Started in 1636, Harvard University is the oldest of many colleges and universities in the United States. Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth were all started before the American Revolution made the thirteen colonies(殖民地) into states.
In the early years, these schools were much alike. Only young men attended colleges. All the students studied the same subjects, and everyone learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Little was known about science then, and one kind of school could teach everything that was known about the world. When the students graduated, most of them became ministers or teachers.
In 1782, Harvard started a medical school for young men who wanted to become doctors. Later, lawyers(律师) could receive their training in Harvard’s law school. In 1852, Harvard began teaching modern languages, such as French and German, as well as Latin and Greek. Soon it began teaching American history.
As knowledge increased, Harvard and other colleges began to teach many new subjects that interested them.
Special colleges for women were started. New state universities began to teach such subjects as farming, engineering and business. Today, there are many different kinds of colleges and universities. Most of them are divided into smaller schools that deal with special fields of learning. There is so much to learn that one kind of school cannot offer it all. Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth were the names of the _______ in America.
| A．states | B．cities | C．universities | D．colonies |
As knowledge increased, colleges began to teach _______.
| A．everything that is known | B．many new subjects |
| C．French and German | D．farming |
The title of this passage should be _______.
| A．Famous Harvard University |
| B．American Universities |
| C．The Changing of American Universities |
| D．The American Revolution |
Which statement does the passage lead you to believe?
| A．The early schools are still much alike. |
| B．There is more to learn today than in 1636. |
| C．All the early students worked harder. |
| D．Students in modern America learn only science. |
A new study says one part of the human brain may become smaller as the result of a condition known as jet lag. Jet lag results from flying long distances in an airplane. Jet lag interferes with a person's normal times for sleeping and waking. People with jet lag may feel extremely tired for several days. They also may have problems thinking clearly and remembering.
Kwangwook Cho is a researcher at the University of Bristol in Britain. He reported the findings of his jet lag study in the publication Nature Neuroscience.
The study involved twenty young women who worked for international airlines. The women had served passengers on airplanes for five years. These flight attendants flew across many countries and at least seven time zones. In the study, the flight attendants had different amounts of time to recover from jet lag. Half the women spent five days or fewer in their home areas between long flights. The other half spent more than fourteen days in their home areas.
Mister Cho took some fluid from the women's mouths to measure levels of a hormone that increases during stress. He tested them to see if they could remember where black spots appeared on a computer screen. And he took pictures of their brains using magnetic resonance imaging. This is a way to measure the size of the brain's temporal lobes.
It was found that the women who had less time between flights had smaller right temporal lobes. This area of the brain deals with recognizing and remembering what is seen. The same group performed worse and had slower reaction times on the visual memory test. And their saliva samples showed higher levels of stress hormones.
Mister Cho says he believes the brain needs at least ten days to recover after a long trip. He says airline workers told him their ability to remember got worse after working on planes for about four years. Other studies have shown that increased feelings of stress can cause a loss of cells in the part of the brain that controls memory.
Scientists say more tests are needed to study the effects of jet lag on the brain. They want to find out if too much jet lag could permanently affect memory.According to the text, jet lag _____.
| A．can cause difficulties in speaking |
| B．can make people feel tired for a few weeks |
| C．is the illness only found in people who work on the airplanes |
| D．can be caused by flying over several time zones in an airplane |
It is inferred that more tests need to be done because _____.
| A．the conclusion was questioned by many scientists |
| B．scientists fear that his research is not done properly |
| C．every scientific conclusion needs the support from many tests |
| D．the woman who were studied in the research were not healthy |
What is the subject discussed in the test?
| A．The cause of jet lag. |
| B．A story of a group of flight attendance. |
| C．A research about the effects of jet lag on the brain. |
| D．The importance of having enough rest after long flights. |
The Channel is the name given to the stretch of water which separates England and France. Ferries operate all year round to carry people across the Channel, and they are busy most of the year. January is the only quiet month nowadays. As well as summer holiday-makers, there are day trippers and coach traffic, not to mention lorries and other commercial vehicles. Some ferries carry cars and their passengers, while others also connect train passengers with the Continental rail network.
