In a growing number of English classes, teachers are leaving the classic novels on the shelf and letting students select the books they read. Supporters say that the new approach, called reader’s workshop, helps develop a love for reading in students who are bored by classic literature. They argue that the best way to motivate students to read more is to offer them more choices.
Not all educators are on the same page, however. They worry that students who choose trendy, less challenging titles over the classics won’t be exposed to the great writing and key themes of important works of literature.Student reporters Donald and Sarah express their ideas about this new approach.
Donald thinks that we should turn the page. Students should be allowed to select the books they read in English class. He says he and his classmates are allowed to pick their own books in class. That makes them more focused, and they look forward to class time. Tristin, a classmate of his at Clinton Middle School agrees. “I’m reading books that I want to read, which makes class more fun and interesting,” he says. Offering students a choice may also improve test scores. Studies by Professor John Guthrie of the University of Maryland found that students in grades 4 through 6 who had some choices in the books they read showed improved reading comprehension skills during testing. Giving students the chance to decide what they read helps build a lifelong love for reading. Isn’t that what we want for our students?
Sarah holds a different view. She thinks teachers know more about books than students do. When an English teacher assigns a book, he or she keeps in mind the reading level of most students in the class. Students who choose their own books might be cheating themselves by picking books that are not up to their reading level or that are too difficult. Furthermore, a whole class can discuss a book it reads together. That makes it easier for some kids to understand what they are reading. “The students wouldn’t be able to hold a meaningful conversation if they were all reading different books,” says Kristin, an English teacher at Fleetwood Area Middle School. “If they read the same book, their conversations would be more in-depth.”What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence “Not all educators are on the same page”?
| A．Educators have different opinions. |
| B．Educators didn’t appear at the same time. |
| C．Educators wrote in different pages. |
| D．Educators didn’t agree with the author. |
Donald thinks that the new approach could __________.
| A．helped students be more focused in class |
| B．draw students to reading classic novels |
| C．make students less worried in English class |
| D．encourage students to red more challenging books |
Sarah thinks that the new approach might __________.
| A．help students improve reading comprehension skills |
| B．help students hold meaningful conversations in class |
| C．make some students read books not suitable for them |
| D．make some students ignore the important works of literature |
Who has the same attitude towards the new approach with Kristin?
| A．Donald. | B．Sarah. | C．Tristin. | D．John Guthrie. |
The author develops the text mainly by __________.
| A．listing cases |
| B．making comparisons |
| C．following time order |
| D．explaining causes and effects |
Sicily, an island of Italy, is home to beautiful beaches, outstanding food, and a bit of Italian history on every corner. It’s located just southwest of the Italian mainland and it’s the largest Mediterranean island. Controlled by many armies over the centuries, it became the site of Roman and Greek colonies(殖民地). Those cultures remain to this day.
As part of the Year of Italy in China, an exhibition of Sicilian culture is being held at the National Museum of China from April 29 to June 27. Although they have a rich culture and history, Sicilian people lead a simple life. Living on land with fertile (肥沃的) soil, most of them work in agriculture, fishing and of course tourism.
In Sicily, most stores and businesses are closed from one to four in the afternoon. Streets become crowded around five as people start to go out and engage in a variety of activities. They may take a walk to the shops, enjoy a pastry (糕点)or just meet up with friends.
Food is one of the great pleasures of Sicilian people. There is an old Sicilian saying: “With a contented stomach, your heart is forgiving. With an empty stomach you forgive nothing.”
People will go miles out their way to eat fresh seafood, such as tuna(金枪鱼), swordfish(箭鱼) and sardines(沙丁鱼).
