When Andrea Peterson landed her first teaching job, she faced the daunting task of creating a music program with almost no money for equipment or supplies in a climate where standards-based learning was the focus and music just provided a break for students and teachers.
For her drive and creativity in overcoming those challenges, she’s been named national teacher of the year.
Principal Waynes Kettler said he’s worked with many outstanding teachers in his 22 years as an educator, but Peterson is “just that one step above anybody I’ve ever worked with before.”
Kettler and others at Monte Cristo Elementary School talk about the ways she has introduced the learning from other classrooms into her music program and her creativity in working around things such as the lack of money for new music.
When students were reading S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders in their regular classroom, Peterson helped them write a 30-minute play with scenes from the book. Then they chose three Broadway tunes that focused on race, equality and social justice, the themes of the book. Peterson composed two other songs herself after classroom discussions about the play and the book.
The honor means a lot to residents of Granite Falls. It’s inspiring to know that people from small towns can even win national honors.
As national teacher of the year, Peterson will spend the next year outside the classroom, as a national and international spokeswoman for education.
Not surpassingly, she is a big believe in the value of acts education. She said it’s essential for schools to offer classes such as act or music and physical education because for some kids one of those subjects is the only thing that motivates them to come back to school day after day. The underlined word “daunting” in Paragraph 1 most probably means __________.
| A．discouraging | B．interesting |
| C．creative | D．unbearable |
When Peterson began her teaching career, ____________.
| A．music was a focus of learning in most schools |
| B．the environment was favorable to music teaching |
| C．the school lacked teaching facilities for music |
| D．financial support for music programs was unavailable |
What is the most important reason that Peterson won the award?
| A．She concerned herself with current social problems. |
| B．She motivated students to learn music with her creativity. |
| C．She has taught music at the elementary school for 22 years. |
| D．She made great efforts to arouse students’ interest in literature. |
Which of the following is an example of Peterson’s way of teaching music?
| A．She wrote plays on themes of race, equality and social justice. |
| B．She made use of the contents of other classes in her teaching. |
| C．She organized classroom discussions of Broadway tunes. |
| D．She helped students compose songs by themselves. |
In Peterson’s opinion, ____________.
| A．art, music and PE classes are all important |
| B．more subjects should be offered to students |
| C．students should be motivated to attend art classes |
| D．arts education is more important than other subjects |
It can be inferred from the text that ________.
| A．Peterson’s honor was a surprise for the local people |
| B．Peterson’s art classes attracted students back to school |
| C．Peterson aroused the local residents’ passion for music |
| D．Peterson will change her profession next year |
I went through a training program and became a literacy volunteer last surnmen The training
I received, though excellent, did not tell me how it was to work with a real student, however. When I began to discover what other people's lives were like because they could not read, I realized the true importance of reading.
My first student Marie was a 44-year-old single mother of three. In the first lesson, I found out she walked two miles to the nearest supermarket twice a week because she didn't know which bus to take. When I told her I would get her a bus schedule, she told me it would not help because she could not read it. She said she also had difficulty once she got to the supermarket,because she couldn't always remember what she needed. Since she did not know words, she could not write out a shopping list. Also, she could only recognize items by sight, so if the product had a different label, she would not recognize it as the product she wanted.
As we worked together, learning how to read built Marie's self-confidence,which encouraged her to continue her studies. She began to make rapid progress and was even able to take the bus to the supermarketelt. After this successful trip, she reported how self-confident she felt. At the end of the program, she began helping her youngest son,Tony, a shy first grader with his reading. She sat with him before he went to sleep and together they would read bedtime stories. When his eyes became wide with excitement as she read, pride was written all over her face. As she described this experience, I was proud of myself as well. I found that helping Marie to build her self-confidence was more rewarding than anything I had ever done before.
As a literacy volunteer, I learned a great deal about teaching and helping others. In fact, I may have learned more from the experience than Marie did.What did the author do last summer?
| A．She worked in the supermarket |
| B．She helped someone to learn to read |
| C．She gave single mothers the help they needed |
| D．She went to a training program to help a literacy volunteer |
Why didn’t Marie go to the supermarket by bus at first?
| A．Because she liked to walk to the supermarket |
| B．Because she lived far away from the bus stop |
| C．Because she couldn’t afford the bus ticket |
| D．Because she couldn’t find the right bus |
How did Marie use to find the goods she wanted in the supermarket?
| A．She knew where the goods were in the supermarket |
| B．She asked others to take her to the right place |
| C．She managed to find the goods by their looks |
| D．She remembered the names of the goods |
What did the writer think of her work as a literacy volunteer?
| A．Interesting | B．Meaningful |
| C．Tiring | D．Touching |
“How can I learn English well?” This is a question many students ask. In my opinion, the most effective way is to learn lessons by heart. If you can recite the text and write it out, you’ve learned it fairly well. And if you can tell, in your own words, what the lesson says you’re a very successful learner indeed. Your English will be quite perfect.This is a difficult task. However, if you try to learn by heart only part of each lesson, you’ll find it not half so hard as you might have thought. Learning this way, you will make rapid progress. Of course, writing is also necessary. It helps you a lot on our way to success in English. Equally important is to feel the language. You should be able to laugh at jokes and be shocked at bad news. When using English, try to forget your mother tongue. Instead of helping you, your own language gets in your way. So, never try to see English through translation.In the writer’s opinion, the most effective way in learning English is ____.
| A．to practise speaking, writing and feeling it |
| B．to forget your own native language |
| C．to translate everything into his own language |
| D．to memorize the English words and grammatical rules |
“Instead of helping you, your own language gets in your way.”This sentence means that memorizing your own language can ________.
| A．help you to study English well | B．stop you mastering English |
| C．make English easy to learn | D．help you notice mistakes |
Equally important is to feel the language. “to feel the language” here means________.
| A．to get a knowledge of English by touching |
| B．to be able to read and write English |
| C．to translate English into your own by imagining |
| D．to be able to experience the rich sensation of the language |
All right! Enough cookies,cola, and chips! It seems that junk food is all that the children want to eat these days.Television controls their tastes.The kids see well-known personalities eating potato chips, candy and other processed food, and they want to be like their heroes.How do they do it?They eat the same food. I wish there were more characters like old Popeye（大力水手）, the sailor, who ate spinach（菠菜） and not French fries.
