Dear Students,
I am delighted to be your guest.
I would like to tell you about myself. I have been a news reporter for the past fifteen years. I chose this job so I could travel the world, but the job has taught me many unforgettable lessons. The work is sometimes difficult. I have seen famines, wars, earthquakes, poverty and death. But I have also seen courage, hope and happiness.
In India, I visited a city where there were many homeless children. Some were as young as four years old. They lived in the streets and survived by begging or stealing. But then a wonderful lady called Rosa opened a home for them. Within one year, she was looking after two hundred children. She clothed them, fed them, and taught them. She gave them hope.
Another time, I was in Turkey after a terrible earthquake, in one place. I found an old lady whose house was in ruins, her son was missing and rescue workers said there was no chance that he was still alive. But the old lady did not give up hope. For four days, she moved heavy stones one at a time by herself. She did not stop until she found her son. He was alive.
Here in China, I met a young boy with a serious condition. He had undergone twenty operations and spent nearly his whole life in hospital. I thought he would be sad, but when I met him, his smile was so warm and welcoming.
In life, we need role models that we can admire and learn from. When my life is difficult, I try to remember the courage and goodness of these three people.The speaker is giving a speech to students in ________.
| A．India | B．Canada | C．Turkey | D．China |
The underlined word “ famine ” in Paragraph 2 means ________.
| A．extreme lack of food | B．joy | C．luck | D．pleasure |
What can we learn about Rosa?
| A．She’s a rich lady and she likes to help the homeless children. |
| B．She’s a great mother and she looks after the homeless children. |
| C．She’s a kind-hearted woman and she provides houses for the homeless children. |
| D．She’s a good teacher and she teaches the homeless children. |
For what does the speaker admire the Turkish woman and the Chinese boy?
| A．Their bravery. | B．Their luck. | C．Their age. | D．Their strong mind. |
Star hurdler Liu Xiang returned home last night after spending about three months in the United States for foot operation and recovery.
Liu and coach Sun Haiping were followed away by officials after arriving at Shanghai Pudong airport at around 6 : 30 p. m. , and said nothing to the waiting media.
Liu went straight to the Xinzhuang training base in Shanghai, where he will start on the comeback (恢复) through rehabilitation (复职) and training.
Feng Shuyong, vice-director of China's Athletics Administrative Center, said a group of experts is on standby at the training base to help with Liu's recovery.
"The experts will give Liu a full check-up tomorrow or the day after and advise regularly on rehabilitation in the coming months," Feng was quoted by qq. com as saying.
The foot injury forced defending champion Liu to quit from the 2008 Beijing Olympics last August after "he limped out of the Bird's Nest in the first round of the men's 110m hurdles, bitterly disappoint
ing adoring home fans.
The 25-year-old Athens Olympic and world champion had successful foot surgery in December at the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, and had four calcium deposits (钙物质) removed from his right Achilles tendon (跟腱).
He spent the next three months in Houston for rehabilitation and basic training under the guidance of doctors there.
"His recovery is better than we expected. Doctors believe that after three months' rehabilitation and training, he has actually achieved the level of recovery that generally needs four months," Feng said.
Liu will, however, be absent from the ongoing annual Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) meeting due to the recovery process. Feng said Liu is paying close attention to the meeting through the Internet, and closely following issues such as athletes' education and life after retirement.
It is the second time Liu has asked for leave from the annual session after being elected to the CPPCC: He did not attend last y
ear's meeting because he was at a key competition in Spain.The best title for the passage is _______.
| A．Fate and Challenge | B．Liu Xiang Returns after Operation Success |
| C．No Desire to Be a Representative of CPPCC | |
| D．Happiness and Hardships behind Success |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．The experts will give Liu a full check-up and advise regularly on recovery in the coming months. |
| B．Liu and his coach were followed away by officials after arriving at Pudong airport at around 6:30. |
| C．Liu paid close attention to the meeting through the Internet, caring graduate's further education. |
| D．His foot operation was successful and four calcium deposits were removed from his right Achilles tendon. |
The underlined word "limped" most probably means _______.
| A．walked nervously | B．walked quickly | C．walked bitterly | D．walked lamely |
Liu Xiang was absent from CPPCC in the first time because of _______.
| A．recovery process | B．accepting the training | C．lecture abroad | D．a key competition |
This is the VOA Special English Education Report. A few weeks ago, we talked about the Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL. A listener in Cambodia named Thida asks if American colleges and universities also accept the IELTS exam. IELTS is the International English Language Testing System. It was developed by the University of Cambridge ESOL examiners.
