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Not enough American students want to be engineers, mathematicians, or scientists. The Obama administration wants to change that. They are spending money to do it. The government will invest three billion dollars in the education of young Americans in science, technology, engineering, and math. The four areas together are known as STEM.
Many jobs in the STEM fields will open in the coming years. The U.S. government's investment aims to increase the number of Americans who can take those jobs.
Yet girls appear far less interested in STEM subjects than boys. Only 25 percent of STEM students are girls.
Camsie McAdams is at the U.S. Education Department. She says girls simply do not feel welcomed in STEM subjects. Ms. McAdams says young women look at industries such as engineering and computer science and see most of the leaders are men.
Debbie Sterling is an engineer. She invented a construction toy for girls. The name of the toy is "Goldie Blox." Ms. Sterling hopes Goldie Blox will help girls develop spatial skills. Spatial skills help engineers and builders to think about objects in three dimensions.
To interest girls, Sterling created the character "Goldie." Goldie does not care about beauty or clothes. Goldie tells stories, solves difficult problems and creates pretend worlds.
Experts say parents should do more than just buy toys to interest their girls in STEM subjects. They should also provide a good education. At school, girls should participate in projects that require teamwork and creative thinking.
Women in scientific and technical jobs are also working to encourage young women to explore STEM. One is Anu Tewary. She studied Applied Physics and worked for technology companies. After she had a daughter, she started Technovation Challenge. The challenge is an international competition for young women from 10 to 18 years old.
Technovation offers girls the opportunity to learn how to start a company and become high-tech entrepreneurs. Since 2009, over 2,500 girls from 28 countries have developed 650 mobile phone applications. They learned to launch start-up companies through Technovation.
There's a good chance that soon, more young women using mobile phones will also be developing programs for them.
Why don’t the girls take jobs related to STEM subjects?
| A．Because they are less intelligent than boys. |
| B．Because they are forbidden to. |
| C．Because they lack interest and certain skills. |
| D．Because they are not welcomed. |
What should parents do to interest girls to enter STEM field?
| A．Just buy some toys for them. |
| B．Encourage them to take these subjects. |
| C．Explain to them the advantages of these subjects. |
| D．Attract them by giving them some rewards. |
The character "Goldie" can help _____.
| A．to improve the ability of telling stories |
| B．to develop spatial skills |
| C．to learn some knowledge of dressing up |
| D．to enlarge vocabulary |
Which statement is the writer likely to agree with?
| A．Girls are as intelligent as boys. |
| B．Jobs in the STEM fields aren’t available for girls. |
| C．The government is satisfied with the current situation in STEM. |
| D．Girls are looked down upon in jobs related to STEM. |
Which of the following is right about Technovation Challenge?
| A．It was founded by the government. |
| B．It is intended for girls of all ages. |
| C．It helps girl to overcome difficulties in their life. |
| D．It gives girls chances to learn knowledge about technology companies. |
Lightning flashed through the darkness over Donald Lubeck’s bedroom skylight. The 80-year-old retired worker was shaken by a blast of thunder. It was 11 p.m. The storm had moved directly over his two-story wood home in the rural town of Belchertown, Massachusetts. Then he heard the smoke alarm beeping. Lubeck padded down the stairs barefoot and opened the door to the basement, and flames exploded out.
Lubeck fled back upstairs to call 911 from his bedroom, but the phone didn’t work. Lubeck realized he was trapped. “I started panicking,” he says.
His daughter and young granddaughters, who lived with him, were away for the night. No one will even know I’m home, he thought. His house was three miles off the main road and so well hidden by pines that Lubeck knew calling for help would be fruitless.
Up a hill about a third of a mile away lived Lubeck’s closest neighbors, Jeremie Wentworth and his wife. Wentworth had been lying down, listening to the radio when it occurred to him that the sound was more like a smoke detector. He jumped out of bed, grabbed a cordless phone and a flashlight, and headed down the hillside toward the noise.
He dialed 911. “Is anyone there?” he called out as he approached the house. Wentworth knew that Lubeck lived in the house.
Then he heard, “Help me! I’m trapped!” coming from the balcony off Lubeck’s bedroom.
“I ran in and yelled,‘Don, where are you?’ Then I had to run outside to catch my breath.”
