SportsplayanimportantroleinBri-优题课

With around 40,000 students, the Politecnico di Milano is the largest and most technical university in Italy, offering undergraduate, graduate and other courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in 1863, just two years after Italy was united, Milan Polytechnic is international famous. Many of its graduates now work in big companies abroad like M.I.T., Caltech and Oxbridge.
Yet the Politechnic has a problem. As you know, here in Italy people speak Italian. Beautiful though the language may be, it is not a good choice for engineers when they’re building a way in Norway or designing a bridge in Vietnam. For better or worse, the global tongue of engineers is English. Hoping to attract more international students, the Politechnic decided to run its doctor’s courses in English only. Over 100 teachers went to court to block the plan, referring to a 1933 law that makes Italian the official language. For some teachers, all that matters is that they don’t feel comfortable teaching in English. In 2013, the court said they were right. Teaching English was out.
But there was more to come. They then went on a nationwide campaign against their university’s decision. Unwisely, the defenders of the Italian language backed them, saying, “we note with regret and concern the ignorance and abandonment(放弃) of Italian in the university education.”
The leaders at the Politechnic refused to be frightened, and asked for the ruling. Last month the Council of State said, “Art and science are free, and teaching them is free.” The question is whether teaching in English prevents students acquiring knowledge. But one could put it differently, and ask whether universities should be free to teach in whatever way they think best serves their students.
Interestingly, the people one might expect to be most against English-only teaching, the students themselves, have taken it easy. The president, Giovanni Azzone, told me: “Students write to me about everything from the lack of parking spaces to washrooms that don’t work. Not one has ever complained about the courses in English.”
The main idea of the passage is that the Politechnic decision to run its doctor’s courses in English only ________.

A．attracts more international students

B．sends more students to work abroad

C．makes some teachers out of work

D．meets with different responses

Which statement is NOT the reason why the Politechnic decided to use only English in class?

A．Many graduates work abroad.

B．Italian is widely used.

C．English is the global language.

D．The Politechnic is an international university.

Those who agree with the new change in the Politechnic are ________.

A．the Politechnic leaders	B．over 100 teachers
C．the Council of State	D．the defenders of Italian

The students’ attitude towards English-only teaching in doctor’s courses is _________.

A．indifferent（漠然的）	B．disapproving
C．skeptical	D．approving

Researchers Jose Cordova and Erich Astudillo have discovered a new molecule(分子) that kills the bacteria Streptococcus Mutans, long known to be responsible for breaking down sugars in food in the mouth, which damages tooth leading to decay(腐烂). The new molecule they call “Keep 32” has been found to kill the bacteria.
The two have applied for a patent(专利) on their discovery and have also begun a marketing strategy aimed at both oral care products and food products. They say either product, if left in the mouth for just 60 seconds ,will kill all the harmful bacteria in the mouth and keep them at bay for several hours. If the new molecule passes health and safety tests, the two believe products using their new molecule should be on the market in as little as a year and a half. They expect the market for such a product to reach $300 million in just the first year.
The two have been working together since 2005 using money from the Founder Institute and say the aim is to approve the process for creating the molecule they’ve discovered for big companies like Procter & Gamble, Colgate even candy companies such as Hershey’s. In interviews, Astudillo has suggested that the two researchers are already heavily into discussion with several companies, some of which are interested in buying the patent once it is approved.
Over the years many products have come on the scene with announcement of reducing tooth decay and even the loss of teeth, but other than the introduction of fluoride(氟化物) into drinking water, not much progress has been made. If the announcement made by this new team proves true however, it could foresee a mark in saving the world of tooth decay as well as helping to improve the health for millions of people as tooth decay has been linked to many other health problems throughout the body including heart attacks.
The underlined word “them” in Para. 2 refers to _________.

A．oral care products	B．food products
C．new molecules	D．the harmful bacteria

The phrase “come on the scene” in Para. 4 is closest in meaning to __________.

A．performed	B．occurred
C．existed	D．arrived

What has been a way to reduce tooth decay and even the loss of teeth over the years?

A．Using the molecule“Keep 32”.

B．Killing the bacteria Mutans.

C．Introducing fluorideinto drinking water.

D．Cooperating with some big companies.

This passage mainly tells us that ___________.

A．many health problems are closely connected to tooth decay

B．the discovery of a new molecule will greatly benefit health care

C．two researchers are discussing their patent with companies

D．researchers discover a molecule that can kill tooth decay-causing bacteria

Set in a future in which human has been in conflict with an alien race, the novel follows the progress of 6 year old Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, a gifted child who was the result of a government program to develop new commanders to help in the fight against the alien. In the School Ender quickly shows himself to be at the top of his class through his clever use of intelligence during a zero-gravity war game. While Ender’s success makes him a target for older, envious(嫉妒的) commanders, he keeps moving up and is finally promoted(提拨) to Command School where he gets further training from the famous commander Mazer Rackham. In Command School, Ender’s tests and games become increasingly exhausting until he is finally forced to make a frightening decision that has destroying results.
Ender’s Game centers around a group of children who seem to grow into full adults whose emotions and actions seem inconsistent with their actual ages. The youth of these characters added weight to the sadness I felt for these kids who had been raised to be cold and trained since birth to view life as a conflict to be won or lost.The fact that these “Innocents” are competing against each other to kill a faceless enemy for the better of mankind is seen as an unavoidable result of the fear that was stuck in humanity. And while obvious similarities to our own present state of war can be made, the book doesn’t focus as much on the alien threat as it does on Ender’s struggles and the results of his actions.
My main regret with this book was that I didn’t read it when I was younger. I think that I probably would have had an even greater reaction to the story and the struggles of Ender if I’d been closer to his age when I experienced it. Oh well, better late than never I guess.
Ender studies in Command school because of__________.

