More than one million children in the United States do not go to school. Instead, they learn at home. Most often, their parents are their teachers. Educational companies, libraries and the Internet provide many families with teaching materials.
Parents choose home schooling for several reasons. Some choose it because of their religious beliefs. Others say it provides more time for the family to be together. They say the home offers a better place for learning. Some parents believe home schooling avoids learning. Some parents believe home schooling avoids problems of national schools. Critics, however, say children need to attend school with other children.
All fifty American states and the District of Columbia permit home schooling. Some states do not require much preparation by parents or testing of children. Other states have more requirements for home schooling. Home schooling in the United States began when the country was established. In farm areas, people often lived far from a school. Widespread home schooling took place until about the middle of the nineteenth century. Then, in 1852, the state of Massachusetts passed the first law requiring children to attend school.
Over the years, the American public education system strengthened and grew. By the 1960s and 1970s, however, some Americans believed that traditional education was not helping their children. So a number of parents began home schooling.
Home schooling expert Linda Dobson says many people have helped the movement grow. She says many kinds of people have joined the movement. These include rich people and poor people. They represent many races, religions and political beliefs. Ms. Dobson says the number of home-schooled children has increased an estimated fifteen to twenty percent each year during the last fifteen years.
64. Teaching materials for home schooling do NOT come from _______.
A. parents B. libraries
C. the Internet D. educational companies
65. Which of the following is one of the reasons why parents choose home schooling?
A. it makes parents and their children have less time together.
B. Some people have different religious beliefs from the others.
C. It can’t provide a comfortable place for children to be in.
D. There are too many students in a home classroom.
66. Home schooling was started in ________.
A. the 1960s B. the 1970s C. the 1850s D. the 1776
67. Home schooling in the United States now is __________.
A. facing many difficulties B. struggling
C. growing fast D. decreasing in large numbers
The deadly earthquake and tsunami (海啸) that struck Japan on March 11 damaged two nuclear power stations. Officials are now working to prevent dangerous radiation from poisoning the air in the area surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The Japanese government has ordered people living within 12 and a half miles of the plant to evacuate, and asked those living 12 and a half to 20 miles away to stay indoors.
Nuclear power plants create energy using a chemical reaction that produces large amounts of heat. Reactors(反应堆)in Japan have many long, thin rods, called fuel rods(棒), which must be kept cool.
If the reactor’s fuel rods aren’t cooled, the reaction can burn out of control. That’s what happened at the two Japanese plants after the quake caused a power failure and the cooling systems malfunctioned(发生故障). This overheating could cause radiation to escape and sicken many people.
Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors are built to withstand the many small or moderate earthquakes the country faces each year. But Friday’s earthquake was one of the most severe earthquakes ever recorded.
People exposed to unsafe levels of radiation have a higher than normal risk of getting cancer. The Japanese government has been distributing potassium iodide(碘化钾)pills to people in the surrounding areas to protect those who may have come in contact with radiation from the power plant. The pills flood the body with healthy potassium iodide. The potassium iodide works to crowd out “bad” iodine in the body that may have been poisoned by radiation.
On Tuesday morning, 750 workers left the Fukushima Daiichi plant. However, 50 workers stayed behind to use sweater to cool the fuel rods. These dedicated employees are risking their own lives to save many others.
On Thursday, officials used helicopters, fire trucks, and water cannons to spray water on the reactors to cool the fuel rods. But it’s not clear whether these efforts were successful. Officials are now working on a power line to restore electricity to the plant. They hope this will help restart the plant’s cooling system and stop the fuel rods from leaking radiation.The underlined word “evacuate” in Paragraph 1 probably means .
| A．help | B．rest | C．stop | D．leave |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．The local people are scared and ready to run away. |
| B．The earthquake led to many deaths and caused damage to roads. |
| C．The Japanese government has found a kind of pill that can treat cancer. |
| D．The two stations were damaged because their cooling systems didn’t work. |
In the last paragraph, the author mainly states .
| A．lack of help |
| B．international aids |
| C．the government’s efforts |
| D．the result of the disaster |
This text is most probably taken from .
| A．a research paper |
| B．a newspaper report |
| C．a class presentation |
| D．a chemistry textbook |
To see the world is one thing; to have someone to share it with is another. Indeed, travel becomes more interesting when you have a travel partner. A travel partner can be a close friend, a family member, a pal you’ve met online, or a business friend.
