Americans Spend Their Free Time In Various Ways
America is a country of sports—of hunting，fishing and swimming，and of team sports like baseball and football．Millions of Americans watch their favorite sports on television．They also like to play in community orchestras(管弦乐队)，make their own films or recordings，go camping，visit museums，attend lectures，travel，garden，read，and join in hundreds of other activities．The people also enjoy building things for their homes，sewing their own clothes，even making their own photographs．They do these things for fun as well as for economy．
But as much as Americans enjoy their free time，the country is at the same time a“self-improvement” country．More than 25 million adults continue their education，chiefly by going to school in the evening， during their own free time，at their own expense．Added to the time spent on personal activities，Americans a1so devote a great amount of their time to the varied needs of their communities．Many hospitals，schools，libraries，museums，parks，community centers，and organizations that assist the poor depend on the many hours citizens devote to these activities，often without any pay. Why do they do it?
There are several answers．The idea of cooperating and sharing responsibility with one another for the benefit of all is as old as the country itself．
When the country was first founded in 1776，it was necessary for the settlers to work together to live．They had crossed dangerous seas and risked all they had in their struggle for political and religious freedom．There remains among many Americans a distrust of central government．People still prefer to do things themselves within their communities，rather than give the government more control．
Sometimes people offer their time because they wish to accomplish something for which no money is paid，to do something that will be of benefit to the entire community．It is true that some people use their leisure because they are truly interested in the work；or they are learning from the experience．
No matter what the reason is，hundreds of thousands of so-called leisure hours are put into hard，unpaid work on one or another community need．The writer mentions the foundation of the country in order to indicate ____．
| A．the reason for Americans’ willingness to cooperate and share responsibility |
| B．the American people’s determination to live |
| C．the American people’s love for freedom |
| D．the early history of America |
Which of the following best explains the meaning of the underlined word “leisure”?
A．work time B. spare time C. energy C. effort This passage is mainly about ________ ．
| A．how Americans are devoted to their community activities |
| B．why America is a “self-improvement” country |
| C．why America is a country of sports |
| D．how Americans spend their free time |
The education of thousands of children with reading and sight trouble is being held back because of a lack of awareness of their legal rights, say campaigners.
They are calling for greater efforts to increase awareness of the rights of such children to have text books in design other than standard (标准) print. The campaign is being supported by five times Olympic gold medalist, Sir Steve Redgrave, who has reading trouble.
Pupils have the right to receive text in another way, and parents can take action under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) if they feel their children are being treated in a different way through a lack of support. But new research suggests 89 per cent of print disabled pupils and their parents are unaware of software which changes standard print into other substitutes like combined text and audio files (音频) which can be read or listened to.
Sir Steve has teamed up with software company Dolphin Computer Access to raise awareness of software turning tools. He said: "I recognize that schools have competing priorities (优先权) for their resources (资源), but I would like to see a much greater effort on the part of the government and schools to raise awareness among parents that these additional solutions exist and that their children have a right to use them."
Mike Foster, Dolphin's local MP in Worcester, is backing the campaign. "There is clearly an issue to solve concerning software for special needs. I'll be asking ministers what steps can be taken to improve the situation", he said.What is the best title of this text?
| A．Awareness of legal rights among parents | B．Campaign started for disabled children |
| C．Problems of disabled children | D．Steve — Olympic gold medalist |
Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “backing” in Paragraph 5?
| A．holding back | B．objecting to | C．supporting | D．controlling |
Most print disabled pupils and their parents
________.
| A．don’t know anything about such software |
| B．must cooperate with the software company |
| C．prefer combined text and audio files more |
| D．must take action to receive text in another way |
Sir Steve Redgrave suggests that
________.
| A．government and schools raise awareness of disabled children’s legal rights |
| B．parents take greater efforts to ask the government and schools for help |
| C．parents should take action to raise awareness of software turning tools |
| D．software company work with him to make the products |
What Mike Foster said in Paragraph 5 means
________.
| A．the ministers should be responsible for improving the situation |
| B．the software for special needs has got well along |
| C．the problem about software for special needs is to be dealt with |
| D．how to use the software is a big problem |
Connie Lau hates smoking. “It smells awful, and it’s so bad for you. It breaks my heart to see my friends smoking. I try to get them to give up smoking.” She says.
