Poorer children would be offered the chance to attend lessons on Saturday to help catch up with their middle class peers (同龄人), the shadow schools secretary, Michael Gove, said today. The Conservatives would give English state schools the freedom to choose to have longer teaching hours and extra classes at the weekend, he told the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ annual conference.
Gove said the move would help to close the achievement gap with richer children whose parents could afford extras such as tutoring and music lessons.
He told delegates (代表) in Manchester: “For children who come from homes where parents don’t have the resources to provide additional stretch and cultural experiences, there are benefits in having those children in the learning environment, in school, for longer.”
“Parents would love to have schools starting earlier in some circumstances, and certainly going on later in the afternoon, given the reality of their working lives,” he said. He held up the example of Kipp (Knowledge is Power Program) schools in the US, which are often based in the poorest communities and open from 7:30 am to 5pm on weekdays, plus Saturdays.
But it would be up to schools to decide to offer longer hours, Gove added.
Parents said Saturday classes could become a “badge of dishonor” if pupils were forced to go, while teachers raised concerns about their workload.
Margaret Morrissey, of Parents Outloud, said: “I think the suggestion the government made about one-to-one teaching for these kids would be a more preferable way of improving these children’s performance. I’m just not sure whether taking away a child at weekends is actually going to make them cleverer in the week.”
The ATL’s general secretary, Mary Bousted, said: “If we want Saturday schools, then we need more teachers doing the extra hours, not the same teachers working longer.”
51. The program is intended for children____________.
A. who are from middle-class families
B. whose parents can’t afford extra help
C. who perform poorly academically
D. whose weekends are mostly unoccupied
52. “Additional stretch” in Paragraph 4 probably refers to_________.
A. music lessons
B. physical relaxation
C. entertainment activities
D. out-of-school improvement
53. Why did Gove mention Kipp schools in the US?
A. To make a comparison.
B. To introduce a new program.
C. To seek supportive evidence.
D. To prove his program is better.
54. What is Margaret Morrissey’s opinion about the new program?
A. Favorable. B. Doubtful. C. Optimistic. D. Acceptable.
55. Which of the following is true?
A. Teachers may not like the program. B. Schools are trying to make profits.
C. The program is already under way. D. The program is popular with children.
XI’AN---Seven people died in a fire early on Wednesday morning in Xi’an, capital of Shanxi Province. A restaurant with a karaoke hall in the southern suburbs caught fire around 2 a. m. and seven waitresses who were sleeping on the second floor of the restaurant were killed. The restaurant was completely destroyed and the waitresses, the local police said, were killed by toxic smoke from burning decorations.
MANILA---Four people were killed yesterday in the central Philippine island of Tacloban when a bomb they had dug up exploded, local police were quoted as saying. The four people were digging to set up a septic（poisonous）tank in their house when they dug up the bomb. It went off, killing all four people, local police were quoted by radio station DZBB as saying. The police did not say where the bomb came from. Unexploded bombs from World War II are still discovered around the Philippines once in a while.
TEL AVIV---An Israeli couple kissed for 30 hours and 45 minutes which, a spokeswoman said yesterday, was a world record. The couple, both in their twenties, started kissing on Monday at 8:30 p.m. along with 250 other couples in a contest. “For nearly 31 hours they didn’t eat, drink, talk or even go to the bathroom. And the whole time, they were standing up”, said Arielle Goldman, who handled public relations for the event. She said a representative of the Guinness Book of World Records was on hang to witness the event, recorded on video. The previous record was 29 hour and 37 minutes, Goldman said. The winning couple received two round-the-world plane tickets and $2,500. (277 words)Which of the following statements is right?
| A．The news report didn’t mention the loss caused by the fire. |
| B．After reading the report we know how the fire broke out. |
| C．The reporter tended to think the bomb had something to do with World War II |
| D．The police refused to admit the bomb had anything to do with World War II. |
The underlined word “toxic” means _____.
| A．poisonous | B．dangerous | C．hot | D．thick |
The Israeli couple kissed for nearly 31 hours_____.
| A．to test their endurance | B．to set a new world record |
| C．to show their special love | D．to prove they are very healthy |
Why did so many couples take part in the contest?
| A．Because it was a good chance to enjoy themselves. |
| B．Because they were poor and wanted to gain the 2,500 dollars. |
| C．Because they wanted to attract people’s attention. |
| D．Because they aimed at the honor and prize. |
I travel a lot, and I find out different “styles” of directions every time I ask “How can I get to the post office?”
