Certainly, a well-rounded education is the foundation from which all of us spring forth. I am grateful to the many incredible teachers who have inspired me to do greater things, and have fired my enthusiasm for everlasting learning!
I have also been honored to have the most amazing teachers in all of my children’ s lives. These are extraordinary people who not only teach our children, but love them, challenge them, and provide an environment where a child learns how to learn.
But, sometimes I wonder if the outline of our educational plan is lacking something. I watched the movie Easy A with my older daughter. The main character’ s parents were loving, supportive, and built great confidence in their daughter and developed her ability to handle her own problems.
There was a scene where the mother was speaking to the younger child and he announced that he received an “ A” on his spelling test. She replied, “ That’s great, honey, but everything has spell check these days. ”It was funny — but TRUE!I don’t mean that we shouldn’t teach our children how to spell, but maybe some of our time should be spent educating them about the dangers of posting things on Facebook.
Maybe we might want to spend time showing them how real life works— the credit card isn’t free money— you will have to pay it back at sometime. Oh, and get this—they charge you for borrowing that money. Perhaps, we should spend some time on interpersonal relationships. I worry that our kids do not know how to relate to one another.
Choosing a career is a daunting task. My daughter is in her second year in college and has changed her major twice. It’s not that she didn’t know what she wanted to do. What she “ wanted to do”and the degree she chose did not match.
I have learned many college students do not know what they want to do because they haven’t seen what it looks like in the real world. Being a journalist in the real world looks very different from writing stories. Maybe if we spent some time exposing them to real life experience— maybe two or three courses in areas of interest in high school that give them a “ feel’ for what that particular field would look like, they might be better prepared. I do not know the solution, but it seems that it should at least be a topic of discussion.Why does the author mention the movie Easy A?
| A．To prove the importance of book learning. |
| B．To show the parents’ ignorance of spelling. |
| C．To lead to the topic he is going to talk about. |
| D．To share with the readers his feeling about the movie. |
The author believes that .
| A．students need to focus on the skills in learning |
| B．parents and school should be consistent in education |
| C．his daughter is smart enough to make her own choice |
| D．courses in areas of interest in high schools will benefit students |
The underlined word “ daunting” in Paragraph 6 probably means
| A．specific | B．discouraging |
| C．rewarding | D．regular |
What is mainly discussed in the passage?
| A．Schools should prepare students for the real life. |
| B．What students learn in school should be practiced in life. |
| C．Life experience is of greater importance than school education. |
| D．Students should spend more time discussing practical problems. |
Singapore’s public transport system is one of the best in the world, so you should have no problem finding your way around like a local. There are three main forms of public transport that y
ou would find in any other major city ---trains, buses and taxis
TRAINS
Trains run from 6:00 am to midnight. Single trip tickets start at 80 cents. If you buy an EZ-Link cars for $15, you can ride the trains and buses as you like.
If you need more information, just call Transit Link on 1800 767 4333.
BUESE
There are several bus services in Singapore and fares start at 80 cents. Be sure always ask the driver the cost of your ticket as he can not give change.
If you need help, just call Transit Link on 1800 767 4333.
TAXIS
There are three main taxi companies –City Cab(6552 2222), Comfort(6552 1111) and Tibs (6552 8888). Booking can also be easily by calling the numbers listed above.
RENTABLE CARS
Driving in Singapore is a pleasure and if you liked to travel at your own pace, renting a car is a good choice. Renting takes away the hassle of getting to places around Singapore. Just sit back and enjoy the city. It also means you’ll get to see a lot more that a trains or a bus won’t let you see.
For car rental, call Avis on + 65 6737 1668.
1. By an EZ-Link card, you can take .
A. both buses and trainsB. only trainsC. both buses and taxis D. only rental cars
2. When you take a bus there, always remember to .
A. take your own license with you B. ask the driver how much your ticket is
C. buy the bus map of Singapore D
. book your ticket ahead of time
3. What does the word “hassle” mean in Chinese?
A. 麻烦 B. 乐趣 C. 景点 D. 费用
4. What do you know about traveling in Singapore from the passage?
A. A local has no trouble finding his way around.
B. It’s much cheaper to go around by bus than by train.
C. You can see a lot more in Singapore only by renting a car.
D. It’s
very convenient for visitors to travel in Singapore.
