Would you want a doctor who got high marks in medical school just for trying hard? Apparently many college students would have no problem with that. They believe students are owed a good grade simply because they put a lot of effort into a class.
The researchers asked more than 800 undergraduates if they agreed or disagreed with some statements. For example: "If I have completed most of the reading for a class, I deserve a B in that course." And: "A professor should not be annoyed with me if I receive an important call during class."
Just 16 percent thought it was OK to take that phone call. But 66 percent agreed that a professor should consider effort and not just the quality of a student's work when deciding grades. And 40 percent thought they should get a B, the second highest mark, just because they did most of the reading for class.
Some experts are not surprised that students often see no difference between effort and results. Social critics like to say that in children's activities these days everyone gets an award just for trying, so no one will feel rejected.
Yet competition to get into the best colleges is fiercer than ever. Students may worry that low grades will keep them out of graduate school or a good job.
And there may be another explanation: pressure from parents to get a good return on the family's investment. These days, college can cost more than a house.
A former teaching assistant recently wrote to the New York Times about his experience with grade expectations. He would try to explain it this way when students asked for a top grade just for studying hard in chemistry class:
What if a baseball player came to spring training and worked harder than all the others, but still could not play well? Would the team accept him anyway, just because he tried so hard?
The students would say no. But most of them would still ask for an A.What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．How students can get a good grade in the course. |
| B．Whether students are allowed to answer calls in class. |
| C．Whether students deserve high marks just for trying hard. |
| D．Why students put a lot of efforts in their studies. |
According to the research, most of the students _______.
A. thought it was all right to answer the call during class.
B. objected to deciding grades only by the quality of a student’s work.
C. thought they did most of the work for class and should get a B.
D. agreed that they should be given top grades because of their hard work. Which of the following opinions do social critics agree to about children’s activities?
| A．Those who are active in the activities can get an award. |
| B．Only by playing an important role in the activities can you get an award. |
| C．An award is prepared for anyone who performs best in the activities. |
| D．Whoever takes part in the activities can get an award. |
From the sixth paragraph we can learn that _____.
| A．it costs much more to build a college than to buy a house. |
| B．the costs of studying at college are much more than staying at home. |
| C．the costs of sending a child to college are much more than buying a house. |
| D．it is difficult for parents to send a child to college. |
What does the former assistant want to tell students with the example of the baseball player?
| A．Effort can lead to good results. | B．Effort is very necessary. |
| C．Effort and results are quite different. | D．No good results, effort is unnecessary. |
Humans have observed and explored the oceans since ancient times.But it wasn’t until the 19th century that the scientific study of oceans began.The first major scientific expedition,and the one that firmly established the field of oceanography,was the around-the-world voyage of H.M.S. Challenger.Setting out from England in 1872,the Challenger spent almost three and a half years gathering a wealth of information about seawater,sea life,and the ocean floor.Major oceanographic expeditions since then have included the South Atlantic voyage of the German ship Meteor in 1926 and the Deep-Sea Drilling Project from 1968 to 1983.Many individuals also have played important roles in advancing our understanding of oceans,beginning with Matthew Fontaine Maury in the mid-1800s;his work on oceanography and navigation led to a uniform system of weather reporting at sea.Since Maury’s time,oceanography has progressed rapidly.Early oceanographers had to contend themselves with tossing buckets overboard to see what they might haul in.Today’s oceanographers are equipped with space images,supercomputer models,and deep-sea robots that can crawl along the seafloor.As they set goals for the future,some oceanographers even dream of doing research in permanently manned stations on the bottom of the oceans.
70.Which of the following statements is true?
A.Humans didn’t explore the oceans until the 19th century.
B.Maury first established the field of oceanography.
C.Maury spent a lot of time in studying seawater,sea life,and the bottom of the ocean.
D.Many individuals also plays a very important part in advancing our understanding of oceans,such as Maury.
71.How many expeditions are mentioned in this passage?
A.Four. B.Three. C.Five. D.Two.
72.What can we infer from the passage?
A.The process of the oceanography has stopped at one time.
B.Maury’s work on oceanography contributes a lot to weather reporting at sea.
C.Nowadays the equipment for studying the oceans needs improving,because it is out of date.
D.The expeditions in the past had great difficulty and made a lot of efforts in order to study the oceans.