A．the conflict with other countries

B．a government program

C．his further training

D．exhausting tests and games

How did the writer feel about the children in Ender’s Game?

A．Fearful.

B．Sad.

C．Proud.

D．Envious.

This passage is probably one part of _________.

A．a science novel	B．a news story
C．a school introduction	D．a book review

High school dropouts(辍学者)earn an average of ＄9000 less per year than graduates．Now a new study dispels a common belief why they quit．It’s much more basic than flunking out(不及格)．
Society tends to think of high school dropouts as kids who just can’t cut it．They are lazy, and perhaps not too bright．So researchers were surprised when they asked more than 450 kids who quit school about why they left．
“The vast majority actually had passing grades and they were confident that they could have graduated from high school, ” John Bridgeland, the executive researcher said．About 1 million teens leave school each year．Only about half of African-American and Hispanic(美籍西班牙的)student will receive a diploma(证书), and actually all dropouts come to regret their decision．So, if failing grades don’t explain why these kids quit, what does?Again, John Bridgeland：“The most dependable finding was that they were bored．”“They found classes uninteresting; they weren’t inspired or motivated．They didn’t see any direct connection between what they were learning in the classroom to their own lives, or to their career aspirations．”
The study found that most teens who do drop out wait until they turn sixteen, which happens to be the age at which most states allow students to quit．In the US, only one state, New Mexico, has a law requiring teenagers to stay in high school until they graduate．Only four states：California, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, plus the District of Columbia, require school ?attendance? until age 18, no exceptions, another researcher, says raising the compulsory(义务的)attendance age may be one way to keep more kids in school．
“As these dropouts look black, they realize they’ve made a mistake．And anything that sort of gives these people an extra push to stick it out and it through to the end, is probably helpful measure．”
New Hampshire may be the next state to raise its school attendance age to 18．But critics say that forcing the students unwilling to continue their studies to stay in school misses the point－the need for reform．It’s been called for to reinvent(彻底改造)high school education to make it more challenging and relevant(中肯的, 切题的), and to ensure that kids who do stick it out receive a diploma that actually means something．
Most high school students drop out of school because ________．

A．they have failing grades

B．they take no interest in classes

C．they are discriminated against

D．they are lazy and not intelligent

According to the passage, which state has a law requiring school attendance until they graduate?

A．New Hampshire．

B．Utah．

C．New Mexico．

D．The District of Columbia．

The underlined words “stick it out” probably mean “________”．

A．complete schooling

B．solve the problem

C．love having classes

D．believe in themselves

In the last paragraph, the writer is trying to ________

A．analyze the reason why students quit school

B．suggest raising the compulsory attendance age

C．call on to reform high school education

D．wish to make laws to guarantee no education

Human beings have used tools for a very long time. In some parts of the world you can still find tools that people used more than two million years ago. They made these tools by hitting one stone against another. In this way, they broke off pieces from one of the stones. These chips of stone were usually sharp on one side. People used them for cutting meat and skin from dead animals, and also for making other tools out of wood. Human beings needed to use tools because they did not have sharp teeth like other meat eating animals, such as lions and tigers. Tools helped people to get food more easily.
Working with tools also helped to develop human intelligence. The human brain grew bigger, and human beings began to invent more and more tools and machines. The stone chip was one of the first tools that people used, and perhaps it is the most important. Some scientists say that it was the key to success of mankind.
Since 1960 a new kind of tool has appeared. This is the silicon chip -- a little chip of silicon crystal. It is smaller than a finger nail, but it can store more than a million "bits" of information. It is an electronic brain. Every year these chips get cleverer, but their size gets smaller, and their cost gets less. They are used in watches, calculators and intelligent machines that we can use in many ways. In the future we will not need to work with tools in the old way. Machines will do everything for us. They will even talk and play games with us. People will have plenty of spare time. But what will they do with it?
Human beings used stone chips for more than two million years, but human life changed very little in that time. We have used silicon chips for only a few years, but life is changing faster every day. What will life be like twenty years from now? What will the world be like two million years
from now?
From paragraph，we can know .

A．why early human beings cut skin from dead animals

B．how early human beings discovered the tools

C．what early human beings used the tools for

D．what food early human beings stored

The stone chip is thought to be the most important tool because it ______.

A．was very important to the development of mankind

B．led to the invention of machines in the early time

C．developed cooking abilities of mankind

D．was one of the first tools of mankind

The silicon chip is mentioned in the passage to________.

A．show the changes of tools

B．introduce a new kind of tool

C．give an example of using tools

D．compare the effects of two kinds of tools

At the end of the passage the author seems to suggest that life in future is ______.

A．Out of order	B．Less colorful
C．hard to predict	D．full of meanings

A．tour guidebook	B．book review
C．news report	D．news magzine