The reading skills of young male students may improve more when huts are tutored (辅导) by women, a Canadian study shows, contradicting some school policies to hire male teachers to improve boys' literacy.
Herb Katz, an education professor at the University of Alberta, took 175 boys in the third and fourth grades, identified as struggling readers, and paired them with a research assistant who worked on their reading skills for 30 minutes a week over 10 weeks.
On average, the boys paired with female tutors felt better about their reading skills after the 10 weeks than those who were guided by a male research assistant, the study found.
Katz said the study, published in the US journal Sex Roles, may cause educational policy - makers in countries such as Australia and Britain to rethink policies that call for more male teachers to be hired to provide role models for boys whose reading skills fall behind their peers (同龄人). "It tells us that the way governments respond with policy is perhaps a little too quick and a little too simple," Katz said." Boys and girls enter kindergarten with similar reading skills, Katz said, but by the end of the third grade, boys have lower reading scores than girls. The reasons behind that difference are not entirely clear. "I don't know that reading skills fade so much as teachers may not recognize what boys are doing," he said. "We don't really know a lot about boys, even in those early years."
The boys involved in the study attended 12 schools in the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Most were from downtown neighborhoods. About a third were native Canadians and 55 percent came from ethnic minority groups.
60. What's the purpose of this passage?
A. To encourage boys to do more reading. B. To persuade schools to hire female teachers.
C. To advise good ways for reading skills. D. To provide some information about a study.
61. The underlined word "contradicting" in the first paragraph probably means"…".
A. finding out B. going against C. standing by D. bringing about
62. Which of the following is TRUE about the boys taking part in the study?
A. They have difficulty in reading. B. They take no interest in reading.
C. They come from different Canadian cities. D. They have no female teachers at school.
63. It can be known from the passage that _________.
A. women must be better al teaching than men
B. girls do more reading than boys
C. male teachers are preferred to help reading- troubled boys in Australia
D. governments will change their policy on hiring teachers
Low-Cost Gifts for Mother's Day
Gift No. I
Offer to be your mother's health friend. Promise to be there for any and all doctor's visits
whether a disease or a regular medical check-up. Most mothers always say "no need," another set of eyes and ears is always a good idea at a doctor's visit. The best part ? This one is free.
Gift No. 2
Help your mother organize all of her medical records, which include the test results and medical information. Put them all in one place. Be sure to make a list of all of her medicines and what times she takes them. "Having all this information in one place could end up saving your mother's life," Dr. Marie Savard said.
Gift No. 3
Enough sleep is connected to general health conditions. "Buy your mother cotton sheets and comfortable pillows to encourage better sleep," Savard said. "We know that good sleep is very important to our health."
Gift No. 4
Some gift companies such as Presents for Purpose allow you to pay it forward this Mother's Day by picking gifts in which 10 percent of the price you pay goes to a charity (慈善机构) Gift givers can choose from a wide variety of useful but inexpensive things -many of which are "green" - and then choose a meaningful charity from a list. When your mother gets the gift, she will be told that she has helped the chosen charity.What are you advised to do for your mother at doctor's visits?
A.Take notes. | B.Be with her. |
C.Buy medicine. | D.Give her gifts. |
Where can you find a gift idea to improve your mother’s sleep?
A.In Gift No. 1. | B.In Gift No. 2. |
C.In Gift No. 3. | D.In Gift No. 4. |
Buying gifts from Presents for Purpose allows mothers to_____.
A.enjoy good sleep | B.be well-organized |
C.give others help | D.bet extra support |
Going green seems to be fad(时尚)for a lot of people these days. Whether that is good or bad, we can’t really say, but for the tow of us, going green is not a fad but a lifestyle.
On April22, 2011, we decided to go green every single day for an entire year. This meant doing 365 different green things, and it also meant challenging ourselves to go green beyond easy things. Rather than recycle and reduce our energy, we had to think of 365 different green things to do and this was no easy task.
With the idea of going green every single day for a year, Our Green Year started. My life and I decided to educate people about how they could go green in their lives and hoped we could show people all the green things that could be done to help the environment. We wanted to push the message that every little bit helps.
Over the course of Our Green Year, we completely changed our lifestyle. We now shop at organic(有机的)stores. We consume less meat, choosing green food. We have greatly reduced our buying we don’t need. We have given away half of what we owned through websites. Our home is kept clean by vinegar and lemon juice, with no chemical cleaners. We make our own butter, enjoying the smell of home-made fresh bread. In our home office anyone caught doing something ungreen might be punished.
Our minds have been changed by Our Green Year. We are grateful for the chance to have been able to go green and educate others. We believe that we do have the power to change things and help our planet.What might be the best title for the passage?
A.Going Green. |
B.Protecting the Planet. |
C.Keeping Open-Minded |
D.Celebrating Our Green Year. |
It was difficult for the couple to live a green life for the whole year because_________.
A.they needed to perform unusual green tasks |
B.they didn’t know how to educate other people |
C.they were unwilling to reduce their energy |
D.they were expected to follow the green fad |
What did the couple do over the course of Our Green Year?
A.They tried to get out of their ungreen habits. |
B.They ignore others’ ungreen behavior. |
C.They chose better chemical cleaners. |
D.They sold their home-made food. |
What can we infer form the last paragraph?
