The following are letters to the editor of a school newspaper.
Dear editor,
I’d like to express my opinion about grades. Students should be allowed to study without worrying about grades. Fortunately, most educators are becoming aware of the fact that students have different interests and abilities. I understand that grades are useful, but grades often limit creativity. Competing for better grades causes many students to turn down opportunities to pursue music, dramatics and sports. Grades force an arbitrary(武断的) standard of success on everyone. I do not demand as some extremists do, that grades be removed immediately. However, I do believe that less emphasis should be placed on grades. I hope that someday grades will become optional at Village High School.
Magdalena Smith
Drama Club
Dear editor,
I’d like to say something about grades. Let’s face the facts about grades. Grades perform three basic functions. First, grades motivate(激发) students to work at their highest level of competence（能力）. Second, they act as a reward for hardworking students and as a punishment to students who do not work hard. Finally, grades are used as an effective standard by which to measure students’ achievement. Good grades help students to get jobs and to get into university. I've spoken with a number of students who have jobs, and most of them say that they were hired primarily on the basis of their grades. My grades helped me land a part-time job and will help me get into university next year. I think grades are extremely important at Village High School.
Simon Harper
Science ClubWhich of the following is not Magdalena Smith’s opinion?
| A．Grades should not be used to measure a person’s success. |
| B．Students may give up the chance to learn music and sports for grades. |
| C．Students’ creativity may not be developed for grades. |
| D．Grades should be taken away at once. |
We can learn Simon Harper _____.
| A．is concerned about students' creativity |
| B．believes in the benefits of good grades |
| C．doesn't work too hard at his studies |
| D．supports students' interests and abilities |
From the second letter, we can infer that Simon Harper is a/an_____.
| A．student | B．teacher |
| C．headmaster | D．advertiser |
People who are hit by lightning and survive often have long-term effects. These may include memory loss, sleep disorders, muscle pain and depression.
Experts tell people to seek the safety of a building or a hard-top vehicle any time they hear thunder, even if it is not raining. They say lightning can strike as far as sixteen kilometers from any rainfall. Lightning can travel sideways. And at least ten percent of lightning happens without any clouds overhead that you can see.
People who are outdoors should make sure they are not the tallest thing around. Bend low to the ground, but do not lie down. And do not stand near tall object. Get away from water and anything made of metal. A car is safe, but don’t touch any metal inside.
Safety experts say people in buildings should stay away from anything with wires or pipes that lead to the outside. The National Weather Service says if you plan to disconnect any electronic equipment, do so before the storm arrives. Do not use a wired telephone. Do not use water. All these can carry electricity.
Some people think a person struck by lightning carries an electrical charge afterward. Experts say this is not true. It is safe to begin emergency treatment
Each year about four hundred people in the United States are struck by lightning. Last year forty four people died. The average is close to seventy. The National Weather Service says that is more than the number of people killed by severe storms.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Lightning can happen even if there is no cloud. |
| B．Lightning can’t strike very far. |
| C．Lightning can’t travel sideways. |
| D．Don’t stay in a car when lightning happen. |
We can learn from the passage that________.
| A．it’s better to turn off any electronic equipment before the storm arrives. |
| B．a wired telephone is not safe to use in rainy days. |
| C．a person struck by lightning is said to carry an electrical charge afterward. |
| D．severe storms kill more people than lightning does. |
The underlined word ”depression” probably means”_______”.
| A．excitement | B．a state of being forgettable |
| C．silence | D．a feeling of being sad |
The passage is mainly about______.
| A．where people should stay in case of lightning |
| B．some common knowledge about lightning safety |
| C．how lightning travels |
| D．a report written by the National Weather Service |
For years scientists have been worried about the effects of air pollution on the earth’s natural conditions. Some believe the air inside many houses may be more dangerous than the air outside. It may be one hundred times worse.
Indoor air pollution can cause a person to feel tired, to suffer eye pain, headache and other problems. Some pollutants can cause breathing disorders, diseases of blood and even cancer. Most scientists agree that every modern house has some kind of indoor pollution.
People have paid more attention to the problem now. It is true that when builders began making houses and offices they did not waste energy. To do this they build buildings that limited the flow of air between inside and outside. They also began using man-made building materials. These materials are now known to let out harmful gases.
As the problem became more serious, scientists began searching for a way to deal with it. They discovered a natural pollution control system for building—green plants. Scientists do not really know how plants control air pollution. They believe that a plant’s leaves absorb or take in the pollutants. In exchange the plant lets out oxygen through its leaves and tiny organizations on its roots. Scientists suggest that all buildings should have one large plant or several small plants inside for every nine square meters of space. Studies of different plants show that each absorbs different chemicals. So the most effective way to clean the air is to use different kinds of plants. Having green plants inside your house can make it a prettier and more healthy place.Generally speaking, indoor air pollution may be more harmful than the air outside because ______.
| A．indoor air pollution can often make people seriously ill |
| B．man-made building materials give off dangerous gases |
| C．there may be more harmful gases outside the buildings |
| D．the air indoors is polluted, which is very harmful |
Some kind of indoor pollution can be found in______．
Ａ．every modern house B．every old house
C．all kinds of houses D．all kinds of officesThe indoor air pollution is caused by ______.
| A．the limit of the flow of air between inside and outside |
| B．the building way that the builders want to save energy |
| C．the building things that are made of man-made materials |
| D．the man-made building materials and the limit of air-flow |
The reason why we should use different kinds of plants to clean the air is that ______.
| A．plants can let out all kinds of pollutants indoors |
| B．plants may take in more oxygen which people need |
| C．plants can absorb all kinds of harmful indoor chemicals |
| D．plants can make our houses prettier and more healthy |
Have you ever suddenly felt that someone you know was in trouble ― and he was? Have you ever dreamed something that came true later? Maybe you have ESP.
