The United States will introduce a new and comprehensive(综合的) exam for students who seek to study in American and other English-speaking countries, Xinhua News Agency reported from New York.
The exam, which stands for a great change from the current English level test, was disclosed by Theresa Chang Wei Jen, associate director of the International Service of the US College Board, America’s leading educational organization.
The Advanced Placement International English Language (APIEL) will be offered for the first time throughout the world, said Jen.
However, the APIEL is a strange title to most Chinese students, and it is unlikely to soon gain the similarity of other already existing exams, such as the TOEFL(Test of English as a Foreign Language), the GRE(Graduate Record Examination), or the IELTS(International English Language Testing System).
“I have never heard of such a test and I would prefer the IELTS if I need another exam,” said Xu Jingyan, a graduating student from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, who wants to study in England and has already taken the TOEFL.
Most of Xu’s classmates have never heard of the APIEL. “The APIEL is designed for international students who wish to get university studies in English-speaking countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, and Australia.” said Jen.
The APIEL has been adopted, said Jen, because the TOEFL can no longer accurately reflect the abilities of students of using the English language comprehensively in an academic environment. Xinhua reported that a fairly large number of foreign students who earned high scores in TOEFL exam turned out to be very ordinary educational performers after admission.
Compared with the TOEFL, the APIEL measures a student’s ability to read, write, speak and understand English through testing his or her skills in listening comprehension, speaking with accuracy(精确) and resourcefulness, and writing with clarity and fluency(流畅), Jen said.
60. The United States will introduce a new exam because _______.
A. it will bring the US government quite a lot of money
B. the Chinese people pay special attention to English studies
C. the already existing exam systems seem to be far from perfect
D. more and more students want to get further education in the USA
61. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the selection？
A. The TOEFL is more popular with the Chinese than the IELTS.
B. It will take quite a period of time for people to accept the APIEL.
C. Chinese students will prefer the IELTS rather than the APIEL even in the future.
D. A student will have to take the APIEL if he or she wants to study in English-speaking
countries.
62. The best title for this news report is_____.
A. New Exam Designed for Students
B. The Key to Improving Your English
C. TOEFL, IELTS and GRE to be Out of Date
D. The Four Skills in Learning English
.
Robert Owen was born in Wales in 1771. At the age of ten he went to work. His employer had a large private library so Owen was able to educate himself. He read a lot in his spare time and at nineteen he was given the job of superintendent(监工) at a Manchester cotton mill. He was so successful there that he persuaded his employer to buy the New Lanark mill in Scotland.
When he arrived at New Lanark it was a dirty little town with a population of 2,000 people. Nobody paid any attention to the worker’s houses or their children’s education. The conditions in the factories were very bad. There was a lot of crime and the men spent most of their wages on alcoholic drinks.
Owen improved the houses. He encouraged people to be clean and save money. He opened a shop and sold the workers cheap, well-made goods to help them. He limited the sale of alcoholic drinks. Above all, he fixed his mind on the children’s education. In 1816 he opened the first free primary school in Britain.
People came from all over the country to visit Owen’s factory. They saw that the workers were healthier and more efficient than in other towns. Their children were better fed and better educated. Owen tried the same experiment in the United States. He bought some land there in 1825, but the community was too far away. He could not keep it under control and lost most of his money.
Owen never stopped fighting for his ideas. Above all he believed that people are not born good or bad. He was a practical man and his ideas were practical. “If you give people good working conditions,” he thought, “they will work well and, the most important thing of all, if you give them the chance to learn, they will be better people.”
45．For Owen, his greatest achievement in New Lanark was __________.
A．improving worker’s houses
B．helping people to save money
C．preventing men from getting drunk
D．providing the children with a good education
46．From the passage we may infer that Owen was born __________
A．into a rich family B．into a noble family
C．into a poor family D．into a middle class family
47．Owen’s Experiment in the United States failed because .
A．he lost all his money
B．he did not buy enough land
C．people who visited it were not impressed
D．it was too far away for him to organize it properly
48．We may infer form the passage that no children in Britain could enjoy free education until .
A．1771 B．1816 C．1825 D．1860
.
第二部分：阅读理解（共25题，第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分，满分45分）
第一节：阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从41—60各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
Be careful what you say around your dog. It might understand more than you think.
A border collie named Rico recognizes the names of about 200 objects, say researchers in Germany. The dog also appears to be able to learn new words as easily as a 3-year-old child. Its word-learning skills are as good as those of a parrot or chimpanzee（黑猩猩）.
In one experiment, the researchers took all 200 items that Rico is supposed to know and divided them into 20 groups of 10 objects. Then the owner told the dog to go and fetch one of the items and bring it back. In four tests, Rico got 37 out of 40 commands right. As the dog couldn’t see anyone to get clues, the scientists believe Rico must understand the meanings of certain words.
In another experiment, the scientists took one toy that Rico had never seen before and put it in a room with seven toys whose names the dog already knew. The owner then told Rico to fetch the object , using a word the dog had never heard before.
The correct object was chosen in seven out of 10 tests, suggesting that the dog had worked out the answer by process of elimination（排除法）. A month later, Rico remembered half of the new names, which is even more impressive.