A.The government will give support to the green people. |
B.The couple may continue their project in the future. |
C.Some people disagree with the couple’s green ideas. |
D.Our Green Year is becoming a national campaign. |
When I was 12, all I wanted was a signet (图章) ring. They were the "in" thing and it seemed every girl except me had one. On my 13th birthday, my Mum gave me a signet ring with my initials(姓名首字母) carved into it. I was in heaven.
What made it even more special was that it was about the only thing that wasn't being "replaced". We'd been burnt out in fires that swept through our area earlier that year and had lost everything—so most of the " new" stuff (东西) we got was really just to replace what we'd lost. But not my ring. My ring was new.
Then, only one month later, I lost it. I took it off before bed and it was missing in the morning. I was sad and searched everywhere for it. But it seemed to have disappeared. Eventually, I gave up and stopped looking for it. And two years later, we sold the house and moved away.
Years passed, and a couple of moves later, I was visiting my parents' when Mum told me that she had something for me. It wasn't my birthday, nor was it Easter or Christmas or any other gift-giving occasion. Mum noticed my questioning look. " You'll recognize this one," she said, smiling.
Then she handed me a small ring box. I took it from her and opened it to find my beautiful signet ring inside. The family who had bought our house 13 years earlier had recently decided to do some redecorations, which included replacing the carpets. When they pulled the carpet up in my old bedroom, they found the ring. As it had my initials carved into it, they realized who owned the ring. They'd had it professionally cleaned up by a jeweler before sending it to my mother. And it still fits me.The underlined word "in" in the first paragraph probably means "_____".
A.renewable | B.available | C.practical | D.fashionable |
When she got the ring back, the writer was about _____.
A.13 years old | B.15 years old |
C.26 years old | D.28 years old |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.The writer's family moved several times. |
B.The writer never stopped looking for her ring. |
C.The writer's ring was cleaned up by the new house owner. |
D.The writer lost her ring in the morning when she took it off. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
A.My New Ring | B.Lost and Found |
C.Lost and Replaced | D.An Expensive Ring |
Many people turn to doctors or self-help books, but they forget a great thing that could help them fight illness: their friends.
Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship in health. A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the danger for obesity among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties(关系) could improve brain health as we age.
“In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn’t well realized,” said Rebecca, a professor at the University of North Carolina. “Friendship has a bigger effect on our psychological (心理的) health than family relationships.”
While many friendship studies are about the close relationships of women, some research shows that it can do good to men too. In a six-year study of 736 middle-aged men, having friendships reduces the risk of heart attack. Only smoking was as important a danger factor (因素) as having little social support.
The exact reason why friendship has such a big effect isn’t clear. While friends can send a sick person to the hospital or pick up medicine, the advantages go well beyond physical help. Friendship clearly has a big psychological effect. “People with stronger friendships feel like there is someone they can turn to,” said Karen, a doctor. “The message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”The three studies in paragraph 2 show that .
A.old people need friends the most |
B.friends can help us lose weight |
C.social ties have something to do with health |
D.having more friends makes us healthier |
What do Rebecca’s words in paragraph3 mean?
A.Friendship is more important to women than to men. |
B.What people need most is a friend’s care. |
C.Friendship is more important than family relationship |
D.The value of friendship hasn’t been fully understood. |
The author mentioned smoking in the text to discuss .
A.the cause of heart attack |
B.the danger of having no friends |
C.smoking is bad for men |
D.friends’ influence on habits |
Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “obesity”?
A.fatness | B.unhappiness |
C.excitement | D.health |
On my first day of high school, I asked an eleventh-grader where my class was. And he told me it was “on the fourth floor, next to the pool.” I found out five minutes later that we didn’t even have a fourth floor and there was no pool either! Besides that, I didn’t have any trouble with the older kid.
I think the biggest difference between middle and high school is the homework load(工作量) and size of the school. I went from maybe fifteen minutes of homework a night to several hours, so I had to learn how to make full use of time! Our class size is around 550, but joining in clubs, sports, music and other activities at school makes it easier to get to know people in every grade.
The best advice I can give about the years you spend in high school is to learn things for yourself, not just to get a good grade. There have been so many tests that I’ve prepared for the night before, gotten an A, but not remember anything later. I’ve changed that this year, and I enjoy school so much more. Don’t take easy classes just to have a simple year. If you have a choice between chemistry and sports, the first will prove to be a lot more useful!
While drinking and smoking might be present in some middle schools, they are also around in high school. I have a lot of friends who promised they would never drink or smoke, but are now partying every weekend. If you have “fun” and spend your nights wasted instead of studying, you will regret it when you are applying for (申请) college. The “friends” who say you are a loser for not partying are really not your friends at all. It’s hard to see your closest friends grow apart and go in different directions, but don’t follow their footsteps. Follow your own path in life and make your own decisions.What happened to the writer on his first day of high school?
A.He had a fight with an eleventh-grader. |
B.He was fooled by a schoolboy. |
C.He was five minutes late for class. |
D.He fell into a pool on the fourth floor. |
According to paragraph 2, the writer thinks that in high school _____.
A.It needs hard work to finish homework |
B.There are very few activities. |
C.It’s hard to meet new people there. |
D.There is always much free time |
The writer advises high school students to_____.
A.give up sports |
B.choose useful classes |
C.try their best to get good grades |
D.get ready for test the night before |
The passage is probably written for ______.
A.high school students | B.high school teachers |
C.college students | D.sports players |
The last paragraph mainly tells us ______.
A.about the trouble caused by drinking and smoking |
B.about the importance of making friends |
C.not to go to any party in high school |
D.not to lose ourselves in high school |