As a professor I have grown accustomed to the opinion regarding American education. We are repeatedly told that American schools are failing, that colleges are not teaching, and that the students of today are not as good as the students of the past.
There are, of course, problems with the education system. Because of economic inequality some schools are significantly better than others and the ideas of equality of education and equality of opportunity are cruel jokes. However, the mere fact that there are some serious problems does not mean that all the dire claims are true.
One stock (陈腐的) claim is that America has fallen behind the world in education in terms of performance on various tests. While the fact that America is behind other countries is a point of concern, there are at least three points worth considering here. The first is the above-mentioned economic inequality which will tend to result in poorer performance when taking the average for America. The second is that many countries have put considerable effort into improving their education systems and hence it is worth considering that America’s decline is also due to the improvement of others. The third is the matter of the measures— do they, in fact, present an accurate picture of the situation? I am not claiming that the data is bad. I am merely raising a reasonable concern about how accurate our picture of education is at this time.
Another stock claim is that American students are doing badly on standardized tests. While there is clearly value in assessment, it is reasonable to consider whether or not such tests are a proper and adequate measure of education. It is also worth considering whether the puzzle with these tests is itself causing damage to education. That is, as teachers teach for the test and students learn for the test, it might be the case that what is being taught is not what should be taught and what is being learned is not what should be learned.According to the professor, many people’s attitude towards American colleges is .
| A．negative | B．positive | C．approving | D．indifferent |
What does the underlined word “dire” in the second paragraph mean?
| A．Exact or precise. | B．Extremely serious or terrible. |
| C．Fair or objective. | D．Long and boring. |
Judging by the text ,the claims are centered on .
| A．what should be taught in the American classroom |
| B．fair judgment of American education |
| C．American students’ performance on tests |
| D．an accurate picture of American colleges |
The passage is written mainly to .
| A．defend American education |
| B．show dissatisfaction with American education |
| C．explain why American students do badly on tests |
| D．offer advice on American education reform |
Read the following reviews for movies that are showing at the moment. And then answer questions.
Happiness（Romance）★★★★
Happiness tells the story of two people（Lisa Turbot and Danny Roy）who work for different advertising companies. They talk on the phone all the time and don't like each other. But then they correspond by e-mail and fall in love. This movie will be very popular with teenagers and people who like romances. It also has beautiful music.
I Scream（Thriller）★★
In I Scream, Paul（Colin Jacks）is a young man who joins a thriller club. Each of the members tries to frighten the others. Paul is told to stay in an old house for the night. Everyone who has tried to stay in the house before has died. This movie is very frightening but also quite silly. It doesn't make sense for Paul to stay in the house when things start to go wrong. Only for people who like thrillers.
Paul's Heroes（Comedy）★★★
This is a very funny war movie set in World War Two. Six soldiers（including Sammy Turblow）have to get to Italy to take secret messages to the American army there. During the movie, they dress up as women and fight with Italian workers. You can guess the ending, but it's great fun getting there.
_____________（Drama）★★★★
This is a very good drama with Jack Ross, who plays a hard-working truck driver. His wife becomes ill and he has to find a doctor who can help her. In his travels he meets Dr. Lloyd（Phil Driver）who has found the cure for the illness, but Jack Ross has only twelve hours to get the medicine back to his wife on the other side of America. This is an excellent movie, which is very exciting.
1. Which of the four movies is the least popular with people?
A. The 1st one. B. The 2nd one. C. The 3rd one. D. The 4th one.
2. The underlined word "correspond" can be replaced by _____________.
A. date B. exchange C. write D. communicate
3. A thriller is most probably a film which tells something _____________.
A. frightening B. instructive C. humorous D. interesting
4. Which of the following is the best title for the fourth film?
A. A Hard-working Truck Driver B. Medicine
C. A Strange Illness D. Twelve Hours
第三部分阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
At present, in many American cities especially, many teachers in the public schools say they are underpaid. They point to jobs such as secretary or truck driver, which often pay more to start than that of a teacher. In many other fields, such as law, medicine, computer science, a beginning worker may make more than a teacher who has taught for several years.