The biggest hazard for the ferry is the wind. The crew listens to BBC weather reports four times a day. Or they sometimes get gale warnings from local radio station.
Crossing the Channel by ferry is a bit like trying to cross Oxford Street on a busy afternoon, according to one ferryboat captain. The ferries from Folkstone and Dover to Calais and Boulogne have to cross the main flow of traffic. This consists of ships traveling through the Channel to and from Northern Europe. There may be four hundred ships making the journey at any one time, and they all pass through a “choke point” which is only fifteen miles (twenty-five kilometers) wide. The cross-channel ferries have to sail right through the middle of all this traffic.The passage is mainly concerned with _____.
| A．the English Channel |
| B．the weather on the Channel |
| C．cross-channel ferries |
| D．what crossing the Channel by ferry is like |
The word hazard is closest in meaning to ________.
| A．trouble | B．danger | C．enemy | D．problem |
We can infer from the passage that _______.
| A．if there is a gale warning from the BBC, the ferries will stop operating. |
| B．the traffic on the Channel is very busy only in winter |
| C．ferries are busiest in the afternoon |
| D．the crew of the ferry listens to the weather reports four times a day |
Where does this passage most probably appear?
| A．In a dictionary. | B．In a novel. |
| C．In a transportation magazine. | D．In a geography textbook. |
Just before midnight, six University of Cincinnati students were watching TV in an on-campus apartment when three men burst through the door. While one of the intruders pointed a gun at the group, the other two scooped up $4,400 worth of laptops, cell phones, video games and cash. Once they had what they wanted, the trio fled into the night.
Furious, the students chased down and tackled one of the burglars -- the one with the gun. In the struggle, it went off, and a bullet grazed a student's leg. His friends piled on the gunman and held him until police showed up.
By the next day, the injured young man was back in his apartment, and the suspect was in jail, charged with burglary, felonious assault and receiving stolen property. But how did the men manage to storm into an on-campus residence that November night in the first place? Simple: Students told police the building's main doors hadn't latched properly for days.
As parents confront ballooning college costs and shrinking acceptance rates, they are finding themselves with an even bigger, more basic problem: Which campuses are safe? Colleges seem like idyllic and secure places, and for the most part, they are. But ivy-covered walls can't keep out every bad element. This country's 6,000 colleges and universities report some 40,000 burglaries, 3,700 forcible sex offenses, 7,000 aggravated assaults and 48 murders a year. Other hazards -- fires, binge-drinking, mental-health problems -- are also on the rise.
Of course, that's not what parents and students see on America's serene campuses. There's a false sense of security, says Harry Nolan, a safety consultant in New York City. "Students see guards patrolling at night or a video camera monitoring the dorm entrance and think, nothing bad can happen to me," he explains. "People don't know that safety controls are often very lax."What did the students do after the burglars fled into the night?
| A．They stood there in surprise. |
| B．They ran after the burglars at once. |
| C．They waited for the police. |
| D．They phoned their teacher. |
What does the underlined word “latched” in the third paragraph probably mean?
| A．watched | B．fixed | C．locked | D．kept |
What worries parents most except ballooning college costs and shrinking acceptance rates?
| A．Their children’s grades in the universities or colleges. |
| B．Their children’s safety in the universities or colleges. |
| C．Their children’s behavior in the universities or colleges. |
| D．Their children’s relationship with classmates in the universities or colleges. |
Which is right according to the passage?
| A．Their children’s grades in are high. |
| B．Their children’s safety in the universities or colleges will be mornitored well. |
| C．The universities or colleges don’t pay much attention to the children. |
| D．The universities or colleges are not key educational departments in the local area. |
Hundreds of secondary schools are using a controversial reward scheme which “bribes” (贿赂)pupils with iPods and DVD players to turn up in classes and do homework.