You can have someone to talk to
Traveling alone is fun, but wouldn’t you feel lonely? Having a travel partner can remove the feeling of loneliness. This is especially true if you can get a travel companion who is very familiar with the place you’re traveling to. You don’t have to ask any information from the locals, and you can increase the time you spend in the country.
One of the major headaches in traveling is the costs involved. You can’t simply ignore the rising price of hotels or plane tickets. You should also think about your daily needs, such as your food. Of course, you can’t simply go back without bringing any souvenirs (纪念品) to your friends and family. All these can ruin your budget. However, when you have a travel friend, you can have someone to share the expenses with.
You can meet a good friend
Having a travel mate is a good way of meeting a new friend or even a lifelong partner. You can never count the number of couples who actually found their way into each other’s heart while traveling together in another country.
You can have someone to watch out for you
When you’re in a foreign land, you’ll never be really safe. You don’t know the rules as well as the culture of the people. A travel will be perfect to remind you of your duties in the country and to watch your back just in case you get lost. So why don’t you find a travel companion now!
Let’s find out how…What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?
| A．To introduce a travel company. |
| B．To encourage us to have a travel partner. |
| C．To explain how to be a perfect travel partner. |
| D．To tell an interesting experience with a travel partner. |
What’s the best title for the 3rd paragraph?
| A．You can have someone to share the expenses with |
| B．You can know the local culture well |
| C．You can enjoy food with your partner |
| D．You can save money by bargaining together |
Which of the following statements agrees with the author’s opinion?
| A．Traveling alone is not fun. |
| B．Buying souvenirs isn’t necessary. |
| C．Many people fall in love when traveling. |
| D．It’s better to choose a stranger as a travel partner. |
Which of the following things is NOT mentioned?
| A．A travel partner can help you take care of your child. |
| B．A travel partner can help get rid of loneliness. |
| C．A travel partner can help you save money. |
| D．A travel partner can make you safer. |
If you want to become a fluent English speaker you should take some advice: There are four skills in learning English. They are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The most important thing you must remember is that if you want to improve your speaking and writing skills you should first master the skills of reading and listening.
Read as much as you can. But your reading must be active. It means that you must think about the meaning of the sentence, the meanings of the unfamiliar words, etc. There is no need for you to pay much attention to grammars or try to understand all the unfamiliar words you come across, but the fact that you see them for the first time and recognize them whenever you see them, for example in other passages or books, is enough. It would be better to prepare yourself a notebook so you can write down the important words or sentences in it.
As for listening, there are two choices: besides reading, you can listen every day for about 30 minutes. You can only pay attention to your reading and become skillful at your reading, then you can catch up on your listening. Since you have lots of inputs in your mind, you can easily guess what the speaker is going to say. This never means that you should not practice listening.
For listening you can listen to cartoons or some movies that are specially made for children. Their languages are easy. Or if you are good at listening you can listen to VOA or BBC programs every day. Again the thing to remember is being active in listening and preferably taking some notes.
If you follow these pieces of advice, your speaking and writing will improve automatically, and you can be sure that with a little effort they will become perfect.According to the author, which should you improve first among the four skills?
| A．Reading and listening. |
| B．Reading and writing. |
| C．Writing and speaking. |
| D．Speaking and listening. |
The underlined phrase “come across” in Paragraph 2 can probably be replaced by“ ”.
| A．meet by accident |
| B．discover |
| C．find on purpose |
| D．look for |
The author seems to agree with the view that .
| A．everyone should listen to VOA or BBC programs every day |
| B．you needn’t practice listening if you keep on reading every day |
| C．being good at reading is helpful in improving your listening |
| D．you should take notes of whatever you are hearing |
The passage is mainly about how to .
| A．choose suitable listening materials |
| B．deal with new words in reading |
| C．improve your English as quickly as possible |
| D．become fluent in speaking and writing English |
My friend Karen and I were always together. Karen was only a few months older than I. I always thought she was so beautiful, with long hair and blue eyes. I loved Karen so much because she liked me for being the way I was. I could be myself and share my secrets with her and I never felt like I was being judged.
