Everyonebecomesalittlemoreforg-优题课

B
In this age of cell phones, text messages and computer keyboards, one Scottish school has returned to basics．It's teaching youngsters the ignored art of writing with a fountain pen．There is no clicking of keyboards in most classrooms at the Mary Erskine and Stewart's Melville Junior School, although there is a full range of facilities （设施）for computer lessons and technology isn' t being ignored．The private school' s headmaster believes the old-fashioned pens have helped strengthen the academic （学术的） performance and self-esteem （自尊）of his 1,200 pupils．
"The pens improve the quality of work because they force the children to take care, and better work improves self-esteem", headmaster Bryan Lewis said．" Proper handwriting is as relevant today as it ever has been．" Students as young as 7 have been instructed to give up their ball point pens and begin to deal with its more artful predecessor．By the time they reach grade five, at age 9, they are expected to write mainly with fountain pens．Lewis said the school's 7- and 8-year-olds use fountain pens for 80 percent to 90 percent of their work, returning to pencils for such subjects as math．"I don't see fountain pens as old-fashioned or out of date．Modern fountain pens are beautiful to use? it's not like in the old days of broken metal points and dirtying writing paper," Lewis said．"We have a particular writing style and we have developed it very carefully and found a way that allows left-and right-handed people to write without dirtying paper．"
Some people in wealthy nations argue that handwriting is becoming less important because of the growing use of cell phone text messaging and typing on computers, but the school disagrees．"We talk of the paperless office and the paperless world, but this is not true," Lewis said．"You still need to have proper handwriting skills．"
60．The Scottish school in the passage _____．
A．does not think highly of modern technology
B．values fountain pens more than anything else
C．pays special attention to the use of fountain pens
D．takes an action which is considered to be stupid by a great many people
61．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Schools in Scotland all encourage using pens．
B．Fountain pens today are much more expensive．
C．Lewis thinks the idea of the paperless world impractical．
D．The left-handed can't benefit from the new fountain pens．
62．The underlined word "predecessor" in Paragraph 2 refers to _____．
A．the pencil B．the fountain pen C．the keyboard D．the ball point pen
63．The headmaster Bryan Lewis holds the view that _____．
A．children should be required to use pens when they are five
B．using pens may slow down students' speed of writing
C．pens have helped to build up students' self-respect
D．handwriting skills are more important than typing skills

第三部分阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
第一节：（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。
A
As Christmas approaches, towns and cities around the UK are preparing for a very British celebration．
The switching on of a town' s Christmas lights has become an increasingly competitive event over the years, with some councils （会议） spending lots of money to attract A-list famous persons to do the honors．
The American singer Mariah Carey flew to London in November to switch on the lights at one of the city's biggest shopping centers, while Jim Carrey lighted Oxford Street and promoted his new film at the same time．
Traffic in the historic English city of Bath was brought to a halt as thousands of fans crowded to see the Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage conducted the switching-on ceremony．
Some celebrations do not go according to the plan, as was seen in Birmingham when dozens of people were injured as the famous British boy band JLS took the stage．
Not all towns can afford to bring in an internationally-known star, so many switchon ceremonies are handled by ex-TV talent show competitors．
Pantomime （圣诞童话剧） stars are also much in demand at this time of year, as they aim to promote their Christmas shows．
But if your council hasn't got the budget to bring in a famous face, what are the cheaper alternatives?
A town in the west of England chose to let the public decide by giving their suggestions online．The result: a 21-year-old DIY store worker was given the honor．
"I was amazed and delighted to be asked," said Scott Parker, "it's just a special gift and not something I'd, ever thought about before．"
56．According to the passage, what kind of special celebration can you see at Christmas in UK?
A．People meeting their favorite stars and getting special gifts．
B．Well-known persons invited to make a performance in public．
C．A-list persons lighting Oxford Street and promoting their films．
D．Switching-on ceremonies that are conducted by honored persons．
57．The underlined word "halt" in Paragraph 4 probably means "______" ．
A．start B．stop C．ban D．run
58．Which of the followings can be learned from the passage?
A．Mariah Carey is invited to Bath to switch on the lights．
B．Pantomime stars rarely appear at events like this．
C．Not all those who switch on the Christmas lights can make lots of money．
D．Average persons can not get a chance to switch on the Christmas lights．
59．The following are famous persons EXCEPT _____．
A．Scott Parker B．Mariah Carey C．Nicolas Cage D．Jim Carrey

