The fourth-graders at Chicago’s McCormick Primary School are unaware of the difficulty in learning Chinese. For most, who speak Spanish at home, it’s becoming their third language. They’ve been learning and using Chinese words since kindergarten, and it’s now second nature to give a hearty “ni hao” when strangers enter the classroom.
The classroom scene at McCormick is unusual, but it may soon be a common fixture(固定物) in American schools, where Chinese is rapidly becoming the hot new language. Government officials have long wanted more focus on security—useful languages like Chinese, and pressure from them—as well as from business leaders, politicians, and parents—has driven a quick growth in the number of programs.
Chicago itself is home to the largest effort to include Chinese in US public schools. The program here has grown to include 3,000 students in 20 schools, with more schools on a waiting list. Programs have also spread to places like Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and North Carolina. It’s true that the number of students learning Chinese is tiny compared with how many study Spanish or French.
Advocates see knowledge of the Chinese language and culture as a help in a global economy where China is growing in importance. “This is an interesting way to begin to engage with the world’s next superpower,” says Michael Levine, director of education at the Asia Society, which has started five new public high schools that offer Chinese. “Globalization has already changed the arrangements in terms of how children today are going to need to think about their careers… The question is, when not whether, the schools are going to adjust.”
In Chicago, the trend extends beyond schools with high numbers of Asian students. “The fact that my students are 98% low income and 99% Latino(拉丁美洲人) and they are succeeding in this, tells me everyone should have a try at learning languages,” says Virginia Rivera, principal at McCormick. “We want to give our young people opportunities to advance… and Chinese is a great opportunity to survive in today’s economy,” says Richard M. Daley, Mayor of Chicago.The underlined word “Advocates” in the text probably means” .
| A．Supporters | B．Objectors | C．Teachers | D．Learners |
How many languages are mentioned in this passage?
| A．Six. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
In the last paragraph, the underlined word “this ”probably refers to _____.
| A．the competition between Latino and Asian students |
| B．the global economy |
| C．the interesting way to engage with China |
| D．the Chinese learning |
What CANNOT be learned from this passage?
| A．Most students at McCormick can speak three languages. |
| B．Chinese is gaining its popularity in all schools in Chicago. |
| C．French has far more speakers than Chinese does in Chicago. |
| D．Globalization in a way makes it necessary to learn Chinese. |
Which of the following is mainly about in this passage?
| A．The Chinese learning in Chicago. |
| B．The ways to learn Chinese. |
| C．McCormick Primary School. |
| D．Globalization and Chinese learning. |
Mexico City is truly one of the most amazing cities in the world with a mixture of both the old and new world. From the moment your plane starts to land in this vast city, you know that your trip will be quite an adventure.
Once in your taxi and the moment you leave the airport, you are amazed at the large amount of slow traffic. The volume of the traffic can be stressful to some.
The "Paseo de la Reforma (改革大道)", running southwest across the city, is one of the major tourist and business areas in Mexico City with many high quality hotels only walking distance from great restaurants and other tourist attractions. The only problem you will have is trying to see all of these sites during your vacation time.
One of the most popular attractions in this area is the National Museum of Anthropology along the northwest part of the street. There are thousands of artifacts on display showing the history of the area and numerous items found from the many Aztec sites in the area. Walking southwest from the museum, you will soon reach the Mexico City Zoo, which is a great place to spend an afternoon.
Across the street from the museum is the Chapultepec Castle, once an important site in the Mexican-American war. It's also a good idea to take the train up the hill to where the castle is located as the hill is steep (陡峭的). It's important to keep in mind that Mexico City is over 7,000 feet above sea level and some feel it difficult to breathe when walking.
You can take a taxi to the Coyoacan market during the evening on a weekend. It's a great place to get some cheap souvenirs to bring back home and to enjoy some traditional Mexican cuisine. However, you must be careful where you eat and that the meat is well cooked.The tourists in Mexico City may not be satisfied with______.
| A．the high speed of the traffic | B．the heavy traffic of the city |
| C．the polluted air in the city | D．their safety in the city |
From the third paragraph, we can learn that______.
| A．the number of the city attractions can't meet the needs of the tourists |
| B．it is convenient for tourists to visit the city from where they stay |
| C．tourists have problems when visiting the sites in Mexico City |
| D．tourists often have their three meals in the high quality hotels |
Which of the following shows the correct positions of the following places?