第三部分阅读技能 (共三节，满分35分)
阅读理解（共12小题；每小题2分，满分24分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
I am an e-mail user. When I first started to use the e-mail system, I used to read all my e-mail. I didn’t have much mail. I gave my friends my e-mail address. Soon I had more mail than I wanted. Some of the mail was junk mail. I was worried. I didn’t want my mail to control me.
I’ve tried some methods to help me get control of my mail. First, I check my mail at the same time every day. Also I try to allow myself only 15-20 minutes every day to process my e-mail. This doesn’t always work, but I try. Sometimes I save the messages. Sometimes I just read them, maybe answer a few, and then delete（删除）them.
Sometimes I’m not at all interested in a message, so I don’t even open it. I delete it right away. This is very much the way I go through the mail that the postal service delivers to my home.
These methods are very simple. I have some friends who are very clever with computers. From time to time, they teach me new tricks for managing my e-mail. I’m still amazed at what e-mail can do for me! I’m still worried, however, about having too much to read.
1. The writer used to read all his e-mail because _______.
A. he didn’t have much mail B. he had nothing else to do
C. he didn’t know how to read mail D. he was forced to do that
2. Which of the following does NOT belong to the ways of the writer’s dealing with his mail?
A. Saving the messages. B. Just reading some.
C. Deleting some. D. Passing some on to friends.
3. What does the underlined word “they” in the last paragraph refer to?
A. messagesB. friends C. computers D. methods
4. What’s the purpose of the writer to write this passage?
A. To share happiness in using mail with us.
B. To share some worries in using mail with us.
C. To share some methods of using computer with us.
D. To persuade us out of using mail.
Are you a problem shopper? The answer is “Yes”, if you or someone else thinks that you sometimes get carried away with shopping. In other words, do you or does someone else think you are occupied in extreme shopping ? If people have regrets later about their shopping, or have an “out-of-control” feeling about the quantities of what they buy or the amount of credit they use, they may be considered to be problem shoppers.
Extreme shopping can lead to a more serious problem –addictive shopping. Addictive shoppers feel driven by the desire to shop and spend money. They experience great tension which drives them to shop and spend money and they feel a “rush” during the time they are occupied with the shopping activity.
Extreme or addictive shopping may result from long-time unpleasant feelings, of which anxiety, pain and shame are common ones,. When we feel bad inside, we often do somethin
g to make ourselves feel better. In this case, we often go shopping.
A few people shop to relieve their boredom or emptiness. For some people, the motivation is a desire for st
atus, power, beauty or success. Some love to shop as it makes them feel valued in the eyes of the
shop assistants. Others shop simply because it makes them forget, at least temporarily, tension, fear or unhappiness in their life.
Besides, shopping malls are designed to encourage continual shopping. For instance, there are some malls where you can’t see clocks displaying the time because they don’t want you to become too aware of the time you spend there. What’s more, food courts, coffee shops and restrooms are provided, so you don’t have to leave the mall because of your physical needs.
Therefore, once you become aware of how market forces work, you will certainly come to control your shopping behavior. For example, how much time you will spend and what areas you will visit can be decided before you enter the mall. Keep a written account of what items you will buy and how much money you will spend. Make a plan for what you are going to buy before you feel the urge to shop and then stick to it. That is vital for gaining self-control.
1．Which
of the following people may not be problem shoppers?
A．Those who cannot control the amount of credit they use.
B．Those who just walk around the shopping malls.
C．Those who are occupied in too much shopping.
D．Those who feel sorry for their shopping.
2．According to the passage, what may not result in addictive shopping?
A．The a
wareness of how market forces work.
B．The desire for status, power, beauty or success.
C．Boredom, emptiness, tension, fear or unhappiness in people’s life.
D．Long-time bad feelings of anxiety, pain and shame.
3．What does the author suggest to control our shopping behaviour?
A．Never going to the shopping malls because there are many tricks.
B．Applying for a credit card before we go shopping.
C．Making the shopping time as short as possible.
D．Making a shopping list before we go shopping.
4．The author writes this passage to .
A．inform the shopping malls how to attract more shoppers
B．provide solutions to the problem 
shopping.
C．scold the problem shoppers
D．tell a shopping story
Eddie’s father used to say he’d spent so many years by the ocean, breathing seawater. Now, away from that ocean, in the hospital bed, his body began to look like a beached fish. His condition went from fair to stable and from stable to serious. Friends went from saying, “He’ll be home in a day,” to “He’ll be home in a week ” In his father’s absence, Eddie helped out at the pier(码头), working evenings after his taxi job.
