Last week, President Barack Obama gave a back- to-school speech to students at the Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Students in schools across the country also tuned in to watch the President's speech on TV. He stressed the importance of trying new things, working hard and believing in yourself.
While admitting that times are tough for families across the country, Obama reminded students that hard work now can mean big success later. “Nobody gets to write your destiny(命运）but you,” he said. “Your future is in your hands. Your life is what you make of it. And nothing—absolutely nothing—is beyond your reach."
Obama spoke about his own life, and lessons he learned from his mother, who had to remind him to stay focused on his studies. He told students the recipe (诀窍) for success: “Showing up to school on time. Paying attention in class. Doing your homework. Studying for exams. Staying out of trouble. ”
Obama encouraged students to embrace(欣然接受)what makes them different. “We shouldn't be embarrassed by the things that make us different,” he said. “We should be proud of them.”
He also suggested taking advantage of all of the opportunities at your school, and always being open to trying new things. “Just because you’re not the best at something today doesn't mean you can't be tomorrow,” he said. “Even if you don't think of yourself as a math person or as a science person—you can still excel in those subjects if you're willing to make the effort. And you may find out you have talents you’d never dreamed of.”What does Obama mainly want to tell the students in Paragraph 2?
| A．Some families are experiencing a hard time. |
| B．Different people have different destinies. |
| C．They can create their own future. |
| D．Those who don't study hard will achieve nothing. |
In Paragraph 3, Obama tried to encourage the students by _______.
| A．telling an interesting story |
| B．sharing the secret to success |
| C．telling his own life experience |
| D．referring to some famous people |
Obama suggested the students should _________ .
| A．not study hard for high marks |
| B．accept things that make them different |
| C．do what they are really interested in |
| D．not do things which are difficult for them |
The underlined phrase “excel in” in the last paragraph means “_________”.
| A．be careful with | B．be attracted to |
| C．be interested in | D．be good at |
In only two decades Asian Americans have become the fastest-growing US minority．As their children began moving up through the nation’s schools，it became clear that a new kind of culture was coming out．Their achievements are made in the nation’s best universities，where mathematics，science and engineering departments have taken on a decidedly Asian character.This special liking for mathematics and science is partly explained by the fact that Asian-American students who began their education abroad arrived in the U.S. with a solid grounding in mathematics but little or no knowledge of English.They are also influenced by the promise of a good job after college．Asians feel there will be less unfair treatment in areas like mathematics and science because they will be judged more objectively(客观)．And the money spent on education is more immediately returned in something like engineering than with an arts degree．
Most Asian-American students owe their success to the influence of parents who are determined that their children should take full advantage of what the American educational system has to offer.An effective measure of parental attention is homework. Asian parents spend more time with their children than American parents do，and it helps．Many researchers also believe there is something in Asian culture，such as family value，the importance of education and so on that lead to their success.
Both explanations for academic success worry Asian Americans because of fears that they could cause the native Americans’unhappiness．Many can remember when Chinese,Japanese and Filipino immigrants(移民)were unequally treated because of social separation．Indeed，it was not until 1952 that laws were laid down giving all Asian immigrants the right to citizenship.Few Asian-American students major in human sciences mainly because .
| A．they are afraid they might meet with unfair judgement in these areas |
| B．there is a wide difference between Asian and Western cultures |
| C．they know little about American cultures and Western cultures |
| D．their English is not good enough |
Asian-Americans prefer something like engineering to an arts degree because________.
| A．people majoring in engineering are respected |
| B．people with an arts degree are looked down upon |
| C．they can’t find a job with an arts degree |
| D．they can earn more money after graduation |
While making great achievements at college，Asian-American students________.
| A．are afraid that their academic successes take on a strong Asian character |
| B．still worry about unfair treatment in society |
| C．generally feel it a shame to have to depend on their parents |
| D．feel they are mistreated because of limited knowledge of English |
According to the passage，the major factors determining the success of Asian-Americans are .