So why does Connie walk into convenience stores and try to buy cigarettes? She is testing to see if stores will sell cigarettes to a kid who is younger than 18. “You have to be 18 to purchase cigarettes, and I’m 16, so if they sell to me, they’re breaking the law,” Connie says.
Connie isn’t a vigilante (治安队员); She works with local police in her town of Castro Valley, California. Officers drive her to stores, and she goes in alone to try to buy cigarettes. If the person behind the counter sells her a pack, an officer comes in and writes the business a ticket for breaking the law.
Most stores obey the law and don’t sell her cigarettes. The law requires that customers show ID if store employees ask them to. “When they ask your age, you can’t lie,” Connie says. “Most stores don’t sell to me. In a year, we’ve visited almost 150 stores and had only 15 sales.”
Working undercover can be scary, even with police nearby. Connie said one cashier refused to sell her cigarettes and then got angry when he found out her age. He threatened to call the authorities. “To calm him down, the police went in to explain that I was undercover,” she says.
Most teens wouldn’t think of going undercover for the police. What’s Connie’s motivation (动机)? For starters, she can’t stand smoking. But she also believes it’s important for young people like her to try to make a real impact in their communities. In her view, teens can do more than get good grades in school, do chores at home, and do well in out-of-class activities.
Every time she stops the sale of cigarettes to children, she’s helping to uphold the law. “A single teenager can make a big difference,” Connie says. “For the most part, when stores get caught, they learn their lesson and don’t do it again.” According to the law what age of person can the store be allowed to sell cigarettes to?
| A．Under 18. | B．More than 18. | C．16. | D．More than 16. |
Connie goes to convenience stores to
________.
| A．discover whether stores can sell cigarettes to kids |
| B．see which stores can sell cigarettes to her friends |
| C．look for her friends |
| D．arrest the smokers |
What would happen if an owner sells cigarettes to kids?
| A．The owner would be arrested. | B．The owner would be fined. |
| C．The kids would be punished. | D．The kids would be removed from school. |
One reason that Connie works undercover is that
________.
| A．she wants more smokers to quit smoking |
| B．she wants to get good grades in school |
| C．she hopes to make a difference in the area |
| D．she hopes to be excellent in out-of-class activities |
Which of the following might be the main idea of the text?
| A．Smoking can be forbidden with the help of a girl. |
| B．A good way to stop a store from selling cigarettes to kids. |
| C．Connie Lau — a brave girl who goes undercover for the policeman. |
| D．Connie Lau goes undercover to stop stores from selling cigarettes to kids. |
I visited the nearby car factory today with my uncle, who works there. One thing I noticed was that most of the work is now done by robots. Welding (焊接), painting, testing, and many other jobs are performed by robots now.
The whole dashboard (仪表板) of the car is now put into the car from above, through the windshield, by a robot. It would have taken two men to do this in the past, and it would have hurt their backs quite a bit. It got me thinking: is it a good thing that robots are replacing factory workers? On one hand, robots generally do a more accurate job than people. They aren’t likely to make many mistakes, and if something goes wrong with one car, an alarm goes off. They do exactly the same thing, every time, without fail. A human worker is never able to do exactly the same thing every time. On the other hand, robots also reduce costs for companies. Companies don’t have to pay robots wages or injury compensation (补偿) if they’re broken. If something in a robot does go wrong, it won’t have to take time off work for a year, or even forever, as could happen to a real person if he breaks his back or burn himself while welding.
The obvious downside to all of this is that it increases the unemployment rate. The company will have to bring in some very talented individuals who know how to operate the robots. Unlike regular factory workers, these intelligence workers usually demand a higher pay.
We can learn from the first paragraph that _______.
| A．all the workers are replaced by robots now |
B．robots do much of the work instead of workers now |
C．there were no workers in the car factory |
D．the author’s uncle made robots in the factory |
According to the text robots _______.
| A．can do work as accurately as workers |
B．never break down |
C．can do exactly the same thing repeatedly |
D．ask for less money from companies |
The underlined word "downside" in the last paragraph probably means "_______".
| A．weakness | B．favor | C．assistance | D．strength |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _______.