Teaching has never been a profession that attracted people interested in high salaries. It is by history a profession that has provided rewards in addition to money—the satisfaction of sharing knowledge, of influencing others, of guiding young people. But in the past several years, there are more difficulties in teaching, for many, than there are rewards.
Unruly（蛮横的）students, especially in big cities, large classes and a lack of support from the public in terms of money and understanding have led many public school teachers to leave the profession.
As a result, many of the best students, who would have chosen teaching as their life career in the past, are going into other fields.
Another reason for this change in teacher candidates is the changing status（地位）of women in the United States. Until the late 1960s and 1970s, one of the most popular choices for women was teaching. But as other professions, such as law and medicine opened up to women, women stopped pouring into teacher training programs. Thus, a major pool of excellent candidates for the teaching profession dwindled (减少；缩小).
Bit by bit government officials and others realized that the status of the teacher had suffered. They talked about change. But the change in a vast society like the United States is not easy. People’s attitudes have formed over many years, and sometimes change takes many years.
1. The underlined word “that” in Paragraph 1 refers to “_____________”.
A. money B. job C. secretary D. truck driver
2. What is the present situation of the teaching?
A. Teachers work harder and get underpaid.
B. Teachers have no opportunities to work in other fields.
C. Teaching can attract best students to work as a teacher.
D. Teaching can provide rewards as well as high salaries.
3. Many public school teachers turn to other professions because _____________.
A. the government doesn’t financially support them
B. they have to work longer hours than a lawyer
C. their students refuse to listen to them
D. they are not fairly treated
Among rich countries , people in the United States work the longest hours. They work much longer than in Europe. This difference is quite surprising because productivity per hour worked is the same in the United States as it is in France, Spain and Germany, and it is growing at a similar speed.
In most countries and at most times in history, as people have become richer they have chosen to work less. In other words they have decided to “spend” a part of their extra income on a fuller personal life. Over the last fifty years Europeans have continued this pattern, and hours of work have fallen sharply. But not in the United States. We do not fully know why this is. One reason may be more satisfying work, or less satisfying personal lives.
Longer hours do of course increase the GDP (国内生产总值). So the United States has produced more per worker than, say, France. The United States also has more of its people at work, while in France many more mothers and older workers have decided to stay at home. The overall result is that American GDP per head is 40% higher than in France, even though productivity per hour worked is the same.
It is not clear which of the two situations is better. As we have seen, work has to be compared with other values like family life, which often get lost in interest. It is too early to explain the different trends（趋势）in happiness over time in different countries. But it is a disappointing idea that in the United States happiness has made no progress since 1975, while it has risen in Europe. Could this have anything to do with trends in the work-life balance (平衡) ?
1.From the text we know that the author _____.
A. believes that longer working hours is better
B. prefers shorter working hours to longer ones
C. says nothing certain about which pattern is better
D. thinks neither of the patterns is good
2.Which of the following countries has more of its people at work?
A. Spain. B. France. C. Germany. D. America.
3.In the last paragraph, the underlined word “which” refers to_______.
A. family life B. situations C. other values D. trends
4.What message can we get from the text?
A. The GDP of Europe is higher than that of America.
B. Two possible reasons are given for working longer hours in the US.
C. People all over the world choose to work less when they are richer.
D. Americans are happier than Europeans.
5.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A. Americans and Europeans B. Staying at Home
C. Work and Productivity D. Work and Happiness
John Grisham was born on February 2,1955, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in the USA. His father was a construction worker and moved his family all around the southern states of America, stopping wherever he could find work. Eventually they settled in Mississippi. Graduating from law school in 1981, Grisham practiced law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation(诉讼). In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990.
One day at the Dessoto County courthouse, Grisham heard the horrifying testimony(证词) of a 12-year-old rape victim. He decided to write a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl’s father had murdered her attackers. He got up every morning at 5 am, to work on the novel, called A Time to Kill, which was published in 1988. Grisham’s next novel, The Firm, was one of the biggest hits of 1991, spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Grisham was then able to give up law and concentrate on writing. Grisham lives with his wife and two children, dividing their time between their Victorian home on a 67 acre farm in Mississippi and a 204 acre plantation near Charlottesville, Virginia.
