Each new school year brings fresh reminders of what educators call the summer learning gap. Some call it the summer learning setback. Simply speaking, it means the longer kids are out of school, the more they forget. The only thing they might gain is weight.
Most American schools follow a traditional nine-month calendar. Students get winter and spring breaks and about ten weeks of summer vacation. Some schools follow a year-round calendar. They hold classes for about eight weeks at a time, with a few weeks off in between. The National Association for Year-Round Education says there were fewer than three thousand such schools at last count. They were spread among forty-six of the fifty states.
But many experts point out that the number of class days in a year-round school is generally the same as in a traditional school. Lead researcher Paul von Hippel said, "Year-round schools don't really solve the problem of the summer learning setback. They simply spread it out across the year."
Across the country, research shows that students from poor families fall farther behind over the summer than other students. Experts say this can be prevented. They note that many schools and local governments offer programs that can help.
But calling them "summer school" could be a problem. The director of the summer learning center at Johns Hopkins, Ron Fairchild, said research with groups of different parents in Chicago and Baltimore found that almost all strongly disliked the term summer school”. In American culture, the idea of summer vacation is connected to beliefs about freedom and the joys of childhood. The parents welcomed other terms like "summer camp," "enrichment," "extra time" and "hands-on learning."According to the first paragraph the summer learning gap .
| A．helps children to gain weight |
| B．leads children to work harder |
| C．improves children’s memories |
| D．affects children’s regular studies |
Compared to traditional schools, students in the year-round ones .
| A．perform better and have more learning gains |
| B．have much less time for relaxation every year |
| C．have generally the same number of class days |
| D．hold more classes with more free weeks off |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Students from poor families often fall behind after the vacation. |
| B．Year-round schools can solve the problem of the learning gap. |
| C．There are schools in each state following a year-round calendar. |
| D．Nothing can help the students who fall behind after the vocation. |
Why did almost all parents dislike the term “summer school”?
| A．They cherish the children’s rights of freedom very much. |
| B．They are worried about the quality of the “summer school”. |
| C．They want their children to be forced to make up the gap. |
| D．They can’t afford to the further study during vacation. |
What would be the best title of this passage?
| A．Opening Summer Camps |
| B．Forbidding Summer Schools |
| C．Spreading Year-Round Education |
| D．Minding the Summer Learning Cap |
Many Americans are turning to Japan, they think, a country of high academic achievement and economic success, for possible answers．However, the answers provided by Japanese preschools are not the ones Americans expected to find．In most Japanese preschools, surprisingly little emphasis is put on academic instruction．In one survey, 300 Japanese and 210 American preschool teachers, child development specialists, and parents were asked about various aspects of early childhood education．Only 2 percent of the Japanese respondents （答问卷者） listed “to give children a good start academically” as one of their top three reasons for a society to have preschools．In contrast, over half the American respondents chose this as one of their top three choices．To prepare children for successful careers in first grade and beyond, Japanese preschools do not teach reading, writing, and mathematics, but rather skills such as determination, concentration, and the ability to work as a member of a group．The huge majority of young Japanese children are taught to read at home by their parents．
Like in America, there is diversity （多样性） in Japanese early childhood education．Some Japanese kindergartens have specific aims, such as early musical training or potential development．In large cities, some kindergartens are attached to universities that have elementary and secondary schools．Some Japanese parents believe that if their young children attend a university-based program, it will increase the children’s chances of eventually being admitted to top-rated（一流的） schools and universities．Several more progressive programs have introduced free play as a way out for the heavy intellectualizing （智能化） in some Japanese kindergartens.
73．We learn from the first paragraph that many Americans believe .
A．Japanese parents are more involved in preschool education than American parents
B．Japan’s economic success is a result of its scientific achievements
C．Japanese preschool education emphasizes academic instruction
D．Japan’s higher education is superior to theirs
74．In Japan’s preschool education, the focus is on .
A．preparing children academically B．developing children’s artistic interests
C．developing children’s potential D．shaping children’s character
75．Why do some Japanese parents send their children to university-based kindergartens?
A．They can do better in their future studies.
B．They can make more group experience grow there.
C．They can be self-centered when they grow up.
D．They can have better chances of getting a first-rate education.
76．Free play has been introduced in some Japanese kindergartens in order to .
