My grandfather came from Hungary and was the only one in his family who settled down in the United States. The rest of his family remained in Europe. When World War I broke out, he seemed to have become another man, downhearted. Such obvious change was not born out of concern for his welfare, but out of fear: if his only son, my uncle, had to go to war, it would be cousin fighting against cousin.
One day in 1918, my Uncle Milton received his draft notice. My grandparents were very upset. But my mother, at the age of 10, felt on top of the world about her soldier brother going off to war. Realizing how he was regarded by his little sister and all of her friends, my uncle bought them all service pins, which meant that they had a loved one in the service. All the little girls were delighted.
The moment came when my uncle and the other soldiers, without any training but all in uniforms, boarded the train. The band played and the crowd cheered. Although no one noticed. I’m sure my grandmother had a tear in her eye for the only son. The train slowly pulled out, but not about a thousand yards when it suddenly paused. Everyone stared in wonder as the train slowly returned to the station. There was a dead silence before the doors opened and the men started to step out. Someone shouted, “The war is over!” For a moment, nobody moved, but then the people heard someone bark orders at the soldiers. The men lined up in two lines, walked down the steps, and with the band playing, marched down the street, as returning heroes, to be welcomed home. My mother said it was a great day, but she was just a little disappointed that it didn’t last a tiny bit longer.What the grandfather was most worried about was ______.
| A．the spread of the world war |
| B．the safety of his two cousins |
| C．a drop in his living standards |
| D．his relatives killing each other |
The underlined phrase “draft notice” means “______”.
| A．order for army service | B．train ticket for Europe |
| C．letter of rejection | D．note of warning |
What did the “service pins” （in Para. 2） stand for in the eyes of the little girls?
| A．Strength. | B．Courage. | C．Victory. | D．Honor. |
Which of the following words can best describe the ending of the story?
| A．Disappointing. | B．Unexpected. | C．Uncertain. | D．Inspiring. |
Which of the following statements is True according to the passage?
| A．The grandfather felt downhearted because he was afraid of receiving a draft notice. |
| B．The train was traveling fast to the front when the news came that the war was over. |
| C．None of the soldiers who got on the train for the front line had been trained in advance. |
| D．Most people including the mother were disappointed that the war didn’t last a bit longer. |
I entered college in China in 1981. Many things seemed to remain the same. For many things are dominated by one thing: the national entrance examination to get into college. In my year, about 4% high school students went to college. Now the number is 22%, as compared to 40% in the US.
The significant increase in the entrance rate doesn't seem to have relieved the anxiety. As a parent to a freshman college student, I can prove that junior and senior years in high school are not much fun even for students in the US. Once a country has vastly increased the rate of college entrance, students will still want to get into "better" colleges. The rat race is on if you are a rat, no matter where you are.
The NYT Magazine article also mentioned the Soviet-style（苏联模式的） over-specialized（过于专业化的） education in Chinese colleges. My class in college had maybe 60 students specialized in compressors, another 60 students specialized in refrigeration, and yet another 60 students specialized in welding（焊接）. I was among the 60 specialized in mechanics. I cannot recall the numbers exactly, but you get the picture.
It really wasn't as terrible as it sounds. In order to specialize in mechanics, we had to study math, physics and chemistry. We studied electrical circuits, alloy treatment, mechanical drawing, Fortran. We even had a continuous stream of humanity courses: history of communist party, political economics... I'm not sure I enjoyed all the courses, but I cannot claim that these courses damaged my brain, either. I remember some of the humanity courses required writing, which turned out to be a useful skill.
As a consequence of specialization, we did learn a lot of mechanics. By the end of college, we had courses on analytical mechanics, strength of materials.
I often feel sorry for American students in my undergraduate class, knowing that strength of materials will be their first and last course in the mechanics of materials. So many beautiful sights unseen! But they also seem to turn out to be OK. A liberal and superficial eduction doesn't damage their brains, either.
All this high level debate about education makes me dizzy, and turns me off. So far as I can tell, both systems of eduction work fine, and have their own limitations. The bottom line is that the quantity of knowledge is too large to be crammed into 4 years, and you'd have to make choices, making it either narrow or shallow or perhaps both. You'll just have to be prepared to engage yourself in life-long learning.why doesn’t the rising entrance rate seem to have relieved people’s anxiety?
| A．The rate of college entrance is still not high in China. |
| B．There not enough colleges for students. |
| C．Students are not contented with “common”college. |
| D．Students want to receive further education after college. |
What’s the meaning of the sentence “the rat race is on if you are a rat”?
| A．You cannot conquer your rivals forever. |
| B．There are too many people with the same ideas as yours. |
| C．You cannot avoid competition as long as you are in the society. |
| D．You should take yourself as a rat and run on for an established goal. |
What does the author intend to show by listing the specific majors his class specialized in?
| A．To show how specific the education was classified. |
| B．To show he had more major choices in his year. |
| C．To show what is Soviet-style education. |
| D．To show how terrible his college life was. |
What is the author’s attitude towards his courses?
| A．He doesn’t like them at all. |
| B．He doesn’t think that all of them are necessary. |
| C．He is sick of the humanity courses. |
| D．He likes humanity courses just for the future writing. |
A pioneer who made poor lands bloom is the winner of this year's World Food Prize. Daniel Hillel developed drip irrigation（滴灌） techniques that squeeze the most crop out of a drop of water, making farming possible in places where water is scarce（缺少）.
