四. 阅读理解(40分)
Children start out as natural scientists, eager to look into the world around them. Helping them enjoy science can be easy; there’s no need for a lot of scientific terms or expensive lab equipment. You only have to share your children’s curiosity(好奇).Firstly, listen to their questions. I once visited a classroom of seven-year-olds to talk about science as a job. The children asked me “textbook questions” about schooling, salary(薪水) and whether I liked my job. When I finished answering, we sat facing one another in silence. Finally I said,“Now that we’ve finished with your lists, do you have questions of your own about science?”
After a long pause, a boy raised his hand,“Have you ever seen a grasshopper(蚱蜢) eat?When I try eating leaves like that, I get a stomachache. Why?”
This began a set of questions that lasted nearly two hours.
Secondly, give them time to think. Studies over the past 30 years have shown that, after asking a question, adults typically wait only one second or less for an answer, no time for a child to think. When adults increase their “wait time” to three seconds or more, children give more logical(符合逻辑的),complete and creative answers.
Thirdly, watch your language. Once you have a child involved in a science discussion, don’t jump in with “That’s right” or “Very good”.These words work well when it comes to encouraging good behavior(行为).But in talking about science, quick praise can signal that discussion is over. Instead, keep things going by saying,“That’s interesting” or “I’d never thought of it that way before”,or coming up with more questions or ideas.
Never push a child to “Think”.It doesn’t make sense, children are always thinking, without your telling them to. What’s more, this can turn a conversation into a performance. The child will try to find the answer you want, In as few words as possible, so that he will be a smaller target(目标) for your disagreement.
Lastly, show don’t tell. Real-life impressions of nature are far more impressive than any lesson children can learn from a book or a television program. Let children look at their fingertips through a magnifying glass(放大镜),and they’ll understand why you want them to wash before dinner. Rather than saying that water evaporates (蒸发),set a pot of water to boil and let them watch the water level drop.
1..According to the passage, children are natural scientists, and to raise their interest, the most important thing for adults to do is .
A.to let them see the world around
B.to share the children’s curiosity
C.to explain difficult phrases about science
D.to supply the children with lab equipment
2.In the last sentence of the first paragraph, the word “lists” could best be replaced by________.
A.any questions B.any problems
C.questions from textbooks D.any number of questions
3.According to the passage, children can answer questions in a more logical, complete and creative way if adults___________.
A.ask them to answer quickly
B.wait for one or two seconds after a question
C.tell them to answer the next day
D.wait at least for three seconds after a question
4.In which of the following paragraph(s) does the author tell us what to say to encourage children in a science discussion?
A.The second and third. B.The fourth and fifth.
C.The fifth and sixth. D.The seventh.
5.The author mentions all of the following techniques for adults to share with their children’s curiosity except that adults should___________.
A.tell their children stories instead of reciting(背诵) facts
B.offer their children chances to see things for themselves
C.be patient enough when their children answer questions
D.encourage their children to ask questions of their own
Every Wednesday, I go to Cantata Adult Life Services, a local retirement community in Brookfield, Illinois, US, with my classmates to do community service.
After my very first visit to Cantata, my life changed forever. That may sound a bit dramatic, but volunteering with the elderly has changed my views on life.
Our visits last about an hour, and we bring 25-30 students every time. We play board games and cards with the residents while we’re there.
You can watch all the movies and TV shows you want about “life back then”, but nothing compares to talking to the people who were actually there. Just hearing their stories has touched me in a way I never thought possible.
Whether it was talking to 98-year-old “Hurricane Hilda” about her glory days as a roller skater or chatting with Lou about the times she danced with a famous actor, I was completely attracted by every single memory the residents wanted to share with me.
Even the residents who don’t have amazing memories make the experience satisfying . I remember visiting Mrs Robinson. She couldn’t recall much about her past, but she told me she’d never forget how kind I wasjust to listen to her “rambling (漫谈)”. It made me realize that it’s the little things that make life worth living. That’s something I won’t forget anytime soon.
If there’s one thing I’ve realized in my three years of visiting Cantata, it’s that presence –just being there –means more than anything to many of the residents. And despite how busy our lives are, there’s always time to make someone’s day.
For me, it feels great to be a source of happiness, a smile on a bad day or a listening ear for old memories. And at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.It’s easy to feel like you don’t have anything in common with the elderly –especially when you’re a teenager. But that’s not true at all.
I hate to be overly clichéd (陈词滥调的) here, but age really is just a number. As young adults, it’s important for us to realize this sooner rather than later. We can learn a lot from the elderly, and they can often benefit from teenagers too.What do the volunteers do according to the passage?
A.They share everything with the residents. |
B.They play board games and cards with the residents. |
C.They watch the residents play games. |
D.They buy gifts for the residents. |
According to the writer, what is the most important thing that volunteers can do for the elderly?
