Have you ever seen any students whose trousers hang so low that you can see their underwear? What do you think of that? Fashionable? Some of today’s teenagers are big fans of such a look. But recently this trend has been at the center of an argument in Italian middle schools. The headmaster of a school in central Italy has asked students to stop wearing low-rise jeans that expose underwear and parts of the body. His request came after a class trip, when he saw one boy's baggy trousers slide to his feet. He pointed out that this way of dressing is not suitable for school. But in Italy, a nation that takes fashion very seriously, the suggestion caused a debate among parents, teachers and students. The issue is whether the headmaster's request will limit students' freedom— or whether dress in Italian schools is too casual. A parents' group praised the move in favor of good taste, while others advised schools to stop worrying about fashion and fix up old school buildings. “We do not want to kick fashion out,” the headmaster explained, “but extremes of fashion like this are not right in school.” Many other schools have now requested that their students also stop wearing such trousers. Most students have simply ignored the request. Ludovica Gaudio, 14, wore extremely low trousers exposing orange underwear in class. It was cold, so she wore a matching orange scarf. Another 14-year-old said she would probably respect the request, simply for practical reasons. “I don't really feel comfortable in those sort of jeans，” said Sarah Lattanzi, “in winter, when dressed like that, it's quite cold and I am afraid my stomach will ache.”What led to the argument in Italian middle schools？______
| A．Students' craze for fashions. | B．Clothes that are too exposing. |
| C．Students' ignoring dress codes.（规则） | D．Students' underwear. |
Which of the following supports the headmaster's request?___
| A．Fashion should be taken seriously. |
| B．Fashion should not be followed in school. |
| C．Students should have their freedom in choosing what they wear. |
| D．Students should be encouraged to have good taste in clothes. |
The argument against the headmaster's request is that ______.
| A．dress in Italian schools is too casual |
| B．fashion should not be followed in school |
| C．schools should pay attention to things more important than students' clothes |
| D．low-rise jeans can do harm to youngster's health |
The purpose of this story is to ________
| A．show Chinese students that wearing very fashionable clothes in school is under attack in other countries, too. |
| B．show that dress code is necessary even in a country like Italy |
| C．let us see that Italian students react differently to schools' requests. |
| D．tell us that a debate started in Italian middle schools over the way students dress in School |
Some inventions are so useful, but seem so simple, that we wonder why no one thought of them long ago.
Post-it Notes were invented about twenty years ago by Art Fry, a scientist at 3M Company. The idea for the product came from an awful experience he often had while singing in his church choir. Fry used pieces of paper as bookmarks to mark the places in his book of songs, but these bookmarks were always falling out. Around that time, Fry heard about a new adhesive (粘合剂) that a colleague, Dr. Spence Silver, had created. This adhesive was special because it was strong enough to hold papers together, but not strong enough to tear the paper when it was removed.
A short time later, Fry realized that his new invention had even more uses than being a great bookmark. He came to this realization when he wrote a note on one of his new “bookmarks” and attached it to a report he was going to give to a colleague. Soon, co-workers were asking Fry for more of his invention so that they could use the new type of notes themselves.
Fry and some other people at 3M believed so much in the new product that they asked the company to give away thousands of the “sticky pieces of paper” for trial use. When some salespeople at 3M went to offices and showed workers just how helpful the new type of notes could be, they immediately received many orders. As more and more people discovered how useful Post-it Notes could be, the product took off.How did Dr. Spence help Art Fry?
| A．He created the Post-it Notes. |
| B．He offered the new adhesive to Art. |
| C．His adhesive made Art’s invention possible. |
| D．He often worked and discussed science with Art. |
Which of the following is a possible use of Post-it Notes?
| A．A note on a friend’s door |
| B．An ad in a newspaper. |
| C．A postcard from abroad. |
| D．An e-mail to a friend. |
Which of the following shows the proper order of the events?
a. The company gave away many “sticky pieces of paper” for people to try.
b. Dr. Spence created a new adhesive.
c. Many orders were received and the Post-it Notes became successful.
d. Fry invented Post-it Notes.
e. His colleagues began to use the new types of notes themselves.
| A．d b a e c | B．b a e d c |
| C．d e a b c | D．b d e a c |
In which column of a newspaper can we read this passage?
| A．Economy | B．Recreation |
| C．Science | D．Culture |
If you and your friends wish to share a secret, you can write it in code, and no one else will be able to read it. Codes are one way of writing in secret. Ciphers (暗码) are another. In a code each word is written as a secret code word or a code number. In a cipher each letter is changed.
