Like fine food, good writing is something we approach with pleasure and enjoy from the first taste to the last. And good writers, like good cooks, do not suddenly appear full-blown. Quite the opposite, just as the cook has to undergo a particular training, mastering the skills of his trade, the writer must sit at his desk and devote long hours to achieving a style in his writing, whatever its purpose is—schoolwork, matters of business, or purely social communication.
You may be sure that the more painstaking the effort, the more effective the writing, and the more rewarding.
There are still some faraway places in the world where you might find a public scribe to do your business or social writing for you, for money. There are a few managers who are lucky enough to have the service of that rare kind of secretary who can take care of all sorts of letter writing with no more than a quick note to work from. But for most of us, if there is any writing to be done, we have to do it ourselves.
We have to write school papers, business papers or home papers. We are constantly called on to put words to papers. It would be difficult to count the number of such words, messages, letters, and reports put into mails or delivered by hand, but the daily figures must be extremely large. What is more, everyone who writes expects, or at least hopes whatever he writes will be read, from first word to last, not just thrown into some “letters-to-be-read” files or into a wastepaper basket. This is the reason we bend our efforts toward learning and practicing the skills of interesting, effective writing. In this passage, good writing is compared to fine food because _______.
| A．both are enjoyable |
| B．both are hard to learn |
| C．both are necessary to life |
| D．both take a long time to prepare |
according to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
| A．Writing skills are less important than experience. |
| B．A good writer should have his own way of writing. |
| C．A good writer should learn to write all kinds of articles. |
| D．The more efforts one makes, the more money one can earn. |
The author thinks that the most important reason for us to practice writing skills is _______.
| A．to earn our living |
| B．to attract others to read |
| C．to do daily reports easily |
| D．to become good secretaries |
The purpose of the author in writing this passage is to _______.
| A．comment and blame |
| B．introduce and describe |
| C．explain and persuade |
| D．interest and inform |
D
Whenever you buy something, it is possible that someone has already worn, eaten, or tested
it to make sure it is safe and do what is supposed to do. But what if you wanted a special suit to keep a shark from hurting you? Who wants to test a product like it?
"I do! " says Jeremiah Sullwan, a scientist in California "You have to believe in what you sell, right?"
Sullivan. owns SharkArmor Tech, a company that makes a $ 49400 sharksuit that even a great white shark can’ t bite through. Before Sullivan could sell his sharksuits, he needed to make sure his design would work. Sullivan put on the sharksuit and jumped into a shark feeding ground. "I need to know exactly what a human body could expect to go through," he says. Sharks moved all around him and then attacked his arm. Sullivan felt the bite but no teeth. He was uncomfortable at times, but not painful. The suit works! "
"I’ve now been bitten thousands of times but. never badly," says Sullivan, who now works with shows like Wild Kingdom, and programs for the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week.
So,are you all set to buy a sharksuit? Before you do, you should know that the suit weighs 20 pounds and makes swimming almost impossible--not so practical for a day on the beach. And in fact, Sullivan wants only professionals, such as filmmakers, scientists and drivers, to have sharksuits. Why? Because even if someone is wearing a sharksuit, they could get seriously hurt if they treat diving with a 4,OOO-pound shark as a game.
During sharksuit testing, sharks have thrown Sullivan to a bottom o/ reefs(礁) and tried to take him off into the deepest part of the ocean. "However," Sullivan says," you don't need to be afraid of sharks. It’s actually pretty hard to get a shark to bite you, "
The first paragraph is written to .
| A．start a discussion |
| B．introduce the topic of the text |
| C．show the main points of the text |
| D．test readers' knowledge |
Why did Sullivan get close to sharks?
| A．To see if his sharksuit works. |
| B．To study what sharks feed on. |
| C．To catch a special kind of white shark. |
| D．To learn how to swim with sharks safely, |
What does the underlined part in Paragraph 5 mean?
| A．Most people won't wear the sharksuit to the beach |
| B．People like to go to the beach with the sharksuit. |
| C．The sharksuit makes a perfect day on the beach |
| D．The sharksuit can’t be worn for a whole day. |
We can learn from the text that the sharksuit _
| A．works well for swimmers |
| B．is light but uncomfortable |
| C．keeps sharks away from humans |
| D．is designed for special purpose |
C
Join the Family Read-Aloud Celebration, held by the Gonda Family Library and the Family School Alliance at UCLA Lab School, from February 21 to March 14,2014. We ask you to spend time reading aloud to your children at least 20 minutes each day.We hope to help families develop a habit of reading aloud every day throughout and beyond primary school. We'll finish the celebration with a party on March 14 for the whole school.
