Q: My daughter is a junior in high school and has been on an individualized education program since fourth grade. She plans to go to college and intends to finish with a master’s degree. Her performance in general is fairly good, but test scores are very low. She has held many leadership and volunteer positions. We have been advised to have her write an essay about how her learning disability is a barrier that she has to get over. Will that help or hurt her chances for admission?
---- Deborah
A: First let me answer the question on low standardized test scores (ACT/SAT). There are hundreds of colleges that are “test optional” which means students can choose not to release their test scores in the application process. Admission decisions at these colleges for students who do not submit their test scores are made based on other factors. A list of test optional colleges can be found at fairtest.org. It is important, however, to make sure that the college is the right fit academically regardless of the test optional policy.
You also asked if your daughter should write about her disability and if this would hurt her chances of being admitted. Please know that colleges do not deny admission based on disability. “Disclosing” a learning disability in a personal statement within the college application can certainly help. By writing a personal statement, students can potentially demonstrate, for example, their understanding of the challenge they face. They might also prove an improved grade trend in that subject area, and show interest in more complex courses in spite of this disability. More importantly, a student disclosure can show self-confidence, motivation and an understanding of the disability.
---- Ms. KravisWhat do we know about Deborah’s daughter?
| A．She is applying for a master’s degree. |
| B．She is very active in her high school. |
| C．Her disability prevents her studying well. |
| D．She has difficulty getting over her learning disability. |
The underlined word “demonstrate” in the last paragraph probably means “_____”.
| A．show | B．develop | C．gain | D．change |
What is Ms. Kravis’ attitude towards one’s declaring his/her learning disability?
| A．Supportive. | B．Critical. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unconcerned. |
According to the passage, Mr. Kravis is probably _____.
| A．an editor | B．a school leader |
| C．a psychological doctor | D．an educational expert |
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 |
When I was an official of a school in Paio Alto，California, Polly Tyner, the president of our board，wrote a letter that was printed in the Palo Alto Times．Polly’s son，Jim，had great difficulty in school, He was classified as the educationally handicapped and required a great deal of patience on the part of his parents and teachers．But Jim was a happy kid with a great smile that lit up the room．His parents knew his difficulties，but they always tried to help him see his strengths so that he could walk with pride．Shortly after Jim finished high school，he was killed in a motorcycle accldent, After his death，his mother gave this letter to the newspaper．
“Today we buried our 20-year-old son．He was killed in a motorcycle accident on Friday night．How I wish I had known that the last time I had talked to him would be the last time．If I had only known that，I would have said to him，‘Jim，I love you and I’m always so proud of yon．’I would have taken the time to count the many blessings he had brought to the lives of the people who loved him．I would have taken the time to appreciate his beautiful smile，his laughter, and his genuine love to other people．
“When I put all the good things on the scale and try to balance them with all the irritating (恼人的) things such as the radio that was always too loud，the haircut that wasn’t to our liking, the dirty socks under the bed，etc．，I find that the irritations really don’t amount to much．
“I won’t get another chance to tell my son all that I would have wanted him to hear, but，other parents, do have a chance．Tell your young people what you would want them to hear as if it may be your last conversation．The last time I talked to Jim was the morning of the day when he died．He called me to say,‘Hi, Mom! I just called to say I love you．You have to go to work now．Bye．’That day, he gave me something to treasure forever．”
If there is any purpose at all for Jim’s death, maybe it is to make others appreciate life more and to tell people，especially family members，tha
t they should take the time to let each other know just how much they care．You may never have another chance．Do it today!Who was Jim?
| A．A school boy． |
| B．The writer |
| C．The president of a school board． |
| D．An official of a school． |
What’s the meaning of the underlined phrase“the educationally handicapped”?
| A．The communication difficulty． |
| B．The physical problems． |
| C．The psychological problems． |
| D．The learning difficulty． |
According to the writer, which of the following about Jim is TRUE?
| A．He was always sad about his school marks． |
| B．His parents always scolded him about his bad school marks． |
| C．His study needed more attention from his parents and teachers． |
| D．He was kilied in a car accident |
What did PoIly think of Jim?
| A．He was a lovely boy with a beautiful smile who always loved others． |
| B．He was physically sick but always happy |
| C．He was an irritating boy with some bad habits． |
| D．He seldom expressed his love to his parents． |
The purpose of Polly’s letter is to．
| A．memorize her son |
| B．teach parents to appreciate their chtidren |
| C．teach children how to be good boys |
| D．give some advice on how to deal with children’s problems |
Boiler rooms are often dirty and steamy, but this one is clean and cool. Fox Point is a very new 47-unit living building in South Bronx, one of the city’s poorest areas. Two-thirds of the people living there are formerly (以前) homeless people, whose rent is paid by the government. The rest are low-income families. The boiler room has special equipment, which produces energy for electricity and heat. It reuses heat that would otherwise be lost to the air, reducing carbon emissions(碳排放)while also cutting costs.
