Rarely have I experienced a reaction like that which came about following the idea of banning private education. One of those who contacted me to disagree with the idea was 17 year old Anirudh Mandagere. He got 10 A*s at GCSE and is currently studying English, French, Math and History at a private school in Manchester. Here is his response:
For me, the idea that all private schools should be banned is not only ridiculous and unrealistic, but goes against the idea of liberty. We must have the freedom to choose between state-funded and privately educated schools. If parents pay taxes, surely they should be able to choose whether they send their children to a state-funded or a privately-funded school.
The economic impacts of abolishing private education are vast. Banning private schools would obviously contribute to a great transfer to state schools. Many state schools are already overburdened; do they really need more pupils? Abolishing private education would lead to higher taxes for taxpayers since more money would be needed to educate the 7% who were previously private educated. In the times of economic crisis, should the taxpayer need to fork out more money to pay for their education? There would also be a great rise in unemployment of the staff who works at private schools.
It is noted that, in general, private schools have better grades at GCSE and A level than state schools. Yet, why do people view this as a bad thing? The higher private school grades eventually force the government to endlessly improve state education so that the middle-classes do not totally abandon state education for private education. This competition creates reform and progress within state schools and eventually promote them! If the private schools did not exist, where would be the impetus for state school improvement?
Government should not simply ban a system which produces results. It should learn from it and use the private education model as a basis for the state education model. Abolishing a successful system will not help anybody, learning from a successful syste
m will.In the eye of Anirudh Mandagere, parents have the right to ______.
| A．criticize state-funded schools |
B．pay taxes for the promotion of private schools |
| C．choose the way their children receive education |
| D．advocate the competition between state schools and private ones |
According to the passage, banning private education will ______.
| A．obviously contribute to lower taxes |
| B．not cause the state schools to be overburdened |
| C．force the government to boost state education |
| D．lead to many people losing their jobs |
The underlined word “impetus” in the fourth paragraph probably means ______.
| A．motivation | B．prevention | C．participation | D．assessment |
Compared with state schools, private ones ______.
| A．educate a little fewer students | B．conduct better than all state ones |
| C．are better received by the public | D．are more competitive on the whole |
Which of the following statements will Anirudh Mandagere agree with?
| A．His wonderful performance results from the education his private school offers. |
| B．Without the existence of private schools, state ones wouldn’t get improved much. |
| C．Private education is a good system to make students successful in life. |
| D．Private schools are supposed to be sponsored more than state ones. |
Crime has its own cycles, a magazine reported some years ago. Police records that were studied for five years from over 2,400 cities and towns show a surprising link between changes in the seasons and crime patterns.
The pattern of crime has varied very little over a long period of years. Murder reaches its high during July and August, as do other violent attacks. Murder, moreover, is more than seasonal: it is a weekend crime. It is also a nighttime crime: 62 percent of murders are committed between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Unlike the summer high in crimes of bodily harm, burglary has a different cycle. You are most likely to be robbed between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. on a Saturday night in December, January, or February. What is the most uncriminal month of all? May — except for one strange statistic. More dog bites are reported in this month than in any other month of the year.
60. The main idea of paragraph 1 is _________.
A. crime is a serious social problem
B. there is a link between changes in the seasons and crime patterns
C. crime is not linked to the changes in the seasons
D. 2,400 towns were studied for five years
61. The subject of paragraph 2 is __________.
A. Summer crime B. burglary C. murder D. nighttime crime
62. According to the passage, a murder would most likely occur _______.
A. on a weekend night in winter
B. on a weekend afternoon in summer
C. on a Saturday night
D. on a weekend night in summer
63. In paragraph 2 “it is also a nighttime crime,” “it” refers to _________.
A. murder B. 62 percent C. weekend crime D. dog bite
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40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。
There is no clear advice on how to use your body language. What you do might be interpreted(诠释)in several ways, depending on the surroundings and who you are talking to. You’ll probably want to use body language differently when talking to your boss compared to when you talk to a girl you’re interested in. The following are some effective ways to improve your body language.
First, to change your body language you must be aware of your body language. Notice
how you sit, how you stand , how you use your hands and legs, and what you do while talking to someone.
You might want to practice in front of a mirror. It might seem silly but no one is watching you. This will give you good feedback(反馈)on how you look to other people and also give you an opportunity to practice a bit before going out into the world.
Another tip is to close your eyes and visualize how you would stand and sit to feel confident, open and relaxed or whatever you want to communicate. See yourself move like that version of yourself. Then try it out.
You might also want to observe friends, role models, movie stars or other people you think have good body language. Observe what they do and you don’t and take bits and pieces you like from them. Try using what you can learn from them.
Some of these tips might seem like you are faking(假装) something. But fake it till you make it a useful way to learn something new. And remember, feelings work backwards too. If you smile a bit more you will feel happier. If you sit up straight you will feel more energetic and in control. If you slow down your movements you’ll feel calmer.
56.What’s the purpose of the passage?
A.To show the importance of body language.
B.To compare spoken language with body language.
C.To give some tips on improving body language.
D.To introduce different kinds of body language.
57.We can learn from the passage that_________.
A.body language is not as important as spoken language.
B.movie stars and models always have good body language.
C.using more body language can make us more popular.
D.different body language should be used in different situations.
58.The underlined word “visualize” in Paragraph 4 means_________.
A.see in one’s mind B.discuss with somebody
C.look in the mirror D.Practice again and again
59.What does the author mainly want to say in the last paragraph?
