Kuss Middle School serves students in Fall River, Mass. , a former mill town that has struggled economically for decades. Students at Kuss have struggled, too, usually falling short of making the academic progress required under the No Child Left Behind law.
Then, last year, the school experimented with extending the school day. Teachers got paid at a higher hourly rate.
Students weren't thrilled at first with leaving school at 4:15 p.m. instead of at 2:20 p.m. But the added hours gave them more time for physical education and let them select special interest classes. By the end of the year, student scores had risen by enough to enable Kuss to make the progress required under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The only surprise is that more districts haven't lengthened school schedules set decades ago to accommodate (适应) a farm economy rather the information economy of today.
| School days The USA ranks 36th of 40 industrialized nations in average weekly instructional time. Selected countries: 1) Thailand--30.5 hours 2) Korea--30.3 hours 7) China--26.5 hours 14) France--24.6 hours 15 ) UK--24.6 hours 16) Mexico--24.2 hours 23 ) Japan--23.8 hours 26)Canada--23.6 hours 36)USA--22.2 hours 40)Brazil--19 hours |
New research suggests the time is ready for a change:
Matched against 39 other developed countries, the United States is near the bottom in the rankings of average weekly instructional time in school. Measured over 12 years, students in the top-scoring countries spend the equivalent of a full extra year in school.
US students perform poorly on math and science tests compared to their international peers, according to a US Education Department comparison released earlier this month. In math, American 15-year-old scored near the bottom among the study's 30 developed countries.
Most countries that boost the number of minutes spent on math instruction find pay offs in improved math scores, according to a study released this month by the Brookings Institution. Small in creases in the school day are more effective than a longer school year, the report concluded.
The most encouraging news about the benefits of extending the school day comes from Massachusetts, where an experiment with 10 schools, including Kuss, appears to be working. Those 10 schools lengthened their instructional days by 25% and boosted their state scores in math, English and science at all grades.
Perhaps the concept won't work everywhere. Certainly, it won't instantly be popular. But it's obvious that a problem exists or that adding class time seems to help.What is the main idea of the above passage?
| A．Experiments with extended school hours produce academic gains. |
| B．Kuss Middle School sets a good example for US education. |
| C．Academic progress has achieved under the No Child Left Behind law. |
| D．Information age calls for more instructional lime at all schools. |
A longer school day is suggested for the following reasons except that _________.
| A．students from many developed countries spend more time at school |
| B．American students do a bad job at science subjects |
| C．teachers are paid at a higher rate with time added |
| D．a longer school day works better than a longer school year |
Which statement is true of Kuss Middle School?
| A．Kuss Middle School lies in where a farm economy is changing to an information one. |
| B．Kuss Middle school has joined the federal "No Child Left Behind" progrann |
| C．Neither teachers nor students are happy with the longer school day. |
| D．Adding class time functions at Kuss Middle School. |
The writer has expressed ____________.
| A．a positive attitude towards adding school time |
| B．a negative attitude towards adding school time |
| C．a changing attitude towards adding school time |
| D．a right attitude towards adding school time |
You cannot see any object unless light from that object gets into your eyes. Some of the things you see give off light of their own. The sun, the stars, a lighted lamp are examples that can be ssen by their own light. Such things are luminous. Most of the things you see are not giving off light of their own. They are simply reflecting light that falls on them from the sun or some other luminous bodies. Then moon , for example , does not give off any light of its own. It is non-luminous. You see it because sunlight falls on it and some of it reflects in your direction. So moonlight is only secondhand sunlight.
When you look at a book, it sends your eyes some of the light that falls on it, and you see the book. If light could be kept out from where you are so that there would be no light for the book to reflect, then you could not see the book even with your eyes wide open.
Light travels so fast that the time in which it travels from the book you are reading to your eyes is so short as if it took no time at all. Light reaches us form the moon , which is about 380,000 kilometers away, in only a little more than a second.You can see the book because___________.
| A．your eyes are close to it . | B．it reflects light |
| C．it has light of its own | D．your eyes can get to it |
The word “ reflects” means____________.
| A．throws back | B．takes back |
| C．gives off | D．sends out |
___________ have light of their won.
| A．the sun and the moon | B．The stars and the earth |
| C．The sun and the stars | D．The moon and the earth |
Man has a big brain. He can think, learn and speak. Scientists thought that men are different from animals because they can think and learn. They know now that dogs, cats and birds can learn too. They are beginning to understand that. They make noises when they are afraid, or angry or unhappy. Apes(猿) can understand some things more quickly than human, one or two of them have learnt a few words. But they can not join words to make sentences. They can not think like us because they have no language. Language is a wonderful thing. Man has been able to build a modern world because he has language. Every child can speak his own language very well when he is four or five, —but no animal learns to speak. How do children learn it ? Scientists do not really know. What happens inside our body when we speak? They do not know. They only know that man can speak because he has a brain.The best title for this passage is .
| A．Animal’s Language | B．Man and Ape | C．Brain and language | D．Man’s Brain |
Men are different from animals in the way that .
| A．men can understand things quickly | B．men can learn |
| C．men have learnt to use language | D．men have brains |
An ape can not .
| A．make noises | B．understand things | C．learn words | D．speak like man |
Scientists now know .
| A．how children learn to speak | B．why apes can learn a few words |
| C．man’s brain helps him to learn to speak | D．what happens when men speak |
Which of the following is NOT true ?
| A．Some animals can learn. | B．Apes can understand some things more quickly than men. |
| C．Apes can put the words they know together. | |
| D．Apes have no language though they can learn some words |
Move Earth — it’s no science fiction
LONDON — Scientists have found an unusual way to prevent our planet from overheating: move it to a cooler spot. All you have to do is send a few comets（彗星）in the direction of Earth, and its orbit will be changed. Our world will then be sent spinning into a safer, colder part of the solar system.
