Most parents and teachers would get angry when they hear that teenagers listen to their iPods while preparing for exams. But pupils who listen to music when doing their homework may be, in fact, working hard.
Thirty three schools have downloaded specially written pop and rock songs for their 10,000 pupils who are studying for GCSE (初级毕业证书). The professionally recorded music, based on texts in English literature, teaches teenagers about themes in the GCSE curriculum (课程). Two young men set up “Revise”, the company that produced the songs, and worked with teachers to make sure the lyrics (歌词) reflected the curriculum. Some of the songs were written by Geraint Brown, a director, and they are performed by professional singers and musicians.
Songs for the GCSE science and maths lessons are also being developed in 36 schools. They have also started using the program, called, “LearnThruMusic”.
Dave Matthews, the head of Hawthorn High School in the South Wales valleys, said the program aimed at helping teenagers who are unwilling to study. He said, “There are lots of pupils who don’t have a high level of home support. It’s almost cool to say you have no need to find a support and we have got to change that. With this, they don’t have to be sitting at their desk at home. They can be outside, walking around or even listening to it on the bus, which is very convenient for them.” Everyone has a phone, MP3 or CD player, and they’re more likely to listen to these than pick up a book. “I think everyone would agree that music had an important influence on us when growing up. Both boys and girls are very good at remembering the words and dancing to the music in the charts. There’s no one thing that will successfully engage (使…产生兴趣) every child, and some of them will make little or no use of this. But the fact that they don’t have to do any extra work makes this a very good deal for a kid,” Dave Matthews added.The pop and rock songs used in 36 schools ________.
A.were written for the students to relax themselves |
B.made most parents and teachers angry |
C.were specially written for hardworking students |
D.were closely related to the curriculum |
Which benefit of the program is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A.It saves students much extra work. |
B.It offers different ways of learning. |
C.It makes remembering easier. |
D.It improves family support to kids. |
Which of the following can be inferred in the passage?
A.The program is not expected to have equal effect on every student. |
B.Some students used the song as an excuse for not reading textbooks. |
C.It’s more difficult to create songs for science and maths lessons. |
D.Students involved in the program needn’t go to school every day. |
Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?
A.Special-written Songs — A Reason Why Students Should Listen to IPods. |
B.Special-written Songs — A New Way to Learn the Curriculum. |
C.Special-written Songs — A Substitution for Textbooks. |
D.Special-written Songs — Mothers’ New Concern. |
第三部分:阅读理解
请认真阅读下面短文,从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项.
A
In the debates about how a particular piece of land is to be used, the priorities often conflict. What should you do, for example, if you find out that under the fertile fields of a farming community there is a thick bed of coal which can be strip mined(露天矿) ? Strip mining tears up top soil and plants. But mining may create jobs, bring money to the towns businesses. Those who approve of strip mining say that the coal is needed, and they point out that it is quicker and cheaper to get coal from the surface than to go deep into the earth to get it by standard mining techniques. On the other hand, it takes nature 500 years to create an inch of top soil. As the countryside fills up, people are becoming more aware of the need for open space. Nearly every proposal for a new power plant, highway, or airport draws fierce opposition. Everyone wants the big, land-eating “uglies” to be in someone else’s backyard. Minneapolis and St.Paul, Minnesota, for example, have been debating about the site of a future airport for years. Yet if a new airport is needed, it will have to go somewhere.
How do we find our way out of the land-used problem? One way might be to reexamine our values, to think in new directions. Does everyone have to have a car with its need for highways and parking lots? What about developing mass transport systems that use less land? Do suburbs have to spread? Can they be designed so they use less space? Do we have to have more energy? If we do, do we really have to strip-mine coal to provide it?
However difficult they may be to arrive at, choices will have to be made if we want to preserve the beauty and usefulness of the land. For there is at least one point on which all of us can agree: The land does have its limits.
1. The word “priorities” in the sentence means ____.
A. the various needsB. the most important goal
C. the number one necessity D. the first thing to be considered
2. “…, people are becoming more aware of the need for open space. ” tells us that ____.
