The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand—a system of rapid handwriting, and now it’s threatening to finish off handwriting as a whole. When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2012, just 15% of the most1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive(草写字母). The rest? Block letters.
And those college hopefuls are just the first edge of a wave of US students who no longer get much handwriting instructions in the primary grades, frequently 10 minutes a day or less. As a result, more and more students struggle to read and write cursive.
At Keene Mill Elementary School in Springfield, all their poems and stories are typed. Children in Fairfax County schools are taught keyboarding beginning in kindergarten. Older students who never mastered handwriting say it doesn’t affect their grades.
There are those who say the culture is at a crossing, turning from the written word to the typed one. If handwriting becomes a lost form of communication, does it matter?
It was at University Virginia that researchers recently discovered a previously unknown poem by Robert, written in his unique script. Handwritten documents are more valuable to researchers, historians say, because their authenticity(真实性) can be confirmed. Students also find them more fascinating.
The loss of handwriting also may be a cognitive(认知的) opportunity missed. Several academic studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age can help children express their thoughts better—a lifelong benefit.
It doesn’t take much to teach better handwriting skills. At some schools in Prince George’s County, elementary school students use a program called Handwriting Without Tears for 15 minutes a day. They learn the correct formation of manuscript letters through second grade, and cursive letters in third grade.
There are always going to be some kids who struggle with handwriting because of their particular neurological(神经系统的) writing, learning issues or poor motor skills. Educators often point to this factor in support of keyboarding.What is the author concerned about after 2012 Sat exams?
| A．Keyboarding. | B．Shorthand. |
| C．Handwriting. | D．Block letters. |
A poem by Robert mentioned in the passage is used to ____________.
| A．prove how valuable handwriting is |
| B．explain what a famous poet he is |
| C．show how unique his poem is |
| D．stress how fascinating the documents are |
The example of Handwriting Without Tears helps to argue that _____________.
| A．the schools are responsible for the loss of handwriting |
| B．the loss of handwriting is a cognitive opportunity missed |
| C．it doesn’t take much to teach better handwriting skills |
| D．the culture is turning from the written word to the typed one |
According to the author, when is a perfect time to learn handwriting?
| A．Kindergarten. | B．Primary school. |
| C．High school. | D．College. |
What is the author’s attitude towards this debate?
| A．Devotion. | B．Encouragement. |
| C．Critical. | D．Objective. |
My grandmother Adele loved culture and was generous with its gifts. When I was a child, she took me to museums, restaurants, dances. She showered me with gifts from her travels around the world. But I can only remember her giving me one book—a book that, to this day, I have not read. She presented me with her own favorite childhood book: Hans Brinker. My grandmother was happy to share this book with me. She even decorated the title page with her proud writing.
I tried to read it. I adored reading, and would dive into a new pile of books from the library all at once. But something about Hans Brinker just wouldn’t let me in. The story was set in Holland, a long time ago. It felt dull and unfamiliar—even though I was a fan of classics of other times and places. I simply read the first pages over and over. I could not progress.
Standing on a bookshelf in our living room, the book was like something I avoided. It scolded me for not being interested, for not trying hard enough, for disappointing my grandmother.
The book started to fit in, almost forgotten, until Adele asked. Had I read it? Did I like it? Always determined, she wanted to know the answer. I would make some kind of excuse, feel bad, and open it again, hoping for a new reaction. The book weighed on me.
Years passed and finally Adele and I both accepted that I would never read Hans Brinker. Eventually I cleared the book from the shelf. The Hans Brinker experience led me to set a rule that I’ve lived by ever since: Do not ask about a book given as a gift. Don’t ask, despite your desire to discuss it to grow closer. The desire for such connection is what gives book-giving with special meaning—and increases the owner’s possibility to be a letdown.
