Imagine a boy from a small village in East Africa. He, from a very early age, has been looking after cattle. At twelve years old he knows more about cattle than most of you. However, he has never been to school. Has this boy ever had any education?
Education is discovering about ourselves and about the people and things around us. All the people who care about us—our parents, brothers, sisters, friends—are our teachers. In fact, we learn something from every-one we meet. We start learning on the day we are born, not on the first day we go to school. Every day we have new experiences, like finding a bird's nest, discovering a new street in our neighborhood, making friends with someone we didn't like before. New experiences are even more fun when we share them with other people.
Encouragement from the people around us enables us to explore things as much as possible. As we grow up, we begin to find out what we are capable of doing. You may be good at cooking, or singing or playing football. You find this out by doing these things. Just thinking about cooking doesn't tell you if you are good at it.
We learn so much just living from day to day. So why is school important? Of course you can learn some things better at home than at school, like how to do the shopping, and how to help old or disabled people who can't do everything for themselves. At school, teachers help us to read and write. With their guid-ance, we begin to see things in different ways. The writer takes the African boy as an example to show that __________.
| A．African children are very poor |
| B．some children are unlucky |
| C．education takes many ways |
| D．schools are of great importance |
In the eyes of the writer __________.
| A．we have to learn from the people around us |
| B．school is not important at all |
| C．only the people caring for us can teach us |
| D．education takes place everywhere |
One can find out what one is good at by __________.
| A．the encouragement of people around |
| B．the teachers of he or she meets |
| C．thinking of it when growing up |
| D．trying and practicing it |
According to the passage, we know that __________.
| A．school is not so important as our living places |
| B．school enables us to understand the world in other ways |
| C．school teaches us something useless at home |
| D．school cannot prepare us for our daily lives |
Thepassage tells us that __________.
| A．everyone gets education from the day he or she is born |
| B．different education trains different classes of people |
| C．school is absolutely necessary if one wants to understand the world |
| D．everyonewill find out what he or she is good at |
In the past ten years, America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) has grown increasingly dependent on the rest of the world to supply players.
When Michael Jordan and Larry Bird won gold in Barcelona in 1992, the Americans were praised for teaching the world how to play basketball. This season, however, 20 percent of NBA rosters（花名册） will be filled by non-Americans. NBA commissioner David Stem happily embraces the trend. On a visit to Paris in October, Stern outlined his vision for the future, which is likely to see Europe hosting NBA games by 2010.
The NBA is now planning to take China by storm.
“Our experience in China has been that it is going to be explosive in its growth,” said Stern. The strategy（战略，策略） in China is television. “We’ve made 14 deals in China with local and national networks on cable and satellite.” The success of Chinese centre Yao Ming has paved the way for the NBA marketing blitz in China. The NBA, which is broadcasted in more than 200 countries in 42 languages, will put that to the test in October 2004 when the Houston Rockets play two pre-season games against the Sacramento Kings in Beijing and Shanghai. The NBA knows that it needs a global market to compensate for tough times on home soil.
“It doesn’t matter where the players come from, all the NBA teams now know that they have to scout（寻找，觅得） internationally,” said Terry Lyons, the NBA’s vice-president of international public relations. “It has increased the level of competition here.” As Frenchman Tony Parker and Argentine Emanuel Ginobili showed in winning championship rings with the San Antonio Spurs last season, many people can earn the respect of their American peers. Others, such as the Houston Rockets’ Chinese centre Yao Ming — number one draft pick in 2002 — and the Detroit Pistons’ 18-year-old Serb Darko Milicic — number two overall in this year’s draft — are icons（偶像）in-waiting. It is the ultimate（最后的，根本的） revolution — the rest of the world teaching the US how to play basketball. According to the report, .
| A．Michael Jordan is still playing a very important role in NBA |
| B．the part played by the foreign players in NBA will be great |
| C．Yao Ming is to play two pre-season games in NBA |
| D．European countries will host the 2004 NBA games |
The underlined phrase “take China by storm” has the meaning of _______ ___.
| A．NBA intends to make China its “marketing center” |
| B．NBA is planning to set up some training centers in China |
| C．there’ll be a big storm when NBA comes to China to play against the Sacramento Kings |
| D．the NBA’s live basket games will be broadcasted on all the TVs in China |
What seems to be the biggest change that is happening to NBA?
