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
We have proof that you become what you eat. When you know the effects of different types of food, you can use your knowledge well and eat what you want to become.
Food has an impact on our physical and mental health. Have you ever heard any of the following advice?
Lettuce (莴苣) or milk can make you sleepy.
To stop feeling sleepy you should eat peanuts or dried fish.
Everyone has their own advice to give, which they have read about or have been told by older relatives. Some of these pieces of advice seem to contradict each other.
Eating chocolate makes you fat and gives you spots.
Chocolate contains the essential minerals: iron and magnesium (镁).
What we need to figure out is what type of chocolate to eat to get the benefits and how much of it to eat. We can do this by reading the list of ingredients (原料) on the chocolate bar package. Exactly how much real chocolate is in there? And how much of that do we need to eat to get the benefits of the minerals it contains?
Future restaurants might be named after the physical or mental state they hope to create. Their menus will list the benefits of each dish and drink. Some restaurants have already started this concept, and list the nutritional (营养的) content of their dishes on the menus.
Let’s take the restaurant “Winners” as an example. Their menu would list dishes specifically designed to help you win sports competitions. Or you could choose the Go-faster salad, which is a large bowl of mixed raw vegetables in a light salad dressing, giving you energy without making you gain weight. And what kind of dishes do you think would be on the menu at the “Clever Café”?
So what’s going to happen to hamburgers and biscuits? Will the concept of eating food, because it’s tasty, go out of fashion? Of course not! Junk food is also changing. If ice-cream is not good for children, can’t we give them fat-free, sugar-free tofu ice-cream? Unhealthy food is going out of fashion, so brands are changing. We are told not to drink cola because of the sugar and caffeine content so cola companies are making sugar-free and caffeine-free drinks. We are told dried fruit is a healthier snack than biscuits so some biscuit companies are making biscuits with added vitamins.By saying “you become what you eat”, the writer means that ________.
| A．you will become your own food |
| B．you will know what food is good by its appearance |
| C．food has an effect on your health |
| D．you will know the effects of different types of food |
What does the underlined word “contradict” mean in the text?
| A．Oppose to | B．Help with |
| C．Have influence on | D．Benefit from |
How can we eat chocolate properly, according to the passage?
| A．To eat chocolate containing the essential minerals. |
| B．To read the list of ingredients on the package. |
| C．To get advice from others before eating real chocolate. |
| D．To learn how much chocolate we can consume before eating. |
Which is true about the future restaurants?
| A．The food in “Winners” can ensure you to win sports competitions. |
| B．They might list the nutritional content of their dishes on the menus. |
| C．Hamburgers will disappear in these restaurants. |
| D．The Go-faster salad helps you go faster. |
The concept of eating tasty food will not go out of fashion because ________.
| A．the junk food companies are changing their brand names |
| B．biscuit companies are making dried fruit |
| C．junk food will become healthier than before |
| D．Cola companies are still making cola |
When I was learning calligraphy my teacher told me a story.
A calligrapher taught handwriting. One of his students who often practised handwriting with old sheets of newspapers complained that he made very little progress though he had learned it with the calligrapher for a long time. His teacher said to him, “Try to use the best paper. Maybe you’ll write better. ”
The student did as he was told. It really worked. He made headway not long afterwards and felt curious. He asked his teacher about the reason. The calligrapher answered, “When you used old newspapers to practice handwriting，you would think you were writing a draft（草稿）. It didn’t matter if you wrote badly as old newspapers were plenty in supply. In that case you wouldn’t pay much attention to it. Now you use the best paper you’ll treasure it. Each time you write you feel strongly about the rarity (稀少) of chances and you’ll devote to it with all your heart and soul; you’ll do the handwriting much more attentively than otherwise practising it. Of course you’ve made rapid progress.”
Indeed，we spend our ordinary days just as they are worthless “old newspapers”. We don’t care if we scrawl and waste them, thinking that they will come endlessly --- those “old newspapers” are inexhaustible. In such a mood we may each day pass by opportunities but fail to catch any of them.
Life is not a military exercise but an actual war in which real weapons are used. In everyday life there’s no chance for us to draw a draft. That’s because what we call “draft” actually is the answer sheet we write that cannot be changed. Every day of our life is something new. Let us take every day as a sheet of best paper.The calligrapher in the story told the student to write on the best paper because he thought _______.
| A．the student would practice more carefully on the best paper |
| B．it was comfortable to write on the bet paper |
| C．the student had enough money to buy the best paper. |
| D．the student could write more on the best paper. |
The student didn’t make much progress at first because _________.
| A．he regarded his writing on old newspaper just as a draft |
| B．he was too poor to buy better paper to write |
| C．he didn’t follow his teacher’s advice |
| D．he was not used to the calligrapher’s teaching manner |
We learn from the passage that _________.
| A．the student finally gave up |
| B．the student made rapid progress by persisting more carefully |
| C．the calligrapher was strict with his students |
| D．old newspaper is not useful |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．What teachers say is always true. |
| B．Success calls for attentiveness. |
| C．Handwriting is easy to practice. |
| D．New things are always better than old ones. |
The writer wants to tell us that _________.
| A．there are some good ways to practice handwriting |
| B．life is like old newspaper |
| C．we should learn from the student in the story |
| D．life will not give us a chance to draw a draft |
Childhood is a time （1）_____ there are few responsibilities to make life difficult. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after and loved, whatever he may do. (2)_____ is impossible that he will ever again in his life (3)________(give) so much without having to do anything in return. But a child hashis pains; he is not so free to do (4) _____he wishes to; he is continually being told not to do something, or being punished (5)_____ what he has done wrong.
