Education is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them. Our purpose is to fit them for life.
In some modern countries it has for some time been fashionable to think that by free education for all-whether rich or poor, clever or stupid-one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation. But we can already see that free education for all is not enough; we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degrees refuse to do what they think to be "low" work, and, in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful in such countries. But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a profess-or, we can live without education, but we die if we have no food. If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we should get terrible diseases in our towns.
In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we must be educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability and, secondly, that we can realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that is very bad to be ashamed of one's work. Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society.From the passage we can conclude that______.
| A．education can settle all of the world's problems |
| B．free education for all probably leads to a perfect world |
| C．free education won't help to solve social problems |
| D．all the social problems can't be solved by education |
The writer wants to prove that _____.
| A．our society needs all kinds of jobs |
| B．our society needs free education for all |
| C．a farmer is more important than a professor |
| D．people with university degrees refuse to do what they think to be "low" work |
According to the passage _____.
| A．work with hands is dirty and shameful |
| B．work with hands is low work |
| C．work with hands is the most important |
| D．we can't regard work with hands as low work |
The purpose of education is _____.
| A．to choose a system of education |
| B．to prepare children mainly for their future work |
| C．to let everyone receive education fit for him |
| D．to build a perfect world |
The passage tells us about _____.
system of education
B. means of education
C. value of education
D. type of education
Baby girls make their way directly for dolls as soon as they can crawl, while boys will head for the toy cars, a study has shown. The findings, the first to show differences in very young babies, suggest there is a biological（生物学的） basis to their preferences（偏爱）.
Psychologists Dr. Brenda Todd from City University London carried out an experiment involving 90 infants(婴儿) aged nine months to 36 months. The babies were allowed to choose from seven toys. Some were stereotypically boys' toys - a car, a digger, a ball and a blue teddy. The rest were girls’ toys: a pink teddy, a doll and a cooking set. They were placed a meter away from the toys, and could pick whichever toy they liked. Their choice and the amount of time they spent playing with each toy were recorded.
Of the youngest children (nine to 14 months), girls spent significantly longer playing with the doll than boys, and boys spent much more time with the car and ball than the girls did. Among the two-and three-year-olds, girls spent 50 percent of the time playing with the doll while only two boys briefly touched it. The boys spent almost 90 percent of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely touched. There was no link between the parents’ view on which toys were more appropriate for boys or girls, and the children’s choice.
Dr Brenda Todd said: “Children of this age are already exposed to much socialization(社会化). Boys may be given ‘toys that go’ while girls get toys they can care for, which may help shape their preference. But these findings agree with the former idea that children show natural interests in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to prefer moving objects, probably through hunting instincts（本能）, while girls prefer warmer colours such as pink, the colour of a newborn baby.”Baby boys and girls have different toy preferences probably because__________.
| A．baby boys are much more active |
| B．baby girls like bright colours more |
| C．there is a natural difference between them |
| D．their parents treat them differently |
What can we infer from Paragraph 3?
| A．Nine-month-old baby boys don’t play with dolls at all. |
| B．Two-year-old baby girls sometimes play with cars and balls. |
| C．Parents should teach their babies to share each other’s toys. |
| D．The older the babies are, the more obvious their preference is. |
What conclusion did Dr. Brenda Todd draw from the results of the study?
| A．Babies’ preference isn’t affected by social surroundings. |
| B．Adults purposely（故意地） influence their babies preference. |
| C．Baby boys preferring to moving toys will be good at hunting. |
| D．Baby girls preferring warmer colors will be warm-hearted. |
We may read this article in a_________ section of a newspaper.
| A．health | B．science | C．education | D．entertainment |
“Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move，” said David Belle, the cofounder of parkour (跑酷)．
Do you love running? It is a good exercise, yet many people find it boring. But what if making your morning jog a creative one？Like jumping from walls and over gaps and ground rolls? Just like the James Bond in the movie Casino Royale? Bond jumps down from a roof to a windowsill and then runs several blocks over obstacles on the way. It is just because of Bond's wonderful performances that the sport has become popular worldwide.
Yes, that's parkour, an extreme street sport aimed at moving from one point to another as quickly as possible, getting over all the obstacles in the path using only the abilities of the human body. Parkour is considered an extreme sport. As its participants dash around a city, they may jump over fences, run up walls and even move from rooftop to rooftop.
Parkour can be just as exciting and charming as it sounds，but its participants see parkour much more than that.
Overcoming all the obstacles on the course and in life is part of the philosophy (哲理) behind parkour. This is the same as life. You must determine your destination, go straight, and jump over all the barriers as if in parkour and never fall back from them in your life, to reach the destination successfully. A parkour lover said，“I love parkour because its philosophy has become my life, my way to do everything.”