Cambridge ESOL says the test measures true-to-life ability to communicate in English for education, immigration or employment. The IELTS tests listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. It uses a mixture of accents and spellings, including British English and American English.
The test is used by government agencies, schools and professional organizations in one hundred and twenty countries. And, yes, that includes the United States. The many American schools that accepted the IELTS can be found on the Web at felts.org.
Some schools accept both the TOEFL and the IELTS, but the graduate school at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, for example, says it prefers the IEITS.
The listening and speaking parts are the same for everyone who takes the IELTS, but people have a choice of reading and writing tests -- either academic or general training.
The listening test takes thirty minutes. There are forty questions based on a recording. The reading test takes sixty minutes. Students answer forty questions based on three written passages.
The writing test also takes sixty minutes. Students have to write two essays. One essay has to be at least one hundred and fifty words long and the other at least two hundred and fifty words. The shorter one is description of something; the longer one has to support and argument.
The speaking test takes less than fifteen minutes. The score is based on a recorded talk between the student and a test examiner.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, writt
en by Nancy Steinbach. If you have a general question for our series, write to special@voanews.com. I'm Barbara Klein.What does TOEFL stand for?
| A．The Voice of America | B．The International English Language Testing System |
| C．The Test of English as a Foreign Language | |
| D．The Test of English as a Native Language |
The International English Language Testing System commonly takes _______ in all.
| A．less than 160 minutes | B．more than 165 minutes |
| C．no more than 160 minutes | D．less than 166 minutes |
According to the passage, we can infer _______.
| A．IELTS is efficient and necessary if you want to go to English-speaking countries | |
| B．IELTS is completely different from TOEFL | |
| C．every American needs to accept TOEFL | D．IEITS isn't used more widely than TOEFL |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．How can the readers write papers to the VOA programme? |
| B．It talks about some ways to pass TOEFL. |
| C．It introduces IELTS. |
| D．How can the readers pass two kinds of tests? |
The past ages of man have all been carefully labeled by anthropologists (人类学家). Descri
ptions like "Palaeolithic（旧石器时代的）Man" ."Neolithic（新石器时代的）Man" ,etc. .neatly sum up whole periods. When the time comes for anthropologists to turn their attention to the twentieth century, they will surely choose the label" Legless Man". Histories of the time will go something like this: "in the twentieth century, people forgot how to use their legs. Men and women moved about in cars, buses and trains from a very early age. There were lifts in all large buildings to prevent people from walking. And the surprising thing is that they didn't use their legs even when they went on holiday. "
The future history books might also record that we were deprived (剥夺) of the use of our eyes. In our hurry to get from one place to another, we failed to see anything on the way. Air travel gives you a bird's-eye view of the world. When you travel by car or train, an unclear picture of the countryside constantly smears the windows. Car drivers, especially, are mixed with the urge to go on and on: they never want to stop. The typical twentieth-century traveler is the man who always says" I've been there. "You mention the remotest, and someone is bound to say "I've been there"—meaning, "I drove through it at 100 miles an hour on the way to somewhere else. "
When you travel at high speeds, the present means nothing: you live mainly in the future because you spend most of your time looking forward to arriving at some other place. But actual arrival, when it is achieved, is meaningless. You want to move on again. By traveling like this, you suspend all experience. The traveler on foot, on the other hand, lives constantly in the present.
For him traveling and arriving are one and the same thing: he arrives somewhere with every step he makes. He experiences the present moment with his eyes, his ears and the whole of his body. At the end of his journey he feels a delicious physical tiredness. He knows that sound, satisfying sleep will be his: the just reward of all true travelers.What's the best titl
e of the passage?
| A．The advantages of travel | B．The best way to travel |
| C．The reward of true travel | D．Possible ways to travel |
Anthropologists label man nowadays "Legless" because______.
| A．people forget how to use their legs |
| B．lifts prevent people from walking |
| C．modern vehicles have replaced walking |
| D．people prefer cars, buses and trains |
While traveling at high speed,______.
| A．people can get more pleasure from it |
| B．people always focus on next destination |
| C．people can enjoy the view of the destination |
| D．people care much about the arrangement of the journey |
The author says "we are deprived of the use of our eyes "because ______.
| A．people can't get a clear picture of the view along |
| B．eyes become useless in traveling at high speed |
| C．people want to sleep during traveling |
| D．people won't use their eyes |
What does the author intend to tell us?
| A．Legs become weaker. |
| B．There is no need to use legs or eyes. |
| C．Modern means of transportation make the world a small place. |
| D．We should experience the present heart and soul while traveling. |
Today we tell about the expression “down to earth”．Down to earth means being open and honest．It is easy to deal with someone who is down to earth．Such people could be important members of society, but they do not consider themselves to be better than others who are less important．They do not let their importance “go to their heads.” Someone who lets something go to his head feels he is better than others．He has a “big head.”