When the child has become a young man and this young man starts to earn his own living, he can no longer expect others to pay for his food, his clothes, and his room, but has to work on his own if he wants to live (6)________ (comfort). If he spends most of his time (7) ________(play) about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go (8)________ (hunger). If, however, he works hard, (9)________(keep) out of trouble and has good health, he can have the great happiness of building up for himself his own position in (10)________ (social).
Published in 1896 and one of the most memorable horror stories ever written, Dracula, by Irish writer Bram Stoker,is the story of a vampire（吸血鬼）,someone who lives on human blood. Stoker wrote the book after reading stories about Central European vampires and set his novel in Transylvania. Even today,there are readers of the book who believe that Transylvania is a mythical（神话的）country,a figment（虚构）of Stoker’s imagination. Nothing could be further from the truth. Transylvania is part of modern-day Central European country Romania,and the country does indeed have a history of mythological vampires.
However,Romanians are always puzzled by the description of the novel’s central character, Count Dracula,a tall,elegant aristocrat（贵族）with impeccable（完美的）manners who also happens to speak very good English. This is a world away from the images of vampires that they have grown up with. Romanian vampires are half-human creatures who live solitary lives in the forests,not aristocrats living in castles with well-stocked libraries.
So where did Stoke get the image for his Dracula? The answer becomes clearer when one learns of his relationship with a man called Henry Irving,the greatest British stage actor of his time.
Stoker was working as a civil servant in his home city of Dublin when he first met Irving. Bored with his tedious life and work, Stoker took every opportunity to visit the theatre and for a while was the drama critic for the Dublin Evening Mail. One of the reviews he wrote was of a performance of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet,with Irving in the lead role.
Irving was so pleased with Stoker’s review of his performance that he asked to meet him. Stoker couldn’t believe his luck when one night,he was invited to a dinner party where Irving was the guest of honour. Irving entertained the assembled dinner guests with some renditions（表演）of famous poems and speeches from Shakespeare.
Stoker was already writing the first chapters of Dracula and began to base the central character on Irving,in the vain hope that if it ever became a stage play, Irving would play the central character. Sadly,Irving never did,but the two men became close friends,and in 1878 Stoker left the civil service and became Irving’s manager in London.Bram Stoker set his novel in Transylvania because .
| A．it is in modern-day Romania |
| B．Transylvania is a mythical country |
| C．he wanted to tell a true story |
| D．he had read stories about vampires from the area |
The central character of the novel .
| A．is very similar to the vampires that Romanians know about |
| B．Is completely different from the vampires Romanians know about |
| C．Has impeccable manners,like a real Romanian vampire |
| D．Is puzzled by the comparison with Romanian vampires |
What was Stoker’s hope?
| A．That the book would become a stage-play. |
| B．That Irving would play the central character in the stage play. |
| C．That he could live in London. |
| D．That Irving would work for him. |
Uganda is a country in East Africa and,as in many such countries,a high percentage of the population,about 80 percent,are village-dwellers living in huts,which are often no bigger than a garage. The walls of the huts are made of mud,which is held together by reeds and sticks,and the roofs of the older ones are thatched（覆盖）with grass,although an increasing number of newer village houses have roofs made from corrugated（波纹形的）iron.
Several generations of the same family live together in the huts,which are usually divided into two sections by a curtain. The inner section,the one furthest from the open door of the hut,is where everyone sleeps and food is prepared and served in the outer part. If the family owns chickens or goats,they are kept in a small room attached to the main house.
Food is usually prepared on open fires although some people prefer to cook inside. However,this is quite dangerous and also means that the walls of the hut are stained by smoke and the atmosphere is acrid. The family sit in a circle on mats while they eat.
Newer village houses are almost always made of corrugated iron and are bigger,with one or two separate bedrooms and the kitchen in a smaller building beside the main house. But,old or new,the houses are not powered by electricity,and all homes are lit by paraffin（石蜡）candles called “tadobba”.
Nor is there any running water in the houses. Some villages have their own well,but in many cases,collecting water involves a long and arduous walk to a river or spring,carrying plastic containers or pots made of clay.
Children are the ones who have to fetch water,and they have to do this early in the morning before they go to school,or in the evening when they come home. They often have to climb high hills or walk through valleys with narrow paths through dense vegetation. It is no surprise that they grow up muscular and fit after such daily exercise,walking for several kilometres carrying such heavy weights.Most Ugandans live .
| A．with their whole family in large mud houses in the countryside |
| B．in towns in small houses made of mud and iron |
| C．in villages in small houses made of wet earth,grass and wood |
| D．With their parents and children as well as their chickens and goats |
Where is food usually prepared?
| A．In the kitchen. |
| B．On the floor in the middle of the house. |
| C．On fires in front of the hut. |
| D．In a small room attached to the main house. |
How are the old and new houses the same?
| A．Both of them have roofs made of corrugated iron. |
| B．Neither of them have a garage or kitchen. |
| C．Neither of them have electricity,lights or running water. |
| D．Both of them have water inside but no electric light. |
The majority of Ugandan children have to .
| A．go to a well or a river and often carry it for a long distance |
| B．do a lot of work cooking and carrying water |
| C．collect water on the way home from school |
| D．get water out of their own well |