Bexley Middle School eighth-graders won the grand prize at the 2009 National Engineers Week Future City Competition (TM) on Feb. 18 in Washington, D.C. They competed with 37 other schools across the country.
The students qualified for the national competition by winning a regional competition on Jan. 17 in Columbus. By winning the national event, the students earned an all-expenses paid trip to Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., according to a Bexley school district news report.
Future City aims to stir (激发) interest in science, technology, engineering and math among young people. Bexley team members were Tom Krajnak, Abby Sharp, Wyatt Peery, Elizabeth Maher, Aaron Hutchinson and Truman Haycock. They work in teams under the guidance of a teacher, Margaret Englehardt, and a volunteer engineer, Mark Sherman, design and build a city of tomorrow. Mayor John Brennan presented the students during a recent Bexley City Council meeting. Each team in the Future City competition plans its city using Sim City software and creates a model to show a physical representation of one section of the city. Team members must write both an essay about the yearly theme and an abstract about their city. They also must make a presentation to judges.
Focusing on eco-responsibility, the Bexley team built “Novo-Mondum,” an Icelandic city in the year 2171. Krajnak said the team’s project included a new water system for each resident unit and a 500-word essay on using bacteria to purify water. “We used our essay and abstract (摘要) to build a model,” he said. “It was hard to organize which building would go where, what each building does and how to make it look good.”
Englehardt said her students did a good job answering impromptu (即席) questions during the regional competition. “They can think on their feet,” she said. Principal Harley Williams said the school is very proud of the students’ performance... From the passage we can learn that the grand prize winners will _________.
A．receive scholarship for further studies  |
| B．get a free trip to Space Camp in Huntsville |
| C．earn a large sum of money for their designs |
| D．be admitted to universities without exams |
.The goal of the Future City competition is to _________.
| A．make the Sim City software popular |
| B．test the students’ knowledge of city planning |
| C．select future engineers from young students |
| D．make students become interested in engineering |
. Each team must do the following EXCEPT _________.
| A．write brief abstracts describing their city |
| B．present and defend their designs before judges |
| C．build a future city in Iceland by themselves |
| D．create model cities using the Sim City software |
. According to Margaret Engl
ehardt, the students _________.
| A．always stand still in the competition |
| B．react very quickly to the questions |
| C．prepare for the questions in advance |
| D．take pride in the advisers’ performance |
At age 11, Ghulam was married off to 40-year-old Jaiz in a rural Afghan village, making her only one of more than 10 million young girls who are being forced to wed men old enough to be their fathers of grandfather every year.
In an effort to start a global conversation about the devastating effects of early marriages, which are currently practiced in more than 50 developing countries, the United Nations designed October 11 as International Day of the Girl Child this year.
Although child marriage is against the law in many countries, and international treaties forbid the practice, it is estimated that about 51 million girls below age 18 are currently married, often under the cover of darkness and in secret. In Afghanistan alone, it is believed that approximately 57 percent of girls wed before the legal age of 16.
Various factors drive parents of child bridges to marry off their daughters, from the community’s pressure to confirm to age-old cultural customs to economic considerations. In poor, developing nations, it is not uncommon for families to settle debts by offering their daughters as payment.
Experts agree that early marriage denies the girl education and robs them of their childhood because most young wives, burdened by grownup responsibilities, do not get a chance to interact with their peers or carry on friendships outside the household. In many cases, the girls are lorded over by their husbands and in-laws, leaving them vulnerable(易受伤害的) to domestic violence as well as physical, sexual and verbal abuse. Underage wives who are lucky enough to escape from their husbands end up living in poverty, or worse. Most girls who enter early marriages are expected to get pregnant right away, which often leads to tragedy for both the mothers, who are still children themselves, and their babies.
Unless international organizations take steps to reverse the troubling trend, it is estimated that over the next decade, 100 million more girls—or about 25,000 girls a day ---will marry before they turn 18.
