A “Gap Year” is a period of time when a student takes a break before going to university. It is often spent travelling or working. It can give young people useful learning experiences and new skills.
Gap years are popular with European and Australian students, but remain less popular in America. However, in recent years, more and more American students are preparing for college by taking a gap year. The advantages of taking a gap year are as follows：
Learn about the World and Yourself
Although you don’t have to go abroad to experience gap years, most gap year students catch the chance to travel abroad. You are able to work out who you are and what you are for. The experiences of different cultures offer you interesting lessons. You can learn more about the world and get to know yourself better.
Face Challenges and Have Fun
A gap year is not only a time to take a vacation, but also a time to face challenges. Gap year students usually work, volunteer or take service projects. You have to learn how to get along in the real world. This process isn’t always easy, but it is an important part of growing up. Only in this way can you enjoy life and have fun.
Save Money and Improve Your College Admission Chances
There’s a common thought that gap years are only for rich students, but it’ s not true. Actually, taking a gap year can save your money. Gap year students often take a part-time job. Besides, at the end of a gap year, students are much more likely to know what to study in college. Clear learning goals ran keep the students working hard instead of wasting time and money playing.
Imagine an admission officer trying to admit (录取) only one between two students. Both of them are excellent and have high grades. However, one student has much practical experience or has volunteered in his vacation. Who do you think the admission officer will choose?A “Gap Year” means in the passage.
| A．going abroad in a year for further education |
| B．travelling around the world in a year |
| C．taking a break before going to a university |
| D．doing a part-time job to make money during a vacation |
Besides having fun, gap year students have to face the .
| A．money | B．information |
| C．vacations | D．challenges |
Having a gap year may make you .
| A．become very rich | B．remain less popular |
| C．experience foreign cultures | D．have no chance to break |
The last sentence implies(暗含) that will probably be admitted by the admission officer.
| A．either of the two students |
| B．the student with high grades |
| C．neither of the two students |
| D．the .student with a gap year experience |
A Brown University sleep researcher has some advice for people who run high schools: Don't start classes so early in the morning. It may not be that the students who nod off at their desks are lazy. And it may not be that their parents have failed to enforce (确保) bedtime. Instead, it may be that biologically these sleepyhead students aren't used to the early hour.
"Maybe these kids are being asked to rise at the wrong time for their bodies," says Mary Carskadon, a professor looking at problem of adolescent (青春期的) sleep at Brown's School of Medicine.
Carskadon is trying to understand more about the effects of early school time in adolescents. And, at a more basic level, she and her team are trying to learn more about how the biological changes of adolescence affect sleep needs and patterns.
Carskadon says her work suggests that adolescents may need more sleep than they did at childhood, no less, as commonly thought.
Sleep patters change during adolescence, as any parent of an adolescent can prove. Most adolescents prefer to stay up later at nigh and sleep later in the morning. But it's not just a matter of choice — their bodies are going through a change of sleep patters.
All of this makes the transfer from middle school to high school — which may start one hour earlier in the morning — all the more difficult, Carskadon says. With their increased need for sleep and their biological clocks set on the "sleep late, rise late" pattern, adolescent are up against difficulties when it comes to trying to be up by 5 or 6 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. first bell. A short sleep on a desktop may be their body's way of saying. "I need a timeout."Carskadon suggests that high schools should not start classes so early in the morning because ________.
| A．it is really tough for parents to enforce bedtime |
| B．it is biologically difficult for students to rise early |
| C．students work so late at night that they can't get up early |
| D．students are so lazy that they don't like to go to school early |
The underlined phrase "nod off" most probably means " ________".
| A．turn around | B．agree with others | C．fall asleep | D．refuse to work |
What might be a reason for the hard transfer middle school to high school?
| A．Adolescents depend more on their parents. |
| B．Adolescents have to choose their sleep patterns. |
| C．Adolescents sleep better than they did at childhood. |
| D．Adolescents need more sleep than they used to. |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Adolescent heath care. |
| B．Problems in adolescent learning. |
| C．Adolescent sleep difficulties. |
| D．Changes in adolescent sleep needs and patterns. |
Once there was a child ready to be born. So he asked God, “They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?”
God replied, “Among the many angels, I chose one for you. She will take care of you.” But the child wasn’t sure he really wanted to go. “But here I don’t do anything else but sing and smile, that’s enough for me to be happy.”
“Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you every day. And you will feel your angel’s love and be happy.”
“And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me,” the child continued, “if I don't know the language that men talk?”
God patted (轻拍) him on the head and said, “Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear. Your angel will teach you how to speak.”
“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?”
But God had an answer for that question too. “Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray (祈祷).”
