The National Park Service in the United States will mark its one hundredth anniversary in 2016. As it nears its second century, the Park Service plans to increase its educational programs for students and teachers.
The plans include transportation support for one hundred thousand students each year to visit national parks to learn about nature and history. Yellowstone is believed to have been the world's first national park when it was established in 1872. Other students will get a chance to see parks in faraway places through Skype and other online programs.
The National Park Service also works with partners to provide education. One of its partners is a nonprofit organization called NatureBridge. NatureBridge is celebrating its fortieth anniversary and says one million young people have taken part in its programs. The organization works with students from kindergarten through twelfth grade and uses national parks as its classrooms. It provides field science programs at Yosemite National Park and four other locations in California and the northwestern state of Washington.
Now, NatureBridge is launching an East Coast center with a four-million-dollar grant from Google. The program will begin in April at the Prince William Forest Park in Virginia. Students stay for three to five days in NatureBridge programs. The activities are aimed at developing their science skills. For example, they learn about different soils and study water quality under a microscope.
Jason Morris is executive vice president of NatureBridge. He says when they are not sleeping, eating or in a laboratory, the students spend their time outdoors. Julia Washburn is associate director of education and interpretation for the National Park Service. She says in a time of budget cuts, the agency has to find ways to still meet its goals. Ms. Washburn says one of the most important services that the Park Service provides every day is nature interpretation. Park rangers (公园管理员) try to make visiting the outdoors more meaningful. Interpretation is a form of informal education. Essentially, it is a word that we use for the people in parks that explain the park or help orient(确定方向)you. So park rangers are interpreters. They orient you to the place you are in and help you make connections, emotional and intellectual connections, with the place.Which of the following descriptions about NatureBridge is NOT correct?
| A．It’s an organization working together with National Park Service to provide education. |
| B．Some of the activities held by NatureBridge are financially supported by Google. |
| C．Students from kindergarten to college can sign up for the organization’s activities. |
| D．It’s going to cut down budget for the activities because of economic hard times. |
In which national park will the program by East Coast centre start?
| A．Yellowstone National Park. | B．Prince William Forest Park. |
| C．Yosemite National Park. | D．Not mentioned in the passage. |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．National parks are used as outdoor classrooms for students. |
| B．Students are called on to be members of NatureBridge. |
| C．Some famous national parks in US are attractive to students. |
| D．Park rangers make visiting parks much more interesting. |
Which of the following is the correct structure of the whole passage? (Para=paragraph)
A． |
B． |
C． |
| D． |
Henry Ford was the first person to build cars which were cheap，strong and fast．He was able to se11 millions of models because be could produce them in large numbers at a time；that is，he made a great many cars of exactly the same kind．Ford’s father hoped that his son would be come a farmer，but the young man did not like the idea and he went to Detroit（底特律）where he worked as a mechanic（机械师）．By the age of 29，in 1892，he had built his first car．However，the car made in this way，the famous “Model T” did not appear until 1908-five years after Ford had started his great motor car factory．This car showed to be well-known that it remained unchanged for twenty year．Since Ford’s time，this way of producing cars in large numbers has be come common in industry and has reduced the price of many goods which would otherwise be very expensive．Henry Ford was the man to built _____ cars．
| A．cheap and strong | B．cheap and long |
| C．fast and expensive | D．strong and slow |
Ford was able to sell millions of cars，because_____．
| A．he made many greet cars | B．his cars are many |
| C．he made lots of cars of the same kind | D．both A and B |
The young man became a mechanic，_______．
| A．which was his father’s will |
| B．which was against his own will |
| C．which was against his father’s will |
| D．which was the will of both |
The “Model T” was very famous_____．
| A．before 1908 | B．between 1982 and 1908 |
| C．before 1892 | D．after 1908 |
Ford built his own car factory
| A．in 1903 | B．in 1908 | C．in 1913 | D．in 1897 |
The United States is full of cars. There are still many families without cars, but some families have two or more. However, cars are used for more than pleasure. They are a necessary part of life.