A. NBA is expecting more foreign players to join the league.
B. China’s rapid development in sports affects NBA.
C. Yao Ming has taken the place of Michael Jordan.
D. The NBA will stop teaching the world how to play basketball.When the writer talked of “home soil”, he was referring to _ _.
| A．farms in the States |
| B．native Americans |
| C．the NBA training center |
| D．the USA |
Which of the following can be used as the best title for the passage?
| A．The Non-American Basketball Players |
| B．NBA Is Coming to China |
| C．The Foreign Ties That Bind the NBA |
| D．NBA Is Making Big Progress |
Men have always believed that they are smarter than women. Now, a study has found that while this is certainly true, men also have to deal with the fact that they are also more stupid than the fairer sex.
In the study, scientists measured the IQ of 2500 brothers and sisters and they found an uneven number of men not only in the top two percent, but also in the bottom two percent.
The study's participants were tested on science, maths, English and mechanical abilities.
Though there were twice as many men as women in the smartest group, there were also twice as many men among the dolts.
The aggregate scores of men and women were similar.
One of the study's authors, psychology professor Timothy Bates, said that the phenomenon may be because men have always been expected to be high achievers and women have been restricted to spend more time taking care of their home.
"The female developmental program may be tilted more towards ensuring survival and the safety of the middle ground.," the Daily Mail quoted Professor Bates, of Edinburgh University, as saying.
The research tallies with past results that men were more likely than women to receive first class University degrees or thirds and women secured the seconds.
It has been said that men are more ready to take risk when it comes to academics. Women have always found to be steadier in their learning.
A past study has shown that women are securing more firsts and seconds, while men are continuing to receive more thirds.
The argument for the change is that the increase of coursework at the cost of exams favors women's steady approach.The purpose of the passage is to tell us that ________.
| A．man are smarter then women |
| B．man are more stupid the women |
| C．a new fact about the IQ of men and women has been found |
| D．men are more likely to receive first class university degrees |
According to Timothy Bates, less women are in the smartest group because _________.
| A．they are born stupid |
| B．they have to spend more time to tale care of their home than men |
| C．they don’t like to take risk |
| D．they are not expected to be high achievers |
The underlined wordtallies with in the eighth paragraph means________.
| A．agree with | B．deal with | C．go against | D．go with |
It can be inferred from the passage that______.
| A．Women are steadier in their learning. |
| B．men are more ready to take risk in everything |
| C．women are securing more firsts and seconds |
| D．women are doing much better in academy |
Which of the following questions has NOT been discussed in the passage?
| A．Why are men smarter than women? |
| B．Why are men more stupid than women? |
| C．How does the result go along with the past research? |
| D．How can we help the men in the bottom? |
Feel tired lately?Has a doctor said he can’t find anything wrong with you?Perhaps he sends you to a hospital,but all the advanced equipment there shows there is nothing wrong with you.
Then,consider this:you might be in a state of sub-health(亚健康).
Sub-health,also called the third state or gray state,is explained as borderline state between health and disease.
According to the investigation by the National Organization,over 45 percent of sub-health people are middle-aged or elderly.The percentage is even higher among people who work in management positions as well as students around exam-week.
Symptoms(征兆)include a lack of energy,depression,slow reactions,insomnia(失眠),agitation, and poor memory.Other symptoms include shortness of breath,sweating and aching in the waist and legs.
The key to preventing and recovering from sub-health,according to some medical experts,is to form good living habits, alternate work and rest, exercise regularly,and take part in open air activities.
As for meals,people are advised to eat less salt and sugar.They should also eat more fresh vegetables,fruits,fish because they are rich in nutritional elements—vitamins and trace elements(微量元素)—that are important to the body.