A person who is filled with his own importance and pride is said to have “his nose in the air．”Often the person who has a big head and his nose in the air has no reason to feel better than others．
Americans use another expression that is similar in some ways to down to earth---“both feet on the ground.” Someone with both feet on the ground is a person with a good understanding of reality．She has what is called “common sense.” She does not allow her dreams to block her understanding of what is real．
The opposite kind of person is one who has his “head in the clouds.” Someone with his head in the clouds is a person whose mind is not on what is happening in real life．Such a person may be called a “daydreamen.”
The person who is down to earth usually has both feet on the ground．But the opposite is not always true．Someone with both feet on the ground may not be as open and easy to deal with as someone who is down to earth．
When we have both our feet firmly on the ground，and when we are down to earth，we do not have our noses in the air．We act honestly and openly to others．And our lives are like the ground below up—solid and strong．He who considers himself to be better and more important than others is likely to .
| A．have his head in the clouds | B．be easy to deal with |
| C．have a “common sense” | D．have “a big head” |
Which of the following expressions is similar to “down to earth”?
| A．“his nose in the air” | B．“go to his head” |
| C．“both feet on the ground” | D．“daydreamer” |
The passage is mainly about ．
| A．some popular American expressions | B．how to be down to earth |
| C．why to be honest and open | D．how to deal with someone who is down to earth |
Ed Viesturs grew up in Rockford, Illinois, where the tallest thing on the horizon was the water tower. But on Thursday, Viesturs became the only American to climb to the top of the world's 14 highest mountains.
His last hike was up Mount Annapurna, in Asia's snowcapped Himalayas. At 26,545 feet, its peak is the 10th highest in the world. It is the mountain that inspired him to start climbing.
"It tends to be the trickiest, the most dangerous," said Viesturs. "There's no simple way to climb it. There are threatening avalanches (雪崩) and ice falls that protect the mountain."
In high school, Viesturs read French climber Maurice Herzog's tale of climbing the icy Annapurna. Herzog's story was of frostbite (冻伤) and difficulty and near-death experiences. Viesturs was hooked right away.
Viesturs got his start on Washington's Mount Rainier in 1977, guiding hikes in the summer. Fifteen years ago, he set out to walk up to the world's highest peaks. Finally, he's done.
The pioneering climber talks about mountains as if they were living creatures that should be treated with respect. "You have to use all of your senses, all of your abilities to see if the mountain will let you climb it," said Viesturs. "If we have the patience and the respect, and if we're here at the right time, under the right circumstances, they allow us to go up, and allow us to come down."
What's next for a man who can't stop climbing? "I'm going to hug my wife and kids and kind of kick back and enjoy the summer," says Viesturs. But for a man who's climbed the world's 14 tallest mountains, he will probably soon set off on yet another adventure. What record has Ed Viesturs set?
| A．He has succeeded in climbing to the world’s 14th highest mountain. |
| B．He has been to the top of the world’s 14 highest mountains. |
| C．He has become the first to climb to the height of 26,545feet. |
| D．He has become the first man to climb to the top of 14 highest mountains in the world. |
The underlined word “hooked” in Paragraph 4 can be replaced by “______”.
| A．frightened | B．discouraged | C．interested | D．upset |
The author used Viestures’ words in Paragraph 6 to support a view that ______.
| A．mountain climbing is a dangerous sport |
| B．mountains should be regarded as living creatures |
| C．mountain climbing needs more skills than physical energy |
| D．those who like mountain climbing won’t stop climbing |
What’s the next probably plan of Viestures?
| A．Stopping climbing and staying with his family. |
| B．Climbing to the top of the world’s 14 tallest mountains again. |
| C．Climbing another one of the highest mountains. |
| D．Writing down the experiences about his adventure. |
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