Fox Point is operated by 
Palladia, a group that specializes in providing housing and services to needy people. Palladia received support from Enterprise Community Partners (ECP), which helps build affordable housing by providing support to housing developers.
ECP has created national standards for healthy, environmentally (环境方面) clever and affordable homes which are called, the Green Communities Standards. These standards include water keeping, energy saving and the use of environmentally friendly building materials. Meeting the standards increases housing construction costs by 2%, which is rapidly paid back by lower running costs. Even the positioning of a window to get most daylight can help save energy.
Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, plans to create 165,000 affordable housing units for 500,000 New Yorkers. Almost 80% of New York City’s greenhouse-gas emissions come from buildings, and 40% of those are caused by housing. So he recently announced that the city’s Department of Housing and Preservation and Development (DHPD) , whose duty is to develop and keep the city’s supply of affordable housing, will require all its new projects to follow ECP’s green standards.
Similar measures have been taken by other cities such as Cleveland and Denver, but New York’s DHPD is the largest city developer of affordable housing in the country. What is the purpose of describing the boiler room in the first paragraph?
| A．To explain the measures the city takes to care for poor people. |
| B．To suggest that affordable housing is possible in all areas. |
| C．To show how the environment-friendly building works. |
| D．To compare old and new boiler rooms. |
What is an advantage of the buildings meeting the Green Communities Standards?
| A．Lower running costs. | B．Costing less in construction. |
| C．Less air to be lost in hot days . | D．Better prices for homeless people. |
It can be learned from the text that_______________.
| A．New York City is seriously polluted |
| B．people’s daily life causes many carbon emissions in New York City |
| C．a great number of people in New York City don't have houses to live in |
| D．some other cities have developed more affordable housing than New York City |
What is the main purpose of this text?
A．To call on people to pay more attention to housing problems. |
| B．To prove that some standards are needed for affordable housing. |
| C．To ask society to help homeless people and low-income families. |
| D．To introduce healthy, environmentally clever-and affordable housing. |
I grew up in a house where the TV was seldom turned on and with one wall in my bedroom entirely lined with bookshelves, most of my childhood was spent on books I could get hold of. In fact, I grew up thinking of reading as natural as breathing and books unbelievably powerful in shaping perspectives (观点) by creating worlds we could step into, take part in and live in.
With this unshakable belief, I, at fourteen, decided to become a writer. Here too, reading became useful. Every writer starts off knowing that he has something to say, but being unable to find the right ways to say it. He has to find his own voice by reading widely and discovering which parts of the writers he agrees or disagrees with, or agrees with so strongly that it reshapes his own world. He cannot write without loving to read, because only through reading other people’s writing can one discover what works, what doesn’t and, in the end, together with lots of practice, what voice he has.
Now I am in college, and have come to realize how important it is to read fiction (文学作品)．As a law student, my reading is in fact limited to subject matter—the volume (量) of what I have to read for classes every week means there is little time to read anything else. Such reading made it all the clearer to me that I live in a very small part in this great place called life. Reading fiction reminds me that there is life beyond my own. It allows me to travel across the high seas and along the Silk Road, all from the comfort of my own armchair, to experience, though secondhand, exciting experiences that I wouldn't necessarily be able to have in my lifetime. What can be inferred about the author as a child?
| A． He never watched TV. | B． He read what he had to. |
C． He found readi ng unbelievable. |
D． He considered reading part of his life. |
The underlined word "voice" in the second paragraph most probably means “”.
| A．an idea | B．a sound quality |
| C．a way of writing | D．a  world to write about |
What effect does reading have on the author?
| A．It helps him to realize his dream. | B．It opens up a wider world for him. |
| C．It makes his college life more interesting . | D．It increases his interest in worldwide travel. |
Which of the following can be the best title of this text?
| A．Why do I read? | B．How do I read? |
| C．What do I read? | D．When do I read? |