China is a land of bicycles. At least it was back in 1992 when I traveled the country. Back then everyone seemed to be riding a bicycle. Millions of them, all black. Cars were rare. Yet since my arrival in Beijing last year, I’ve found the opposite is true. There are millions of cars. However, people still use their bicycles to get around. For many, it’s the easiest and cheapest way to travel today. Bicycles also come in different colors---silver, green, red, blue, yellow, whatever you want.
It’s fun watching people biking. They rush quickly through crossroads, move skillfully through traffic, and ride even on sidewalks(人行道). Bicycles allow people the freedom to move about that cars just can’t provide.
Eager to be part of this aspect of Chinese culture, I decided to buy a bicycle. Great weather accompanied my great buy. I immediately jumped up on my bicycle seat and started home.
My first ride home was orderly (守秩序的). To be safe, I stayed with a “pack” of bikers while cars on the streets came running swiftly out of nowhere at times. I didn’t want to get hit. So I took the ride carefully.
Crossing the streets was the biggest problem. It was a lot like crossing a major highway back in the United States. The streets here were wide, so crossing took time, skill and a little bit of luck.
I finally made it home. The feeling on the bicycle was amazing. The air hitting my face and going through my hair was wonderful. I was sitting on top of the world as I passed by places and people. Biking made me feel alive.According to the author, why are bicycles still popular in China today?
| A．Because they are traditional and safe. |
| B．Because they are convenient and inexpensive. |
| C．Because they are colorful and available. |
| D．Because they are fast and environment friendly. |
The author decided to buy a bicycle because he intended __________.
| A．to ride it for fun | B．to use it for transport |
| C．to experience local skills | D．to improve his riding skills |
How did the author feel about his street crossing?
| A．It was boring. | B．It was difficult. |
| C．It was lively. | D．It was wonderful. |
Which of the following best describes the author’s biking experience?
| A．The author enjoyed showing off his biking skills. |
| B．The author was annoyed by the air while riding. |
| C．The author was praised by the other bikers. |
| D．The author took great pleasure in biking. |
A recent report on online education, made by SRI International for the Department of Education, has a serious academic (学术的) title, but a most interesting conclusion: “ Students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”
The report examined the research on online and traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008. Some of it was in K-12 settings, but most of the studies were in colleges and adult continuing education programs.
Over the 12 years, the report found 99 studies in which there were comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses. The result of the Department of Education’ s research showed that usually, students doing some or all of the course online would rank a little higher than the classroom students with little but meaningful difference.
“The importance of the study lies in showing that online learning today is not just better than nothing — it actually tends to be better than traditional instruction.” said Barbara Means, the study’ s lead author and an educational psychologist at SRI International.
This hardly means that we’ll be saying goodbye to classrooms. But the report does suggest that online education could be set to develop sharply over the next few years.
Until fairly recently, online education totaled to little. That has really changed with the arrival of webbased video, instant (即时的) messaging and teamwork tools.
The real promise of online education, experts say, is providing learning experiences that are more suitable for individual (个体的) students than is possible in classrooms. That allows more “learning by doing,” which many students find more attractive and useful.
“We are at a turning point in online education,” said Philip R. Regier, the leader of Arizona State University’ s Online and Extended Campus program.
The biggest near-term growth, Mr. Regier predicts, will be in continuing education programs.What do we know from the passage?
Most of the studies were done in high schools.
The report was based on more than 100 studies.
The studies were carried out for more than 20 years.
The difference between online and traditional teaching is not big.We can learn from the passage that __________.
traditional education will come to an end
traditional education is not popular any longer
online education didn’ t develop rapidly until recently
middle schools are facing the choice between online and traditional teachingWhich is NOT the reason why many students prefer online learning?
Online teaching is more suitable for individuals.
Classroom teaching is not practical and useful.
Students can learn by doing in online courses.
Online teaching is more interesting.Which do you think is the best title for the passage?
