Rae Armantrout, who has been a poetry professor at the University of California San Diego(UCSD)for two decades, has won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in the poetry category for her most recent book, Versed.
“I’m delighted and amazed at how much media recognition that the Pulitzer brings, as compared to even the National Book Critics Award, which I was also surprised and delighted to win, ”said Armantrout.“For a long time, my writing has been just below the media radar, and to have this kind of attention, suddenly, with my 10th book, is really surprising.”
Armantrout, a native Californian, received her bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley, where she studied with noted poet Denise Levertov, and her master’s in creative writing from San Francisco State University.She is a founding member of Language Poets, a group in American poetry that analyzes the way language is used and raises questions to make the reader think.
In March, she won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Versed.
“This book has gotten more attention, ” Armantrout said, “but I don’t feel as if it’s better.”The first half of Versed focuses on the dark forces taking hold of the United States as it fought the war against Iraq. The second half looks at the dark forces casting a shadow over her own life after Armantrout was diagnosed with cancer in 2006.
Armantrout was shocked to learn she had won the Pulitzer but many of her colleagues were not.“Rae Armantrout is a unique voice in American poetry, ” said Seth Lerer,head of Arts and Humanities at UCSD.
Versed, published by the Wesleyan University Press, did appear in a larger printing than her earlier works, which is about 2, 700 copies. The new edition is scheduled to appear in May.According to Rae Armantrout, ____.
| A．her 10th book is much better |
| B．her winning the Pulitzer is unexpected |
| C．the media is surprised at her works |
| D．she likes being recognized by her readers |
Which of the following is TRUE about Rae Armantrout?
| A．She published a poetry textbook. |
| B．She used to teach Denise Levertov. |
| C．She started a poets’ group with others. |
| D．She taught creative writing at UC Berkeley. |
What can we learn about Versed?
| A．It consists of three parts. |
| B．It is mainly about the American army. |
| C．It is a book published two decades ago. |
| D．It partly concerns the poet’s own life. |
Rae Armantrout’s colleagues think that she ____.
| A．should write more |
| B．has a sweet voice |
| C．deserves the prize |
| D．is a strange professor |
What can we learn from the passage?
A. About 2, 700 copies of Versed will be printed.
B. Cancer made Armantrout stop writing.
C. Armantrout got her degrees at UCSD.
D. Versed has been awarded twice.
In the UK, most children have their lunches at school, but in some schools, parents can choose what their children eat. The children can have a school dinner — a hot, cooked meal; or they can take a packed （包装的）lunch with them, which usually includes cold food like sandwiches.
Often parents know what their children want. Cath, a mother of three children, told us, “My children have packed lunches because they say they hate school dinners. So I make three packed lunches every morning.”
However, another mother, Susan, made a different choice. She said, “My daughters have always had school dinners. I think they probably get healthier food at school than a few sandwiches I make for them.”
But how healthy are school dinners? Kaz, a father, thought poorly of them. He said, “Fizzy (起泡的) drinks were offered and I think there were lots of chips.”
Jamie Oliver spent a year working in a school kitchen. He was worried about the unhealthy food which included burgers, pizzas and chips. So he tried to cook healthy food such as good stews(炖肉) and curries (咖喱菜肴) for the children instead.
So Jamie improved the school dinners, and trained the dinner ladies to cook healthy food in that school. Then he advised the government to improve school food across the country. And it seems that the changes have begun.
Anna, a pupil, told us, “we used to have a fast food window where you got chips and coke, but they stopped that this year. There’s salad restaurant, which is good, so it’s healthier than it was.”How many meals do most children in the UK have at school?
| A．One | B．Two | C．Three | D．Four |
_______ would like the children to have the school meals.
| A．Cath | B．Susan | C．Kaz | D．Jamie |
Jamie thought ______ were healthy food
| A．stews and curries | B．burgers and pizzas |
| C．chips and fizzy drinks | D．sandwiches and coke |
The last two paragraphs show that________.
| A．There’s a salad restaurant in every school |
| B．salad is the only healthy food for students |
| C．schools have begun to cook healthier food |
| D．the government doesn’t care about school dinners |
What is the best title for this text?
| A．Healthy Food | B．Unhealthy Food |
| C．Packed Lunches | D．School Dinners |
As we know, Human beings each have unique brains. The brain is of the greatest importance to the body. It is the boss of the body．Your eyes，ears，nose，and skin tell your brain what is going on around you．Other parts of your body tell your brain what is going on inside of you．Your brain takes in the signals．It tells your body what to do with them．When you touch fire，your skin tells your brain that your finger is too hot．Your brain tells you to move your finger．All these happen very fast．Your brain also controls your breathing，blinking，and heartbeat．It controls your feelings and thoughts too．
Humans have the most developed brain of all animals．Yet it is not the largest brain．The human brain weighs three pounds．The brain of an elephant weighs 11 pounds．So the largest brain is not always the best brain．In people，a larger brain does not mean a clever person．What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．The human brain works very fast． |
| B．The largest brain is not always the best brain． |
| C．The brain controls the body． |
| D．The best brain is the largest brain． |
What happens after the brain takes in the signals from the body?
| A．The brain grows faster and larger． | B．The brain tells the body what to do． |
| C．The body becomes more developed． | D．We don't know． |
What does “the boss of the body” mean?
| A．The signals． | B．The most developed body part． |
| C．The main part of the body. | D．The centre of the body． |
Which brain is the most developed?
| A．The largest brain． | B．The human brain． |
| C．The smaller brain． | D．Not too big brain． |
What are the things that the human brain does?