Guilt is basically the same as for all gifts, though. If the giver doesn’t have the pleasure of seeing or hearing about the gift being enjoyed, and asks whether it is, then the owner—unless she can truthfully say “yes”—either has to admit to not liking the present, or else lie on the spot. Neither is pleasant. So, don’t ask. When the author was a kid, his grandmother ________.
| A．took him to travel around the world a lot |
| B．loved to take him to museums and stores |
| C．shared her childhood stories with him |
| D．gave him many gifts |
What does the author think about the book his grandmother gave him?
| A．Boring. | B．Interesting. | C．Puzzling. | D．Disappointing. |
The underlined sentence “The book weighed on me” in Paragraph 4 probably means _______.
| A．the book is too heavy for the author to carry |
| B．the author feels stressful facing the book |
| C．the book is full of powerful viewpoints |
| D．the author keeps reading the book |
. The author learns from the Hans Brinker’s experience that never________.
| A．give others books as gifts |
| B．lie to people who give you gifts |
| C．get close to others through gifts |
| D．talk about the books given as gifts |
In our world today, the media and entertainment industries are constantly focusing on beauty over brains. Movies, television shows, commercials, and magazines all make use of models and actors whose physical attributes(特性) will sell their product.
As our country is trying to reduce the obesity numbers, eating disorder statistics continue to increase due to the push for thinner people. While obesity is a serious medical condition that can lead to many health problems, many of us try to lose weight for appearance purposes. Children as young as elementary school age have begun to worry about the numbers that appear on the scale. In my opinion, it seems that “fat” has become the new“ugly”.
Two weeks ago, 37-year-old Wisconsin television reporter Livingston, who is 235 pounds, received an email from a man named Krause. In the email Krause attacked her, writing,“Your physical condition hasn’t improved for many years. Surely you don’t consider yourself a suitable example for this community’s young people, girls in particular.”
Today, it seems that a vast majority of people care more about how they look and appear to their peers rather than what is inside. The truth is that every person is built differently; we all come in different shapes and sizes. Just because someone is heavier, that doesn’t mean they eat large amounts of junk food around the day. Likewise, even though a person is thin, that doesn’t mean they are necessarily healthy and fit.
If you are reading this and you struggle with your weight or your appearance, please recognize that you are beautiful and special in your own way. You are worth so much more than you realize, and even if I don’t know you, understand that I respect and support you. Beauty is not defined by size; it is defined by how we treat others and respect ourselves. In the words of the talented film actress Kirstie Alley, “There’s a lot more to life than how fat or thin you are.” With so many people losing weight, it will end in .
| A．models’ and actors’ appearance in ads |
| B．the fall of media and entertainment industries |
| C．more and more people becoming obesity |
| D．more people’s suffering from eating disorder |
The underlined phrase “the numbers that appear on the scale” in the second paragraph may mean .
| A．intelligence | B．weight | C．patience | D．strength |
The writer used the example of Jennifer Livingston to show .
| A．people think “fat” looks ugly | B．fat people are becoming cleverer |
| C．physical condition is good | D．young people never follow example |
What Kirstie Alley said means .
| A．people should pay attention to the appearance |
| B．there is no need for any people to go on diet |
| C．people are beautiful when they concern others |
| D．there’s always someone who understands and supports you |
What is a six-letter word that immediately comes to mind when you need some information on the Internet? You probably thought of Google. But Google wasn’t always the name of the famous search engine. In fact, the original name was BackRub!
BackRub was the name two graduate students gave to the new search engine they developed in 1996. They called it BackRub because the engine used backlinks to measure the popularity of Web sites. Later, they wanted a better name — a name that suggests huge quantities of data. They thought of the word googol. (A googol is a number followed by 100 zeros.) When they checked the Internet registry of names to see if googol was already taken, one of the students misspelled the word by mistake, and that’s how Google was born.
Google is just one example of a name change in the business world. Many other companies have decided to change their names or the names of their products. Here are some more examples:
Jerry Yang and David Filo, two young computer specialists, developed a guide to Internet content in 1994. They called it “Jerry and David’s Guide to World Wide Web.” But they soon realized that this wasn’t a very catchy name, so they searched through a dictionary and found a better one: “Yahoo.”
