In Western society, especially in the English-speaking world, the chance for young people to see the other countries and experience life is considered important. Many young people, when they finish school at the age of 18, take a gap year before they go to university.
Parents often want their children to grow up a little and see what the real world is like when they finish school. Although they are worried about their safety, many think that the advantages of independence and experience are worth the worries. Children are encouraged to be brave, independent and to explore the world on their own or with friends.
Young people also want to experience freedom and see what life is like on the other side. This other side could be the other side of the world or just the other side of life. For example, if they have a rich life, they may want to see how people in poor areas live.
A gap year after school is also an important chance for young people to spend time thinking about what they want to do with their lives. A little bit of growing up and experience will help them make their important career decisions, especially when they are unsure about what they want to study.
Another reason for going straight after school is to get a break from studying before they start the next few years of university. So anywhere you travel in the world, you will meet young European people exploring the world.
So much of the world has been travelled and explored. The young people are now looking for more worthy experiences. Some of them work as volunteers to do something for the country they are visiting. Many gap year volunteers are now spending a few months teaching English in Thailand, helping feed giant pandas in China or building a well(井) in a village in Africa.
These young people’s wish to explore the world is an expression of the values of the societies that they are part of. Both discovering the world and making a positive difference in it are important parts of the Western mind.
Which is NOT a reason for young people to take a gap year?
| A．Young people want to take a break from studying. |
| B．Young people want to be sure about what to study. |
| C．Parents encourage them to be brave and independent. |
| D．Parents encourage them to live a free and wealthy life. |
Now a gap year volunteer might do something more valuable like .
| A．experiencing different cultures |
| B．helping protect rainforests in Brazil |
| C．making friends with more people |
| D．enjoying traditional local food |
By taking a gap year, young people may .
| A．stay with their parents all the time |
| B．make money for their further study |
| C．help change the world for the better |
| D．change the Western mind completely |
The purpose of writing this article is to .
| A．show different opinions about gap year |
| B．offer readers information about gap year |
| C．discover new ways to take a gap year |
| D．tell young people when to take a gap year |
Like many of my generation, I have a weakness for hero worship. At some point, however, we all begin to question our heroes and our need for them. This leads us to ask: What is a hero?
Despite immense differences in cultures, heroes around the world generally share a number of characteristics that instruct and inspire people.
A hero does something worth talking about. A hero has a story of adventure to tell and community who will listen. But a hero goes beyond mere fame.
Heroes serve powers or principles larger than themselves. Like high-voltage transformers, heroes take the energy of higher powers and step it down so that it can be used by ordinary people.
The hero lives a life worthy of imitation. Those who imitate a genuine hero experience life with new depth, enthusiasm, and meaning. A sure test for would-be heroes is what or whom do they serve? What are they willing to live and die for? If the answer or evidence suggests they serve only their own fame, they may be famous persons but not heroes. Madonna and Michael Jackson are famous, but who would claim that their fans find life more abundant?
Heroes are catalysts (催化剂) for change. They have a vision from the mountaintop. They have the skill and the charm to move the masses. They create new possibilities. Without Gandhi, India might still be part of the British Empire. Without Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., we might still have segregated (隔离的) buses, restaurants, and parks. It may be possible for large-scale change to occur without leaders with magnetic personalities, but the pace of change would be slow, the vision uncertain, and the committee meetings endless.Although heroes may come from different cultures, they __________.
| A．generally possess certain inspiring characteristics |
| B．probably share some weaknesses of ordinary people |
| C．are often influenced by previous generations |
| D．all unknowingly attract a large number of fans |
According to the passage, heroes are compared to high-voltage transformers in that _______.
| A．they have a vision from the mountaintop |
| B．they have warm feelings and emotions |
| C．they can serve as concrete examples of noble principles |
| D．they can make people feel stronger and more confident |
Madonna and Michael Jackson are not considered heroes because __________.
| A．they are popular only among certain groups of people |
| B．their performances do not improve their fans morally |
| C．their primary concern is their own financial interests |
| D．they are not clear about the principles they should follow |
The author concludes that historical changes would __________.
| A．be delayed without leaders with inspiring personal qualities |
| B．not happen without heroes making the necessary sacrifices |
| C．take place if there were heroes to lead the people |
| D．produce leaders with attractive personalities |
Dear Kind-Trustee-Who-Sends-Orphans-to-College,
Here I am! I traveled yesterday for four hours in a train．It’s a funny feeling, isn’t it? I never rode in one before．
College is the biggest, most puzzling place—I get lost whenever I leave my room. I will write you a description later when I'm feeling less confused; also I will tell you about my lessons. Classes don't begin until Monday morning, and this is Saturday night. But I wanted to write a letter first just to get acquainted.
