without making one’s fingers dirty.”
Forks were introduced to Britain in 1608 and 25 years later, the first table fork reached America. Yet while most of the essentials (基本要素) are the same on both sides of the Atlantic, there are a few clear differences between what’s normal in the US and what holds true in the UK. For example, in the US, when food needs cutting with a knife, people generally cut a bite, then lay aside the knife and switch the fork to their right hand. Then they pick up one bite at a time. By contrast, Britons keep the fork in the left hand and don’t lay the knife down.
Though globalization has developed a new, simpler international standard of table manners, some people still stick with the American cut-and-switch method.The Los Angeles Times noted, “They are hanging on to a form of behavior that favors manners above efficiency.”What does the story mainly talk about?
| A．The importance of proper table manners . |
| B．The development of table manners in Western countries. |
| C．Some unwritten rules of table manners in the US and UK. |
| D．Differences between American and British table manners. |
The underlined phrase “caught on” in the passage probably means ______.
| A．worked in practice | B．became popular |
| C．drew attention | D．had a positive effect |
Which of the following events influenced people’s table manners most according to the article?
| A．The introduction of forks. |
| B．The tax deduction policy. |
| C．The rise of the Renaissance. |
| D．Petrus Alfonsi’s efforts in promoting table manners. |
What can we conclude from the article?
| A．British and American table manners are completely different from each other. |
| B．American people pay more attention to their table manners than British people do. |
| C．With globalization, the American cut-and-switch method has been abandoned in the US. |
| D．British people’s way of using a knife and fork may be more efficient than American people’s. |
Homework and stress are rarely reduced inside the classroom. Meanwhile, outside the classroom, the pressure is on to find scholarships for college.
According to Braintrack, a higher education database with worldwide reach, more than 3 billion US dollars (18 billion yuan) in private scholarships are awarded to college students annually. Average awards range from $2,000 to $3,000.
The scholarship application process is similar to the college application process: forms to be completed, test scores and transcripts to be sent, essays to be written and often interviews to be prepared for.
A few great places to start looking for scholarships are: www.fastweb.com, www.finaid.org and www.collegexpress.com.Check out the annual scholarship guidebooks Scholarships, Grants & Prizes by Peterson’s and the Ultimate Scholarship Book: Billions of Dollars in Scholarships, Grants and Prizes by Gen Tanabe and Kelly Tanabe.
Be selective. Thoroughly research the qualifications required by each of the scholarships. Don’t waste your time applying for those that are need-based if you can’t produce the appropriate documents.
Research past recipients (接受者). Check out the websites of the organizations sponsoring the scholarships. Many post the biographies of past recipients. You don’t need to have cured cancer, but if you don’t think your résumé (履历) measures up to the past winners’, you might be better served by moving onto the next scholarship on your list. Prepare for the interview.
You’ll want to dazzle them with your personality, but above all you’ll want to be prepared. Find someone you trust to conduct a similar interview with you – someone who will be honest with you and provide valuable suggestions.
Let your personality shine through in your essays. The essays are the best way for students to share who they are, where they’ve come from, what they’ve overcome and so on. Tell your story in an interesting and persuasive way. And if you do have an interview, send a thank-you note afterward.
By Lee BiererWhat is the author’s main purpose in writing the article?
| A．To explain where to find scholarships for US colleges. |
| B．To inform readers of the scholarship application process. |
| C．To introduce some typical scholarships offered by US colleges. |
| D．To give tips on applying for US college scholarships. |
If you want to learn about past recipients of a scholarship, you can use __.
| A．www.collegexpress.com |
| B．the annual scholarship guidebooks published by Peterson’s |
| C．the websites of the organizations sponsoring the scholarships |
| D．The Ultimate Scholarship Book: Billions of Dollars in Scholarships, Grants and Prizes |
The underlined word “dazzle” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to ___.
| A．influence | B．impress | C．guide | D．present |
To increase your chance of winning a scholarship, you are advised to ____.
| A．apply for as many scholarships as you can |
| B．tell an interesting story in your essay |
| C．do a similar interview to help you prepare for the real one |
| D．have a talk with past recipients and try to talk like they do |
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