Every year in late April, students at Renmin University of China become the subjects of admiration and jealousy of their peers on other campuses in Beijing. Why? Because they get a week off in the middle of term, the so-called spring break.
“It’s been a unique tradition of our school for a decade,” said Wang Yueran, 20, a journalism major at Renmin University, who organized a weeklong trip to Sichuan with 12 classmates last year.
But having fun is just one dimension of the spring break. Field trips, voluntary work, and social projects are all on students’ to-do lists. Experts say the spring break is not just for students to enjoy a few days off, but for them to gain new experiences beyond the campus walls.
Push them out
The traditional Chinese belief of the exploration of knowledge and truth emphasizes “reading 10,000 books and traveling 10,000 miles”, which indicates the importance of experience as much as theory. But while Chinese universities have the tradition of spring outings, what’s the benefit of making spring break an institution?
Qin Jianguo, of the student affairs office at Shenzhen University, thinks the idea of the spring break in some universities in China comes from the intention of pushing students out of the ivory tower to experience more diversity in their lives.
“Take traveling for example. A week traveling is a very different experience to a one- or two-day outing,” said Qin. “Students are expected to acquire the spirit of teamwork and compromise, and learn survival and communication skills when put out there in an unfamiliar context.”
Diverse approaches
Many countries have similar vacations in the middle of the semester for students to do things out of their own interest. Taking Japan as an example, instead of partying like their US counterparts, many Japanese students choose to work as interns or engage in study-related projects.
“The spring break is an opportunity for many of our students to put their learning to use,” said Hiroshi Kanno, dean of the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University, in the school’s description of a recent spring break project.
As for Chinese students who take a week off around the Labor Day holiday, many tend to do volunteer work. Duan Zhipeng, a 22-year-old economics major at Renmin University, applied for a project to go back to his hometown in Jiangxi province to introduce his university’s enrollment policies and campus culture to local high school students.
Not a trend yet
Apart from Renmin University, only a few other universities, such as Yantai University, have a spring break for their students. The concept in China is still far from the culture and norms built around it in the US.
Wei Xiang, a professor specializing in holiday economics at Beijing International Studies University, said that the spring break is a good experiment for universities to make study schedules smoother in order to give students more options to arrange their own leisure and study activities.According to the text, up to now, Apart from Renmin University, which University has a spring break for their students.
| A．Yantai University |
| B．Peking University |
| C．Suzhou University |
| D．Nankai University |
The underlined word “it” refers to ______
| A．field trips | B．exploration of knowledge |
| C．spring break | D．ivory tower |
According to the passage,why do the students in the other universities admire the students at Renmin University?
| A．Because they tend to do volunteer work. |
| B．Because they go home to meet their relatives. |
| C．Because they get a spring break. |
| D．Because they have lesser courses . |
Which of the following is the best title?
| A．Reading 10,000 books and traveling 10,000 miles |
| B．Spring break expands horizons |
| C．Enjoy yourselves |
| D．A weeklong trip |
Which of the following is Not true according to the passage?
| A．Spring break can help students to gain new experiences beyond the campus walls. |
| B．Students are expected to acquire the spirit of teamwork through pring break. |
| C．Spring break can help students tolearn survival and communication skills when in an unfamiliar context. |
| D．Spring break is not common in the US. |
If you want to become a fluent English speaker you should take some advice: There are four skills in learning English. They are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The most important thing you must remember is that if you want to improve your speaking and writing skills you should first master the skills of reading and listening.
Read as much as you can. But your reading must be active. It means that you must think about the meaning of the sentence, the meanings of the unfamiliar words, etc. There is no need for you to pay much attention to grammars or try to understand all the unfamiliar words you come across, but the fact that you see them for the first time and recognize them whenever you see them, for example in other passages or books, is enough. It would be better to prepare yourself a notebook so you can write down the important words or sentences in it.
As for listening, there are two choices: besides reading, you can listen every day for about 30 minutes. You can only pay attention to your reading and become skillful at your reading, then you can catch up on your listening. Since you have lots of inputs in your mind, you can easily guess what the speaker is going to say. This never means that you should not practice listening.
