ThisistheVOASpecialEnglishNews-优题课

C
Take Action for a Better World: Volunteers Needed
Six months’ preparation in Denmark: Africa studies, team work combined with social work with risk group teenagers.
Six months’ community work in Malawi in People to People Projects: Child Aid, HIV/ AIDS. Fights and Teacher Training.
Qualifications (条件): 18 years, hard working and social engagement.
Please contact us by email: takeaction@berrerworld.com
Part-time Work with Exchange Students
YOUYH International is a non-profit high school foreign exchange student organization. We welcome teenagers from over 80 countries worldwide and provide host families. The Community Representative is a part-time position designed for people with a strong desire to do something rewarding in the community and earn some extra money.
Applicants(申请人) best suited for this work should enjoy teenagers, have a strong interest in cross-cultural communication and feel comfortable networking. Full training and support will be provided through branch offices throughout the US. Positions available in most states.
If interested, please email staff@youth.org or call 888-123-9872.
International Summer Job
Hi, I’m an ESL student in China. I’m 20, quiet and polite, and I speak reasonable English. I’m looking for a summer job in an English-speaking country. I can teach Chinese or do house and garden work, and cook Chinese dishes. Can anybody offer me a job? I don’t need to earn much, just enough in 2 months (July- August) to pay for my return ticket to China. My goal is to improve my English and see a bit more of the world.
My email is: ram3462@hotmail.com
Call for Native Speakers of English
I am looking for native speakers of English to join in an experiment. This experiment is carried out over the Internet. You don’t need any specific knowledge other than understanding and speaking English at a native level. The first task will take you around 15 minutes. After this task, you can decide whether you want to continue the experiment. The tasks involve reading texts and designing questions and answers.
If you are willing to help me, then please email me: club3864@hotmail.com
63．Who is suitable to work as a Community Representative in YOUTH International?
A．One who enjoys working with teenagers from different countries.
B．One who hopes to take action in fighting against diseases.
C．One who has a strong desire to improve his or her English.
D．One who wants to earn some pocket money in the program.
64．Where will Jack, a volunteer, receive the training before he is sent to work in Malawi?
A．In some local offices in the U.S. B．In an ESL organization in China.
C．In a preparation program in Denmark. D．In an exchange student center in Africa.
65．If Mrs. Black in the U.S. hopes to learn some Chinese at home, she may contact _______.
A．takeaction@betterworld.com B．ram3462@hotmail.com
C．club3864@hotmail.comD．staff@youth.org
66．What are volunteers for an experiment over the Internet supposed to do?
A．To interview people online.B．To do some housework.
C．To offer advice on Child Aid. D．To provide language exercises.

B
China will plan to make new rules to give more controls over the growing number of blogs and webcasts.
Nowadays, advanced network technologies, such as Hogging and webcasting, are being improved to challenge the government’s ability to watch over the Internet.
Chinese government was in the middle of making new rules over Internet publishing, and blogs and websites that publishing webcasts would fall under these rules.
Government officials hope the new rules would ensure a more healthy and active Internet environment and would fully respect and protect Chinese citizens' freedom of speech. Specific details on what kind of rules would be carried out are still unknown to the public.
Despite the growing popularity, bloggers and webcasters have been unpopular with publication institutions.
In 2006, a series of cases involving bloggers who had dived into other people’s privacy and written materials ruining other’s fame urged the government to consider whether to require bloggers to use their real names when they login in.
Webcasting without copyright and illegally “copying" products from copyrighted materials have also led government officials to consider starting a nationwide check of online video broadcasting, and allow only qualified websites to continue offering webcasts.
60．What can be the best title of the passage?
A．The Increases of Blogs and Webcasts.
B．New Rules to Control Internet Publishing.
C．Technologies Challenge the Government.
D．The Popularity of Online Video Broadcasting.
61．Chinese government thinks current Internet environment is ______.
A．quite healthy B．less active C． rather hopeful D．less piloted
62．Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Publication institutions are unhappy with bloggers and webcasters.
B．All bloggers and webcasters like to dig out other people’s privacy.
C．Webcasters are quite aware of the copyright issues while online.
D．Copyrighted materials can only be offered to qualified websites.

