California, once regarded as a leader in the United States for its public higher education system, ranks next to the last in the U.S.for its number of adults with at least a high school diploma, according to the report, titled “California at the Edge of a Cliff,” released by the California Faculty Association.
Meanwhile, the state’s investment(投资) in public higher education has dropped over the past three decades, and now ranks 22nd in the country.That’s despite having the country’s largest public higher education system, the report said.
“It's a collapse(衰退),” said Thomas Mortenson, author of the report, who is an independent analyst living in Iowa and a senior scholar at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education in Washington, D. C. “Ranking 49th out of 50 states is an indication that shows the quality of the state’s educational has become much worse in recent decades.” Mortenson said in the report.As of 2007, California ranked 14th in the United States in terms of college educated members of the workforce over 25 years of age, a drop from eighth place in 1981, the report showed.
Mortenson said that California has never been the state of high status in education and economy while other states have made greater gains in building a college-educated workforce.
The California Faculty Association is using the report’s findings to criticize Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed funding cuts for education.
Struggling with a 14.8-billion-dollar state budget deficit(赤字), Schwarzenegger has proposed a combination of sales tax increases, borrowing and major budget cuts, including cutting billions of dollars from the state’s education budget.The passage is mainly about __________.
| A．California’s worse situation in higher education |
| B．the dangerous situation in California |
| C．California’s research on education and economy |
| D．funding cuts for high education in California |
From the passage we can infer that __________.
| A．investment in higher education has dropped in all states |
| B．Thomas Mortenson works at California Faculty Association |
| C．governor in California agreed to spend more money on education |
| D．California had higher quality in higher education in the past |
The reason why California has a lower rank in education is that________.
| A．the number of adults has decreased recently |
| B．the result of report has been published late |
| C．the money to invest in education has been cut |
| D．the progress in other states has been made |
According to the report’s findings, ________ is to blame for the drop in rank of education.
| A．Arnold Schwarzenegger | B．Thomas Mortenson |
| C．the Pell Institute | D．California Faculty Association |
语篇解读 曾经在大学教育排行榜上位居第一的美国加州，现在的教育排名一下子跌落到倒数第二。这是怎么回事呢？
“People are ruder today because they are rushed and more ‘time poor’ than ever before,” says Patsy Rowe, “ Manners have fallen off the radar(雷达).” Due to our strong attraction to electronic equipment it is a wonder more people don’t wake up each morning and greet the singing birds with a complaint（抱怨）about the noise. Here are some examples of rudeness.
Some people prefer to do almost everything over the Internet. To them, dealing with an actual human is like an evolutionary step backward. It feels very slow because humans don’t work at 4G speeds. When you have dinner with friends, you will often notice someone paying more attention to his mobile phone. We have programmed ourselves to think that every new message brings life-changing news, so taking calls and checking our texts are more important than talking to the people we are with. What is worse, some people even tend to send anonymous（匿名的） rude messages by email.
However, rudeness is never acceptable. Don’t assume it is OK to be rude if the person you’re in touch with won’t recognize you. If you have something awful to say, have the courage to face the person and say it, write a letter or email and sign it, or forget it. Upsetting people with unsigned messages is cruel and disgusting.
We shouldn′t blame technology for our shortcomings. Technology is here to help us, but we should not allow it to take over our lives. An important step is acknowledging our shortcomings. People spend a lot of time pointing out bad manners but it would be even more helpful if we′d publicly acknowledge good manners when we see them. What can be infer from the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1?
| A．People can tell good from bad behavior. |
| B．Radar is able to observe human behavior. |
| C．Radar can be used to predict human behavior. |
| D．People care little about their behavior. |
Some people are less willing to deal with humans because _______.
| A．they are growing too independent |
| B．they are becoming less patient |
| C．they have to handle many important messages |
| D．they have to follow an evolutionary step backward. |
The author thinks sending unsigned awful messages is _______.
| A．ridiculous | B．acceptable |
| C．disgusting | D．reasonable |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Technology will take over lives one day. |
| B．Technology can never be blamed |
| C．We should keep pointing out mistakes. |
| D．We should applaud good behavior. |
Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family, and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I’m not going to say luck, talent, and circumstances don’t come into play because they do. Some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that’s just the reality of how life is.
