Primary schools could be told to remove some traditional subject-based lessons and replace them with “personal development” classes to encourage children to improve their social and practical skill. Parents, teachers and pupils, who took part in the investigation carried out for the biggest ever official review of the primary curriculum, argued that the number of subjects taught to very young people should be reduced.
The review, being conducted by the government’s school’s director Sir Jim Rose, will consider how to redesign the primary school day to handle concerns that too many pupils leave primary school unable to read, write and do maths at the level expected of them. It will also address criticisms that pupils are expected to study so many subjects there is little time for creative learning.
The 60 focus groups brought together 1,500 parents, pupils and school staff and is expected to heavily influence the thinking of the Rose review, which the government is promising to back. Instead of a broad range of subjects, pupils should study in-depth literacy and maths lessons alongside a more creative curriculum that encourages pupils to develop personal, learning and thinking skills, they say. Such lessons might include “healthy lifestyles, sex and relationships education, drugs and alcohol education”.
“Child and personal development as priorities have been shamefully neglected in recent years in the rush to hit targets in the basics.” John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, said, “The worst thing would be to evaluate child development through the current high stakes testing system. That would weaken the capacity of teachers to meet children’s unique needs.”
However, the shadow schools minister, Nick Gibb, said, “If lessons on lifestyle are given the same status as traditional subjects, it is the most disadvantaged children who will be worst affected.” “Children are not able to personally develop and succeed in the future if they don’t have a grasp of basic subjects such as maths and English early on in primary school. Removing high requirement from the primary curriculum would increase the inequality gap between less well-off pupils and the rest.” Nick added. A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said, “This is a summary of stake holder’s view, not the views of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority or the DCSF, and has been submitted to Sir Jim Rose’s review as evidence to consider.” According to the focus groups, the result of learning too many subjects is most likely to be that __________.
| A．children may not have any freedom |
| B．children may not have enough time for personal interest |
| C．children may not know anything outside the classroom |
| D．children may not have creative ability |
Which of the following is False about the review conducted by Sir Jim Rose?
| A．It will greatly influence the country’s future primary curriculum. |
| B．It will remove high requirement from the primary curriculum. |
| C．It is supported by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority or the DCSF. |
| D．It needs to take fully into account varied views from the society. |
John Bangs’s attitude towards the current high stakes testing system is __________.
| A．negative | B．positive |
| C．uncertain | D．cautious |
According to Nick Gibb, grasp of basic subjects early on in primary school is important for _______.
| A．the primary curriculum reform |
| B．children’s development in the future |
| C．children’s educational equality |
| D．increasing the children’s confidence |
Apple Inc. released the Apple Watch on March 9 in San Francisco, US., which is a simple rectangular (矩形的) shape with a range of stylish and useful wristbands.
The watch will be available in nine places, including the US, the UK and China, from April 24. The starting price is $349 (2,186 yuan).With six different designs and 30 or so wristbands, the gadget “sets the standard for smartwatches, in style,” agreed The Brisbane Times, “but more importantly, in functionality (功能性).” “With the built-in speaker and microphone, you can receive calls on your watch. I have been wanting to do this since I was 5 years old,” said Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook. In fact, anything you can do on the iPhone is there on the watch --- e-mails, text messages, airline boarding services, and directions from Apple Maps. Using a home security app, you can keep an eye on your home from a far place, or even open a locked door.
There are some features that have made Cook sure the watch is “our most personal device”. The watch taps you on the wrist to draw your attention to a message or a calendar reminder, and it can send a tap on the wrist to another Apple Watch wearer.
However, the watch can also do things that are just plain fun. You can send a real-time display of your heartbeat to another Apple Watch to “let someone know you are thinking about them.”
So far, though, the most impressive part of this new device is “the monitoring of the wearer’s health and fitness,” said AFP. It will even tap you on the wrist if you have been sitting down for longer than is good for your health.Which of the following features of the Apple Watch are mentioned in the article?
a. its price
b. its functions
c. its shortcomings
d. its shape and weight
e. when and where people can buy it
| A．abd | B．abe | C．bce | D．bde |
With an Apple Watch, you can ______.
| A．monitor your health and diagnose yourself |
| B．send a real-time display of your heartbeat to an iPhone |
| C．be reminded to move around if you’ve been sitting down for too long |
| D．receive emails, text messages and calls, and open a locked door for your neighbor |
How does the Apple Watch let wearers know there is a new message?
| A．The watch beeps. |
| B．The watch sends out music. |
| C．The watch changes its screen color. |
| D．The watch taps the wearer on the wrist. |
Which word best describes Tim Cook’s attitude toward the Apple Watch?
| A．Proud. | B．Modest. |
| C．Serious. | D．Cautious. |
Which city would you prefer to visit, London or Paris?London had welcomed 16.8 million foreign visitors in 2014, compared with 15.2 million visitors to Paris, according to a new report released by UK research firm Euromonitor International in January.
