Thenervouslookingyoungmanhadwa-优题课

Do American children still learn handwriting in school? In the age of the keyboard，some people seem to think handwriting lessons are on the way out．90% of teachers say they are required to teach handwriting．But studies have yet to answer the question of how well they are teaching it．One study published this year found that about three out of every four teachers say they are not prepared to teach handwriting．Some teachers are teaching handwriting by providing instruction for 10 to 15 minutes a day，and then other teachers who basically teach it for 60 to 70 minutes a day — which really for handwriting is pretty much．
Many adults remember learning that way — by copying letters over and over again．Today's thinking is that short periods of practice are better．Many experts also think handwriting should not be taught by itself．Instead，they say it should be used as a way to get students to express ideas．After all，that is why we write．
Handwriting involves two skills．One is legibility，which means forming the letters so they can be read． The other is fluency — writing without having to think about it．Fluency continues to develop up until high school．
But not everyone masters these skills．Teachers commonly report that about one fourth of their kids have poor handwriting．Some people might think handwriting is not important any more because of computers and voice recognition programs．
But Steve Graham at Vanderbilt says word processing is rarely done in elementary school，especially in the early years．American children traditionally first learn to print，and then to write in cursive，which connects the letters．But guess what we learned from a spokeswoman for the College Board，which administers the SAT college admission test．More than 75 percent of students choose to print their essay on the test rather than write in cursive．
From Paragraph 1 we can learn ________．

A．teaching handwriting is a basic requirement in teaching job

B．most teachers prefer to teach handwriting

C．teachers spend little time in teaching handwriting

D．a keyboard has taken the place of the handwriting entirely

The underlined word “legibility” in Paragraph 3 means ________．

A．being easy to read

B．being complex

C．being unexpected

D．being unreadable

The best title for the passage is ________．

A．How to improve handwriting in school

B．Right or wrong: the death of handwriting

C．Handwriting involves two skills

D．Handwriting lessons are on the way out

The author’s attitude towards whether still to learn handwriting in school is________．

A．negative

B．objective

C．critical

D．optimistic

When Peng Liyuan stepped off the plane in Moscow，the whole world wanted to know who dressed the elegant first lady．The reporter released the secret—Ma Ke．
Peng Liyuan has been wearing Ma Ke's designs for more than a decade，a fact that was only highlighted recently when she was on her first state visitaccompanying her husband President Xi Jinping．The elegant and attractive Peng，formerly a popular singer，has been compared with the US' first lady Michelle Obama and France's Carla BruniSarkozy，since stepping off the airplane in Moscow on March 22.Suddenly，everyone was curious to know more about the first lady's wardrobe．
Even so，Ma prefers a lowkey approach．“If you eat a tasty egg why would you want to see the hen？” she says of all the media attention．
Ma's relationship with Peng began 10 years ago after a concert in Guangzhou when a reporter told Peng she knew the designer behind the label Exception de Mixmind． Peng asked for an introduction because she was a fan of Ma's designs and had been wearing them for years．
The two naturally became friends．Ma says: “The painting reflects the painter，and clothes reflect both the designer and the wearer．Someone desires fame and wealth，or love and sympathy; what you have in your heart is reflected in the design．Those who don't share my philosophy won't buy my clothes．Peng is a caring person，devoted to charity and environmental protection，which is exactly what I'm doing now．”
However，regardless of the brand，Peng's support of Chinese labels has surprised millions of Chinese who favor foreign fashion brands．
“Instead she presented a vision of Chinese fashion，desiring to bring Chinese designers to the world stage,”says a western designer．
The first lady's doublebreasted coat and her black leather handbag aren't available at any of Exception's shops，though Exception's physical stores do have seen a rising number of visitors．
The passage mainly discusses________．

A．the designer of the first lady Peng Liyuan's dress，Ma Ke

B．the friendship between Peng Liyuan and her designer

C．Peng Liyuan's clothes on her first state visit

D．the reactions to Peng Liyuan's first visit to Moscow

In the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 Ma Ke mentioned“an egg and the hen” to show________．

A．it is hard to explain “Which came first，the egg or the hen？”

B．paying such great attention to her was unnecessary

C．the outcome was more important than the process

D．her dissatisfaction with the media attention on her dress

What can be inferred from the passage?

A．First ladies compete with each other whenever they are together．

B．Peng's suits can be bought in Ma Ke's clothes stores．

C．Ma Ke offered to design the first lady's clothes through her friends．

D．Peng had liked Ma's designs long before she got to know her in the flesh．

Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Peng wears the dress designed by a Chinese designer probably to support Chinese brands．

B．Many citizens found Peng Liyuan's choice quite unexpected．

C．Black leather handbags like Peng's are widely sold in bag stores in big cities．