Ways to join:
● Visit Book Corner for reading aloud suggestions.
Come to the start of the activity on Friday, Feb, 21.
● Add books to our list of favorite read aloud
● Send us a photo of your family reading together (jkan,tor@ucta. edu). We will share it at the party.
● Record your family's reading journey! .
● Join us for th︿ party on March 14,5一7 p. rn.
Go on a reading journey!
Books can introduce your family to interesting people, exciting places, adventures and information. Let your journeys take you through these categories:
●Fiction ● Picture books ● Poetry
●Science ● History ● Sports
●Arts ● other Non-Fiction ● Benefits of Reading Aloud
Reading aloud helps a cloud to read with pleasure, create background knowledge, and build vocabulary. It also provides children with a reading model. Reading aloud doesn't just benefit young children. Parents should continue reading aloud as their children grow because listening comprehension is more important than reading skills in middle school.
Jim Trelease, in his Read-Aloud Handbook, has noted that almost as big a mistake as not reading to children at all is stopping too soon Until about the eighth grade, children listen and comprehend on a higher level than their reading skills allow them to read independently, This means children can hear and understand stories that are more difficult and more interesting than anything they can read on their own
What’s the purpose of the Family Read-Aloud Celebration?
| A．To celebrate the joys of reading. |
| B．To help improve family relationship, |
| C．To change families bad reading habits. |
| D．To get families into the habit of reading aloud. |
If you want to join the activity, you're supposed to __
| A．mail a book to the school |
| B．make an appearance at the starting day |
| C．read out loud from 5～7 p. m every day |
| D．share your reading experience at the party |
We can infer from Jim Tyelease that.
| A．young children show greater skills at listening than reading |
| B．children should be allowed to make mistakes in reading |
| C．interesting stories are easier for children to understand |
| D．the eighth-graders can-t read on their own |
In which part of a website can We find the text?
| A．Culture | B．Lifestyle. |
| C．Education. | D．Science. |
B
We answer some questions this week in our series on getting into an American college or university.
The first question is about our recent discussion of English language test. Vo Ngoc from Vietnam would like to know about the TOEIC, which is designed to measure skills of English as spoken in the workplace.
The Educational Testing Service administers the TOEIC. It says the test measures the language skills of people working in an international environment. American colleges and universities accept scores from the TOFEL and often the IELTS. If you miss our report on these tests, you can find it at our website www. unsv. com..
Tahir Mahood from Pakistan asks how to improve his English before taking these kinds of tests. Well, you can start by looking for ways to use English as much as you can Watch American movies and TV shows and read books in English Look for English speakers to talk to.
The Internet has many free materials for Engiish learners. Visitors to www. unsv. com. for example, can read, listen and watch programmes on many different subjects. The U.S. Department of Education recent launched a free website designed to help immigrants learn English.
The site is called USA Learns at www. usalearns, org, like www. chinadaily. cn, intended for English learners in China
Next,a question from Turkey:Hasan Eker asks about getting a postdoctoral position in the U. S. This is work generally done by a person who recently earned a PhD. The National Post-doctoral Association in Washington has information about international postdocs on its website www. Nationalpostal.org.
And, finally, we have questions from Iran, Afghanistan and Indonesia about how to pay an education through jobs. There’re rules that restrict the kinds of jobs that foreign students
can have while studying in the U. S.
What-s the purpose of the passage?
| A．To attract more people to the website. |
| B．To introduce the TOEIC to readers. |
| C．To ask questions on entering American universities. |
| D．To help deal with some puzzles on entering American colleges. |
According to the passage, TOEIC is .
| A．a must for those who go to American universities |
| B．designed for whoever apply for a job with companies |
| C．to test a student’s language skills in the workplace |
| D．a test for students to graduate from universities |
A person wb.o wants to learn. English can go to the following EXCEPT.
| A．www. unsv. Com |
| B．www. national postdoc. org |
| C．www. usalearns. Org |
| D．www chinadaily. cn, |
What can we know from the passage?
A. Foreign students are not allowed to do whatever jobs they like in the U. S.
B. Every graduate from colleges can get a postdoctoral position if they want to.
C. The IELTS is also necessary for job application like the TOEIC.
D. Students from Iran aren’t allowed to have jobs in the U. S.
A
Two workers was rescued 188 hours after they trapped in a coal mine collapse(倒塌)in the south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region The two were among 18 miners trapped after the mine, collapsed midday on July 2 because of days of heavy rain.