Pasta (意大利面)is the main food. Each region has its seasonal pasta dishes, and every family cook their own specialty. Bread is common too. As another Sicilian saying goes, “A table without bread is like a day without sunshine.” In Sicily, bread is always freshly baked or bought, and usually twice a day.What can be learned from the passage?
| A．Sicily is the only island in Italy. |
| B．It is easy to do shopping in the afternoon. |
| C．Sicily was controlled by several countries. |
| D．Sicilian people seldom take part in activities. |
The local people work in several fields EXCEPT .
| A．fishing | B．mining | C．tourism | D．agriculture |
The underlined sentence in the last paragraph is used to show .
| A．bread is a must for Sicilians |
| B．food is a great pleasure for them |
| C．bread should be cooked every day |
| D．Sicilians have nothing to eat but bread |
The best title of this passage might be______.
| A．Italian people |
| B．Italian culture |
| C．A Sicilian exhibition |
| D．Sicily—an Island of Italy |
Today we'll talk about reading．When we read a text，our eyes move across a page in short，quick movements．We recognize words usually when our eyes still fixate(停留，凝视)．Each time they fixate，we see a group of words．This is known as the recognition span or the visual span．The length of time for which the eyes stop varies from person to person．It also varies within any person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text．In addition，it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
Unfortunately，in the past，many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the page．As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading，many exercises have been designed to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation．For example，in some exercises，words are flashed on to a screen for a tenth of a second．One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point，taking in the words on either side．Such word patterns are often formed in the shape of pyramids，so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive（连续的）fixation．All these exercises are very clever，but it's one thing to improve a person's ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently.Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words．Consequently，for these reasons，many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training，especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated(孤立的)words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text．The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following factors except _______.
| A．1ighting and tiredness |
| B．one's purpose in reading |
| C．the length of a group of words |
| D．one's familiarity with the text |
What does the author mean by the underlined sentence in the second paragraph?
| A．The ability to see words is not needed for an efficient reading． |
| B．The reading exercises mentioned are of little help to an efficient reading. |
| C．The reading exercises mentioned can help improve reading. |
| D．The reading exercises mentioned have done a great job so far. |
The author may believe that reading ______________.
| A．demands a deeply-participating mind |
| B．requires a reader to see words more quickly |
| C．requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation |
| D．demands more eyes than mind |
The tune of the author in writing this text is _________________．
| A．supportive | B．neutral |
| C．critical | D．optimistic |
Over 500 dogs being delivered to a butcher house were saved by a Chinese animal protection organization.
The incident then triggered debate among Chinese netizens about the necessity of pouring so much money and efforts into saving dogs.
On Friday, a truck loaded with over 500 dogs were stopped by volunteers from animal protection organization on Jingha Expressway Beijing section.
Beijing Times reported these dogs were being delivered to slaughter houses in the city of Changchun, northeast Jilin Province and would be eventually served on dinner tables.
After negotiations with the truck driver, pet service provider Leepet Holding Corp.and a philanthropic foundation, Shang shan Foundation purchased these dogs, each paying 50,000 yuan.Dogs were then delivered to the headquarter of China Small Animal Protection Association (CSAPA), being taken care of and waiting for adoption.
After the “dog saving mission” was reported, Chinese net users debate over whether saving dogs worth so much efforts and money while there are still many poor and needy people in China lacking assistance.
Some net users argue the “dog saving mission” is placing overt attention to animals while lots of needy people are still left unattended.
A microblogger “Xiaowulaitajie” said on China's twitter like website, weibo.com, “Dogs are saved, adopted and they attracted media spotlight. We'd better spend such money and take such efforts in helping the needy people.”
Another microblogger, Liluping, said “We poured such huge sum of money into saving dogs.I would rather the money be spent on disaster relief.”
Some applaud volunteers'actions and show eagerness of offering their helping hands to those saved dogs.
Still many disapprove those “saving dogs” critics, but they argue that such act nonetheless promotes social progress.
A microblogger named “broken bridge” said, saving dogs does not run counter to taking care of people.Such enthusiasm in public affairs will help raise social awareness in helping the needy.
I think people and animals are created equal.Attention should be paid to people as well as animals.