After one more attempt inside the house, he gave up and circled around back. But there was no way to get to him. “I shined the flashlight into the woods next to an old shed and noticed a ladder,” says Wentworth. He dragged it over to the balcony and pulled Lubeck down just as the second floor of the house collapsed.
Wentworth and Lubeck don’t run into each other regularly, but Lubeck now knows that if he ever needs help, Wentworth will be there.
Lubeck still chokes up when he tells the story. “I was alone,” he says. “Then I heard the most beautiful sound in my life. It was Jeremie.” According to the text, Lubeck___________.
| A．stayed calm in the fire | B．couldn’t find a safe way out |
| C．lived on the first floor | D．called for help in the fire |
How did Wentworth help Lubeck escape?
| A．He called 911. |
| B．He went upstairs and took Lubeck out. |
| C．He put out the fire. |
| D．He used a ladder and pulled Lubeck down. |
Which of the following factors was not mentioned in the text that almost cost Lubeck’s life?
| A．He was living in his wood home alone that night. |
| B．The storm was too heavy and the fire was too fierce. |
| C．He lived far from the main road and was surrounded by pines. |
| D．He was too frightened to escape from the danger. |
What does the text mainly talk about?
| A．A near neighbour is better than a distant cousin. |
| B．A good way to get a narrow escape. |
| C．God helps those who help themselves. |
| D．Blood is thicker than water. |
In modern society, receiving systematic college education seems a necessary way for success as a graduate from first-class university may always get more opportunities than others. However, if it is gold, it will shine one day. In this article, we will get to know three most successful people in U.S. who never finished their college education. Following experiences of these successful dropouts may give you some inspiration.
1. Bill Gates
Harvard’s campus paper “Harvard Crimson” called Bill Gates “Harvard’s most successful dropout,” while the rest of the world preferred to name him “the world’s richest man” for more than a decade. Now, even not on the top, he is still among the list of the world’s wealthiest people.Gates entered Harvard in the fall of 1973. Two years later, he dropped out to found Microsoft with friend Paul Allen. And in 2007, he finally received an honorary doctorate from Harvard.
2. Steve Jobs
The iPad, even Buzz Lightyear probably wouldn’t have existed if Steve Jobs stayed in school. Because his family couldn’t afford his college education, Jobs had to drop out of Reed College just after entering for 6 months. Then he found Apple, NeXT Computer and Pixar, which had made great influences on development of modern technique and culture. However, this wizard thought that his brief college education was not worthless.
3. Frank Lloyd Wright
As the America’s most celebrated architect, Wright spent more time on designing colleges rather than attending classes in them. Once spent one year in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then he left for Chicago and started to learn from Louis Sullivan, the “father of modernism." Wright’ s splendid resume included more than 500 works, most famous of which are Fallingwater and New York City's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.What does“dropouts”in Paragraph One mean?
| A．Hardworking students. |
| B．Very successful students. |
| C．Students failing to finish their school education. |
| D．Students from poor families. |
Which of the following is right according to Paragraph One?
| A．People graduating from famous universities are more likely to get jobs. |
| B．Many successful people had the experience of giving up their school education. |
| C．If one has a lot of gold, he will become very rich one day. |
| D．We should stop our college education to follow in those successful people’s steps. |
According to the writer, Bill Gates _________.
| A．is richer than any other man in the world |
| B．is well-known in Harvard University |
| C．finally finished his study at Harvard and got a doctorate degree |
| D．is the only founder of Microsoft |
Which of the following statements can’t be learned from the last two paragraphs?
| A．The reason for Jobs’ dropping his college education is that his parents couldn’t pay for it. |
| B．Jobs thought his six-month college education gave him no help. |
| C．Wright’s teacher was a very famous artist. |
| D．Wright is the designer of New York City’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. |
What does the author want to tell us in this passage?
| A．Successful people often have unordinary life experience. |
| B．College education is not so important to one’s success. |
| C．People from poor families are more likely to give up their college education. |
| D．Even without college education, one can still achieve success with one’s hard work. |
Before you make friends, you have to decide who you want to be your friends. Most people like to have friends who like to do the same kinds of things they do.
The quickest way to make a friend is to smile. When you smile, people think you are friendly and easy to talk to. It may not be easy at first to smile, but remember most people will stay away from a scared or angry looking face.
One easy way to start a conversation with someone is to say something nice about him. Think about how great you feel when someone says something nice to you. Doesn’t it make you want to keep talking to that person?