Rico is thought to be smarter than the average dog. For one thing, Rico is a border collie, a breed（品种）known for its mental abilities. In addition, the 9-year-old dog has been trained to fetch toys by their names since the age of nine months.
It’s hard to know if all dogs understand at least some of the words we say. Even if they do, they can’t talk back. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to sweet-talk your dog every now and then. You might just get a big, wet kiss in return!
41．From paragraph 2 we know that .
A．animals are as clever as human beings
B．dogs are smarter than parrots and chimpanzees
C．chimpanzees have very good word-learning skills
D．dogs have similar learning abilities as 3-year-old children
42．Both experiments show that .
A．Rico is smart enough to get all commands right
B．Rico can recognize different things including toys
C．Rico has developed the ability of learning mathematics
D．Rico won’t forget the names of objects once recognizing them
43．Which of the following statements is true?
A．The purpose of the experiments is to show the border collie’s mental abilities.
B．Rico has a better memory partly because of its proper early training.
C．The border collie is world-famous for recognizing objects.
D．Rico is born to understand its owner’s commands.
44．What does the writer want to tell us?
A．To train your dog.
B．To command your dog to do something.
C．To be friendly to your dog.
D．To be careful with your dog.
.
Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will
one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.
“ I think we are knocking at the door of immortality (永生),” said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. “ I think by 2075 we will see it and that’s a conservative estimate.”
At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology(纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past. “ There is a great push so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,” he said. “ Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.”
However, many scientists who specialize in aging are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.
Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. “ It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?” said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Center. “ At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all.”
67. By saying “ we are knocking at the door immortality”, Michael Zey means_____.
A. they believe that there is no limit of living
B. they are sure to find the truth about long living
C. they have got some ideas about living forever
D. they are able to make people live past the present life span
68. Donald Louria’s attitude toward long living is that_____.
A. people can live from 120 to 180
B. it is still doubtful how long humans can live
C. the human body is designed to last about 120 years
D. it is possible for humans to live longer in the future
69. The underlined “ it” (Para. 4) refers to_____.
A. a great push
B. the idea of living beyond the present life span
C. the idea of living from 200 to 300
D. the conservative estimate
70. What would be the best title for this text?
A. Living longer or not
B. Science, technology and long living
C. No limit for human life
D. Healthy lifestyle and long living
.
Facing the threat of the Internet, the traditional newspaper is thinking about what it can do to meet the challenge. To make teens get into the habit of reading, the French government is considering what kind of efforts it should pursue. It seems that the two questions have nothing to do with each other, but a recent announcement made by French President Nicolas Sarkozy has connected these two issues together. The announcement gives an answer to both of them.
. President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a rescue plan for France' s ailing print media, including measures to save printing and distribution costs. The plan also gives French teenagers a surprise as their 18-year-old birthday gift: France will offer all 18-year-olds a free daily copy of the newspaper of their choice.
"The habit of reading the press should start at a very young age," Sarkozy said, presenting the conclusion after talking to a group of journalists and officials in Paris. The President said the newspapers themselves would provide free copies for 18-year-olds, while the state would cover the cost of delivering them to many thousands of homes.
The plan is an attempt to introduce teenagers, who frequently only get their news online, to the delights of the printed world. A similar idea has been tested by L'Ouest-France (法兰西部报) over the past few years. It offered some 18 to 24-year-olds a free paper once a week for a year. L' Ouest-France reported that 15% of young people wanted to continue with a paid subscription after the year was over.
People in France welcomed the plan which should get more kids interested in current affairs and make reading be a pastime, as well as rescue the newspaper industry.
63. What does the underlined word " ailing" (in Paragraph 2) probably mean?
A. newly establishedB. in difficult situations
C. most popular D. warm-hearted
64. It can be inferred from the passage that .
A. the government will pay for the delivery of newspapers to 18 -year-olds
B. the government will buy newspapers for 18-year-olds for one day
C. some of the government officials are against the plan
D. President Nicolas Sarkozy would like to help the government
65. What is people' s reaction to the plan in France?
A, They think it a waste of money.
B. They will buy newspapers themselves for 18-year-olds.
C. They think highly of it and support it:.
D. They are worried the young will leave the Internet.
66. Which of the following can serve as the best for the passage?
A. A surprising plan from the President
B. Help rescue the newspaper industry
C. Form the reading habit for the young
D. Free newspapers fly to teens
.
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.
I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.
So here’s what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion, the bigger pay-check….
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.
It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what , today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.
I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.
By telling them this: Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.
59. It can be inferred from the passage that_____.
A. the author is a success in personal life
B. the author didn’t try her best to work well
C. the author spent all her time caring for her children
D. the author likes traveling very much
60. How did the author form her view of life?
A. Through social experience. B. By learning from her friends.
C. Through an unfortunate experience D. From her children and husband.
61. By the underlined sentence “ It is so easy to exist instead of to live” in the fifth paragraph, the author really means that people tend to_____.
A. make a living rather than live a real life
B. work rather than enjoy life
C. waste a lot in life
D. forget the most important lessons in life
62. What’s the author’s attitude towards work?
A. Do it well to serve others.
B. Earn enough money to make life better.
C. Try your best to get higher position and pay.
D. Don’t let it affect your real life.