When he’s not writing, Grisham devote time to charitable(慈善) causes, including mission trip with his church group. As a child he dreamt of becoming a professional baseball player, and now serves as the local Little League leader. He has built six ball fields on his property and hosts children from Little League teams.
1．What inspired Grisham to write his first novel?
A．A case of murder. B．A case of rape.
C．His father’s experience. D．His life on the farm.
2．The story of the novel A time to Kill would probably focus on __________.
A．how the girl was attacked B．what the circumstances of the rape were
C．how the girl’s father would act D．how the case of rape was settled
3．Which of the following is not true of the novel The Firm?
A．It was popular at the time of publication. B．It earned Grisham great fame.
C．It brought Grisham wealth. D．It was carried by the New York Times as a series.
4．It can be inferred from the passage that Grisham has built ball fields on his property _______.
A．to achieve his life’s goal as a professional baseball player
B．to coach children in baseball
C．to see his childhood dream being realized in the children
D．to provide facilities of baseball training
5．John Grisham is a _______ at present.
A．writer B．lawyer C．Congressman D．professional baseball player
Glynis Davis:
I first piled on the pounds when I was in the family way and I couldn’t lose them afterwards. Then I joined a slimming club. My target was 140 pounds and I lost 30 pounds in six months. I felt great and people kept saying how good I looked. But Christmas came and I started to slip back into my old eating habits. I told myself I’d lose the weight at slimming classes in the new year…but it didn’t happen. Instead of losing the pounds, I put them on. I’d lost willpower and tried to believe that the old bag of fish and chips didn’t make any difference but the scales don’t lie.
Roz Jumab:
To be honest, I never weigh myself any more. I’ve learnt to be happy with myself. It seemed to me that I would feel sorry about every spoonful of tasty food that passed my lips. My idea is simple. You shouldn’t be too much thinking about food and dieting. Instead, you should get on with life and stop dreaming of a super thin body. This is obviously the size I’m meant to be and, most of all, I’m happy with it.
Lesley Codwin:
I was very happy at winning Young Slimmer of the year. I’d look into the mirror unable to believe this slim lady was me! That might have been my problem—perhaps from then on I didn’t pay any attention to myself. Winning a national competition makes everything worse, though, because you feel the eyes of the world are fixed upon you. I feel a complete failure because I’ve put on weight again.
Ros Landfod:
Before moving in with my husband Gavin, I’d always been about 110 pounds, but the pleasant housework went straight to my waist and I put on 15 pounds in a year. Every so often I try to go on a diet…I’m really good on a few days, then end up having the children’s leftovers or eating happily chocolate—my weakness. I’d like to be slim, but right now my duty is the children and home. I might take more exercise when my kids are older.
1．What do you think the four women were all talking about?
A．Their own slimming matter. B．Their life after marriage.
C．Their work as a housewife. D．Different diets they prefer.
2．Where are these short passage most likely to be taken from?
A．Talks on the air. B．Advertisements on the wall.
C．Book in a library. D．Magazines for housewives.
3．What does the underlined word “scales” possibly mean?
A．The coach in the slimming club.B．Some tool to measure weight.
C．Glynis Davis’ dear husband. D．The salesperson in a food shop.
4．What can we infer from Roz Jumab’s words?
A．Losing weight is a painful process which is unbearable.
B．Being thin can also be harmful.
C．It is necessary to force ourselves to lose weight.
D．We should learn to live comfortably with the way we look.
5．Which of the following best describes each of the four women’s attitudes towards slimming?
1．Glynis Davis 2．Roz Jumab 3．Lesley Codwinc 4．Ros Langfodd
a．I put on weight soon after I got married. b．Fame doesn’t necessarily mean success.
c．Facts speak much louder than words. d．I like myself as I am, and to be what you are.
A．1- a; 2 – d; 3 – b; 4 – c B．1 – c; 2 – b; 3 – d; 4 – a
C．1 – c; 2 – d; 3 – b; 4 – a D．1 – a; 2 – b; 3 – c; 4 –d