First Lady Michelle Obama is a big fan of volunteering. Volunteering means working for free to help someone else. Mrs. Obama says volunteering is very important. “It should be part of everyone’s life, ” she says.
Many teens agree. They say that helping others feels great and makes a difference. These days, more teens volunteer than work for pay. Teens clean up parks, walk dogs at animal shelters , visit the elderly and more.
Some cities ---- including Seatle, Chicago, and Washingtong,D.C. ----require high school students to volunteer. Students must volunteer in order to graduate. The student volunteers learn new skills and help their communities (社区).
Many parents are in favor of the idea ---- they say volunteering helps teens build job skills. But most teens don’t want to be forced to volunteer. They say they are busy. And they say volunteering is only fun if it’s a choice.
Read both sides of the debate (辩论) and decide.
YES
● Volunteering can help teens get into college or get a job.
● Many cities and towns need help. Volunteers can help keep important programs going.
● Not all teens will volunteer if it isn’t required. Schools should repuire students to do all they can to get ready for adult life.
NO
● Most teens are already very busy with classes, homework, jobs and sports. Forcing them to do more isn’t fair.
● It should be up to each person. Helping out doesn’t feel as good if you have to do it.
● Finding a volunteer job isn’t always easy. Students shouldn’t be kept from graduating because of something they can’t control.The writer mentions Michelle Obama in order to ,
A.introduce the topic of the text |
B.explain what volunteering is |
C.tell what she does for the US |
D.show she enjoys volunteering |
According to the text, in Chicago, .
A.finding a volunteer job is quite easy |
B.more people would rather work for pay |
C.volunteering is a must for high school students |
D.college students have to volunteer before graduation |
The underlined part “are in favor of “ in the text means” .
A.drop | B.develop | C.catch | D.like |
Which question does the text mainly discuss?
A.Is volunteering good for students? |
B.What is the best time to volunteer? |
C.Should students be required to volunteer? |
D.Which volunteer jobs should students do? |
I've cheated in school when I thought that I could get away with it. I'm not proud of it and I don't usually feel very good about myself afterward, but sometimes it's the only way possible to survive in a pressure cooker. My parents are really set on my getting good grades. They study my report card the same way they examine the newspaper's stock market page. And they make me feel that I've got to live up to their expectations.
But often each teacher acts as if his is the only subject we have. They think nothing of piling on our homework or giving surprise quizzes. Sometimes we have to take two or three tests in different subjects on the same day. I'd like to see a lot of adults I know preparing for that.
When the pressure becomes too high, some kids may resort to(诉诸于) cheating. If you have three or four subjects to study for, you're not going to be able to devote enough time to each subject in order to be well prepared for each class. Besides, it may be the only way left to live up to your parents' expectations and compete with the top students in the class.
Everybody knows that if you cheat, it's important not to get caught. Few things can cause more of chaos. Once, my elder brother got caught cheating on a math final. My parents acted as though he'd committed a federal crime. The assistant principal called them to school, but although the incident caused several conferences, I don't think that anybody ever really understood what my brother was going through. We're just supposed to perform outstandingly as well as always act honestly, but how many adults can actually live up to the standards they set for us?
My father has gotten countless traffic tickets for parking in no parking zones or for not coming to a full stop at stop signs. And you're always hearing about people who don't file their income tax honestly. How about all the corruption in government? Successful adults often accept dishonesty in order to achieve their business goals. Are kids the only ones who are supposed to be perfect?
Most of my friends have cheated on tests in school at one time or another. The kids who never cheat are usually either afraid of getting caught or just don't know how to do it safely. Nobody wants to cheat. But if it's a choice of being honest or of getting a grade, most kids will try for the A. That may sound wrong, but we didn't make the rules, we're just trying to get by.