A total of 71 miners were working underground when the accident occurred on July 2---49 managed to escape. Rescuers have got eight bodies so far.
Ye Fangyong, commander of the rescue headquarters, said that the place where the survi- vors were found was at 320 meters underground. It was filled with mud after the collapse, but there was still room for fresh air. He said three more miners trapped at a work platform390 meters underground may survive because the place also have some space for fresh air.
Rescuers had believed that four other miners would be found with the rescued two, but the chances of the remaining 12 being found alive are not good due to the conditions in the mine.
However, the rescuers have not given up. They are using scientific measures such as a water-proof radar device(裟置)to help find the exact locations of trapped workers. Moreover, rescuers have been offered 2 million yuan for each miner they pull out alive.
The two survivors have been identified a) 41-year-old Liu Jiagan and 35-year-old Qin Hongdang. They are in safe condition.
Before they were rushed to Heshan People's Hospital for treatment, they told rescuers in weak voices that they survived under the mine by drinking spring water that seeped(渗漏) through the top of the shaft(矿井).The local mine coal accident was probably reported on.
| A．July8 | B．Julylo | C．July2 | D．July3 |
What caused the coal mine break down?
| A．Workers abnormal xvc}rking |
| B．Typhoonn. |
| C．Days of heavy rajp |
| D．Shock of the ca:thquake |
According to the passage,th. e rrmPrs could be alive unaerground if .
| A．there is some space for fresh air |
| B．they are equippeci with water-proof raciar device |
| C．they drink enough water |
| D．there is enough food |
Which of the following is TRUE accoraing to the passage?
| A．Scientific measures are used to help rescue the trapped workers. |
| B．Each miners being pulled out alive will be offered 2 miliion yuan. |
| C．Officials offered to give the continuing rescuers higher rank |
| D．Water-proof radar- will be puf down to give light. |
E
People talk about energy everywhere．Green energy, for example．Then, energy independence．It has a nice ring to it．Doesn' t it? If you think so, you' re not alone, because energy independence has been the dream of American president for decades, and never more so than in the past few years, when the most recent oil price shock has been partly responsible for kicking off the great recession（经济衰退）．
"Energy independence" and its rhetorical （修辞的） companion "energy security" are, however, unreliable concepts that are rarely thought through．What is it that we want independence from, exactly?
Most people would probably say that they want to be independent from imported oil．But there are reasons that we buy all that oil from elsewhere．
The first reason is that we need it to keep our economy running．Yes, there is a trickle （ 涓涓细流） ）of biofuel （ 生物燃料 ）available, and more may become available, but most biofuels cause economic waste and environmental destruction．
Second, Americans have basically decided that they don't really want to produce all their own oil．They value the environmental quality they preserve over their oil imports from abroad．Vast areas of the United States are off-limits to oil exploration and production in the name of environmental protection．To what extent are Americans really willing to tolerate the environmental influence of domestic（国内的） energy production in order to cut back imports?
Third, there are benefits to trade．It allows for eoonomic efficiency, and when we buy things from places that have lower production costs t1i;m we do, we benefit．And although you don't read about this much, the United States is also a large exporter of oil products, selling about 2 million barrels of petroleum products per day to about 90 countries．
There is no question that the United States imports a great deal of energy and, in fact, relies on that steady flow to keep its economy stable．When that flow is interrupted, we feel the pain in short supplies and higher prices．At the same time, we get massive economic benefits when we buy the most affordable energy on the world market and when we engage in energy trade around the world．What does the author say about energy independence for America?
| A．It sounds very attractive． |
| B．It ensures national security． |
| C．It will bring oil prices down． |
| D．It will protect the environment． |
Why does America rely heavily on oil imports?
| A．It wants to expand its storage of raw oil． |
| B．Its own oil reserves are quickly running out． |
| C．Its own oil production falls short of demand． |
| D．It wants to keep its own environment untouched． |
What does the author say about oil trade?
| A．It improves economic efficiency． |
| B．It makes for economic recession． |
| C．It brings benefit only to the sellers． |
| D．It saves the cost of oil exploration． |
What is the author' s purpose in writing the passage?
| A．To explain the increase of international oil trade． |
| B．To raise Americans' awareness of the energy crisis． |
| C．To argue for America' s dependence on oil imports． |
| D．To stress the importance of energy protection． |
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