“I had a test and didn’t want to do it, so I pretended to be ill”, says 13-year-old Mary. But Mary did not enjoy her day off. “It was boring. I wished I had gone to school.”
Mary’s story is not unusual in Britain. According to the latest government figures, pupil absences are rising, despite schools taking a hard line on truancy (逃学).
Dr Philip James from Cardiff University thinks she knows why: “As schools make more efforts to find and punish missing students, students find better ways to avoid being caught.”
For several years, James has researched teenager truancy and discovered that most truancy was “a response to factors within the school”. Students that skip school are not necessarily less advanced or less intelligent. They complained of teachers who failed to engage them, and of “boring” lessons. “Many of them really enjoy school and believe in education, but drop out when aspects of it are ineffective.” James says.
The views of students like Adam, who believes that skipping lessons has little impact on his schooling, are common. “I only take off for a lesson, or a couple of days. It doesn’t affect my education,” he told James.
James believes that schools need to address the question of why pupils want to leave in the first place. “Pupils need help from the start.” she says. “Schools need to look at the reasons for truancy rather than the number, so that instead of walking away from school, students have the skills and chances to talk through problems and make a change.”What is one of the reasons that many students skip school according to James’ study?
| A．They feel they have fallen behind in their studies. |
| B．They have no interest in school education. |
| C．They now have more interesting things to do. |
| D．They find some lessons and teachers uninteresting. |
The underlined phrase “taking a hard line” (Paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to “________”.
| A．experiencing a problem with | B．having a strict attitude towards |
| C．finding it difficult to deal with | D．having little success with |
The writer used Adam’s comments (Paragraph 5) to show that ________.
| A．school education needs improvement |
| B．good students also need a break from school |
| C．schools need to pay more attention to truancy |
| D．many students believe occasional truancy isn’t serious |
What does Dr James suggest schools do about truancy?
| A．Fire all their unqualified teachers. |
| B．Improve communication with students. |
| C．Develop better ways to discover truancy. |
| D．Introduce more serious punishments. |
Hundreds of people lined up at Grand Central Terminal yesterday, but they
weren’t there to catch a train. They came to New York City’s famous railroad station to trade in old dollar bills for the new George Washington Presidential苊1 coin.
The gold-colored coin is the first in a new series by the U.S. Mint（造币厂）that honors former U.S. Presidents. The Mint will issue(发行) four Presidential苊1 coins a year through 2016. Like the popular 50 State Quarters program, which issues coins in the order in which each state joined the Union, Presidential苊1 coins will come out in the order in which each President served. The George Washington coin is the first to be released. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison coins will come out later this year.
The Presidential 苊1 coins will be the same size and color as the Sacagawea Golden Dollar. However, there is an important difference. For the first time since the 1930s, there is an inscription（题字）on the edge of each coin. Each coin will show a different President on its face, or head side. It will also show the President’s name, the order in which he served and his years in office. The other side of the coin will show the Statue of Liberty and the inscriptions “United States of America” and “苊 1”.
There will be one Presidential苊1 coin for each President, except Grover Cleveland. He will have two! Cleveland is the only U.S. President to have served two nonconsecutive（不连续的）terms.
The last President scheduled to get a coin is Gerald Ford because a President must have been dead for two years before he can be on a coin. Why did people line up at the railway station?
| A．To book train tickets. | B．To exchange money. |
| C．To visit a coin show. | D．To visit the station itself. |
In which order will the Presidential苊1 coins come out?
| A．Each state joined the Union. | B．Each President was born. |
| C．Each President took office. | D．Each President died. |
It can be inferred from the passage that .
| A．there are no words on the Sacagawea Golden Dollar |
| B．the new coin can buy more than the old coin |
| C．the new coin takes on a white color |
| D．the Sacagawea Golden Dollar is bigger |
Why will Grover Cleveland have two coins?
| A．He served longer than any other President. |
| B．He is the most famous President in the U.S. |
| C．He is the only one who has served two terms. |
| D．He served two terms but not continuously. |
Which of the following could be the best title of the passage?
| A．Presidential苊1 coin issued. |
| B．Different ways to honor Presidents. |
| C．The differences between Presidential苊1 coin and other coins. |
| D．Collections of old dollar bills. |
America’s greatest technological achievement, the Hoover Dam, now has a companion piece, a bridge held up by the longest arch in the Western Hemisphere（半球）. The Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which opened this month and connects the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, crosses the vast chasm（峡谷）890 feet above the Colorado River that is controlled by the dam.
The striking 1,900-foot-long structure will improve traffic in the region and help protect the dam from being destroyed. It is the seventh highest bridge in the world, behind four in China, one in Papua New Guinea and one in the US state of Colorado.
