KingsCollegeSummerSchoolKingsC-优题课

The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand---a system of rapid handwriting, and now it's threatening to finish off handwriting as a whole. When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2011, just 15% of the most 1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive (草写字母）.The rest? Block letters.
And those college hopefuls are just the first edge of a wave of US students who no longer get much handwriting instructions in the primary grades, frequently 10 minutes a day or less. As a result, more and more students struggle to read and write cursive.
At Keene Mill Elementary School in Springfield, all their poems and stories are typed. Children in Fairfax County schools are taught keyboarding beginning in kindergarten. Older students who never mastered handwriting say it doesn't affect their grades.
There are those who say the culture is at a crossing, turning from the written word to the typed one. If handwriting becomes a lost form of communication, does it matter?
It was at University of Virginia that researchers recently discovered a previously unknown poem by Robert, written in his unique script. Handwritten documents are more valuable to researchers, historians say, because their authenticity (真实性）can be confirmed. Students also find them more fascinating.
The loss of handwriting also may be a cognitive (认知的）opportunity missed. Several academic studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age can help children express their thoughts better-a lifelong benefit.
It doesn't take much to teach better handwriting skills. At some schools in Prince George's County, elementary school students use a program called Handwriting Without Tears for 15 minutes a day. They learn the correct formation of manuscript letters through second grade, and cursive letters in third grade.
There are always going to be some kids who struggle with handwriting because of their particular neurological (神经系统的)wiring, learning issues or poor motor skills. Educators often point to this factor in support of keyboarding.
What is the author concerned about after 2011 SAT exams?

A．Keyboarding.	B．Shorthand
C．Handwriting.	D．Block letters.

A poem by Robert mentioned in the passage is used to _________.

A．prove how valuable handwriting is

B．explain what a famous poet he is

C．show how unique his poem is

D．stress how fascinating the documents are

The example of Handwriting Without Tears helps to argue that_________.

A．the schools are responsible for the loss of handwriting

B．the loss of handwriting is a cognitive opportunity missed xKb 1.Com

C．it doesn't take much to teach better handwriting skills

D．the culture is turning from the written word to the typed one

According to the author, when is a perfect time to learn handwriting?

A．Kindergarten.

B．Primary school.

C．High school.

D．College.

What is the author’s attitude towards this debate?

A．Devotion.

B．Encouragement.

C．critical.

D．Objective.

Have you ever picked a job based on the fact that you were good at it but later found it made you feel very uncomfortable over time? When you select your career, there's a whole lot more to it than assessing your skills and matching them with a particular position. If you ignore your personality, it will hurt you long-term regardless of your skills or the job's pay. There are several areas of your personality that you need to consider to help you find a good job. Here are a few of those main areas;
1) Do you prefer working alone or with other people?
There are isolating jobs that will drive an outgoing person crazy and also interactive jobs that will make a shy person uneasy. Most people are not extremes in either direction but do have a tendency that they prefer. There are also positions that are sometimes a combination of the two, which may be best for someone in the middle who adapts easily to either situation.
2) How do you handle change?
Most jobs these days have some elements of change to them, but some are more than others. If you need stability in your life, you may need a job where the changes don't happen so often. Other people would be bored of the same daily routine.
3) Do you enjoy working with computers？
I do see this as a kind of personality characteristic. There are people who are happy to spend more than 40 hours a week on a computer, while there are others who need a lot of human interaction throughout the day. Again, these are extremes and you'll likely find a lot of positions somewhere in the middle as well.
4) What type of work environment do you enjoy？
This can range from being in a large building with a lot of people you won't know immediately to a smaller setting where you'll get to know almost all the people there fairly quickly.
5) How do you like to get paid?
Some people are motivated by the pay they get, while others feel too stressed to be like that. The variety of payment designs in the sales industry is a typical example for this.
Anyway, these are a great starting point for you. I've seen it over and over again with people that they make more money over time when they do something they love. It may take you a little longer, but making a move to do what you have a passion for can change the course of your life for the better.
What does the underlined sentence in paragraph one mean?

A．Before you select your job, you should assess your skills and match them with your position.

B．There are more important things than assessing skills and match them with the position when you select jobs.

C．Nothing is important than assessing skills and match them with the position when you select job.