Foreign tourists are often confused in Japan because most streets there don’t have names. In Japan, people use landmarks(地标) in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, “Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop.”
In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat; in many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, “Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile.”
People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map. They measure distance in time, not miles. “How far away is the post office?” you ask. “Oh,” they answer, “it’s about five minutes from here.” You say, “Yes, but how many miles away is it?” They don’t know.
It’s true that a person doesn’t know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, “Sorry, I have no idea.” But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers “I don’t know.” People in Yucatan believe that “I don’t know” is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can easily get lost in Yucatan! (268 words)When a tourist asks the Japanese the way to a certain place, they usually ______.
| A．describe the place carefully | B．show him a map of the place |
| C．tell him the names of the streets | D．refer to recognizable buildings and places |
What is the place where people measure distance in time?
| A．New York. | B．Los Angeles. | C．Kansas. | D．Iowa. |
People in Yucatan may give a tourist a wrong answer ______.
| A．in order to save time | B．to show the right way |
| C．so as to be polite | D．for fun |
What can we infer from the text?
| A．It’s important for travelers to understand cultural differences. |
| B．It’s useful for travelers to know how to ask the way properly. |
| C．People have similar understandings of politeness. |
| D．New Yorkers are generally friendly to visitors. |
To wash yourself, you take a bath(洗澡) or a shower. Animals need to keep clean, too. How do animals clean themselves?
Cats lick（舔）themselves to keep their fur clean. Have you ever watched a pet cat clean itself?
Elephants take baths much as you do. But instead of jumping into the tub（浴缸）, they walk into a river or lake.
Pigs also like to roll around in water. This keeps them clean and cool. If there is no clean water, they will roll in mud（泥）on a hot day. They do this to cool off. Pigs do not really like mud. They are happier in a nice, clean pond(水池).
Bats have a funny way to keep clean. They lick their thumbs to clean their ears!
Guess how polar bears clean themselves. They use snow, of course!
Some animals take baths in dust instead of water! The wombat(毛鼻袋熊) is an Australian animal with lots of fur. To get clean, it lies down. Then it covers itself with sand!
Birds clean themselves in many ways. Sometimes they wash in water. That’s why some people put birdbaths in their yard. At other times birds take dust baths, just like wombats. Birds also use their beaks（喙）to keep their feathers clean. They use their beaks the way you use a comb.
Sometimes a bird has itchy bugs（发痒的虫子）in its feathers. Birds may use ants to help them clean off the bugs. A bird will lie down on an ant nest. Then the ants will crawl on the bird. The ants make a kind of bug spray（喷雾）on the feathers;. Then the itchy bugs die!
Birds take baths in something else besides dust and ants! Some birds take “smoke baths” They sit on chimneys. They wave their wings in the smoke!This passage mainly tells us .
| A．why some people put birdbaths in their yard | B．why birds allow ants to crawl on their body |
| C．how animals cool off on hot days | D．how some animals keep clean |
What is a pig’s favorite way to get clean?
| A．Licking itself. | B．Lying down on ants. |
| C．Rolling in nice, thick mud. | D．Taking a bath in clean water. |
Which of the following animals use dust to clean themselves?
| A．Cats. | B．Bats. | C．Wombats. | D．Ants. |
Can you imagine that you can save your own life during a heart attack(心脏病发作) by coughing(咳嗽)? Let’s see how…
A heart attack can happen to anyone. Let’s say it’s 4:17 p.m. and you’re driving home (alone of course) after an unusually hard day on the job. Not only was the workload(工作负担) extremely heavy, you also had a disagreement with your boss, and no matter how hard you tried, he just wouldn’t see your side of the situation. You’re really upset and the more you think about it, the more nervous you become.