Codes and ciphers have played an important role in the history of the world. Julius Caesar, the Roman ruler who defeated almost all the countries in Europe about 2,000 years ago, used a cipher when he sent secret messages to his troops. During the American Revolution, George Washington's spies used a kind of code to send his information about the enemy before his military action. In World War II, the Americans“broke”or figured out Japan's most important navy codes and got enough information to destroy a powerful Japanese fleet.
Storekeepers use codes to mark their goods. The codes show how much is paid for the goods or when they are added to the stock. Businessmen use codes to hide plans from their business enemies. Sometimes personal letters or diaries are written in code. Many people enjoy figuring out codes and ciphers simply as a hobby.
In the 16th century, codes and ciphers were very popular among scientists. They wrote messages to each other in code so that no one else would learn their secrets. Geronimo Gardano, an Italian astrologer (占星家), mathematician, and doctor, invented the trellis cipher. He took two sheets of paper and cut exactly the same holes in each one. Then he sent one sheet, which he called a trellis, to a friend and kept the other for himself. Whenever he wanted to write a message, he put his trellis over a clean sheet of paper and wrote the secret message through the holes. There he removed the trellis and filled the rest of the paper with words that would make sense. When his friend received it, he put his trellis over the writing and read the secret message.The best title of this passage would be________.
| A．Codes and ciphers |
| B．Differences between codes and ciphers |
| C．History of codes and ciphers |
| D．Inventors of codes and ciphers |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Ciphers can be broken or figured out more easily than codes. |
| B．You could read some words in Geronimo’s letter without his trellis. |
| C．The first person who ever used a cipher in history was Julius Caesar. |
| D．Fondness of using codes was the hobby of the scientists in the 1600s. |
According to Geronimo Gardano, a trellis is ________.
| A．a piece of paper with many small holes |
| B．a secret message with a lot of small holes |
| C．a letter with unreadable words and sentences |
| D．a sheet of paper with groups of Arabic figures |
It is NOT mentioned in the passage that codes and ciphers are used for the purpose of ________.
| A．military affairs |
| B．commercial secrets |
| C．scientific achievements |
| D．personal enjoyment |
Here is the tour that’s voted “3rd best tour in London” on the Best Things to Do--TripAdvisor! Hairy Goat is the best and most original tour company in London.
Do you like walking around a city and discovering something that makes a great photo? London is full of interesting photo chances and maybe you need someone to lead you to them. The tour is perfect for team events,
families, groups of friends and school or college classes.
Bring: A fully charged camera and plenty of memory cards or film, a drink and wear comfortable walking shoes. Dress for three hours’ walking outside.
Price: £45 per adult (18yrs and over), £40 per child (12-15yrs) and full-time students (student ID required). Some tours to be booked and paid in advance. Please call or email for details. Please follow the links on the website or call Corinna at +44(0)7540832771.
Meet: Meet in front of the Royal Exchange Building at Bank Underground Station. Take Exit 3 or 4 from the underground station.
When: See the website for scheduled dates.
Duration: Three hours, at a comfortable walking pace.
Finish: By an underground station within the city. Location varies daily.
A family of four, including a son of 19 and a daughter of 13, should pay ________.
| A．£180 | B．£175 |
| C．£170 | D．£160 |
According to the passage, the tour _________.
| A．is intended for individuals only |
| B．takes three hours on a sightseeing vehicle |
| C．has been voted the best tour in London three times |
| D．offers chances to take great photos |
According to the passage, which statement is NOT true?
| A．Hairy Goat organizes the tour. |
| B．All the tours are not to be booked in advance. |
| C．People can go through the website to find the date. |
| D．The tour finishes at the same location every day. |
The passage is written mainly to __________.
| A．introduce the best thing to do in London |
| B．show more information about London |
| C．attract people to take the tour in London |
| D．encourage people to walk instead of driving |
Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cochran, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School, did something unforgettable. On the first day of school, with permission of the school headmaster, she took all of the desks out of the classroom.
