Essay is optional and no penalties(处罚) for wrong answers. These changes will take place in SAT college exam. The changes include the use of some words more commonly used in school and on the job instead of the words such as “prevaricator” and “sagacious”.
College Board officials said the change is needed to make the exam better representative of what students study in high school and the skills they need to succeed in college and afterward. The new exam will be rolled out in 2016, so this year’s ninth graders will be the first to take it, in their junior year. The new SAT will continue to test reading, writing and math skills, with an emphasis on analysis. Scoring will return to a 1,600-point scale last used in 2004, with a separate score for the optional essay. For the first time, students will have the option of taking the test on computers.
They also said many students who are terrified they will be tested on lots of SAT words currently can ask for help: practicing with flashcards. They know flashcards are not the best way to build real word knowledge that lasts, but when the SAT rolls around they become the royal road. Students stop reading and start flipping.
The essay will be changed in other ways, too. It will measure students’ ability to analyze and explain how an author builds an argument and it will also be up to colleges whether the essay will be required. Each exam will include a passage drawn from “founding documents”: such as the Declaration of Independence or from discussions they’ve inspired. Instead of testing a wide range of math concepts, the new exam will focus on a few areas, like algebra, thought to be most needed for college and life afterward. A calculator will be allowed only on certain math questions, instead of on the entire math portion(部分).
Jim Rawlins, the director of admissions at the University of Oregon, said the changes will potentially help the students but it will take a few years to know its influence, after the students go on to college. He said some colleges are still dealing with questions about the changes made in 2005, such as how to consider the essay portion. The criticism of the SAT is that students from wealthier families do better on the exam because they can afford expensive test preparation classes.
The SAT was taken last year by 1.7 million students. It has historically been more popular on the coasts, while the other main standardized college entrance exam, the ACT, dominated the central U.S. The ACT took over the SAT in total use in 2012, partly because it is taken by almost every junior in 13 states as part of those states’ testing scheme(方案).
ACT president Jon Erickson said when hearing of the SAT changes, his reaction was that they could’ve been talking about the ACT now. “I didn’t hear anything new and different, so I was a little left wanting, at least at the end of this first announcement,” Erickson said .
Bob Schaeffer, education director at the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, or FairTest, said it is laudable(值得称道的) that the SAT will provide free test preparation, but it is unlikely to make a dent in the market for such preparation. He also said the new test is unlikely to be better than the current one. His organization has a database with institutions that don't require ACT or SAT scores to make admissions decisions.We can learn from the third paragraph that flashcards_________.
| A．will become the only way to test words |
| B．can help students get ready for SAT words |
| C．can help students memorize the words forever |
| D．are the best way for the students to get high scores |
SAT exams will be less required in 2016 with the purpose of _________.
| A．getting more students interested in the entrance exam |
| B．making it easier for students to be admitted into colleges |
| C．offering chances for the students to be tested on every subject |
| D．testing the students better on the knowledge and skills they’ve learnt |
The change in the 2016’s SAT college entrance exam include the following EXCEPT that _________.
| A．students will use calculators if they get stuck in certain math questions |
| B．some words that are uncommonly used won’t appear in the exam |
| C．students will be given the chance to take the test on computers |
| D．students will be tested on a wide range of math concepts |
According to Jim Rawlins, _________.
| A．the changes are mainly aimed at students from the rich family |
| B．the changes will force students to give up writing essay |
| C．the changes will probably have some bad influence |
| D．the changes will be of no benefit to students |
Which of the following statements is TRUE about the ACT ?
| A．It is more popular in the coastal cities. |
| B．More than 1.7 million students took it last year. |
| C．Jon Erickson felt worried about the SAT changes. |
| D．It has been the most popular college entrance exam so far. |
People in the United States honor their parents with two special days: Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June. These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care. These two days offer a chance to think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers now work outside the home. More fathers must help with child-care.
These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day people wear carnations. A red one stands for a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services(宗教仪式) to honor parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit their graves. On these days, families get together at home and in restaurants. They often have outdoor BBQs for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.
Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school. Many people make their own presents. These are valued more than the ones bought in stores. It is not the value of the gift that is important, but it is “the thought that counts”. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries, telephones companies and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.Which is NOT a reason for children to show love and respect for parents?
| A．Parents bring children |
| B．Parents give love and care to children |
| C．Parents educate children to be good persons. |
| D．Parents pass away before children grow up |
What do you know from the passage?
| A．Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are both in May. |
| B．Fewer women worked outside the home in the past |
| C．Not all the children respect their parents |
| D．Fathers are not as important as mothers at home |
Which do you think is right about “carnation”?
| A．It only has two kinds of color. |
| B．It is a special kind of clothes people wear on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. |
| C．It’s a kind of flower showing love and best wishes. |
| D．People can wear carnations only on the second Sunday in May. |
What do you think “florists” do?
| A．They sell flowers |
| B．They made bread or pastry |
| C．They offer enough room for having family parties. |
| D．They sell special clothes for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. |
Shopping is not as simple as you may think! There are all sorts of tricks at play each time we reach out for that particular brand (商标) of product on the shelf.
Colouring, for example, varies according to what the producers are trying to sell. Health foods are packaged (包装) in greens, yellows or browns because we think of these as healthy colours. Ice cream packets are often blue and expensive goods, like chocolates, are gold or silver.
When some kind of pain killer was brought out recently, researchers found that the colours turned the customers off because they made the product look weak and ineffective. Eventually, it came on the market in a dark blue and white package—blue because we think of it as safe, and white as calm.
The size of a product can attract a shopper. But quite often a bottle doesn’t contain as much as it appears to.
It is believed that the better-known companies spend, on average, 70 per cent of the total cost of the product itself on packaging!
The most successful producers know that it’s not enough to have a good product. The founder of Pears soap, who for 25 years has used pretty little girls to promote(推销) their goods, came to the conclusion: “Any fool can make soap, but it takes a genius (天才) to sell it.”Which of the following may trick a shopper into buying a product according to the text?
| A．The cost of its package. | B．The price of the product. |
| C．The colour of its package. | D．The brand name of the product. |
The underlined part “the colours turned the customers off”(in Para. 3 ) means that the colours _____.
| A．attracted the customers strongly |
| B．had weak effects on the customers |
| C．tricked the customers into shopping |
| D．caused the customers to lose interest |
Which of the following is the key to the success in product sales?
| A．The way to promote goods. |
| B．The discovery of a genius. |
| C．The team to produce a good product. |
| D．The brand name used by successful producers. |
Which of the following would be the best title for this text?
| A．Choice of Good Products | B．Disadvantages of Products |
| C．Effect of Packaging on Shopping | D．Brand Names and Shopping Tricks |
If the world were a village of 1,000 people， it would include:
• 584 Asians
• 124 Africans
• 95 Eastern and Western Europeans
• 84 Latin Americans
• 55 former Soviets (including Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, and other national groups)
• 52 North Americans
• 6 Australians and New Zealanders
The people of the village would speak:
• 165 Mandarin
• 86 English
• 83 Hindu/Urdu
• 64 Spanish
• 58 Russian
• 37 Arabic
The above list covers the mother tongues of only half the village.
One-third of the people in the village are children, and only 60 are over the age of 65. Just under half of the married women in the village have access to modem equipments.
This year 28 babies will be born. Ten people will die, 3 of them for lack of food, 1 from cancer. Two of the deaths will be of babies born within the year. With the 28 births and 10 deaths, the population of the village next year will be 1,018.
In this village of 1,000 persons, 200 people receive 75 percent of the income; another 200 receive only 2 percent of the income.
About one-third have access to clean, safe drinking water.
Of the 670 adults in the village, half can not read nor write.
The village has a total yearly budget , public and private, of over $3 million—$ 3 ,000 per person if it is distributed evenly. Of the total $3 million:
$ 181,000 goes to weapons and warfare
$ 159,000 to education
$ 132,000 to health care
These weapons are under the control of just 100 of the people. The other 900 are watching them with deep anxiety, wondering whether they can learn to get along together.Which of the following is true about Mandarin according to the text?
| A．Nearly one-third of Asian people speak Mandarin in the village. |
| B．About 8.25 per cent of the people speak Mandarin in the village. |
| C．About 16. 5 per cent of the people speak Mandarin in the village. |
| D．Nearly all the Mandarin-speaking people are from Asia in the village. |
Which of the following problems is NOT mentioned in the text?