A.Playing with them. | B.Benefiting from them. |
C.Helping them. | D.Being there with them. |
What does the writer want to tell us by writing this passage ?
A.We don’t have anything in common with the elderly. |
B.Age is just a number. |
C.It is important to help the elderly. |
D.Young adults and the elderly can benefit from each other. |
We’ve been covering standing desks for a long time now because experts agree that sitting all day is killing us. We want to be productive while also keeping our bodies healthy. Over the years, there have been several solutions to this from fixed standing desks to adjustable ones, portable desks to ones that change into shelves.
However, the most high tech and elegant solution has to be this new smart desk called The Stir Kinetic Desk. The desk learns your daily behaviors and moves between a sitting and standing height regularly throughout the day to keep you moving without interrupting your work flow.
You can program specific sitting and standing intervals or let the desk set the schedule. If you tend to sit while returning emails in the morning, but always want to stand during that afternoon conference call, the desk will learn those regular habits and adjust the schedule to fit them. Of course, the desk can always be manually lowered or raised by using the touch screen on the lower left comer of the desk.
When switching positions, the desk gently dips and rises to let you know that a change is coming up. If you’re not ready to switch positions at that time, you can tap the touchscreen to stay sitting or standing for a while longer.
The built-in touchscreen also keeps track of your daily sitting and standing times and tells you how many calories you’ve burned. You can even set goals for how long or often you want to stand. The desk also works with fitness devices like the FitBit to track your movements.
All of that smart tech doesn’t come cheap though. The M1 desk, which is the everyday model, runs a steep $2,990, while the more executive model with added features, the F1, goes for$4,190.
While expensive, it’s worth thinking of how much time we spend at our desks. Much like a good mattress(床垫), a good desk that works with you is worth the investment. Hopefully in a few years these smart, integrated desks will be more common and less expensive.The Stir Kinetic Desk has been designed to_______.
A.help users with their work |
B.keep users moving all the time |
C.get users to exercise while working |
D.remind users of their working schedule |
Which is the feature of the touchscreen of the desk?
A.It can tell users when to change positions. |
B.It can track users’ changes of positions. |
C.It can keep users in a fixed position. |
D.It can detect users’ health condition. |
Which of the following can best describe the desk?
A.Productive but challenging. |
B.Convenient but unaffordable. |
C.Complex and impractical. |
D.Multi-functional and intelligent. |
What does the author intend to tell us in the last paragraph?
A.To spend money on such a desk is rewarding. |
B.We should get such a desk as soon as possible. |
C.It won’t be long before the desk is widely used. |
D.Desks play a very important role in our daily life. |
The world’s richest man might seem to have it all, but Bill Gates has one regret. The self-made billionaire said he felt stupid for not knowing any foreign languages.
Speaking in his third Ask Me Anything question-and-answer session for online forum Reddit(红迪网), the Microsoft founder said that he wished he spoke French, Arabic or Chinese.
He said: “I took Latin and Greek in high school and got A’s and I guess it helps my vocabulary. I keep hoping to get time to study one of these—probably French because it is the easiest. I did Duolingo for a while but didn’t keep it up.”
Gates, who is worth $79.3 billion, praised Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for surprising an audience in Beijing when he spoke fluent Chinese. “Mark Zuckerberg amazingly leamed Chinese and did a Q&A with Chinese students—unbelievable, isn’t it?” he said.
This isn’t the first time for Gates to admit his regret over language. He also showed his habits at home and personal insights.
Last February, Gates said he likes to do the dishes himself—to his own special standards every night and also told the interviewer that his wife, Melinda, would likely want Samuel L. Jackson to play her husband in a biopic(传记片).
He also admitted that he would pick up a $100 bill if he found it on the street.
As he took the top spot on Forbes(福布斯)28th Annual Billionaires list last year for the fourth time, he said he is pretty basic when it comes to so ending on clothes and food, but that he enjoys investing in shoes and racquets(球拍)when he plays tennis.
When asked a life lesson he had to learn the hard way, the billionaire said staying up too late is a habit he is still trying to break. “Don’t stay up too late even if the book is really exciting. You will regret it in the morning. Pam still working on this problem,” he said. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A.An Interview with Bill Gates |
B.How Bill Gates Succeeded |
C.Bill Gates’ Regret |
D.The Richest Billionaire |
The underlined part in Paragraph 8 may actually mean that_____.
A.it is important to lay a good foundation of life |
B.food and clothing are basic needs for people’s life |
C.he doesn’t spend much money on food and clothes |
D.he never cares about buying food and clothing |
What advice did Bill Gates give?