Boris Johnson, London’s mayor, is very proud.“With so many fascinating museums, the best theater scene in the world, more green space than any other European city, numerous top sporting venues , a low crime rate and much else besides, it is no wonder that people from all over the globe are flocking (蜂拥) to London in record numbers. These figures prove that London is without doubt the greatest city on the planet,”he told The Telegraph.
However, Paris’ mayor, Anne Hidalgo, is not as pleased. “London is in some ways a suburb of Paris,” she said.The Huffington Post used the word “bickering” to describe these back-and-forth insults (侮辱). It refers to arguments about unimportant things, like small children fighting over a toy, or lovers arguing over the TV remote.
France and Britain are separated only by the English Channel. For centuries, they fought over territory (领土).But in fact, Paris and London are very similar. Both are centers of fashion and the arts. Even their most famous landmarks are a little similar --- the Palace of Versailles outside Paris and Buckingham Palace in London, for example.
That’s the trouble – they’re as good as each other. As the Daily Mail put it: London and Paris are “head-to-head” in their battle for supremacy. In fact, visitors to these great cities love them equally.Hidalgo also wrote an article in The Telegraph, but changed her words slightly: “London is a suburb of Paris and Paris is a suburb of London.”Does this mean these two cities could one day “grow up”, stop bickering, and become friends.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?
| A．Paris welcomed more foreign visitors than London did last year. |
| B．Anne Hidalgo didn’t respond to Boris Johnson’s remarks about London. |
| C．Boris Johnson is too modest when talking about the characteristics of London. |
| D．The author thinks it meaningless to argue whether Paris is better than London or vice versa. |
The underlined word “bickering” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _____.
| A．jealousy | B．quarreling |
| C．embarrassment | D．misunderstanding |
In her article in The Telegraph, we can infer Anne Hidalgo_______ .
| A．showed an objective attitude toward London and Paris. |
| B．avoided comparing London with Paris. |
| C．displayed Paris’ beauty in many different ways. |
| D．defended her idea that Paris is better than London. |
Delvin Washington was having a difficult speech therapy (治疗). Over half a year ago, Washington was preparing for the biggest day of his young life ---graduating from high school. But on a cloudy day in May, he had a serious car accident. He survived, but his life changed forever. He recently began all-day physical rehabilitation (康复治疗). He is relearning almost everything, from the names of his best friends to simple physical tasks.
His friends and family have given him a lot of support. While Washington lay in a coma in hospital, friends and family filled his room during visits. They celebrated his 18th birthday in July while he was still unconscious.Two days after Thanksgiving, eight friends from high school visited Washington at his home. The friends looked through photos on Facebook, showing them all to Washington. As he sat in his wheelchair, friends asked him to recognize the people in the photos, helping him recover his brain.
Washington’s popularity doesn’t come from nowhere. He was determined to become a police officer after college and behaved like a respectable police officer at school.His high school principal (校长), Eric Markinson, said Washington was always a gentleman. “He was incredibly gracious (和善的) and incredibly helpful,”he said.
His accident has damaged Washington’s brain. It has caused his left side, from his face to his feet, to all but shut down. His personality has also changed. The serious police-officer behavior is gone. He laughs a lot and smiles when he sees children, his mom said.
Now Washington is working hard on all-day rehabilitation. So far, he has made tremendous (巨大的) improvement, said his therapist Lindsay Sims.“I try to live as independently as possible,”Washington said slowly but firmly.What happened to Delvin Washington last May?
| A．He started to make improvements in his speech therapy. |
| B．He was seriously injured in a car accident. |
| C．He graduated from high school with good grades. |
| D．He suffered a heart attack and went into a coma. |
What can we know about Washington’s friends?
| A．They helped Washington make up for the lesson s he had missed. |
| B．They worked together to collect money for Washington on campus. |
| C．They helped Washington realize his dream of becoming a police officer. |
| D．They regularly visited Washington and helped him with his rehabilitation. |
Which word can best describe Delvin Washington?
| A．strong—willed | B．energetic |
| C．pessimistic | D．depressed |
What is the article mainly about?
| A．Washington’s friendship with his friends. |
| B．Washington making great efforts to achieve his dream. |
| C．What makes Washington so popular at school. |
| D．How Washington is recovering his brain. |
“Itis a dreadful thing to be poor a fortnight before Christmas,” said Clorinda, with the mournful sigh of seventeen years.
