ElectivecoursesInternationalSt-优题课

Not everyone goes to university after high school graduation. Some work, others join the army and an increasing number worldwide are taking a “gap year” to travel or do community service in their own countries or abroad. They are studying sharks off the Australian coast, building schools in Mexico and learning Spanish or Italian.
The concept of a gap year may not be new, but the recent surge (涌现) of interest certainly is. Some students are putting off admissions. Others, who don’t get into the college of their choice, are taking a year to explore new frontiers before reapplying.
Students are choosing to take a breather; they are thinking. They are not sure what they are going to do. They are going and exploring some of their interests. They are getting experience they can take to the school they finally go to.
It is an idea actively encouraged by colleges. Princeton University has just launched a “bridge year” program that will send 10 percent of its incoming class to do volunteer work abroad, starting in 2009. And the Harvard has spent the last 30 years urging incoming students to take a gap year.
“Many speak of their year away as a ‘life-changing’ experience or a ‘turning point’” says Harvard admissions director Marlin Lewis. “Many come to college with new opinions about their academic plans, their extracurricular interests and the career possibilities they observed in their year away.”
The reasons why some take a gap year are the following EXCEPT that ________.

A．they hate studying

B．they don’t know what to do

C．they want to get experience

D．they want to know their real interests

A student won’t ________ in a gap year.

A．travel	B．join the army
C．do community service	D．learn a foreign language

After a gap year, one would probably _________.

A．take another year off

B．earn a lot of money

C．be refused by his college

D．have new ideas about their future career

From the passage we know that ________.

A．more and more students will take a gap year

B．fewer and fewer colleges will encourage his students to take a gap year

C．the gap year can only give one some experience about society

D．nobody will change his own interests after the gap year

American magician David Blaine left the glass box in which he had lived for 44 days without food on October 19, 2003. Hundreds of people came to watch the end of his starvation experiment, which has become one of London’s main tourist attractions.
Looking thinner and darker, 30-year-old Blaine was taken out of his box over the River Thames and immediately went to hospital. He was then slowly reintroduced to food, a process doctors say could be life threatening. He had been drinking only water since September 5.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Blaine first became known as a street magician in the early 1990s. He soon found himself doing magic tricks in bars for the likes of American actor Leonardo DiCaprio and his super model friends.
Over the last decade Blaine has become famous with a combination of breathtaking magic and clever tricks aimed at getting a lot of attention. In 1999, he was buried in a coffin (棺材) for one week and, in 2000, he spent 62 hours in a giant block of ice. Last year he stood on top of a 25-meter pillar (柱子) in the center of New York for 35 hours before jumping into a pile of boxes.
“I think a lot of people are unable to accept that they’re able to do what they can do,” he said. “They don’t realize we can survive. The human being is an amazing creation.”
But he seems to have suffered from spending so long in the glass box. He said that at times he was unable to see, had serious back pains and lost his sense of taste.
It is for David Blaine to eat food after such a long starvation.

A．pleasant

B．delicious

C．dangerous

D．important

Having spent such a long time in the glass box, he suffered the following EXCEPT that .

A．he had become blind	B．he had serious back pains
C．he lost his sense of taste	D．he was in weak health

Which of the following can best describe David Blaine?

A．Serious.

B．Adventurous.

C．Smart.

D．Crazy.

Which of the following is NOT true about David Blaine?

A．Blaine immediately went to hospital after he was taken out of his box.

B．Blaine was born and brought up in England.

C．In Blaine’s opinion, people can create a wonder.

D．Blaine didn’t have any food for 44 days.

阅读短文，并按照题目要求用英语回答问题。
Born in 1949, Diana Nyad took an early interest in swimming as a sport and was a Florida State High School swimming champion. Like many young athletes, she had Olympic dreams, but a serious illness kept her from competing in the Games. The disappointment didn’t stop her from going forward. Instead, she became interested in marathon swimming. A brilliant athlete, she was well-conditioned for spending long periods of time in the water. As a long-distance swimmer, she would compete against herself and the obstacles presented by distance, danger, cold, and exhaustion.
For ten years Nyad devoted herself to becoming one of the world’s best long-distance swimmers. In 1970, she swam a ten-mile marathon in Lake Ontario, setting the women’s record for the course. In 1972 she set another record by swimming 102.5 miles from an island in the Bahamas to the coast of Florida. Then she broke a third record when swimming around Manhattan Island in 1975.
Nyad attempted to swim the distance between Florida and Cuba in 1978. Though the span of water is less than 100 miles wide, it is rough and dangerous. After battling the water for two days, she had to give for the sake of her own health and safety. Even so, she impressed the world with her courage and strong desire to succeed. For Nyad her strength of purpose was just as important as reading Cuba. That is how she defined success. It did not matter that her swim came up short; she believed she had touched the other shore.
When Nyad ended her career as a swimmer, she continued to try new things---travelling the world as a reporter, writing books and giving public speeches about her life. Diana Nyad works to inspire others, just as she did when she swam the waters of the world.
What prevented Nyad from taking part in the Olympic Games? (No more than 5 words)
__________________________________________________________________________
What does the underlined word “obstacles” mean? (1 word)
___________________________________________________________________________
What achievement did Nyad make in 1970? (No more than 10 words.)
________________________________________________________________________________
Why did Nyad believe that she had touched the other shore? (No more than 10 words)
___________________________________________________________________________
Please explain how you are inspired by Nyad. (No more than 20 words)
_______________________________________________________________________________