A.Avoid staying up too late. |
B.Be a good language learner. |
C.Do the dishes yourself at home. |
D.Pick up the $100 bills in the streets. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A.Bill Gates is also the founder of Facebook |
B.Bill Gates topped the list of Forbes 28 times. |
C.Bill Gates was good at learning languages in high schoo1. |
D.Bill Gates’ wife wants Samuel to play a game with Gates. |
The International Painting Contest on Google’s homepage in 2015 may look pretty strange, but it spotlightings a very serious issue: clean water, which is unusual for an 11-year-old from Long Island.
Audrey Zhang, a fifth-grader from Levittown, N.Y, is the winner of this year’s Doodle 4 Google contest, rising to the top of some 100, 000 entries on the theme of “draw one thing to make the world a better place.”
Her piece, titled “Back to Mother Nature,” describes a detailed water-cleaning machine. Zhang worked with a team of artists at Google to animate(使……生动)her drawing.
“To make the world a better place, I came up with a transformative water purifier, a machine used to remove dirty or harmful substances,” Google quoted Zhang as saying. “It takes in dirty and polluted water from rivers, lakes and even oceans, then massively transforms the water into clean, safe and pure water. When humans and animals drink this water, they will live a healthier life.”
She created a whole world around the device—one populated by humans, a whale in a top hat and dragons.
Zhang, s piece is “so vivid and so rich and so full and so complete,’’ Google Doodle team leader Ryan Germick told the Washington Post. “Every leaf seemed to have life in it.”
Along with having her artwork featured on Google’s homepage, Zhang wins a $30,000 college scholarship. In addition, her school will receive a $50,000 Google for Education technology grant, and the company is donating $20,000 in her name to a charity devoted to bringing clean water to schools in Bangladesh.
On Sunday, the night before her work was revealed on net, Zhang told Newsday she was excited by the big win, but said she wouldn’t be awake when her art first went online at midnight.
“I have school-tomorrow, so I can’t stay up late,” she told the paper. What’s the passage mainly about?
A.The winner and her work in the painting contest. |
B.The team of artists at Google to animate drawings. |
C.The painting contest of Google’s homepage in 2015. |
D.The water-cleaning machine in the painting contest. |
According to the passage, we know that______.
A.Audrey Zhang is creative and self-disciplined |
B.a water-cleaning device was made in the contest |
C.$50, 000 will be donated in Audrey Zhang’s name |
D.Zhang’s piece was printed in all major newspapers |
The underlined word in Paragraph l probably means “_____”.
A.put up with | B.1ook for ward to |
C.breakaway from | D.focus attention on |
October 21 was a very dark day in Texas. Not only did Hurricane Hanna destroy homes, it caused the largest business damage in Texas’s history. The worst thing is Hanna’s destructive force nearly wiped out most power poles and power lines. According to Center Point Energy, Hurricane Hanna affected 2.15 million customers. Currently, more than 4,000 of them are still in the dark. Crews have worked 16-hour shifts to restore power to residents.
Most of Houston seems to be returning to normal. Schools, restaurants, retail stores and gas stations are open. Smiles are back. But harder-hit places, including Galveston, will take much longer to recover. Hundreds of people are still missing, and coastal towns are a mess. Some ruins from storm have drifted south to other beaches in Texas. Several public schools in Galveston are closed due to water damage. Parents are registering kids in other area schools which are scheduled to begin class on November 13. Many school supplies were destroyed.
Clara Barton Village is an emergency shelter located at Alamo Elementary School in Galveston, Texas. This is where Paula Reed and her family are staying. Believe it or not, Paula Reed and her family consider this hurricane a blessing. When Paula was a girl, she was an orphan, but was taken in by her stepmom, Antonia Flores. Reed lost contact with Flores and had been trying desperately to locate her for the past few years. Before the hurricane, Reed and her family moved away from Galveston to a San Antonio shelter. There, she reunited with Flores after 30 long years! The moment they saw each other, their lives were changed.What’s the most serious damage caused by Hurricane Hanna?
A.Hundreds of people are still missing. |
B.A large number of people are homeless. |
C.Power facilities are severely destroyed. |
D.Factories are closed and many people jobless. |
It can be inferred that the residents in Houston________.
A.have fully recovered from the disaster |
B.were the most unlucky people in the disaster |
C.need a long time to bring their life back to normal |
D.suffered less from Hanna than people in Galveston |
Kids in public schools in other areas of Houston will have to stay at home for_______
A.at least one month |
B.at least three weeks |
C.two weeks at most |
D.nearly half a month |
Paula Reed and her family consider the hurricane a blessing because_______
A.they had nothing lost after Hurricane Hanna |
B.they lived a happier life in San Antonio shelter |
C.Paula was taken good care of in the shelter |
D.Paula reunited with her stepmother after three decades |