President Obama's plan to improve former president George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind program is an improvement on a good thing. But it doesn't go far enough.
Obama outlined a goal that by 2020, all grade school and high school students are on a path toward college.
However, what we need is a practical plan that not only requires all high school graduates to take at least two years of college but also makes it financially possible for them to do so. We've provided a free public education through the 12th grade. If we're going to keep up—or catch up——with some other countries (like China) in preparing young people for careers, a 12-year education programme no longer is enough.
About 3 million students across the US will graduate from high school this spring. But only 2 million will go on to college, according to a survey by the National Centre for Education Statistics (NCFES). For the more than 1 million who won't go on, money is a main reason. If tuition(学费) were free, about half of them could make up other costs from family or part-time jobs.
Critics (批评家) of free college tuition will say we can't afford it because of the federal deficit (联邦赤字) and other rising costs. Let's see some government spending in detail:
In the last nearly 10 years, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us $ 1,000 billion. Federal money which was spent on public primary and secondary education in the last year for which figures are available was $ 47 billion. If we end costly and unnecessary wars and nation-building efforts abroad, the federal government could provide more money on public education, for which state and governments now carry most of the burden.
What's the program No Child Left Behind about this year?
All children being taken good care of by the government.
All grade school and high school students receiving college education.
No child being left alone at home.
All children having good jobs in the future.
The author probably agrees that President Obama's plan ________.
has nothing to do with George W. Bush's program.
will surely succeed in ten years
is about 12-year education for all the children
doesn't contain practical measures(措施) to achieve its goal
If tuition were not paid for, about ________ American students could afford college education.
|
What can we learn from the passage?
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were necessary.
The federal government has enough money for the plan.
Critics of free tuition think highly of the plan.
Obama's plan might be difficult to carry out.
The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its Web site, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take.
Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers（订阅者） to the newspaper’s print edition will receive full access to the site.
But exec
utives(执行主管) of The New York Times Company said they could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan, like how much it would cost or what the limit would be on free reading. They stressed that the amount of free access could change with time, in response to economic conditions and reader demand.
Still, publishers fear that income from digital subscriptions would not compensate for the resulting loss of audience and advertising revenue.
NYTimes.com is by far the most popular newspaper site in the country, with more than 17 million readers a month in the United States, according to Nielsen Online, and analysts say it is easily the lead
er in advertising revenue, as well. That may make it better positioned than other general-interest papers to charge — and also gives The Times more to lose if the move backfires.
The Times Company has been studying the matter for almost a year, searching for common ground between pro- and anti-pay camps — a debate mirrored in dozens of media-watching blogs — and the system will not go into effect until January 2011. Executives said they were not bothered by the prospect of absorbing barbs（冷嘲热讽） for moving cautiously.
“There’s no prize for getting it quick,” said 
Janet L. Robinson, the company’s president and chief executive. “There’s more of a prize for getting it right.”The first paragraph serves as a __________.
| A．conclusion | B．comment | C．lead-in | D．background |
We may know from the passage that __________.
A．non-paying readers will get no access to N YTimes.com |
| B．readers will be charged more to read more articles on NYTimes.com |
| C．visitors to NYTimes.com frequently will get more free online articles |
| D．subscribers to the print edition will enjoy free access to the site as well |
Which of the following best describes The Times Company's attitude towards its announcement?
| A．rude | B． serious | C．hurried | D．doubtful |
The passage is mainly about_________.
| A．the Times to offer free access to its web site |
| B．the Times to increase audience to its web site |
| C．the Times to attract advertisement to its web site |
| D．the Times to charge for frequent access to its web site |
What makes it rain? Rain falls from clouds for the same reason anything falls to Earth. The Earth's gravity pulls it. But every cloud is made of water droplets or ice crystal(冰晶). Why doesn't rain or snow fall constantly from all clouds? The droplets or ice crystals in clouds are extremely small. The effect of gravity on them is slight. Air currents move and lift droplets so that the net downward amount of water is zero, even though the droplets are moving constantly.
It can be seen that droplets and ice crystals behave somewhat like dust in the air in a beam of sunlight. To the casual observer, dust seems to act in a totally random fashion, moving about
without fixed direction. But in fact dust particles（分子） are much larger than water droplets and they finally fall. The average size of a cloud droplet is only 0.0004 inch in diameter（直径）. It is so small that it would take sixteen hours to fall half a mile in perfectly still air, and 
it
doesn't fall out of moving air at all. Only when the droplet grows to a diameter of 0.008 inch or larger can it fall from the cloud. The average raindrop contains a million times as much water as a tiny cloud droplet. The growth of a cloud droplet to a size larger eno
ugh to fall out is the cause of rain and other forms of precipitation. This important growth process is called "coalescence". Ice crystals do NOT immediately fall to Earth because.
| A．they are kept up by air currents |
| B．most of them change into steam |
| C．they combine with other chemicals in the atmosphere |
| D．their electrical charges draw them away from the earth |
The underlined word "random" in line 10 most probablymeans .
| A．unpredictable | B．strict | C．independent | D．abnormal |
What can be inferred about drops of water larger than 0.008 inch in diameter?
| A．They never occur. |
| B．They are not affected by the force of gravity. |
| C．In moving air they would fall to earth. |
| D．In still air they fall a speed of thirty-two miles per hour. |
How much bigger is the rain drop than a loud droplet?