A. people are thinking to develop their living space into the sky
B. people noticed the need for unoccupied land
C. people are struggling to get more land from the space
D. people are becoming more active on the space issue
3. How do we find our way out of the land use problems?
A. One way might be to reexamine our values, to think in new directions.
B. Everyone has to have a car with its need for highways and parking lots.
C. We have to have more energy. We need strip-mine coal to provide it.
D. We may develop mass transit systems which use less land.
4. “Everyone wants the big, land-eating ‘uglies’ to be in someone else s backyard.” shows that .
A. people don t want more big projects
B. people don t want to live in the neighborhood of the big projects
C. people regard the large construction projects are “uglies ”
D. people don t like the undesirable building projects
5. The main idea of this article is ____.
A. The Limits of Land B. Land
C. Land and Our Life Styles D. Land and Space
第五部分书面表达 (满分25分)
随着“开心农场”“QQ农场”等娱乐游戏风靡互联网,许多中学生也加入了偷菜的行列。请你根据下表的内容,用英语写一篇短文,并谈谈你个人的看法。
现象 |
1. 沉迷其中,乐此不疲;2. 身在课堂,心在农场; 3. 作业拖拉,成绩下降。 |
原因 |
1. 寻找农耕的乐趣; 2. 释放学习的压力;3. 拉近朋友的距离。 |
你的看法 |
……(至少两点) |
注意:1. 不要逐字翻译表格提示内容,应适当发挥。2. 开头已给出,不算入总词数。
3. 词数:150左右。
Nowadays, QQ Farm and Happy Farm are very popular among people from all walks of
life. A large number of middle school students are also involved in the game.
__________________________________________________________________________
第II卷(两部分共35分)
第四部分任务型阅读(共10小题;每小题1分,满分10分)
请认真阅读下面短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。
注意:每空只填1个单词。
Day after day you are glued to your computer screen. You cannot get enough of online games, net shopping or cyber surfing. Your social life gets worse, and so does your health. Chances are that you are addicted to the Internet and you need counseling.
On November 8, an Internet Addiction Disorder(IAD)diagnostic manual(诊断手册)was approved by a group of psychologists in China, who agreed that Internet addiction is a mental disease. According to a report on Xinhuanet.com, the manual for the first time gives a clear time standard for diagnosing IAD, saying that surfing the Internet for more than six hours a day, not for the purpose of studying or working, and having done so for less than three months, might be a symptom of IAD.
Addiction symptoms vary
Besides the long online time, some other symptoms would also help doctors diagnose IAD patients, such as having a strong desire for the Internet and feeling physical discomfort, becoming easily angry, being unable to concentrate on things or finding it difficult to sleep if unable to get online.
Apart from these conditions, other symptoms are also listed in the manual. If a net surfer cannot get out of the virtual world of Web games, which has already affected his/her capability to study or work, or he/she feels little interest in doing anything but jumping online or is afraid to communicate with others, he/she is also considered to be an IAD sufferer.
According to the World Health Organization, mental disease sufferers have two major characteristics: they bring suffering to both themselves and their families, and their abilities to be involved in social activities are affected.
Mental illness stigma(污名)
However, it has resulted in a backlash(反对) from the public, due to the fact that mental disease is a very sensitive term to Chinese.
Many netizens dropped comments expressing their doubts about the manual, saying that they could not accept they might be suffering from mental illness just because they spent too much time on the Internet.
Experts said there is a misunderstanding of the manual. Explaining that IAD sufferers are not “crazy people”, they call on society at large to change their understanding of mental disease. Mental disease covers a wide range of psychological or behavioral problems, such as depression.
D
Here is what I have been told of the matter.
In the spring of 1842, Marguerite was so weak, so different in her looks, that the doctors had ordered her to take the waters.She therefore set out for Bagneres.
Among the other sufferers there, was the Duke's daughter who not only had the same complaint but a face so like Marguerite's that they could have been taken for sisters. The fact was that the young Duchess was in the third stage of consumption and, only days after Marguerite's arrival, she passed away.
One morning the Duke, who had remained at Bagnerescaught sight of Marguerite as she turned a corner of a gravel walk.