Where did the article come from?
| A．A storybook. | B．A novel. |
| C．Internet. | D．A magazine. |
Which one has the similar meaning to the underlined phrase “run counter
to” in the last but one paragraph？
| A．meet with | B．go against |
| C．agree with | D．come across |
Whose opinion is closest to the writer's?
| A．Some net users'. | B．Broken bridge's. |
| C．Liluping's. | D．Xiaowulaitajie's. |
The following statements are TRUE except _______.
| A．All the people don't think it right to save these dogs with so much money. |
| B．More than 25,000,000 yuan was given to the truck driver to purchase these dogs. |
| C．These dogs were finally saved and sent back to their owners. |
| D．Some people think it better to spend the money in helping the needy people. |
Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation?
UBC Professor Simard explains how trees are much more complex than most of us ever imagined.Although Charles Darwin thought that trees are competing for survival of the fittest, Simard shows just how wrong he was.In fact, the opposite is true: trees survive through their co-operation and support, passing around necessary nutrition “depending on who needs it”.
Nitrogen（氮） and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi（真菌） networks, making sure that all trees in the forest ecological system give and receive just the right amount to keep them all healthy. This hidden system works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons（神经元）in our brains, and when one tree is destroyed, it affects all.
Simard talks about “mother trees”, usually the largest and oldest plants on which all other trees depend.She explains how dying trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow.When humans cut down “mother trees” with no awareness of these highly complex “tree societies” or the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances of survival for the entire forest.
“We didn't take any notice of it.” Simard says sadly.“Dying trees move nutrition into the young trees before dying, but we never give them chance.” If we could put across the message to the forestry industry, we could make a huge difference towards our environmental protection efforts for the future.What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Old Trees Communicate Like Humans |
| B．Young Trees Are In Need Of Protection |
| C．Trees Contribute To Our Society |
| D．Trees Are More Complex Than You Think |
In Simard's opinion, trees _______
| A．compete for survival | B．protect their own wealth |
| C．depend on each other | D．provide support for dying trees |
We can learn from the passage that .
| A．“mother trees” are usually of no use to other trees. |
| B．Charles Darwin had the same thought as Simard. |
| C．if “mother trees” are cut down, the survival for the entire forest will be affected. |
| D．people know much about the complex “tree societies”. |
The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to .
| A．how “tree societies” work |
| B．how trees grow old |
| C．how forestry industry develops |
| D．how young trees survive |
Everyone's at it, even my neighbors.I thought I might be the only person left in the world who hadn't done an eBay deal.So I decided to try my hand at online auction.
Buying for beginners: Sign up on www.eBay.co.uk.Most items (e.g.tables, computers, and books) ready for auction will come with a picture and a short description; others may be marked with “Buy It Now” and have a fixed price. You can buy these right away.
If the item is being auctioned, you offer the highest price you are prepared to pay and eBay bids for you.The bid will be increased little by little until it goes beyond your highest bid, then you are emailed and asked if you would like to bid again.Auctions last up to 10 days, and when they finish you get an email telling you whether you have won the item.
How to pay: Sellers decide how they would like to be paid and you need to check this before placing a bid as you might not want to post a cheque or postal orders.The easiest way is through PayPal, an online payment system that takes the money away from your credit card.
Selling made simple: If you plan to sell on eBay, it helps to include a picture of the item.I followed my friends'advice and put up the items I wanted to sell for a 10-day auction, starting on a Thursday.This way buyers had two weekends to bid.
The big things in life: It's easy to post a small item, but furniture is a big part of eBay and this has to be collected or sent by delivery men.Check the ways of delivery before you bid.The passage suggests that a buyer ________.
| A．has more than one chance to bid |
| B．should make payment immediately |
| C．can only buy one item |
| D．must give the credit card to the seller |
The easiest way of making payment mentioned in the passage is ______.
| A．through an online payment system |
| B．through a local bank system |
| C．by sending the money to the seller |
| D．by paying the delivery man directly |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Big items can't be sold on eBay. |
| B．Including a picture of the item for sale helps make the selling simple. |
| C．Sellers can only be paid in one way. |
| D．Most items ready for auction don't have a picture. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．How to make payment online. |
| B．Ways of making delivery online. |
| C．Advantages of an online auction system. |
| D．How to use an online auction system. |
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