The New York Times’ Room for Debate blog has a panel (专门小组) considering the pluses and minuses of summer homework. This has been the subject of debate in our house. Our 11th-grade daughter’s summer assignments were very challenging, to the point where I sometimes wondered if more of her time would have been better spent just riding a bicycle or swimming around a pool.
Here are some opinions from the panel:
Harris Cooper, psychologist, Duke University: “The long summer vacation disrupts(打乱) the rhythm of instruction, leads to forgetting and requires time be spent reviewing old material when students return to school in the fall. My advice? Teachers, you need to be careful about what and how much summer homework you assign. Summer homework shouldn’t be expected to overcome a student’s learning deficits(不足); that’s what summer school is for. Parents, if the assignments are clear and reasonable, support the teachers. ”
Nancy Kalish, co-author of the Case Against Homework: “Schools should rethink summer homework, and not just because it stresses out kids (and parents). The truth is, homework doesn’t accomplish what we assume it does. According to a Duke University review of more than 175 studies, there is little or no connection between homework and standardized test score or long-term achievement in primary school.”
Mark Bauerlein, professor of English at Emory University: “To the general question of whether or not schools should assign summer homework, the answer is ‘Yes.’ The reason comes not only from the brain drain(脑力消耗) of summer. It relates also to an attitude young people take toward education. They tie knowledge to the syllabus(教学大纲), not to themselves. They read and study to write the paper and score highly in the test, not to furnish their minds. In a word, they regard learning as a classroom thing. That’s all.”
It seems to me that summer homework is a good idea to keep the brain cells moving, but like everything else it should be given in moderation. Harris Cooper seems to believe that_________.
| A．more summer homework causes students’ learning difficulties |
| B．students should go to summer school if they have no homework |
| C．teachers should give careful consideration to summer homework |
| D．parents should tell teachers how much homework their kids need |
In the 4th paragraph, Nancy Kalish explains her idea by_________.
| A．making comparisons | B．giving research findings |
| C．raising questions | D．telling stories |
Mark Bauerlein might agree that summer homework_________.
| A．should be based on the school’s teaching program |
| B．has no direct connection to students’ higher grades |
| C．brings more pressure to both students and their parents |
| D．helps students develop the right attitude toward learning |
.
The plane journey from Papa Westray to Westray in the Orkney Islands takes just 96 seconds, covering a distance of little over a mile. Six teenagers are to take the Loganair service to Westray Junior High after the local ferry (渡轮) service stopped. They are all aged 13-14 and will be flown to and from school until the end of the year when the ferry is scheduled to return.
Papa Westray had a population of just 70 and no secondary school. Westray, home to more than 600 residents, has around 70 pupils at the Junior High and nine full-time teachers. The school provides education to Standard Grade level but pupils choosing to study for their Highers must travel to the Orkney capital Kirkwall.
The students will fly to Westray each Tuesday and stay with host families for two nights before catching a return flight on Thursday. Loganair operating the eight-seater service has changed its schedule to ensure the children get to school on time. The company says the flight, with an average flight time of 96 seconds, is the shortest in the world.
Jonathan Hinkles, the commercial director, said, “While it is a popular tourist route for many visitors to Scotland, it’s also an important lifeline to those residents who live, work or do business in the Orkneys and it will make all the difference to ensuring those children who live on Papa Westray can continue their schooling throughout winter.” Willie McEwen, acting head teacher at Westray Junior High, said, “we are delighted that Loganair has come forward with this solution. Our children will enjoy the flying especially as, at this time of the year, it can be quite dangerous on the boat. ”
83. Which of the following is TURE according to the passage?
The six students can get to school in less than a minute sometimes.
Westray has a small population though big in size.
The plane can hold ten people at most each time.
The six students take the flight to school every day.
84. What can we learn about Papa Westray from the passage?
A. It is very poor. B. It is located in Scotland.
C. It doesn’t have any school. D. It will have no ferry in the future.
85. How does Willie McEwen seem to feel about the flying?
A. Surprised. B. Worried. C. Satisfied. D. Disappointed.
86. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. Children get lift to school on 96-second flight.
