Are two holidays not enough? Do you dream of three, or even four? 这不再是梦想! Last month, the State Council(国务院) encouraged primary and high schools to give students a spring or autumn break without changing the total number of student vacation days.
Students in China currently only have long holidays in two seasons —summer and winter. These holidays are usually 10 to 12 weeks in total.“If we had spring and autumn breaks, I would have time to taste all four seasons instead of burying (埋) myself in my studies,”Gao Yiran, a 15-year-old boy told China Daily. Seasonal holidays during autumn and spring may be something new in China, but not in other countries.
In the US, students usually have three holidays. Summer holiday is the longest one, and runs from mid-June until early September. Summer camp is one of kids’ favorite places to go to, where they can make new friends and try some new activities. Winter holiday starts from mid-December and ends in early January. Most kids and their parents go to spend time together over the Christmas period. Spring break comes in mid- March and it is usually a 10-day holiday.
Schools in Japan start in April, as most people think that spring is the perfect time for new things. For school children ,summer holiday lasts from July 20 to August 31. Most kids are busy with club activities including sports and dancing. Spring break starts at the end of March and continues till early April. It is a good chance for a short family trip around the city.
阅读短文，按要求完成下面的任务。
任务一 将处的中文翻译成英文。
任务二 将处斜体部分的英文翻译成中文。
任务三 写出处“it”指代的内容。
任务四 What do Japanese kids usually do in their spring break?
任务五 为该文段拟写一个标题。
Most schools in England require children to wear a school uniform.
There are at least four advantages. Firstly, when they go on a school trip they all look the same and so they can’t get lost. Secondly, it stops kids worrying about what to wear each day. Everyone is equal. Thirdly, parents don’t have to shop for expensive and different clothes for their children to show off. Fourthly, wearing a uniform gives a sense of being proud and discipline(纪律约束) in them.
| A．White | B．Grey | C．Black | D．Yellow |
| A．On the tie | B．On the sweater |
| C．On the shirt | D．On the skirt |
| A．It gives students a sense of being proud |
| B．It helps children show off |
| C．It helps children choose different clothes |
| D．It makes children strange |
It is true that people with better education are usually able to get better paying jobs. In other words, they have more chances to choose a good job while people with little or no education don't. It seems that the purpose of education is to make people get jobs. But this isn't accepted by all people.
Some people may think that a person should spend the best years of his life to get education only for a way of living. This was probably one of the earliest reasons of education. In fact, if education is just a way of making a living, people don't need to spend so much time in school. People can get education for a living in a short time. Subjects like history and geography need not be taught to everyone. Even language and maths need not be taught in detail, either. Here it is clear that education is much more than teaching a man to get a way of living.
Education is well-rounded (全面的) and it is mainly for improving a man. It is not only to teach him to speak, read and write, but also to develop his creative thinking and other abilities. After that, it is to make him a wise man and thankfully enjoy the achievements of human. Education is to make a man lead a better life. Educated people are expected to be able to listen to good music, read good books, watch plays and take an interest in the world.
I would agree that making a good living is an important reason for education, but certainly not the most important or the main reason.
| A．spend a long time in school |
| B．have a good chance to get a job |
| C．spend the best years to choose jobs |
| D．have fewer chances to get a good job |
| A．make a man lead a better life |
| B．teach a man to write and read |
| C．make people get a way of living |
| D．teach people to read good books |
| A．accept education as a way of living |
| B．take an interest in the whole world |
| C．develop their abilities to make plays |
| D．learn subjects like language and math |
| A．education should make a man improve |
| B．people can get education in a short time |
| C．people should be able to get good paying jobs |
| D．all subjects are so important for a way of living |
More than 50 music students of New Milford High School in New Jersey, US, got a letter from their headmaster. The letter said that the music department (系) of the school was in big trouble. The students had to pass a test, or the department would be closed.
The test came on Saturday. The nervous students were required t, o play a piece of music created by Richard Strauss. And they had to sing the words to the music - German words! There were also other difficult tasks. One student had to sing Mary Had A little Lamb, a children's song, in an operatic (歌剧的) voice.
After three hours of testing, the students all waited for the results. They met some students from the New Jersey Youth Orchestra (管弦乐团) while waiting. They had the same test and only got a passing grade.