To learn more about campaign to end the practice of early marriages, please click: Too Young To Wed.The purpose of the first paragraph is to _________.
| A．attract readers’ attention |
| B．introduce the following topic |
| C．list the countries practicing early marriages |
| D．give readers an example of early marriages |
The fifth paragraph mainly talks about __________.
| A．the number of girls involved in early marriages |
| B．the causes of early marriages in developing counties |
| C．the tragic effects of early marriages |
| D．the countries that allow early marriages |
The UN made October 11 as International Day of the Girl Child in order to __
| A．urge parents to treat girls equally as boy |
| B．call on people to pay more attention to girls’ education |
| C．call on people to pay more attention to girls in poor countries or areas |
| D．start a global campaign against early marriages |
Which of the following is a cause of early marriages?
| A．The present girls develop much earlier than before |
| B．Some poor parents marry off their young girls for economic problems. |
| C．Many young girls receive little or no education for different reasons. |
| D．Most girls suffer from domestic violence and have babies too early. |
Travelling abroad for leisure is becoming more and more popular for Chinese. The UK is high up in the list of places that the Chinese want to visit. There is a sense of mystery about the UK; it’s often the images of England’s green parks, countryside and Victorian houses that people point to as an alternative to polluted, overcrowded cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou.
The capital is viewed as modern and dynamic, while being filled deep with history. When asked what other images are thought of by the UK, the reply is often “the Queen, tea and Oxbridge”. So what’s stopping them actually coming? Sebastian Wood ,the British ambassador in Beijing, has described the UK as a “fortress”, and while this is perhaps an exaggeration(夸张)，Britain does have a reputation as a country that is harder to access.
The main problem for Chinese tourists is obvious. Although visa applications are now completed online, visitors are still required to visit one of 12 UK centers across the country for a face-to-face interview and fingerprinting. If you don’t live near one of these enters already, you’d have to travel some distance to get there.
Another problem is also to be mentioned. If travelers from China visit the UK, they also want to cover as much ground as possible. But the UK is not included in the Schengen visa, which allows access to a host of 26 European countries such as France and Germany. So it makes the former seem a less worth it.
There is also the issue of cost: £47 for a Schengen visa, £82 for the UK. On top of this, the UK is viewed as stricter in its handing of visas compared with the rest of Europe, fed by urban legends of rejected applications. In the end, the decision comes down to one question: Is Britain worth a visit? The underlined word “fortress ” in paragraph2 is something similar to ______.
| A．temple | B．apartment | C．castle | D．market |
Which of the following statements is NOT true for the UK visa?
| A．One can apply for a visa online. |
| B．One must have a face-to-face interview. |
| C．No one can get a visa without a fingerprinting. |
| D．No one needs to travel a long distance to get a center. |
What can a visitor do if he gets a Schengen visa?
| A．He can only visit the UK. |
| B．He can only visit 26 European countries. |
| C．He can visit the UK and France. |
| D．He can travel to any country he likes. |
What is the writer’s attitude towards visiting the UK?
| A．He really supports Chinese people to visit the UK. |
| B．He suggests Chinese people visit London strongly. |
| C．He thinks it is troublesome to visit the UK. |
| D．He believes everyone should go to see the Queen and Oxbridge. |
Scores on a national test released(发布)on November 1 show that students in the U.S.A. have improved in math over the last two years, but mostly stayed the same in reading. This year, 422,000 fourth graders and 343,000 eighth graders took the exams between January and March. Students were asked to read grade-appropriate(年级适合的) materials and answer questions for the reading test. For the math test, students answered questions about geometry, algebra, number properties, measurement and other topics.
The U.S Department of Education released the scores in a report called The Nation’s Report Card (NAEP). This year, students earned the highest scores ever recorded on the math exam, which has been given since 1990.Fourth graders scored an average of 241.That is a one-point increase from 2009and a 28-point increase from 1990. Eighth graders made similar progress. Then average score this year was 284,up one point from 2009 and 21 points from 1990.
In reading, fourth graders scored an average of 221 points, the same average score since 2007.That score is four points above those from 1992, when the first reading test was given. Eighth graders scored an average of 265 points, up one point from 2009 and five points from 1992.
Education experts say reading is a harder subject to improve in the classroom than math. While math is largely learned in classrooms, reading results depend on how much kids read outside of school and how much they read in other subjects, such as history and science.
