American kids are taking more tests than ever before, and they're stressed out. Is help on the way? Just the sight of a test booklet makes some kids sweat. For others, it is a blank answer sheet. Then there are the dreaded words, "Take out your Number 2 pencil." All these fill 10-year-old Chelsea Logo with fear. "I start to tap my pencil on the desk," says the fifth grader from Toluca Lake Elementary, near Los Angeles, California. "Then I feel the butterflies in my stomach."
Chelsea is not alone. In a recent survey by Kids Health£.org, more than 70% of kids aged 9 to 13 said they worry about tests. It's no wonder. Across the United States, public schools give more than 250 million standardized tests each year.
Why do kids have to take so many tests? The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law requires that students in grades 3 through 8 be tested each year. The law's goal is for all students to be at grade level by 2014. Students must pass the tests and meet other requirements or their schools may be shut down.
The U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wants to change NCLB. But that doesn't mean he favors getting rid of tests. Duncan believes tests should be used mainly to evaluate kids' strengths and weaknesses. Tests, Duncan says, should not be used to punish kids or their schools for failure. "The goal is to focus on great teaching and learning," Duncan said.
Under NCLB, each state sets its own standards for students to meet. The result, Duncan says, is that states are making the tests easier. To fix this problem, 48 states are now working together to create common standards. "I want to set a high bar for kids, " Duncan says, "so they'll be in great shape to achieve their 
dreams."
Like them or not, tests are here to stay. So how can you handle test nerves? Schools are teaching students to relax through. deep breathing. and stretching (伸展运动) . In Oakland, California, Principal Zarina Ahmad of Piedmont Avenue Elementary leads her students in a cheer to get them excited about learning.
"Kids are under high pressure," says Ahmad. "There has to be time for kids to be kids. Still, we need tests to help us assess what students have yet to learn."
The underlined part "the butterflies in my stomach" can be replaced by .
| A． nervous | B．guilty | C．exciting | D．proud |
According to the passage, the NCLB law .
| A．is focusing on teaching methods in schools |
| B．is requiring schools to make the tests more difficult |
| C．is trying to make schools be responsible for students |
| D．aims to evaluate kids' strengths and weaknesses by means of tests |
We can learn from the last two paragraphs that .
| A．it's possible to get rid of tests |
| B．schools have no good way to deal with students' stress |
| C．tests help assess what students have to learn |
| D．schools are aware of students' stress caused by tests |
What would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Why kids are more stressed than before? |
| B．Kids' tips for test success |
| C．How to deal with test stress |
| D．Put kids to the standardized test |
Research shows that humans switch from selfish to unselfish behaviour when they are watched. Do you?
A picture of a set of eyes on a computer screen can cause a change in the way people act. Even images of eyes on a charity donation, collection box encourage people to be unselfish, because people put more money in a collection box that has a picture of eyes on it than they do when a flower symbol is on the box.
Manfred Milinski from the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany and Bettina Rockenbach of the University of Berlin, the authors of a new study, found that people act better when they are being watched because they feel they will be rewarded for good behaviour. Their report also referred to other research showing that this response of behaving well when watched is somehow coded into humans and people respond this way unconsciously, or without realizing it.
It is not just humans that act unselfishly when they are being watched. A fish called the grooming fish cleans other fish. When other fish are around, it is gentler. When no other fish are around, however, the grooming fish bites chunks from the fish it is supposed to be cleaning.
The researchers suggest that the best way to get people to behave in the correct way is to make them feel watched. This could be the reason for the success of a famous American army poster. On it was a picture of an elderly man staring fiercely and pointing, it appeared, to the person who was looking at the poster. Under the picture was the caption 'I Want You' It encouraged hundreds of thousands of young American men to join the army during the Second World War to fight the Germans and Japanese.
68. According to the report, why does a person behave better when he feels he is being watched?
A. He does not want to be shamed by others.
B. He needs to show he is a good person.
C. He desires others to like him more.
D. He feels he will receive some social reward
.