“The Hoover Dam is the greatest civil engineering achievement in America’s history,” said the bridge project manager Dave Zanatell. “Our goal was not to outdo or outshine it. Our goal was to, in a respectful way, do something that would be great for our generation and that would stand besides Hoover Dam in a respectful and quality way that would become a part of Hoover’s legacy（遗产）.”
Just as the Hoover Dam was built in the heart of the Great Depression（大萧条）and was seen as an example of the nation’s can-do spirit, some hope this project can also provide some uplift.
The bridge is surprising: at 1,050 feet, its support arch holds up a roadway that lies on 300-foot-long concrete pillars（柱子）, some of the tallest in the world. It contains 16 million pounds of steel.
The idea of the bridge came into being in the 1960s because the top of the Hoover Dam has been a narrow two-lane road that is the fastest route from Arizona to Las Vegas and then the Pacific Northwest and Canada.
Access to the dam from each direction is a dangerously winding route, but massive trucks and passenger vehicles shared it for decades. During the day, when thousands of tourists travel to the dam from Las Vegas three times as many accidents as on a normal road will happen.
The bridge has a sidewalk on the side facing the dam. The wall on both sides is 54 inches high, so walkers can take photos there.Which of the following is true of the Hoover Dam?
| A．It was completed recently. |
| B．It was built during the hard times. |
| C．It has the longest arch. |
| D．It’s the seventh highest dam in the world. |
What is one of the purposes of building the bridge?
| A．To protect the dam. | B．To save the cultures. |
| C．To outdo the dam. | D．To develop the tourism. |
The underlined word “uplift” in Paragraph 4 means _____.
| A．lift of the heavy object | B．support in money |
| C．spiritual encouragement | D．instruction in technology |
Which of the followings shows the right position of the bridge and dam?
The text is mainly about ______.
| A．the Hoover Dam |
| B．American western development |
| C．a tour along the Colorado River |
| D．a recently built bridge |
A town in Oxfordshire has become the first in the UK to have biomethane（生物甲烷）gas from human waste piped to their homes for gas central heating and cooking.
Up to 200 families in Didcot now receive the gas via the national gas power system. Head of energy and technology at British Gas, Martin Orrill, said customers wouldn’t notice any difference as the gas is purified（提炼）to the highest standard and has no smell. The gas is produced at a sewage（污物）treatment works plant in Didcot.
The entire process takes only less than three weeks, with the sewage being collected and sent first to settlement tanks. The solid waste material is then fed into digesters, where anaerobic bacteria（厌氧菌）digest the sewage, with the aid of enzymes（酶）to speed up the process. The digestion process produces methane, which can be burned to drive machines to produce electricity, or can be purified and fed into the gas network and piped to homes and businesses. British Gas says supplying the gas rather than electricity is far more efficient since around two-thirds of the energy is lost in producing electricity.
Partners in the Didcot project, British Gas, Scotia Gas Networks, and Thames Water, all hope to expand the process to other towns, and other companies such as Ecotricity and United Utilities have also announced biomethane projects being planned. One of these projects, in Manchester, could be supplying 500 homes with biomethane by mid next year. Another British Gas project in Suffolk will provide gas from digestion of brewery wastes to around 235 families.
The Didcot project cost ￡2.5m and was influenced by promises of government aids aimed at encouraging companies to develop renewable technologies. An EU directive means the UK must ensure at least 15 percent of its energy is from renewable sources by 2020.
The UK produces about 1.73 million tons of sewage annually. If all sewage treatment works in the UK were fitted with the technology, they could supply gas for up to 350,000 families.Which of the following is true of the biomethane gas?
| A．It’s mainly made from rotting plants. |
| B．It’s an environmentally friendly gas. |
| C．Its production process is too long. |
| D．It’s easily recognized by the customers. |
What is the function of the enzymes?
| A．To digest the solid waste material. |
| B．To help get rid of anaerobic bacteria. |
| C．To help purify the biomethane. |
| D．To speed up the digestion process. |
According to British Gas, the biomethane gas had better be used _____.
| A．as the power for the vehicles |
| B．for the heating and cooking |
| C．to produce the electricity |
| D．to drive a variety of machines |
The last three paragraphs mainly show that _____.
| A．UK government supports the biome thane projects |
| B．the biome thane projects are very costly |
| C．the biome thane projects still face many barriers |
| D．the biome thane projects are promising |
What should the text belong to?
| A．Computer science. | B．Engineering. | C．Energy. | D．Business. |
IQUIQUE, Chile (Reuters) — Rescue workers at the San Jose gold and copper mine in northern Chile had reason to sing this week. A small hole drilled into the earth became a passage to freedom for 33 trapped miners, who spent 69 days underground. “Never have people been trapped for so long so deeply,” says a doctor at NASA, the American space agency, which helped in the rescue.