On the NAEP, math scores were the highest among students who have limited use of calculators(计算器) during math lessons, compared with students who have unlimited use or no use. Reading scores were the highest among students who said they read for fun on their own time almost every day.According to the test, students in the U.S.A _______________________.
| A．do better in math than in reading |
| B．work harder at reading than at math |
| C．prefer to learn math in their spare time |
| D．are more interested in reading than before |
In 1990, the fourth graders’ average score on the math exam was about____________
| A．238 | B．240 | C．213 | D．220 |
We can learn from the third paragraph that ______________.
| A．eighth graders all took part in the test in 2007 |
| B．reading scores have not improved much since 2007 |
| C．eighth graders got higher scores than fifth graders |
| D．fourth graders’ scores are becoming lower and lower |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The first reading test was given in 1990. |
| B．Eighth graders’ average math score was 285 in 2009 |
| C．Eighth graders got the same average as fourth graders in the reading this year |
| D．Reading is hard to improve in the classroom because that requires students to read a lot outside of school. |
They say love can cover a lot of crimes; yet never have I seen it more beautifully showed than in the life of a dog named Jessie. Jessie came into our lives at the age of six months. By that time he had already experienced the hard knocks of life. He was found abandoned on the side of the road, where we adopted him and took him home.
From the beginning, it was obvious that Jessie was traumatized (受精神创伤的). He was afraid of everything: the car, the doors, the stairs, and just about everything else. We couldn’t foresee where Jessie’s fear would take us.
Jessie was with us for about six months, when we became foster parents to a mixed-breed young dog. Jessie did not like her at all. We all lived in a nervous co-existence, until dinnertime. Within moments a food fight erupted between Jessie and this foster child.
It all happened so fast, and I was in the middle. My husband managed to get in between the two dogs, grabbing Jessie by his collar. Jessie screamed all the way down the hall and into the bedroom. I, quickly put the foster dog into her own bedroom and hurried down the hall. The crashing I heard in the bedroom, scared me to death. But nothing prepared me for the scene I witnessed as I opened the bedroom door.
There was my husband, on top of a terrified Jessie, holding back his head. Blood dripped from my husband’s arm. To tell you the truth, as I was sitting beside my husband in the emergency room, I just didn’t know what to do with Jessie. I was so angry at that dog.
Day after day, week after week, however, my husband faithfully trained the dog that others would have put down. As his arm healed over the next months, something rare and beautiful began to take place. Jessie, under my husband’s gentle persuasion, began to understand and obey. And Jessie adored him. I could see, that although the tempest had ruled Jessie’s former life, affirmation and love had calmed the storm.Before being adopted by the writer, Jessie had _______.
| A．suffered a lot |
| B．Lived a happy life |
| C．lived on the road half a year |
| D．often fought against other dogs |
Paragraph 2 shows that the writer was ________.
| A．happy | B．disappointed |
| C．angry | D．worried |
It can be inferred from the text that the writer’s husband’s arm bled because of _________.
| A．his own behavior |
| B．the writer’s fault |
| C．Jessie’s bite |
| D．The new foster dog |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．A Dog Named Jessie |
| B．Love Calmed the Storm |
| C．Conflicts Between Dogs |
| D．Fights Between Man and Dog |
Teachers and parents usually pay attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to preschool children. But a new study suggests that paying attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers.
The two-year study compared children who were read to this way in class with children who were not. Those whose teachers most often discussed the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding. These results were found one year and even two years later.
Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, was an author of the study. She says most preschool teachers would find this method manageable and would need only a small change in the way they teach. They already read storybooks in class. The only difference would be increased attention to the printed text.
Ms Piasta says if you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling. But she says research suggests that very few parents and teachers do this in a systematic(系统的) way.
More than 300 children aged four and five were observed in classrooms in Ohio and Virginia. The children came from poor families and were below average in their language skills. This put them at risk of reading problems later. For 30 weeks, the children took part in a program called Project STAR. It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to preschool children in their classrooms.
There’re different ways that adults can talk to children about print. They can point to a letter and discuss it, and even trace the shape with a finger. They can point out a word, “This is a ‘dog’.” They can discuss how the words tell the story. And they can talk about the organization of the print—for example, showing how words are written left to right in English.According to the text, Shayne Piasta _______.
| A．worked in a middle school |
| B．didn’t attend the research at all |
| C．liked kids to be educated through words |
| D．hoped to increase kids’ interest through pictures |
According to the text, Project STAR ____.
| A．focused on adults’ education |
| B．was to study reading results |
| C．was mainly conducted at home |
| D．tested kids with good reading skills |
What is the last paragraph mainly about?
| A．Why words have meanings. |
| B．Different expressions of words. |
| C．How words are spelled differently. |
| D．Ways of teaching about print. |
The text may appear in ____.
| A．Child Development |
| B．Daily Technology |
| C．International Affairs |
| D．Health Development |