B. Six teenagers having trouble going to school.
C. The lucky students in Papa Westray.
D. The shortest flight in Papa Westray.
.
BERLIN---A German woman, fearful that a burglar (夜贼) was trying to break into her second -storey apartment, called police after she heard someone climbing up to her balcony shortly after midnight, police said Thursday.
Police discovered the “burglar” was a man carrying flowers and a bottle of wine who turned out to be the woman’s boyfriend. But then arrested him on an outstanding reason.
“He was trying to surprise her with the flowers and a bottle of wine but it all went wrong,” said Korbach police spokesman Volker Koenig. He said the man jumped down from the balcony and tried to escape but was quickly caught by police.
“He gave the police who were taking him to jail the bottle of wine as a gesture of thanks for the friendly treatment after the arrest. ” Koenig said．
LONDON---A smoker who died after battling emphysema (肺气肿) has had his dying wish granted with the placement of a “SMOKING KILLED ME” sign on his hearse (灵车) and his grave.
Albert Whittamore blamed his youthful smoking habit for the lung disease. He said before he died in February that he wanted the sign to serve as a warning to young people about the dangers of tobacco smoking.
The sign was designed to look like the health warning on a packet of cigarettes. The printed notice at his grave will be left in place for a week. The hearse carrying h
is body through the town of Dover 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of London and several of the printed signs shown in the windows.
79. The man climbing up to the girl’s balcony _______.
A. was actually a wanted thief B. was put into prison in the end
C. thanked the police for setting him free D. was treated badly by the police
80. The best title for the first news item might be “_______.”
A. A burglar’s love B. A burglar boyfriend
C. Flowers and wine D. Price for being romantic
81. The public paid more attention to the smoker because _______.
A. he died after smoking for many years
B. he had the sign put on his hearse and his grave
C. he died of a lung disease without any treatment
D. he wanted the sign left on his grave for one day
82. Which of the following is NOT true?
A. The sign will be printed on the packet of cigarettes.
B. The signs were also shown in the windows of the hearse.
C. The smoker wanted to tell people how bad it was to smoke.
D. The smoker regretted forming the habit of smoking.
.
It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech. At some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned. Fortunately, such moments are usually not obvious to the listeners. Why? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say. They hear only what the speaker does say. If you lose you place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain point, no one will be any the wiser. When such moments occur, don't worry about them. Just continue as if nothing happened.
Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that doesn't really matter. If you have ever listened to Martin Luther King's famous speech---“I have a Dream”, you may notice that he stumbles (结巴) over his words twice during the speech. Most likely, however, you don't remember. Why? Because you were fixing your attention on his message rather than on his way of speech-making.
People care a lot about making a mistake in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication. They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition. But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performer. They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker's ideas clearly and directly. Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speaker's attractiveness by making him more human.
As you work on your speech, don't worry about being perfect. Once you free your mind of this, you will find it much easier to give your speech freely.
75. The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will _______.
A. be smarter than you B. notice your mistakes
C. do better than youD. know what you are talking about
76. You don’t remember obvious mistakes in a speech because _______.
A. you fix your attention on the content
B. you don’t fully understand the speech
C. you don’t know what the speaker plans to say
D. you find the way of speech-making more important
77. It can be inferred from the passage that _______.
A. giving a speech is like giving a performance
B. one or two mistakes in a speech may not be bad
C. the listeners should pay more attention to how a speech is made
D. the more mistakes a speaker makes, the more attractive he will be.
78. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. How to Be a Perfect Speaker B. How to Make a Perfect Speech
C. Don’t Expect a Perfect Speech D. Don’t Expect Mistakes in a Speech
.
第四部分阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，计40分）
通读下列短文，从各小题所给的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。
I always feel sorry for world leaders busy dealing with fights between nations. When my three children were young, most days it was hard keeping my house from becoming a battlefield.