If women are mercilessly exploited(剥削) year after year,they have only themselves to blame.Because they tremble at the thought of being seen in public in clothes that are out of fashion,they are always taken advantage of by the designers and the big stores.Clothes which have been worn only a few times have to be put aside because of the change of fashion.When you come to think of it,only a woman is capable of standing in front of a wardrobe(衣柜) packed full of clothes and announcing sadly that she has nothing to wear.
Changing fashions are nothing more than the intentional creation of waste.Many women spend vast sums of money each year to replace clothes that have hardly been worn.Women who cannot afford to throw away clothing in this way,waste hours of their time altering the dresses they have.Skirts are lengthened or shortened;neck-lines are lowered or raised,and so on.No one can claim that the fashion industry contributes anything really important to society.Fashion designers are rarely concerned with vital things like warmth,comfort and durability(耐用).They are only interested in outward appearance and they take advantage of the fact that women will put up with any amount of discomfort,as long as they look right.There can hardly be a man who hasn’t at some time in his life smiled at the sight of a woman shaking in a thin dress on a winter day,or delicately picking her way through deep snow in high-heeled shoes.
When comparing men and women in the matter of fashion,the conclusions to be drawn are obvious.Do the constantly changing fashions of women’s clothes,one wonders,reflect basic qualities of inconstancy and instability?Men are too clever to let themselves be cheated by fashion designers.Do their unchanging styles of dress reflect basic qualities of stability and reliability?That is for you to decide.
66.Designers and big stores always make money .
A.by mercilessly exploiting women workers in the clothing industry
B.because they are capable of predicting new fashions
C.by constantly changing the fashions in women’s clothing
D.because they attach great importance to quality in women’s clothing
67.To the writer,the fact that women change their old-fashioned dresses is seen as .
A.a waste of money
B.a waste of time
C.an expression of taste
D.an expression of creativity
68.The writer would be less critical if fashion designers placed more stress on the of clothing.
A.cost B.appearance
C.comfort D.suitability
69.According to the passage,which of the following statements is TRUE?
A.New fashions in clothing are created for the commercial exploitation of women.
B.The constant changes in women’s clothing reflect their strength of character.
C.The fashion industry makes an important contribution to society.
D.Fashion designs should not be encouraged since they are only welcomed by women.
The whole body is covered with skin.The surface of the skin is dead(like the hair and the nails),but it is made from a living layer(层)just under the surface.The outside dead layers wear off(磨损)all the time,with new ones replacing them,and the body forms a totally new skin every three weeks.
The skin protects the body from the outside world and it passes information from the outside.It helps to keep water in the body and to keep the body at the same temperature.Becteria(细菌)can’t get in through the skin unless it is damaged.
If the weather is cold,the blood vessels(血管)in the skin squeeze down,or contract(收缩),so that as little blood as possible comes near the surface.This means that less warmth is lost to the outside.This makes the skin look pale,or even “blue”.At the same time,the hairs on the skin are pulled upright by tiny muscles.
When it is hot,the blood vessels expand(扩大),or get wider again,to allow plenty of blood to run near the surface of the skin.This helps the body to lose heat,and the skin may look red.At the same time,the sweat glands(汗腺)produce more sweat,which cools the skin.
If your skin has ever been numb(麻木的),you will realize how important the feeling from the skin is.Nerves(神经)in the skin are sensitive(敏感的)to heat and cold,sharpness,hardness and softness,wetness and dryness and pain.If one is not able to feel these things,which can act as warnings,he is likely to be burned,cut or hurt in other ways.
The colour of the skin depends on special colour cells(细胞).These are just below the top layers of the skin.They are needed as protection from some harmful ray of the sun.The stronger the sun is,the more important it is to have a dark skin.People with pale skins may “tan”(晒黑)in the sun.This happens when the body produces extra colour cells in the skin for protection.In the sun,the skin produces a vitamin(vitamin D)which is needed for strong bones.
61.Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A.Our hair and nails are dead like the surface of the skin.
B.There is skin all over our body.
C.The skin of our bodies will be completely different in three weeks.
D.The surface of the skin is made of a living layer.
62.The second paragraph mainly tells us about______.
A.the functions of the skin
B.the information from the outside
C.the water in the body
D.the temperature of the body
63.Bacteria will get in through the skin______.
A.when one’s skin is numb
B.when one is ill
C.when the skin is cut
D.when the sweat glands produce more sweat
64.When the weather is cold,the skin will contract in order to______.
A.allow more blood near B.make the skin look blue
C.keep warmth D.help the body lose heat
65.The colour of the skin is determined by______.
