Starting a new school term is always exciting. It is a chance to see all of your friends again. But most exciting of all, the new term is an opportunity to take up new hobbies. As you know, it is common in Britain for students to take up new hobbies after the Christmas holidays. Promising to begin something new is a common New Year resolution for many school teenagers.
Most schools offer different kinds of hobby classes. Students take them in their free periods or after school. Some classes you have to pay for and others are free of charge. For example, I once took a free Wednesday evening gymnastics class that my school offered. But when I learnt how to play the drum my parents had to pay for the lesson, and they did so, like most parents, without any complaint.
The most popular extra classes at my school were piano lessons and drama club: Both classes offered exams students could take. Because the extra classes may take up much time of the students, students with many hobbies sometimes felt more stressed than those without any. But they could enjoy their life better than those who didn't foster (培养) any hobbies at school. For example, they could build up good friendship with the persons who shared the common interest with them. Most important of all, the students with hobbies left school with many extra skills.
Frankly speaking, I haven't continued any of the hobbies I began at school. But I have never regretted taking them. After all, my best friend today is someone whom I met in my gymnastics class. The reason why we are still keeping in close touch with each other is that we have much in common.The first paragraph suggests that it's children's nature .
| A．to value friendship |
| B．to make a promise easily |
| C．to copy others' behavior |
| D．to be curious about the new |
The author's parents' attitude to hobby classes might be that of .
| A．approval | B．doubt | C．unconcern | D．disapproval |
What is the biggest benefit children can get from taking up a new hobby?
| A．They can enjoy a good time. |
| B．They can learn extra skills. |
| C．They can make more friends. |
| D．They will have things to share. |
From the author's experience, we can learn that .
| A．free hobby classes are very popular |
| B．hobbies are a way of making friends |
| C．we must be careful when choosing a hobby |
| D．hobby classes may not last a long time |
What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To introduce some hobby classes at school. |
| B．To tell readers how to choose hobby classes. |
| C．To encourage readers to take up new hobbies. |
| D．To report a trend among British school children. |
Meeting people from another culture can be difficult. Form the beginning, people may send the wrong signal（信号）. Or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.
Different cultures emphasize (强调) the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in "small talk", usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job. In many European countries -- like the UK or France -- people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or caf6s rather than at the office.
Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realized that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.
Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.
People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment (多元文化环境) will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other.In some countries, eating together at restaurants may make it easier for people to _______.
| A．develop closer relations | B．share the same culture |
| C．get to know each other | D．keep each other company |
The author mentions his experience in Thailand to show that _________.
| A．the English prefer to make long speeches |
| B．too many words are of no use |
| C．people from Thailand are quiet and shy by nature |
| D．even talk and silence can be culturally different |
According to the text, how can people from different cultures understand each other better?
| A．By sharing different ways of life. |
| B．By accepting different habits. |
| C．By recognizing different values. |
| D．By speaking each other’ s languages. |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Multicultural Environment. | B．Cross-Cultural Differences. |
| C．How to Understand Each Other. | D．How to Build Up a Relationship. |
Puling heavy suitcases all day in the summer is hard work, especially when you’re a thin 14-year-old. That was me in 1940-the youngest and smallest baggage boy at New York City’s Pennsylvania Railway Station.
After just a few days on the job, I began noticing that the other fellows were overcharging passengers. I’d like to join them, thinking, “Everyone else is doing it”.
When I got home that night, I told my dad what I wanted to do. “You give an honest day’s work,” he said, looking at me straight in the eye. “They’re paying you. If they want to do that, you let them do that.”
I followed my dad’s advice for the rest of that summer and have lived by his words ever since.
Of all the jobs I’ve had, it was my experience at Pennsylvania Railway Station that has stuck with me. Now I teach my players to have respect for other people and their possessions. Being a member of a team is a totally shared experience. If one person steals, it destroys trust and hurts everyone. I can put up with many things, but not with people who steal. If one of my players were caught stealing, he’d gone.
