Nobody likes home economics (家政学). But restoring the program could help us in the fight against obesity and chronic (慢性的) diseases today.
The home economics movement was founded on the belief that housework and food preparation were important subjects that should be studied scientifically. The first classes occurred in the agricultural and technical colleges that were built in the 1860s. When most departments of universities rejected women, home economics was a back door into higher education.
Indeed, in the early 20th century, home economics was a serious subject When few people understood germ (微生物) theory and almost no one had heard of vitamins, home economics classes offered vital information about washing hands regularly, eating fruits and vegetables and not feeding coffee to babies.
However, today we remember only the fixed ideas about home economics, forgetting the movement’s most important lessons on healthy eating and cooking. Too many Americans simply don’t know how to cook. Our diets, consisting of highly processed foods made cheaply outside the home, have contributed to many serious health problems. In the last decade, many cities and states have tried to tax junk food heavily or to ban the use of food stamps (食品券) to buy soda. Clearly, many people are doubtful about any governmental steps to promote healthy eating. But what if the government put the tools of obesity prevention in the hands of children themselves by teaching them how to cook?
My first experience with home economics happened two decades ago when I was a seventh grader in a North Carolina public school. A year later, my father’s job took our family to Wales, where I attended a large school for a few months. It was the first time I had ever really cooked anything. I remember that it was fun, and with an instructor standing by, it wasn’t hard. Those lessons stuck with me when I first started cooking for my husband and myself after college and they still do. Teaching cooking in public schools can help solve some problems facing Americans today. The history of home economics shows it’s possible.Home economics______.
| A．is a subject becoming more and more popular with Americans |
| B．is often used to help fight against obesity and chronic diseases |
| C．once offered women a. special approach to university education |
| D．was first taught in the agricultural and technical colleges in the early 1900s |
The third paragraph mainly tells us______ .
| A．the importance of regular hand washing |
| B．the health benefits of fruits and vegetables |
| C．the contents of home economics classes in the early 20th century |
| D．the significance of teaching home economics in the early 20th century |
In the opinion of the author, how should we fight against childhood obesity?
| A．Children should be taught how to cook. |
| B．A heavy tax should be put on junk food |
| C．Healthy eating should be promoted at school |
| D．Using food stamps to buy soda should be banned |
What does the author imply in the last paragraph?
| A．Her family moved frequently in her childhood. |
| B．Cooking classes have a far-reaching influence on her later life. |
| C．To receive a better education, she went to a large school in Wales. |
| D．Teaching cooking is the key to solving Americans’ health problems. |
Sublet.com is not just for sublets (转租，分租) and
subleases（转租入，转租出）! If you are searching for a place to live or just need temporary rental housing, you will find the rental you need at Sublet.com. Sublet.com is a full service rental website where landlords(房东), tenants(房客) and roommates come together to rent apartments, houses and rooms.
At sublet.com tenants can search and find every type of rental housing. Sublet.com landlords rent and sublet apartments, houses, townhouses, rooms, hotels, Bed and Breakfasts, mobile homes, vacation rentals and dormitory rooms. 
Sublet.com rentals and sublets meet every demand: pet friendly rentals and subleases, furnished or unfurnished rentals, short term or long term rentals, roommates, rentals and sublets for tenants with bad credit and obviously rentals for tenants with good credit. At Sublet.com tenants can search for rentals in many different ways. Search rentals by location neighborhood, by zip code(区号), by specific rental needs like doorman, pets, high speed internet, no smokers and more.
If you are a landlord and you have an apartment, house, townhouse or room to rent, post it for free at Sublet.com. Post your apartment or house for a 1 year lease, for a one week rental or even for a 1 day rental. Whatever your rental goals are, sublet.com will help by sending quality rental leads(线索). Sublet.com also offers landlords a complete tenant screening service. At Sublet.com you can conveniently run credit reports, employment reports, criminal background checks to evaluate the quality of a tenant..
Sublet.com does not share personal information. Even email addresses are not accessible to landlords or tenants. Sublet.com does not save credit card information. Sublet.com posts a TRUSTED logo(专用标识) for landlords that have been screened and checked. And tenant reviews of landlords are posted with each listing to express the quality of a rental or a landlord. Since all landlords with tenant complaints are blocked, the length of time a landlord has been posting is shown to indicate the quality of the landlord. At Sublet.com, _________.
| A．tenants with bad credit can not find their rentals |
B．tenants can not find the rentals which provide Bed and  Breakfasts |
| C．landlords can post a flat or a room to rent without paying any money |
| D．landlords and tenants are informed of each other’s email addresses |
This passage is probably_________.
| A．an ad for a housing rental website | B．a guide for people to rent houses |
| C．a direction of making rental deals | D．a collection of rental information |
People can do all the following at Sublet.com EXCEPT_________.
| A．buy a well-furnished apartment |
| B．find a place to stay with their pets |
| C．evaluate the quality of a tenant |
| D．post their apartment or house for a short term or long term rental |
The purpose of the last paragraph is probably to_________.