It got worse as they grew older. Three years ago, Zack, then 16, couldn’t make it through a day without making his sisters, Alex 11 and Taryn 9, angry.
My husband and I tried to be understanding the boy at such an age. We reasoned, punished, and left heartfelt notes on his bed about how he was hurting our family. His answer was “I say it because it’s true.”
I even tried telling the girls to fight back. Bad idea. Now I had three children at war. Whatever I said to them, they paid no attention. When there was no way out, I told everything to my sister, Mary, in an e-mail. She replied, “Don’t e-mail me. E-mail him.”
Our son was online every day, mailing and talking with his friends. Maybe he would actually hear me this way. I didn’t say anything different, but e-mail just took the tension away. There’d be no shouting or door banging. Zack wouldn’t feel under attack.
Zack didn’t reply for days. When he finally did, his entire message was four small words. I smiled when I read them: “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
The children still fought, of course, but Zack changed. Best of all, I now have a better way to talk with not one but three of them. I like it that they don’t tune me out as much as they used to. They like not having to listen to me shouting to them. Or as Alex says, “You’re so much nicer online.”
All I know is that the house is quiet. But we’re talking.
71. What was the trouble before the online talk in the family?
A. The writer failed to understand her daughters.
B. The children couldn’t get along peacefully.
C. The family found it difficult to keep the house clean.
D. The parents were not willing to talk with their children.
72. The writer once tried to deal with her son’s problem by _______.
A. talking with him about his pain
B. telling him about the truth of the family
C. telling her daughters to keep away from him
D. encouraging her daughters to fight against him
73. The writer e-mailed her sister _______.
A. to tell her about the family problem B. hoping she’d e-mail the boy
C. asking about child-raising D. to escape from the problem
74. The underlined phrase “tune me out” in the passage probably means _______.
A. quarrel with me B. get angry with me
C. pay no attention to me D. keep me out of their rooms
.
Parents often believe that they have a good relationship with their teenagers (青少年). But last summer, Joanna and Henry noticed a change in their older son: suddenly he seemed to be talking far more to his friends than to his parents. “ The door to his room is always shut.” Joanna noted.
Tina and Mar
k noticed similar changes in their 14-year-old daughter. “She used to cuddle up (蜷伏) with me on the sofa and talk ,” said Mark . “Now we joke that she does this only when she wants something, Sometimes she wants to be treated like a little girl and sometimes like a young lady. The problem is figuring out which time is which.”
Before age 11, children like to tell their parents what’s on their minds. “In fact, parents are first on the list.” said Michael Riera, author of Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers. “This completely changes during the teen years.” Riera explained. “They talk to their friends first, then maybe their teachers, and their parents last.”
Parents who know what’s going on in their teenagers’ lives are in the best position to help them. To break down the wall of silence, parents should create chances to understand what their children want to say, and try to find ways to talk and write to them. And they must give their children a mental break, for children also need freedom, though young. Another thing parents should remember is that to be a friend, not a manager, with their children is a better way to know them.
72．“The door to his room is always shut” suggests that the son______________.
A．is always busy with his studies
B．doesn’t want to be disturbed
C．keeps himself away from his parents
D．begins to dislike his parents
73. What troubles Tina and Mark most is that _____________.
A．their daughter isn’t as lovely as before
B．they can’t read their daughter’s mind exactly
C．they don’t know what to say to their daughter
D．their daughter talks with them only when she needs help
74.Which of the following best explains “ the wall of silence” in the last paragraph?
A．Teenagers talk a lot with their friends.
B．Teenagers do not want to understand their parents.
C．Teenagers do not talk much with their parents.
D．Teenagers talk little about their own lives.
75.What can be learned from the passage?
A．Parents are unhappy with their growing children.
B．Parents have suitable ways to talk with their teenagers.
C．Parents should be patient with their silent teenagers.
D．Parents should try to understand their teenagers.