| A．Poverty. | B．Education. | C．Environment. | D．Marriage. |
The underlined part “have access to” (in Para. 4) means_____.
| A．use | B．buy | C．produce | D．try |
The last sentence in the text implies that most of the people long for _____.
| A．a peaceful world | B．good education |
| C．better health care | D．a life without anxiety |
I fell in love with England because it was quaint (典雅)—all those little houses, looking terribly old-fashioned but nice, like dolls’ houses. I loved the countryside and the pubs, and I loved London. I’ve slightly changed my mind after seventeen years because I think it’s an ugly town now.
Things have changed. For everybody, England meant gentlemen, fair play, and good manners. The fair play is going, unfortunately, and so are the gentlemanly attitudes and good manners—people shut doors heavily in your face and politeness is disappearing.
I regret that there are so few comfortable meeting places. You’re forced to live indoors. In Paris I go out much more, to restaurants and nightclubs. To meet friends here it usually has to be in a pub, and it can be difficult to go there alone as a woman. The cafes are not terribly nice.
As a woman, I feel unsafe here. I spend a bomb on taxis because I will not take public transport after 10 p. m. I used to use it, but now I’m afraid.
The idea of family seems to be more or less non-existent in England. My family is well united and that’s typically French. In Middlesex I had a neighbour who is 82 now. His family only lived two miles away, but I took him to France for Christmas once because he was always alone.The writer doesn’t like London because she ______.
| A．is not used to the life there now |
| B．has lived there for seventeen years |
| C．prefers to live in an old-fashioned house |
| D．has to be polite to everyone she meets there |
Where do people usually meet their friends in England?
| A．In a cafe. | B．In a restaurant. | C．In a nightclub. | D．In a pub. |
The underlined part “it” (in Para. 4) refers to______.
| A．a taxi | B．the money | C．a bomb | D．public transport |
The writer took her neighbour to France for Christmas because he ______.
| A．felt lonely in England |
| B．had never been to France |
| C．was from a typical French family |
| D．didn't like the British idea of family |
Everybody may have seen the film “Death on the Nile (n. 尼罗河)”, but nobody can imagine that the writer of the story, Agatha Christie, saved a baby in a most unusual way.
In June 1977, a baby girl became seriously ill in Deleville. Doctors there were unable to find out the cause of her illness, so she was sent to a famous hospital in London, where there were many excellent doctors. The baby was so seriously ill that a team of doctors hurried to examine the baby without delay. The doctors, too, were puzzled by the baby’s illness and they also became discouraged. Just then a nurse asked to speak to them.
“I think the baby is suffering from thallium (n. 铊) poisoning. ” said the nurse. “A few days ago, I read a story ‘A Pale Horse’ written by Agatha Christie. Someone uses thallium poison, and all the symptoms are written in the book. They are exactly the same as the baby’s.”
“You’re very good at observing things,” said a doctor, “and you may be right. We’ll carry out some tests and find out whether the cause is thallium poisoning or not.”
The tests proved that the baby had indeed been poisoned by thallium. Once they knew the cause, the doctors were able to give her correct treatment. The baby soon got well and was sent back to Deleville A week later, it was reported that the poison might have come from an insecticide (n. 杀虫剂) used in Deleville.The baby was sent to a hospital in London because __________.
| A．her parents were living in London then |
| B．the hospitals in Deleville were full at that time |
| C．she was the daughter of a famous doctor in London |
| D．doctors in Deleville were not sure about the cause of her illness |
When the baby was first sent to the hospital in London, her illness was considered to be ____________.
| A．quite easy to treat |
| B．the result of thallium poisoning |
| C．a common one |
| D．extraordinarily serious |
From this passage it seems that the baby’s illness had something to do with __________.
| A．a dead writer |
| B．the water in Deleville |
| C．a dangerous murderer |
| D．a harmful substance (n. 物质) used to kill pests |
As far as we can tell from the story, Agatha Christie ____________.
| A．had never met this baby |
| B．had spent a long time studying the baby’s illness |
| C．visited the baby both in Deleville and London |
| D．gave the nurse some advice on the telephone |