Speaking in his first National Day Rally speech on 15 August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien said Singapore’s education system was set for more reforms in the years ahead, particularly for the primary and secondary education．Read the summary of his thoughts on education below．
For a start, the Government is prepared to send and additional 3,000 teachers to Singapore schools, cut the courses of study even further and change the way the mother tongue, especially Chinese, is taught．But, for the changes to be successful, parents need to help．
Singapore has a devoted group of teachers and principals and quite a few of them are outstanding, but the Republic’s schools can be even better．To help the schools make a jump in quality, the Government plans that within the next 6 years, it will send 1,000 more teachers to primary schools, 1,400 to secondary schools and 550 more to junior colleges．Each school would decide how to use its extra teachers．Some may want to make classes smaller so students get more individual attentions while others may have new teachers assist more senior teachers, but the overall goal is to give teachers the time and space to come up with ways to bring out the best in their students．
More teachers must not mean more homework, however．In fact, the Prime Minister wants to see the courses cut down so that there is less pressure on the students．Good grades are important but they should not be the only goal students have．PM Lee is convinced that “we must teach less so that our children can learn more．”
Another change will be in the teaching of the mother tongue so that students can become more fluent．The key is to teach Chinese as a living language not just an academic subject like Latin．Therefore, the focus should be on speaking and reading the language．To do this, there must be an environment outside the classroom that is contributing to strengthening the Chinese lessons．The text is mainly about in Singapore．
| A．the education reform | B．adding more teachers |
| C．the mother tongue | D．ways of teaching |
The general goal of using extra teachers is to ．
| A．make classes smaller | B．assist more senior teachers |
| C．teach more | D．help teachers improve teaching quality |
PM Lee holds that the students should ．
| A．do more homework | B．give up higher grades |
| C．study more courses | D．be given more time to learn more |
The key to teaching Chinese well is to ．
| A．make it academic | B．have a creative environment |
| C．give more Chinese lessons | D．encourage speaking and reading a lot |
We have two daughters: Kristen is seven years old and Kelly is four. Last Sunday evening, we invited some people home for dinner. I dressed them nicely for the party, and told them that their job was to join Mommy in answering the door when the bell rang. Mommy would introduce them to the guests, and then they would take the guests' coats upstairs and put them on the bed in the second bedroom.
The guests arrived. I introduced my two daughters to each of them. The adults were nice and kind and said how lucky we were to have such good kids.
Each of the guests made a particular fuss over Kelly, the younger one, admiring her dress, her hair and her smile. They said she was a remarkable girl to be carrying coats upstairs at her age.
I thought to myself that we adults usually make a big "to do" over the younger one because she's the one who seems more easily hurt. We do it with the best of intentions.
But we seldom think of how it might affect the other child. I was a little worried that Kristen would feel she was being outshined. I was about to serve dinner when I realized that she had been missing for twenty minutes. I ran upstairs and found her in the bedroom, crying.
I said, "What are you doing, my dear?"
She turned to me with a sad expression and said, "Mommy, why don't people like me the way they like my sister? Is it because I 'm not pretty? Is that why they don't say nice things about me as much?"
I tried to explain to her, kissing and hugging her to make her feel better.
Now, whenever I visit a friend's home, I make it a point to speak to the elder child first.
56．The underlined expression ' make a big "to do" over' (paragraph 4) means ______.
A．show much concern about B．have a special effect on
C．list jobs to be done for D．do good things for
57．The guests praised Kelly for carrying coats upstairs because of her ______.
A．beautiful hair B．pretty clothes
C．lovely smile D．young age
58．Kristen felt sad and cried because ______.
A．the guest gave her more coats to carry
B．she didn't look as pretty as Kelly
C．the guests praised her sister more than her
D．her mother didn't introduce her to the guests
59．We can conclude from the passage that ______.
A．parents should pay more attention to the elder children
B．the younger children are usually more easily hurt
C．people usually like the younger children more
D．adults should treat children equally
60．Which of the following saying is right?
A．Kristen and Kelly are not getting along with each other.
B．Kristen is older than Kelly.
C．The mother likes Kristen more than Kelly.
D．People usually talk more to Kelly than they do to Kristen.
The following is a true story. It happened in the northern end of Queens land, Australia, where all kinds of animals live in the forest.
