From the very beginning of school we make books and reading a constant source of possible failure and public humiliation. When children are little we make them read aloud, before the teacher and other children, so that we can be sure they “know” all the words they are reading. This means that when they don’t know a word, they are going to make a mistake, right in front of everyone. After having taught fifth-grade classes for four years, I decided to try at all costs to rid them of their fear and dislike of books, and to get them to read oftener and more adventurously.
One day soon after school had started, I said to them, “Now I’m going to say something about reading that you have probably never heard a teacher say before. I would like you to read a lot of books this year, but I want you to read them only for pleasure. I am not going to ask you questions to find out whether you understand the books or not. If you understand enough of a book to enjoy it and want to go on reading it, that’s enough for me. Also I’m not going to ask you what words mean. “
The children sat stunned and silent. Was this a teacher talking? One girl, who had just come to us from a school where she had had a very hard time, looked at me steadily for a long time after I had finished. Then, still looking at me, she said slowly and seriously, Mr Holt, do you really mean that?” I said just as seriously, “I mean every word of it.
During the spring she really astonished me. One day, she was reading at her desk, From a glimpse of the illustrations I thought I knew what the book was. I said to myself, “It can’t be,” and went to take a closer look. Sure enough, she was reading Moby Dick , in edition with woodcuts. I said, “Don’t you find parts of it rather heavy going?” She answered, Oh, sure, but I just skip over those parts and go on to the next good part. “
This is exactly what reading should be and in school so seldom is, an exciting, joyous adventure. Find something, dive into it, take the good parts, skip the bad parts, get what you can out of it, go on to something else. How different is our mean-spirited, picky insistence that every child get every last little scrap of “understanding” that can be dug out of a book.
According to the passage, children’s fear and dislike of books may result from________.
| A．reading little and thinking little |
| B．reading often and adventurously |
| C．being made to read too much |
| D．being made to read aloud before others |
The teacher told his students to read______ .
| A．for enjoyment |
| B．for knowledge |
| C．for a larger vocabulary |
| D．for higher scores in exams |
Upon hearing the teacher’s talk, the children probably felt that________.
| A．it sounded stupid |
| B．it was not surprising at all |
| C．it sounded too good to be true |
| D．it was no different from other teachers' talk |
Which of the following statements about the girl is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．She skipped over those easy parts while reading. |
| B．She had a hard time finishing the required reading tasks. |
| C．She learned to appreciate some parts of the difficult books. |
| D．She turned out to be a top student after coming to this school. |
From the teacher's point of view,_________ .
| A．children cannot tell good parts from bad parts while reading |
| B．children should be left to decide what to read and how to read |
| C．reading is never a pleasant and inspiring experience in school |
| D．reading involves understanding every little piece of information |
In Canada you can find dogs, cats, horses, etc. in almost every family. These are their pets. People love these pets and have them as their good friends. Before they keep them in their houses, they take them to animal hospitals to give them injections(注射) so that they won’t carry diseases. They have special animal food stores, though they can get animal food in almost every kind of stores. Some people spend around two hundred Canadian dollars a month on animal food. When you visit people’s houses, they would be very glad to show you their pets and they are very proud of them. You will also find that almost every family has a bird feeder in their garden. All kinds of birds are welcomed to come and have a good meal. They are free to come and go and nobody is allowed to kill any animal in Canada. They have a law against killing wild animals. If you killed an animal, you would be punished. If an animal happened to get run over by a car, people would be very sad about it.
People in Canada have many reasons to like animals. One of them might be: Their family ties are not as close as ours. When children grow up, they leave their parents and start their own life. Then the old will feel lonely. But pets can solve this problem. They can be good friends and never leave them alone.The passage mainly talks about ______.
| A．how to keep diseases from pets | B．Canadians have pets as friends |
| C．how to take good care of pets | D．life of the old in Canada |
Pets are given injections in animal hospitals ______.
| A．in order to keep them safe | B．after being taken home |
| C．because they carry diseases | D．because they are sick |
The word “bird feeder” in the second paragraph probably means ______.
| A．a person who gives food to birds | B．a container that has food for birds |
| C．something that catches birds | D．an animal that eats birds |
“Well, what did I say？Buck’s a real fighter, all right,” said Francois the next morning when he discovered that Spitz had disappeared and that Buck was covered in blood．
“Spitz fought like a wolf,” said Perrault, as he looked at the bites all over Buck．
“And Buck fought like ten wolves,” answered Francois. “And we'll travel faster now. No more Spitz，no more trouble.”
