Education is another area where the presence of arts and crafts is more than welcome. If children realize the importance of art and creativity from a young age, they can grow up to be more confident, more creative, and definitely more mature. Schools are the breeding（孕育）grounds for future painters and movie makers, and these arts should be encouraged wholesomely in such an environment.
Sadly, many parents do not understand why art is important for children, and subconsciously（潜意识地）force them to follow career paths that are common and conformist（墨守成规的）in nature. This is fair enough in its own way, because the world does need some standard blue collar and white collar jobs to continue its existence; but this is a choice that children should be allowed to make for themselves. The doors to creativity and expression must not be shut in their faces, even if it comes at a cost of making more money.
To put it more scientifically, here are some benefits of kids’ art activities that give a suitable answer to the question “Why is art important in schools?”
1.Exposure to art, music and drawings at an early age improves the amount of brain activity in children.
2.It increases the span of knowledge in the minds of children, thus making them sharper and more educated.
3.It builds up the levels of self-confidence, self-esteem（自尊）, motivation, cooperation and communication in children.
4.It helps children understand other people’s opinions and points of view as well.
5.It helps them sharpen their problem-solving skills, decision-making and gives them the possibility of really exploring their imaginations.According to the passage, it is generally accepted that ____.
| A．art plays a very important role in education of children |
| B．children are expected to be blue-collar or white-collar workers |
| C．schools should encourage children to learn arts and crafts |
| D．children should be allowed to make choices for themselves |
The writer holds the view that ____.
| A．schools should only bring up future painters and movie makers |
| B．children grow up to be more confident and more creative in schools |
| C．children should be encouraged to learn art to develop their creativity |
| D．art activities can help children solve all the problems they meet with |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Arts and crafts lessons are very popular in schools. |
| B．Art is not paid enough attention to in schools now. |
| C．Art activities improve the amount of brain activity. |
| D．Art education builds up the levels of self-confidence. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Importance of Art in Schools. |
| B．Relation between Art and Creativity. |
| C．Importance of Education. |
| D．Future of Children. |
Men who wear pink shirts to work earn more and are easier to get a higher position than those who prefer traditional shirt colors, such as white and blue, according to a recent survey. Researchers also found that men who wore pink were more likely to get praise from female co-workers and were more confident in the office.
A classical pink shirt wearer earns £1,000 more a year than those who choose other colors, researchers surveyed among 1,500 male office workers. Men who wear pink are also twice as likely to have the Master’s degree as those who prefer white shirts, with one in ten pink shirt wearers having a PHD.
Stephanie Thiers-Ratcliffe, International Marketing Manager for Cotton USA, who took charge of the study, said, “You can tell a lot about someone by the color he wears. Pink is a color that more and more men have been embracing recently, and it is encouraging that they are not afraid to experiment with that bright color. They spend most of their days at work and their own confidence needs to remain smart. It is good for company standards, but that doesn’t mean that they have to wear boring clothes.” Pink shirt wearers on the other hand are more likely to have a low-carbon (低碳的) life for half of them prefer to choose public means of transportation to go to work.
The report also found men who preferred green shirts were the most likely to be late for work, while white shirt fans were the most punctual (准时的).
According to the survey, pink shirt men ____.
| A．usually graduate from famous universities or colleges |
| B．prefer to go to work by car with their co-workers |
| C．earn more money than those in other colors |
| D．are better at pleasing their bosses in the office |
We can learn from the passage that ____.
| A．the color a man wears can influence his personality |
| B．the color a man wears can show a lot about him |
| C．pink is the best of all the colors a man likes |
| D．wearing pink can make a man become happy |
According to the passage, who is the least likely to be late for work?
| A．Jack who often wears pink shirts. |
| B．Mike who often wears green shirts. |
| C．Tom who often wears white shirts. |
| D．Alan who often wears blue shirts. |
If you want to get a higher place in your company, you’d better wear ____.
| A．purple | B．pink | C．green | D．white |
Charlie Vansant, a college student of Athens, Ohio, who reported that his car was stolen, got a surprise when he learned a woman had mistaken it for her daughter’s car and taken it— using her key.
Kate Anderson became an accidental car thief when picking up her daughter’s car near an Ohio University building last week. Anderson spotted the Toyota Camry（丰田凯美瑞）and used her daughter’s key to unlock the car, start the engine and drive home — without realizing that the car wasn't her daughter’s.
When Charlie Vansant left class a short time later, he found only an empty parking spot. He first assumed the car had been towed, but when the police couldn’t find a record of it, they took a theft report.