A．attract  more tenants |
| B．prove that sublet.com is the best |
| C．refuse people with bad credit |
| D．convince landlords and tenants of their privacy and security |
With fears of a possible nuclear meltdown(核反应堆堆芯的熔毁) in Japan building up, evidence has come to light that the nation received warnings over the stability of its power plants from an international watchdog more than two years ago.
As the Telegraph is reporting, an official from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in Decem
ber 2008 that safety rules were out of date, and strong earthquakes would cause a “serious problem” for the power stations.
A U.S. embassy document, by quoting（引用）an unnamed expert, states: “He (the IAEA official) explained that safety guides for earthquakes have only been updated three times in the last 35 years and that the IAEA is now re-examining them. Also, the presenter noted recent earthquakes in some cases have gone beyond the design basis for some nuclear plants, and that this is a serious problem that is now driving earthquake safety work.”
The Telegraph also reports that the government responded to the warnings by building an emergency response center at the Fukushima Daiichi plant designed to resist magnitude-7.0 earthquakes. Friday's earthquake, originally named a magnitude-8.9 shock, has since been upgraded to magnitude-9.0.
Other nuclear experts state IAEA officials had willingly ignored lessons from the Chernobyl disaster to protect the nuclear industry's expansion, reports Bloomberg. “After Chernobyl, all the force of the nuclear industry was directed to hide this event, for not creating damage to their reputation,”Russian nuclear accident specialist Iouli Andreyev tells Reuters, before noting that radiation from spent fuel rods（棒）stored close to reactors at Fukushima looked like an example of putting profit before safety. “The Japanese were very greedy, and they used every square inch of the space. But when you have a dense(密集的) placing of spent fuel in the basin, you have a high possibility of fire if the water is removed from the basin.” From the passage, we know that ____________.
| A．people fear that the nuclear meltdown will possibly become more and more serious in Japan |
B．people are becoming more and more afraid of a possible nuclear meltdown in Japan |
| C．Japan made no response to the warnings over the safety of its power plants |
| D．Iouli Andreyev warned Japan not to store spent fuel rods close to reactors |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Japan was warned of the stability of its power plants when they were built over 2 years ago. |
| B．Safety guides for earthquakes should be updated three times in 35 years. |
| C．The emergency response centre at the Fukushima Daiichi plant can not resist Friday’s earthquake. |
| D．IAEA officials advised Japan to ignore lessons from the Chernobyl disaster. |
IAEA officials were willing to ignore lessons from the Chernobyl disaster because they want ________.
| A．to put profit before safety. | B．the nuclear industry to develop |
| C．to protect the reputation of Japan | D．every inch of land to be made good use of |
The writer develops this passage mainly by__________.
| A．making comments | B．providing facts |
| C．quoting what experts say | D．analysing what happened |
As the world prepares to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8, a new report details the progress and challenges girls face in getting an education.
The report – from the Education for All Fast Track Initiative – highlights the importance of girls’ education for economic(经济的) and social development. It follows progress in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritania, Mozambique and Niger.
Prema Clarke, author of Fast-tracking Girls’ Education, says, “Progress for girls’ education is that they can leave their homes, leave their families and come to a place to study and to learn. And that’s a big achievement because otherwise these girls have to stay at home, looking after their brothers and sisters, doing the cooking or doing the cleaning.”
She says progress toward the Millennium Development Goals and those of Education for All “is allowing and enabling girls and forcing countries to look at this issue(问题) and to ensure that interventions (干预) help girls attend school.”
Benefits
Improving education for girls brings many benefits, says Clarke. “It means that girls can then enter the workforce. They can look after their own families much more effectively. They can prevent child death rate. They can educate their own girl children when they begin to expand their own families.” Studies show that having an educated female population helps to improve a country’s health and economic well-being.
Warnings
The report says, “In developing countries, too many girls are not in school, and many girls face continuing health risks and danger just walking to class.”
“Especially in the fragile and post-conflict countries and in many of the African countries, this is a real issue,” she says. Till now, the interventions have been so focused on providing schooling and providing teachers, etc. And now I think there is much more expanded focus on looking at specific（特定的）communities of girls within at-risk groups that now need much more specific attention and much more creative solutions(解决方法) to help them attend school.”The underlined word “highlights” in Paragraph 2 probably means ________.
| A．shows | B．stresses | C．remarks | D．improves |
According to Clarke, improving education can pro
vide girls with all the opportunities EXCEPT _______.
| A．to educate their own girl children | B．to prevent child death rate |
| C．to enter the workforce | D．to study abroad |
This passage is intended to _____.
| A．promote the progress in girls’ education |
| B．talk about the benefits of improving girls’ education |
| C．give some information about the education girls are facing |
D．sing high praise for th e girls’ education |
It can be inferred from the passage that _______.
| A．the girls’ educational situation in developing countries is still serious |
| B．girls were free to go wherever they wanted to in the past |
| C．there are enough teachers in most of the African countries |
| D．International Women’s Day was first celebrated on March 8 in 1900 |
TOEFL stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language, which assesses the proficiency (熟练) of English language of a person in an academic setting. Various institutions, scholarship programs require this test as a trusted and effective indicator of a person’s ability to communicate in English.