ESP stands for Extra Sensory Perception. It may be called a sixth sense. It seems to let people know about events before they happen, or events that are happening some distance away.
Here is an example: A woman was doing washing. Suddenly she shouted, “My father is dead! I saw him sitting in the chair!” Just then, a telephone came. The woman’s father had died of a heart illness. He died sitting in a chair.
There are thousands of stories like this on record. Scientists are studying them to find out what is behind these strange mental messages. Here’s another example —— one of hundreds of dreams that have come true.
A man dreamed he was walking along a road when a horse and carriage came by. The driver said, “There’s room for one more.” The man felt the driver was Death, so he ran away. The next day the man was getting on a crowded bus. The bus driver said, “There’s room for one more”. Then the man saw the driver’s face was the same face he had seen in the dream. He wouldn’t get on the bus. As the bus drove off, it crashed and burst into fires. Everyone was killed!
Some people say stories like these are lies or coincidences. Others say that are ESP in true, from studies of ESP, we may some day learn more about the human mind.ESP lets people know about _________.
| A．their dream | B．events after they happen |
| C．events before they happen | D．heart illness |
The example of the man shows the ability to _______.
| A．avoid traffic accidents |
| B．know the good and bad of a person |
| C．know about the events happening some distance away |
| D．sense a danger that will happen later on |
The best title of this passage is _________.
| A．Sixth Sense | B．The Human Mind |
| C．A Big Lie | D．A Terrible Dream |
How to Order
Ordering from BooksFirst is easy and safe.
Selecting Your Books
When you have found a book you would like to order, just click on Add to Basket and it will be added to your shopping basket. To make it easy to keep track of the books you’ve selected, My Shopping Basket will display your choices wherever you are on the site. When you’re ready to place your order, select View Basket.
View Basket
This is where you select the postal destination for your order, indicate whether you would like Next Day Delivery in the UK and choose gift-wrapping. You can also amend (修改) the contents of your basket by making any changes and then selecting Update Basket.
Overseas customers ordering three or more books can also request reduced airmail charges here. When you’re happy with the contents of your shopping basket, go to the Secure Checkout.
The Order Form
After you’ve completed the order form, you will receive an on-screen acknowledgment. This will be followed by an email confirming the details of your order.
We will then inform you when your order has been sent. If this is your first order, we will also inform you of your personal BooksFirst account number.
Your First Order
We’ll send you a personal account number after you have placed your first order. For following orders all you need to do is enter your personal account number and email address.
Returning Customers
If you have ordered from us before, online, by mail or telephone, you will have already owned a personal account number. You then only need to complete the full order form. Using your account number allows us to find your details from our records (they are not accessible online).
However, you do not need your BooksFirst personal account number to place an order—simply present all the required details on the order form. If you don’t have a note of your account number just Contact us so that we can supply it to you.We can probably read this advertisement ______.
| A．in a newspaper | B．in a magazine | C．on the Internet | D．on TV |
Yours choices will be displayed in order to ______.
| A．To make it easy to keep track of the books. |
| B．To make sure you’ve selected a book. |
| C．To make an advertisement. |
| D．To show this is the postal destination. |
Which of the following is true?
| A．You must put what you choose in a basket as you do in a supermarket. |
| B．You can find your Shopping Basket nowhere but in View Basket. |
| C．You will get your personal account number the third time you order.. |
| D．You can get an account number after you place an order online |
The purpose of this advertisement is______.
| A．to promote the sale of books |
| B．to show the procedure of ordering books online |
| C．to help readers apply for account numbers |
| D．to supply account numbers to readers |
The organization representing British universities has expressed concern about the potential effect of tuition fees（学费）after figures showed a drop of more than 6% in student applications with less than a month to go before the deadline for 2013 applications.
Data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) showed there were 265,784 university applications by UK-based candidates up to 17 December, 6.3% down on the parallel period in the admissions cycle the year before. While this is less than the 8.4% year-on-urea fall seen in earlier Ucas figures, released in mid-November, the coming January deadline makes it ever more likely that the total 2013 applicant figure will see a second sizeable fall following the introduction of annual fees of up to ￡9,000.
Nicola Dandridge, the chairman of Universities UK, said: “However, we must be concerned about any drops in the numbers applying to university and in particular; we must look closely at how the increase in graduate contributions in England may be affecting the decisions of promising students. However, the December figures show a drop in numbers across the UK, suggesting that it is not only a question of tuition fees in England putting off from applying.”
A report of the Uncas figures to mid-December shows a 6.5% fall for applicants in England and 11.7% for those in Wales, with smaller drops of 3.9% for Scotland and 0.5% for Northern Ireland. Scottish students at home institutions pay on fees, while those from Northern Ireland have fees capped to ￡3,575 for Northern Irish universities.
Dandridge added: “No one should be put off applying to university because of worries about finance.”
“It is important that no one is put off applying to university because they do not have information about the student support available to them. Most new students don’t need to pay directly. There will be more financial support for those from poorer families and everyone will make lower loan repayments than they do now once they are in well paid jobs.”A drop of more than 6% for 2013 applications is probably the effect of .
| A．The increased tuition fees |
| B．The approaching deadline |
| C．The concern from applicants |
| D．The difficulties with applications |
Compared with the previous year, the fall in student applications is.
| A．3.9% | B．2.1% | C．6.3% | D．8.4% |
Why is the fall for application the smallest in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
| A．Because they have more financial support |
| B．Because the tuition is much cheaper for them |
| C．Because the education is better there |
| D．Because the universities are free for them. |
The last paragraph tells us that.
| A．Everyone should apply to university |
| B．Students may get financial supports |
| C．Lower loan repayments is unavailable |
| D．Most new students will not pay fees |