D
BEIJING March l（ Reuters） - China hailed its best ever Winter Olympics on Mon- day, crediting technology, foreign coaches and even improved language skills for the winning five gold, two silver and four bronze medals in 'Vancouver．
Only eight years after skater Yang Yang （A） won the country's first Winter gold at Salt Lake City, a sweep of the women' s short track speed skating and a first figure skating title helped China to joint seventh place in the medals table．
"Cold Standard" read the banner headline on the front page China Daily, while the People' s Daily led its sports page with "Vancouver historical breakthrough " ．
"We have made an important breakthrough at these Games" Xiao Tian, deputy chef de mission of China' s largest ever Winter Games delegation, told the Xinhua news agency．
" Actually the five - gold finish was within my expectation before we set off for the Games,but I couldn't say that at that time because I would not want to put any pressure on the ath- letes．Now I can speak out．"
Xiao was quick to retun to the earlier subject of conversation to pessirrustic（悲观） type, however, when discussing the future, emphasizing the huge task the Winter Sports adnunistra- tion faced to close the gap on their Summer counterparts, who topped the table at the 2008 Bei- jing Olympics．
"Despite the good results at these Games, we still have a long way to go in the develop-ment of China's winter sports," he said．
"It' s impossible for us to reach the same -level as we have done in Summer sports, but we will try to minimize the gap as much as we can．"
Xiao said that progress would come not through a vast expansion of the Winter sports pro- gramme but by using the best coaches, wherever they came from, and technology．
71．China regarded the Vancouver Winter Olympics as a breakthrough because___________
A．China gained-seventh place in the medals table
B． many people were crazy about the Vancouver．Games
C．'Yang Yang （A） won the country's first Winter gold
D．People's Daily thought it a historical breakthrough
72．Which contribution to China's success is not mentioned in the passage?
A．Technology．B．Foreign coaches．C．Language skills．D．Hardworking．
73．The reason why Xiao Tian didn't speak out the five - gold finish before setting off for the Games is that___________
A．he wanted to give us a big surprise at Vancouver
B．he didn't want to put any stress on the athletes
C．he didn't have an optimistic attitude to the athletes
D． he thought the five - gold finish was a huge task
74．Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A．The headline of China Daily is "Vancouver historical breakthrough"
B．The results in Winter Olympic8 are as good as those in Summer Olympics:
C．We will try to narrow the gap between the Winter and Summer Sports．
D．It's easy for us to reach the same level as we have done in Summer sports．
75．What' s the main idea of this passage?
A．China hails Winter Games 'breakthrough at Vancouver．
B．A first figure skating title helped China succeed．
C．Cluna swept the women's short track speed skating．
D．Using the best coaches is important for China Winter Games．