When Eddie was a teenager, if he ever complained or seemed bored with the pier, his father would shout, “What ? This isn’t good enough for you?” And later, when he’d suggested Eddie take a job there after high school, Eddie almost laughed, and his father again said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?” And before Eddie went to war, when he’d talked of marrying Marguerite and becoming an engineer, his father said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?”
And now, regardless of all that, here he was, at the pier, doing his father’s labor.
Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. It is not until much later, as the heart weakens, that children understand their stories, and all t
heir accomplishments sit on top of the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives.
Finally, one night, at his mother’s urging, Eddie visited the hospital. He entered the room slowly. His father, who for years had refused to speak to Eddie, now lacked the strength to even try.
“Don’t sweat it, kid,” the other workers told him. “Your old man will pull through. He’s the toughest man we’ve ever seen.”
When the news came that his father had died, Eddie felt the emptiest kind of anger, the kind that circles in its cage.
In the weeks that followed, Eddie’s mother lived in a confused state. She spoke to her husband as if he were still there. She yelled at him to turn down the radio. She cooked enough food for two. One night, when Eddie offered to help with the dishes, she said. “Your father will put them away.” Eddie put a hand on her shoulder. “Ma,” he said, softly, “Dad’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
1. In Paragraph 4, the writer indicates that .
A．Children like moving away from them parents
B．Children often feel regretful because they leave their parents
C．Children wouldn’t have achieved so much without their parents’ support
D．Children can never understand how much their parents have devoted to them
2. The underlined sentence probably means “ ”.
A．Don’t give it up B．Don’t worry about it
C．Don’t let him down D．Don’t touch it
3. Which of the following shows the right order of the story?
a．Eddie’s father died.
b．Eddie worked as a taxi driver.
c．Eddie married Marguerite.
d．Eddie was bored with his father’s job.
A．bacd B．dcab C．bcda D．dcba
4. From the last part of the passage, we learn that .
A．Eddie’s mother liked to listen to the radio
B．Eddie often helped his mother wash the dishes
C．Eddie and his wife lived in his mother’s apartment
D．Eddie’s mother missed her husband so much that she was at a
loss
Some years ago, a Miami woman walking through an office building noticed two men standing together．Several minutes after her leaving, the men murdered a person working in the building．The police determined that the woman was the only witness and could possibly describe them．However, her memory of the men proved disappointingly unclear．Several days later, psychologist Ronald Fisher was brought in to obtain a more complete account from the woman．His interview produced a breakthrough—the woman reported a clear picture of one of the suspec
ts．The important information enabled the police to arrest the suspect and close the case．
The police asked Fisher for help because of his rich knowledge in cognitive interview, a kind of memory - rebuilding process．Memory researchers have found that people trying to remember a past event often only recall part of the relevant information．Human memory is selective and it is often distorted by stress．But a person's accurate recall of an event or understanding of a question can be improved using specific interviewing techniques．The "cognitive interview" was developed in the late 1990s．It encourages the witness to take an active role in recalling information ra
ther than giving answers only to someone else's questions．The witness first describes what happened in his or her own words, with no interviewer interruptions．The interviewer 
then goes further with specific techniques, such as having the witness tell the details of what happened from different perspectives （角度）．
The cognitive interview focuses on guiding witnesses through four general recalling techniques: thinking about physical surroundings and personal feelings that existed at the time of past events; reporting everything that comes to mind about those events, no matter how broken it is retelling events in a variety of time orders, such as from beginning to end, end to beginning, forward or backward; and adopting different perspectives while recalling events．
Experiments with police detectives trained in this demanding interview method find that they obtain nearly 50% more information from witnesses than before training, while error rates remain about the same．It is proved that cognitive interviews are quite important tools in improving the accuracy and completeness of witness testimony （证词）．
1. The purpose of the passage is to _____．
A．give an account of a murder case
B．introduce an idea of cognitive interview
C．prove Fisher was an expert in cognitive interview
D．help a witness to recall information in a cognitive interview
2. What is required to recall in a cognitive interview for a witness?
A．The exact time at which a murder took place．
B．The information about the event in the time order．
C．The important things that come to his or her mind．
D．The surroundings and feelings at the time of the event．
3. The key point in a cognitive interview is that
A．the witness is encouraged to take part in recalling information
B．the interviewer should interrupt the witness from time to time
C．the interview should take place outside the police station
D．the witness should recall details at the scene of the event
4. The underlined word "distorted" in the passage probably means " ____
A．arranged B．balanced C．changed D．examined