However, to succeed in life, one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And, in addition to that, in order to get really good at something, one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practicing. To become great at certain things, it’ll require even more time, time that most people won’t put in.
This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don’t enjoy what you do, it is going to feel like unbearable pain and will likely make you quit well before you ever become good at it.
When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success, you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost. It’s sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent, but thinking that way does you no good, and there’s a huge chance that you’re wrong anyway.
Whatever you do, if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out, almost to the point of addiction, and over a long period of time. If you’re not willing to put in the time and work, don’t expect to receive any rewards. Consistent, hard work won’t guarantee you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.Paragraph 1 mainly talks about ________.
| A．the standards of success | B．the meaning of success |
| C．the reasons for success | D．the importance of success |
In Paragraph 2, the underlined word “that” refers to ______.
| A．setting a practical goal | B．being good at something |
| C．putting in more time | D．succeeding in life |
What is the main theme of the passage?
| A．Having a goal is vital to success. |
| B．Being good is different from being great. |
| C．One cannot succeed without time and practice. |
| D．Luck, talent and family help to achieve success. |
One day, when I was working as a psychologist in England，an adolescent boy showed up in my office. It was David. He kept walking up and down restlessly, his face pale, and his hands shaking slightly. His head teacher had referred him to me. "This boy has lost his family," he wrote. "He is understandably very sad and refuses to talk to others, and I'm very worried about him. Can you help?”
I looked at David and showed him to a chair. How could I help him? There are problems psychology doesn’t have the answer to, and which no words can describe. Sometimes the best thing one can do is to listen openly and sympathetically.
The first two times we met, David didn't say a word. He sat there, only looking up to look at the children's drawings on the wall behind me. I suggested we play a game of chess. He nodded. After that he played chess with me every Wednesday afternoon一in complete silence and without looking at me. It's not easy to cheat in chess, but I admit I made sure David won once or twice.
Usually, he arrived earlier than agreed, took the chess board and pieces from the shelf and began setting them up before I even got a chance to sit down. It seemed as if he enjoyed my company. But why did he never look at me?
"Perhaps he simply needs someone to share his pain with," I thought. "Perhaps he senses that I respect his suffering.”Some months later, when we were playing chess, he looked up at me suddenly.
"It’s your turn," he said.
After that day, David started talking. He got friends in school and joined a bicycle club. He wrote to me a few times about his biking with some friends, and about his plan to get into university. Now he had really started to live his own life.
Maybe I gave David something. But I also learned that one一without any words一can reach out to another person. All it takes is a hug, a shoulder to cry on, a friendly touch, and an ear that listens. When he first met the author, David.
| A．looked a little nervous | B．walked energetically |
| C．felt a little excited | D．showed up with his teacher |
As a psychologist, the author.
| A．was able to describe David's problem |
| B．was skeptical about psychology |
| C．was ready to listen to David |
| D．was sure of handling David's problem |
David enjoyed being with the author because he________.
| A．wanted to ask the author for advice |
| B．beat the author many times in the chess game |
| C．liked the children’s drawings in the office |
| D．need to share sorrow with the author |
Right in front of the Minneapolis Central Library，a row of green bikes sits parked in a special stand．Each bike is designed with the logo“Nice Ride”—the name of the city’s bike-share program.
Nice Ride bikes are a lot like the library books that people come here to borrow．To rent a bike，you simply use your membership card at a Nice Ride bike station．Members can rent one of 1,200 bikes from 138 stations throughout Minnesota's largest city．People use the Nice Ride bikes to go to work，to go out on business，or just to enjoy the city’s many bike paths．
The rise of bike-share programs like Nice Ride is encouraging more people than ever to choose biking over driving．Rising gas prices and concerns about the environment have also gotten people to dust off their bike helmets， pump air into flat tires，and hit the road．
Why ride? Not only is biking good exercise，but switching from a car to a bike also reduces the amount of pollution in the air．Carbon dioxide，a greenhouse gas linked to climate change，is one of the many polluting substances that come out of a car's tallpipe．
Bike-share systems are found around the world in cities like London，Paris，Barcelona，and Melbourne，Australia．The largest program-with 70,000 bikes-is in Wuhan，China.
