President Abraham Lincoln’s first call for volunteers to fight in the Civil War was for whites only.The Civil War was a white man’s war，northern whites insisted.Its purpose was to preserve the Union.It was not being fought to end slavery.But by September of 1862，the sentiment toward black volunteers had changed.Lincoln had hoped that the war would be short，but it had already lasted for a year and a half.Union manpower had fallen dangerously.
Lincoln had a plan.He issued the Emancipation Proclamation.It stated that as of January 1,1863，all slaves living in the rebellious southern states would be forever free.And starting immediately，Union armies would accept black volunteers.
The southern rebels’response to Lincoln’s call for black troops was a deadly one.Captives (俘虏) of any Union regiment (团) with black troops were to be given “no quarter”．They were to be put to death immediately.
AfricanAmerican troops throughout the war distinguished themselves (表现突出) in battle at places like Milliken’s Bend，Fort Wagner，and the Crater at St.Petersburg.As to their conduct on the battlefield，Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson wrote，“Nobody knows anything about these men who has not seen them in battle.No officer in this regiment now doubts that the successful process of the war lies in the unlimited employment of black troops.” By the war’s end,186,000 black men had participated.They made up nearly 10 percent of Union forces.These black soldiers saw action in more than 250 battles.Black soldiers also gave their lives.By the war’s end，about 38,000 black soldiers had died.They died from disease，in battle，and after capture by rebel troops.This passage is mainly about________.
| A．cause of the Civil War |
| B．the Emancipation Proclamation |
| C．black soldiers in the Civil War |
| D．why Lincoln was a good president |
What does the underlined word “sentiment” in the first paragraph mean?
| A．Whites. |
| B．People who keep watch. |
| C．Rebels. |
| D．Thought and feeling. |
What can we conclude from the passage?
| A．Lincoln acted too late to free the slaves. |
| B．Blacks fought well for the Union cause. |
| C．The Civil War changed American history. |
| D．The southern rebels nearly won the Civil War. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The Civil War’s purpose was to drive the black away. |
| B．The Civil War ended just in one year with the help of the blacks. |
| C．All slaves were set free by September of 1862. |
| D．Black captives of any Union regiment were killed after Lincoln’s call. |
Italy is one country where beauty is prized more than any other virtue. That is, except in the small town of Piobbico, the self-declared World Capital of Ugly People. The road sign at the edge of the town even warns visitors that they are entering the ugly zone. People who consider themselves ugly have been gathering in Piobbico since the 1960s. That’s when Ugly Club president Telesforo Lacobelli established a dating agency for women who believed they were too ugly to attract husbands. Lacobelli believes that he is ugly himself because he has a short nose in a country where long or large noses have always been considered beautiful.
People from around the world travel to Piobbico to tell their sad stories of ugliness. During the annual Festival of the Ugly, which occurs on the first Sunday of every September, hundreds of people gather in Piobbico’s town square to elect the president of the Ugly Club. Lacobelli wins the election every year. The Ugly Club has over 20, 000 members. They carry ID cards that grade their ugliness from bearable to extreme. A prize is awarded to Ugly Club members who qualify as extremely ugly.
The Ugly Club president insists that ugliness is a virtue. Since beautiful people get a lot of attention for their beauty alone, they have to work hard to prove their other virtues. Ugly people, on the other hand, are genuine and do not have to prove anything to anybody, according to Lacobelli.
Lacobelli is a spokesperson for ugly people everywhere. He believes that the uglier one is, the better life can be. Though the club enjoys making fun of beauty, especially beauty contests, Lacobelli has a serious side as well. He believes that too many people suffer from financial and emotional pressures because they don’t meet society’s standards of beauty. The fact that beautiful people are more successful in the workforce is a problem that Lacobelli has attempted to bring forward to the Italian public and government. Piobbico is rather special in that .
| A．it is a very small town | B．it is home to ugly people |
| C．it receives no visitors | D．it is the capital of Italy |
Why is Lacobelli elected the president of the Ugly Club every year?
| A．Because he is the ugliest person in the whole world. |
| B．Because his ugliness is always graded as bearable. |
| C．Because he is a spokesperson for ugly people everywhere. |
| D．Because he has won the members’ trust and admiration. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Ugly people are most respected in Italy. |
| B．The Festival of the Ugly is held every two years. |
| C．Ugly people are unfairly treated in society. |
| D．The uglier one is, the better life he or she lives. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．The Ugly Capital of the World | B．The Ugliest Person of the World |
| C．Festival of the Ugly | D．Beauty Contests Should be Banned |
Taking exams in a large group setting can be stressful for students and for the staff members who are watching over them. When classrooms are crowded and desks are close together, cheating might be tempting. 
