In the mid-1950s, I was a somewhat bored early-adolescent male student who believed that doing any more than necessary was wasted effort. One day, this approach threw me into embarrassment
In Mrs. Totten’s eighth-grade math class at Central Avenue School in Anderson, Indiana, we were learning to add and subtract decimals (小数).
Our teacher typically assigned daily homework, which would be recited in class the following day. On most days, our grades were based on our oral answer to homework questions.
Mrs. Totten usually walked up and down the rows of desks requesting answers from student after student in the order the questions had appeared on our homework sheets. She would start either at the front or the back of the classroom and work toward the other end.
Since I was seated near the middle of about 35 students, it was easy to figure out which questions I might have to answer. This particular time, I had completed my usual two or three problems according to my calculations.
What I failed to expect was that several students were absent, which threw off my estimate. As Mrs. Totten made her way from the beginning of the class，I desperately tried to determine which math problem I would get. I tried to work it out before she got to me, but I had brain freeze and couldn’t function.
When Mrs. Totten reached my desk，she asked what answer I’d got for problem No. 14. “I…I didn’t get anything,” I answered，and my face felt warm.
“Correct,” she said.
It turned out that the correct answer was zero.
What did I learn that day? First, always do all your homework. Second, in real life it isn’t always what you say but how you say it that matters. Third，I would never make it as a mathematician.
If I could choose one school day that taught me the most, it would be that one.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 indicate?
| A． It is wise to value one’s time. |
| B． It is important to make an effort |
| C． It is right to stick to one’s belief. |
| D． It is enough to do the necessary. |
Usually, Mrs. Totten asked her students to _______.
| A． recite their homework together |
| B． grade their homework themselves |
| C． answer their homework questions orally |
| D． check the answers to their homework questions |
The author could work out which questions to answer since the teacher always _______.
| A． asked questions in a regular way |
| B． walked up and down when asking questions |
| C． chose two or three questions for the students |
| D． requested her students to finish their usual questions |
The author failed to get the questions he had expected because _______.
| A． the class didn’t begin as usual |
| B． several students didn’t come to school |
| C． he didn’t try hard to make his estimate |
| D． Mrs. Totten didn’t start from the back of the class |
Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A． An Unforgettable Teacher |
| B． A Future Mathematician |
| C． An Effective Approach |
| D． A Valuable Lesson |
Sometimes, the simplest ideas are the best. For example, to absorb heat from the sun to heat water, you need large, flat, back surfaces. One way to do that is to build those surfaces specially, on the roofs of buildings. But why go to all that trouble when cities are full of black surfaces already, in the form of asphalt(柏油) roads ?
Ten years ago, this thought came into the mind of Arian de Bondt, a Dutch engineer. He finally persuaded his boss to follow it up. The result is that their building is now heated in winter and cooled in summer by a system that relies on the surface of the road outside.
The heat-collector is a system of connected water pipes. Most of them run from one side of the street to the other, just under the asphalt road. Some, however, dive deep into the ground.
When the street surface gets hot in summer, water pumped through the pipes picks up this heat and takes it underground through one of the diving pipes. At a depth of 100 metres lies a natural aquifer(蓄水层) into which several heat exchangers（交换器）have been built. The hot water from the street runs through these exchangers, warming the groundwater, before returning to the surface through another pipe. The aquifer is thus used as a heat store.
In winter, the working system is changed slightly. Water is pumped through the heat exchangers to pick up the heat stored during summer. This water goes into the building and is used to warm the place up. After performing that task, it is pumped under the asphalt and its remaining heat keeps the road free of snow and ice.Which of the following is true according to the first two paragraphs ?
Arian de Bondt got his idea from his boss.
Large, flat, black surfaces need to be built in cities.
The Dutch engineer’s system has been widely used.
Heat can also be collected from asphalt roads.For what purpose are the diving pipes used ?
| A．To absorb heat from the sun. | B．To store heat for future use. |
| C．To turn solar energy into heat energy. | D．To carry heat down below the surface. |
From the last paragraph we can learn that __________.
| A．some pipes have to be re-arranged in winter |
| B．the system can do more than warming up the building |
| C．the exchangers will pick up heat |
| D．less heat may be collected in winter than in summer |
What is most likely to be discussed in the paragraph that follows ?
| A．What we shall do if the system goes wrong. |
| B．What we shall do if there are no asphalt roads. |
| C．How the system cools the building in summer. |
| D．How the system collects heat in spring and autumn. |
Rabbits are easy to raise. They are clean and quiet. They don’t need a lot of room. And it costs a small amount of money to feed them, but you can get a big return.