1. What is the best title of this passage?
A. No one wants to cheat! B. Everyone likes to cheat!
C. No one can survive a cheat! D. Everyone can fight a cheat!
2. The author owes children’s cheat to the following EXCEPT ___________.
A. parents B. teachers C. children D. examinations
3. In the fifth paragraph, the author mainly wants to say __________.
A. his father always cheats in his life
B. kids are always supposed to be perfect
C. all the adults can not live up to the standards they set for children
D. children shouldn’t learn from successful adults
4. Which of the following is true according to this passage?
A. The author thinks it is children’s right to cheat in school.
B. Most of the author’s friends like cheating on tests in school.
C. The author shows a positive attitude towards a surprise quiz in school.
D. The author thinks it wrong to cheat in school.
Years ago, when I started looking for my first job, wise advisers advised, “Barbara, be enthusiastic! Enthusiasm will take you further than any amount of experience.” How right they were!
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson.It is the paste that helps you hang on there when the going gets tough.It is the inner voice that whispers, “I can do it!” When others shout, “No, you can’t!” It took years and years for the early work of Barbara McClintock, a geneticist who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in medicine, to be generally accepted.Yet she didn’t stop working on her experiments.Work was such a deep pleasure for her that she never thought of stopping.
We are all born with wide-eye, enthusiastic wonder and it is this childlike wonder that gives enthusiastic people such youthful air, whatever their age.At 90, cellist Pablo Casals would start his day by playing Bach.As the music flowed through his fingers, his stooped (弯曲的)shoulders would straighten and joy would reappear in his eyes.As author and poet Samuel Ulman once wrote, “Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”
Enthusiastic people also love what they do, regardless of money or title or power.Patricia Mcllrath, retired director of the Missouri Repertory Theater in Kansas City, was once asked where she got her enthusiasm.She replied, “My father, a lawyer, long ago told me, ‘I never made a dime until I stopped working for money.’”
If we cannot do what we love as a full-time career, we can as a hobby.Elizabeth Layton of Wellsville, Kan was 68 before she began to draw.This activity ended periods of depression that had troubled her for at least 30 years, and the quality of her work led one critic to say, “I am tempted to call Layton a genius.”
We can’t afford to waste tears on “might-have-beens”.We need to turn the tears into sweat as we go after “what-can-be”.We need to live each moment whole-heartedly, with all our senses – finding pleasure in the sweet smell of a back-yard garden, the simple picture of a six-year-old, the beauty of a rainbow.
1.The author holds the view that ______.
A.enthusiastic people will never get old
B.enthusiasm can make you succeed and enjoy life
C.enthusiasm is more important than experience
D.enthusiasm can give people more success and fame
2.Which of the following can best explain the underlined sentence in the second paragraph?
A.Enthusiasm can give you courage and strength in difficult times.
B.If you don’t have enthusiasm, you can achieve nothing.
C.Enthusiastic people never consider money and fame.
D.Enthusiastic people can gain great fame and honor.
3.The author mentions cellist Pablo Casals in the third paragraph to show that ______.
A.music can arouse people’s enthusiasm
B.enthusiasm can give people inspiration needed to succeed
C.enthusiasm can make people feel young
D.enthusiasm can keep people healthy
4.How many examples are given in the passage to show the importance of enthusiasm?
A.Two. B.Three. C.Four. D.Five.
Scientists find that hardworking people live longer than average men and women.Career (职业)women are healthier than housewives.Evidence shows that the jobless are in poorer health than the jobholders.An investigation shows that whenever the unemployment rate increases by 1%,the death rate increases by 2%.All this comes down to one point.work is helpful to health.
Why is work good for health? It is because work keeps people busy away from loneliness.Researches show that people feel unhappy, worried and lonely when they have nothing to do.Instead the happiest are those who are busy.Many high achievers who love their careers feel that they are happiest when they are working hard.Work serves as a bridge between man and reality. By work people come into contact with each other.By collective(集体的)activity they find friendship and warmth.This is helpful to health.The loss of work means the loss of everything.It affects man spiritually and makes him ill.
Besides,work gives one a sense of achievement.Work makes one feel his value in society.When a writer finishes his writing or a doctor successfully operates on a patient or a teacher sees his students grow, they are happy beyond words.