Lisa, a 33-year-old woman, went to prepare lunch in the kitchen, leaving Barney, her three-year-old son, playing by himself in the back garden.
Suddenly, a sharp cry of Barney came into the mother’s ears, and Lisa rushed into the backyard in a hurry and found a big snake entwining(缠绕) the little child with its terrible body and trying to eat the boy as its delicious dish! It was a boa(蟒)! Lisa was terrified and quite angry. She made up her mind to save her son from the snake’s mouth.
It was fearless mother love that made Lisa forget what she faced. She took up an old hoe from the ground and beat the boa with all her might.
One...two... With the hoe, Lisa beat the snake repeatedly, but useless. The little boy’s voice and breath were getting weaker and weaker. Lisa’s heart was broken and she got nearly mad.
Suddenly Lisa put away the hoe and threw herself to the boa, opening her mouth and bit into the boa’s back as if trying to eat a rare steak(牛排). Lisa was really mad!
Blood was spurting(喷射) out of the boa’s body and covered most of Lisa’s body. The boa was so badly wounded that it let go of Barney and moved back into the forest hurriedly. It had never known how a man had such terrible sharp teeth! On halfway home, the boa died.
It was fearless mother love that saved the little boy.
61．When she rushed into the back garden, Lisa found ______
A．a boa eating her son
B．her son was playing with a big snake
C．her son in danger of losing his life
D．her son was fighting with a boa
62．Lisa failed in fighting against the boa at first just because ______.
A．she was bit by the boa
B．the boa was too strong
C．the hoe was not sharp enough
D．she was afraid that she would hurt her son
63． Lisa bit the snake because ______.
A．she was mad
B．she thought her teeth were much sharper than the boa
C．her son was entwined by the boa
D．she hadn’t got any other way to fight with the snake
64．The best title for this passage is ______.
A．Mother and Boa B．Fearless Mother Love
C．A Boa and a Boy D．Saving a Boy from a Boa
A German taxi-driver, Franz Bussman, recently found his brother who was thought to have been killed twenty years before.
While on a walking tour with his wife, he stopped to talk to a workman. After they had gone on, Mrs Bussman said that the workman was closely like her husband and even suggested that he might be his brother. Franz laughed at the idea, pointing out that his brother had been killed in action during the war. Though Mrs Bussman knew this story quite well, she thought that there was a chance in a million that she might be right.
A few days later, she sent a boy to the wokman to ask him if his name was Hans Bussman. Needless to say, the man’s name was Hans Bussman. And he really was Franz’s long-lost brother. When the brothers were reunited, Hans explained how it was that he was still alive.
After having been wounded towards the end of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit. The hospital had been bombed and Hans had made his way back into Western Germany on foot. Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had been destroyed. Hans returned to his family house, but the house had been bombed. Guessing that his family had been killed during an air-raid. Hans settled down in a village fifty miles away where he had remained ever since.
69．Which of the following can be used as the best title of the passage?
A．Living Not Far. B．A Chance in a Million
C．Coming Back to Life D．Back after the War.
70．Walking along the street, _______.
A．Mr. Bussman recognized his brother at the first sight.
B．Mrs. Bussman thought of her long-lost brother.
C．Mr. and Mrs. Bussman talked to a workman because he looked like his brother.
D．Mr. Bussman happened to meet a work-man and talked to him.
71. Which of the following order is RIGHT?
A．He walked back to Western German
B．He was wounded when the war was coming to the end.
C．The hospital was destroyed by bombs.
D．He came back to his family house.
e. He was sent to hospital.
f. His unit of German didn’t exist any longer.
A．b, a, e, d, f, c B．b, e, c, a, f, d
C．b, e, a, c, d, f D．b, c, f, d, a, e
It is impossible not to make a mistake at some points in your life. We may as well accept that something will go wrong and we will be to blame. It is therefore sensible to work out some strategies for apologizing, and the best way to apologize is by letter. This way you can take care over every work you write— which you can’t do if you say sorry to someone in person.
We all say or do something that we wish we hadn’t said or done. You may say something that accidentally hurts someone, or you may provide a service which doesn’t come up to the standards that a client or customer expected.
