Everyone knows about straight-A students. We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge(报复)of the Nerds. They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book. They are not good at social communication and look clumsy(笨拙的) while doing sports.
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School. She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society. For two years she has maintained A’s in every subject. Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque. He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station. Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level courses.
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer. “Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students,” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students. “Knowing how to make the most of your innate(天生的)abilities counts for more. Much more.”
In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ. For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down.
Hard work isn’t the whole story, either. “It’s not how long you sit there with the books open,” said one of the many-A students we interviewed. “It’s what you do while you’re sitting.” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates.
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn.The underlined word “nerds” can probably be________ .
A.dull bookworms lacking sports and social skills |
B.successful top students popular with their peers |
C.students with certain learning difficulties |
D.born leaders crazy about social activities |
What can we conclude from the first paragraph?
A.Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students. |
B.People have unfavorable impression on straight-A students. |
C.Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films. |
D.Straight-A students are well admired by people in the society. |
Some students become super-achievers mainly because_________ .
A.they are born cleverer than others |
B.they work longer hours at study |
C.they make full use of their abilities |
D.they know the shortcut to success |
What will be talked about after the last paragraph?
A.The interviews with more students. |
B.The role IQ plays in learning well. |
C.The techniques to be better learners. |
D.The achievements top students make. |
What can we infer from the passage?
A.IQ is more important than hard work in study. |
B.The brightest students can never get low grades. |
C.Top students certainly achieve all-around developments. |
D.Students with average IQ can become super-achievers. |
When visiting New York City with your kids,there are many things to do with kids that will entertain their spirits and feed their minds.
The Whispering Gallery
Make your way to the Whispering Gallery. The Whispering Room's architecture allows for a phenomenon that usually makes people laugh. Once inside the gallery,place one person facing the corner at one end of the room and then place another person facing the corner at the opposite end. Ask one of the participants to whisper a phrase or a quick sentence or two and the person on the opposite end will be able to hear every word that was said.
E. 42nd St.
212一771一5322
grandcentralterminal. com
The American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History was founded in 1869. In addition to its impressive exhibits,permanent attractions bring the cool factor home to kids. They can enter the Fossil Halls and see the impressive dinosaur skeletons(骨架).And the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life educates kids about the fragility(脆弱)of the Ocean
Central Park West at 79th St.
212一769一5606
amnh. org
the Scholastic Store
Most parents want their children to read,and moreover,to enjoy reading. Scholastic helps to make that wish a reality by publishing interesting,well-written stories that are popular with children. With such classics as“Clifford the Big Red Dog”,“The Magic School Bus,"and“Harry Potter,”the Scholastic Store will delight your children.
557 Broadway
212一343一6100
scholastic. com
Ellen's Stardust Diner(小饭店)
The restaurant is a place where each person in your family can find something to eat. Arugula salads,grilled cheese,burgers and meatloaf are all on this varied menu. A hall of beauty queens,a drive-in theatre and wait staff that sing to you can add to this unique dining experience.
1650 Broadway,corner of 51st St.
212一956一5151
ellensstardustdiner. comWhich of the following websites helps kids learn about animals?
A.ettensstardustdiner. com. |
B.grandcentralterminal. com. |
C.amnh. org. |
D.scholastic. com. |
To develop your kids' interest in reading,you can bring them to .
A.the Whispering Gallery |
B.the Scholastic Store |
C.Ellen's Stardust Diner |
D.the American Museum of Natural History |
It can be learned from the passage that ________.
A.sound travels well in the Whispering Gallery |
B.people can enjoy music in the Scholastic Store |
C.Ellen's Stardust Diner mainly provides western food |
D.the American Museum of Natural History has a history of 200 years |
Teenagers who spend hours in front of the television may have a poorer diet as young adults.
A study,which included nearly 1,400 high school students,found those who watched TV for five hours or more per day had less healthy diets than peers(同龄人)five years later. Why does this happen? Should the parents take any measures?
On the one hand,people who spend a lot of time in front of the TV, especially teenagers,may snack more,and that may affect their long-term diet quality.
On the other hand,TV ads for fast food,sweets and snacks tempt teenagers to eat more of those foods. And TV time might also replace exercise time for some kids.
Lead researcher Dr. Daheia J. Barr-Anderson,of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis,told Reuters Health a clear correlation between TV time during high school and diet quality in young adulthood. While the heaviest TV viewers were eating the most junk food , those who'd watched less than two hours per day had the highest intake(吸收)of fruits,vegetables, whole grains and high-calcium food. In her opinion,parents should limit and monitor TV viewing.
As far as I am concerned,children should watch no more than two hours of television per day. And parents should set a good example by eating right,being physically active and curbing their own TV time. What's the best title for this passage?
A.People should keep away from TV to keep healthy. |
B.Teenagers' TV time may affect their diets later. |
C.Why do teenagers like TV" |
D.Parents' own habits may affect children later. |
According to the passage,heavy TV viewers tend to_ .
A.eat more fruits | B.eat less junk food |
C.take in fewer vegetables | D.take in high-calcium food |
What suggestion does the author give the parents?