P =" Paseo" de la Reforma M =" the" National Museum of Anthropology
C =" the" Chapultepec Castle Z =" the" Mexico City Zoo
Which of the following attractions may interest those who want to study the military (of the army) history of Mexico City?
| A．The National Museum of Anthropology. | B．The Coyoacan market. |
| C．The Chapultepec Castle. | D．The Aztec sites. |
Having reached the highest point of our route according to plan, we discovered something the map had not told us. It was impossible to climb down into the Kingo valley. The river lay deep between mountain sides that were almost vertical（垂直）.We couldn’t find any animal tracks, which usually show the best way across country, and the slopes were covered so thickly with bushes that we could not see the nature of the ground. We had somehow to break through to the river which would give us our direction out of the mountains into the inhabited lowlands.
Our guide cut a narrow path through the bushes with his long knife and we followed in single file. Progress was slow. Then, when we thought we had really reached the river, we found ourselves instead on the edge of a cliff with a straight drop of 1,000 feet to the water below. We climbed back up the slope and began to look for another way down. We climbed slipped, sweated and scratched our hands to pieces and finally arrived at the river. Happily we came downhill along its bank without having to cut our way. However, after a few miles the river entered a steep-sided gap between rocks and suddenly dropped thirty-five feet over a waterfall. There was no path alongside it and no way round it.
Then one of the guides saw a way of overcoming the difficulty. There was a fallen tree lying upside down over the waterfall with its leafy top resting on the opposite bank below the falls. Without hesitation he climbed down the slippery trunk to show us how easy it was. Having got to the fork of the tree, he moved hand over hand along a branch for four or five feet with his legs hanging in space, then he dropped onto the flat bank the other side, throwing his arms in the air like a footballer who has scored goal, and cheerfully waving us on.
74．Having reached the highest point on their route, the travelers expected to be able to .
A．track animals to the river
B．put away the maps they had been using
C．come near to the river from a different direction
D．get down to the river without much difficulty.
75．The travelers wanted to get to the river because .
A．it would lead them to the waterfall
B．it would show them which way to go
C．it was the only possible way out of the mountains
D．it was a quicker way than going over the mountains
76．One reason why the travelers took so long to get to the river was that .
A．it was too hot to move quickly
B．there was no proper path
C．they all tried to go different ways
D．they could not follow the animal tracks
77．To get past the waterfall the guide had to .
A．use a fallen tree as a kind of bridge
B．cross the river above the waterfall
C．slide down a steep river bank
D．swing across the river from a high branch
第二部分阅渎理解(共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)
阅读—列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
After the terrible car accident, the whole world had been completely dark and quiet for Robert Edwards for almost ten years, for he became both blind and deaf after the doctor had saved him. The loss of sight and hearing threw him into such a sorrow that he tried a few times to put an end to his life. His family, especially his wife, did their best to tend and comfort him. By and by he finally regained the courage to live on.
On a hot summer afternoon he was taking a walk with a stick near his house when a thunderstorm started all of a sudden. He stood under a large tree in order not to get himself wet. Unfortunately he was struck down to the ground by a lightning. The witnesses thought him dead but he woke up some twenty minutes later, lying face down in muddy water below the tree. He felt that he was trembling badly, but when he opened his eyes, he didn’t dare to believe that he saw a plough lying near the wall. When Mrs. Edwards came running up to him, she shouted to their neighbors for help. And he saw her and heard her voice for the first time in nearly 10 years.
The news of Robert’s regaining his sight and hearing quickly spread across his area, and many doctors came to prove the truth of the news. Most of them said that he gained sight and hearing again obviously from the knock of the lightning. However, none of them could give believable reasons. The only reasonable explanation given by one doctor was that, since Edwards lost his sight and hearing as a result of a sudden shock in a terrible accident, perhaps the only way for them to regain was by another sudden shock.
66. When Robert Edwards learned he lost both sight and hearing, he ______.
A. was looked down upon by his former companions
B. was unwilling to face the fact
C. lost the courage of continuing his life
D. regretted for what he had done
67. On a hot afternoon Robert Edwards stood under a big tree because______.
A. he didn’t want to get himself wet
B. he hoped to cool himself in the shade
C. he was waiting for his wife to carry him home
D. he wished to be cured by a sudden shock
68. Which word can best describe the feeling of Robert Edwards when he came to himself?
A. Regretful. B.Pleasantly surprised.
C.Nervous. D.Doubtful.