Study finds that online education beats the classroom
Why is online education on the rise?
A report on online education
Classroom teaching is out
There are several ways to break the technology code that teenagers have written among themselves. The following are ideas to help parents understand the sometimes confusing world of the teens.
Social Networking (人际关系网) Sites: Sites like MySpace and Facebook appeal to all generations and are a good way for a parent to understand what social standards your teen is living with. There are many ways to help you take part in your child's online activities. You also can be from an onlooker (旁观者) who keeps a bird' s-eye view of his cyber world to an active member of his social group.
MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game comes in the form of games. A child can easily become addicted to (沉溺于) them if no limits are set. To fully understand the attraction behind MMORPG, you can make your own account and character to explore the digital (数码的) world. Playing the online games may seem strange at first to your teen, but experience has led me to only positive feedback (反应) from young people who can communicate with adults about their gaming experiences.
Text and Instant Messenger: The ways of teenage communication have produced a whole new language, such as "LOLZ" (laughing out loud) and "PSOS" (parent standing over shoulder). Learning the basic shorthand (速记法) of teens can open up a whole new world of communication, not only talking to your teens, but being able to listen on their terms as well. You may just find yourself texting faster and ending your correspondence (联系) with TTYL (talk to you later). To teens, texting anyone looks cool, even Mom and Dad.
Email: Emailing your child is easy. This, of course, cannot take the place of face-to-face communication, but it provides another way for your child to reach you. Another benefit is that your child cannot act like he didn't hear you.What does the underlined part "appeal to" in the second paragraph mean?
| A．harm | B．attract | C．upset | D．attack |
According to this passage we can infer that the author's child __________.
| A．works hard at school |
| B．is active on Facebook |
| C．enjoys playing online games |
| D．likes talking with adults |
If you are standing beside your child, he is most likely to text his friend __________.
| A．PSOS | B．MMORPG | C．TTYL | D．LOLZ |
What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．Parents can use technology to stay in touch with their children. |
| B．Many children are very crazy about the online games. |
| C．Science and technology make life easy and convenient. |
| D．Parents can do something interesting like their children do. |
Sometimes life makes more sense when you look at it in reverse (相反). That's certainly been true for me.
Last Christmas, at 39, I caught a disease which attacked my knees and eyes. At its worst I could hardly walk or see. For months I' d have to crawl (爬) across the floor to use the bathroom or get a drink of water when my husband wasn't home. For a while I could only see shapes and colors so I couldn't drive.
My parents kept begging me to let them come out to stay with me in Los Angeles, but our apartment is small and I knew there was nothing they could really do to help me. For the excellent health insurance my husband had through his job, I was receiving the best medical care possible.
My only problem was that I couldn't drive to my doctors' appointments and I didn't want my husband to keep missing work to drive me. Three days after I explained this to my parents, a check came from them with a note saying this was "taxi money". Several months later another check showed up from my brother to help make up our income since I wasn't able to work. It probably goes without saying that I was extremely grateful to have family members who could and would support me during the hard time.
In terms of my day-to-day existence, I live in a village within Los Angeles called Brentwood so I was able to walk to the local post office, market, bank, and library. But once there, I had to depend on the kindness of strangers to help me. Los Angeles is a big city, but I lived in a village with a wonderful community (社区) of people who were kind and patient.
Slowly I became well. Life was good again and I thought I had a clear understanding of the blessings (恩惠) this illness has provided.When the author's husband was at home, he __________.
| A．was still busy working |
| B．often had a good rest |
| C．often helped her a lot |
| D．taught her to drive a car |
Why did the author not want her husband to drive her to her doctors' appointments?
| A．Her husband didn't drive well. |
| B．Her husband was too busy. |
| C．She didn't want to affect his work. |
| D．Her doctor was far away from her. |
What is the fourth paragraph mainly about?
| A．The help that the author received from her family members. |
| B．The influence of the author's disease on her family. |
| C．The author's thanks to her family members. |
| D．The way the author saw her doctors. |
What did the author feel about Brentwood?
| A．She thought it was small but convenient. |
| B．She felt it was hard to live there. |
| C．She thought it was small and strange. |
| D．She felt warm and comfortable there. |
Leave a camera on a mountaintop, and chances are, you'll never see it again. But 24-year-old Paul Bellis, a university student from Wales, believed that most people were better than that, and set up a creative experiment to test out his theory.
