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. |
An earthquake is caused by a sudden slip on a fault, or fracture, in the earth's surface. The tectonic plates on the surface are always slowly moving, but they get stuck at their edges because of friction. When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, there is an earthquake that releases energy in waves that travel through the earth's crust and create the shaking we feel.
An earthquake's degree is a measured value of its size and is the same no matter where you are, or how strong or weak the shaking was in different locations. An earthquake's intensity is a measure of the shaking it creates, and varies with location.
A degree of 8 or higher defines a “great” earthquake; 7 to 7.9 is considered “major”; 6 to 6.9 is “strong”;5 to 5.9 is “moderate”; 4 to 4.9 is “light”; 3 to 3.9 is "minor"; and less than 3 is “micro.”
Experts have said that a million people died in earthquakes in the 20th century and that this century might see 10 times as many deaths, with as many as a million killed in a single quake. That is, unless major efforts are made to fortify the world’s growing cities, which are expected to be homes to billions of added residents.
Even though the rate of earthquakes over time seems to be more or less unchanging, the world's population explosion means that more people are moving into quake zones, which are often near coasts. The result, the experts say, is the prospect of continuing trauma.
“It is inevitable,” Klaus H. Jacob, an earthquake expert at Lamont-Doherty, the earth sciences research center of Columbia University, said at the end of the last century. “More and more people, and more and more buildings, are at stake . As the world gets more populous and richer, allowing a more built-up environment, higher buildings and all the infrastructure that supports our civilization, communications and the like, the risk goes up.”
63. We can feel the earthquake because
A. the plates are always moving.
B. the stress overcomes the friction.
C. the plates get stuck.
D. the waves in which energy is released travel through the earth’s crust.
64. a degree of 8.2 is thought
A. a “moderate” earthquake. B. a “major” earthquake .
C. a “strong” earthquake. D. a “great” earthquake.
65. Experts have said that
A. a billion people died in earthquakes in the 20th century.
B. ten times as many deaths will be seen by this century.
C. a million people will be killed in a single earthquake this century.
D. if we don’t take measures, something worse may happen.
66. The underlined expression probably means .
A. endangered B. strong C. safe D. weak
It was the second day of the three-day Golden Beach Music Festival on Huangdao Peninsula, west of Qingdao, one of China's most renowned coastal tourist cities. Lines of orange beach umbrellas stood out along the coastline against the big blue sea and sunny sky. Brightly colored tents dotted Golden Beach, which is said to be the best beach in China with the longest stretch of untainted silver sand.
With one hour to go before the start of the show on September 13, Liu Siyuan, one of the festival's chief promoters, was sitting alone at the sound-mixing station with his head buried in a box lunch. His cellphone, which was close at hand, kept ringing from time to time and Liu picked it up to answer all kinds of questions and give orders on everything from booking train tickets to disposing of trash.. “I'm so busy these days, since I have to arrange everything for the festival. How would I know how to deal with the garbage on the beach?” he said.
But that didn't matter a bit to festival goers. On the first day, more than 1,000 music fans, local residents and tourists gathered at Golden Beach to enjoy dynamic music mixed with local beer, sea breeze and sunshine.
“This is the most unforgettable music festival I've ever attended,” said Mu Er, a music fan and magazine editor who came all the way from Shanghai especially for the beach festival. Mu has been to many other domestic music festivals, including those held on grassland and in city parks.
“Nothing can compare to the beach music experience, which is so extraordinary, relaxing and so much fun,” she said, while wandering around a market where vendors sold postcards, CDs, hats, masks, rock-themed T-shirts and other small handmade products.
Festival goers turned the beach into a giant playground—playing football, swimming, riding motorcycles, flying kites, or just simply sitting on the beach and drinking beer. "(The beach is) damn awesome!" said Joe, a musician from Wales who plays bass with a local five-piece rock band called The Dama Llamas, as he was about to go on stage.
60. Mu Er, a music fan and magazine editor, came to Golden Beach
A. to see the best beach B. to be on holiday
C. to play his own musicD. to attend the music festival
61. Mu Er felt the most interested in
A. buying postcards B. wandering around
C. experiencing the beach music D. selling hats and T-shirts
62. It can be inferred that festival goers
A. have a lot of fun on the beachB. have built a giant playground
C. play football every day D. sit and drink free beer every day
第三部分阅读理解（共15小题；每小题 2 分，满分 30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Beijing has reported its first death case of A/H1N1 flu, also the fourth on the Chinese mainland, health authorities said Wednesday. The patient, a freshman at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, had tested p
ositive for A/H1N1 flu and died Tuesday, a spokesman with the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau said.
The young student and some other schoolmates developed fever and other flu symptoms during a military training--a compulsory training for freshmen at Chinese universities -- in the past week in Daxing District in suburban Beijing. The student was sent to a district hospital Monday as the physical condition deteriorated , but died Tuesday.
More than 3,000 freshmen from the university attended the military training starting October 22, and 28 out of 71 who had temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius had tested positive for A/H1N1 flu, the health bureau spokesman said. "The health and education authorities have ordered the university to improve prevention measures and quarantine the patients. Currently, they are all in stable condition and no severe case has been reported," he said.