| A．Asian culture and the American educational system |
| B．Asian culture and a solid base in basic mathematics |
| C．hard work and parental help |
| D．hard work and a limited knowledge of English |
Not only did the students ask for changes in the list of required subjects，but they also demanded the right to choose their courses according to their own taste and future needs．No more fixed programs,no guidance from educators and professors．All they wanted was to get their degree as fast as possible and go to work．
Although the educators didn’t all agree；a majority recognized that time had indeed changed and that education should perhaps adapt itself to the realities of modern society．Colleges and universities revised their programs to include a large number of specialized courses in business，nursing，engineering，and other professional fields．In the 1960s they also added courses requested by the students because they considered them“relevant(相关的)”(Women Studies，Revolution，or Black History)or useful(glass blowing，infant care，slow running，or family life)．The students were granted the right to choose their courses as they wished．Many traditional subjects had to be dropped，including history and foreign languages；the liberal education courses that were still useful were often neglected(忽视)by the students，who didn’t feel like working hard to learn something that was not required for graduation．
Whether the revised programs have helped college graduates to find employment quickly is not clear．But after fifteen or twenty years of experimentation，they have raised a lot of criticism．Some of it comes from the graduates themselves,who discover that their practical knowledge is neither deep nor flexible(灵活的)．As soon as they progress to higher positions，they find that they need management training and more study in their own field．Besides，they feel disabled by their lack of general knowledge,for example，by their ignorance of the language and culture of the foreigners with whom they are doing business. Most of all they suffer from their inability to use English，their own language，easily and properly.The students also demanded，besides a change of program.
| A．the right to choose their university |
| B．the right to choose their professors |
| C．the right to choose their degree |
| D．the right to choose their courses |
What was the reaction of the colleges towards the students’demand?
| A．All the educators agreed with them. |
| B．None of the educators agreed with them. |
| C．A few educators agreed with them. |
| D．A few educators disagreed with them. |
Who is it that criticized the new system of education?
| A．Graduates | B．Parents | C．Employers | D．Educators |
In the opinion of the critics，the main problems are .
| A．the general knowledge is too much |
| B．the practical knowledge is impractical |
| C．they learned too much useless knowledge |
| D．they are not able to use their knowledge effectively |
The booking notes of the play “the Age of Innocence”:
Price: ＄10
BOOKING
There are four easy ways to book seats for performance:
★in person
The Box Office is open Monday to Saturday, 10 a. m. -8 p. m.
★by telephone
Ring 01324976 to reserve your tickets or to pay by credit card（Visa, MasterCard and Amex accepted）
★by post
Simply complete the booking form and return it to Global Theatre Box Office.
★on line
Complete the on-line booking form at www. Satanfied theatre.com
DICOUNTS:
Saver: ＄2 off any seat booked any time in advance for performances from Monday to Thursday. Savers are available for children up to 16 years old, over 60s and full-time students.
Supersaver: half-price seats are available for people with disabilities and one companion. It is advisable to book in advance. There is a maximum of eight wheelchair spaces available and one wheelchair space will be held until an hour before the show.
Standby: best available seats are on sale for ＄6 from one hour before the performance for people eligible（suitable）for Saver and Supersaver discounts and thirty minutes before for all other customers.
Group Bookings: there is a ten per cent discount for parties of twelve or more.
School: school parties of ten or more can book ＄6 standby tickets in advance and will get every tenth ticket free.
Please note: we are unable to exchange tickets or refund money unless a performance is cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. If you want to book a ticket, you CANNOT _____
| A．go to the Box Office on Sundays. |
| B．ring the booking number and pay for the tickets by credit card. |
| C．use the Internet. |
| D．complete a booking form and post it to the Box Office. |
According to the notes, who can get ＄2 off?
| A．The people who book the tickets on Fridays. |
| B．An 18-year-old teenager. |
| C．A 55-year-old woman. |
| D．A 20-year-old full-time college student. |
If you make a group booking for a group of 14 adults, how much should you pay?