C
A new study in West Africa shows how farm irrigationsystems powered by the sun can pro-duce more food and money for villagers． The study-in Benin found that solar - powered pumpsare effective in 8upplying water, especially during the long dry season．
Sub - Saharan Africa is the part of the world with the least food security． The United Na-tions Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more"than one biillion of the world' s peo-ple faced hunger last year．Around 265 million of them live'south of the Sahara Desert: Lack of rainfallis one oftheir main causes offood shortages．．
Jennifer Bumey from Stanford University in Califomia led the study．The research team helped build three solar - powered drip irrigation -（滴灌） ,systems in northem Benin． Between 30 and 35 women used each system to pump water from the ground or a stream．Each woman was responsible for farming her own 120 sqrurre meters of land． They also farmed other land collectively．
The solar - powered irrigation systems produced an average of nearly two tons of vegetables per montb． During the first year, the women．kept a monthly average of almost rune kilograms of vegetables for home use．They sold the surplus produce at local markets． The eamings greatly increased their ability to buy food during the dry season which can last six to nine months． Peo- ple in the'two villages with the systems were able to eat three to five more servingsof yegetables per day．But making the surplus available at markets also had a wider effect．
The study compared the villages with two others where women farmed with traditional methods like carrying water in buckets． The amount of vegetables eaten in those villages also increased, though not as much．The researchers note that only four percent of the croplamd in sub - Saharan Africa is irrigated． Using solar power to pump water has higher costs at first． But the study says it can be more economical in the long term than using fuels like gasoline, diesel or kerosene． And solar power is environmentally friendly．
66．Food security in Sub - Saharan Africa is insufficient mainly because of
A．lack of rainfall B．limitation of farmland
C． a small crop variety D．little sunlight
67．From the third paragraph we know that _______．
A．water is wasted by using the system
B． the farmers imgate the land together
C． all farmers use irrigation systems in northem Benin
D． the solar - powered systems take up more manpower
68．The underlined word "surplus" in the 4th paragraph most probably means_______
A．special B．unnecessary C．extra D．abandoned
69．Usinf．solar power to pump water has advantages EXCEPT that
A．solar energy has higher cost at first
B．solar power helps to protect environment
C．solar power helps farmers increase eanungs
D． solar energy can be more economical in the long run
70．What can be the best title for the text?
A．Manpower affects rainfallin Africa
B．Irrigation by carrying water in buckets
C．Solar - powered pumps aid African farmers
D．Vegetable supply increased in African villages

B
Charter schools operate with public money but without many of the rues that Sovem tradi-tional public schools．In the Uruted States the rules for charter schools difFer from state to state． But in Seneral these schools havegreater freedom to decide what to teach and how to teach it．
The "charter 'is a perfarmance contract．It establishes thegoals of the school and other details like how student performance will be measured． Forty - seven million students attend traditional public schools．But more than a million students attend charter schools:
And now a group of charter schools have formed the Green Charter Schools Network.The idea is to have environmentally friendly school buildings but toalso go further than that．The schools teach students to become involved in community issues that affect them and the environ-ment． For example, youg children grow crops in a school garden and leam about healthy eat-ing．Older students help recycle waste from the cafeteria．And local schoois share what they grow in community gardens with people in need．
Jim McGrath is president．of the Green Charter Schools Network． He says there are about 200 "green" charter schools across the United States． He says the plan is to also include tradi-tional public schools as well as private schools．
Jim McGrath: "The most important thing is that every one of us - every child, every adult - has a reaponsibility that their action, every action we make has an effect on the earth that we live in． And that our natuntl resources are not unlimited． And that if we want a positive earth for future generations, we all need to make comnutments to be agents of change so that we don' t destroy our natural resources．
The Green Clarter Schools Network holds its first national conference this October in Min- nesota．It will include companies and orgaizations like Waste Management and the Uruted States Green Brulding Council． We sincerely hope that their goal is to expand the movement across the country．
61．Charter schools are quitedifent from public ones in that______________
A．they are operated by public money
B．they still use the traditional rules
C．they have more freedom in management
D． they attract more students than others
62．The Green Charter Schools Network is established to______________
A．advise teenagers to attend charter schools
B．paint the school buildings in the color of green
C．measure the students with the same standards
D．get students involved in environment friendly activities
63．Which of the following statements about the Network are true EXCEPT_________
A． It only concernsthe charter schools in the U．S．
B．It holds its first national conference in Minnesota．
C． It will benefit both the schools and the communities．
D．It promotes different schools to share their achievements．
64．According to Jim McGrath,____________
A．people's action plays little part in nature
B．natural resources are abundant for people to use
C． students should be taught to be responsibk for the world
D．everyone should make efforts to change the positive nature
65．What' s the writer' s purpose of this passage?
A．To criticize the traditional education system．
B．To encourage the students to adopt healthy eating．
C．To inspire people to recycle waste from the cafeteria．
D．To arouse the schools to take action to protect the earth．