The kids came into the first period. They walked in, and there were no desks. They looked around and said, "Ms Cochran, where are our desks?" And she said, “You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them.”
They thought, "Well, maybe it's our grades.”
"No," she said.
"Maybe it's our behavior."
And she told them, "No, it's not even your behavior."
Second period, the same thing. Third period... By early afternoon television news reporters had gathered in Ms. Cochran’s class to find out about this crazy teacher.
The last period of the day, Martha Cochran gathered her class. They were at this time sitting on the ground floor around the sides of the room. "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the ordinary desks in this classroom." she said, "Now I'm going to tell you."
Martha Cochran went to the door of the classroom and opened it, and as she did, twenty-seven adults, who were fathers or mothers of the kids, walked into that classroom, each one having a school desk. And they placed those school desks in rows. And when they finished placing those desks, those kids for the first time in their lives understood how they earned those desks.
Martha said, "You don't have to earn those desks. They did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit here responsibly to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk, and don't ever forget it!"Why did Cochran take all the desks out of the classroom?
| A．Because she wanted to punish the kids. |
| B．Because she wanted to let kids know how they earned the desks. |
| C．Because kids didn't need any desks at her classes. |
| D．Because the desks were all broken. |
Who get kids to have a chance to get education?
| A．Teachers. | B．The headmaster. |
| C．Kids themselves. | D．Kids’ parents. |
Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the text?
| A．Kids finally understood what their teacher meant by themselves. |
| B．The headmaster supported Ms. Cochran’s idea. |
| C．Kids studied without desks on the first day. |
| D．Kids' parents earned the desks for them. |
When English as a foreign language is taught to children at the primary and early secondary levels of education, it is generally taught with a general education aim in mind--that is, it is regarded as a “good thing” for them to learn a foreign language as a part of a broad education. There is usually, however, no immediate and specific requirement for such children to make use of the language in any communicative situation. The purpose of learning the language is essentially a “deferred” (延缓的) purpose, deferred till the tertiary (第三的) level of education, normally at university, where, it is agreed, a knowledge of English would be helpful in their academic studies. Immediate aims of learning English are defined by the requirements of examinations. Inevitably what is taught to primary and secondary level children is not a communicative knowledge of English language use, but a knowledge of how the rules of English operate.
The language system is taught by means of systematic audio-lingual (听说的) drill and exercise techniques based on habit formation theory of learning and a structural description of English. This may be an effective manner of teaching English usage, but it is less certain that an understanding of how these rules are related to language in use for communicative purpose is an automatic result of this instruction.
What the thousands of children succeed in learning in this way is what is necessary in order to pass examinations. Whether such examinations accurately reflect the uses to which English will be put at the tertiary level is another matter altogether. Adults, on the other hand, unless they are learning a foreign language for “pleasure” at evening institutes, as a “cultural” and social experience, are generally highly conscious of the use to which they intend to put it. That use is frequently associated with an academic or professional requirement; without a knowledge of the foreign language, their development in their chosen sphere of work could be restricted or at least adversely affected.According to the author, the current examination system ________.
| A．reflects the students’ future needs |
| B．does not offer students opportunities to show their knowledge of English |
| C．does not enable students to use English for communication |
| D．prepares students for their future academic requirements |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．English teaching should prepare children for the passing of examination. |
| B．English should be taught to children at primary and secondary levels. |
| C．English teaching should help students with their future academic studies. |
| D．English teaching at primary and secondary levels should focus only on grammar. |
We know from the passage that ________.
| A．audio-lingual techniques are the best way to teach English for communication |
| B．language usage is the focus of foreign language teaching at primary and secondary levels |
| C．foreign languages are usually taught to children as the key of a broad education |
| D．adults usually don’t know why they learn foreign languages |
What’s the relationship of English learning at different levels?
| A．English learning at primary and secondary levels is more important than that at the college stage. |
| B．English learning at the tertiary level is more important than that at the first two levels. |
| C．Successful English learning at the first two levels does not necessarily mean success in English learning at college. |
| D．English learning should not be divided into different levels. |
What is the main topic of this passage?
| A．The importance of English learning. |
| B．English learning as a part of a general education. |
| C．English learning and examination. |
| D．Aims and purposes of foreign language learning. |
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