A.They must watch TV with their children. |
B.They should forbid the children to watch TV. |
C.They should pay attention to nutrition in diets. |
D.They can't do what they don't want their children to do. |
The underlined word“curbing" in the last paragraph can be replaced by
A.adding | B.checking | C.controlling | D.stopping |
There are many ways to find a job. It can be as easy as walking into a neighborhood store to look at its announcement board . Local stores often have areas where people can put small signs telling what kind of service they need or can provide. Such services include caring for children or cleaning houses.
Or,job searchers can look in the newspaper. Local newspapers have employment announcements placed by companies seeking workers.
Another popular tool for finding jobs is the Internet. For example, people in four hundred and fifty cities around the world can use the Craigslist Web site to buy objects,meet people or find a job. Craigslist says that it receives two million new job listings each month.
Another useful way to find a job is through a college or university. For example,students at the University of Texas in Austin can go to the Career Exploration Center to get help in finding a job. Of course,looking for a job requires knowing what kind of work you want to do. For example,there is a book called "What Color is Your Parachute(降落伞)?”by Richard Bolles. This book has been helping people choose a career(职业)since it was first published in 1970.
Some experts also help people find jobs. Susan W.Miller owns a company called California Career Services in Los Angeles.She says her company helps people find jobs by first helping them understand their strengths, goals and interests. Then she provides them with methods and resources to help them find the right job.What is the passage mainly about?
A.Finding a job. |
B.College students' part-time jobs. |
C.Craigslist Web site. |
D.The relation between study and work |
By logging on the Craigslist Web site,you can .
A.sell your old things |
B.do some shopping online |
C.create your own announcement board |
D.get useful information about 450 cities |
“What Color is Your Parachute?”is a book which gives tips to those who want to .
A.work on the airplane | B.buy a parachute |
C.publish a book | D.find a suitable job |
How many ways of finding a job are mentioned in the passage?
A.Three. | B.Four. | C.Five. | D.Six. |
Using too much water or throwing rubbish into our rivers are clear ways that humans can put our water supply in danger, but we also affect our water supply in less obvious ways. You may wonder how paving (铺砌) a road can lead to less useable fresh water. A major part of the water we use every day is groundwater. Groundwater does not come from lakes or rivers. It comes from underground. The more roads and parking lots we pave, the less water can flow into the ground to become groundwater.
Human activity is not responsible for all water shortages (短缺).Drier climates are of course more likely to have droughts (干旱) than areas with more rainfall, but in any case, good management can help to make sure there is enough water to meet our basic needs.
Thinking about the way we use water every day can make a big difference, too. In the United States, a family of four can use 1.5 tons of water a day! This shows how much we depend on water to live, but there's a lot we can do to lower the number.
You can take steps to save water in your home. To start with, use the same glass for your drinking water all day. Wash it only once a day. Run your dishwasher (洗碗机) only when it is full. Help your parents fix any leaks in your home. You can even help to keep our water supply clean by recycling batteries instead of throwing them away.Which of the following is most likely to lead to less groundwater?
A.Using river water. |
B.Paving parking lots. |
C.Throwing batteries away. |
D.Throwing rubbish into lakes. |
What can be inferred from the text?
A.It takes a lot of effort to meet our water needs. |
B.All water shortages are due to human behavior. |
C.There is much we can do to reduce family size. |
D.The average family in America makes proper use of water. |
The last paragraph is intended to ________.
A.show us how to fix leaks at home |
B.tell us how to run a dishwasher |
C.suggest what we do to save water at home |
D.prove what drinking glass is best for us |
The text is mainly about ________.
A.why paving roads reduces our water |
B.how human activity affects our water supply |
C.why droughts occur more in dry climates |
D.how much we depend on water to live |
“Indeed,” George Washington wrote in his diary in 1785, “some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to eat the leaves before I left home.” But the father of America was not the father of bug. When Washington wrote that, Englishmen had been referring to insects as bugs for more than a century, and Americans had already created lightning-bug(萤火虫). But the English were soon to stop using the bugs in their language, leaving it to the Americans to call a bug a bug in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The American bug could also be a person, referring to someone who was crazy about a particular activity. Although fan became the usual term, sports fans used to be called racing bugs, baseball bugs, and the like.
Or the bug could be a small machine or object, for example, a bug-shaped car. The bug could also be a burglar alarm, from which comes the expression to bug, that is, “to install (安装) an alarm”. Now it means a small piece of equipment that people use for listening secretly to others’ conversation. Since the 1840s, to bug has long meant “to cheat”, and since the 1940s it has been annoying.
We also know the bug as a flaw in a computer program or other design. That meaning dates back to the time of Thomas Edison. In 1878 he explained bugs as “little problems and difficulties” that required months of study and labor to overcome in developing a successful product. In 1889 it was recorded that Edison “had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a bug’ in his invented record player.”We learn from Paragraph 1 that ________.
A.Americans had difficulty in learning to use the word bug |
B.George Washington was the first person to call an insect a bug |
C.the word bug was still popularly used in English in the nineteenth century |
D.both Englishman and Americans used the word bug in the eighteenth century |
What does the word “flaw” in the last paragraph probably mean
A.explanation. | B.finding. | C.origin. | D.fault. |
The passage is mainly concerned with________.
A.the misunderstanding of the word bug |
B.the development of the word bug |
C.the public views of the word bug |
D.the special characteristics of the word bug |