Sometimes companies change their names because of the popularity of one of their products. In 1962, a young runner named Phil Knight started a company called Blue Ribbon Sports. In 1971, Knight decided to design and manufacture his own brand of shoes. He named the shoes after the Greek goddess of victory — Nike. Nike shoes became so well known that Knight changed the name of the whole company to Nike.According to the text, Google .
| A．has been famous since 1996 |
| B．is a result of a spelling mistake |
| C．means a number followed by 100 zeros |
| D．is the original name of the search engine |
Jerry and David changed the guide’s name to Yahoo because the original name .
| A．had been registered | B．had been forgotten |
| C．was not attractive | D．was too short |
The company Nike got its name from .
| A．its founders | B．its customers |
| C．its popular products | D．its advanced techniques |
Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
| A．The name changes | B．The history of Google |
| C．How to choose a name? | D．Why are names important? |
"Can I get a light?" This question is among the most common between smokers. What if this question was to come from an unusual source? In April 2014, the National Health Promotion Foundation uploaded an anti-smoking advertisement onto YouTube. The anti-smoking ad has quickly been known as the "most powerful anti-smoking ad."
The anti-smoking video, called the "Smoking Kid," features children walking up to adult smokers asking for a light. The children in the ad are actors but the adults smoking are unsuspecting participants in the project.
The video begins with the statement "adults know that smoking is harmful, but don’t remind themselves of this fact " Once a "smoking kid" approaches the adults, every adult asked is shocked that a child with a cigarette in hand is asking for a light. The first adult starts by saying, "I’m not giving it to you," and the video goes on to state "every adult filmed said no and reminded the children that smoking is bad."
Before going away, the kid hands each adult a booklet after being turned down for a light. The booklet says, "You worry about me, but why not about yourself?" Each adult looks around for the child as their faces are filled with confusion and discomfort.
The video shows that a few of the smokers quickly threw away their cigarettes or put their cigarettes away, showing that this experiment was affective at that moment.
The most influential element in the ad isn't the use of children or the responses from the smoking adults. It comes down to something much simpler than that. Why is it that we worry about other people, forgetting to worry about ourselves? According to the text, the anti-smoking ad is ______.
| A．unusual | B．shocking | C．influential | D．encouraging |
The underlined word "unsuspecting" (in Para. 2) probably means ______
| A．uninformed | B．unwilling | C．unfortunate | D．unacceptable |
What are the adults，reactions to the children asking for a light?
| A．They pay no attention to children's request. |
| B．They reject kids，request and educate them. |
| C．They look around for children's parents. |
| D．They quickly throw children's cigarettes away. |
The best title of the text might be ______.
| A．Give up smoking, for your own sake | B．Keep away from smoking, adults |
| C．Tell your children not to smoke | D．Reject a child asking for a light |
When I decided to quit my job as a wedding photographer, I was in my late twenties, fresh from my divorce from Bob who had left me empty and confused. I decided to leave the US and travel. I had no savings, plus more than $5,000 in debt. What I did have were two sponsored tasks as a travel photographer- and with that along, I thought, it would be easy.
My first experience was a road trip from Toronto to Las Vegas, paid for by a car delivery service. Other trips followed and then I started a travel blog (博客). It was intended to be my calling card for assignment travel photography. Yet even with my blog and past experience, email after email I sent to publications, trying to get work, went unanswered. When they did get in touch, editors told me that I had no chance of making a career with travel photography. While I struggled to get on the path that I wanted, and as I expanded my blog to help get me there, I found myself wearing the hat of a full-time blogger.
Luckily, I got in at the right time. It was 2010，and the travel industry was just starting to turn its attention to bloggers. As I never could have predicted, my blogging-not my photography-did take me around the world successfully. At first，I thought it was for personal reasons, but I realized later that it was for free marketing for my blogging.
Within two years, I was being asked to speak at travel blogging conferences, which helped me to raise a network of friends around the world. Even more meaningful, however, was when I saw that my travels were also helping other people. My blog and social media followers saw that I chased my dreams and told me over and over again how they needed that kind of example, which was absent in their lives elsewhere.After the author quit her job, she decided to ______.
| A．divorce her husband | B．be a wedding photographer |
| C．pay off all her debt | D．go travelling abroad |
What can we learn about the author from the 2nd paragraph?
| A．She paid money to a car delivery agency for a road trip. |
| B．She realised his dream of becoming a travel photographer. |
| C．She got a job as an editor in a publishing house. |
| D．She finally became a professional blogger unintentionally. |
The author believed her success mainly resulted from ______.
| A．her personal reasons | B．her photographing skills |
| C．free marketing for blogging | D．booming of travel industry |
What did the author think of her two years' work?
| A．Inspiring. | B．Appealing. | C．Interesting. | D．Challenging. |
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