C
High school dropouts earn an average of $9,000 less per year than graduates. Now a new study denies a common belief why they quit. It’s much more basic than flunking out(不及格).
Society tends to think of high school dropouts as kids who just can’t make it. They are lazy, and perhaps not too bright. So researchers were surprised when they asked more than 450 kids who quit school about why they left.
“The vast majority actually had passing grades and they were confident that they could have graduated from high school.”John Bridgeland, the executive researcher said. About 1 million teens leave school each year. Only about half of African-American and Hispanic(美籍西班牙的)students will receive a diploma, and actually all dropouts come to regret their decision. So, if failing grades don’t explain why these kids quit, what does? Again, John Bridgeland:“The most dependable finding was that they were bored.”“They found classes uninteresting；they weren’t inspired or motivated. They didn’t see any direct connection between what they were learning in the classroom to their own lives, or to their career aspirations.”
The study found that most teens who do drop out wait until they turn sixteen, which happens to be the age at which most states allow students to quit. In the US, only one state, New Mexico, has a law requiring teenagers to stay in high school until they graduate. Only four states: California, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, plus the District of Columbia, require school attendance until age 18, no exceptions. Jeffrey Garin, another researcher, says raising the compulsory attendance age may be one way to keep more kids in school.
“As these dropouts look back, they realize they’ve made a mistake. And anything that sort of gives these people an extra push to stick it out and see it through to the end, is probably helpful measure.”
New Hampshire may be the next state to raise its school attendance age to 18.But critics say that forcing the students unwilling to continue their studies to stay in school misses the point—the need for reform. It’s been called for to reinvent high school education to make it more challenging and relevant, and to ensure that kids who do stick it out receive a diploma that actually means something.Most high school students drop out of school because_______.
| A．they have failing grades |
| B．they take no interest in classes |
| C．they are mistreated |
| D．they are lazy and not intelligent |
According to the passage, which state has a law requiring school attendance until they graduate?
| A．New Hampshire |
| B．Utah |
| C．New Mexico |
| D．The District of Columbia |
The underlined words“stick it out”probably means“________”.
| A．complete schooling |
| B．solve the problem |
| C．love having classes |
| D．believe in themselves |
In the last paragraph, the writer is trying to________.
| A．analyze the reason why students quit school |
| B．suggest raising the compulsory attendance age |
| C．raise awareness of reforming high school education |
| D．wish to make laws to guarantee no dropout |
No one can believe that the over 6,300-kilometer Great Wall might disappear some day. Believe it or not, the Great Wall is being destroyed by people. Less than 20 percent of the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty ,is still perfect, but about 80 percent is in danger. The Great Wall can be called “ great “ mostly because of its amazing length. But we should realize that the length was made up of one brick at a time. If we do nothing to save the Great Wall,it will become a series of separate wasteland rather than a historic site.
The Great Wall is actually a series of walls built and rebuilt by different dynasties over the past 2,000 years. It began in the rule of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuang of the Qin Dynasty (221BC----206BC), and lasted into the Ming Dynasty. The parts built before the Ming Dynasty have nearly disappeared. People are familiar with sections such as Badaling in Beijing and Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu, because they have been open to tourists for many years. But those sections far away from the public eyes have been almost forgotten.
Few local people knew the 3—meter—high walls made of earth and stones beside them are parts of the Great Wall. The lack of knowledge is considered as one of the main reasons behind human.
The bricks on the Great Wall are carried off by countryside people to build their houses,sheep corrals and pigsties. Some were taken away to build roads. Bricks carved with people’s names are put away as remembrances. The rubbish is spread over the battlements. The brick can be sold 15 yuan per tractor load. Those who destroyed and are destroying the Wall know its name, but are not clear about its cultural meaning. It will take a long time to let them know this. The local farmers not only carried off the body of the Wall but also dug out the entire base.