A．broaden children’s knowledge B．train children’s creativity
C．lighten children’s study load D．enrich children’s experience
I had an experience some years ago, which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves．One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community．Both had died “full of years”, as the Bible would say．Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence （吊唁） calls on the two families on the same afternoon.
At the first home, the son of the deceased （已故的） woman said to me, “If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow , she would be alive today．It’s my fault that she died.” At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, “If only I hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today．That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate, was more than she could take．It’s my fault that she’s dead.”
You see that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty．Because the course of action they took turned out badly, they believe that the opposite course — keeping Mother at home, putting off the operation — would have turned out better．After all, how could it have turned out any worse?
There seem to be two elements involved in our willingness to feel guilty．The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens．That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds.
The second element is the view that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen．It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault．The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.
A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it．He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to its tasks．He cries, and someone comes to attend to him．When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him．Very often, we do not completely outgrow that childish view that our wishes cause things to happen.
69．The author had to hold the two women’s funerals probably because .
A．he wanted to comfort the two families
B．he was an official from the community
C．he had great pity for the deceased
D．he was priest of the local church
70．People feel guilty for the deaths of their loved ones because .
A．they couldn’t find a better way to express their sorrow
B．they believe that they were responsible
C．they had neglected the natural course of events
D．they didn’t know things often turn out in the opposite direction
71．According to the passage, the underlined part in paragraph 4 probably means that .
A．everything in the world is predetermined
B．the world can be interpreted in different ways
C．there’s an explanation for everything in the world
D．we have to be sensible in order to understand the world
72．What’s the main idea of the passage?
A．Life and death is an unsolved mystery.
B．Every story should have a happy ending.
C．Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault.
D．In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away .
Domestic （驯养的） horses now pull ploughs, race in the Kentucky Derby, and carry police．But early horses weren’t tame （驯服的） enough to perform these kinds of tasks．Scientists think the first interactions humans had with horses were far different from those today.
Thousands of years ago, people killed the wild horses that lived around them for food．Over time, people began to catch the animals and raise them．This was the first step in domestication.
As people began to tame and ride horses, they chose to keep those animals that had more desirable characteristics．For example, people may have chosen to keep horses that had a gentle personality so they could be ridden more easily．People who used horses to pull heavy loads would have chosen to keep stronger animals．Characteristics like strength are partly controlled by the animals’ genes．So as the domesticated horses reproduced, they passed the characteristics on to their young．Each new generation of horses would show more of these chosen characteristics.
Modern-day horse breeds（种类） come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes．This variety didn’t exist in the horse population before domestication．The Shetland horse is one of the smallest breeds— typically reaching only one meter tall．With short, strong legs, the animals were bred to pull coal out of mine shafts （矿井） with low ceilings．Huge horses like the Clydesdale came on the scene around 1700．People bred these heavy, tall horses to pull large vehicles used for carrying heavy loads.
The domestication of horses has had great effects on societies．For example, horses were important tools in the advancement of modern agriculture．Using them to pull ploughs and carry heavy loads allowed people to farm more efficiently．Before they were able to ride horses, humans had to cross land on foot．Riding horses allowed people to travel far greater distance in much less time．That encouraged populations living in different areas to interact with one another．The new form of rapid transportation helped cultures spread around the world.
65．Before domestication horses were ______.
A．caught for sports B．hunted for food
C．made to pull ploughs D．used to carry people
66．The author uses the Shetland horse as an example to show ______.
A．it is smaller than the Clydesdale horse
B．horses used to have gentle personalities
C．some horses have better shapes than others
D．horses were of less variety before domestication
67．Horses contributed to the spread of culture by ______.
A．carrying heavy loads B．changing farming methods
C．serving as a means of transport D．advancing agriculture in different areas
68．The passage is mainly about _______.
A．why humans domesticated horses
B．how humans and horses needed each other
C．why horses came in different shapes and sizes
D．how human societies and horses influenced each other
第二部分阅读理解（共20小题。每小题2分，；满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Margaret, married with two small children, has been working for the last seven years as a night cleaner, cleaning offices in a big building.
She trained as a nurse, but had to give it up when her elder child became seriously ill．“I would have liked to go back to it, but the shifts（工作班次）are all wrong for me, as I have to be home to get the children up and off to school.”