The worried New Milford High School students started to realize they had no chance. But then the headmaster came and told them something very dramatic (戏剧性的), "Someone has played a joke on you TV "
What was going on?
The test was part of a new reality TV show called "Schooled". The students' parents, the school and a TV network had made it together. Everything was faked. The "students from New Jersey Youth Orchestra" were students from another school. There were hidden cameras. The students' parents were hiding as they watched.
As a reward for putting up with the joke, the students got gifts: MP3 players, digital cameras and school supplies (文具). They were all from the show's sponsor (赞助商).
| A．the headmaster would be in big trouble |
| B．the school had a problem with money |
| C．the students had to pass a test to save the music department |
| D．the students had to give up music |
| A．they were not good at music |
| B．the test was very simple |
| C．they thought they couldn't pass |
| D．the test meant so much |
| A．not real | B．not serious |
| C．popular | D．stupid |
| A．music course | B．TV show |
| C．documentary | D．comedy film |
Yesterday I went to the nursing home to visit my grandma. She just got out of the hospital recently where she had some serious operations.
When I got there, she was so happy to see me. We hugged, kissed and exchanged greetings. Then I heard a woman crying. It was my grandma's roommate. The curtain was drawn so I could not see her. She started calling out a name that wasn't mine but she was certainly talking to me, begging me to go to her side of the room.
I ignored (忽视) her at first and continued talking with my grandma. Then she started begging and saying, "Please, come to see me!" So I went to see her.
When I drew the curtain back, she looked so old but flashed me the biggest smile ! She opened her arms wide for me to hug her so I bent low and gave her a hug. I sat on her bed and talked with her for a few minutes. She kept calling me by the other name, but I did not correct her. She told me stories as if I had been there when they happened.
Finally I went back to talk with my grandma. Then the woman started crying again, saying, "Please, come back." She finally slept.
I stopped by the nurse's station and the nurse told me that the lady suffers from Alzheimer's (老年痴呆症). I mentioned the name she had called me. The nurse told me it was the lady's daughter's name, Then I understood why she wanted me to go to visit her.
We will all get old some day. Some of us will have broken minds like the lady and some of us will have broken bodies like my grandma. As I was leaving, I promised I would go back and visit the lady, even after my grandma moves back to her home.
| A．Because she needed another operation. |
| B．Because she had been used to living there. |
| C．Because she waited for the writer to come. |
| D．Because she wanted to see her old friends there. |
| A．she missed her daughter very much |
| B．she expected to tell stories to the writer |
| C．she feared the curtain being drawn |
| D．she was troubled by the writer's talking |
| A．Selfish. | B．Lonely. | C．Strong. | D．Lazy. |
| A．The lady came out to see me. |
| B．The lady's daughter always visited her. |
| C．The writer's grandma had something important to tell her. |
| D．The writer would go back and visit the old lady. |
、阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
请认真阅读下面的四篇短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳答案。
A
Plants are very important for living things. Life could not go on if there were no plants. This is be-cause plants can make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals and man cannot make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals get their food by eating plants and other animals. Therefore animals and man need plants in order to live. This is why we find that there are so many plants around us.
If you look carefully at the plants around you, you will find that there are two kinds of plants: flowering plants and non-flowering plants.
Flowering plants can make seeds（种子）.The seeds are protected by the fruits. Some fruits have one seed, some have two, three or four, and some have many seeds. But a few fruits have no seeds at all. An example of a fruit without seeds is the banana fruit.
Most non-flowering plants do not grow from seeds. They grow from spores（孢子）．Spores are very, very small. Some spores are so small and light that they can float in the air. We may say that spores are quite the same as seeds. When these spores fall on wet and shady places, they usually grow into new plants.
| A．Of all living things, animals are most important. |
| B．Spores are seeds. |
| C．All fruits of flowering plants have seeds. |
| D．Without plants, man will die out. |
| A．how plants can make food from air |
| B．how spores grow into new plants |
| C．why some plants have no seeds |
| D．why non-flowering plants are more important than flowering plants |
| A．a story book | B．a novel |
| C．a science magazine | D．a laboratory report |