69. What is the text mainly about?
A. It describes changed behaviour when observed.
B. It details ways to control people's behaviour.
C. It tells how to make people work harder.
D. It discusses different advertising methods.
70．Where would the study described in the text most likely be found?
A. In a newspaper.
B. In a scientific journal.
C. In an advertising magazine.
D. In a science textbook.
The booking notes of the play “the Age of Innocence”:
Price: ＄10
BOOKING
There are four easy ways to book seats for performance:
------ in person
The Box Office is open Monday to Saturday, 10 a. m. —8 p. m.
------ by telephone
Ring 01324976 to reserve your tickets or to pay by credit card（Visa, MasterCard and 
Amex accepted）
------ by post
Simply complete the booking form and return it to Global Theatre Box Office.
------ on line
Complete the on-line booking form at www. Satanfiedtheatre. com
DICOUNTS:
Saver: ＄2 off any seat booked any time in advance for performances from Monday to Thursday. Savers are available for children up to 16 years old, over 60s and full-time students.
Supersaver: half-price seats are available for people with disabilities and one companion. It is advisable to book in advance. There is a maximum of eight wheelchair spaces available and one wheelchair space will be held until an hour before the show.
Standby: best available seats are on sale for ＄6 from one hour before the performance for people eligible（suitable）for Saver and Supersaver discounts and thirty minutes before for all other customers.
Group Bookings: there is a ten percent discount for parties of twelve or more.
School: school parties of ten or more can book ＄6 standby tickets in advance and will get every tenth ticket free.
Please note: we are unable to exchange tickets or refund money unless a performance is cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.
65. If you want to book a ticket, you CANNOT _______.
A. go to the Box Office on Sundays
B. ring the booking number and pay for the tickets by credit card
C. use the Internet
D. complete a booking form and post it to the Box Office
66. If you make a group booking for a group of 14 adults, how much should you pay?
A. ＄126 B. ＄120 C. ＄140 D. ＄150
67. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. There are only 8 wheelchair spaces in the theatre.
B. A school party of 15 students should pay＄90 for the standby tickets.
C. A group of 12 persons can get 10 per cent discount.
D. The audience can’t refund money if the performance is on show.
It was graduation day at 
the university where I work and a beautiful day quite unlike the first graduation I attended as a young professor. On that cold day years ago, as we watched the students walking into the hall, one of my colleagues turned to me and said, "Graduation will be one of the happiest and one of the saddest time of your life." At my inquiry, he answered, "Because the students you have gotten to know have to leave."
As years went by, my previous confusion about my colleague's words no longer existed. When I came across naughty students, I have had to rethink why I chose to be a teacher. It obviously isn't the money. Once a former computer science student of mine called me, asking me if I wanted to have a change. He was working at Nintendo Corporation. His salary was higher than my current one, though I have more education and have worked for over a decade. With my programming skills, he said he could get me hired. I thanked him, but declined his kind offer.
A few days before this current graduation, while working on final grades, I found a note a student 
had slipped in with her homework. She thanked me for being her teacher and said the things she had learned in my class — not about math, but about life — would be things she would remember long after the math skills had faded away. As I finished reading, I remembered why I had become a teacher.
Now, on this sunny graduation day, as I again observed the sea of blue hats and gowns, I did so with renewed dedication (奉献) and a deeper sense of satisfaction — I will always be grateful that I am a teacher.
60. Hearing his colleague's description of graduation for the first time, the author _________
A. quite agreed with his colleague B. thought it very funny
C. was very puzzled D. was very sad.
61. The computer science student called up the author because he_________
A. wanted to inform the author of his present job
B. tried to persuade the author to work with him
C. wanted the author to share his joy and satisfaction
D. thought the author wasn't fit to be a teacher
62. The underlined part blue hats and gowns refers to .
A. university colleagues B. life memories
C. graduates' clothes D. decorations in the hall
63. The author wrote this passage to _________.
A. express his devotion to being a teacher
B. compare two different graduation ceremonies
C. talk about the meaning of graduation
D. give advice on how to be a good teacher
64. The reason why he earns less than the computer science student is that_________
A. he was only a young professor
B. he didn't do well in his work
C. he taught his students more about life than math
D. salaries for different careers are different
第三部分：阅读理解 (共两节，满分40分)
第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.
Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high-class Benz with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere i
n one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then walk off without paying your fare. The driver would not show the least sign of anxiety.
The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also serve outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.
The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as soon as they have agreed with the boss on the rate. From then on they just say how many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly.
With so many loopholes(漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “petty advantages”. But the strange thing is, all the taxi passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in. As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.
In a society of such high moral practice, what need is there for people to be on guard against others?
56. While taking a taxi in Finland, a passenger __________.
A. can go anywhere without having to pay the driver
B. only pays two US dollars for a taxi ride
C. can never be turned down by the taxi driver wherever he wants to go
D. needs to provide good faith demonstration before leaving without paying
57．We can know from the passage that in Finland __________.
A. both hotel guests and outside diners are served food free of charge
B. big hotels provide meals for all kinds of diners
C. guests can enjoy free food once they stayed in the hotel
D. big hotels are mostly poorly managed
58. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Generally speaking, in Finland, workers can get more pay by working long hours.
B. The workers and their bosses will make an agreement in advance about the pay.
C. The workers are always honest with their working hours.
D. The bosses are too busy to check the working hours of their employees.
59. It can be concluded that _________.
A. Finnish people are really foolish in daily life
B. Finland has been a good place for cheats
C. the Finnish society is of very high moral level
D. all the Finns are rich and therefore honest
Having finished her homework, Ma Li wants some music for relaxation. As usual, she starts her computer and goes to Baidu.com to download music files. But this time she is surprised when an announcement about protecting songs’ copyright bursts onto the screen. The age of free music and movie downloads may have come to an end as Web companies like Baidu are accused of pirating copyright. Lawsuits（诉讼） have been filed against four websites offering free downloads. In September 2005, a Beijing court ordered Baidu to pay recording company Shanghai Push compensation(赔偿)for their losses. Baidu was also told to block the links to the pirated music on the website. This caused a heated discussion on Interact file sharing.
“Baidu’s defeat in the lawsuit shows it is not right to get copyrighted songs without paying. Downloaders may face lawsuits or fines,” said an official.
Like many teens, Huang Ruoru, an 18-year-old girl from Puning in Guangdong Province, doesn’t think that getting music from websites is wrong. She always shares her favourite songs downloaded from Baidu with her friends. When told about the lawsuit, she began to feel a little guilty about obtaining others’ work without paying.
However, other teenagers have different ideas. Wang Yafei, a Senior 2 girl from Jinan, Shandong Province pointed out that file sharing is a good way to promote pop singers. “If I download a song and really like it, I will buy the CD,” she said. “So what the recording companies really should concentrate on is improving their music, rather than pursuing file-sharers.”Which of the following best describes the passage?
| A．Downloading material can be illegal. | B．It’s good to get free music on the Internet. |
| C．Music on the Internet is of better quality. | D．Baidu is a popular web company. |
The four web companies were put to court because _________.
| A．they got copyrighted songs without paying |
| B．they downloaded copyrighted music for people |
| C．they offer free music on line |
| D．they make copyrighted files for free downloads |
How do some of the teenagers feel while downloading free music after the lawsuit?
| A．A bit guilty. | B．Awfully sorry. | C．A little sad. | D．Extremely angry. |
It can be inferred from the text that _________.
| A．Web companies are still ignoring the copyright laws. | |
| B．Teenagers haven’t got money to buy CDs. | |
| C．Teenagers are probably still downloading free music. |
D．Teenagers prefer CDs with copyright to pirated music. |
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