Farmers now rely on it in water-scarce regions from Spanish vineyards, to African onion fields, to America’s fruit and salad bowl. “We in California grow about 50 percent of the fruits and vegetables of the continental United States," says University of California at Davis hydrologist Jan Hopmans. "And the reason that is possible is because of, indeed, these drip and micro-irrigation techniques.”
Hillel got his start in dryland farming as a pioneer in Israel’s Negev Desert in the 1950s."The issue was efficient use of water," he says, "because land is available. It’s extensive. Water is limited.”These desert farmers did not have the luxury of running irrigation water through channels to their crops, the way farmers have since ancient times.So Hillel and others gave plants just what they needed, just where they needed it.
“The idea was to apply the water little by little, the way you spoon-feed a baby,” Hillel says.It worked so well that Hillel was soon traveling the world, showing others how to do it.Experts say drip irrigation is an innovation whose importance is growing, as climate change and rising population strain（使……紧张） water supplies in many parts of the world.
“This is where water use, water availability, water-use efficiency and climate change and crop production all converge," Hillel says. "And this has been really the essence of my career.”
A career whose legacy（遗产） can be measured drop by drop.What’s the main idea of Paragraph 2?
| A．Drip irrigation has made a difference to agriculture. |
| B．Daniel Hillel is becoming more popular worldwide. |
| C．Jan Hopmans takes pride in the American agriculture. |
| D．Drip irrigation plays an important role in American agriculture. |
Drip irrigation is popular because________.
| A．it can collect rainwater and show |
| B．it is more advanced than channel irrigation |
| C．it is water-saving and satisfactory |
| D．it can provide plants with what is need |
What makes drip irrigation seem increasingly important?
| A．Dryland farming. |
| B．Water shortages. |
| C．Food shortages. |
| D．Environmental pollution. |
The author considers Daniel Hillel’s career as _______.
| A．a bit undesirable | B．worthy of respect |
| C．very profitable | D．successful |
Ever feel like there aren't enough hours in the day? A group of timechallenged Canadian women are wishing for a 25hour clock.
Jessie Behan, president of the 25th Hour Coalition (联盟)which is a group of Canadian women who have changed to a longer day, said the struggle for women to maintain worklife balance motivated (激励) her to research the body's natural clock.“Many of my girlfriends are having kids，getting married, and I see the sufferings of dealing all that when you're a working woman，”she said.“Women like myself are sick of living their lives by a 24hour clock.”
A 2007 study by Charles Czeisler found a switch to longer days could be beneficial, especially for frequent travelers, shift workers, astronauts and those who experience trouble sleeping or waking.
In a similar study, Czeisler showed the body's natural clock averages 24 hours and 11 minutes in both young and older people.The current 360degree clock has 720 minutes, giving each minute 0.5 degree.With the new 25hour day, 30 minutes is added to each 12hour period making each minute 0.48 degree.
While still a relatively small movement－the 25th Hour Coalition has 160 Facebook members, Behan is hoping for large changes.“The goal is to get as many women on board; there's no harm in just trying it out and seeing.If it gets big, maybe the government will decide to standardize it.”
A recent online survey by Reader's Digest, which included 150 people in each of the 13 countries, suggests it's not just Canadians looking for longer days.Readers were asked“what would you do with an extra hour”if given a choice between sleep, work, exercise and family time.In Spain, half of respondents （被访者）said they'd like an extra hour in the day to devote to family time.The same was found for respondents in Brazil, the US and Britain, who chose family time over sleep, which came in at a close second.Only in India did work top the list with 50 percent of respondents claiming they could use an extra hour at the office.Some Canadian working women are campaigning for the 25hour day in order to ________.
| A．have more chances at work |
| B．keep a balance between life and work |
| C．experience something new |
| D．have a better sleep |
Charles Czeisler tends to think that ________.
| A．it's easy to adopt the 25hour clock |
| B．it's hard to abandon the 24hour clock |
| C．the 25hour clock fits the body's natural clock more |
| D．different people have different natural clocks |
Why does Jessie Behan want more women to join the 25th Hour Coalition?
| A．Because she intends to make more Facebook friends. |
| B．Because she hopes to get benefits from more people. |
| C．Because she considers it is harmless to form such an organization. |
| D．Because she thinks more women may allow the dream to come true. |
What is implied in the last paragraph?
| A．Respondents from most nations want more family time. |
| B．Respondents from developed countries experience more stress. |
| C．Most Canadian respondents claim that they need more family time. |
| D．Respondents from India are the most hardworking of the 13 nations. |
Ocean Park
If you love the sea, Ocean Park is the place for you! Situated on the south side of Hong Kong Island, this 870,000 square metre educational theme park provides many opportunities to learn about marine life.