From the above we can come to the conclusion that the more you work the happier and healthier you will be.Let us work hard and study hard and live a happy and healthy life.
1.What may be the reason why housewives are not as healthy as career women?
A.Housewives are poorer than career women.
B.Housewives have more children than career women.
C.Housewives have less chance to communicate with others.
D.Housewives eat less food than career women.
2.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to Paragraph 2 ?
A.Busy people have nothing to do at home.
B.High achievers don’t care about their families.
C.There is no friendship and warmth at home.
D.A satisfying job helps to keep you healthy.
3.The best title for this passage may be “ ”
A.People Should Find a Job
B.Working Hard Is Good for Happiness and Health
C.People Should Make More Friends by Work
D.The Loss of Work Means the Loss of Life
第三部分 阅读理解 (共15小题;每小题2分,满分30分)
请认真阅读下列短文,从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.
My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him; as a school girl and young adult I feared him and felt bitter about him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A’s and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as “successful” as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.
On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father’s friends for lunch at an outdoor café. We walked along that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son’s funny facial expressions. Gone was my father’s critical(挑剔的) air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?
The next day my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I’m at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing, I’m delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was.
1. Why did the author feel bitter about her father when she was a young adult?
A. He was silent most of the time. B. He was too proud of himself.
C. He did not love his children. D. He expected too much of her.
2. When the author went out with her father on weekends, she would feel ______.
A. nervous B. sorry C. tired D. safe
3. What does the author think of her father after her visit to Tucson?
A. More critical. B. More talkative.
C. Gentle and friendly. D. Strict and hard-working.
4. The underlined words “my new friend” in the last paragraph refer to ______.
A. the author’s son B. the author’s father
B. the friend of the author’s father D. the café owner
Computers might not be clever enough to trick adults into thinking they are intelligent yet, but a new study, led by Javier' Movellan at the University of Califomia San Diego, shows that a giggling (咯咯笑的) robot is clever enough to get toddlers (初学走路者) to treat it as a peer (同龄人).
The researchers stationed a 2-foot-tall robot Called QRIO in a classroom of a dozen toddlers aged between 18 months and two years. QRIO stayed in the middle of the room using its sensors (传感器) to avoid bumping (碰撞) into the kids. It was programmed to giggle when the kids touched its head, to occasionally sit down, and to lie down when its batteries died.
"We expected that after a few hours, the magic was going to disappear," Movellan says. "That's what was found with earlier robots." But, in fact, the kids remained interested in the robot over several weeks, eventually communicating with QRIO in much the same way they did with other toddlers.
The researchers measured the relationship between the children and the robot in several ways. Firstly, as with other toddlers, they touched QRIO mostly on the arms and hands, rather than on the face or legs. For this age group, "the amount of touching is a good predictor of how you are doing as a social being," Movellan says.
The children helped the robot up when it fell, and when QRIO's batteries ran out and it lay down, a toddler would come up and cover it with a blanket and say "night, night". However, when QRIO was programmed to spend all its time dancing, the kids quickly lost interest. When the robot went back to its old self, the kids treated it like a peer again.
"The study shows that current technology is very close to being able to produce robots able to develop a special relationship with toddlers," says Movellan. But, he adds, it is not clear yet whether robots can interest older children or adults in the same way.
1. What does the underlined word "stationed" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
A. Hid. B. Observed. C. Placed. D. Named.
2. At the beginning of the experiment, researchers .
A. feared that the robot would harm the toddlers
B. programmed the robot to move freely about the classroom
C. expected the robot to communicate with the toddlers
D. thought the toddlers' interest in the robot wouldn't last long
3. Kids aged between 18 months and two years behave
as social beings by.
A. giggling B: touching C. toddling D. dancing
4. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Giggling robot becomes one of the kids
B. Giggling robot used as a classroom assistant
C. Giggling robot makes kids more active in class
D. Giggling robot attracts more attention from kids