"I was speaking to a friend who said you can't trust anyone, anywhere these days," Bellis told the Daily Mail. "I didn't want to believe that so I set up this experiment to find out what might happen and prove you can trust people."
Billis decided to do an experiment by hiking up a mountain called Snowdonia, taking a photo, and leaving his camera behind. He also attached a note to the camera, asking other hikers to take photos of themselves and then leave the camera there until the roll of film (胶卷) was empty. He also included his address, in case someone would be nice enough to return the camera to his home after the roll of film was finished.
Four days later, Bellis got a visit from a Snowdonia park manager, who came to return his camera. After Bellis got the film developed, he saw that his fellow hikers and followed his instructions. Thirty people had each taken photos of themselves at the mountain. From viewing the collection, it was clear that all the hikers had enjoyed the experiment.
As for the park manager, Brian, "I found the camera and thought it had been lost until I saw the note," he said. "I was passing his home and just dropped it off. I' m glad that the photos came out very well."The underlined word "that" in Paragraph 2 refers to __________.
| A．the Daily Mail |
| B．Bellis' theory |
| C．the idea that Bellis would do the experiment |
| D．the opinion that we shouldn't trust people |
What can we know from the note Bellis attached to his camera?
| A．The camera wasn't a missing one. |
| B．The roll of film had been used up. |
| C．Bellis was very kind to other hikers. |
| D．Bellis asked others to take pictures of him. |
Brian returned the camera directly because __________.
| A．he wanted to be trusted by others |
| B．Bellis' home was on his way |
| C．Bellis asked him to do so |
| D．he wanted to have a look at the photos |
The experiment Bellis turned out to be __________.
| A．unsuccessful | B．disappointing | C．encouraging | D．surprising |
“If you want to see a thing well, reach out and touch it!” That may seem a strange thing to say. But touching things can help you to see them better. Your eyes can tell you that a glass ball is round. But by holding it in your hands, you can feel how smooth and cool the ball is. You can feel how heavy the glass is. When you feel all these about the ball, you really see it. With your skin, you can feel better. For example, your fingers can tell the difference between two coins in your pocket. You can feel a little drop of water on the back of your hand, too.
All children soon learn what “Don’t touch!” means. They hear it often. Yet most of us keep on touching things as we grow up. In shops, we touch things as we might buy: food, clothes. To see something well, we have to touch it.
There are ways of learning to see well by feeling. One way is to close your eyes and try to feel everything that is touching your skin. Feel the shoes on your feet, the clothes on your body, the air on your skin. At first, it is not easy to feel these things. You are too used to them!
Most museums are just for looking. But today some museums have some things to touch. There you can feel everything on show. If we want to see better, reach out and touch. Then you will really see. By touching things,________.
| A．you will have a strange feeling |
| B．you will learn how to reach out your hand |
| C．you can tell the difference of the things |
| D．you can tell what colors they are |
When people buy things in shops, they often_________.
| A．try them on first | B．keep their right hands on them |
| C．ask about them | D．feel and touch them |
Why does it say “At first, it is not easy to feel these things?” Because__________.
| A．the things are used by people, too | B．people feel the things too often |
| C．people know how to use the things | D．the things are hard to feel |
Which of the following can be the best title of the story?
| A．Touching by Feeling | B．To See or to Feel? |
| C．To See Better---Feel | D．Ways of Feeling |
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