To make roads friendlier to non-motorists，the U．S．Department of Transportation has invested more than a billion dollars in cycling and pedestrian projects in recent years．The money went toward building thousands of miles of on-street bike lanes and bike-and pedestrian-only passages called green ways．If one wants to use the bike，it's a must to __________．
| A．give away a bicycle | B．know Nice Ride well |
| C．pay the cost in advance | D．get a membership card |
Which of the following can people do with the bikes?
| A．Earn a living． | B．Enjoy bikeways． |
| C．Compete in a race． | D．Rent them out to others． |
Paragraph 4 is mainly about _____________．
| A．benefits of biking | B．pollution caused by cars |
| C．methods to use the bikes | D．ways to reduce pollution |
Which of the following is true of Nice Ride?
| A．It will take the place of taxi companies． |
| B．China has better public bike systems． |
| C．It attracts more people to choose biking． |
| D．The government lacks money to support it. |
The author's purpose in writing this text is to ______________．
| A．spread bike-share programs |
| B．seek advice for Nice Ride |
| C．compare Nice Ride with libraries |
| D．introduce the public bike system |
The day my husband fell to his death，it started to snow，just like any November day．His body，when I found it，was lightly covered with snow．It snowed almost every day for the next four months，while I sat on the couch and watched it pile up．One morning，I shuffled downstairs and was surprised to see a snow remover clearing my driveway and the bent back of a woman shoveling(铲)my walk．I dropped to my knees，crawled through the living room．And back up stairs so those good people would not see me．I was embarrassed．My first thought was，how would I ever repay them? I didn’t have the strength to brush my hair let alone shovel someone’s walk．
Before John’s death，I took pride in the fact that I rarely asked for help or favors，I defined myself by my competence and independence．So who was I if I was no longer capable and busy? How could I respect myself if all I did was sit on the couch every day and watch the snowfall?
Learning how to receive the love and support that came my way wasn't easy．Friends cooked forme and l cried because I couldn't even help them set the table．“I'm not usually this lazy，”I wept．Finally，my friend Kathy sat down with me and said,"Mary，cooking for you is not a burden. I love you and I want to do it．It makes me feel good to be able to do something for you．”
Over and over，I heard similar emotions from the people who supported me during those dark days．One very wise man told me，“You are not doing nothing．Being fully open to your sorrow may be the hardest work you will everdo．”
I am not the person I once was，but in many ways I have changed for the better．My heart is now filled with thanks for people around me．I have been surprised to learn that there is incredible freedom that comes from facing one’s worst fear and walking away whole．I believe there is strength，for sure，in accepting a dark period of our life.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．The writer’s friend was unwilling to cook for her． |
| B．The writer had been busy with her life before． |
| C．The writer recovered from her sorrow quickly with his friend‘s help． |
| D．The day her husband died，it was snowing heavily． |
We can describe the writer before her husband died as the following except ___________．
| A．hard-working | B．independent |
| C．smart | D．capable |
The underlined word“shuffled”in Paragraph 1 probably means ___________．
| A．stepped steadily | B．walked slowly |
| C．ran swiftly | D．fell sadly |
We can infer from the passage that ____________.
| A．the writer found her husband immediately he fell off the roof |
| B．the writer became strong-willed immediately after John's death |
| C．the people around the writer were friendly and supported her |
| D．before John’s death，the writer never asked others for help |
The writer wrote the passage to ___________．
| A．share her sad story with us |
| B．express her guilty conscience to the people who helped her |
| C．show her thanks to the people who love and support her |
| D．tell us the changes she has made because of her husband’s death |