69. When hearing the news that Robert had regained his sight and hearing, many doctors came here to______.
A. call on him B. ask him for help
C. find out the real reason D. know whether it was true.
In a few years, you might be able to speak Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French,and English—and all at the same time. This sounds incredible, but Alex Waibel,a computer science professor at US's Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Germany's University of Karlsruhe, announced last week that it may soon be reality. He and his team have invented software and hardware that could make it far easier for people who speak different languages to understand each other.
One application, called Lecture Translation, can easily translate a speech from one language into another. Current translation technologies typically limit speakers to certain topics or a limited vocabulary. Users also have to be trained how to use the programme.
Another prototype(雏形机) can send translations of a speech to different listeners depending on what language they speak. “It is like having a simultaneous translator right next to you but without disturbing the person next to you,” Waibel said.
Prefer to read? So-called Translation Glasses transcribe(转录) the translations on a tiny liquid-crystal(液晶) display(LCD) screen.
Then there's the Muscle Translator. Electrodes capture the electrical signals from facial muscle movements made naturally when a person is mouthing words. The signals are then translated into speech. The electrodes could be replaced with wireless chips implanted in a person's face, according to researchers.
During a demonstration held last Thursday in CMU's Pittsburgh campus, a Chinese student named Sang Jun had 11 tiny electrodes attached to the muscles of his cheeks, neck and throat. Then he mouthed—without speaking aloud—a few words in Mandarin(普通话) to the audience. A few seconds later, the phrase was displayed on a computer screen and spoken out by the computer in English and Spanish: “Let me introduce our new prototype.”
This particular gadget(器械),when fully developed, might allow anyone to speak in any number of languages or, as Waibel put it, “to switch your mouth to a foreign language”. “The idea behind the university's prototypes is to create ‘good enough’ bridges for cross-cultural exchanges that are becoming more common in the world,” Waibel said.
With spontaneous(自发的) translators, foreign drivers in Germany could listen to traffic warnings on the radio, tourists in China could read all the signs and talk with local people, and leaders of different countries could have secret talks without any interpreters there.
83. Which of the following statements is not true ?
A. A lecture translation can translate what you said into other languages easily.
B. Muscle Translators can translate what you think into speech if you just move your mouth.
C. There is no Muscle Translator in the world now.
D. The spontaneous translators will help us a lot.
84. What's the final destination of inventing the language translators?
A. To make cultural exchanges between different countries easier.
B. To help students learn foreign languages more easily.
C. To make people live in foreign countries more comfortably.
D. To help people learn more foreign languages in the future.
85. Where can this passage probably be excerpted from?
A. A newspaper. B. A magazine on science.
C. A fairy tale. D. A scientific fantasy book.
As the pace of life continues to increase, we are fast losing the art of relaxation. Once you are in the habit of rushing through life, being on the go from morning till night, it is hard to slow down. But relaxation is essential for a healthy mind and body.
Stress is a natural part of everyday life and there is no way to avoid it. In fact, it is not the bad thing it is often supposed to be. A certain amount of stress is vital to provide motivation and give purpose to life. It is only when the stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and ill health.
The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities, others lose heart at the first sign of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we react both chemically and physically. In fact we make choice between "flight or fight" and in more primitive days the choices made the difference between life or death. The crises we meet today are unlikely to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it involves the same response. It is when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes endangered. Since we can't remove stress from our lives (it would be unwise to do so even if we could), we need to find ways to deal with it.
78. People are finding less and less time for relaxing themselves because _____.
A. they regard working as their greatest enjoyment
B. they believe that work is superior to relaxation
C. they are traveling fast all the time
D. they are becoming busier with their work than ever before
79. According to the author, the most important character for a good manager is his _____.
A. strong will to hold out stress
B. knowing the art of relaxation
C. high sense of responsibility
D. having control over performance
80. Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage?
A. We can find quite a few ways to avoid stress.
B. Stress is always harmful to people's health
C. It's easy to change the habit of keeping oneself busy with work.
D. Different people can bear different amount of stress.
81. In the last sentence of the passage, "do so" refers to _____.
A. "expose ourselves to stress"
B. "find ways to deal with stress"
C. "remove stress from our lives"
D. "establish links between diseases and stress"
82. According to the author, the right attitude toward stress is _____.
A. to avoid it B. to try to cope with it
C. to regard it as a vital motivation D. to find some relaxation
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