For a lang time,a boy wonder why his next-desk-pal was always the first in the class , whereas he could only rank the 21st.
At home,he asked his mom：“Am I more stupid than other kids? How can I alwasys fall behind? I just can’t come with an answer.”Mom was aware that her son’s selfrespect had been damaged by the ranking system,but she didn’t know what to say to help.
She tended to say that intelligence differs and that yes,her son’s friend really was the smarter boy.But that would so upset her son .Thank goodness she resisted the temption (诱惑)to say it .
Her son and his friend went on to high school that year,but despite trying as hard as he could,her son’s friend still outdid him.But she was proud of her boy for his hard work, sincerely proud,It was aroud this time that she decided to take him on a trip to the seaside,On the trip,she at last found an answer for him.
Today her son no longer care about rankings.He doesn’t have to,for he himself is now the top of the class at the national unversity he attands,After university his Teachers and peers fully expect him to have promising career.
Invited to speak to his old high school, he mentioned a valuable childhood experience. It concerned that holiday his mother had prepared for them: “Once, on a trip to the sea, my mother and I were lying on the beach. She pointed to the sea and said to me: Do you see the seabirds fighting for food out there? When a wave comes near, the little birds rise quickly. The clumsy(笨拙的)seagulls are far slower and have to struggle to get away from the wave. But these clumsy birds prove to have the biggest, strongest wings, which allow the bird to travel the furthest. When the season changes, they leave for foreign shores, leaving the little birds behind. Son, I have a feeling that you are one of those seagulls.”The story convey the message that.________.
| A．competion between students is good for society |
| B．only rankings show intelligence of a child |
| C．chilren take competion among them to heart |
| D．parents should build up chilren’s self-respect |
Form the 2nd paragraph,we can see that the mother
| A．decided to help with her son’s homework |
| B．saw the negative effects of the ranking system |
| C．knew her son was weak in his study |
| D．felt sorry for her son’s bad behavior |
We can infer from the passage that
| A．the mother was cafeful to protect her son’s self-respect |
| B．the mother was not strong enough to face the truth |
| C．the son knew intelligence didn’t mean anything |
| D．the son would forget his rankings soon after leaving high school |
Which of the following has the similar meaning with the underlined word “outdid”?
A.was equal to B..laughed at C did better than D.worked harder than
Ariau Amazon Towers
The Ariau Amazon Towers hotel lets you sleep in a tree house. Eight towers make up this hotel that offers over 300 rooms. If you really want to get into the spirit, book the Tarzan Suite which is large enough for a big family. You’ll be thirty feet up in the air and can travel between the towers through their wooden walkways.
Prices: starting at $300 one night for each person for a regular room and going all the way up to $3000 for the Tarzan Suite.
For more information, visit the website: http://www.ariautowers.com
The Ice Hotel
Every winter in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, a special kind of hotel called the Ice Hotel is built. Each year, world-famous artists are invited to design and produce works of art from the ice, many of which can be found in the rooms. You’ll have your choice between hot or cold rooms, but you will be well advised to stay at least one night in a cold room for a true experience.
Prices: starting at $318 one night for each person for either a cold room or a warm one.
For more information, visit the website: http://www.icehotel.com
Propeller Island
Propeller Island City Lodge is a very special hotel that was designed by a German artist. Each room provides you with the possibility of living in a work of art. Every single piece of furniture in the thirty rooms of the hotel has been hand-made and each room is completely different. You’ll be able to choose a room based on your own personal tastes.
Prices: starting at just $91 a night, and an additional person for only 20 extra dollars.
For more information, visit the website: http://www.propeller-island.com
For information about other cool hotels in the world, visit the website:
http://www.bahamabeachclub.comWhat is special about the Ariau Amazon Towers hotel?
| A．You can sleep in tree houses. |
| B．You can choose any of the towers. |
| C．It is designed for big families. |
| D．Every room has a walkway. |
For two persons spending a night in one of these hotels, they have to pay at least ______.
| A．$111 | B．$182 | C．$600 | D．$636 |
Which website should you visit if you want to find out whether there exists a hotel under the sea?
| A．http://www.icehotel.com |
| B．http://www.ariautowers.com |
| C．http://www.propeller-island.com |
| D．http://www.bahamabeachclub.com |
Which hotel would invite artists to come to work every year?
| A．Propeller Island City Lodge. |
| B．Ariau Amazon Towers. |
| C．The Ice Hotel. |
| D．Bahama Beach Club. |
In early autumn I applied for admission to college. I wanted to go nowhere but to Cornell University, but my mother fought strongly against it. When she saw me studying a photograph of my father on the sports ground of Cornell, she tore it up.