D．You should ignore your skills when you select job.

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Isolating usually drive people mad.

B．Interactive jobs make people shy easily.

C．Extreme people tend to work with others.

D．Almost everyone has a tendency in jobs.

The underlined word “stability” in the passage most probably means?

A．no movement.

B．no anger.

C．gentleness.

D．enthusiasm.

In a job search, what quality is not mentioned in the passage?

A．Outgoing.

B．Motivated.

C．Cooperative.

D．Passionate.

What could be the best title for this passage?

A．Lifestyles and Job Pay	B．Jobs and Environment
C．Job Skills and Abilities	D．Personalities and Jobs

Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her three-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new sibling. They find out that the new baby is going to be a girl, and day after day, night after night, Michael sings to his sister in Mommy's tummy.
The pregnancy progresses normally for Karen. But complications arise during delivery. Finally, Michael's little sister is born. But she is in serious condition. With siren howling in the night, the ambulance rushes the infant to the intensive care unit at St. Mary's Hospital.
The little girl gets worse. The doctor tells the parents, "There is very little hope. Be prepared for the worst." Karen and her husband have fixed up a special room in their home for the new baby — now they plan a funeral.
Michael, keeps begging his parents to let him see his sister, "I want to sing to her," he says. But kids are never allowed in Intensive Care. However, Karen makes up her mind. She will take Michael whether they like it or not.“If he doesn't see his sister now, he may never see her alive.” She dresses him in an oversized scrub suit and marches him into ICU. The head nurse recognizes him as a child and bellows, "Get that kid out of here now! " The mother, the usually mild-mannered lady glares steel-eyed into the head nurse's face, her lips a firm line. "He is not leaving until he sings to his sister!" Karen tows Michael to his sister's bedside. He gazes at the tiny infant losing the battle to live. And he begins to sing.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray”
Instantly the baby girl responds. The pulse rate becomes calm and steady.
"You never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away "
The ragged, strained breathing becomes as smooth as a kitten's purr.
Keep on singing, Michael. Tears conquer the face of the bossy head nurse as well as Karen.
Funeral plans are scrapped. The next, day — the very next day — the little girl is well enough to go home!
NEVER GIVE UP THE ONE WE LOVE!
How did Michal’s feel when he knew that he was going to have a sister?

A．indifferent.

B．worried.

C．expectant.

D．disappointed.

The doctor recommended the family ___________.

A．get ready for the worst result.

B．wait for the hope in the near future.

C．prepare much more money for the infant.

D．prepare for another chance in other hospitals.

Which word can best replace the underlined word in Paragraph 4?

A．pointed.

B．yelled.

C．whispered.

D．ignored.

What happened when Michael sang to his little sister?

A．The little baby responded to his song and woke up immediately.

B．The baby heard the song and burst into tears.

C．The baby’s physical signs disappeared eventually.

D．The baby recovered from the dangerous state of coma gradually.

What could be the best title of the article?

A．An unexpected gift.	B．A miracle of love.
C．A iron-mother.	D．A medical success.

She’s not afraid of anything. Snakes? No problem. Walking alone in the dark? Easy. We’re not talking about a superhero here -- SM is a 44-year-old mother. And she’s fearless because she happens to be missing part of her brain: the amygdala(扁桃腺).
Shaped like a pair of almonds sitting in the middle of your brain, the amygdala helps control fear and anxiety. A rare condition called Urbach-Wiethe disease left SM without her amygdala, and seems to have completely erased her sense of fear.
To try to understand how the amygdala works, a team of researchers made their efforts to scare SM. They showed her horror movies and took her to the Waverly Hills Sanatorium Haunted House in Kentucky. She pushed out one of the monsters(巨物) and laughed. SM said she didn’t like snakes, but at a pet store full of poisonous creatures, she kept asking to touch them. When asked to rate her feelings, SM reported feeling surprised or disgusted, but never fearful.
“She tends to approach everything she should be avoiding,” says Justin Feinstein of the University of Iowa. This means the amygdala could control deeper urges to approach or avoid danger. Other scientists have a different opinion, though. “I don’t believe you can make a general statement about what the amygdala does by a single case study,” Elizabeth Phelps said. In 2002, Phelps published a study on a similar patient with amygdala damage who still showed fear.
It may sound like fun to be totally fearless, but we get scared for a good reason. “The nature of fear is survival and the amygdala helps us stay alive by avoiding situations, people, or objects that put our life in danger,” Feinstein said. SM was once followed in a park after dark by a man with a knife, and she simply walked away. “It is quite remarkable that she is still alive,” said Feinstein.
SM dares to walk alone in the dark mainly because ____________.