Another philosophy we've learnt from parkour is freedom. It can be done by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world. It is a kind of expression of trust in yourself that you earn energy and confidence.Parkour has become popular throughout the world because of ________.
| A．its cofounder, David Belle |
| B．the film, Casino Royale |
| C．its risks and tricks |
| D．the varieties of participants |
The underlined word “obstacles” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to “________”．
| A．streets | B．objects | C．barriers | D．roofs |
Which of the following is TRUE of parkour?
| A．It challenges human abilities. |
| B．It is a good but boring sport. |
| C．It needs special training. |
| D．It is a team sport. |
Which of the following is the philosophy of parkour?
| A．Sports and extremes. |
| B．Excitement and popularity. |
| C．Dreams and success. |
| D．Determination and freedom. |
There were a family of nine: the father, the mother, two boys and five girls. The father worked as a kitchen cleaner at a local school and the rest of the family did the same job-----clean people’s yards.
Then one day, the father lost his job at the school. He asked me if I could allow him to clean my yard.He and his family came to our house three times a week to clean the yard.
One Sunday morning, the father suffered a stroke and died in the hospital two days later. The poor family had lost their main bread-winner. The eldest boy had just completed high school and was getting ready to go to college.
For the following years, Andrew, my husband and I did all our best to help make sure the family got their education, and provided some daily needs, like clothes.. They didn’t have a toilet in their home! Imagine! A mother, a fifteen-year-old girl, and four smaller children without a toilet or bathroom!
The next morning, my friend Peter came to my house. Then I told him I wanted to do something for the poor family. As a helpful man, he promised to offer some money. So together we built a bathroom and a toilet for this family in three days.. And we felt happy, too.
| A．Clearly, they lived a poor life. |
| B．The others were just little kids |
| C．Realizing his situation, I offered him the job at once. |
| D．This brought a lot of smiles and happiness to the family. |
E.Every day we gave her some pocket money.
F.We visited the family once and one thing made us greatly surprised.
G.You would be surprised to know that this poor family lived in just two rooms!
Our cat has a sweet nature, and she can let us know what she wants. When we fail to meet her needs, she gently leads us in the proper direction. When I forget to fill her water bowl early in the morning, she runs after my legs, and then pushes me in the direction of her bowl. She doesn’t get irritated (生气的); instead, she expresses her wishes in the best way. And I always understand what she is telling me.
One day I found myself envying (羡慕) her simple expression. How many times had I expected my husband or my children to know my wants without my ever giving voice to them? How many times had I been disappointed that they couldn’t understand when I needed a hug, a compliment (恭维) or a chocolate bar?
After a pleasant afternoon with my husband, I wanted to stop somewhere nice and have dinner, but he didn’t understand my hints (暗示). “Couldn’t you see that I wanted to go out to dinner?” I complained when he pulled into our driveway.
“Why didn’t you say so? I can’t read your mind,” he answered in impatience. His words gave me pause. Had I expected him to read my mind? Why hadn’t I expressed my desire more clearly? I realized I had fallen into the female trap of “If you love me, you can read my mind.”
Now, I state my needs clearly and directly. I look at my cat and know she agrees.Why was the author disappointed in her husband or her children?
| A．Her husband didn’t give her a hug. |
| B．Her children didn’t give her a chocolate bar. |
| C．They didn’t give her a compliment. |
| D．They didn’t understand her mind. |
What will the author do if she wants something from her husband now?
| A．She will give him her hints. | B．She lets him guess what she wants. |
| C．She tells him her needs directly. | D．She buys what she wants herself. |
What can we learn from the underlined sentence in the fourth paragraph?
| A．I realized what I did was wrong. |
| B．I stopped and didn’t go with my husband. |
| C．My husband prevented me from going on. |
| D．My husband stopped me from saying something. |
Imagine when you are sailing an ocean for the first time, you see a big fish swimming near your ship. You might be scared, and worried about whether it will turn over your ship for a meal. In fact, it is not a fish at all, but a gentle giant whale.
Whales are not fishes but mammals (哺乳动物). Their body temperature stays the same, and does not change with the temperature of their environment. They breathe air, so they have to come out of the water to get oxygen. Thus, they cannot afford to fall into a sleeping state for too long, since they need to be awake in order to breathe. It is thought that only half of their brains sleep at a time, so that whales are never completely asleep. Females give birth to the young. They have hair. Although they are not covered in hair or fur like many mammals, whales have some bristles (胡子), usually on their heads.
Whales are highly social animals with complex languages and intelligence. They communicate with each other using romantic sounds, called “whale songs”. Being so large and powerful, these sounds are also loud.
Whales are endangered as a result of whaling (捕鲸) from the eleventh century to the twentieth. It has attracted the attention of environmentalists and some measures (措施) have been taken to protect whales.How many aspects show that whales are mammals?
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
We can infer from the second paragraph that ____.
| A．whales can breathe in the water |
| B．if a whale sleeps too long, it will get drowned |
| C．in order to breathe, whales never sleep |
| D．whales give birth to the young on the land |
How do whales communicate with each other?
| A．By body language. | B．By speaking languages. |
| C．By making song-like sounds. | D．By giving off a smell. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Whales are cold-blooded mammals like fishes. |
| B．Whales are hunted for food by people. |
| C．Whales are very harmful to human beings. |
| D．Whales are in danger because of being killed by people. |