“You can’t say it’s not a great university, just because Papa went there.”
“That’s not it at all. And it is a top university.” She was still holding the pieces in her hand. “But we can’t afford to send you to college.”
“I wouldn’t dream of asking you for money. Do you want me to get a job to help support you and Papa? Things aren’t that bad, are they?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t expect you to help support us.”
Father borrowed money form his rich cousins to start a small jewellery shop, His chief customers were his old college friends. To get new customers, my mother had to help. She picked up a long-forgotten membership in the local league of women, so that she could get to know more people. Whether those people would turn into customers was another question. I knew that my Parents had to wait for quite a long time before their small investment could show returns. What’s more , they had not wanted enough to be rich and successful ;otherwise they could not possibly have managed their lives so badly.
I was torn between the desire to help them and change their lives, and the determination not to repeat their mistakes. I had a strong belief in my power to get what I wanted. After months of hard study I won a full college scholarship. My father could hardly contain his pride in me, and my mother eventually gave in before my success.The author was not allowed to go to Cornell University mainly because
| A．his father graduated from the university |
| B．his mother did not thinks it is a great university |
| C．his parents needed him to help support the family |
| D．his parents did not have enough money for him |
The father started his small shop with the money from
| A．a local league | B．his university |
| C．his relatives | D．his college friends |
Why did the mother renew her membership in the league?
| A．To help with her husband’s business |
| B．To raise money for her son |
| C．To meet her long-forgotten friends |
| D．To better manage her life |
According to the text, what was the author determined to do in that autumn?
| A．To get a well-paid job for himself |
| B．To improve relations with his mother |
| C．To go to his dream university |
| D．To carry on with his father’s business |
Culture and Cuisine
The United States is known for jazz and blue jeans．But travel to Paris and ask your average French citizen about American cuisine (烹饪) and he’s likely to answer，“ McDonalds．” Ask the same thing of any American citizen on any American street and I’m afraid you’d get the same answer，or something close to it．
Hamburgers and hotdogs and fries are all fine，but with American malls and other outlets standardizing everything from clothing to food，the sad truth is that American cuisine is becoming more homogeneous―all the same―no matter where you live．True，many Americans are eating more varied foods these days，but these are largely the cuisines of immigrant groups，and they are quite likely to be affected by homogenization of American cuisine．
So what exactly is American cuisine？ Well，to some extent it is a reflection of our melting pot culture，meaning that Europeans made huge contributions in the form of wheat，dairy products，pork，beef and poultry．But American cuisine also includes products that once were known only to the New World，including potatoes，corn，pumpkin，sweet potatoes，and peanuts．
The one region of the country where you still find all these things in daily use is the Deep South．The South lost the Civil War，but children of the southerners are winning the battle to preserve and advance their cooking traditions—and in this case one of the few cuisines can truly be called American，which is why we’re pleased to have Low Country cuisine in this issue of food creation．That’s right，grits and gravy are back in a big way in cities like Charleston and Savannah．Truth is，they never really left，but up until a decade ago Low Country cuisine was more common at home than in restaurants．
In fact，a large number of tourists now go to the lower Atlantic region in order to experience this extraordinary cuisine for themselves．Time will tell whether Low Country cuisine becomes popular in other regions of the country in the way that，say，Italian cuisine has，but it’s amazing and heartening to see one of our true cultural treasures enjoying renewed popularity in these increasingly homogeneous times．According to the passage，American cuisine impresses people as being _______．
| A．dull and changeless |
| B．rich and various |
| C．popular and delicious |
| D．disagreeable and unpleasant |
It can be seen that the writer feels regretful that _______．
| A．cuisines of other countries play a more important role in America |
| B．American cuisine has become increasingly lacking in variety |
| C．American cuisine tends to vary because of immigration |
| D．American cuisine is being changed by foreign cuisines |
From the passage，we know that grits and gravy _______．
| A．were cooked with new materials after the Civil War |
| B．are gaining popularity in the south of America |
| C．were more popular over ten years ago |
| D．are seldom served in restaurants |
What’s the writer’s attitude towards the renewal of Low Country cuisine in America？
| A．Concerned and cautious． |
| B．Hopeless and doubtful． |
| C．Positive and supportive． |
| D．Critical and disapproving． |
In her new book, “The Smartest Kidsin the World”, Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist, tells the story of Tom, a high-school student from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, who decides to spend his senior year in Wroclaw, Poland. Poland is a surprising educational success story: in the past decade, the country raised students’ test scores from significantly below average to well above it. Polish kids have now outscored American kids in math and science, even though Poland spends, on average, less than half as much per student as the United States does. One of the most striking differences between the high school Tom attended in Gettysburg and the one he ends up at in Wroclaw is that the latter has no football team or teams of any kind.