Nutrition experts point out that it is not good to eat too much at one meal because it may cause unhealthy changes in the digestive tract(消化道).They also say that a balanced diet is very helpful in avoiding sub-health.When you are in a state of sub-health,you should ________.
| A．stay home and keep silent |
| B．go to a doctor and buy some medicine |
| C．not consider it very serious |
| D．find out the reasons and relax yourself |
Middle-aged people may be easy to get sub-health because ________.
| A．they have used up their energy |
| B．they have lost their living hopes |
| C．they have more pressure in life and work |
| D．they have changed their way of life |
The key to preventing you from falling into a state of sub-health is to ________.
| A．keep on working regularly | B．go to sleep a bit earlier |
| C．form good living habits | D．take medicine if necessary |
The underlined word “alternate” in this passage is closest in meaning to ________.
| A．arrange by turns | B．cause to take place |
| C．make up for | D．keep away from |
Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience? Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth, and no amount of education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of person’s intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be intelligence. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random from population, it is likely that their degree of intelligence will be completely different. If, on the other hand, we take two identical twins, they will very probably be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligence depends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates that environment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are not related at all are likely to have similar degree of intelligence. The writer is in favor of the view that man’s intelligence is given to him____________.
| A．at birth |
| B．through education |
| C．neither at birth nor through education |
| D．both at birth and through education |
If a child is born with low intelligence, he can_____________________.
| A．become a genius |
| B．still become a genius if he should be given special education |
| C．reach his intelligence limits in rich surroundings |
| D．not reach his intelligence in his life. |
The example of the twins going to a university and to a factory separately shows_________.
| A．the importance of their intelligence |
| B．the importance of their positions |
| C．the role of environment on intelligence |
| D．the part that birth plays |
Car crashes are the top killer of American teenagers．Most of the crashes result from distracted driving not paying attention to the road．
Ryan Didone was a fifteen-year-old passenger in a car that hit a tree．He was one of the nation's more than thirty thousand victims of traffic crashes in 2008．Nearly four thousand deaths, about twelve percent, involved drivers aged fifteen to twenty．Ryan's father, Thomas Didone, is a police captain in Montgomery County, Maryland．He said, "It was an inexperienced, immature driver who felt that he was invincible(不可战胜的), driving at night with a carload of kids．He was distracted, he was going too fast, and it ended up causing one death and some upsetting experiences and tragedy for the rest of the community."
Jim Jennings from the Allstate Insurance Company said "The number one cause of distracted-driving accidents is the mobile phone．Talking on the phone or reaching for it is like drinking four beers and driving．If you're texting while driving, you are twenty-three times more likely to get into an accident than somebody who isn't．
Reaching for a cell phone when it's going off, you're nine times more likely to get into an accident than normally driving," The insurance industry recently held a safety event near Washington for teen drivers．
At first, nineteen-year-old Kevin Schumann easily avoided large, inflatable dolls thrown in front of the car to represent children．He also avoided orange cones representing the edge of the road．Then, as part of the test, he started texting. He hit several cones and at least one doll．
Debbie Pickford from the Allstate Insurance Company said, "Teens are especially at risk from distracted driving—and not just because they lack experience on the roads．What we know from research on teen brain development, is that teens don't really have fully developed brains until they are twenty-five years old. You put those two things together and you get a much, much higher risk.”According to the passage, _____is the most likely to lead to a traffic accident while you are driving．
| A．texting on the mobile phone | B．reaching for a cell phone． |
| C．talking on the mobile phone | D．bringing along a cell phone |
A safety event held by insurance industry was meant to _ _.
| A．attract more teenagers to take part in it |
| B．draw enough attention to teenagers' distracted driving |
| C．make more teenagers practice avoiding large barriers |
| D．encourage more teenagers to pay for insurance protection |
The passage is probably followed by a concluding paragraph about ____．
| A．much higher risk | B．teen brain developmen |
| C．experience on the roads | D．measures to be taken t |
Of all the following, which is the best title for the passage?
| A．Car Crashes —the Top Killer. |
| B．Distracted Driving —Let's Avoid! |
| C．Drunken Driving — Dangerous Enough！ |
| D．Tips on Driving While Calling |
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