“I’ve heard that on earth there are bad men, who will protect me?”
“Your angel will defend (保卫) you even if it means risking her life!”
“But I will always be sad because I will not see you any more, ”the child continued warily.
God smiled on the young one. “Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you how to come back to me, even though I will always be with you.”
At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from earth could already be heard. The child knew he had to start on his journey very soon. He asked God one more question, softly, “God, please tell me my angel’s name.”
God answered, “Your angel’s name is not hard to remember. You will simply call her _______.”Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “warily”?
| A．angrily | B．proudly |
| C．carefully | D．happily |
Which is the suitable word for the blank in the last paragraph?
| A．Daddy | B．Grandpa |
| C．Mommy | D．Grandma |
The child asked God questions in the order of ________.
a. Who will protect me?
b. How can I understand what people talked about?
c. How can I live there being small and helpless？
d. What shall I do when I want to talk to you?
e. What’s my angel’s name?
| A．c, d, b, e, a | B．d, a, e, c, b |
| C．b, d, c, a, e | D．c, b, d, a, e |
Every day we use money to buy what we want. But have you ever really noticed the bill (钞票) in your hand? There are different pictures on both sides of banknotes (纸币) and interesting stories behind them.
Most banknotes have famous people on the front, such as a country’s leader or a great scientist, while on the back of the paper note there are usually some well-known scenes or national buildings.
The latest editions of Chinese banknotes use the picture of Mao Zedong, founding father of the People’s Republic of China, on the front of all yuan bills. However, the backs of the bills are different. The Great Hall of the People, on the 100-yuan note, is a landmark (地标) in Beijing. Important meetings are always held there. The Lijiang River in Guilin, on the 20-yuan note, is one of the most beautiful scenes in the world.
The US 1-dollar bill has the first president, George Washington, on the front side. A 13-level pyramid is on the back. Benjamin Franklin, a great scientist and politician (政治家) from the US, appears on the front of the 100-dollar bill. You can see the White House, where the presidents live, on the back of the 20-dollar bill. According to Paragraph 2, which one probably appears on the back of the banknotes?
| A．Abraham Lincoln. | B．Elizabeth II. |
| C．Taishan Mountain. | D．Titanic. |
The Lijiang River of Guilin is __________.
| A．on the back of 20-yuan note | B．on the front of 20-yuan note |
| C．on the front of 100-yuan note | D．on the back of 100-yuan note |
On the front of the 100-dollar bill, we can see __________.
| A．George Washington | B．Benjamin Franklin |
| C．a 13-level pyramid | D．the White House |
| Country |
Soviet Union |
The USA |
China |
| Date |
12 April, 1961 |
5 May, 1961 |
15 October, 2003 |
| Astronaut |
Yuri Gagarin |
Alan Shepherd |
Yang Liwei |
| Age |
27 |
38 |
38 |
| Spaceship |
Vostok 1 |
Mercury 3 |
Shenzhou 5 |
| Time |
1 hour 48 minutes |
15 minutes |
21 hours |
| Height |
327 kilometers |
185 kilometers |
343 kilometers |
| Circles around the Earth |
1 |
0 |
14 |
The form above shows us________.
| A．three journeys into space |
| B．daily life of three famous people |
| C．differences between three spaceships |
| D．something about three famous astronauts |
________went into space first.
| A．China | B．The USA |
| C．Soviet Union | D．The UK |
The Chinese astronaut stayed in space for________.
| A．1 hour 48 minutes | B．only 15 minutes |
| C．the shortest time | D．the longest time |
Living in a foreign country can be exciting, but it can also be confusing (令人迷惑的).A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They decided that miscommunications were always possible, even over something as simple as “yes” and “no”.
On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked,“Do you have cold drinks?”The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She had raised her eyebrows (眉毛), which in Micronesia means“yes”.
Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was known for its cabbage. She asked the waiter, “Do you have cabbage today?” He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.
Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with many different nods and shakes of the head. He thought some students had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean “yes” or “no”. These Americans teaching English in other countries found that they ______.
| A．should go abroad for vacations |
| B．needed to learn foreign languages |
| C．should often discuss their experiences |
| D．had problems with communications |
People in Micronesia show “yes” by ______.
| A．nodding heads | B．raising eyebrows |
| C．shaking heads | D．saying “no” |
Tom misunderstood his class at first because______.
| A．he did not know much about Indian culture |
| B．he didn’t explain everything clearly enough |
| C．some students didn’t understand his questions |
| D．he didn’t know where the students came from |
The passage is mainly about______.
| A．body language in foreign restaurants |
| B．class discussion in Indian schools |
| C．miscommunication in different cultures |
| D．English teaching in other countries |
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