In tough economic times, school counselors (顾问) don’t just wait for students to come to their offices in search of college brochures, health pamphlets or other help. These days, they are looking for at-risk kids to prevent personal or academic troubles before they arise. Nowadays, students and families need the guidance more than ever.
Counselors play a steadying role in schools as the economy weighs on families, college admission becomes even more competitive, immigration continues to reshape the population and state-testing pressures many students. They use computers to search through attendance data, grades and standardized test scores for kids who might need extra help.
Schlatter, director of guidance and counseling at Prince William County’s Woodbridge Senior High School, has checked attendance records against grades and test results to start peer groups (同年龄群体) for students who are failing classes but not skipping them. She said group counseling is another way to reach more students though it can be difficult. “Kids really do start helping and sharing with each other.”
At Fairfax High School, counselors found through surveys that students who transferred (转学) to the school after ninth grade enjoyed school significantly less than those who had been there all four years. The counseling staff set up a special program and group for new arrivals in response, said Marcy Miller, the school’s director of student services. Counseling staff members also have started small study groups for students to prepare for state Standards of Learning exams, which Miller said have helped raise test scores. She said that some of the newest counselors have had some of the freshest ideas.
63. We can learn from the passage that __________.
A. counselors wait for kids to come to ask for help now
B. counselors are trying to help people with economic problems
C. counselors have made college admission less competitive
D. counselors are trying to reach more kids in need of help
64.The author uses the example of Fairfax High School to show that .
A. counseling work is obviously effective
B. many students transfer there for help
C. new arrivals will no longer skip classes
D. counseling means little to new arrivals
65. What would the author most probably discuss in the following part?
A. What assistance they can offer.
B. The significance of their counseling job.
C. Other approaches to counseling at-risk kids.
D. The barriers of counseling the students with troubles.
66. Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?
A.Counselors Find New Ways
B.Small Study Groups Raise Test Scores
C.Transferred Students Need More Help
D.Tough Times See More At-risk Kids
Here are the comments on CRI (China Radio International) given by people from different countries on the Internet.
| People |
Comments |
| Yingtian Hu Guangzhou, China |
This is the first time that I participate in CRI. And I like it very much. I hope its website will become the most excellent one with the foreign languages. And I choose the important news which I think has a great influence on our society and our lives. In the end, I hope that more and more persons join in CRI and make it perfect! |
| SujanParajuli, Select city, Nepal |
I am both a regular listener of CRI and visitor of its wonderful Website. First of all, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to CRI for its great efforts to keep the listeners up-to-date during the year 2008. We, the listeners, are greatly grateful to CRI for its praise-worthy efforts to quench the thirst of its dear listeners. During the Year 2008, I found all of your programs quite interesting, informative and educational. Once again, thanks a lot for offering lots of information, news, entertainment and many items which have indeed broaden the horizons of our knowledge and understanding as well. |
| Ibrahim Rustamov, Tajikistan |
With CRI, I was impressed by China’s rapid development in all spheres. But I felt so sorry to get to know about the snowstorms in China and Wenchuan earthquake. CRI and CCTV play a great role in introducing China to the world! Kudos! My friends and I wish CRI all the best! |
| Mike Thatcher, London |
My family and I are all keen on Chinese Culture, especially the beautiful Chinese folk music. Various interesting programs by CRI just open a window for us foreigners, through which we can know more about China and have a better understanding of the Chinese culture. Best wishes to CRI! Best wishes to China! |
Which of the following benefits of CRI is NOT mentioned above?
| A．CRI helps to keep its listeners up-to-date. |
| B．CRI helps its listeners to better understand China. |
| C．CRI helps its listeners to practice and improve foreign languages. |
| D．CRI helps its listeners broaden their knowledge with its rich contents. |
The underlined phrase “quench the thirst” refers to _____.
| A．satisfy one’s need |
| B．supply drinks |
| C．take care of |
| D．keep in touch with |
What can be concluded from the four comments?
| A．CRI has a great influence on our society and lives. |
| B．Wonderful though CRI is, there are still many weaknesses. |
| C．CRI plays an important role in introducing the world to China. |
| D．CRI has made great efforts to make itself better and gained popularity. |
My father was always a good gardener. One of my earliest memories is standing without shoes in the freshly tilled(翻耕的) soil, my hands blackened from digging in the ground.