One male and two females will produce as many as fifty more rabbits in a year. That is enough to provide enough meat for a family. Rabbit meat is high in protein and low in fat.
You don’t have to be a farmer to raise rabbits. You can raise them in the city.
Rabbit houses are easy to make with wood and wire. They don’t have to be very big. But each rabbit must have its own little room in the house. This is very important. Each room should be about 75 centimeters wide, 60 centimeters high and one meter deep.
Fencing is used for the sides and floor of the rabbit house. The holes in the wire fencing should be about one centimeter square. Waste from the animals will drop through the holes. This keeps the rabbit house clean and dry.
Rabbits need a lot of fresh air and sunlight. Cover the sides of the rabbit house only to protect it from rain.
Rabbits eat mostly grass and leaves. Hang feeding containers on the outside of the house to let the rabbits eat whenever they want. They simply pull the grass and leaves through the holes in the fence.
Each room should have fresh water. The water containers should be heavy so the rabbit cannot turn them over. Or you can tie the containers to the fence.
One month after mating(交配), female rabbits give birth to about eight babies. In two months, a baby rabbit should weigh about two kilograms. This is big enough to make a meal for a small family.
Rabbits are also valuable for their fur. It takes time, skill and money to prepare the fur and skin for use. If you have only a few rabbits, it probably would be best to let a tanner(制革工) prepare the fur for you. Skill is also needed to remove the fur from the rabbit.
But rabbits do not have to be dead to be valuable. Many people enjoy keeping rabbits as friendly pets. And rabbit waste makes an excellent fertilizer(肥料). It can be mixed directly into the soil to improve the growth of vegetables, trees, and flowering plants.The text is written mainly_______.
| A．to explain why rabbits are clean and quiet | B．to let people know more about rabbits |
| C．to tell readers how to raise rabbits | D．to introduce a small friendly animal pet |
What is important if you raise rabbits?
| A．Holes are needed for waste to drop through. |
| B．Each rabbit must be given a separate room. |
| C．Each room must have clean water every day. |
| D．Feeding containers are hung on the fence. |
Why should the holes in the wire fence be about one centimeter square?
| A．Because the holes let in sunlight. |
| B．Because rabbits like these holes. |
| C．Because rabbits get food from them. |
| D．Because waste of rabbits drops through the holes. |
What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph mean?
| A．You don’t have to kill rabbits to make more money. |
| B．Rabbits cannot be sold to make money when they are alive. |
| C．Rabbits are more valuable when they are alive. |
| D．Rabbits have to be killed to be more valuable. |
On the whole, it’s not something we parents shout about, but one in four of us does it. Hiring private tutors for our children is now widespread.
“It’s expensive, but worth it,” says Ashan Sabri, whose daughter Zarreen, is having tuition in biology and chemistry in preparation for A-levels this summer. “My husband and I tried to tutor her at home, but we found all our knowledge was out of date and we were only confusing Zarreen. We also tried a group revision course but all the children were sitting in a room for different kinds of exams. On the whole, we think one-to-one tuition works best.”
The real reason is: does tutoring do any good?
“It’s not the magic bullet,” says Professor Judith Ireson, author of a 2005 Institute of Education report on the subject. “It’s still up to the child to do the learning. If he or she isn’t interested, sending them to a private tutor won’t do any good. However, we did find that students who had private tuition in mathematics during the two years before GCSE achieved on average just under half a grade higher than students who did not have a tutor.”
In which case, surely it’s time to break open the champagne? Not necessarily, says Elaine Tyrrell, head of The Rowans School, Wimbledon, a preparation school which regularly gets children into the best private schools.
“While we recommend private tutoring for a few children whose first language isn’t English, we don’t encourage it for the others. With the level of education they get here, children really ought to be able to pass the entrance exams without any extra teaching. And our worry is that they might just get used to getting help from last-minute tutoring, but, once they actually get to that school, they won’t be able to cope.”