The A/H1N1 flu has earlier caused three deaths on the Chinese mainland -- an 18-year-old woman in Tibet who died on October 4, a 43-year-old woman who died on October 16 in Tibet's neighboring province of Qinghai, and an unspecified patient who died on October 25 in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The Chinese mainland had reported 35,664 confirmed cases of the A/H1N1 flu by 3 p.m Monday, the Ministry of Health said.
56. have been reported on the Chinese mainland
A. Four deaths B. Three deathsC. Two deathsD. Five deaths
57. The underlined word “deteriorated” in Paragraph 2 most probably means .
A. become better B. become worse C. become crazyD. become silent
58. According to the news, we can see
A. the government has done nothing about the flu
B. the government hasn’t taken the flu seriously
C. the government has done something about the flu
D. the government hasn’t known what to do
59. Which of the following is true?
A. The student died from the military training.
B. Only the student had a fever.
C. Those who have caught the flu will
die
D. New students at Chinese universities must receive a military training
Every pet owner loves his pet. There is no argument here.
But when we asked our readers whether they would clone(克隆) their beloved animals, the answers were split almost down the middle. Of the 228 readers who answered it, 108 would clone, 111 would not and nine weighed each side without offering an opinion.
Clearly, from readers’ response, this is an issue that reaches deeply into both the joy and final sadness of owning a pet. It speaks, as well, to people’s widely differing expectations over the developing scientific procedure.
Most of the respondents (被调查的人) who liked the idea strongly believed it would produce at least a close copy of the original; many felt the process would actually return an exact copy. Those on the other side, however, held little hope a clone could never truly recreate a pet, many simply didn’t wish to go against the natural law of life and death.
Both sides expressed equal love for their animals. More than a few respondents owned “the best dog/cat in the world”. They thought of their pets as their “best friend”, “a member of the family,” “the light of my life.” They told moving stories of pets’ heroism(英勇精神), cleverness and selfless devotion.
“People become very close to their animals, and the loss can be just as hard to bear as when a friend or family member dies,” says Gary Kowalski, author of Goodbye, Friend: Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet. “For me, cloning feels like an attempt to turn death away…It’s understandable. Death is always painful. It’s difficult to deal with. It’s hard to accept.”
But would cloning reduce the blow? This question seemed to be at the heart of this problem.
71. So far as the cloning of pets is concerned, a recent survey shows that, of all pet owners, __________.
A. a lot more of them are for it
B. a lot more of them are against it
C. very few of them are willing to tell their opinions
D. about half of them are for it and the other half against it
72. While talking about the respondents from the readers, the underlined expression “final sadness of owning a pet” refers to ___________.
A. the death of one’s pet
B. the high cost of owning a pet
C. the troubles one has to deal with in keeping a pet
D. the dangers involved in the cloning of a pet
73. In spite of(尽管) their differences on the problem of cloning, it seems that ________.
A. all pet owners try to go against the natural law of life and death
B. all pet owners love their pets very much
C. people who support cloning love their pets more
D. people who dislike cloning love their pets more
74. From what Gary Kowalski says, we can know that he _________.
A. has never thought about the problem of cloning
B. is going to write another book on pets
C. support the idea of cloning pets
D. is all against the cloning of pets
75. What is the key question at the heart of the problem of cloning pets?
A. Can cloning make one suffers less pain when a pet dies?
B. Can pet owners afford the cost of cloning?
C. Does cloning go against the law of nature?
D. Can cloning really produce an exact copy of one’s pet?
Nick Petrels is a doctor in Montreal. He works 60 hours a week. He takes care of 159 patients a week in the hospital and at his office. He’s been a doctor for ten years.
Dr. Petrels gives his patients good medical advice. But he doesn’t just tell his patients what to do. He also sings to them on television! Dr. Petrels has his own TV show. The show is in Italian, English and French. The doctor starts the show with a song and then gives medical advice. He explains a medical problem or disease in simple language. After that, he sings another song.
Dr. Petrels produces and performs in his own show every week. The program is very popular with his patients and with people who enjoy his singing. His dream is to perform(表演) in Las Vegas. His favorite songs are love songs, and he has a compact disk of love songs that he wrote. Dr. Petrels says, “I always loved to s
ing. All my problems are gone when I sing.” But when Dr. Petrels was young, his father didn’t want him to be a singer, so he went to medical school.
Some people tell Dr. Petrels he can help people more as a doctor. But Dr. Petrels says he helps people when he sings, too. “I like to make people smile. Sometimes it’s difficult to make a sick person smile. Medicine and entertainment(娱乐) both try to do the same thing. They try to make people feel good.”
66. Dr. Petrels works 60 hours a week, because he _____________.
A. gives his patients medical advice B. takes care of 159 patients a week
C. sings on television D. has his own TV show
67. Dr. Petrels ___________, so he is called a singing doctor.
A. has been a doctor for ten years B. always loved to sing
C. is popular with his patientsD. also sings to his patients on TV
68. In his TV show, Dr. Petrel ____________.
A. sings and gives medical advice B. sings about different diseases
C. starts to explain diseases with a song D. sings love songs he wrote
69. Dr. Petrels’ show is popular ____________.
A. in Las Vegas B. at medical school
C. with people who like his singing D. with patients in Montreal
70. Dr. Petrels says he likes to ____________.
A. help people sing B. make people feel better
C. do the same thing D. make difficult people smile