But the chief medical officer for the miners said most are in good enough health to leave the hospital within a day or so. The first three recovered and went home Thursday night.
For much of the day the miners relaxed with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera. The 32 Chileans and 1 Bolivian still wore special sunglasses to protect their eyes.
A partial mine collapse on 5th August trapped them more than half a kilometer underground. They had to stretch a two-day food supply. For two weeks no one knew if they were alive or dead. Later, they received supplies.
The first miner rescued on Wednesday was Florencio Avalos. The second was Mario Sepulveda, who talked about how the experience tested his faith. The last miner up was Luis Urzua, who was the shift leader when his crew became trapped.
Rescuers used a metal cage to pull the miners to safety in less than 24 hours — faster than expected. The rescue capsule was a half-meter wide and known as the Phoenix, an imaginary bird from ancient stories. It bursts into flames but is continually reborn and rises from the ashes.
Chile’s Navy built the capsule with advice from mining experts and NASA engineers. It worked like an elevator, traveling up and down on a cable through a shaft（竖井）drilled 622 meters into the rocks.
Millions of people around the world watched the rescue. More than one thousand journalists traveled to the mine in the Atacama Desert to report on the rescue. They joined family members of the miners and rescue crews housed in an area of tents known as Camp Hope.What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Rescued miners speak out |
| B．Miners’ life deep underground |
| C．A rebirth for 33 rescued miners in Chile |
| D．Chilean president honors rescued miners |
How many rescued miners are still in hospital?
| A．3. | B．30. | C．33. | D．69. |
We can infer from the passage that ______.
| A．all the trapped miners are Chileans |
| B．the Chileans rescued the miners alone |
| C．the rescue caught the world’s attention |
| D．the trapped miners lived easily underground |
Which of the following is true of the Phoenix?
| A．It was a wooden cage like a capsule. |
| B．It worked efficiently in the rescue. |
| C．It was named after a real Chilean bird. |
| D．It was built by NASA engineers. |
The rescue is great for the reason that ______.
| A．33 trapped miners were saved |
| B．the American space agency took part |
| C．Chilean President was on the rescuing spot |
| D．it lasted so long and the miners were trapped so deep |
A daughter’s duty? Adult daughters are often expected to caregiver for older parents. In 2007, Jorjan Sarich and her dad moved from California to Idaho. It was where he wanted to live his rest time.
“I left my occupation, I left my friends; he did the same thing,” said Sarich, who bought a house with her father, George Snyder, in the China Gardens neighborhood of Hailey after his health began to decline. Though a graduate student struggling to finish her dissertation（论文）, Sarich chose to be her dad’s full-time caregiver.
“It’s only now, several years later, that I’m realizing how much work it was. It’s the kind of exhaustion（疲惫）that sleep doesn’t cure,” she said.
About 6 million Americans provide care to elderly relatives or friends living outside of nursing homes. Laurel Kennedy, author of “The Daughter Trap” (Thomas Dunne Books, $25.95), says that women bear a disproportionate（不成比例的）share of the burden — about 70 percent of hands-on care giving such as bathing.
“I want to be clear: Women don’t hate this,” Kennedy said. “What they hate is that everyone just assumes they’ll do it.”
Kennedy is calling for a social revolution equal to the rise of affordable child care and day care: Employers should help working caregivers by offering accommodations. Men should step up more often. It’s unfair that women are always chosen to provide care for an elderly family member.
Despite the hard work it took on Sarich — interrupted sleep and the knowledge that his 2009 death was the end game, she would do it again. Since about half a century had gone by, she wasn’t the person he remembered, and he wasn’t the person she remembered either. Caring for her father changed how each saw the other. Why did Jorjan Sarich caregiver for her father?
| A．It was a very easy job. | B．She had no work to do. |
| C．It was the social practice. | D．She lived with her father. |
What can we infer from the book “The Daughter Trap”?
| A．Daughters don’t like care giving. |
| B．Daughters devote a lot to care giving. |
| C．Care giving is daughters’ duty. |
| D．Care giving should be sons’ duty. |
What does the underlined phrase “a social revolution” refer to?
| A．The child care revolution. | B．The reform in day care. |
| C．The social development. | D．The change in care giving. |
How many years did Jorjan Sarich work as her father’s full-time caregiver?
| A．Five years. | B．Only one year. | C．Four years. | D．Two years. |
In her care giving, Jorjan Sarich _____.
| A．got along well with her father | B．was a little tired of her father |
| C．changed her father in every way | D．felt it was unfair to do so |
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