The SAT is one of two major tests for the entrance to American colleges and universities. The other test is called the ACT. More than 2 million students take the SAT yearly, including about 100,000 foreign students. The organization of the SAT will change the entrance test in 2016. The College Board announced that the new SAT will no longer test students on rarely used words. But it will include passages from American historical documents or from writings on freedom and human rights.
The College Board says words on the new test will be related to usage. Students will be asked to tell the meaning of words according to the context of the reading passages. Nigerian student Peace Umoru is in her first year at Howard University. She says the rarely used words are the hardest part for international students. The new test will be easier because of the reform.
Eddie West is with the College Board. He says the new test will better predict a student’s performance in college. The changes are moving the test in a positive direction. The new SAT pays more attention to skills and abilities that students need to succeed. The addition of material about American historical documents could make the test harder for international students. After all, they live in different countries with different cultures. But it’s a good chance for them to understand the Declaration of Independence or Martin Luther King’s work, or anything else that might be tested.
Students from other countries, particularly those who did not grow up learning English, may feel it is more difficult. For them, the test is in a foreign language. But the College Board says it has formed a free, online educational service. Khan Academy will provide preparation material linked to the newly designed SAT.What will be tested in the new SAT?
| A．All the different meanings of a word. |
| B．The rare usage of the common words. |
| C．The difficult words for foreign students. |
| D．The proper meaning of the words in the passages. |
The new SAT could be more difficult for international students because .
| A．they are short of skills and abilities |
| B．they often perform badly in college |
| C．they know nothing about American history |
| D．they have different cultural backgrounds |
What’s the main idea of the text?
| A．How to prepare for the new SAT. |
| B．The SAT will change the entrance test in 2016. |
| C．Advice for foreign students on passing the SAT. |
| D．Tests for entrance to American colleges and universities. |
If you go into the woods with your friends, stay with them. If you don’t, you may get lost. If you do get lost, though, this is what you should do. Sit down and stay where you are. Don’t try to find your friends—let them find you. You can help them to find you by staying in one place.
There is another way to help your friends or other people nearby to find you. Give them a signal by shouting or whistling three times. Stop. Then shout or whistle three times again. Any signal given three times is a call for help. You will be helped by others.
Keep up the shouting or whistling, always three times together. When people hear you, they will know that you are not making noise for fun. They will let you know they have heard your signal by giving two shouts, two whistles or two gunshots. When a signal is given twice, it is an answer to a call for help. If you don’t think that you will get help before night comes, try to make a little house with branches, lots of leaves and grass.
What would you do if you get hungry or need drinking water? You have to leave your little branch house to look for a brook. Don’t just walk away. Pick off small branches and drop them as you walk so that you can find your way back.
The most important thing to do when you are lost is--- stay in one place.
36. How do you let people believe that you are not just making noise for fun?
A. Stop now and then. B. Shout at the top of voice again and again
C. Go on shouting or whistling.D. Shout or whistle three times once in a while.
37. What does the underlined word “brook” mean?
A.小溪B.沙漠C.山峰 D.大海
38. Which of the following is an answer to a call for help?
A. A whistle B.Three shouts C. Two gunshots D.Repeated loud shouts
39.If you feel thirsty when you are lost in the forest, what should you do?
A. Leave your branch house and walk away B. Light a fire and make yourself some tea．
C. Go to find a brook and leave branches behind you. D. Find something to hold the water.
40. What’s the best title for the passage?
A. What Do Three Shots and Two Shots Mean in a Forest
B. What to Do If You Get Lost in a Forest
C. How to Find Your Friends When You Are Lost in the Woods
D. The Most Important Thing to Do is to Stay in One Place
CHICAGO ---Call it a reward, or just “bribery(贿赂)”.
Whichever it is, many parents today readily admit to buying off their children, who get goodies(好东西) for anything from behaving in a restaurant to sleeping all night in their own beds.
That’s what worries parenting experts.
“I think that reward systems have a time and a place and work really well in certain situations,” says Marcy Safyer, director of the Adelphi University Institute for Parenting.
“But what often gets lost for people is being able to figure out how to communicate to their kids that doing the thing is rewarding enough,” Safyer says.