AuntEmmy smiled. Aunt Emmy was sixty, and spent the hours she didn't spend in a bed, on a sofa or in a wheel chair; but Aunt Emmy was never heard to sigh.
“Thegifts which money can purchase are not the only ones we can give,” said Aunt Emmy gently, “nor the best, either.”
“Oh,I know it’s nicer to give something of your own work,” agreed Clorinda, “but materials for fancy work cost too. That kind of gift is just as much out of the question for me as any other.”
“Thatwas not what I meant,” said Aunt Emmy.
“Whatdid you mean, then?” asked Clorinda, looking puzzled.
AuntEmmy smiled.
“Supposeyou think out my meaning for yourself,” she said. “That would be better than if I explained it. Besides, I don’t think Icouldexplain it. Take the beautiful line of a beautiful poem to help you in your thinking out: ‘The gift without the giver is bare’.”
“I’dput it the other way and say, ‘The giver without the gift is bare’,” said Clorinda. “That is my predicament(窘境) exactly. Well, I hope by next Christmas I’ll not be quite bankrupt. I'm going into Mr. Callender’s store down at Murraybridge in February. He has offered me the place, you know.”
“Won’tyour aunt miss you terribly?” said Aunt Emmy gravely. “Ithink she would rather have your companionship than a part of your salary, Clorinda,” said Aunt Emmy. “But of course you must decide for yourself, dear.”
“Well,I must say bye-bye and run home.” Clorindalived just across the road from Aunt Emmy in a tiny white house behind some huge willows. But Aunt Mary lived there too--the only relative Clorinda had, for Aunt Emmy wasn’t really her aunt at all. Clorinda had always lived with Aunt Mary ever since she could remember.
Clorindapuzzled over Aunt Emmy’s meaning for days. Then all at once it came to her. OnChristmas Day, Clorinda went over to Aunt Emmy’s. Aunt Emmy was lying on the sofa before the fire, and Clorinda sat down beside her.
“I’vecome to tell you all about it,” she said. “AuntEmmy, I thought for days over your meaning ... And then one evening it just came to me. At first I didn’t think Icouldgive some of them, and then I thought how selfish I was. I would have been willing to pay any amount of money for gifts if I had had it, but I wasn't willing to pay what I had. I got over that, though, Aunt Emmy. Now I'm going to tell you what I did give.”
“First,there was old Aunt Kitty. You know she was my nurse when I was a baby. She is always glad when I go to see her, but I’ve never gone except when I couldn’t help it. She is very deaf, and rather dull and stupid, you know. Well, I gave her a whole day. I took my knitting yesterday, and sat with her the whole time and just talked and talked. She was so pleased and proud; she told me when I came away that she hadn’t had such a nice time for years. ”
“Thenthere was ... Florence. You know, Aunt Emmy, we were always intimate friends until last year. Then Florence once told Rose Watson something I had told her in confidence. I found it out and I was so hurt. I couldn’t forgive Florence, and I told her plainly I could never be a real friend to her again. Florence felt badly, because she really did love me, and she asked me to forgive her, but it seemed as if I couldn’t. Well, Aunt Emmy, that was my Christmas gift to her ... my forgiveness.”
“Igave Aunt Mary her gift this morning. I told her I wasn’t going to Murraybridge, that I just meant to stay home with her. She was so glad--and I'm glad, too, now that I’ve decided so.”
“Yourgifts have been real gifts, Clorinda,” said Aunt Emmy. “Something of you--the best of you--went into each of them.”
“Ididn’t forget you, Aunt Emmy,” she said, as she unpinned the paper.
Therewas a rosebush. AuntEmmy loved flowers. She put her finger under one of the roses and kissed it.
“It’sas sweet as yourself, dear child,” she said tenderly. “And it will be a joy to me all through the lonely winter days. You’ve found out the best meaning of Christmas giving, haven’t you, dear?”