As a child, I loved following Dad around in the garden. I remember Dad pushing the tiller(耕作机) ahead in perfectly straight lines. Dad loved growing all sorts of things: yellow and green onions, watermelons almost as big as me, rows of yellow corn, and our favorite--- red tomatoes.
As I grew into a teenager, I didn’t get so excited about gardening with Dad. Instead of magical land of possibility, it had turned into some kind of prison. As Dad grew older, his love for gardening never disappeared. After all the kids were grown and had started families of their own, Dad turned to gardening like never before. Even when he was diagnosed with cancer, he still took care of his garden.
But then, the cancer, bit by bit, invaded his body. I had to do the things he used to do. What really convinced me that Dad was dying was the state of his garden that year. The rows and rows of multicolored vegetables were gone. Too tired to weed them, he simply let them be.
For the first few years after he died, I couldn’t even bear to look at anyone’s garden without having strong memories pour over me like cold water from a bucket. Three years ago, I decided to plant my own garden and started out with just a few tomatoes. That morning, after breaking up a fair amount of soil, something caught the corner of my eye and I had to smile. It was my eight-year-old son Nathan, happily playing in the freshly tilled soil.Why did the author like the garden when he was a child?
| A．He wanted to be a garden-crazy like his father. |
| B．He loved being in the garden with his father. |
| C．The garden was full of his favorite food. |
| D．The garden was just freshly tilled. |
When all the kids started their own families, the author’s father _____.
| A．stopped his gardening |
| B．turned to other hobbies |
| C．devoted more to gardening |
| D．focused on planting tomatoes |
What happened to the garden when the author’s father was seriously ill?
| A．There was a great harvest. |
| B．The garden was almost deserted. |
| C．No plant grew in the garden at all. |
| D．The author’s son took charge of the garden. |
Why did the author start his garden with tomatoes?
| A．He wanted to honor his father. |
| B．His son liked the fields of tomatoes. |
| C．He only knew how to grow tomatoes. |
| D．He thought tomatoes were easy to manage. |
In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social-progress and prosperity. Others say that competition is bad; that it sets one person against another; that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.
However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: "I may have lost, but it doesn't matter because I really didn't try." What is not usually admitted by themselves is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistake belief that-one's self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve (缓解) can we discover a new meaning in competition.What does this text mainly talk about?
| A．Competition helps to set up self-respect. |
| B．Competition is harmful to personal quality development. |
| C．People hold different opinions about competition. |
| D．Failures are necessary experience in competition. |
Some people favor competition because they think it __.
| A．builds up a sense of pride |
| B．pushes society forward |
| C．improves social abilities |
| D．develops people's relationship |
The underlined phrase "the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 refers to those who
| A．are strongly against competition |
| B．highly value competition |
| C．try their best to win |
| D．mostly rely on others for success |
Which viewpoint does the author agree to?
| A．Self-worth relies on winning. |
| B．Competition leads to unfriendly relationship. |
| C．Fear of failure should be removed in competition. |
| D．Winning should be a life-and-death matter. |
The rise of the Internet has been one of the most transformative developments in human history, comparable in impact to the invention of the printing press and the telegraph. Over two billion people worldwide now have access to vastly more information than ever before, and can communicate with each other instantly, often using Web-connected mobile devices they carry everywhere. But the Internet’s tremendous impact has only just begun.
“Mass adoption of the Internet is driving one of the most exciting social, cultural, and political transformations in history, and unlike earlier periods of change, this time the effects are fully global,” Schmidt and Cohen write in their new book The New Digital Age.
Perhaps the most profound changes will come when the five billion people worldwide who currently lack Internet access get online. The authors do an excellent job of examining the implications of the Internet revolution for individuals, governments, and institutions like the news media. But if the book has one major shortcoming, it’s that authors don’t spend enough time applying a critical eye to the role of Internet businesses in these sweeping changes.