It is necessary to protect the Great Wall. First of all, the officials should be aware of the importance of the Great Wall. Young Chinese should know more about the nation’s great civilization and learn to love it.Why does the writer say the Great Wall might disappear?
| A．It is useless from now on. |
| B． It is too old to be used again. |
| C． It will be replaced by a new one. |
| D． Some parts of it are being destroyed. |
The underlined part “ those sections far away from the public eyes “( in Para. 2 ) refers to the parts of the Great Wall______________.
| A．nobody can watch. |
| B．that are too far to be seen. |
| C．that are too difficult to find. |
| D．that are not well-known to the public. |
What’s the main reason of the Great Wall being destroyed?
| A．The local people sell the bricks for a living. |
| B．The local people are short of culture knowledge. |
| C．The local people think that the Great Wall is not important. |
| D．The local people need bricks and stones to build houses. |
Which of the following may be the best title for this passage?
| A．How to Protect the Great Wall. |
| B．How the Great Wall came into being. |
| C．The Great Wall Being Rebuilt. |
| D．The Great Wall Being in Danger. |
About ten men in every hundred suffer from color blindness in some way. Women are luckier，only about one in two hundred is affected in this matter. Perhaps, after all, it is safer to be driven by a woman.
There are different forms of color blindness. In some cases a man may not be able to see deep red. He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shades of green. Sometimes a person cannot tell the difference between blue and green. In rare cases an unlucky man see everything in shades of green—a strange world indeed.
Color blindness in human beings is a strange thing to explain. In a single eye there are millions of very small things called "cones". These help us to see in a bright and tell difference between colors. There are also millions of "rods ", but these are used for seeing when it is nearly dark. They show us shape but no color. Some insects have favorite colors. Mosquitoes(蚊子) like blue but do not like yellow. A red light will not attract insects, but a blue lamp will. In a similar way human being also have favorite colors. Yet we are lucky. With the aid of the cones in our eyes we can see many beautiful colors by day, and with the aid of the rods we can see shapes at night, One day we may even learn more about the invisible colors around us.According to the passage, with the help of the "cones", we can
| A．tell different colours | B．see in a weak light |
| C．tell different shapes | D．tell orange from yellow |
Why do some people say it is safer to be driven by women?
| A．Women are more careful. |
| B．There are fewer color-blind women. |
| C．Women are fonder of driving than men. |
| D．Women are weaker but quicker in thinking. |
Which of the statements about the color-blind is true?
| A．Not all of them have the same problem in recognizing colors. |
| B．None of them can see deep red. |
| C．None of them can tell the difference between blue and green. |
| D．All of them see everything in shades of green. |
We can attract and kill mosquitoes by using a
| A．red light | B．yellow light |
| C．blue light | D．green light |
People have strange ideas about food. For example, the tomato is a kind of very delicious vegetable. It is one of useful plants that can be prepared in many ways. It has rich nutrition and vitamin in it. But in the 18th century, Americans never ate tomatoes. They grew them in their gardens because tomato plants are so pretty. But they thought the vegetable was poisonous (有毒的). They called tomatoes “poison apples.”
President Thomas Jefferson, however, knew that tomatoes were good to eat. He was a learned man. He had been to Paris, where he learned to love the taste of tomatoes. He grew many kinds of tomatoes in his garden. The President taught his cook a way for a cream of tomato soup. This beautiful pink soup was served at the President’s party. The guests thought the soup tasted really good. They never thought their president would serve his honored guests poison apples.
Jefferson never spoke to his honored (忠实的) guests about the fact.The passage tells us that Jefferson was a President who learned to love the taste of tomatoes .
| A．while he was in Paris | B．when he was a little boy |
| C．because his parents told him so | D．from books |
According to the text, _______ made the beautiful pink soup served at the President’s party?
| A．the President himself | B．a French cook |
| C．the President’s cook | D．the President’s wife |
From the passage we know all the honored guests invited by Jefferson were .
| A．people from other countries | B．from France |
| C．people of his own country | D．men only |
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
| A．All of the guests knew the soup that was served at the President’s party was made of tomatoes. |
| B．All of the guests thought the soup which was prepared by the President’s cook was nice. |
| C．All of the guests thought the taste of the beautiful pink soup was nice. |
| D．None of the guests knew that their president would serve his honored guests poison apples |
阅读下面的短文，并根据短文后的要求答题。（请注意问题后的字数要求）
[1] Learning to save money when you’re young is an important lesson. All good lessons and habits begin early, and saving is a skill that everyone needs. Many people---adults included-- do not have a good sense of saving for the long run.