A．companies refuse to pay for intelligence workers |
B．robots have helped all of the workers |
C．robots can help solve the problem of unemployment |
D．using robots in factories widely will have a long way to go |
What is the author’s attitude towards using robots in factories?
| A．He is doubtful about it. | B．He thinks it necessary. |
C．He is strongly against it. | D． The text doesn’t mention it. |
Have you dreamed of traveling to cool places, meeting different people, and maybe picking up a language or two? No matter which country you live in, you can fly over the world’s highest waterfalls in Venezuela, study in France or take dancing lessons in Ghana. Besides the excitement of traveling, there is another reason to study abroad. "Obviously, I learned the language and am now fluent, but perhaps what’s more important was how much I learned about cultures, people, and myself." said Andrew, who studied in France.
Christina studied in Caracas, Venezuela, a city of 10 million people and a huge change from her hometown of 35,000! Christina said she learned how to better speak for herself and her beliefs and to express herself in another language. What could make you more confident than that?
Living away from home can also help you become adapted to the transition (过渡) to college and adulthood. Matthew said that he returned from studying in Australia with confidence, and a real interest in international affairs. "After having gone abroad in high school, I found the transition to college was a breeze — moving 560 miles from home didn’t seem difficult at all after having lived thousands of miles away. "
Speaking of college, improving your language skills might help you get into ideal colleges and even land future jobs. Colleges and employers know that studying abroad provides leadership skills in a world that needs much communication. Most of all, it’s fun! You won’t suffer from the general boredom (单调) while you’re studying in a different learning environment.
What do we know about Andrew?
| A．He once flew over the world’s highest waterfalls. |
B．He took dancing lessons in Ghana. |
C．He learned about cultures in Caracas, Venezuela. |
D．He studied in France. |
According to Christina, studying abroad enables people to ________.
| A．get along with people around | B．have confidence in themselves |
C．get used to a different life | D．know about different cultures |
By saying "I found the transition to college was a breeze", the author means it is _______ to adapt to college life.
| A．interesting | B．difficult | C．easy | D．disappointing |
From the last paragraph, the greatest thing you can get by studying abroad is to _______.
| A．enjoy the excitement of traveling | B．pick up a new language |
C．enter the university you dreamed of | D．make your life full of pleasure |
What does the text mainly talk about?
| A．The advantages of studying abroad. | B．What to prepare to study abroad. |
C．The experiences of studying abroad. | D．Different opinions on studying abroad. |
Up, Up, and Away!
An adventurer who became the first person to fly across the English Channel on a cluster（簇）of balloons has launched a house into the sky just like in the hit movie Up-in reparation for a more ambitious journey and a new record
Fearless Trappe , from North Carolina, stepped into the cartoon themed home before flying above the leon International Balloon Festivel in Mexico more than a week ago.
The 38-year-old Trappe was using the event as a warm-up for his planned trans-Atlantic flight scheduled for next summer ,He aims to complete the 2,500-mile journey in a seven-foot lifeboat carried by 365 huge helium（氦气）ballooms
The brave man is learning to sail a lifeboat ,in case he meeds to ditch (在海中迫降)into the ocean during the danger-filled adventure
He sill fly at between 18,000 feet and 25,000 feet , beating his previous world altitude record of 21,600 feet ,and must fly uninterrupted a distance ten times longer than his previous world record of 230 miles in order to succeed.
The adventurer Trappe ,who holes records for crossing the Alps, flying the most cluster balloons, and the longest distance , has opent his entire carreer ,building up to this ambitious plan.
“I didn’t wake up one day and think：‘I’ going to fly across the Atlantic, ’”he said “he said Every attempt before this was prepared for this fight ,I’ve been training for a long time”The adventurer flew across the English Channel to
| A．test the balloons |
| B．launch a house |
| C．shoot a hit movie |
| D．prepare for breaking a record |
To finish the journey ,he will fly a distance of
| A．2500 miles | B．18,000 feet | C．25,000 feet | D．230 miles |
About the ambitious journey ,which is NIT mentioned in the passage?
| A．When he will fly | B．How high he sill fly |
| C．How far he will fly | D．How long it will take him |
How many world records does Jonathan hold?
| A．Two | B．Three | C．Four | D．Five |
What does he last paragraph imply?
| A．Trappe can’t sleep worrying about the adventure |
| B．Trappe was born to set world records |
| C．Trappe always keeps his ambition in mind |
| D．Trappe never thought of crossing the Ataantic before |
粤公网安备 44130202000953号