Now I don't expect my children to eat healthy food because I like brown rice, beans, and fresh vegetables. I'm glad to cook traditional meals of meat and potatoes for them. I really can't be too upset with the kids because most adults aren't careful about what they eat. The other night, my wife and I went to a party where there was plenty to drink but very little for us to eat. They served hot dogs and hamburgers. I can't eat hot dogs, with all those preservatives（防腐剂）, and hamburgers are filled with chemicals so that they look better. Besides the meat, they had sugar-filled cookies and cake, and of course, chips. I don't want the world to change because of me, but I think people should realize that there are alternatives(选择) to eating meat. They always tell me that I probably don't get my essential(必要的) proteins. I feel better than ever and I'm sure that it's because I'm a vegetarian(素食主义者). I would really like to see more television advertisements which show the benefits of good, healthy, natural food. According to the passage, it seems that ______.
| A．canned food is the only one that the kids enjoy most. |
| B．the children like to have fried chicken only. |
| C．the kids prefer to have cold drinks, not junk food |
| D．the children like nothing better than junk food: cookies and chips |
which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Television influences children’s food choice |
| B．The author is not single and he eats meats |
| C．Though the author is a vegetarian, he feels very healthy |
| D．It is certain that beans and spinach are not junk food |
The writer is a vegetarian, so people doubt very much _____.
| A．why he goes to the party | B．whether he gets enough proteins |
| C．whether he allows his children to eat meat | D．whether he is healthy and strong |
People in the United States honour their parents with two special days: Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June.These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care.These two days make us think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers are now working outside home. More fathers must help with the children care.
These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day, people wear carnations(康乃馨). A red one symbolizes（象征） a living mother, while a white one shows the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honour parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit cemetery ( 墓地). On these days, families get together at home, as well as in restaurants. They often have outdoor barbecues for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.
Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school. Many people make their own presents. These are valued more than the ones bought in stores. It is not the value of the gift that is important, but it is the thought that counts. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries, telephone companies and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.Which of the following is NOT a reason for parents show love and respect for parents?
| A．Parents bring up children |
| B．Parents give love and care to children |
| C．Parents educate children to be good persons |
| D．Parents pass away before children grow up |
Which do you think is true about “carnation” mentioned in paragraph 2?
| A．It has only two kinds of colours |
| B．It refers to the special clothes people wear on Mother’s Day or Father’Day |
| C．It’s a kind of flower showing love and best wishes. |
| D．People can wear carnations only on the second Sunday in May |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are both in May |
| B．Fewer women worked outside the home in the past |
| C．Not all the children respect their parents |
| D．Fathers are not as important as mothers |
What do you think the underlined word “florists”do?
| A．They sell flowers |
| B．They offer enough room for having family parties |
| C．They sell special clothes for Mother’s day |
| D．They make bread or pastry(点心) |
About ten years ago, a young and very successful businessman named Josh was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street. He was going a bit too fast in his shiny, black, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old.
He was watching for kids rushing out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child came out, but a brick sailed out and—WHUMP! —it hit the Jag’s shiny black side door! Immediately Josh stopped the car, jumped out, seized the kid and pushed him up against a parked car. He shouted at the kid, “What was that all about and who are you? That’s my new Jag, that brick you threw is gonna cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw it? ”
“Please, mister, please. . . I’m sorry! I didn’t know what else to do! ” begged the youngster. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop! ” Tears were streaming down the boy’s face as he pointed around the parked car. “It’s my brother, mister” he said. “He rolled off the curb (路沿) and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up. ”Sobbing, the boy asked the businessman, “ Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me. ”
Moved beyond words, the young businessman tried hard to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapers and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK. He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long walk back to the black, shining 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE—a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. He kept the dent (凹痕) to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention. Feel for the bricks of life coming at you. The boy threw a brick at the businessman’s car because _____ .
| A．the businessman drove at a high speed |
| B．he envied the brand-new car very much |
| C．he wanted to get help from the driver |
| D．he wanted to ask for some money |
Which of the following is the right order of the story?
a. The younger brother threw a brick at Josh’s car.
b. The elder brother fell out of his wheelchair.
c. The younger brother begged Josh for help.
d. Josh lifted the elder brother back into his wheelchair.
e. Josh shouted at the younger brother.
| A．a, c, b, e, d | B．a, c, d, b, e |
| C．b, a, c, e, d | D．b, a, e, c, d |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Josh would accept the money from the kids. |
| B．Josh was a kind-hearted man |
| C．The two kids were Josh’s neighbors. |
| D．Josh’s new car broke down easily. |
According to the passage, the last sentence means _____ .
| A．trying to be more understanding seeing others in trouble |
| B．driving fast in a neighborhood street is dangerous |
| C．trying to get ready for the trouble in your future life |
| D．protecting oneself from being hurt |