For listening you can listen to cartoons or some movies that are specially made for children. Their languages are easy. Or if you are good at listening you can listen to VOA or BBC programs every day. Again the thing to remember is being active in listening and preferably taking some notes.
If you follow these pieces of advice, your speaking and writing will improve automatically, and you can be sure that with a little effort they will become perfect.According to the author, which should you improve first among the four skills?
| A．Reading and listening. | B．Reading and writing. |
| C．Writing and speaking. | D．Speaking and listening. |
The underlined phrase "come across" in Paragraph 2 can probably be replaced by "_______".
| A．discover | B．meet by accident |
| C．find on purpose | D．look for |
The author seems to agree with the view that_______.
| A．everyone should listen to VOA or BBC programs every day |
| B．you needn't practice listening if you keep on reading every day |
| C．being good at reading is helpful in improving your listening |
| D．you should take notes of whatever you are hearing |
The passage is mainly about how to_______.
| A．choose suitable listening materials |
| B．deal with new words in reading |
| C．improve your English as quickly as possible |
| D．become fluent in speaking and writing English |
Volunteers for Halloween
Saturday & Sunday, October 26 & 27
It's time for Prospect Park's ghosts to come out! Join the community tradition of Halloween in Prospect Park and sign up to become volunteers for the events.
We are now looking for 10,000 volunteers to help the Carnival(狂欢节), the Haunted Walk and various other children's activities around the Park. We're counting on your help to make the 2014 celebration the best one in history. You can read each position description below and follow the link to sign up!
Creepy Crawly Halloween at the Boathouse: Help prepare the Audubon Center's educational exhibits and /or assist with children's activities. There are two shifts(轮班) on both Saturday and Sunday. Please sign up for however many shifts you would like to work.
Haunted Carousel: At the Haunted Carousel, assist children on and off horses and direct them to the correct entrance and exit gates. There are two shifts available on each day; please sign up for one or more shifts.
Lefferts Historic House: At Lefferts, Craft Assistants will enjoy encouraging creativity in children by working with crafts. Crowd Control Assistants are expected to help manage the flow of people through the house. There is a shift on Saturday and Sunday; please sign up for one or both.
Halloween Carnival: Game Leaders assist children with games and hand out prizes. Carnival Greeters assist with traffic control and answer questions from the public. The Carnival will take place on Saturday on the Nethermead.
Halloween Haunted Walk: Volunteers will dress up as costumed (戏装的) characters, working as walking guides. The Haunted Walk will take place on Saturday on Lookout Hill.
Volunteer Policies
Every potential volunteer must complete a volunteer application (click below to complete your application form). Please note that some volunteer opportunities may require an interview or additional training due to special skill requirements.
Teenagers under 18 must submit a signed parental agreement form with their online application.
Children under 14 years old may volunteer if they are accompanied by an adult.
Children 14 — 17 years old are welcome to volunteer on their own. However, before they may begin their work, their application must be signed by a parent.At the Haunted Carousel, volunteers are expected to ______.
| A．sign up for two shifts |
| B．dress up as costumed characters |
| C．help children on and off horses |
| D．answer questions from the public |
Before becoming a volunteer, you must ______.
| A．pass an interview |
| B．receive the skill training |
| C．submit a signed parental agreement form |
| D．fill in an application form online |
We learn from the advertisement that a 13year old boy ______.
| A．is not allowed to volunteer in the 2014 celebration |
| B．can become a volunteer in the company of a parent |
| C．is permitted to become a volunteer on his own |
| D．may volunteer with his application signed by a parent |
On April 8th, 2013, the world felt sorry because of the death of former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who died at the age of 87. Besides being the country’s longest leader (1979-1990) in the 20th century, she was the first woman to lead Britain. She worked hard and did well in her work, so she was called “Iron Lady”.
Whatever you think of Margaret Thatcher, the thing everyone does agree on is that she was a woman with great decisions. When she took over Britain in 1979, she led a country that was in economic trouble. She faced a lot of problems because of the poor economic position.
In order to make the country become strong again, Ms. Thatcher had to make some hard and special decisions like raising interest rates and even taxes at a time when most British people were living a hard life. In this way she led Britain to run out of economic troubles.