Francois started to harness the dogs. He needed a new lead-dog, and decided that Solleks was the best dog that he had. But Buck jumped at Solleks and took his place．
“Look at Buck！” said Francois，laughing. “He's killed Spitz，and now he wants to be lead-dog．Go away, Buck！”
He pulled Buck away and tried to harness Solleks again．Solleks was unhappy too. He was frightened of Buck, and when Francois turned his back，Buck took Solleks’ place again. Now Francois was angry．
“I'll show you! ” he cried，and went to get a heavy club from the sledge．
Buck remembered the man in the red coat，and moved away. This time，when Solleks was harnessed as lead-dog，Buck did not try to move in．He kept a few meters away and circled around Francois carefully. But when Francois called him to his old place in front of Dave, Buck refused．He had won his fight with Spitz and he wanted to be lead－dog．
For an hour the two men tried to harness him．Buck did not run away，but he did not let them catch him．Finally，Francois sat down，and Perrault looked at his watch．It was getting late. The two men looked at one another and smiled. Francois walked up to Solleks，took off his harness， led him back and harnessed him in his old place．Then he called Buck. All the other dogs were harnessed and the only empty place was now the one at the front. But Buck did not move．
“Put down the club,” said Perrault．
Francois dropped the club, and immediately Buck came up to the front of the team．Francois harnessed him, and in a minute the sledge was moving．
Buck was an excellent leader. He moved and thought quickly and led the other dogs well. A new leader made no difference to Dave and Solleks; they continued to pull hard．But the other dogs had had an easy life when Spitz was leading．They were surprised when Buck made them work hard and punished them for their mistakes. Pike，the second dog，was usually lazy；but by the end of the first day he was pulling harder than he had ever pulled in his life. The first night in camp Buck fought Joe，another difficult dog，and after that there were no more problems with him．The team started to pull together，and to move faster and faster．
“I've never seen a dog like Buck!” cried Francois, “Never! He's worth a thousand dollars. What do you think, Perrault? ”
Perrault agreed．They were moving quickly，and covering more ground every day. The snow was good and hard，and no new snow fell．The temperature dropped to 45°C below zero, and didn't change．
This time there was more ice on the Thirty Mile River, and they crossed in a day．Some days they ran a hundred kilometers，or even more. They reached Skagway in fourteen days; the fastest time ever．The writer mentioned “the man in the red coat” in the passage to show that____.
| A．the man in the red coat once beat Buck severely with a club. |
| B．Buck remembered Francois was the man in the red coat. |
| C．the man in the red was quite friendly to Buck in his memory. |
| D．Buck remembered Francois was a friend of the man in the red coat. |
Why did Buck fight Joe the first night in camp?
| A．He wanted to get rid of Joe. |
| B．He wanted to make some trouble. |
| C．He was interested in fighting with others. |
| D．He wanted to teach Joe a lesson. |
According to the passage, which of the following is true about the other dogs?
| A．Dave stood in the second position in the team. |
| B．Joe was always quite lazy in the team. |
| C．Pike was a trouble-maker in the team. |
| D．Solleks was hard-working in the team. |
What did Francois think of Buck at the end of the passage?
| A．annoying | B．admirable | C．aggressive | D．average |
Which of the following best shows that Buck was an excellent leader?
| A．He killed Spitz at the beginning of the story. |
| B．He punished them for their mistakes. |
| C．He fought Joe the first night in camp. |
| D．They reached Skagway in the fastest time ever. |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．The Fight with Dogs | B．The New Lead-dog |
| C．A Dog Called Buck | D．A Real Fighter |
It is common to have difficulties sleeping during the day. Humans are naturally wired to sleep best at night and be awake during the day. However, modern work schedules require some people to try to accommodate the unnatural schedule of shift（轮班）work — being awake at night and sleeping during the day.
In order to make this adjustment, you need to pay special attention to your sleep environment and your preparation for sleep. If shift work is a necessary part of your work life, here are some suggestions that may help.
Arrange to sleep uninterrupted in a quiet, dark room. This means you may have to turn off or unplug your phone, hang darkening curtains on the windows or wear a sleep eye mask, and train your family and friends to leave you alone while you sleep.
Fit in a nap（小睡）. When your daytime sleep period is too short, taking a short nap of less than 30 minutes just before work or on a break has been shown to improve alertness and enhance performance.
Develop and follow a sleep routine. It's best if you go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Try not to vary this too much on weekends. Your body likes routine.