The morning after Anderson took the car, her daughter discovered the Camry in the driveway wasn’t hers. Anderson said she was able to find Vansant’s name on paperwork in the glove compartment and look up his phone number on the website for the university.
When Anderson told Charlie the car was in her driveway, “It sounded really suspicious（可疑的）at first, as she wanted to hold the thing for ransom (赎金) , ” said Vansant. He eventually went to the house with a police officer, where he was reunited with his car. According to the police report, the case was closed “because of mistaken car identity”, and Anderson wasn’t charged.
Vansant seemed to blame the car company more than the “thief”. “Her key fit not only my lock, but my ignition（点火装置）as well — so high-five for Toyota, I guess.” he said.What does the underlined word “towed” mean in paragraph 3?
| A．sold. | B．damaged. | C．stolen. | D．remove. |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Mrs. Anderson’s daughter discovered the car her mother drove was not hers. |
| B．Charlie had thought he had to give Anderson money to get his car back. |
| C．Mrs. Anderson stole Charlie’s car at the request of her daughter. |
| D．Mrs. Anderson used her daughter’s key to unlock Charlie’s car and drive home. |
What does Charlie mean by “high-five for Toyota”?
| A．He should thank Toyota for returning his car. |
| B．He is blaming Toyota for the poor quality of car keys. |
| C．He wants to celebrate with Toyota for getting his car back. |
| D．He thinks highly of Toyota for producing large quantities of cars. |
What is likely to happen next according to the passage?
| A．Mrs. Anderson was charged with stealing a car. |
| B．Charlie blamed Mrs. Anderson for mistakenly taking his car. |
| C．Charlie would ask the Toyota Company to give him an explanation. |
| D．The Toyota Company would give Charlie a new car as compensation（补偿）. |
The chimp didn’t feel well. She fell over, ignoring the other wild chimps. Finally, the sick chimp crawled over to a bush, picked some leaves and swallowed them. By the next afternoon, the chimp was as good as new!
Biologists watching the chimp were surprised. Somehow, the plant had cured the chimp! Did the chimp know the plant would make her feel better? Or was it just a lucky accident?
Many scientists don’t think it has anything to do with luck. They’re discovering that some animals seem to use plants to cure themselves. And these animals are leading scientists to new plants that could cure humans!
Dr. Richard Wrangham, an anthropologist at Harvard University, agrees that animals may know something we don’t know about forest plants.
Wrangham got to know chimps and their diets while studying them for three years in Tanzania. “You must know a lot about an animal’s feeding habits to know what it doesn’t consider food,” Wrangham explains. Every morning, he saw that most chimps ate fruit near their nests. Later on, they ate on leaves.
When he noticed chimps eating the leaves of a plant they usually ignored, Wrangham thought something interesting was going on---especially when he saw that they’d sometimes walk for 20 minutes to find the plant. Another strange thing that caught his eye was how they ate the bitter leaves.
“They swallowed the leaves whole,” explains Wrangham, noting that chimps usually chew their food well. “They seemed to rub（摩擦）the leaves around the roofs of their mouths. They closed their eyes, wrinkled their noses and swallowed slowly. ”
Wrangham wondered what could be so good about something tasting so bad. He had a chemist analyze the leaves. He discovered that the leaves contain a red oil that kills different viruses（病毒）. Later tests showed that the oil might even fight cancer and the AIDS virus!
Why don’t the chimps chew the leaves? “Rubbing the leaves between the tongue and the inside of the mouth might allow the chemicals to enter the bloodstream directly,” he suggests, “instead of going to the stomach, where they might get destroyed by acids. The chimps seem to know what they’re doing.”We can learn from the passage that _________.
| A．chimps cure themselves by chewing plants |
| B．chemicals in plants help cure animals |
| C．scientists live with chimps to study their diets |
| D．Dr. Wrangham knows a lot about forest plants |
How can Dr. Wrangham tell which plants are medicine for chimps?
| A．By talking with the biologists. |
| B．By studying the chimps’ feeding habits. |
| C．By analyzing the chimps’ favorite food. |
| D．By comparing other scientists’ discoveries. |
The author wrote the passage to ___________.
| A．provide a solution | B．test a theory |
| C．present a finding | D．describe an experiment |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Animal doctors. | B．Forest plants. |
| C．Chimp’s diets. | D．A cure for cancer. |
March 21 has been declared World Sleep Day, a time to recognize and celebrate the value of sleep. Many sleep experts hope it will be a wake-up call.