Whether you’re on a sports team, in an office or a member of a family, if you can’t trust one another, there’s going to be trouble.What can be inferred about the baggage boys?
| A．They could earn much, but they had to work hard. |
B．Many of them earned mon ey in a dishonest way. |
| C．They were all from poor families. |
| D．They were all thin, young boys. |
What does the father’s advice imply?
| A．It is wrong to give more pay to the passengers. |
| B．Don’t believe them if they are paying you more. |
| C．Don’t follow others to overcharge the passengers. |
| D．It is difficult to work hard and live as an honest boy. |
The writer can’t put up with stealing because he thinks that .
| A．it is a totally shared experience |
| B．it is considered as the most dangerous |
| C．it does great harm to human relationship |
| D．it may lead to the loss of his sports team |
It can be concluded from the text that .
| A．his father’s advice helped him to decide which job to take up |
| B．working in the sports team was his most important experience |
| C．he learnt much from his shared experience with his team members |
| D．his experience s a baggage boy had a great influence on his later life |
If you’re training for a marathon , a proper plan for water intake (摄入) is important. Of course, there’s the risk of dehydration (脱水). But athletes now know they can also get into trouble by drinking too much. Too much water intake can lower levels of sodium (钠) in the blood . The death of a 28-year-old woman following the Boston Marathon caught the attention of many runners and led to new research.
Experts advise long distance runners to replace the liquids they sweat out. Their goal is to try to keep someone from not getting dehydrated by more than 2 percent of their body weight.
One technique for deciding how much water you need is to get the exact numbers. Runners have to weight themselves before and after a run to determine how much water they’ve lost. If their weight drops by more than 2 percent, they have not drunk enough water.
Hyponatremia occurs when runners drink so much water that blood salt levels drop off. A study published last year tested 488 runners who completed the Boston Marathon and found 13 percent of them had dangerously low blood salt levels. The first sign that runners may notice is slightly swelling in the hands. They can’t get their rings off, and then they might feel sick. They may not remember where they are. In fact, most runners get enough salt to get back to normal levels by eating just one meal after a run. Contrary to the old advice that runners should drink as much as they can to prevent dehydration , the new research has shown that the body is a remarkable machine that actually tells you via thirst when you need water .
56. The author of this passage is primarily concerned with .
| A．the signs and treatment for dehydration |
| B．the long distance runners who need help |
| C．how to manage water intake during a marathon |
| D．a 28-year-old woman who died after a Boston Marathon |
57. Why do runners have to weigh themselves before and after a run ?
| A．They can improve their performance in a run. |
| B．They can learn how much salt there is in the blood. |
| C．They can know the quantity of water they’ve lost during a run. |
| D．They can decide what kind of water they should take during a run. |
58. What conclusion can we draw from the passage ?
| A．Taking much salt during a run can avoid selling in the body. |
| B．Either too much or too little of water intake is harmful. |
| C．A rich meal is helpful to our performance in a run. |
| D．We should take enough salt during a run. |
59．According the passage, which of the following statements is correct ?
| A．Too much water intake→blood sodium levels ↓→dehydration. |
| B．Too much water intake→blood salt levels ↓→hyponatremia . |
| C．No water intake→blood sodium levels↑→hyponatremia . |
| D．No water intake →blood salt levels ↓→hyponatrenmia . |
Why People Get Tattoos
Jack lay, quiet and unmoving for thirty minutes while a stranger repeatedly stabbed (刺) him with sharp needles, causing blood to pour steadily out of his leg. Jack was getting a tattoo. His friend Tony had recently gotten a tattoo, and Jack was so impressed by it that he decided to get one too. Peer pressure, media influence, and personal expression are some of the common reasons for wearing tattoos today.
The desire to be accepted by one’s friends or peers can have a great influence on what a person does. Sometimes, wearing a tattoo can be a sign that you belong to a certain group. Gangs often use special clothes and tattoos to identify their particular group. Some of these groups wear only brand – name clothes. Others wear tattoos. When a person’s friends are all doing something, that person is more likely to do the same thing.