A．Takes in signals． B．Controls breathing．
C．Controls feelings and thoughts． D．A，B and C．
Officials say an elephant has killed an American woman and her baby while the family was on a tour in Kenya．Kenya Wildlife Service official Michel Kipkeu said Sharon Brown，39, was holding her one-year-old daughter when they were trampled (踩踏) by the elephant Monday．Melia van Laar, owner of the castle Forest Hotel，where the family was walking with a guide about 2 kilometers from the hotel when an elephant came out from the bush at full speed．The father of the family is a teacher in Naiobi．Friends and colleagues held funeral services Wednesday．
From world leaders on the White House lawn to people at the bus stop，the common handshake is the universal greeting of peace and kindness．But young people are kissing goodbye to traditional social etiquette (礼节)，killing off the handshake, researchers say．The custom is seen as too formal by many, who prefer to touch fists or blow an air kiss instead．Nearly 74 percent of adults shake hands less than they used to — and only 45 percent of under-25s use the greeting．But many prefer no physical contact at all, a side effect of the growing fear of diseases，according to the survey of 1,000 people．
The growing mountain of e-waste will cause great environmental damage if no new strategies are produced to deal with the discarded televisions, mobile phones and computers，the UN Environment Program (UNEP) study said．Electronic waste is piling up around the world at a rate estimated at 40 million tons a year．China produces 2.6 million tons of electronic waste a year, second only to the United States with 3.3 million tons, it said．LNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said the globe was ill-prepared to deal with the explosion of electronic products over the past decade．What’s the main idea of the 1
paragraph?
| A．Tour in Kenya |
| B．Kenya wildlife Service |
| C．A one-year-old girl trampled by an elephant |
| D．American mother, baby killed by elephant in Kenya |
Yong people wave goodbye to handshakes because
| A．they prefer physical contact |
| B．many young people think handshaking is too formal |
| C．they prefer to touch fists or blow an air kiss |
| D．they are not accustomed to handshaking |
What ean be inferred from passage three?
| A．America ranks first in producing e-waste a year |
| B．China produces 2.6 million tons of electronic waste a year |
| C．the globe was ill prepared to deal with the explosion of electronic products |
| D．The growlng mountain of e-wasted won’t cause great environmental damage． |
The underlined word“discarded”means
| A．disliked | B．deserted | C．scarred | D．scared |
The passages are most likely to appear in a/an
| A．brochure | B．science book | C．newspaper | D．magazine |
Each new school year brings fresh reminders of what educators call the summer learning gap．Some call it the summer learning setback Put simply, 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 tradltional nine-month calendar with winter and spring breaks and about ten weeks of summer vacation．Some schools follow a year-round calendar. They hold classes ror 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 3,000 such schools at last count．They were spread among forty-six of the tifty 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．Brenda McLaugblin is research director at the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University．She says studies of year-round schooling have not found stro
ng learning gains．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 summler 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。”“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．affe cts 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 vacation． |
Why did almost all parents dislike the term“summer school”?
| A．They are worried about the quailty of the“summer school” |
| B．They cherish the children’s rights of freedom very much． |
| C．They want their children to be forced to make up the gap． |
| D．They can’t afford to the further study during the vacation． |
What would be the best title of this passage?
| A．Opening Summer Camps |
| B．Forbidding Summer Schools |
| C．Minding the Summer Learning Gap |
| D．Reforming Year-Round Education |
Are some people born clever and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both questions is yes．To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth，and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence．On the other hand，a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings．Thus the limits of a person’s intelligence are fixed at birth，but whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment．This view, now held by most experts，can be supportedin a number of ways．
It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are b
orn with．The closer the blood relationship between two people，the closer they are likely to be in intelligence．Thus if we take two unrelated people at random (随意地) from the population，it is likely that their degrees of intelligence will be completely different．If on the other hand we take two identical twins，they will very likely be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters，parents and children，usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that integigence depends on birth．
Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments．We might send one，for example，to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring．We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates (表明) that environment as well as birth plays a part．This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who lives in close contact with each other, 
but who are not related at all，are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence．Which of the following best describes the writer’s point in Paragraph One?
| A．To some extent, intelligence is given at birth． |
| B．Intelligence is developed by the environment． |
C．Some peo ple are born clever and others born stupid． |
| D．Intelligence is fixed at birth, but is developed by the environment． |
In the first paragraph，“no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence”suggests that
| A．no environment can change the least able into the most able |
| B．the difference in men’s intelligence depends on the amount of their education |
| C．if a person is born clever, he is certain to be a genius |
| D．if a person is born stupid, nothing can change him into an educated person |
The last paragraph mainly shows
| A．the importance of education |
| B．the relationship between environment and birth |
| C．the writer’s final conclusion |
| D．the relationship between intelligence and environment |
The best title for this passage would be
| A．Dependence on Education |
| B．Intelligence |
| C．Surroundings |
| D．Effect of Education |
Which statement about the passage is true?
| A．All twins have similar degrees of intelligence． |
| B．A man who is educated in university must make greater achievements than a man who works in a boring factory． |
| C．Proper education can change one’s intelligence at some degree． |
| D．Education can’t make a child born with low intelligence cleverer |