That American high schools spend more time and money on sports than on math is an old complaint. In December, when the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results are announced, it’s safe to predict that American high-school students will once again show their limited skills in math and reading, outscored not just by students in Poland but also by students in places like China, Finland, Singapore, and Japan. Meanwhile, they will have played some very exciting football games, which will have been breathlessly written up in their hometown papers.
Why does this situation continue? Well, for one thing, kids like it. And for another, according to Ripley, parents seem to like the arrangement, too. She describes a tour she took of a school in Washington D.C., which costs thirty thousand dollars a year. The tour leader — a mother with three children in the school — was asked about the school’s flaws (瑕疵). When she said that the math program was weak, none of the parents taking the tour reacted. When she said that the football program was weak, theu mean?”
One of the ironies of the situation is that sports show what is possible. American kids’ performance on the field shows just how well they can do when expectations are high. It’s too bad that their test scores show the same thing.Tom decides to spend his senior year in Poland because _________.
| A．he intends to improve his scores |
| B．Polish kids are better at learning |
| C．sports are not supported at schools in Gettysburg |
| D．he wants to be the smartest kid in the world |
According to Paragraph 2, we know that _________.
| A．PISA plays a very important role in America |
| B．little time is spent on sports in Japanese schools |
| C．American students do better in both math and sports |
| D．too much importance is placed on sports in America |
The underlined sentence in the last paragraph means _________.
| A．low expectations result in American students’ poor PISA performance |
| B．high expectations push up American students’ academic performance |
| C．American students’ academic performance worries their parents a lot |
| D．lacking practice contributes to American students’ average performance |
The purpose of this article is to _________.
| A．compare Polish schools with those in America |
| B．call on American schools to learn from the Polish model |
| C．draw public attention to a weakness in American school tradition |
| D．explain what is wrong with American schools and provide solutions |
Welcome to your future life!
You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people your age could live to be 150, so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging(抗衰老的) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age !
You say to your shirt, “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2035, “smart clothes” contain particles(粒子) much smaller than the cells in your body. The particles can be programmed to change your clothes’ color or pattern.
You walk into the kitchen. You pick up the milk, but a voice says, “You shouldn’t drink that!” Your fridge has read the chip (芯片) that contains information about the milk , and it knows the milk is old . In 2035, every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip.
It’s time to go to work. In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve(袖子). Such “smart technology” is all around you.
So will all these things come true? “For new technology to succeed,” says scientist Andrew Zolli , “it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example --what will be the next?We can learn from the text that in the future__________.
| A．people will never get old |
| B．everyone will look the same |
| C．red will be the most popular color |
| D．clothes will be able to change their pattern |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
| A．Milk will be harmful to health. |
| B．More drinks will be available for sale. |
| C．Food in the grocery store will carry electronic information. |
| D．Milk in the grocery store will stay fresh much longer. |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Food and clothing in 2035. |
| B．Future technology in everyday life. |
| C．Medical treatments of the future. |
| D．The reason for the success of new technology. |