第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中选出最佳选项。
A
Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time; if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the languages he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people’s. In the same way, children learn to do all the other things they learn to do without being taught-to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes and correct them for himself. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was made to. Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what the answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not.
If it is a matter of right answers, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time on such routine work？ Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can’t find the way to get the right answer. Let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, how to measure their own understanding, how to know what they know or do not know.
56．According to the passage, the best way for children to learn things is by .
A．listening to skilled people’s advice
B．asking older people many questions
C．making mistakes and having them corrected
D．doing what other people do
57．Which of the following does the writer think teachers should NOT do?
A．Give children correct answers.
B．Allow children to make mistakes.
C．Point out children’s mistakes to them.
D．Let children mark their own work.
58．The passage suggests that learning to speak and learning to ride a bicycle are .
A．different from learning other skills B．the same as learning skills
C．more important than other skills D．not really important skills
59．The title of this passage could probably the .
A．Let Us Teachers Stop Work B．Let Us Make Children Learn
C．Let Children Correct Their Exercises D．Let Children Learn by Themselves

C
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 (追求) 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 mistaken 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 can we discover a new meaning in competition.
46. What does this passage mainly talk about?
A. Competition helps to set up self-respect.
B. Opinions about competition are different among people.
C. Competition is harmful to personal quality development.
D. Failures are necessary experiences in competition.
47. Why do some people favor competition according to the passage?
A. It pushes society forward.B. It builds up a sense of duty.
C. It improves personal abilities. D. It encourages individual effects.
48. The underlined phrase " the most vocal" in Paragraph 3 means ____________.
A. those who try their best to win
B. those who value competition most highly
C. those who are against competition most strongly
D. those who rely on others most for success
49. What is the similar belief of the true competitors and those with a "desire to fail" ?
A. One's worth lies in his performance compared with others'.
B. One's success in compeition needs great efforts.
C. One's achievement is determined by his particular skills.
D. One's success is based on how hard he has tried.
50. Which point of view may the author agree to?
A. Every effort should be paid back.
B. Competition should be encouraged.
C. Winning should be a life-and-death matter.
D. Fear of failure should be removed in competition.

III. Reading comprehension: 50% (共20小题；每小题2.5分，满分50分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳答案。
A
As any homemaker who has tried to keep order at the dinner table knows, there is far more to a family meal than food. Sociologist Michael Lewis has been studying 50 families to find out just how much more.
Lewis and his co-workers carried out their study by videotaping the families while they ate ordinary meals in their own homes. They found that parents with small families talk actively with each other and their children. But as the number of children gets larger,conversation gives way to the parents' efforts to control the loud noise they make. That can have an important effect on the children. "In general the more question-asking the parents do, the higher the children's IQ scores," Lewis says. "And the more children there are, the less question-asking there is. "
The study also provides an explanation for why middle children often seem to have a harder time in life than their siblings (兄弟姐妹). Lewis found that in families with three or four children, dinner conversation is likely to center on the oldest child, who has the most to talk about, and the youngest, who needs the most attention. "Middle children are invisible, "says Lewis. "When yon see someone get up from the table and walk around during dinner, chances are it's the middle child. "There is, however, one thing that stops all conversation and prevents anyone from having attention : "When the TV is on," Lewis says,"dinner is a non-event. "
36. The writer's purpose in writing the text is to _______
A. show the relationship between parents and children
B. teach parents ways to keep order at the dinner table
C. report on the findings of a study
D. give information about family problems
37. Parents with large families ask fewer questions at dinner because ________.
A. they are busy serving food to their children
B. they are busy keeping order at the dinner table
C. they have to pay more attention to younger children
D. they are tired out having prepared food for the whole family
38. By saying" Middle children are invisible" in Paragraph 3, Lewis means that middle children _________.
A. have to help their parents to serve dinner
B. get the least attention from the family
C. are often kept away from the dinner table
D. find it hard to keep up with other children
39. Lewis' research provides an answer to the question _________.
A. why TV is important in family life
B. why parents should keep good order
C. why children in small families seem to be quieter
D. why middle children seem to have more difficulties in life
40. Which of the following statements would the writer agree to?
A. It is important to have the right food for children.
B. It is a good idea to have the TV on during dinner.
C. Parents should talk to each of their children frequently.
D. Elder children should help the younger ones at dinner.