TOEFL is available in CBT----Computer-based Technology, PBT----Paper-based Technology and IBT----Internet-based Test formats（形式）to assess the proficiency of English Language. IBT TOEFL is a four-hour test comprising sections: Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing. In areas where internet-based test is not available, a paper-based test (PBT) is given. PBT is a three-hour test comprising four sections: Listening, Structure and Written Expression, Reading Comprehension and Writing.
Taking TOEFL test opens many doors to get admission in foreign u
niversities. More than 7500 colleges, universities and agencies in more than 130 countries rely on TOEFL test scores to check proficiency for English Language. It is very convenient to take this test and it is available in 165 countries world wide.
It measures your academic skills that whether you are ready to study or train at under graduate or post graduate level in foreign universities or not. In the test candidates are provided with a passage from text books and questions based on lectures, and you can be asked to speak or write in response related to that passage.
As the test is made up of 100 % academic questions, so many universities consider it the most effective test, while taking any admission. To take TOEFL test you should:
-----Improve your writing 
skills;
-----Improve your vocabulary;
-----Practice other reading passages on the TOEFL Test;
-----Be familiar with the format of the test;
-----Practice for listening test on the TOEFL test.
To take admission in World’s famous Harvard University, the minimum TOEFL score required is 587 on the paper-based test, 240 on the computer-based test, or 94-95 on the internet-based TOEFL.The underlined word “comprising” in Paragraph 2 probably means ________.
| A．including | B．forming | C．combining | D．explaining |
Which section is Not included in IBT TOEFL?
| A．Reading. | B．Writing. |
| C．Speaking. | D．Structure and Written Expression. |
According to the passage, many students are required to take TOEFL test probably because the test can________.
| A．improve their academic skills |
| B．indicate their proficiency of English language |
| C．provide scholarship programs in many countries |
| D．decide your graduation from foreign universities |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Advantages of TOEFL test | B．Introduction to TOEFL test |
| C．Preparations for TOEFL test | D．Assessment of TOEFL test |
The Golden Gate Bridge, the first sight for many people arriving in the United States by ship, is a well-recognized landmark, which spans(横跨) the Golden Gate Strait.
The idea for a bridge across the strait had been around for many years, but it was not easy to get the project started. The construction of the bridge finally began in 1933. The construction work set new standards for safety----workers were among the first required to wear hard hats, and an innovative（革新的） safety net saved the lives of nineteen men while the bridge was built. The Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 1937, which was finished ahead of schedule.
Joseph Strauss was the chief engineer in charge of the bridge project. However, he had little experience with the construction of suspension（悬浮）bridges. For this reason, other engineers, architects, and designers made great contributions to the design and construction of the bridge. For example, the bridge owes its art style and unique orange color to the architects Irving and Gertrude Morrow. Charles Alton Ellis was the main engineer on the project and did much of the technical work necessary to build the bridge.
Today, the Golden Gate Bridge has a main span of 4,200 feet and a total length of 8,981 feet, making it one of the longest bridges in the world. The bridge is 90 feet wide, and its span is 220 feet above the water. The towers supporting the huge cables (巨缆) rise 746 feet above the waters of the Golden Gate Strait, making them 191 feet taller than the Washington Monument. About 40 million cars cross the bridge every year. There are foghorns（雾角）to let passing ships know where the bridge is, and aircraft beacons（信号灯）on the tops of the towers to stop planes from crashing into them.The purpose of the passage is to _______.
| A．describe the construction work of the Golden Gate Bridge |
| B．introduce the Golden Gate Bridge |
| C．tell us the history of the Golden Gate Bridge |
| D．introduce the engineers in charge of the Golden Gate Bridge |
Safety innovations during the construction of the bridge included ________.
| A．hardhats and a safety net | B．aircraft beacons |
| C．foghorns | D．all of the above |
It can be inferred from the passage that _______.
| A．Joseph Strauss was skilled in the construction of suspension bridges |
| B．it took the construction workers three years to build the Golden Gate Bridge |
| C．about 100 thousand cars cross the Golden Gate Bridge every day |
| D．the Golden Gate Bridge is the longest bridge in the world |
The underlined word “them” in Paragraph 4 refers to ________.
| A．towers | B．cables | C．waters | D．bridges |