D．After Peng Liyuan's visit to Moscow Ma Ke's clothes became more popular．

“Do you like doing things for people?”I asked a friend．
“Yes，most of the time,”she replied．
“Most of the time?”
“Well，I love to do things that are unexpected． I like to do little things most people wouldn't think about doing,”she said．
“But why did you say most of the time?”
“Well,sometimes after doing those little things people take advantage of you．I mean，they expect you to do it again．They ask you to do it．That's when I don't like it．”
It was odd that I had this conversation．This just happened to me．I love to do little things．I will pay for a meal card for the people in the office every time we have a meeting there．Not a big thing．It's a little thing．$5.30 will pay for almost five lunches．Hey，big spender!
I also bought a bag of animal crackers for a friend at work．She was having a tough day and not very happy at all．I drove down to the Wal-Mart and picked up a huge bag for under $2.00．Her smile was worth it．
But one week she said,“Bob，we ran out of crackers．We love them so much．” I didn't want to do it．I smiled and she persisted． I finally admitted,“It's different when I do it because I want to，but now you are trying to make me go to get them．It's not the same．”But I bought it for her．
Unfortunately，a big fire in my family took away all the possessions we had． I didn't know what to do and how to do it．What happened to me then surprised me most．I once had my bike repaired，but the repairman said “no charge”on hearing my sufferings．A stranger called James Kennedy read some pieces I'd written about our sufferings for Slate，the online magazine，and wanted to give us a new house across the lake from New Orleans．I refused but I felt moved． Another poet at the University of Florida also wanted to let his house to me free of charge while he was on holiday．My mates gave us more money for us to rebuild my home．When you do something kind for others，do you always get rewarded? Yes，but not in the way you might expect．
What's the main purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To tell the background of the story．

B．To attract the attention of the readers．

C．To get the readers to know main idea directly．

D．To explain the reasons why he wrote the passage．

What do we know about James Kennedy?

A．He was a writer of an online magazine．

B．He was also a poet at the University of Florida．

C．He offered the author a new house free of charge．

D．He learned about the author's sufferings online．

What can we learn from the passage?

A．Misfortune of blessing on happiness．

B．Never too late to learn．

C．Helping others means helping yourself．

D．Many hands make the work lighter．

My friend had mentioned the other day that her father had a lot of children's toys he was looking to give away．She knew I have a three-year-old daughter so she thought of me first．I told her I would love it if I could get some nice things for my daughter，which I wouldn't otherwise have been able to afford．
When I met her father，he began to explain he was too poor once and that he would hate to throw away things that can be very useful．
Before he showed me what he was giving away，I thought the toys would be mostly lego's(乐高积木) or things like that．When he was showing me around I saw a bed，a slide，a kitchen set and many other things that just blew my mind．He told me to write a list of everything my daughter could use and as my eyes were wide，he told me not to feel guilty．He said I was helping him by getting rid of the stuff．
As I was looking around I did feel guilty，but I tried to remain more grateful than guilty．Every time I tried to thank him for giving me and my daughter all this wonderful stuff he would thank me right back．I wanted to believe that he was just thanking me so that I wouldn't feel so guilty but in reality I believe that he was as grateful as I was that these toys would be put to good use．
In the eyes of charity，it makes sense to feel grateful，but guilt is just as normal．I know that we could have lived without a slide，which is why I do feel guilty，but I am grateful all the same because my daughter really does enjoy all these nice things!
Why did the old man want to give away his toys?

A．He wanted to help those poor children．

B．He was wealthy enough to buy new toys．

C．He wanted to make full use of those toys．

D．He needed some space for more useful things．

In the writer's opinion，the old man felt grateful because

A．he wanted to make her more guilty

B．he wanted her to take the toys quickly

C．the toys would be put to good use

D．he finally got rid of the stuff

What can we know from the passage?

A．The writer took all the toys home．

B．The old man was a kind and thoughtful person

C．The writer wanted to refuse the stuff when she first saw them．

D．The writer's daughter enjoyed the slide most among all the stuff．

How did the writer feel when given the stuff?

A．Guilty and honored．

B．Grateful and respected．

C．Honored and respected．

D．Guilty and grateful．

Tiny transmitters(发射机) fixed on the backs of the blue-green bees have allowed scientists to follow the insects as they fly for miles in search of rare flowers．
Working in Panama，scientists caught 17 bees of the common species and fixed a 300 milligram radio light onto the back of each．The signals they sent out were used to follow their movements in and around the forest where they lived．
Professor Martin，from Princeton University，US，and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany，said，“By following the radio signals，we discovered that male bees spent most of their time in small centre areas，but could take off and visit areas farther away．One male even crossed over the shipping lanes in the Panama Canal，flying at least 5km，and returned a few days later．”
Researchers have struggled to follow the movements of bees before，following bees marked with paint or using radar which doesn’t work well in forests．
“Carrying the transmitter could reduce the distance that the bees travel，but even if the flight distances we record are the shortest distances that these bees can fly，they are impressive，long-distance movements，” said Dr．Roland Kays，from New York State Museum，a co-author of the research published today in the on-line journal．“This result helps to explain how these bees’ pollination(授粉) can be so rare．” Pollination by bees and other insects is the key to the diversity and continued growth of flowers and trees in some forests．
The new study is the first to use radio transmitters to follow bees in a forest．Similar research may now be carried in temperate forests，where bees also play a vital role．
The main purpose of the passage is to___

A．call on people to protect the bees for the environment

B．explain why the bees fly far away in search of flowers

C．introduce a modern way to follow the bees to readers

D．encourage the public to support the scientists' research

What was the problem when researchers tried to follow the bees in the past?

A．It was quite difficult to mark the bees

B．The radar itself didn't work very well

C．The bees weren't easy to be recognized

D．Environmental limits were hard to solve

What Dr．Roland Kays said implied that____

A．he didn't expect bees could fly so long a distance

B．The transmitter didn't have any effects on bees at all

C．He wanted to know how far bees could travel badly

D．The record was in fact as exact as he had thought

Researchers follow the movements of bees mainly to___

A．learn how far they can fly at most

B．discover how they affect the plants

C．correct some wrong ideas about bees

D．get to know where they enjoy living

A．A Clever Assistant.	B．Buying a Birthday Present
C．How to Choose a Necklace	D．A Brave Young Man