A．she is a superhero

B．she has experienced such conditions a lot

C．she is a mental patient

D．she has no sense of fear

Researchers tried their best to frighten SM in order to find ___________.

A．The function of a particular organ

B．SM’s reaction of fear and anxiety

C．The process of removing amygdale

D．A special way to get along with monsters

What do we know from the research on SM?

A．It was easy for her to avoid danger.

B．SM never felt fearful but disgusted.

C．SM was frightened by nothing except monsters.

D．SM got along well with the snakes.

What is Elizabeth Phelps’ attitude toward the function of the amygdala based on the research on SM?

A．Indifferent

B．Supportive

C．Disapproving

D．Interested

What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．People can remove their amygdala to be fearless.

B．SM will be admired because of her bravery.

C．No one can survive if their amygdala is removed.

D．The sense of fear is crucial to humans.

You may not pay much attention to your daily elevator ride. Many of us use a lift several times during the day without really thinking about it. But Lee Gray, PhD, of the University of North Carolina, US, has made it his business to examine this overlooked form of public transport. He is known as the “Elevator Guy”.
“The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette (礼仪) is sort of odd (奇怪的),” Gray told the BBC. “They [elevators] are socially very interesting but often very awkward places.”
We walk in and usually turn around to face the door. If someone else comes in, we may have to move. And here, according to Gray, liftusers unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements. He told the BBC what he had observed.
He explained that when you are the only one inside a lift, you can do whatever you want – it’s your own little box.
If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally (对角线地) across from each other to create distance.
When a third person enters, you will unconsciously form a triangle. And when there is a fourth person it becomes a square, with someone in every corner. A fifth person is probably going to have to stand in the middle.
New entrants to the lift will need to size up the situation when the doors slide open and then act decisively. Once in, for most people the rule is simple – look down, or look at your phone.
Why are we so awkward in lifts?
“You don’t have enough space,” Professor Babette Renneberg, a clinical psychologist at the Free University of Berlin, told the BBC. “Usually when we meet other people we have about an arm’s length of distance between us. And that’s not possible in most elevators.”
In such a small, enclosed space it becomes very important to act in a way that cannot be construed (理解) as threatening or odd. “The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact,” she said.
The main purpose of the article is to _____.

A．remind us to enjoy ourselves in the elevator

B．tell us some unwritten rules of elevator etiquette

C．share an interesting but awkward elevator ride

D．analyze what makes people feel awkward in an elevator

According to Gray, when people enter an elevator, they usually _____.

A．turn around and greet one another

B．look around or examine their phone

C．make eye contact with those in the elevator

D．try to keep a distance from other people

Which of the following describes how people usually stand when there are at least two people in an elevator?

The underlined phrase “size up” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to _____.

A．judge

B．ignore

C．put up with

D．make the best of

According to the article, people feel awkward in lifts because of _____.

A．someone’s odd behaviors

B．the lack of space

C．their unfamiliarity with one another

D．their eye contact with one another

Application （申请） date Students in New York should send their applications before July 18, 2007. Students of other cities should send their applications before July 16, 2007. Foreign students should send their applications before July 10, 2007.	Courses English Language Spoken English: 22 hours Reading and Writing: 10 hours American History: 16 hours American Culture: 16 hours
Steps A letter of self-introduction A letter of recommendation（推荐） ﹡ The letters should be written in English with all the necessary information.	Cost Daily lessons: $200 Sports and activities: $100 Travels: $200 Hotel service: $400 ﹡You may choose to live with your friends or relatives in the same city.
Please write to: Thompson, Sanders 1026 King' s Street New York, NY 10016, USA E-mail: KC-Summer-School@ yahoo, com

A．a travel guide	B．a newspaper
C．a textbook	D．a telephone book