This idea for improving our climate comes from a group of US National Aeronautics and Space Administration（NASA） engineers and American astronomers. They say their plan could add another six billion years to the useful lifetime of our planet—effectively doubling its working life.
The plan put forward by Dr Laughlin, and his colleagues Don Korycansky and Fred Adams ,needs carefully directing a comet or asteroid so that it passes close by our planet and sends some of its gravitational energy to Earth.
“Earth’s orbital speed would increase as a result and we would move to a higher orbit away from the Sun,” Laughlin said.
Engineers would then direct their comet so that it passed close to Jupiter or Saturn. The comet would pick up energy from one of these giant planets. Later its orbit would bring it back to Earth, and the process would be repeated. In the short term, the plan provides an ideal way to global warming, although the team was actually concerned with a much greater danger. The sun is certain to heat up in about a billion years and so “seriously compromise” our biosphere（生物圈）— by cooking us.
That’s why the group decided to try to save Earth.
The plan has one or two worrying aspects, however. For a start, space engineers would have to be very careful about how they directed their asteroid or comet towards Earth. The smallest miscalculation（误算）in orbit could fire it straight at Earth—with deadly consequences.
There is also the question of the Moon. As the current issue of Scientific American magazine points out, if Earth was pushed out of its current position it is “most likely the Moon would be stripped away from Earth,” it states. This would greatly change our planet’s climate.What makes the scientists plan to move Earth?
| A．A few comets are moving to the direction of Earth. |
| B．Earth’s working life is coming to an end soon. |
| C．Earth will become too hot for mankind to keep alive. |
| D．The moon is moving farther and farther away from Earth. |
If the plan is successful, Earth will have a working life of ______years.
| A．12 billion | B．6 billion | C．18 billion | D．24 billion |
What serious problems might the plan cause according to the passage?
| A．The comet might hit Earth and man might lose the moon. |
| B．Earth might be moved too far away and man might be frozen to death. |
| C．The comet might hit Jupiter or Saturn and never return to Earth. |
| D．Earth’s working life might be greatly shortened. |
What does the underlined word “compromise” mean?
| A．provide | B．benefit | C．share | D．endanger |
Which of the following best shows how the plan would work?
Advice to English learners
Learners of English, especially self-taught learners may have trouble in understanding speeches by native speakers. The following ways might help improve their ability.
First of all, do things step by step. It is not good to listen to something beyond your level. Better choose a suitable course and start with the first book. Go on to the second book only after you are sure you understand the first one.
Secondly, stick to one course of study. Don’t change books often. Never let your attention be attracted by another course just because it seems to be more “ fashionable”(时髦).
Thirdly, listen to the English news programme over the radio from time to time. Better go through the news stories in the Chinese-language newspaper first. That will make it easy for you to understand the English news on the radio.
Fourthly, if you have time, listen to some interesting stories in “special English” from the VOA or other listening materials of the same level as that of your textbook.This is a piece of advice to learners of English in how to_____.
| A．improve their listening ability | B．read fast |
| C．write better English and read fast | D．speak correctly |
If you want to understand the English news programme on the radio, you should_________.
read the Chinese-language newspaper carefully
read again and again the Chinese-language newspaper
go through the Chinese-language newspaper
be able to recite the Chinese-language newspaper“Beyond your level” means something_______.
| A．easy for you | B．too difficult for you |
| C．not too easy and not too difficult for you | D．just all right for you |
The author advised that once you have taken up a course, you should_______.
stick to itB. begin with the last book
C. take up other courses if you are more fashionable D. not do anything elseIn this passage, VOA stands for______.
| A．a book | B．a magazine | C．a textbook | D．a radio station |
One night last February, a seventeen-year-old Duffy drove home along a winding road, he saw a strange light thrown against the tree. “I knew it wasn’t the moon”, he said. “I drive this road all the time and I notice little things out of place.”
Duffy stopped his car and got out to examine. Below him far down in the deep valley lay a broken car with its headlights on. Thirty minutes earlier, a man had driven off the edge of the road, which has no guardrail. His car fell and rolled end over end, landing on its top more than two hundred feet below.
Duffy rushed to call for help, then returned and got down to reach the injured driver. Snow covered the valley and the temperature was below freezing. After struggling back up the cliff, Duffy took off his jacket and shirt and wrapped the injured man in time, along with the blankets from his car.
Life-saving deeds are starting to become usual action for Duffy, the oldest of seven children. When he was 12, he saved his ten-year-old brother from drowning. Two years ago, his three-year-old sister ate rat poison, and Duffy cleaned out her mouth, make her drink milk to protect her stomach and called doctors.
“We have tried to teach the children good values, and it looks like we have got some reward for it.” His father says.
46. The strange light came from ________.
A. The bright moon. B. Duffy’s car.
C. The broken car in the valley D. an unknown place
47. The phrase” landing on its top” means the car lay_________.
A. on the top of the cliff B. with its wheels upward
C. with its head upward D. on the road as usual
48. Duffy wrapped the man because_________.
A. he was badly injured B. he had lost too much blood
C. he had nothing on D. it was too cold that day
49. From the above article, we can see Duffy has saved ________ at least.
A. two B. three C. four D. five
50. “We have tried to teach the children good values” may probably mean Duffy’s parents often tell their children_________.
A. to help people in danger B. how to save people’s lives
C. to remember the value of the car D. how to do business