A.Don’t hide your true feelings. B.It’s a good idea to imitate some people .
C.Try to stay calm all the time. D.Go on learning more about body language.
“Earthquake!” The word flashed in my brain. A roaring sound filled my ears . I tried to slide beneath my desk. The desk did a wild tap dance, slipping and sliding towards the centre of the room. I twisted my body and grabbed at the window sill behind me, somehow kicking free of my dancing chair. I tried to stand. My legs skated away as if on a bucking escalator.
My fingers shook, grasped and held the window sill tightly. Somewhere through the roar sounded the terrified scream of some wounded animal. I looked behind me and tried to steady my gaze on the other kids but the scene was a dizzy nightmare. Some of the class was sitting in the middle of the room, surrounded by chairs and desks. One girl was screaming. A boy was trying to claw his way across the floor to the door in a crazy overarm crawl.
My grip froze me to the window sill.
I cried aloud, “I’m going to die. I’m going to die. Save me, I’ m not ready to die, I’m not ready!”
I hunched forward on my knees and pressed my face against my clenched fingers. I looked at the backs of my fingers and stupidly noticed the fragile pale hairs growing out of the pores. The fingers would soon cease to exist. Somehow the impending horror of my death was too terrible to even cry about.
Suddenly, I became aware that the rocking had ceased. Perhaps I wasn’t going to die.
72. The roaring sound was made by ______.
A. a wounded animalB. people screaming
C. children running D. an earthquake
73. When the narrator clenches his fingers he is ______
A. afraid B. angry C. injured D. impatient
74.Pararaph Two describes the _______.
A. injuries suffered by the narrator B. effects of a bad nightmare
C.disorder in the classroom D. narrator’s fear of death
75. At the end of the passage there is a felling of ______.
A. panic B. hope C. sorrow D. excitement
When you want to go shopping, decide how much money you can spend on new clothes. Think about the kind of clothes you really need. Then look for those clothes you really need. Then look for those clothes on sale.
There are labels(标签)inside all new clothes. The labels tell you how to take care of your clothes. The label for a shirt may tell you to wash it in warm water. A sweater label may tell you to wash in cold water. The label on a coat may say “dry clean only ”, for washing may uin this coat. If you do as the directions (说明) on the label, you can keep your clothes looking their best for a long time.
Many clothes today must be dry cleaned. Dry cleaning is expensive. When buying new clothes, check to see if they will need to be dry cleaned. You will save money if you buy clothes that can be washed.
You can save money if you buy clothes that are well made. Well-made clothes last longer. They look good even after they have been washed many times. Clothes that cost more money are not necessarily better made. They do not always fit better. Sometimes less expensive clothes look and fit better than more expensive clothes.
68. If you want to save money , you had better buy clothes that_____.
A. don’t fit youB. don’t last long C. need to be dry cleanedD. can be washed
69. The label inside the clothes tell you________.
A. how to keep the clothes looking their best B. how to save money
C. whether the clothes fit you or not D. where to get the clothes dry cleaned
70. The first thing for you to do before you buy clothes is ______
A. to look for well-made clothes B. to see how much money you can spend on it
C. to know how to wash them D. to read the labels inside them
71. We learn from the passage that
cheaper clothes_______.
A. are always worse made B. must be dry cleaned
C. can not be washed D. can sometimes fit you better
New train route opens from China to Germany
A container(集装箱) train left Beijing on Wednesday on its way to Hamburg, Germany. The new service was welcomed as real progress made in international rail cooperation.
The train will travel about 9,800 kilometers through six countries, including China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. The trip has gained support from those in customs declaration and clearance.
Zhang Mingli, chairman of China Conainer Transportation Co., said, “This can be seen as a breakthrough in our cooperation. Today , railway officials from six countries are here to witness this event. This is very important to the development of the Asia-Europe Continental Bridge. This means of transportation has great potential for the countries involved.”
Cargo on board includes electronic products, textiles and shoes. The trip to Hamburg, Germany will take 18 days. The same trip would take at least 40 days by container ship.
Tomasl Palaszewski, vice president of Polish Natiional Railway, said, “There is big potential for container transportation to Europe. The ceremony today 
shows that it will bring big benefits to all of us. So we hope that it will not only be a pilot train, but a permanent connection between China and Europe.”
Railway officials from the six countries will discuss detailed measures to advance container transportation.
Experts expect that the new land route will take a big slice of the pie of Chinese-EU trade. But improvements in Chinese railway networks will still matter. China has plans to invest huge amounts of money to build up 18 railway container terminals in the coming five years.
63. The purpose of this passage is to _______.
A. tell us about a new train route from China to Germany
B. promote the relationships between China and Europe
C. introduce a newly-developed container train
D. improve Chinese railway conditions
64.The new train route from China to Germany will______.
A. be opened in the coming five years B. strengthen the Chinese-EU trade
C. make it convenient for us to visit Germany D. take the place of container ships
65.From this passage, we know that_____.
A. it was China alone that built the new train route
B. not all of the countries along the new train route will support the event
C. one of the problems in railway cooperation between countries is customs declaration and clearance
D. the train mainly carries grains from China to Europe
66.The underlined word “pilot” most probably means ______.
A. guide B. beginning C. cooperative D. cargo
67. From this passage, we can safely conclude that ______
A. there will be more and more railway cooperation between China and Europe
B. more and more Chinese will have better chances to visit Europe
C. Europeans enjoy Chinese electronic products
D. China-EU trade will depend on this newly-developed cargo train