CPerhapsyouhaveneverheardofKat-优题课

We are all interested in equality, but while some people try to protect the school and examination system in the name of equality, others, still in the name of equality, want only to destroy it.
Any society which is interested in equality of opportunity and standards of achievement must regularly test its pupils. The standards may be changed—no examination is perfect—but to have to tests or examinations would mean the end of equality and of standards. There are groups of people who oppose this view and who do not believe either in examinations or in any controls in school or on teachers. This would mean that everything would depend on luck since every pupil would depend on the efficiency, the values and the purpose of each teacher.
Without examinations, employers will look for employees from the highly respected schools and from families known to them—a form of favourtism will replace equality. At the moment, the bright child from an ill-respected school can show certificates to prove he or she is suitable for a job, while the lack of certificate indicates the unsuitability of a dull child attending a well-respected school. This defend of excellence and opportunity would disappear if examinations were taken away, and the bright child form a poor family would be a prisoner of his or her school’s reputation, unable to compete for employment with the child from the favoured school.
The opponents of the examination system suggest that examinations are an evil force because they show differences between pupils. According to these people, there must be no special, different, academic class. They have even suggested that there should be no form of difference in sport or any other area: all jobs or posts should be filled by unsystematic selection. The selection would be made by people who themselves are probably selected by some computer.
1. The word “favouritism” in paragraph 3 is used to describe the phenomenon that________.
A. bright children also need certificates go get satisfying jobs.
B. children from well-respected schools tend to have good jobs
C. poor children with certificates are favoured in job markets
D. children attending ordinary schools achieve great success
2. What would happen if examinations were taken away according to the author?
A. Schools for bright children would lose their reputation.
B. There would be more opportunities and excellence.
C. Children from poor families would be able to change their schools.
D. Children’s job opportunity would be affected by their school reputation.
3. The opponents of the examination system will agree that _________.
A. jobs should not be assigned by systematic selection
B. computers should be selected to take over many jobs
C. special classed are necessary to keep the school standards
D. schools with academic subjects should be done away with
4. The passage mainly focuses on ___________.
A. schools and certificates B. examination and equality
C. opportunity and employmentD. standards and reputation

Like many lovers of books, Mary and her husband, Richard Goldman, seldom walked past a bookstore without stopping to look inside. They often talked of opening their own store one day.
When Mary was hospitalized with heart trouble in 1989, they decided it was time to get serious. Richard, who worked for a business company, was eager to work for himself, and Mary needed to slow down from her demanding job.
They started by talking to bookstore owners and researching the industry. “We knew it had to be a specialty（专业） store because we couldn’t match the big chains dollar for dollar,” says Mary. One figure caught her attention: She’d read somewhere that roughly 20 percent of books sold were mysteries (推理小说), and many buyers spent more $300 a year on books. She and Richard were themselves mystery readers.
On Halloween 1992, they opened the Mystery Lovers Bookshop and Café near their home. With three children in college, the couple could not spend all the family’s money to start a shop. To cover the $100,000 cost, they drew some of their savings, borrowed from relatives and from a bank.
The store merely broke even in its first year, with only $120,000 in sales. But Mary was always coming up with new ways to attract customers. The shop had a coffee bar and it offered gifts to mystery lovers and served dinners for book clubs that met in the store. She also invited dozens of writers to discuss their stories.
Today Mystery Lovers makes sales of about $420,000 a year. After paying taxes, business costs and the six part-time sales clerks, Richard and Mary together earn about $34,000.
“The job you love may not go hand in hand with a million-dollar income,” says Richard. “This has always been about an enjoyable life for ourselves, not about making a lot of money.”
1．When Mary was in hospital, the couple realized that ____.
A. they had to put their plan into practiceB. health was more important than wealth
C. heart trouble was a serious illnessD. they both needed to stop working
2．After Mary got well from her illness they began _____.
A. to study industrial management
B. to buy and read more mystery books
C. to do market research on book business
D. to work harder to save money for the bookstore
3．According to Richard, the main purpose of running the bookstore is _____.
A. to pay for their children’s education B. to get to know more writers
C. to set up more bookstores D. to do what they like to do

Houston, Texas (June 8, 2002) ---In 2004, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will send two robots (机器人) to separate places of Mars to seek out past or present signs of water. It is an exciting idea to send two robots driving over very different places of Mars at the same time, to be able to see what is on the other side of the hill.
Last month, NASA announced it was sending one robot to Mars, but after two weeks, it decided there was enough money for two. The robots will be sent up within two weeks of each other in May and June of 2003 from Kennedy Space Center. If all goes well, the two spacecraft (宇宙飞船) will touch down on Mars，after a seven-and-a-half-month space flight，on January 2 and 20, 2004.
The robots, each weighing 150 kilograms, can cover 100 meters per day. They are designed to be able to examine the mineral content of the soil, and their special camera will take pictures of the lands and hills. Although they will be under control from Earth, the robot, are able to move more freely compared to those sent up before them.
The actual landing points have not been determined yet, but the scientists say it will be in areas where they hope to find water.
1. According to the news report, scientists plan to send robots up to Mars to ______.
A. find out whether there is water on Mars B. see if robots can find minerals there
C. test how fast robots can drive there D. prove that robots can work on Mars
2.How long in between will the two robots be sent to Mars?
A.1 year B.7.5 months. C.2 months. D.2 weeks.
3. One of the important jobs for the robots on Mars is to ________.
A. study the soil B. walk everywhere
C. test the new camera D. find a suitable landing point
4. We can infer from the last sentence that scientists _______.
A. have changed the landing points many times
B. hope to land the robots on the surface of water
C. are still working on the plan
D. know where they can find water