To start with, the park boasts the Atoll Reef, one of the world’s largest aquariums, with about 2,500 fish from nearly 300 different species. What makes this aquarium special, however, is not just its size, but also its design. The Atoll Reef is built with an observation passageway that circles the aquarium on four different levels. This lets visitors view sea life from a variety of depths and angles.
Then there’s the Shark Aquarium, a tank with more than 200 sharks from more than 30 species. Like the Atoll Reef, this unique aquarium is designed to make sure guests get the most out of their visit. Shaped like an underwater tunnel, guests can watch as sharks swim overhead and dive at them from every side.
There’s also the Sea Jelly Spectacular, an aquarium that houses more than 1,000 jellyfish of all shapes, colours and sizes. And at the park’s Dolphin University, visitors can go on educational tours and watch the training of dolphins up close.
The park’s most popular attraction is the Ocean Theatre, a huge outdoor pool where dolphins and sea lions entertain the visitors. Sometimes a killer whale even takes part in the performance!
Although Ocean Parks focus is on the water, the theme park has plenty of other activities, too. For people seeking excitement, there are rides like the Abyss Turbo Drop, a roller coaster ride that takes passengers on a 20-storey drop straight down. There are also exhibits like the Dinosaur Discovery Trail and Bird Paradise. Finally, no trip to Ocean Park would be complete without visiting the park’s most popular animals--four giant pandas that were given as a gift from China’s central government.Hong Kong Ocean Park is called an educational theme Park because____________.
| A．it offers chances for visitors to enlarge their knowledge of sea life. |
| B．it provides chances for people to broaden their knowledge of science. |
| C．it is specially designed to attract the young who are interested in the sea. |
| D．it has a lot of activities for people to have fun. |
What makes the Atoll Reef so special?
| A．It is one of the symbols of Hong Kong Ocean Park. |
| B．It has thousands of fish from various species. |
| C．It allows visitors to watch sea life from all angles. |
| D．It is the largest aquarium in the world. |
Which of the following activities is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Enjoying the show of dolphins and sea lions. |
| B．Visiting exhibitions about dinosaurs and birds. |
| C．Taking a roller coaster ride on a 20-storey drop. |
| D．Interacting with sea life in the huge outdoor pool. |
EVERY so often, a sensational (轰动的) story hits the media about the kind of role models influencing UK teenagers. Youth culture celebrates too many bad examples, the reports say, and the finger of blame is often pointed at celebrities (名人) who drink or take drugs, or who are seen as sexually casual. Yet according to parents and educationalists the media itself is partly to blame. They argue that television, newspapers and magazines are obsessed (迷恋的) with celebrity lives and over-promote a “celebrity culture” in which reality show stars are respected purely because they are on television.
Meanwhile child psychologists warn of the negative effects of unsuitable role models, claiming that young people are being brainwashed into wanting to become famous overnight. They are taught to value physical appearance over personal achievement and set themselves impossible goals. According to a 2010 Home Office study, too many girls think that they have to look “sexy” and “hot” like their idols , and when they can’t achieve this, they lose self-esteem (自尊) or suffer from depression and eating disorders.
But perhaps young people today are not as easily influenced as we think. The Girls’ Attitudes Survey by Girlguiding UK (2011), for example, showed that young girls aged 11 to 21 questioned the media’s description of women. Over half of the respondents disagreed with the statement that “girls and young women are portrayed fairly in the media”.
A Scout Association survey, of over a thousand 13- to 18-year-olds, showed that teenagers see their parents and siblings (兄弟姐妹) as far more positive role models than celebrities, and while many youngsters list celebrities like Kate Moss and Katie Price as role models, others list high achievers like David Beckham, Paralympian swimmer Eleanor Simmons, and grandparents who fought in the Second World War.What is the main purpose of this article?
| A．To analyze what influences UK’s youth culture. |
| B．To criticize the media’s influence on UK’s youth culture. |
| C．To figure out who is to blame for the celebrity obsession. |
| D．To discuss how much the media affects the role models UK’s young people choose. |
What’s the opinion of parents about role models according to the article?
| A．Bad role models should not appear on television. |
| B．Stars in the spotlight are actually not worthy of our respect. |
| C．The media should stop promoting a “celebrity culture” among teenagers. |
| D．The media somewhat encourages young people to admire bad role models. |
Which of the following is true according to psychologists, ______.
| A．those who set themselves high goals tend to achieve success faster |
| B．celebrities are famous because of their appearances rather than their achievement |
| C．young people should put more importance on achievement rather than appearance |
| D．role models have more negative effects on young people than positive ones |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Role Modles | B．Celebrity Culture |
| C．Media Influence | D．Psychological Recognition |