Cursive(草书) writing is about to become extinct.Do we raise the red flag? To teach or not to teach cursive writing is a question that several state education departments are meeting with.
Before you read this text, do a simple exercise.Pick a pen and paper and start writing in cursive.Yes, that fancy handwriting that you learned in grade school.You may not have forgotten the good times you had while writing curly(弯曲的) Ms and Ns.However, the chances are that you won’t be able to write it as excellently as you used to.Some people are good at making the perfect curls, while some are bad.I am still terrible at it.
Cursive writing is hardly used by kids anymore as even adults don’t write in this style, unless they are using it for their signature.Learning it was a usual practice in school for several decades.However, in 2011, the Indiana Department of Education made it optional(可选择的) for schools to teach cursive writing to the students.In fact, there are 46 more states that have also done the same.
There are some who believe that it is high time for cursive writing to retire from school curriculum.After all, if we don’t leave the past behind, we cannot make way for new things.If you walk into any classroom, you would find children using keyboards to communicate in the written form.On the other hand, fans of cursive writing insist on its usefulness.They remind us that if we stop teaching and learning cursive writing in school, very soon most of our historical documents will become hard to us.Where do we stand on this subject? Is it the right time to erase an almost forgotten writing style and live in the keyboarding world? Or can we do both without compromising on our school curriculum? Let me know your thoughts on this matter by leaving a comment in the section below.From the second paragraph, we know that the author ___________.
| A．didn’t learn cursive writing in grade school |
| B．is poor at making the perfect curls |
| C．often writes in cursive |
| D．often does physical exercise |
In Indiana schools, children ___________.
| A．must learn cursive writing |
| B．are interested in cursive writing |
| C．can choose to learn cursive writing |
| D．learn cursive writing every day |
It can be inferred that the author __________.
| A．prefers to learn cursive writing |
| B．is a cursive writing teacher |
| C．welcomes people to show their opinions |
| D．is a very famous expert in education |
Which of the following could be the best title for the text?
| A．Is cursive writing necessary? |
| B．Is the keyboarding world good? |
| C．How to write in cursive |
| D．How to improve cursive writing |
The American book Who Moved My Cheese（奶酪）has been a bestseller all over the world. It teaches people how to face changes in their lives. Now its author Spence Johnson has written a book just for teens. The book tells us that when facing change in our lives, like a new school or new friends, don’t be afraid. Instead, use this change to make a better life. The book gives an example of a change at school. A school is changing from having two terms to three terms because there are too many students.
Several teens are talking about this. Most of them are unhappy and worried. But Chris is not. He laughs and tells a story about two mice, two “little people” and some cheese.
The four are in a maze looking for the cheese. Here, cheese means something important in life, like moving to a new class or getting into college. But they find the cheese is gone. The mice realize that they can’t change what has happened and have to find more cheese. This means finding different dreams. The little people, however, can’t do this. They are afraid of change so they find no cheese.
After Chris finishes the story, the friends understand one thing: to get more cheese, move in a new direction quickly. His friends understand how this can be used in the changes all teens face, such as doing well at school or having good relationships or just feeling good about yourself.The book Who Moved My Cheese is _________.
| A．written all over the world | B．read across the world |
| C．sold only in America | D．loved only by teens |
What does the text mainly discuss?
| A．Never change in our life | B．Change when you like to do |
| C．Change with the changes | D．Pay attention to the changes |
The underlined word “four”（paragraph 3）refers to ______.
| A．Mice and little people | B．students |
| C．Cheese | D．Readers |
In our lives, we should learn from _________.
| A．mice | B．little people | C．Chris | D．Spence Johnson |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．The author is Britain. |
| B．There are three terms in every school. |
| C．Most teens don’t understand Chris’ story. |
| D．The book tells teens how to face changes in their lives. |
My mother was a household servant. Through her work, she observed that successful people spent a lot more time reading than they did watching television. She announced that my brother and I could only watch two to three pre-selected TV programs during the week. With our free time, we had to read two books each from the Detroit Public Library and write book reports. She would mark them up with check marks. Years later we realized her marks were a ruse. My mother had only received a third-grade education. Although we had no money, between the covers of those books, I could go anywhere, do anything and be anybody.