It seemed as though he was seeing the spirit of his dead child and, going up to her, he took both her hands, embraced her tearfully and, without asking who she was,begged permission to call on her and to love in her person the living image of his dead daughter.
Marguerite, alone at Bagneres with her maid, and in any case having nothing to lose by compromising herself, granted the Duke what he asked.
Now there were a number of people at Bagneres who knew her,and they made a point of calling on the Duke to inform him of Marguerite's true situation.It was a terrible blow for the old man, for any resemblance with his daughter stopped there.But it was too late.The young woman had become an emotional necessity, his only excuse and his sole reason for living.
He did not criticize her, he had no right to, but he did ask her if she felt that she could change her way of life, and, in exchange for this sacrifice,he would offer all the compensations she could want.She agreed.
It should be said that at this point Marguerite, who was by nature somewhat highly strung(excited and nervous), was seriously ill.Her past appeared to her to be one of the major causes of her illness,and a kind of superstition(迷信) led her to hope that God would allow her to keep her beauty and her health in exchange for her regret and shame.
And indeed the waters, the walks, healthy fatigue and sleep had almost restored her fully by the end of that summer.
The Duke accompanied Marguerite to Paris, where he continued to call on her as at Bagneres.
This connection, of which the true origin and true motive were known to no one, gave rise here to a great deal of talk, since the Duke, known till now as an enormously wealthy man, now began to acquire a name for the prodigality(挥霍).
67. Why did the Duke take Marguerite’s both hands when he saw her?
A. His daughter and Marguerite were once good friends.
B. Marguerite is his daughter’s spirit.
C. Marguerite resembles his daughter.
D. They haven’t seen each other for long.
68. What’s the right order of the events?
a. The Duke accompanied Marguerite to Paris.
b. Marguerite set out for Bagneres.
c. The Duke took Marguerite as his daughter.
d. The daughter of the Duke passed away.
e. Marguerite took a gravel walk
A. e-c-b-d-a B. c-d-e-b-a C. b-d-e-c-a D. d-a-c-b-e
69. From the passage we can guess that Marguerite _______.
A. doesn’t believe in God
B. was once a woman without a good fame
C. was strange to all the people in Bagners
D. kept her own way of life while living with the Duke
70. According to the passage, Marguerite went to Bagners _______.
A. just for a gravel walk B. to find her sister
C. to visit the Duke D. for treatment
C
Recently scientists have worked out a way to judge roughly where a person has lived using strands(缕) of hair, a technique that could help track the movements of criminal suspects or unidentified bodies .
The method depends on measuring how chemical variations in drinking water show up in people’s hair.
While U.S diet is relatively identical, water supplies vary. The differences result from weather patterns. The chemical composition of rainfall changes slightly as clouds move.
Most hydrogen and oxygen atoms in water are stable , but traces of both elements are also present as heavier isotopes (同位素) . The heaviest raid(列阵)falls first. As a result, storms that form over the Pacific deliver heavier water to California than to Utah.
Similar patterns exist throughout the U.S. By measuring the proportion of heavier hydrogen and oxygen isotopes along a strand of hair, scientists can establish a geographic timeline. Each inch of hair corresponds to about two months.
Cerling’s team collected tap water samples from 600 cities and constructed a frame of the regional differences. They checked the accuracy of the map by testing 200 hair samples collected from 65 barber shops. They were able to accurately place the hair samples in broad regions roughly corresponding to the movement of raid systems.
“It’s not good for pinpointing (精确定位),” he said. “It’s good for ruling out many possibilities.”
64. What can we learn from the passage about the latest discovery?
A. One’s hair growth has to do with the amount of water they drink.
B. A person’s hair may reveal where they have lived.
C. Hair analysis identifies criminal suspects accurately.
D. The chemical composition of hair varies from person to person.
65. What does the underlined word “identical” in paragraph 3 probably mean?
A. similar B. fantastic C. beneficial D. healthy
66. What is the practical value of Cerling’s research?
A. It helps analyze the quality of water in different regions.
B. It helps the police determine where a crime is committed.
C. It helps the police narrow down possibilities in detective work.
D. It helps identify the drinking habits of the person under investigation.