The media is another big influence behind the popularity of tattoos in North America. A wide variety of media images(人物，图像) show tattoos－people appearing in commercials selling expensive cars, famous sports heroes with tattoos in magazines, fashion models wearing designer clothes that show their bodies tattooed with detailed and colourful patterns. These media images link tattoos to ideas of wealth, success, and status. As a result, many people decide to get a tattoo for its fashion and status value.
Many people decide to wear tattoos in order to express their artistic nature, their beliefs, or their feelings－in other words, to show their individuality(个性). A musician in a rock band may get a tattoo of a guitar on the arm. Some environmentalists may tattoo pictures of endangered animals on their shoulders. A tattoo can be a public sign to show what is important in a person's life.
As you can see, there are many reasons why young North Americans get tattoos. A tattoo can be part of a group's uniform, a sign of fashion or an expression of individuality. The decision to get a tattoo is most often a result of the influence of friends or media or the desire to express oneself. For Jack, it was a mixture of all three.
72. Jack has got tattoos in order to .
| A．show his great bravery | B．gain a special experience |
| C．make himself more healthy | D．be different from others |
73. According to the passage, media images are linked to .
| A．traditional lifestyle | B．social position |
| C．cultural background | D．public interest |
74. We can infer from the passage that .
| A．some people get tattoos out of pressure |
| B．tattoo is related to religious belief |
| C．getting tattoos costs a lot of money |
| D．most people with tattoos are artists |
75. Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?
CP: Central Point P: Point Sp: Sub – point (次要点) C: Conclusion
High school dropouts（辍学者）earn an average of $ 9,000 less per year than graduates. Now a new study dispels a common belief why they quit. It’s much more basic than flunking out（不及格）.
Society tends to think of high school dropouts as kids who just can’t cut it. They are lazy，and perhaps not two bright．So researchers were surprised when they asked more than 450 kids who quit school about why they left.
“The vast majority actually had passing grades and they were confident that they could have graduated from high school.” John Bridgeland, the executive researcher said. About 1 million teens leave school each year. Only about half of African-American and Hispanic（美籍西班牙的）students will receive a diploma（证书），and actually all dropouts come to regret their decision. So, if failing grades don’t explain why these kids quit, what does? Again，John Bridgeland："The most dependable finding was that they were bored.” “They found classes uninteresting; they weren’t inspired or motivated. They didn’t see any direct connection between what they were learning in the classroom to their own lives, or to their career aspirations.”
The study found that most teens who do drop out wait until they turn sixteen, which happens to be the age at which most states allow students to quit. In the US，only one state，New Mexico，has a law requiring teenagers to stay in high school until they graduate. Only four states: California, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, plus the District of Columbia, require school attendance until age 18, no exceptions, another researcher，says raising the compulsory attendance age may be one way to keep more kids in school．
“As these dropouts look back，they realize they’ve made a mistake. And anything that sort of gives these people an extra push to stick it out and it through to the end, is probably helpful measure.”
New Hampshire may be the next state to raise its school attendance age to 18. But critics say that forcing the students unwilling to continue their studies to stay in school misses the point－the need for reform. It's been called for to reinvent high school education to make it more challenging and relevant, and to ensure that kids who do stick it out receive a diploma that actually means something.
68. Most high school students drop out of school because .
| A．they have failing grades |
| B．they take no interest in classes |
| C．they are discriminated against |
| D．they are lazy and not intelligent |
69. The underlined words “stick it out” probably means“ ”．
| A．complete schooling | B．solve the problem |
| C．love having classes | D．believe in themselves |
70. In the last paragraph, the writer is trying to .
| A．analyze the reason why students quit school |
| B．suggest raising the compulsory attendance age |
| C．raise awareness of reforming high school education |
| D．wish to make laws to guarantee no education |
71. From the passage，we can infer the following EXCEPT that ．
| A．the grades of most dropouts at school were acceptable |
| B．about 500, 000 high school dropouts are black and Spanish |
| C．classes don't appeal to dropouts |
| D．on average dropouts cannot get good jobs |
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