Early in her second term, just as things were looking a little better, she faced another problem — a strike by the British Miners Union. Once again, the Iron Lady stood her ground to stop the longest strike in the country’s history.
In 1982, Argentina said that they had owned the Falkland Islands since the 19th century. Britain, however, considered the islands to be one of their overseas dependent territories (领土). Margaret Thatcher tried to talk about the problem with Argentines. But Argentines didn’t agree with her ideas, so Ms. Thatcher did what any strong leader would do — send in the British Army. It took 74 days, and on 14th June 1982, the Argentine army finally failed and Britain controlled the Falkland Islands again.
When Ms. Thatcher resigned in 1990, she left behind a country that was very strong. Unluckily, during the last few years of her life, something was wrong with her mind. She hardly remembered anything that was happening around her and even what she had done during her wonderful lifetime.Why did Margaret Thatcher decide to raise interest rates?
| A．Because English people were very rich and happy. |
| B．Because she needed money to fight against Argentina. |
| C．Because Britain needed to run out of economic troubles. |
| D．Because people stored too much money in the banks. |
How did Margaret Thatcher make her country control the Falkland Islands again?
| A．She paid a lot of money for the islands. |
| B．She helped people on the islands a lot. |
| C．She sent many workers to the islands. |
| D．She sent in the British Army to the islands. |
What was the matter with Ms. Thatcher after she resigned?
| A．She couldn’t say anything at all. |
| B．She almost couldn’t remember anything. |
| C．She couldn’t walk at all. |
| D．She couldn’t hear anything at all. |
It can be inferred from the passage that Ms. Thatcher was ________.
| A．determined | B．sensitive |
| C．humorous | D．generous |
As is known to all, in daily conversation people often use simple words and simple sentences, especially elliptical(省略) sentences. Here is an interesting conversation between Mr Green and his good friend Mr Smith, a fisherman. Do you know what they are talking about?
Mr Green: Going?
Mr Smith: Been.
Mr Green: Any?
Mr Smith: Some.
Mr Green: Big?
Mr Smith: Small.The underlined word “conversation” in the text means ______.
| A．fishing | B．story | C．text | D．dialogue |
Which of the following is true to the text?
| A．Mr Smith has just been fishing and caught some small fish. |
| B．Mr Green caught some big fish and wanted to give some to Mr Smith. |
| C．Mr Smith didn’t catch any small fish. |
| D．Mr Smith wanted to buy some big fish from Mr Green. |
The text is mainly about _______.
| A．how to catch fish | B．how to spend a Sunday |
| C．ellipsis in conversations | D．joy in fishing |
Johnny Smith was a good math student at a high school. He loved his computer. He came home early every day, then he worked with it till midnight. But Johnny was not a good English student, not good at all. He got an F in his English class. One day after school Johnny joined his computer to the computer in his high school office. The school office computer had the grades of all the students: the math grades, the science grades, the grades in arts and music, and the grades in English. He found his English grade. An F! Johnny changed his English grade from an F to A. Johnny' parents looked at his report card. They were very happy. "An A in English!" said Johnny's Dad. "You're a very clever boy, Johnny."
Johnny is a hacker. Hackers know how to take information from other computers and put new information in. Using a modem(调制解调器), they join their computers to other computers secretly.
School headmasters and teachers are worried about hackers. So are the police, for some people even take money from bank computer account(账户) and put it into their own ones. And they never have to leave home to do it! They are called hackers.
(210w)Johnny changed his English grade with the computer in _______.
| A．the classroom | B．the school office |
| C．a bank near his house | D．his own house |
When Johnny's parents saw the report, they were happy because _______.
| A．Johnny was good at math |
| B．Johnny loved computers |
| C．Johnny could join one computer to another |
| D．they thought Johnny was not poor in English any longer |
Who are worried about hackers in the text?
| A．Johnny's parents. |
| B．School headmasters, teachers and the police. |
| C．The police. |
| D．School headmasters and teachers. |
What should the hackers know well, do you think, after you read this story?
| A．Information. | B．Bank computer accounts. |
| C．Computers. | D．Grades. |
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