Cars are used for business. They are driven to offices and factories by workers who have no other way to get to their jobs. When salesmen are sent to different parts of the city, they have to drive in order to carry their products. Farmers have to drive into the city in order to get supplies.
Sometimes small children must be driven to school. In some cities school buses are used only when children live more than a mile away from the school. When the children are too young to walk too far, their mothers take turns driving them to school. One mother drives on Mondays taking her own children and the neighbors' as well. Another mother drives on Tuesdays, another on Wednesday, and so on. This is called forming a car pool. Men also form car pools, with three or four men taking turns driving to the place where they all work.
More car pools should be formed in order to put fewer cars on the road and use less gas. Too many cars are being driven. Something will have to be done about the use of cars. The United States is filled with cars, but .
| A．not every family has a car | B．few families have two cars or even more |
| C．every American has a car | D．every family has a car |
What's the main idea of the second paragraph?
| A．Workers drive cars to offices and factories | B．Salesmen drive to carry their products. |
| C．Farmers drive into cities to get supplies. | D．Cars are widely used. |
Which statement is true according to the third paragraph?
| A．Small children are driven to school. |
| B．All children go to school by bus in some cities. |
| C．Mothers drive their children who can't walk to school. |
| D．School buses pick up all children. |
Mothers form car pools in order that .
| A．they can drive to school |
| B．they can take turns driving their children to school |
| C．they reach school quickly |
| D．they can drive their children to school in time |
The traffic in and around cities is a great problem because .
| A．too many cars are being driven | B．there are too many car pools |
| C．people put fewer cars on the roads | D．there is less gas |
In a country that defines itself by ideals, not by shared blood, who should be allowed to come to work and live here? In the wake of the Sept．11 attacks these questions have never seemed more pressing．
On Dec．11, 2001, as part of the effort to increase homeland security, federal and local authorities in 14 states staged “Operation Safe Travel”---raids on airports to arrest employees with false identification．In Salt Lake City there were 69 arrests．But those captures were anything but terrorists, most of them illegal immigrants from Central or South America．Authorities said the undocumented workers’ illegal status made them open to blackmail（讹诈）by terrorists．
Many immigrants in Salt Lake City were angered by the arrests and said they felt as if they were being treated like disposable goods．Mayor Anderson said those feelings were justified to a certain extent．“We’re saying we want you to work in these places, we’re going to look the other way in terms of what our laws are, and then when it’s convenient for us, or when we can try to make a point in terms of national security, especially after Sept．11, then you’re disposable．They are whole families being uprooted for all of the wrong reasons,” Anderson said．
If Sept．11 had never happened, the airport workers would not have been arrested and could have gone on quietly living in America, probably indefinitely．Ana Castro, a manager at a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop at the airport had been working 10 years with the same false Social Security card when she was arrested in the December airport raid．Now she and her family are living under the threat of deportation（驱逐出境）．Castro’s case is currently waiting to be settled．While she awaits the outcome, the government has granted her permission to work here and she has returned to her job at Ben & Jerry’s．How did the immigrants in Salt Lake City feel about “Operation Safe Travel”?