In their book, the authors provide the most authoritative volume to date that describes — and more importantly predicts — how the Internet will shape our lives in the coming decades. They paint a picture of a world in which individuals, companies, institutions, and governments must deal with two realities, one physical, and one virtual.
At the core of the book is the idea that “technology is neutral, but people aren’t.” By using this concept as a starting point, the authors aim to move beyond the now familiar optimist vs. pessimist dichotomy (对立观点) that has characterized many recent debates about whether the rise of the Internet will ultimately be good or bad for society. In an interview with TIME earlier this week, Cohen said although he and his co-author are optimistic about many aspects of the Internet, they’re also realistic about the risks and dangers that lie ahead when the next five billion people come online, particularly with respect to personal privacy and state surveillance(监视).
【题文1】 In what way is the rise of the Internet similar to the invention of the printing press and the telegraph?
A. It transforms human history.
B. It revolutionizes people's thinking.
C. It is adopted by all human beings.
D. It makes daily communication easy.
【题文2】 In what respect is the book The New Digital Age considered inadequate?
A. It lacks an objective evaluation of the role of Internet businesses
B. It fails to look into the social implications of the Internet.
C. It fails to recognize the impact of the Internet technology.
D. It does not address the technical aspects of Internet communication.What will the future be like when everybody gets online?
| A．People don’t have to travel to see the world. |
| B．People will have equal access to information. |
| C．People will be living in two different realities. |
| D．People don’t have to communicate face to face. |
What does the passage say about the authors of The New Digital Age?
| A．They leave many questions unanswered concerning the Internet. |
| B．They don’t take sides in analyzing the effects of the Internet. |
| C．They have explored the unknown territories of the virtual world. |
| D．They are optimistic about the future of the Internet revolution. |
It’s hard to find Alice Munro in the media. Even after she won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Canadian writer just appeared for a quick interview and then dropped out of sight. On Dec 29, she still didn't seek the spotlight（聚光灯）when she was named one of the five Women of the Year by the Financial Times.
In Munro's eyes, ordinary lives always hide larger dramas. So she records what we casually think of as the everyday actions of normal people. She often focuses on life in her hometown, a small village in Ontario which she is most familiar with. She writes about the ordinary things in the village－fox forming, trees filled in the Ontario wilderness, poor country alcohol and long last illnesses. Above all, she talks about girls and women who have seemingly ordinary lives but struggle against daily misfortune.
She has a special talent for uncovering the extraordinary in the ordinary. These are ordinary people, ordinary stories, but she has the magic. Her precise language, depth of detail and the logic of her storytelling have made her stories inviting.
Runaway, one of Munro’s representative works, is a good example of her writing style. One of the stories centers on the life of an ordinary woman Carla, who lives in a small Canadian town with her husband Clark. The story slowly forms a picture of Carla, trapped in a bad marriage, her unhappiness building into desperation until she decided to flee. The story of Carla is a story of the power and betrayals of love. It is about lost children and lots of chances that we can all find in life, There is pain beneath the surface, like a needle in the heart.
Since she published her first collection of short stories in 1968, Munro has won many awards, with the Nobel Prize being her biggest honor. On Oct 10, 2013, the Nobel Prize committee named Munro the “master of the contemporary short story”.We learn from Paragraph 1 that Alice Munro_____
| A．didn't get on well with the media |
| B．remained modest though very successful |
| C．didn’t value the title of Women of the Year |
| D．was surprised at winning the Nobel Prize |
What makes Alice Munro’s stories fascinating according to the text?
| A．Her writing techniques |
| B．The complicated plots |
| C．The humorous language |
| D．Her rich imagination |
In her representative work Runaway, Carla_____
| A．leads a happy life with Clark |
| B．is a faithful wife to her husband |
| C．loses all hopes for a better life |
| D．tries to run away from her husband |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Alice Munro and her hometown |
| B．The awards Alice Munro won |
| C．Alice Munro and her writing style |
| D．Alice Munro’s literary life |