You are given many opportunities in life to choose to be a victim or creator. When you choose to be a victim, the world is a cold and difficult place. "They" did things to you which caused all of your pain and suffering. "They" are wrong and bad, and life is terrible as long as "they" are around. Or you may blame yourself for all your problems, thus internalizing(内化)your victimization. The truth is, your life is likely to stay that way as long as you feel a need to blame yourself or others.
Those who choose to be creators look at life quite differently. They know there are individuals who might like to control their lives, but they don't let this get in the way. They know they have their weaknesses, yet they don't blame themselves when they fail. Whatever happens, they have choice in the matter. They believe their dance with each sacred(神圣的)moment of life is a gift and that storms are a natural part of life which can bring the rain needed for emotional and spiritual growth.
Victims and creators live in the same physical world and deal with many of the same physical realities, yet their experience of life is worlds apart. Victims relish (沉溺)in anger, guilt, and other emotions that cause others---and even themselves---to feel like victims, too. Creators consciously choose love, inspiration, and other qualities which inspire not only themselves, but all around them. Both victims and creators always have choice to determine the direction of their lives.
In reality, all of us play the victim or the creator at various points in our lives. One person, on losing a job or a special relationship, may feel as if it is the end of the world and sink into terrible suffering for months, years, or even a lifetime. Another with the same experience may choose to first experience the grief, then accept the loss and soon move on to be a powerful creative force in his life.
In every moment and every circumstance, you can choose to have fuller, richer life by setting a clear intention to transform the victim within, and by inviting into your life the powerful creator that you are.

1．

What does the word "they" in Paragraph 1 probably refer to?

A．	People and things around you.	B．	Opportunities and problems.
C．	Creators and their choices.	D．	Victims and their sufferings.

2．

According to Paragraph 2, creators.

A．	seem willing to experience failures in life
B．	possess the ability to predict future life
C．	handle ups and downs of life wisely
D．	have potential to create something new

3．

What can we learn from Paragraph 3?

A．	Creators and victims face quite different things in life.
B．	Creators and victims are masters of their lives.
C．	Victims can influence more people than creators.
D．	Compared with victims, creators are more emotional.

4．

The examples mentioned in Paragraph 4 show that.

A．	strong attachment to sufferings in life pulls people into victims.
B．	people need family support to deal with challengers in life.
C．	it takes creators quite a long time to get rid of their pains.
D．	one's experiences determine his attitude toward life.

5．

What is the author's purpose in writing this passage?

A．	To define victims and creators.
B．	To evaluate victims against creators.
C．	To explain the relationship between victims and creators.
D．	To suggest the transformation from victims to creators.

The practice of students endlessly copying letters and sentences from a blackboard is a thing of the past. With the coming of new technologies like computers and smartphone, writing by hand has become something of nostalgic (怀旧的)skill. However, while today's educators are using more and more technology in their teaching, many believe basic handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful---both in school and in life.

Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says it's important to continue teaching handwriting and help children acquire the skill of writing by hand.

Berninger and her colleagues conducted a study that looked at the ability of students to complete various writing tasks---both on a computer and by hand. The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, participants wrote longer essays and more complete sentences and had a faster word production rate.

In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student's writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to know well they can write. "Spelling makes some of the thinking parts of the brain active which helps us access our vocabulary, word meaning and concepts. It is allowing our written language to connect with ideas." Berninger said.

Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe(转换) "those words in the mind written symbols on paper or keyboard and screen," the study said. Seeing the words in the "mind's eye" helps children not only to turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to spot(发现) spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct then over time.

"In our computer age, some people believe that we don't have to teach spelling because we have spell checks," she said. "But until a child has a functional spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, they won't have the knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the options given by the computer."

1．

What makes writing by hand a thing of the past?

A．	The absence of blackboard in classroom.
B．	The use of new technologies in teaching.
C．	The lack of practice in handwriting.
D．	The popular use of smartphones.

2．

Berninger's study published in 2009.

A．	focused on the difference between writing by hand and on a computer.
B．	indicated that students prefer to write with a pen and paper.
C．	found that good essays are made up of long sentences.
D．	discussed the importance of writing speed.

3．

Which of the following best shows the role of spelling?

A．	Spelling improves one's memory of words.
B．	Spelling ability is closely related to writing ability.
C．	Spelling benefits the translation from words into ideas.
D．	Spelling slows down finding exact words to express ideas.

4．

What does "mind's eye" in paragraph 5 mean?

A．

Window.

B．

Soul

C．

Picture.

D．

Imagination.

5．

What conclusion could be drawn from the passage?

A．	Computers can help people with their choice of words.
B．	Spell checks can take the place of spelling teaching.
C．	Handwriting still has a place in today's classrooms.
D．	Functional spelling ability develops fast in the fifth grade.