One university in Thailand came up with an anti-cheating hat that makes it almost impossible for students to see other students’ papers. A photo of the students wearing the anti-cheating hats made its way to the Internet, and the university was criticized for making students wear those ridiculous looking homemade hats. The hats were made by stapling two pieces of paper onto a headband, one to each side of the head.
After being criticized, senior academic staff at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand, released a statement saying that the hats idea came from students. They said that in a bid to prevent cheating they asked the students for ideas on how to prevent cheating in the upcoming exam, which was being taken by almost one hundred students. Students came up with different ideas, and then the paper hat idea was selected by them as the most fit. The university claims that no one was forced to use the hat, but they all chose to do so. “When wearing the hat during the exam, students felt more relaxed,” Nattadon Rungruangkitkrai, a lecturer at the university said. “It was not meant to indicate that Kasetsart students often cheat on exams. I apologize if the photo makes other people look at my students in a negative way,” Rungruangkitkrai added.Why was the university criticized on the Internet?
| A．Wearing the anti-cheating hat made students look ridiculous. |
| B．The homemade anti-cheating hat looked too simple. |
| C．Wearing the anti-cheating hats couldn’t prevent students from cheating in the exam. |
| D．The university forced students to wear the anti-cheating hat. |
What’s most of the Kasetsart University students’ attitude towards the cheating hat?
| A．Skeptical | B．Supportive | C．Objective | D．Negative |
It can be inferred from the passage that_______
| A．it’s useless wearing the anti-cheating hat in the exam. |
| B．Kasetsart students are often caught cheating in the exam. |
| C．wearing the anti-cheating hat is effective to some degree. |
| D．some students are forced to wear the anti-cheating hat. |
It's going to be a chaotic(混乱的)day. How do I know? It’s Monday. OK, joking. But, I do predict that today will be filled with the normal last-minute tasks, fire drills, and unforeseen events. So, how do you keep yourself from being swept away in the stream of chaos? How do you remain calm while others are rushing and panicking? There's a problem… Panic! When things don't go as planned, how do you react? Are you the calm one who works to fix things? Or the one running around like Chicken Little screaming that the sky falling? Getting upset or alarmed can seem like natural reactions to a problem.
Here are a few tips to kelp you remain calm in the face of the storm:
• Don't Panic You are better able to find a solution if you aren't panicking. If you can keep your head when others are losing theirs, you will be able to make a dear decision in the chaos.
• There Aren't Many True Emergenaes My time as a Naval Officer taught me about true emergencies. In the military, when there is a problem, people can get hurt or die. This is not usually the case when the office copier or email server goes down. Keep things in perspective. There are very few true emergencies in life.
• Avoid the "Fight or Flight" When you are stressed, your body will want to go into "fight or flight." Your body was designed to keep you safe from danger, but its natural reflexes aren't always the best solution against a project gone away. Keep your emotions in check and ensure that your physical reflexes don’t make bad decisions for you.
• Head Into The Problem While everyone else is running away, true leaders walk into a problem. Sticking your head in the sand only makes things worse. Instead of trying to ignore the situition, get to the heart of the issue as soon as possible. Only then can you address it
How Will You React? When you find yourself ready to lose it, take a step back. Ask, "In this truly an emergcncy?" Keep your head when others are losing theirs. And you'll find that you are that much closer to a solution.The author writes the first paragraph in order to______.
| A．describe a chaotic day | B．advocate a way of life | C．introduce a topic | D．make a joke |
In order to make a wiser decision in the chaos, you should _____.
| A．low your head | B．keep your head | C．shake your head | D．stick your head |
The example of the author's time as a Naval Officer is used to illustrate_____.
| A．there are seldom true emergencies in life |
| B．there are many true emergencies in life |
| C．some emergencies are really urgent |
| D．some emergencies can't be predicted |
What would the best title for the passage?
| A．Fight or Flight |
| B．True emergencies |
| C．Less Talking, More Doing |
| D．Keep calm in the face of the storm |
The world's largest solar thermal plant(太阳热能发电站)is set to begin producing power in the United States by the end of the year. Wind and energy from the sun are generally considered clean, unlike energy from coal-burning power stations. However, environmentalists now worry that too much solar power development could harm the local environment.