Parents and experts alike agree that the dynamic(动力) is partly a reflection of the world we live in. It’s unrealistic to think a parent wouldn’t reward their children with material things sometimes, says Robin Lanzi, a clinical psychologist and mother of four who’s the research director at the Center on Health and Education at Georgetown University.
“But you want to make sure that they match the behavior, so it’s not something huge for something small,” Lanzi says.
She recalls hearing about a father who offered his child a Nintendo Wii game system for scoring a couple goals in a soccer game.
Elizabeth Powell, a mother of two young daughters in Austin, Texas, knows what she means.
“You want to raise them in a way that they’re respectful and appreciate things,” Powell says of her children. “But sometimes, you wonder now if kids appreciate even a new pair of shoes. ”Parenting experts are worried that ____ .
| A．today’s children are fed up with material things |
| B．parents are rewarding their kids improperly |
| C．today’s children are more and more demanding(苛求的) |
| D．there is lack of communication between parents and children |
What Safyer says suggests that ____ .
| A．reward systems are quite limited in developing abilities |
| B．reward systems work well regardless of（不管） time and place |
| C．reward systems are still not made full use of to develop abilities |
| D．reward systems are often used at the wrong time and place |
What can we learn from what Robin Lanzi says?
| A．She holds a different opinion from other parenting experts. |
| B．She thinks children can’t behave well without being rewarded. |
| C．She holds a similar belief to Safyer and gives further explanation. |
| D．She doesn’t believe in rewarding children for good behavior. |
The father who offered his child a Nintendo Wii game system can be regarded as
_____.
| A．over-rewarding his child |
| B．giving his child proper reward |
| C．respecting and appreciating his child |
| D．giving something small for something huge |
Starving polar bears are eating one another in the Arctic. Flowers are blooming too soon and die. The ice caps are melting so fast that rising water levels will threaten coastal towns along Florida within several decades. These are just a few examples of the terrible consequences of climate change supported by a new analysis in Nature.
In the past three decades, average global temperatures have risen about 0. 6°C and are projected to jump by about 1. 7°C by the end of the century, says Cynthia Rosenzweig, who leads the Climate Impacts Group at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University in New York. “We’ve already seen that a relatively low amount of warming,” she says, “can lead to a broad range of changes. ”
The unnatural warming caused by man-made greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide produced by cars and coal-powered plants, brings trouble for entire ecosystems. In North America alone, scientists have identified 89 species of plants, such as the American holly that have flowered earlier in the spring. In Spain, apple trees bloom 35 days ahead of schedule in response to the higher temperatures. Other wildlife, like the insects that use certain plants for food and the birds that feed on the insects, must then move forward their seasonal stirrings(萌动) and mating（交配） patterns to survive.
To try to follow this time shift, some birds such as robins, the classic symbol of winter’s thaw(解冻时期), are returning to Colorado from their migrations some two weeks earlier than in years past. All these changes can throw a food chain in disorder. Some bird species that arrive before the insects reappear may starve to death.
“Around the world, plants and animals are waking up to an earlier alarm clock than they used to,” says Terry Root, a biologist from Stanford University. The underlined word “projected”(in Paragraph 2) probably means “____”.
| A．forced | B．presented | C．indicated | D．predicted |
According to the third paragraph, as a result of climate change ____ .
| A．the warm weather wakes animals up earlier |
| B．certain trees bloom a season ahead of time |
| C．the birds need to change patterns of living |
| D．the American holly will flower in late spring |
What can we know about robins according to the passage?
| A．Farmers depend on them to tell the time. |
| B．They used to come back when spring came. |
| C．They used to predict the change of weather. |
| D．They usually migrate when seasons change. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Man is to blame for global warming |
| B．Great changes take place on Earth |
| C．Bird migration and climate change |
| D．Global warming changing nature’s clock |
Your cell phone holds secrets about you. Besides the names and numbers that you’ve programmed into it, traces of your DNA remain on it, according to a new study.