It seems strange to be writing letters to somebody you don't know. It seems strange for me to be writing letters at all—I've never written more than three or four in my life, so please overlook it if these are not a model kind.
Before leaving yesterday morning, Mrs. Lippett and I had a very serious talk. She told me how to behave all the rest of my life, and especially how to behave towards the kind gentleman who is doing so much for me. I must take care to be very respectful.
But how can one be very respectful to a person who wishes to be called John Smith? Why couldn't you have picked out a name with a little personality? I might as well write letters to Dear Flagpole or Dear Clothes-line.
I have been thinking about you a great deal this summer; having somebody take an interest in me after all these years makes me feel as though I had found a sort of family. It seems as though I belonged to somebody now, and it's a very comfortable feeling. I must say, however, that when I think about you, my imagination has very little to work upon. There are just three things that I know: I, You are tall. Ⅱ. You are rich. Ⅲ. You hate girls.
I suppose I might call you Dear Mr. Girl-Hater. Only that's rather rude to me. Or Dear Mr. Rich-Man, but that's rude to you, as though money were the only important thing about you. Besides, being rich is such a very external quality. Maybe you won't stay rich all your life; lots of very clever men get broke in Wall Street. But at least you will stay tall all your life! So I've decided to call you Dear Daddy-Long-Legs. I hope you won't mind. It's just a private pet name we won't tell Mrs. Lippett.
The ten o'clock bell is going to ring in two minutes. Our day is divided into sections by bells. We eat and sleep and study by bells. It's very lifeful. There it goes! Lights out. Good night.
Observe how precisely I obey rules--due to my training in the John Grier Home.
Yours most respectfully,
Jerusha Abbott
to Mr. Daddy-Long-Legs SmithJerusha felt “confused” because ______.
| A．she had never written to the trustee before |
| B．she was not familiar with the college yet |
| C．she could never find the way to her home |
| D．she had never traveled on a train berore |
Jerusha thought that she couldn’t be very respectful to “John Smith” because _______．
| A．he was a total stranger to her |
| B．she was sure it was a false identity |
| C．the name was too common |
| D．nobody would like to be called that name |
The fact that her day is “divided into sections by bells” makes Jerusha feel______.
| A．busy | B．restricted by rules | C．pressed for time | D．full of energy |
Jerusha decided to call the trustee Dear Daddy-Long-legs______.
| A．in order to show her respect for him |
| B．because it was one of his inner quality |
| C．in older to make them feel closer to each other |
| D．because she had always wanted a father |
Alexis was hot and tired. With rage in her voice she shouted, "Pull me up！I give up, I hate this. This is stupid!" It was at that moment when Jason, the adviser on the trip, looked at me and said, "Ed, I'm going to go down and talk with her." I then shouted down to Alexis, "Hold on! You can do this. We know you can!"
Jason grasped another rope, put his climbing harness(系带)on and began to repel down the cliff. Within moments Jason was beside Alexis. She had her cheek directly against the face of the rock with her feet barely resting on a small piece of the cliff that jetted outward. Jason said to Alexis, "I know that you have been on this cliff now for what seems like a long time. Your feet and fingers are cramping(痉挛)up and your forearms feel as though they are on fire. But , Alexis, you are strong, look how far up you are already. You have taken one of the more difficult paths up the cliff. Look Alexis, look at the path you have taken."
At that moment, Alexis moved her cheek away from the rock face and looked down. The bright white chalk she used on her hands to give her a better hold, showed the path where her tired hands had moved her upward on the cliff. Jason was right. Alexis had taken the hardest way up the cliff. Jason then looked straight into Alexis' eyes and in a calm voice he said, "You are not alone out here, there are people who care about you, who want to help you and see you succeed. We are going to do this together. Are you ready?" Slowly she shook her head yes and took a deep breath.Jason went down the cliff because _________.
| A．Alexis took a wrong path | B．Alexis was trapped in rocks |
| C．Alexis didn't believe in herself | D．Alexis' forearms were badly hurt |
We can infer from the passage that ________.
| A．Alexis was finally pulled up by Ed |
| B．Alexis regretted having taken the wrong path up the cliff |
| C．Alexis was immediately sent to hospital after she was pulled up |
| D．Alexis successfully rock climbed |
The underlined word "hot" in the story means _________.
| A．disappointed | B．angry | C．uncomfortable | D．running a high body temperature |
Alexis would probably become _________.
| A．more strong-minded | B．easier to give up |
| C．poorer in health | D．less interested in rock climbing |
Animation means making things which are lifeless come alive and move.