| A．Guilty | B．Offended | C．Disappointed | D．Discouraged |
Undocumented workers became the target of “Operation Safe Travel” because ____．
| A．evidence was found that they were potential terrorists |
| B．most of them worked at airports under threat of terrorists |
| C．terrorists might take advantage of their illegal status |
| D．they were reportedly helping hide terrorists around the airport |
By saying “…we’re going to look the other way in terms of what our laws are”, Mayor Anderson means “______”．
| A．there are other ways of enforcing the law |
| B．we will examine the laws in a different way |
| C．we will turn a blind eye to your illegal status |
| D．the existing laws must not be ignored |
Communications technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth．The first study to compare honesty across a range of communication media has found that people are twice as likely to tell lies in phone conversations as they are in emails．The fact that emails are automatically recorded—and can come back to puzzle you---appears to be the key to the finding．
Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, asked 30 students to keep a communications diary for a week．In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told．Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium．He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 percent of instant messages, 27 per cent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 percent of phone calls．
His results to be presented at the conference on human-computer interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists．Some expected emailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people uncomfortable, the indirect contact of emailing would make it easier to lie．Others expected people to lie more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of communication．
But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether it occurs in real time．People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the communication could later be used to hold them to account, he says．This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone．
People are also more likely to lie in real time---in an instant message or phone call, say---than if they have time to think of a response, says Hancock．He found many lies are spontaneous（脱口而出） responses to an unexpected demand, such as: “Do you like my dress?”
Hancock hopes his research will help companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate．For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth．But, given his result, work assessment where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email．Hancock’s study focuses on _______．
| A．the consequences of lying in various communications media |
| B．the success of communications technologies in conveying ideas |
| C．people are less likely to lie in instant messages |
| D．people’s honesty levels across a range of communications media |
Hancock’s research finding surprised those who believed that _____．
| A．people are less likely to lie instant messages |
| B．people are unlikely to lie in face-to-face interactions |
| C．people are most likely to lie in email communication |
| D．people are twice as likely to lie in phone conversations |
According to the passage, why are people more likely to tell the truth through certain media of communication?
| A．They are afraid of leaving behind traces of their lies |
| B．They believe that honesty is the best policy |
| C．They tend to be relaxed wh en using those media |
| D．They are most practised at those forms of communication |
It can be inferred from the passage that ________．
| A．honesty should be encouraged in interpersonal communications |
| B．suitable media should be chosen for different communication purposes |
| C．more employers will use emails to communicate with their employees |
| D．email is now the dominant medium of communication within a company |
Greeks play a special game at Easter and it’s good fun! The rules of the game are as follows: 1．Everyone picks out a hard-boiled Waster Egg．2．Each player finds a partner．One person will be a “holder”, and the other will be a “tapper”．Holders should hold the egg with either the pointy end or the round end facing up．Tappers should hold the egg with that same end facing down．Tapping must be done pointy-end-to-pointy-end or round-end-to-round-end．3．With one good tap, the tapper tries to crack the holder’s egg．One player will end up with a cracked egg．4．Each player finds another partner and repeats steps 2 and 3．（After one end of the egg is cracked, players may continue to play using the uncracked end）．5．A player loses when both ends of his egg have been cracked．The winner is the person who still has an uncracked egg．6．Enjoy eating the eggs!
Dye your Easter eggs．With an adult’s help, dye hard-boiled eggs red using food coloring or egg dye．For a nice sheen, use a paper towel to rub some oil on each egg．But don’t use too much oil---you wouldn’t want your egg to slide out of your hand when you play the egg-cracking game!
Why dye eggs red? Eggs represent new life and the red dye symbolizes the pain and suffering in the past．
Why crack eggs? Some say that the cracking of the eggs symbolizes a wish to break away from human misery and enter the new life．A player has to drop out of the game when _____．
| A．the pointy end of his egg is cracked |
| B．the round end of his egg is cracked |
| C．his egg slides out of the hand |
| D．his egg is cracked at both ends |
Why is oil rubbed on the egg?
| A．To give the egg a shiny appearance |
| B．To make the game more difficult to play |
| C．To protect the hand of the player |
| D．To symbolize the wealth of the Greeks |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The holders hold the eggs with the pointy end facing up in most cases |
| B．If one end of the player’s egg is cracked, he will eat the egg |
| C．The player in the game must dye his egg red independently |
| D．It’s said that the broken eggs represent the wish to lead a new life |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．The suffering of the Greeks | B．The Easter holidays |
| C．Celebrate Greek Easter | D．A special game |