“Yes,thanks to you, Aunt Emmy,” said Clorinda softly.Clorinda felt anxious before Christmas because ___________.
| A．She had to leave Aunt Mary |
| B．She didn’t know what kind of Christmas gifts she should buy |
| C．She had not enough money to buy Christmas gifts |
| D．She had no time to make a proper decision |
Which of the following sentences can best explain the line “The gift without the giver is bare.”?
| A．A gift is valued by the mind of the giver. |
| B．Forgiveness is a gift for the giver and the receiver. |
| C．You cannot buy love or respect with expensive gifts. |
| D．Think twice before you give gifts to somebody |
What is the gift that Clorinda gave to old Aunt Kitty?
| A．Passion | B．Sympathy | C．Kindness | D．Company |
What does the underlined phrase “in confidence” mean?
| A．respectfully | B．confidently |
| C．secretly | D．willingly |
Which two words can best describe Aunt Emmy?
| A．cute and joyful | B．kind-hearted and emotional |
| C．optimistic and wise | D．gentle and reserved |
Which of the following is the best title?
| A．A Special Christmas | B．Clorinda’s Gifts |
| C．Aunt Emmy | D．Clorinda’s Choice |
A high school history teacher once told us, “If you make one close friend in school, you will be most fortunate. A true friend is someone who stays with you for life.” Experience teaches that he was right. Good friendships are just not easily formed. Why?
One reason is that it is easy to move around in our society. Mr. Darrell Sifford, a news reporter for the Washington Daily, has been studying and talking about friendships for a number of years. He reports what one woman thought about the effect of ease of movement on friendship:
“I was nine, and we’d just moved from South Carolina to New Jersey, and I didn’t know anybody. My mother had a way of getting to the root of things and she said to me, ‘Amelia, I know you’re feeling bad because you don’t have any friends. But you can fix that. Just walk across the street — I know there’s a girl about your age over there — and knock on the door and ask her to be your friend.’”
“As a 9-year-old, I could do that. I knocked on the door and said, ‘Hi, my name is Amelia, and I’d like for us to be friends.’ And to my surprise, she said that she would like that too—and we became friends.”
She added that going about it directly always worked when she was a child. But as she left childhood, she found that the simple direct approach was more and more difficult for her to follow. So, as an adult, Amelia longed to have friends but her hands were tied when it came to doing anything about it. The problem, according to her, is that society teaches us in a number of ways that direct action is not an acceptable way of doing things. We need to be less direct so that our feelings will not be hurt if our offer of friendship is refused.
Mr. Sifford goes on to describe his own ideas on the subject:
“To most of us, friendship is very important, but we need to have clear in our own minds the kinds of friendships we want. Are they to be very close or kept at arm’s length? Do we want to share ourselves or do we want to walk on the surface?”
“For some people, an ordinary friendship is enough — and that’s all right. But at some point we need to make sure that what we expect from the friendship is the same as what our friends expect from it. If one wants more from the friendship than the other, and if this is not talked about, one is likely eventually to feel that he’s not being given enough attention.
“The sharing of close secrets, including our fears as well as our dark dreams, is the surest way to deepen friendships. But the process must be gone through slowly and continued only if there are signs of interest and our efforts are answered.”
What are some of the problems in forming friendships? According to Mr. Sifford, the biggest problem is to expect too much too soon. Deep relationships take time. Another “big difficulty” is to think one “possesses” the other and that he should spend all his time only with you. Similarly, friendships require action from both sides. In short, you must give as much as you take. Finally there is a question of developing friendship. Unless you spend enough time together, talking on the phone, writing letters, doing things together, friendships will gradually fade away.
Why is it so difficult to form friendships? Perhaps it is possible, as Mr. Sifford states, that we simply do not stay in one place long enough for a true friendship to develop. However, we all agree that each of us should think carefully about the kind of friendships we want. As in all interpersonal relationships, success depends on the kind of friendship we expect to have, openness to others, and a willingness to experiment. By saying that “My mother had a way of getting to the root of things…” the author means that _____.
| A．her mother could always find friends for her |
| B．her mother had a way of making friends with people |
| C．her mother was able to find the cause of things |
| D．her mother was able to solve difficult problems |
In which of the following cases is it possible for you to develop true friendships?
| A．You stay in one place for long enough with your friend. |
| B．You spend all your time together with your friend. |
| C．You completely possess your friend’s time and attention. |
| D．You give your friend as much as you take from him. |
The author quoted many times what Mr. Darrell Sifford said in order to ________.
| A．show respect for him |
| B．share the same opinion with him |
| C．strengthen the authority of his opinion |
| D．make some comments about friendships |
The main point we learn from the passage is _____.
| A．willingness to experiment is the key to close friendship. |
| B．openness to others is important in interpersonal relationships |
| C．direct offers of friendship are not easily accepted |
| D．good friendships are not easily formed |