All of a sudden you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to spread out into your arm and up into your jaw（下巴）. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home, unfortunately you don’t know if you’ll be able to make it that far.
What can you do? You’ve been trained in CPR but the guy who taught the course didn’t tell you how to perform it on yourself.
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, this article seems in order. Without help the person whose heart stops beating properly and who begins to feel faint（晕眩的）has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very powerfully. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and last long, as when producing sputum（痰）from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without stopping until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs（肺）and coughing movements squeeze(挤压) the heart and keep the blood circulating.
The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm(节奏). In this way, heart attack victims can get to a phone and, between breaths, call for help.
Now, do you understand the whole matter? Tell as many other people as possible about this. It could save their lives!According to the passage, CPR is most probably something done to .
| A．regain someone’s breath and heart beat |
| B．help someone treat a heart attack by himself |
| C．teach people how to stay in good state |
| D．train people how to stay calm when facing dangers |
According to Paragraph 5, coughing during a heart attack helps .
| A．to relax the heart | B．to get oxygen into the lungs |
| C．to keep the blood circulating | D．to reduce the pain in the chest |
We can learn from the passage that .
| A．a long day’s work usually results in heart attacks |
| B．not only the chest aches when one suffers a heart attack |
| C．people should attend a CPR course to survive heart attacks |
| D．one should cough loudly immediately one’s chest aches |
In which section of a newspaper can you read this passage?
| A．Health Care | B．Advertisement. | C．Family. | D．Teaching. |
Wong Fuk-wing(黄福荣), a Hong Kong volunteer（志愿者）at an orphanage（孤儿院）in Yushu, was killed in the earthquake when he was trying to save others on April 14, 2010.
Wong managed to run safely out of the building with some children when the first quake happened at 7:50 am on April 14, but he went back inside to rescue three other children and three teachers inside, although he knew the danger of aftershocks（余震）.
At 10 am, all the children and one of the teachers were saved. However, Wong was buried under the fallen building and died. The other two teachers were still waiting to be rescued.
46-year-old Wong was a truck driver, who often said he could only give his efforts to charity（慈善）instead of money, as he did not earn a lot. His tragic（悲剧的）end touched the hearts of many people both in Hong Kong and on the mainland.
Wong began volunteering in 2002. In 2003, Wong was told by the doctor he got serious illness, which gave him a great blow. However, the illness did not deter the warm-hearted man. When the earthquake struck Wenchuan is Sichuan Province in 2008, Wong rushed to the disaster area of Shifang to offer his help though his family did not want him to go.
In fact, Qinghai is a place Wong had often visited since 2006. As a volunteer, he gave out medicine and clothing to the orphanage there. No one could expect that Wong would die helping others.
Hong Kong Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen said he had “the highest respect” for the hero who gave his life for others. “What he did has shown the Hong Kong spirit.” The citizens of Hong Kong called him “ the pride of Hong Kong’s people” and people on the mainland have also praised him as “ a true hero”.Wong died in the earthquake .
| A．after he sent medicine and clothing to the orphanage |
| B．when he returned to save the teachers and students |
| C．because he suffered from his serious illness again |
| D．as the first earthquake happened |
The underlined word “ deter” in Para. 5 refers to “”.
| A．prevent | B．refuse | C．beat | D．encourage |
What can we know about Wong from the passage?
| A．He never visited Qinghai before 2010. |
| B．He was supported by his family being a volunteer. |
| C．He was thought highly of by the Chinese. |
| D．He was a taxi driver before he died. |
Why are so many people deeply moved by the story of Wong?
| A．He always offered money to the orphanage. | B．He fought against his illness bravely. |
| C．He helped the orphanage though being poor. | D．He put other people’s lives above own. |