So she works as a cleaner instead, from 9 p.m．till 6 a.m．five nights a week for just ￡90, before tax and insurance．“It’s better than it was last year, but I still think that people who work ‘unsocial hours’ should get a bit extra.”
The hours she’s chosen to work mean that she sees plenty of the children, but very little of her husband．However, she doesn’t think that puts any pressure on their relationship.
Her work isn’t physically very hard, but it’s not exactly pleasant, either．“I do get angry with people who leave their offices like a place for raising pigs．If they realized people like me have to do it, perhaps they’d be a bit more careful.”
The fact that she’s working all night doesn’t worry Margaret at all．Unlike some dark buildings at night, the building where she works is fully lit, and the women work in groups of three．“Since I’ve got to be here, I try to enjoy myself—— and I usually do, because of the other girls．We all have a good laugh, so the time never drags.”
Another challenge Margaret has to face is the reaction of other people when she tells them what she does for a living．“They think you’re a cleaner because you don’t know how to read and write,” said Margaret, “I used to think what my parents would say if they knew what I’d been doing, but I don’t think that way any more．I don’t dislike the work though I can’t say I’m mad about it.”
61．Margaret quit her job as a nurse because _______.
A．she wanted to earn more money to support her family
B．she had suffered a lot of mental pressure
C．she needed the right time to look after her children
D．she felt tired of taking care of patients
62．Margaret gets angry with people who work in the office because _______.
A．they never clean their offices B．they look down upon cleaners
C．they never do their work carefully D．they always make a mess in their offices
63．When at work, Margaret feels _______.
A．light-hearted because of her fellow workers
B．happy because the building is fully lit
C．tired because of the heavy workload
D．bored because time passes slowly
64．The underlined part in the last paragraph implies that Margaret’s parents would _______.
A．help care for her children B．regret what they had said
C．show sympathy for her D．feel disappointed in her
“The world's oceans are slowly getting more acidic(酸的),” say scientists. The researchers from California report that the change is taking place in response to higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The lowering of the waters' PH value is not great at the moment but could cause a serious threat to current ocean life if it continues, they warn. Ken Caldeira and Michael Wickett, from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, report their concerns in the journal Nature. Increasing use of oil fuels means more carbon dioxide is going into the air, and most of it will eventually be absorbed by seawater. Once in the water, it reacts to form carbonic acid. Scientists believe that the oceans have already become slightly more acidic over the last century.
These researchers have tried to predict what will happen in the future by combining what we know about the history of the oceans with computer models of climate change. “This level of acidity will get much more extreme in the future if we continue releasing CO2 into the atmosphere,” said Dr Caldeira. And we predict the amount of future acidity will be greater than anything we have seen over the last several hundred million years.
However, it is not absolutely clear what that means for ocean life. Most organisms live near the surface, where the greatest PH change would be expected to occur, but deep－ocean life forms may be more sensitive to PH changes. Coral reefs and other organisms whose shells contain calcium carbonate(碳酸钙) may be particularly affected if the water's acidity levels keep going up, the team predict. They could find it much more difficult to build these structures in water with a lower PH.
In recent years some people have suggested storing carbon dioxide from power station in the deep ocean as a way of dealing with global warming. But Dr Caldeira said that such a strategy should now be re—considered. “Previously, most experts had looked at ocean absorption of carbon dioxide as a good thing——because in releasing CO2 into the atmosphere we warm the planet, and when CO2 is absorbed by the ocean, it reduces the amount of greenhouse warming.”
67. The ocean is becoming more acidic due to___________.
A. the lower water PH value B. the warming atmosphere
C. the higher level of CO2 in the air D. the increasing use of oil fuels
68. According to Dr Caldeira, ___________.
A. ocean absorption of carbon dioxide is a good thing
B. more oil fuels will be used in the near future
C. scientists may predict climate changes with computer models
D. the future situation of the amount of acidity is extremely serious
69. If the water's acidity level keeps rising, ___________.
A. ocean life whose structures contain calcium carbonate may be affected
B. the water's PH value will become higher and higher
C. organisms living near the surface are more sensitive to PH changes
D. some disastrous events will occur more often than before
70. Most experts once believed storing carbon dioxide in the ocean would reduce___________.
A. the CO2 absorbed by the ocean B. the amount of greenhouse warming
C. the acidity of the ocean D. the gradual release of CO2