A California company — BrightSource Energy is building a huge solar power plant in the Mojave desert, about 60 kilometers southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. The plant is known as the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. Joe Desmond works for the company. "This is actually one of the highest concentrations of sunlight in the world, out here in Ivanpah." explained Desmond. BrightSource Energy will deploy 170,000 specially designed mirrors to direct solar energy towards boilers on top of three power towers. The steam produced in the boilers will drive turbine (涡轮) to make electricity. Joe Desmond says the steam can reach temperatures of more than 260 degrees Celsius. "We can store the sun's thermal energy in the form of molten salt, so we can produce electricity even when the sun goes down. There is a lot of interest in concentrating solar power around the globe in environmnents where you have lots of sun, such as China, South Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, explained Desmond.
Environmentalists generally support the idea of solar power, however, many are concerned about the effect of power plants on sensitive environment. Lisa Belenky is a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, a private group. She says environmentalists are specifically worried about the effect of the Ivanpah Solar Project on the sensitive plant and animal life in that part of Mojave desert. "Even though the desert seems big, when you start cutting it up, it can really affect how the species and the animals and the plants are able to survive in the long run,"said Lisa Belenky. BrightSource Energy has already spent more than $ 50 million to move endangered desert tortoises away from the power plant. but Lisa Belenky says this is not the answer. "We should be reusing areas that have a1ready been disturbed, like old mining sites, for example...either on homes, on businesses, parking lots." said Belenky.
There have also been reports of birds dying at the Ivanpah Plant and others like it.
Some birds die after colliding with solar equipment which the animals mistake for water. Other birds were killed or suffered burns after flying through the intense heat at the solar thermal plant. As solar projects increase, environmentalists and developers are considering what to do to reduce bird death.Why is the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System being built in the desert?
| A．Because the temperature is extremely high in the desert. |
| B．Because there is no life in the desert. |
| C．Because there is much salt in the desert. |
| D．Because sunlight is highly focused in the desert. |
Why can the plant make electricity at night?
| A．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the form of steam. |
| B．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the form of molten salt. |
| C．Because the sun'ss thermal energy can be stored through mirrors |
| D．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the boilers. |
According to Lisa Belenky, in order to reduce the effect,_____.
A. we should move all the plants and animals away from the solar plant
B. we should guide the bird not to hit the solar plant
C we should build the solar plant in disturbed areas
D. we should build the solar plant in the desertThe author’s attitude towards the solar projects is _____.
| A．supportive | B．critical | C．indifferent | D．cautious |
Many people believe that teaching children music makes them smarter, better able to learn new things. But the organizers of a new study say there's no scientific evidence that early musical training affects the intelligence of young people.
An estimated 80 percent of American adults think music lessons improve children's abilily to learn or their performance in school. They say that the satisfaction for learning to play a new song helps a child express creativity.
Researchers at Harvard University, however, have found that there's one thing musical training does not do. They say it does not make children more intelligent. Samuel Mehr is a graduate student at Harvard's School of Education. He said it is wrong to think that learning to play a musical instrument improves a child's intellectual development. He says the evidence comes from studies that measured the mental ability of two groups of 4-year-olds and their parents. One group attended music class, the other went to a class that places importance on the visual arts—arts that can be seen.
"The evidence there is 'no'. We found no evidence for any advantage on any of these tests for the kids participating in these music clases," said Mehr.Samuel Mehr says researchers have carried out many studies in an effort to learn whether musical training can make children smarter. He says the results have been mixed. He says only one study seems to show a small percentage increase in IQ, intellectual scores among students after one year of music lessons. He does not believe that IQ is a good measure of child's intelligence. He says researchers in his study compared how well children in the musical training group did on mental processing tasks or projects, then the results were compared to those of children who did not take lessons. There was no evidence that the musical training group did much better on the mental tasks than the other group.
The researchers comfirmed the results with a larger group of children and their parents.Mr Mehr says music lessons may not offer children a fast easy way to gain entry to the best schools later of their life. But he says the training is still important for cultural reasons. In his words, "We teach music because music is important for us."According to the new study, musical training______.
| A．makes children smarter |
| B．helps a child express creativity |
| C．does not make children more intelligent |
| D．improve children's ability to learn in school |
Samuel Mehr may agree that______.
| A．the children who attended music class are smarter than those who attended arts class |
| B．IQ is a good measure of a child's intelligence |
| C．we needn't to teach children music |
| D．music training is still important for cultural reasons |
In order to confirm his view, Samuel Mehr______.
| A．conducted more than one research |
| B．interviewed many American adults |
| C．taught two groups of 4-yetr-olds music and arts |
| D．offered children a fast way to be admitted to the best schools |
The artical may be taken from a report about _____.
| A．health | B．education | C．culture | D．economy |
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