Ask your new friends questions about themselves. Who’s their favorite singer, where do they live, what do they do after school are all good questions to start a conversation. Make sure you have something to add to the conversation, too. When someone asks you a question, do have an answer for them. There is nothing that will stop a conversation quicker than a shrugfor an answer.
Kids who show an interest in other kids and who are kind and friendly make good friends. Remember, everyone wants to be around people who like to do similar things and people who are nice to them.This passage gives us some advice on_______.
| A．how to make friends |
| B．what kind of person you can make friends with |
| C．how to start a conversation |
| D．the importance of smile |
Most people like to make friends with those________.
| A．who are sad every day |
| B．who share the same interest |
| C．who are fond of talking |
| D．who say bad things to them |
According to the third paragraph, most people enjoy talking to one_______.
| A．who is always smiling |
| B．who seems to be friendly |
| C．who praises them |
| D．who points out their shortcomings |
Honey(蜂蜜)from the African forest is not only a kind of natural sugar, it is also delicious. Most people, and many animals, like eating it. However, the only way for them to get that honey is to find a wild bees' nest(巢)and take the honey from it. Often, these nests are high up in trees, and it is difficult to find them. In parts of Africa, though, people and animals looking for honey have a strange and unexpected helper一a little bird called a honey guide.
The honey guide does not does not actually like honey, but it does like the wax (蜂蜡) in the beehives (蜂).The little bird cannot reach this wax, which is deep inside the bee’s nest. So, when it finds a suitable nest, it looks for someone to help it. The honey guide gives a loud cry that attracts the attention of both passing animals and people. Once it has their attention, it flies through the forest, waiting from time to time for the curious animal or person as it leads them to the nest. When they finally arrive at the nest, the follower reaches in to get at the delicious honey as the bird patiently waits and watches. Some of the honey, and the wax, always falls to the ground, and this is when the honey guide takes its share.
Scientists do not know why the honey guide likes eating the wax, but it is very determined in its efforts to get it. The birds seem to be able to smell wax from a long distance away. They will quickly arrive whenever a beekeeper is taking honey from his beehives, and will even enter churches when beeswax candles are being lit.Why is it difficult to find a wild bees' nest?
| A．It's small in size. | B．It's hidden in trees. |
| C．It's covered with wax. | D．It's hard to recognize. |
What do the words "the follower" in Paragraph 2 refer to?
| A．A bee. | B．A bird. | C．A honey seeker. | D．A beekeeper. |
The honey guide is special in the way_ ·
| A．it gets its food | B．it goes to church |
| C．it sings in the forest | D．it reaches into bees' nests |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．Wild Bees | B．Wax and Honey |
| C．Beekeeping in Africa | D．Honey-Lover's Helper |
Life affects friendships. As we grow, marry, fight in wars, move across the country or change jobs, old friendships fall away and new ones form. As long as we live, the things around us change, and as long as things change, friendships are affected.
When we were children we had best friends. No matter what happened we were still friends. We live our lives, however, and do what life calls for us to do, and as we get older, memories fade, faces blur, and even friends' names from childhood are forgotten.
Do you have a question about friendship? Do you wonder what to do with a friend who is no longer friendly? Perhaps you will see that you can't control others. If someone wants to be your friend, it is their choice. All you can do is treat them well and do the best for them when you are with them. Then you wish them well when they leave.
You can talk to old timers and they will tell you that life is full of incredible joy and incredible sorrow, and that what bothers you today will one day becomes a memory and the sting(痛苦) will be gone. Seniors might tell you that you will learn more as you get older. They will tell you that friendships come and friendships go. Sometimes when they go it will hurt, but you will be okay with it. It's the way life works, after all.What can we learn about friendship, according to the text?
| A．Friendship can not be easily affected by one's family. |
| B．Friends are always around us and will never go away. |
| C．Friends in childhood are the best no matter what happens. |
| D．Friends in childhood are sometimes forgotten by us. |
What should we do with friends who are no longer friendly according to the text?
| A．Do our best to control them and make them listen to us. |
| B．Forget them and make new friends who have a lot in common with us. |
| C．Find the reason why our friendship has changed. |
| D．Care about them and do the best for them when we are together. |
The text mainly tell us _________.
| A．how to face the changes in friendship |
| B．how to deal with unfriendly people |
| C．that childhood friendship is valuable |
| D．how to share happiness with friends |
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