But Mylene Curtis, owner of Fleet Tutors, one of the biggest tutoring agencies in the country, holds a different view.
“In some respects, the hurdles children have to leap in order to get into these schools are set at a higher level than the reality,” says Curtis. “We often find that, once a child has got into a school, the standard of work isn’t as high as was feared. The trick is to do well enough in the exam to win a place.”What does Ashan Sabri think of the group revision course?
| A．It’s expensive but worthwhile because it works the best. |
| B．It confuses students because the knowledge taught in it is out of date. |
| C．It isn’t effective because it doesn’t focus on specific exams. |
| D．It is effective because it doesn’t focus on specific exams. |
What do the underlined words “magic bullet” in Paragraph 4 mean?
| A．Something that cannot help to solve problems at all. |
| B．Something that solves a difficult problem in an easy way. |
| C．Something that seems useful but has no use at all. |
| D．Something that encourages interest in study. |
According to Elaine Tyrrell, private tutoring is _______.
| A．effective in language learning but not for exams |
| B．effective for foreign students but not for local students |
| C．unnecessary in most cases and may harm the further study of students |
| D．unnecessary in secondary school but helpful to further study |
What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?
| A．Fleet Tutors and the Rowans School are competitors. |
| B．Entrance exams to schools are too difficult for most students. |
| C．Further study isn’t as difficult as was first thought. |
| D．Private tuition is worth the financial investment. |
What attitude does the author hold towards home tutoring?
| A．Critical | B．Objective | C．Supportive | D．Uninterested |
When many of us take a vacation, more than anything, we seek to relax. We spend long, lazy days on a beach chair or in a hammock(吊床). But too often, we return home, tired.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
In fact active vacations are often the most relaxing of all. We don’t expect you to take up jogging(慢跑), or climbing. Rather, we ask the sedentary(久坐的) vacations among you to spend two to four hours a day doing things, such as walking in the city street, going to a zoo or biking along the ocean.
These kinds of activities aren’t just good for your physical health. They improve your mental health, even your spiritual health. Here are some fresh ideas to make your vacations as pleasurable as they are active and healthy.
A walk at dawn or dusk helps keep you young. Try to make this a daily habit of life when you’re away from home, and you will guarantee yourself both physical and spiritual refreshment.
Don’t allow yourself to spend all your time sitting in front of water. Whether it is the ocean, a swimming pool, or a tree-lined lake, make sure you get into the water for swimming or games, or even walking. Merely standing in waist-high water is a good workout, thanks to the action of the water. And you’ll feel so much more active!
Many of us spend a large chunk of our vacation on the road, either getting to and from our destinations, or using the car for sightseeing. But no matter how beautiful the scenery is, great, memorable vacations don’t happen in a car seat. Frequently get out and stretch, walk, picnic, shop, visit, and have fun. It’s important for your health and energy, and it makes traveling a lot more active and interesting The idea in the text is mainly to _______.
| A．suggest ways to make vacations relaxing |
| B．suggest places for relaxing vacations |
| C．explain the reasons for having vacations |
| D．explain the relationship between vacations and health |
Which of the following can be considered as a form of exercise?
| A．Sitting by a lake. | B．Standing in water. |
| C．Staying in a car. | D．Enjoying beautiful scenery. |
In the last paragraph, the author seems to advise us to _______.
| A．have vacations frequently | B．get out of the car frequently |
| C．go on vacations on foot | D．stay in a car seat |
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| A．Airport Terminal Services | B．www. Workatats. com |
| C．865-524-9881 | D．tlgknoxvilletn@thelittlegym. com. |
As a driver in Local Delivery, John has to _______.
| A．work hard to earn money | B．have printing skills |
| C．have interest in the position | D．be offered paid training |
Mr Smith can find a job as a mechanic at _______.
| A．Washington DC Location. | B．Baltimore Location |
| C．a fast paced company | D．Dillard |
What is a must when one hopes to be a member of Dillard’s team?
| A．He must be able to work in the evening and on weekends. |
| B．He must have experience. |
| C．He must have a good knowledge of shoe fashion and sales. |
| D．He must like top brands of shoes. |