Almost one million schoolchildren have been issued with supermarket-style reward cards which allow them to collect good-behavior “points” and cash them in for prizes.
Schools taking part in the “Vivo Miles” scheme are spending several thousand pounds a year in an attempt to cut truancy (逃学) and promote achievements. The prizes are ultimately funded by the taxpayer, through school budgets. Nearly 500 secondary schools, one in six, have decided to take part in the scheme, which is intended to replace old-style rewards such as stickers and golden stars.
But the extent of rewards being offered in schools brought a warning that a generation of children is growing up expecting to be rewarded at every stage. Many youngsters are collecting points for ordinary achievements such as remembering to bring their PE kit and wearing the correct uniform.
Under the scheme, teachers award Vivo points—worth 1 penny each—according to the school’s policy. Schools typically spend￡4 to￡6 on prizes per pupil each year, although some commit considerably more. Most pupils accumulate between 400 and 600 Vivos a year. Vivo Miles insists it is “pretty rare” for a pupil to accumulate enough points to buy an iPod, which requires 3,100 Vivos.
But Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said the scheme amounted to “bribery”. “It misleads children into thinking anything which requires effort has to have a special reward,” he said. “This ‘all must have prizes’ view is damaging to children in the long-term.” The scheme amounted to an “admission of failure” by schools. He said. “It shows a school has failed to convince children education is important.”The “Vivo Miles” scheme is aimed at ______________.
| A．increasing the income of the school |
| B．encouraging students to perform well at school |
| C．inviting more students to attend the school nearby |
| D．encouraging parents to donate to the school |
Those who oppose the “Vivo Miles” scheme think ______________.
| A．it helps control the problem of truancy |
| B．it teaches children the importance of saving |
| C．it will mislead children about efforts and rewards |
| D．it’s not easy to get more than 600 Vivos a year |
What’s the writer’s attitude towards the scheme?
| A．Supportive. | B．Opposed. | C．Unconcerned. | D．Objective. |
Winning the lottery (彩票) is not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for many past winners. Sad stories do exist in large numbers for the past lottery winners and that's why some financial experts say "70 percent of lottery winners will squander away (乱花) winning within a few years." Some end up losing all within two years, family relationships destroyed or even worse.
Wayne Schenk was an old soldier diagnosed with lung cancer. When he won a million dollars in a lottery he thought his troubles were over and he would get the advanced medical treatment that might save his life. But Lottery officials refused to pay him the total sum in a single payment and they said they could not make an exception to the regulations. When Schenk died in 2007, he'd only received one payment of $34,000.
Another lottery winner, Billy Bob Harrell, Jr. killed himself two years after winning 31 million dollars in the Texas lottery in 1997.He'd spent large amounts of money and given large amounts away, but he didn't end me expected peace that should have come with the freedom of money.
Other lottery winners have ended up in prison for crimes. Many suffer bankruptcy (破产) after the big jackpot (头奖) is spent and given away, including some of the eight people who won the 365 million Powerball in 2006.
The examples given paint a sad picture of what can happen if you win a big lottery jackpot, but fortunately, these examples don't tell the stories of all jackpot winners.What is the main idea of the first paragraph?
| A．Most lottery winners use up money quickly. |
| B．Most lottery winners don't really end up well. |
| C．Winning lottery means relationships destroyed. |
| D．Financial experts are against the lottery industry. |
Why did lottery officials refuse to give Wayne Schenk the million dollars in one payment?
| A．He was diagnosed with lung cancer. |
| B．He was unwilling to give away his money. |
| C．They had to observe the official rules. |
| D．They didn't want to disturb his peace. |
The author supports his main idea by ____.
| A．giving examples | B．making comparisons |
| C．listing numbers | D．listing reasons |
In the following paragraph, the author will probably talk about_____.
| A．advice given by financial experts |
| B．happy stories of the lottery winners |
| C．conclusion drawn by the author |
| D．regulations about lottery winning |