| A．＄120 | B．＄126 | C．＄140 | D．＄150 |
American parents usually think that their child should not have more pocket money than the children with whom he regularly connects, even if they are wealthier．But neither are children expected to compare with the richer if a large family, heavy responsibilities, or other conditions make it necessary to give a child less spending money than is customary （惯例的）in the neighborhood．
Whatever the pocket money is, its entire use is not controlled by the parents, because a child learns to use money correctly only through dealing with it himself．If a seven-year-old child gets a quarter as a week pocket money and is made to put it all in his piggy bank to save it up, he gets no idea what the real use for the money is．He gets the shiny coins and they soon disappear．
The idea of a bank account is too early for so small a child, although he can be made to understand and enjoy saving his coins—not all of them, only a part of what he receives—to buy something he especially wants．By the time he is eight he is old enough to take part in the opening of his own savings account, parents may take him to the bank, open a savings account for him and encourage him to put a certain quantity or any checks he receives as gifts into the bank and watch his bank savings grow as entry by entry（存入） is made．
He will be saving, earning, and spending suitable quantities all along in order to learn how to manage money and to keep him in a favorable position with his friend．The boy who can't join his fellows in a sweet shop once in a while, because he has to save every cent he gets or earns for some big unknown project his parents have chosen for him, is a sorry child．Choose the best exolaration for the underlined part in the second paragraph.
| A．It is a kind of bank run by children． |
| B．It is a contralre in the shape of a pig for saving coins. |
| C．It is a certain place in which pigs are raise． |
| D．It is a bank whose building looks like a pig |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Most of the rich people in America give children much pocket money． |
| B．American children usually have their bank accounts until they are eight． |
| C．American parents seldom care for their children's spending money． |
| D．American children begin to learn how to manage money when very young． |
Suppose an 8-year-old child receives 10 dollars as his birthday gift, he may probably ____．
| A．spend the money on the things he wants |
| B．compare the gift with that of his friend |
| C．have most of it saved in the bank |
| D．put all the money in his piggy bank |
Why does the writer think the boy is a sorry one if he saves every cent he gets or earns?
| A．Because he can not manage his money and is kept himself in an unfavorable position |
| B．Because he can not join the fellows in a sweet shop once in a while |
| C．Because he can not learn the use of money through spending it himself |
| D．Because he can not have any other choice but save, earn of spend money |
When you close your eyes and try to think of the shape of your own body, what you imagine (or rather, what you feel) is quite different from what you see when you open your eyes and look in the mirror. The image you feel is much vaguer（模糊的） than the one you see. And if you lie still, it is quite hard to imagine yourself as having any particular size or shape.
When you move, when you feel the weight of your arms and legs and the natural resistance of the objects around you, the “felt” image of yourself starts to become clearer. It is almost as if it were created by your own actions and the feelings they cause.
The image you create for yourself has rather strange proportions（部分）; certain parts feel much larger than they look. If you get a hole in one of your teeth, it feels enormous; you are often surprised by how small it looks when you inspect it in the mirror.
Although the “felt” image may not have the shape you see in the mirror, it is much more important. It is the image through which you recognize your physical existence in the world. In spite of its strange proportions, it is all one piece, and since it has a consistent(前后一致的) right and left and atop and bottom, it allows you to locate new feelings when they occur. It allows you to find your nose in the dark and point to a pain.
If the felt image is damaged for any reason—if it is cut in half or lost as it often is after certain strokes （中风）which wipe out recognition of one entire side –these tasks become almost impossible. What is more, it becomes hard to make sense of one’s own visual appearance. If one half of the “felt” image is wiped out or injured, the patient stops recognizing the affected part of his body. It is hard for him to find the location of feelings on that side, and, although he feels the doctor’s touch, he locates it as being on the undamaged side.According to the passage the “felt” imagethe mirror image.
| A．is precisely the same as | B．is as clear as |
| C．often differens from | D．is always much smaller than |
Which the following staterants is NOT true?
| A．The felt Image is much more important because it helps you locate new feelings. |
| B．When you are in bed with your eyes closed, it is not easy to imagine your image. |
| C．When you move, the “felt” image of yourself starts to become clearer. |
| D．The “felt” image is not so important as the mirror image. |
If a man loses the ability to recognize his right side,.
| A．he can’t locate the doctor’s touch on his left side |
| B．he can’t locate the doctor’s touch on his right side |
| C．he loses his sense of touch on the left side |
| D．he loses feeling on both sides |
What is this passage mainly about?
| A．Stroke victims’“felt” images | B．Stroke victims’ mirror images. |
| C．The importance of “felt” images | D．The importance of mirror images. |