| A．200 times bigger |
| B．1,000 times bigger |
| C．100,000 times bigger |
| D．1,000,000 times bigger |
Spring is just around the corner and it’s a time to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Here is a selection of festivals around the country that are a great excuse to get back in the spring sunshine.
ales to this part of the Pacific Ocean. Festivities include whale-watching, an arts festival and educational hands-on activities for the entire family. Prices start at $ 29 per adult and $ 19 for children. For more information, visit www.dpfestivalofwhales.com.
| A．$77 | B．$ 58 | C．$ 38 | D．$ 48 |
The underlined word “jockeys” in the second ad is closest in meaning to .
| A．judges | B．riders | C．children | D．travelers |
If you want to learn about the history of American colonial period, you can visit .
| A．Tulip Time | B．Houses and Gardens |
| C．Dana Point of the whales | D．Chandler Ostrich |
It can be concluded that .
A. All the festivals are held in March.
B. All the Festivals are concerned with animals
C. All the Festivals are held in the U.S.A.
D. All the Festivals surely interest children.
Why are so many people so afraid of failure? Quite simple because no one tells us how to fail so that failure becomes an experience that will lead to growth. We forget that failure is part of the human condition and that every person has the right to fail.
Most parents work hard at either preventing failure or protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed. One way is to lower standards. A mother describes her child’s hastily made table as “Perfect!” even though it doesn’t stand 
still. Another way is to shift(转移)blame. If John fails science, his teacher is unfair or stupid.
The trouble with failure prevention is that they leave a child unequipped for life in the real world. The young need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time and that it’s possible to enjoy 
a game even when you don’t win. A child who’s not invited to a birthday party, who doesn’t make the honour roll on the baseball team, feels terrible, of course. But parents should not offer a quick comfort, prize or say “It doesn’t matter.” because it does. The young should be allowed to experience disappointment and be helped to master it.
Failure is never pleasurable. It hurts grownups and children alike. But it can make a positive contribution to your life once you learn to use it. Step one is to ask “Why did it fail? Don’t blame someone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong, how you can improve. If someone else can help, don’t be shy about inquiring. Success, which encourages repetition of old behaviour, is not nearly as good a teacher as failure. You can learn from a bad party how to give a good one, from an ill-chosen first house what to look for in a second. Even a failure that seems definitive can cause fresh thinking, a change of direction. After twelve years of studying ballet, a friend of mine applied for a professional company. She asked. That ballet master shook his head. “You will never be a dancer,” he said,” you haven’t the body for it.”
In such cases, the way to use failure is to take stock bravely asking “What have I left? What else can I do?” My friend put away her shoes and moved into dance treatment center, a field where she’s both able and useful. Failure frees one to take risks because there’s less to lose. Often there is recovery of energy — a way to find new possibilities. The first paragraph tells us ______.
| A．failure is very natural for every person |
| B．the reason why we don’t know how to fail |
| C．the reason why so many people are afraid of failure |
| D．one should be ready to face failure at any time |
How many preventions may parents use when a child fails according to the passage?
| A．only two | B．no more than three | C．less than three | D．more than three |
Which statement below does the writer support?
A．Failure is as good an experience as success. |
| B．Failure is the mother of success. |
| C．Failure is far from a good teacher like success. |
| D．Definitive failure gives us nothing but fresh thinking. |
We can learn from the last paragraph that _______.
| A．failure is the recovery of energy |
| B．failure makes one free to do something dangerous |
| C．failure should be forgotten in our life |
| D．failure is likely to do us good in life |
My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon t
owards evening near my parents’ tomb in the churchyard.
“Hold your noise!” came a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the tombs at the side of the church. “Keep still, you little dev
il(小鬼), or I’ll cut your throat!”
A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. He seized me by the chin(下巴).
“Tell us your name!” said the man. “Quick!”
“Pip, sir.”
“Show us where you live,” said the man. “Point out the place!”
I pointed to where our village lay, on the flat in-shore among the alder-trees and pollards, a mile or more from the church.
The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread.
“You young dog,” said the man, licking his lips, “what fat cheeks you ha’ got. Darn me if I couldn’t eat em, and if I han’t half a mind to’t!”
I earnestly expressed my hope that he wouldn’t, and held tighter to the tombstone on which he had put me; partly, to keep myself upon it; partly, to keep myself from crying.
“Now then lookee here!” said the man. “Where’s your mother?”
“There, sir!” said I.
He started, made a short run, and stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“There, sir!” I timidly explained, pointed to the tombstone. “That’s my mother.”
“Oh!” said he, coming back. “And is that your father alonger your mother?”
“Yes, sir,” said I; “him too; late of thisparish(教区).” The “voice” in the second paragraph came from______.
| A．the church | B．the man | C．the bank | D．the boy |
The boy probably lived _____.
| A．in the parish | B．in the valley | C．in the city | D．in the country |
We can infer from the passage _____.
| A．the boy was very calm and smart |
| B．the man hit the boy in the face |
| C．the boy would forever remember the raw afternoon |
| D．the man was very kind and considerate |
The passage is most probably adapted from________.
| A．a news report | B．a science fiction | C．a novel | D．a review |