According to a poll (民意调查）by the National Sleep Foundation, nearly 4 in 5 Americans don’t get as much sleep as they should during the workweek. On average, adults are thought to need at least eight hours of sleep a night, although some can manage with less and some won’t do well without more. But the survey found that, on workdays, only 21% of Americans actually get a full eight hours of sleep, and another 21% get less than six.
To many of us, the thought of spending more time sleeping is, well, a big yawn. On the other hand, the thought of being smarter, thinner, healthier and more cheerful has a certain appeal. And those are just a few of the advantages that can be ours if we consistently get enough sleep, researchers say. Also on the plus side: We’re likely to have better skin, better memories, better judgment, and, oh, yes, longer lives.
“When you lose even one hour of sleep for any reason, it influences your performance the next day,” says Dr. Alon Avidan, director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center.
A study published last year found the same to be true even of children. When kids aged 8 to 12 slept for just one hour less for four nights, they didn’t function as well during the day.
But sleeping has an image problem. “We see napping or sleeping as lazy,” says Jennifer Vriend, a clinical psychologist in Ottawa, Canada, and the leading author of the study with children. “We put so much emphasis on diet, nutrition and exercise. Sleep is in the back seat.” In fact, she adds, no matter how much we work out, no matter how well we eat, we can’t be in top physical shape unless we also get plenty of sleep.
The underlined part in Paragraph 1 means _____.
| A．To wake up the sleepers |
| B．To draw people’s attention |
| C．To serve as a morning call |
| D．To declare the special day |
From Paragraph 3 we can infer that _______
| A．Being healthier is one of the advantages for us |
| B．Sleeping has nothing to do with one’s expectations |
| C．Spending more time on sleeping is a waste of time |
| D．Enough sleep is the guarantee of the appealing things |
What Jennifer Vriend said in the last paragraph implies that _______.
| A．Sleeping is an image problem |
| B．People care little about sleeping |
| C．Lazy people tend to sleep long |
| D．Sleeping is only part of our life |
What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To talk about people’s sleeping problems. |
| B．To provide an investigation result of sleeping. |
| C．To arouse the awareness of enough sleeping. |
| D．To stress the function of sleeping at night. |
One day I was driving home with a woman. She rolled down the window, fifty feet away from the driveway and spit her gum （口香糖）out of the window. “Couldn’t you just wait five seconds and put your gum where it belongs?” I asked, annoyed.
She was not the only one who was gum-lazy. Consider the following. Every time I brush chewed gum under my desk, I shake with fright. At Folsom Middle School, whenever I had to walk by the gum wall next to the girls’ locker room, I felt totally disgusted. When I was young, I walked outside during my dance show in my ballet shoes, always stepping right on a big and juicy piece of bubble gum. I was extremely upset.
The worst part of all these incidents is that a trash can is located near. But some people are too lazy to walk towards it.
If you can’t be a responsible gum chewer, don’t chew at all. That’s all I’m going to say.
Take Singapore as a good example. The chewing gum ban in Singapore was placed. It bans the import and sale of chewing gum in Singapore, whether for the purpose of trade or personal chewing. However, the ban has been partly lifted with some types of gum, such as medical gum, allowable. This comes with the warning that it is sold only by a druggist, who has to take down the names of buyers. Obviously, the Singapore government gets angry at gum stuck in keyholes of mailboxes and on elevator buttons.
Not only is it annoying, but chewing gum can actually do harm to the health. Most gum contains aspartame （阿斯巴甜）, a chemical sweetener（增甜剂）that the US government is now deciding whether or not it is a deadly chemical. If it is, it may cause cancer. Other studies suggest that aspartame may cause neurological（神经系统的）disorders. Therefore, aspartame is not allowed to use in the US.
So just say no to chewing gum.What did the author think of the woman’s behavior?
| A．It was strange. | B．It was unacceptable. |
| C．It was dangerous. | D．It was violent. |
According to Paragraph 2, the author _________.
| A．stepped on a piece of gum while dancing |
| B．cleaned gum under her desk sometimes |
| C．was troubled by chewed gum |
| D．often found chewed gum in her locker |
What do we know about aspartame?
| A．It is proved to be a harmless chemical. |
| B．It is the cause of many kinds of cancer.. |
| C．It is being refused by the US government. |
| D．It is the main ingredient of chewing gum. |
What is the main purpose of the text?
| A．To advise people against chewing gum. |
| B．To criticize people who are lazy. |
| C．To persuade people to buy medical gum. |
| D．To make comments on the ban in Singapore. |
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