DNA is genetic material that appears in every cell. Like your fingerprint, your DNA is unique to you --- unless you have an identical twin. Scientists today usually analyze DNA in blood, saliva(唾液), or hair left behind at the scene of a crime. The results often help detectives identify criminals and their victims.
Meghan J. McFadden, a biologist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, heard about a crime in which the suspect bled onto a cell phone and later dropped the device. This made her wonder whether traces of DNA remained on cell phones --- even when no blood was involved. To find out, she and a colleague collected flip-style(翻盖式) phones from 10 volunteers. They collected invisible traces of the users from two parts of the phone: the outside, where the user holds it, and the speaker, which is placed at the user’s ear.
The scientists scrubbed(meaning “cleaned”) the phones using a liquid mixture made mostly of alcohol. The aim of washing was to remove all detectable traces of DNA. The owners got their phones back for another week. Then the researchers collected the phones and repeated collecting traces on each phone once more. They discovered DNA that belonged to the phone’s owner on each of the phones.
Surprisingly, DNA showed up even in swabs that were taken immediately after the phones were cleaned. That suggests that washing won’t remove all traces of evidence from a criminal’s cell phone. So cell phones can now be added to the list of clues that can help a crime-scene investigation. McFadden decided to find out whether people leave their DNA on their cell phones when she ____ .
| A．got her cell phone lost by chance |
| B．found a cell phone with blood on it |
| C．heard about a crime involving a cell phone |
| D．did research on cell phones |
The scientists allowed the volunteers to keep their cell phones for a week in order to____.
| A．let them leave their traces on their phones |
| B．avoid keeping their cell phones too long |
| C．give them a chance to get rid of their secrets |
| D．find out who is responsible for the crime |
The last paragraph mainly tells us that cell phones ____ .
| A．do harm to people | B．should be often cleaned |
| C．disclose people’s secrets | D．help deal with crimes |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
| A．The reason for collecting the phones from volunteers. |
| B．The technique of collecting DNA on the phones. |
| C．The method of removing traces of DNA on the phones. |
| D．The purpose of washing the cell phones. |
TOURNAMENT OF ROSES
-- 5 Days Los Angeles
| Day 1 Los Angeles. (Sun. , Dec. 30) Welcome to Los Angeles! This evening mix with your traveling companions at the welcome reception. Day 2 Los Angeles. (Mon. , Dec. 31) Head to Pasadena for the always colorful ROSE BOWL FAMILY FESTIVAL and watch the floats(彩车) decorated with tens of thousands of flowers. This afternoon, you can take the included visit to the GETTY MUSEUM. This evening , join your traveling companions at a special New Year’s Eve DINNER AND DANCE GALA(盛会), complete with hats, party favors, live music, and, of course, champagne! You’ll toast the New Year a little early tonight to allow for an early morning departure to the Rose Parade. Day 3 Los Angeles. Tournament of Roses Parade. (Tue. , Jan. 1) Happy New Year! Get ready for one of the world’s most popular parades, and you’ll see it live! Globus has booked the GRANDSTAND(在大看台上的) SEATS at the beginning of the parade route for a good view. See the wonderful floral(饰以花的) floats, marching bands from around the world, and the celebrities. Day 4 Los Angeles. (Wed. , Jan. 2 ) This morning view the individual floats in the POST PARADE VIEWING AREA. For many this is the highlight(最精彩的部分) of the entire event. Be sure to bring your camera and plenty of film! Another special treat tonight --- a special GOLBUS FAREWELL CELEBRATION DINNER. Day 5 Los Angeles. (Thu. , Jan. 3) The tour ends today, with tour guests departing on individual schedules. |
You can most probably read the passage in a ___ .
| A．news report | B．travel guide |
| C．textbook | D．history magazine |
What activity can visitors enjoy on Dec. 31?
| A．Tournament of Roses Parade. | B．Post Parade. |
| C．A farewell celebration dinner. | D．A dinner and dance gala. |
The underlined word “Globus” in the passage refers to “____”.
| A．the travel agency | B．the local government |
| C．Los Angeles | D．Roses Parade |
According to the passage, you should bring your camera on ____.
| A．Day 2 | B．Day 3 | C．Day 4 | D．Day 5 |