Since earliest times, people have always been astonished by movement. But not until this century have we managed to take control of movement, to record it, and in the case of animation, to retranslate it and recreate it. To do all this, we use a movie camera and a projector（放映机）.
In the world of cartoon animation, nothing is impossible. You can make the characters do exactly what you want them to do.
A famous early cartoon character was Felix the Cat, created by Pat Sullivan in America in the early nineteen twenties. Felix was a wonderful cat. He could do all sorts of things no natural cat could do like taking off his tail, using it as a handle and then putting it back.
Most of the great early animators lived and worked in America, the home of the moving picture industry. The famous Walt Disney cartoon characters came to life after 1928. Popeye the Sailor and his girl friend Olive Oyo were born at Max Ficischer in 1933.
But to be an animator, you don’t have to be a professional（专业人士）. It is possible for anyone to make a simple animated film without using a camera at all. All you have to do is to draw directly on to an empty film and then run the film through a projector.What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．Animal world | B．Movie camera | C．Cartoon making | D．Movement |
According to the passage, Felix the Cat ______ .
| A．was created by the American cartoonist Felix |
| B．was designed by Pat Sullivan in the early twentieth century |
| C．was unable to do what natural cats could not do |
| D．was created in the United States in the nineteenth century |
It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
| A．Walt Disney’s cartoon characters were born earlier that Pat Sullivan’s |
| B．only professionals can create cartoon characters |
| C．Popeye the Sailor and Olive Oyo were famous cartoonists |
| D．the animation industry started in the United States |
Which of the following statements best describes the author’s attitude towards cartoon making?
| A．Cartoon making is not a difficult job. Anyone can do it. |
| B．Only trained people can be employed in cartoon making industry. |
| C．Anyone can make cartoons under the instructions of professionals. |
| D．Cartoon making is no easy job. You have to spend much time drawing onto the empty film. |
Many crimes and social problems are caused by children. Despite the damage these teenage criminals cause, parents are not responsible in most countries. This article will discuss whether parents should be forced to pay for their children’s crimes.
There are many reasons why parents should not be responsible for crimes committed by teenage children. First of all, teenagers today are independent. They often move out of the parents’ house at 18 years of age or younger. They are expected to learn to take care of themselves and make their own decisions, and not to stay like small children attached to their parents. Secondly, parents are working. They cannot watch their adolescent children all the time. A third point is that even children from good families can sometimes commit crimes. Parents should not be responsible if they have worked hard to raise their children properly.
However, young troublemakers cause many problems, and I feel we should make parents responsible. Firstly, most juvenile（未成年的）crimes are committed by adolescents whose parents do not care or make any effort to control their children. If parents had to pay fines（罚款）, they might make more effort. Another point is that even though the children may seem mature, they are not really able to make good decisions. Parents should be responsible for raising and teaching their children until they are fully grown. Furthermore, if children know that their parents will have to pay, they will think carefully before getting into trouble.
In summary, there are good reasons both for and against making parents pay for acts committed by their children. However, I feel strongly that if we want to reduce the number of such crimes, we need to make parents take more responsibility.Those who insist that parents should not be responsible for their children’s crimes believe that ________.
a. teenagers are able to deal with things on their own
b. children need to experience difficulties to be fully grown
c. it’s impossible for parents to be with their children all the time
d. parents are not to blame as long as they try their best to educate their children
| A．a, c, d | B．a, b, c | C．b, c, d | D．a, b, d |
According to Paragraph 3, the main reason for children’s crimes is ________.
| A．unstable social environment | B．parents’ carelessness |
| C．bad family relationship | D．heavy financial burden |
The author thinks that making parents pay for their children’s crimes is ________.
| A．useless | B．easy | C．necessary | D．impractical |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Proper ways to educate children | B．Reasons for children’s crimes |
| C．Should children move out? | D．Should parents pay? |