You may feel that it was a genuine mistake which couldn’t be avoided. Rather than dwell on the mistake, you should quickly try to remedy（修补）the problem. An effective letter of apology is an important part of that process.
For the contents of the letter, just remember TABS—Timing, Action, Brevity, Sincerity.
The timing of a letter of apology is essential—it must be sent as soon as possible. Any delay in our sending the letter will only compound the problem. In this case “Better late than never” is not the best motto! The longer you wait before you wait before writing a letter of apology, the more it will seem that you have been coerced（被迫）into writing it.
Although it is important to recognize what has gone before, it is also essential to detail the action you plan to take to rectify whatever it was you did wrong. Research has shown that some indication that you have thought about what future action you plan to take is always well received.
A letter of apology should be brief and the word “sorry” should appear no more than twice. Indicate that you are aware using it a second time—“once again, I am so sorry for…” or “as I said earlier, I am really sorry about…”. Finally, the tone of the letter has to be sincere. In fact, the combination of all the above factors will help in this respect.
And don’t think that letters are out of date in the email—oriented 21st century. An apology email can be worse than no apology at all!What kind of advice does the text suggest about apologizing?
| A．It’s a good idea to write a letter of apology as soon as something has gone wrong. |
| B．It’s a good idea to send several emails to apologize. |
| C．Write a long letter apologizing several times to make your point. |
| D．Wait to see how they react to your letter before planning to do anything. |
What kind of things do you NOT apologize for?
| A．A service that is not as good as it should be. |
| B．Genuine mistakes. |
| C．Car accidents. |
| D．Causing offence or hurt. |
The underlined expression “Rather than dwell on the mistake” in the third paragraph means you _____.
| A．should not waste time worrying about what happened. |
| B．should consider the problem |
| C．should forget about what happened. |
| D．should analyse who was at fault. |
How can timing compound problems?
| A．If you write immediately, they will be suspicious. |
| B．If you leave it for a few days, they will know it is your idea to write. |
| C．Waiting for a few days before you write will show your sincerity. |
| D．Waiting too long will make it worse because they won’t believe you mean it. |
In some urban centers, workaholism is so common that people do not consider it unusual:
They accept the lifestyle as normal. Government workers in Washington D.C, for example, frequently work sixty to seventy hours a week. They don’t do this because they have to; they do it because they want to.
Workaholism can be a serious problem. Because true workaholics would rather work than do anything else, they probably don’t know how to relax.
Is workaholism always dangerous? Perhaps not. There are, certainly, people who work well under stress. Some studies show that many workaholies have great energy and interest in life. Their work is so pleasurable that they are actually very happy. For most workaholics, work and entertainment keep them busy and creative.
Why do workaholics enjoy their jobs so much? There are several advantages to work. Of course, it provides people with paychecks, and this is important. But it offers more than financial security. It provides people with self confidence; they have a feeling of satisfaction when they’re produced a challenging piece of work and are able to say, “I made that.” Psychologists claim that work gives people an identity through participation in work, they get a sense of self and individualism. In addition, most jobs provide people with a socially acceptable way to meet others. Perhaps some people are compulsive about their work, but their addiction seems to be a safe-even an advantageous-one.The passage indicates that workaholics .
| A．just know work but nothing else |
| B．are willing to work hard for long hours without pay |
| C．find their work provide them more satisfaction and self confidence than how much they are paid |
| D．has the work with more responsibility than others |
One of the reasons that some people are not willing to quit their jobs even in their eighties and nineties is that
| A．they are in the need of financial security |
| B．they would rather work than be disturbed by domestic affairs |
| C．they long for a sense of identity and being accomplished |
| D．they may have health problems from sheer boredom |
This passage is mainly about .
| A．workaholics are usually successful people, but their lives are in a mess |
| B．workaholism can lead to serious problems but it can also create a joyful life |
| C．people who are absorbed in their work may enjoy movies, sports and other kinds of entertainment |
| D．those who work even under difficult conditions may be very happy |
It can be inferred from the passage that .
| A．in the eyes of all the common people workaholics are peculiar |
| B．to workaholics, work is the sole source of happiness |
| C．a piece of challenging work may provide the workaholics a sense of satisfaction |
| D．workaholics are as addicted to their job as other people are to drugs or alcohol |