When I entered high school, I was an A-student, but not for long. I wanted the fancy clothes. I wanted to hang out with the guys. I went form being an A- student to a B- student to a C-student, but I didn’t care.
One night my mother came home and I complained about not having enough shirts. She said, “Okay, I’ll give you all the money I make this week cleaning floors and bathrooms, and you can buy the family food and pay the bills. With everything left over, you can have all the shirts you want.”
I was very pleased with that arrangement but once I got through allocating(分配) money, there was nothing left. I realized my mother was a financial genius to be able to keep a roof over our heads and any kind of food on the table, much less buy clothes.
I also realized that immediate satisfaction wasn’t going to get me anywhere. Success required intellectual(理智的) preparation. I went back to my studies and became an A-student again. I dreamed of becoming a doctor when I was just a kid. And now I have achieved my dream.
Over the years my mother’s changeless faith in God has inspired me, particularly when I found myself faced with my own medical illness. A few years ago I discovered I had a very serious cancer; I was told it might have spread to my spine(脊柱). My mother believed in God very much. She never worried. She said that God would never throw me away forever; there was no way that this was going to be a major problem. The abnormality in spine turned out to be not bad; I was able to have surgery and am cured.
My story is really my mother’s story －a woman little formal education or worldly goods who used her position as a parent to change the lives of her children. The underlined word “ruse” in the first paragraph probably means .
| A．discovery | B．success | C．trick | D．pleasure |
When the author asked his mother to buy him shirts, she .
| A．advised him to earn money by himself |
| B．asked him to try to manage their money |
| C．persuaded him not to buy them patiently |
| D．agreed to buy them for him immediately |
What do we learn about the author?
| A．He now works as a doctor. |
| B．He disliked watching TV as a kid. |
| C．He received little formal education. |
| D．He often did housework when young. |
The underlined word “this” in the last but one paragraph refers to .
| A．God’s throwing me away |
| B．my own medical illness |
| C．the operation on my spine |
| D．my mother’s changeless faith in God |
In writing the passage, the author mainly shows us .
| A．the happy relationships in his family |
| B．the benefits of reading for young children |
| C．the importance of formal education for adults |
| D．his mother’s great influence on his development |
Individuals should pay for their higher education. A university education is of huge and direct benefit to the individual.
Graduates earn more than non-graduates. Meanwhile, social mobility is ever more dependent on having a degree. However, only some people have it. So the individual, not the taxpayers, should pay for it. There are pressing calls on the resources of the government. Using taxpayers’ money to help a small number of people to earn high incomes in the future is not one of them.
Full government funding is not very good for universities. Adam Smith worked in a Scottish university whose teachers lived off student fees. He knew and looked down upon 18th century Oxford, where the academics lived comfortably off the income received from the government. Guaranteed salaries, Smith argued, were the enemy of hard work; and when the academics were lazy and incompetent, the stduents were similarly lazy.
If students have to pay for their education, they not only work harder, but also demand more from their teachers. And their teachers have to keep them satisfied. If that means taking teaching seriously, and giving less time to their own research interests, that is surely something to celebrate.
Many people believe that higher education should be free because it is good for the economy. Many graduates clearly do contribute to national wealth, but so do all the businesses that invest and create jobs. If you believe that the government should pay for higher education because graduates are economically productive, you should also believe that the government should pay part of business costs. Anyone promising to create jobs should receive a gift of capital from the government to invest.