The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet (彗星) is heading towards the Earth . Most of it will miss our planet, but two pieces will probably hit the southern half of the Earth.
On 17 July , a piece four kilometers wide enters the Earth’s atmosphere with a massive explosion . About half of the piece is destroyed, but the remaining part hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and a huge hole is made in the sea bed. Huge waves are created and spread outwards from the hole. The wall of water, a kilometer high, rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned.
Before the waves reach South America, the second piece of the comet lands in Argentina. Earthquakes and volcanoes are set off in the Andes Mountains. The shock waves move north into California and all around the Pacific Ocean. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tokyo are completely destroyed by earthquakes. Millions of people in the southern half of the earth are already dead, but the north won’t escape for long. Because of the explosions, the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. The sun won’t be seen again for many years. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later, no more than 10 million people remain alive.
Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth. The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a piece of object in space. The dinosaurs couldn’t live through the cold climate that followed and they died out. Will we meet the same end?
1．What is mainly described in the passage?
A．A historic discovery . B．An event of imagination
C．A research on space . D．A scientific adventure.
2．When the first piece hits the South Atlantic, it causes________ .
A．an earthquake B．damages to citiesC．an Earth explosion D．huge waves
3．Why can’t the northern half of the earth escape for long ?
A．Because the land is covered with water
B．Because the light and heat from the sun can not reach the earth .
C．Because people there can not live at the temperature of zero .
D．Because wars break out among countries .
4．By giving the example of dinosaurs , the author tries to prove________ .
A．animals could not live in the cold climate
B．what happened 65 million years ago was an invented story
C．the human beings will die out in 2094
D．the Earth could be hit by other objects in space

第三节：阅读理解（共25小题; 每小题2分, 满分50分）
It was 3:12 a. m. when nine-year-old Glenn Kreamer awoke to the smell of burning. Except for the crackling（爆裂声）of flames somewhere below there was not a sound in the two-storey house at Baldwin, Long Island.
With his father away on night duty at a local factory, Glenn was worried about the safety of his mother, his sister Karen, 14 and his 12-year-old brother Todd. He ran downstairs through the smoke filled house to push and pull at Karen and Todd until they sat up. Then he helped each one through the house to the safety of the garden. There, his sister and brother, taking short and quick breaths and coughing, collapsed on the lawn (草坪).
The nine-year-old raced back into the house and upstairs to his mother’s room. He found it impossible to woke her up. Mrs. Kreamer, a victim of the smoke, was unconscious, and there was nobody to help Glenn carry her to the garden. But the boy remained calm and, as a fireman said later, “acted with all the self-control of a trained adult.”
On the bedroom telephone, luckily still working, Glenn called his father and, leaving Mr. Kreamer to telephone the fire brigade and ambulance service, got on with the task of saving his mother.
First he filled a bucket with water from the bathroom and threw water over his mother and her bed. Then, with a wet cloth around his head he went back to the garden.
He could hear the fire engine coming up, but how would the firemen find his mother in the smoke-filled house where flames had almost swallowed up the ground floor?
Grasping firmly a ball of string from the garage, Glenn raced back into the house and dashed upstairs to his mother’s room. Tying one end of the string to her hand he ran back, laying out the string as he went, through the hall and back out into the garden.
Minutes later he was telling fire chief John Coughlan: “The string will lead you to mother.” Mrs. Kreamer was carried to safety as the flames were breaking through her bedroom floor.
1．Why did Glenn run downstairs first?
A．He wanted to find out what was happening.
B．He was worried about his mother’s safety.
C．He wanted to save his sister and brother.
D．He went to see if his father had come back from work.
2．How did Glenn help the firemen to save his mother?
A．By throwing water all over her and her bed.
B．By carrying her to safety with his brother.
C．By pushing and pulling at her.
D．By tying a string to her hand.
3．Who called the fire brigade and ambulance service?
A．Glenn. B．Glenn’s father. C．Glenn’s sister. D．Glenn’s neighbor.
4．What did Glenn do to protect himself?
A．He put a wet cloth around his head. B．He threw water all over himself.
C．He hid himself in the bathroom. D．He rushed out to the lawn.
5．Glenn saved his family because___________.
A．his father had taught him to do so on the phone
B．he had learned something about first aid
C．he had dealt with the emergency calmly and wisely
D．he had followed his mother’s instruction