[2] Make sure you save and don’t spend too much, which is a good way to build up wealth. I have put my earnings in a bank. Many teens I know spend all the money they earn so it never has a chance to grow. Young people should realize that their teenage years are a great time to begin saving.
[3] At high school many parents pay for almost everything, so your expenses can be small. If you have a lot , you should have fun with some of the money. But you should also save some so that it will grow. Then you can begin planning for your future.
[4] After high school, college is expensive and then “real” life begins, with expenses such as food and rent. You can hold on to a good percentage of the money you earn as a teen. The earlier , the more time the money has to grow. If you are in your thirties without any savings, you will always have to struggle. The earlier you begin saving, the easier it is to create a nest egg.
[5]Later in life it can be hard to start saving because general costs of living are more expensive and you may only have enough to pay your bills. If you want to buy a house and have a family, you need money to start with, which comes from saving.
[6]Saving early will mean you will have to work for fewer years when you are older. It will also allow you to spend time doing the things that you want to do. In addition, it will mean you can live the way you want to without worrying.What might be the purpose of the writer? (no more than10 words)
Please fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence. (no more than 5 words)
What is the main idea of Paragraph 3?(no more than 12 words)
List three benefits of saving early according to the text.( no more than 30 words)
①
②
③ According to the passage, what do you think of saving?(no more than 20 words)
English teenagers are to receive compulsory (必修的) cooking lessons in schools. The idea is to encourage healthy eating to fight the country’s increasing obesity (肥胖 )rate. It’s feared that basic cooking and food preparation skills are being lost as parents turn to pre-prepared convenience foods.
Cooking was once regarded as an important part of education in England---even if it was mainly aimed at girls. In recent decades cooking has progressively become a minor activity in schools. In many cases the schools themselves have given up cooking meals in kitchens in the schools. But the rising level of obesity has led to a rethink about the food that children are given and the skills they should be taught.
“What I want is to teach young people how to do basic, simple recipes like a tomato sauce, a bolognaise, a simple curry, a stir-fry---which they can use now at home and then in their later life”, said Ed Balls, the minister responsible for schools.
The new lessons are due to start in September, but some schools without kitchens will be given longer to adapt. There is also likely to be a shortage of teachers with the right skills, since the trend has been to teach food technology rather than practical cooking. Also the compulsory lessons for hands on cooking will only be one hour a week for one term. But the well-known cookery writer, Pru Leith, believes it will be worth it.
“If we’d done this thirty years ago we might not have the crisis we’ve got now about obesity and lack of knowledge about food and so on. Every child should know how to cook, not just so that they’ll be healthy, but because it’s a life skill which is a real pleasure”.
The renewed interest in cooking is primarily a response to the level of obesity in Britain which is among the highest in Europe, and according to government figures half of all Britons will be obese in 25 years if current trends are not stopped.The passage mainly talks about .
| A．the reason for obesity | B．the lost cooking skills |
| C．the healthy eating | D．the compulsory cooking classes |
Which of the following is NOT the purpose for English teenagers to receive cooking lessons?
| A．To encourage teenagers to eat healthy food. |
| B．To reduce the country’s increasing obesity rate. |
| C．To stop parents from turning to pre-prepared convenience foods. |
| D．To prevent basic cooking and food preparation skills from being lost. |
In what way will cooking lessons benefit the students?
| A．They will be healthy and enjoy the pleasure of such a life skill as well. |
| B．They will be able to do some basic, simple recipes like a tomato sauce. |
| C．They will be able to make food experiments with the knowledge and skills. |
| D．They will be able to control the level of obesity in the whole country. |
The well-known cookery writer, Pru Leith, thinks it to offer compulsory cooking lessons in schools.
| A．difficult | B．necessary | C．funny | D．timely |
It can be inferred from the passage that .
| A．cooking has always been an important part of school education in England |
| B．the obesity rate in Britain has been rapidly growing in recent decades |
| C．English teenagers will have their cooking lessons twice a week for one year |
| D．the students will pay a lot of money to the school for the |
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