Therefore, it is the individual, not the government, who should pay for their university education. The underlined word “them” in Paragraph 2 refers to .
| A．taxpayers | B．pressing calls | C．college graduates | D．government resources |
The author thinks that with full government funding .
| A．teachers are less satified | B．students are more demanding |
| C．students will become more competent | D．teachers will spend less time on teaching |
The author mentions businesses in Paragraph 5 in order to .
| A．argue against free university education | B．call on them to finance students’ studies |
| C．encourage graduates to go into business | D．show their contribution to higher education |
American cities are similar to other cities around the world: American cities are changing, just as American society is changing. After World War Two, the population of most large American cities decreased; however, the population in many Sun Belt cities increase. Los Angeles and Houston are cities where population shifts (转移) to and from the city reflect the changing values of American society. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, city residents became weathier. They moved out of their apartments in the city to buy their own homes. They bought houses in the suburbs (郊区).
Now things are changing. The children of the people who left the cities in the 1950s are now adults. Many, unlike their parents, want to live in the cities. They continue to move to Sun Belt cities and older ones of the Northeast and Midwest. Many young professionals are moving back into the city. They prefer the city to the suburbs because their jobs are there; or they just enjoy the excitement and possiblilies that the city offers.
This population shift is bringing problems as well as benefits. Countless poor people must leave their apartments in the city because the owners want to sell the buildings or make apartments for sale instead of for rent. In the 1950s, many poor people did not have enough meney to move to the suburbs; now many of these same people do not have enough money to stay in the cities.
Only a few years ago, people thought that the older American cities were dying. Some city residents now see a bright, new future. Others see only problems and conflicts. One thing is sure:many dying cities are alive again.What does the author think of cities all over the world?
| A．They are alive. | B．They are hopeless. |
| C．They are similar. | D．They are different. |
Why did American city residents want to live in the suburbs after World War Two?
| A．Because older American cities were dying. |
| B．Because they were richer and needed more space. |
| C．Because cities contained the worst parts of society. |
| D．Because they could hardly afford to live in the city. |
According to the 4th paragraph, a great many poor people in American cities .
| A．are faced with housing problems | B．are forced to move to the suburbs |
| C．want to sell their buildings | D．need more money for daily expenses |
We can conclude from the text that .
| A．American cities are changing for the worse |
| B．people have different views on American cities |
| C．many people are now moving from American cities |
| D．the population is decreasing in older American cities |
Birds that are half-asleep—with one brain hemisphere (半球) alert and the other sleeping—control which side of the brain remains awake, according to a new study of sleeping ducks.
Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere’s eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
Decades of studies of bird groups led researchers to predict extra alertness in the end-of-the-row sleepers which tend to be attacked more easily. Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction.
Also, birds napping at the end of the line depend on single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Turning 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found that compared with 12 percent for birds in internal spots, outer birds half-asleep during some 32 percent of napping time.
“We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness at the same time in different regions of the brain,” the researchers say.
The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing assumption that single-hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lookout side could be widespread, he predicts. He’s seen it in a pair of birds napping side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror. The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open.
Useful as half-sleeping might be, it’s only been found in birds and such water animals as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning.
Studies of birds may offer unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds’ half-brain sleep “is just the tip of the iceberg.” He supposes that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.According to the passage, birds often half sleep because ______.
| A．they have to watch out for possible attacks |
| B．their brain hemispheres take turns to rest |
| C．the two halves of their brain are differently structured |
| D．they have to constantly keep an eye on their companions |
What is implied about the example of a bird’s sleeping in front of a mirror?
| A．An imagined companion gives the bird a sense of security. |
| B．Birds prefer to sleep in pairs for the sake of their security. |
| C．The phenomenon of birds napping in pairs is widespread. |
| D．A single pet bird enjoys seeing its own reflection in the mirror. |
While sleeping, some water animals tend to keep half awake in order to ______.
| A．alert themselves to the approaching enemy |
| B．emerge from water now and then to breathe |
| C．be sensitive to the ever-changing environment |
| D．avoid being swept away by rapid currents |
By saying “just the tip of the iceberg”, Siegel suggests that ______.
| A．half-brain sleep has something to do with icy weather |
| B．the mystery of half-brain sleep is close to being solved |
| C．most birds living in cold regions tend to be half sleepers |
| D．half-brain sleep may exist among other species |
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