We had so much fun and were really quite silly. One time I asked my mom to make us the same dresses so we could pretend we were twins.
We continued as best friends throughout grade school. One day, Karen was going to another friend’s place and asked me to come along, but I couldn’t go because I had a babysitting job that afternoon. We walked together to the Becker’s home where I was to babysit and then she continued on her way without me. We had agreed that I would meet her at the corner when she returned and I finished my job.
At four o’clock I rushed to the corner so I wouldn’t be late for meeting Karen. Just as I arrived at the corner, I saw Karen crossing the street. In a second it happened. I saw Karen’s body fly up in the sky. A car had hit her！
Karen was on life support for a week before it was decided that they would allow her to go in peace. Karen’s parents wanted to donate her organs(器官)to the hospital, but there was nothing left healthy enough to be used because she was hit so hard.
I have never got so close to another person since Karen died. I do miss her! Do you cherish(珍惜)your friends? If you don’t, please do, as you may lose them one day.What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．A horrible car accident |
| B．An unforgettable experience |
| C．My dearest friend—Karen |
| D．An unforgettable girl |
When Karen was hit by a car, she was .
| A．on her way to a friend’s place |
| B．on her way to the Becker’s home |
| C．shouting to the writer who was so far from her |
| D．heading to the corner where she and the writer would meet |
Why were Karen’s organs unable to be donated?
| A．Because her parents refused to do that. |
| B．Because all of her organs were seriously damaged. |
| C．Because the doctors thought it was too cruel. |
| D．Because no patients needed organs in the hospital then. |
What does the writer suggest we do?
| A．Cherish our friends. |
| B．Accept the fact that people die. |
| C．Be careful when crossing the street. |
| D．Never be too close to someone. |
Children are getting so fat that they may be the first generation to die before their parents, an expert says.
Today's young people will be affected by potential (潜在的) killers such as heart disease because of their weight. Fatty fast－food diets combined with the lifestyles with televisions and computers could mean kids will die young, says Professor Andrew Prentice, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. At the same time, the shape of the human body is going through a great change because adults are getting so fat.
Here in Britain, the latest research shows that the average waist size for a man is 36～38 inches and may be 42～44 inches by 2032.This compares with only 32.6 inches in 1972. Women's waists have grown from an average of 22 inches in the 1920s to 24 inches in the 1950s and 30 inches now. One of the major reasons why children now are at greater risk is that we are getting fatter younger. In the UK alone, more than one million under 16 years old are thought
to be overweight or fat—double the number in the 1980s. One in ten of four－year－olds are also medically said to be obese.
The obesity which started in the US, has now spread to Europe, Australia, Central America and the Middle East. Many nations now record more than 20 percent of their population as obese and well over half of the population as overweight.
Professor Prentice says the change in our shape has been caused by high－energy foods combined with a dramatic (急剧的) drop in the energy we use as a result of technology developments.
He is not alone in his concern. Only last week one medical magazine revealed how obesity was fuelling a rise in cancer cases. Obesity also increases the risk factor for heart disease and so on. An averagely obese person's lifespan (寿命) is shortened by around nine years while a seriously obese person by much more.
Professor Prentice says,
“So_will_parents_live_longer_than_their_children,_as_an_American_obesity_expert_said_recently？”
“The answer is yes—and no.” Yes, when most children become obese. No, because this is now becoming an alarmingly serious problem in the US. “Such children will have a greatly reduced quality of life on both body and mind.”
So say “No” to sandwiches and hamburgers.From the second paragraph, we know that ________.
| A．heart disease is caused by people's weight |
| B．bad living habits make children die young |
| C．increasing weight could kill young people |
| D．adults know how to change their shape of body |
According to Professor Prentice, people become fatter because ________.
| A．the energy people take in is more than they need |
| B．high technology makes people use less energy |
| C．food contains too much energy |
| D．people like to eat fast food |
For the underlined question, the answer “no” suggests ________.
| A．children should refuse fast－food diets |
| B．children's obesity is becoming more and more serious |
| C．Americans have realized the bad consequence of the obesity |
| D．the government should call on fat people to lose weight as soon as possible |
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