A.the rays of the strong sun B.colour cells
C.top layers of the skin D.vitamin D
第三部分：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。
I felt encouraged by his words and began to swim more calmly.But my clothes stuck to me like a heavy weight.I could hardly stay above the surface.
Counsel saw this.“Shall I cut them?”he asked.
With a knife he cut my clothes from top to bottom and took them of quickly while I swam for both of us.Then I did the same for Counsel,and we continued to swim near each other.
But we were in serious trouble.The crew（船员）might not have noticed our disappearance.
And if they had,they could not return because the rudder（舵）had broken.Counsel thought of all this,and calmly made his plans.We decided to wait for the ship as long as possible,because we had no other hope of safety.I suggested that we save our strength so that both of us would not be tired out at the same time.This was how we did it:While one of us lay on his back,quite still,with arms crossed and legs stretched out（伸直）,the other would swim and push him along.We changed every ten minutes or so.In this way we could swim for hours,perhaps till daylight.The crash（破裂声）of the ship and the whale（鲸）had appeared at about eleven o’clock.We had about eight hours to swim before daylight.This seemed possible,if the sea remained calm.
56.What happened to the man who told the story?
A.He and his companion got into the water to test their strength.
B.He jumped into the water to save the broken rudder.
C.He was knocked into the water by his enemy.
D.He was thrown into the sea when the ship struck a whale.
57.Why did the two men cut their clothes?
A.Because no people helped them to take off their clothes.
B.Because they couldn’t take off their clothes on the sea.
C.Because they wanted to get rid of their clothes quickly.
D.Because they wanted to lifebuoys（救生圈）with their clothes.
58.What does the word “still” in the last paragraph mean?
A.not moving B.even C.yet D.however
59.In order to save their strength,______.
A.one of them pushed the other while swimming and then they changed
B.they both swam calmly
C.they crossed their arms and stretched their legs on the water
D.they lay on their backs instead of swimming
60.Which one of the following is true?
A.Neither of the two men was good swimmers.
B.The sea was calm before eleven o’clock that night.
C.The story took place at night.
D.The two men had to swim eight hours to catch up with the ship.
Identifying young people with the potential to be great athletes has become a serious, business around the world. Many countries, including Australia, have sophisticated(复杂) programs for identifying and nurturing(培养) talent.
The AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) already runs a program that identifies potential winners starting from the age of 12 based on their physical and physiological(生理的) abilities.
Could genetics improve these programs? The problem is that no one gene test is ever going to do an accurate job of identifying someone with the physical attributes of a sporting champion, says Professor North.
"We can think of the elite athlete as what I'd call a complex phenotype(表现型)," she says. “There are going to be a large number of different genes involved. Any one single test is unlikely to be highly predictive.”
Professor Peter Fricker, director of the AIS, agrees. Although he is intrigued in the possibilities of genetic testing, he says using such tests to identify athletes would be difficult. "The feeling I have is that it won't be that easy," he says. "Talent selection is not just about your genes."
Since 2004, the AIS has been forbidden by government from any involvement in genetic work, including genetic testing. But Professor Fricker thinks that is likely to change in the near future. "There's been a shift in view more recently," he says.
When it does, the AIS will resume its work on the genetics of sports performance, Professor Fricker says. They would be particularly interested in looking for more genes that might help shape elite performance, but also for genes that increase the risk of injury.
Last year, the Human Genetics Society of Australasia issued a position statement on gene testing for sport, after concerns that people could use tests to steer children into particular sports.
“The Human Genetics Society thinks there are not enough data to use these tests for determining what sport kids should do,” said Professor David Thorburn, president of the society.
He stressed that genetic tests should not be performed on children, except in very specific medical circumstances.
57．The aim of the AIS’s program is to .
A．predict how genes are connected with injuries
B．find potential great athletes
C．find out what qualities a professor has through gene tests
D．turn an athlete into a champion by transferring genes
58．By saying “Talent selection is not just about your genes”, Fricker means .
A．effort is more important than genes in most cases
B．you can’t choose an athlete just depending on genes
C．to research one’s genes takes a long time
D．most people don’t believe in genetic tests
59．The underlined word “resume” in Para. 7 can be replaced by .
A．stop B．complete C．reduce D．continue.
60．What’s Professor David Thorburn’s attitude towards genetic tests?
A．Genetic tests have a negative effect on children.
B．Genetic tests, under certain conditions, can be conducted on children.
C．Genetic tests can reduce the risk of athletes’ injuries.
D．People could use genetic tests to decide what sport kids should take.