Take extra care to make healthy choices. You may be tempted to reach for unhealthy foods or nicotine to stay awake or alcohol to try to sleep. But ultimately these choices are more harmful than helpful.
If you have tried all these things and are still having problems getting enough quality sleep during the day, talk to your doctor or a sleep specialist. Sometimes medications（药物治疗）may be helpful and safe. In other cases, there may be an underlying sleep disorder that needs to be addressed. The purpose of the text is to.
| A．persuade workers to have a god sleep. |
| B．advise night workers to keep healthy |
| C．encourage workers to do day work |
| D．help night workers to sleep well |
What does the author recomusend?
| A．A suitable account of alcohol to help sleep. |
| B．A regular life on weekday’s and weekends. |
| C．A dark room without phoebes to sleep in. |
| D．A break for sleeping anytime during the day. |
On which condition should a person turn to a sleep specialist for help?
| A．If he suffers from a sleep disorder for the first time. |
| B．If a good sleep environment is greatly needed for him. |
| C．If he falls to get quality sleep through his own efforts. |
| D．If he has the problem of bailing to sleep in the daytime. |
We can learn from the test that.
| A．night workers need a long time to fall asleep |
| B．constant breaks at work help to improve performance |
| C．it is difficult to create a good sleep environment |
| D．night work requires people to adjust their body clocks |
In the computer age, most of us take a broadband（宽带）Internet connection for granted. Whether cable or mobile broadband, today’s connections are many times faster than those in the early days. Videos play smoothly, complex websites load quickly, and files（档案文件）download much faster than ten years ago. And the files are much bigger too.
There’s a catch, of course: You have to live near enough to a major city to get broadband Internet. If you don’t, it’s slow dial-up access for you. And for those living really far out, there may be no Internet access at all.
Technology experts often talk about the “last mile” problem, which refers to the difficulty of bringing Internet access to remote locations. In cities and suburbs（郊区）, it’s relatively easy to provide access for everyone. It is much more difficult to deliver access to those living far from cities, especially in developing countries. Internet service providers, for their part, have been reluctant to provide access to sparsely (稀疏地) populated areas. The handful of Internet users they would reach wouldn’t cover the expense.
But every year, technological advancements allow of more and more Internet users. Most broadband connections today run over existing cable TV and telephone lines although these technologies aren’t available everywhere.
Some companies have delivered the Internet over standard power lines. Advancements in cheaper, more efficient fiber optics cables (光纤电缆) promise to bring extremely fast Internet connections to more users.
Still, the “last mile” problem remains hard to deal with. There will always be somewhere that doesn’t have an affordable broadband connection. But someday that might not matter. If the rapid progress in cell phone technology is any indication (迹象), it may not be too long before an Internet connection simply follows you wherever you go.The underlined part “a catch” (in Paragraph 2) probably means “_____”.
| A．a rare challenge | B．a desirable plan |
| C．an efficient device | D．a hidden problem |
What can we know from the third paragraph?
| A．Internet connection has not been popular in most cities. |
| B．Internet service providers care about rural（农村的）customers. |
| C．Computer is popular in developing countries. |
| D．It is hard to bring Internet access to users in remote areas. |
Paragraph 4 mainly tells us that technological advancements _____.
| A．make TV and telephone available everywhere |
| B．bring great change to people’s everyday life |
| C．make it possible for more people to use the Internet |
| D．bring faster Internet connections to users |
What may eventually settle the “last mile” problem?
| A．The broadband connection’s getting faster. |
| B．More and more Internet users. |
| C．more and more Internet connections. |
| D．The rapid progress in cell phone technology. |
When asked to point out one or two things that are most important to themselves, many put friends ahead of homes, jobs, cloth and cars.
A true friendship carries-a-long history of experience that determines who we are and keeps us connected. It is a treasure we should protect. Unfortunately, the better friends you are, the more probably you’ll have disagreements. And the result can be what you don’t want an end to the relationship.
The good news is that most troubled friendships can be mended First, don’t let your pride get in your way. Most of us can forgive each other when differences are brought out in the open . second, apologize when you’re wrong – even if you’ve been wronged. Over the course of a friendship, even the best people make mistakes. Sometimes, it may be best if the wronged person takes the lead and apologizes. When you apologize, give your friend a chance to admit that he has been wrong. Third, see things from your friend’s point of view. And finally, accept that friendships change as our needs and lifestyle change. Making friends can sometimes seem easy. The hard part is keeping the connections strong during the natural ups and downs that have an effect on all relationships . My suggestion: Consider friendship an honor and a gift , and worth the effort to treasure and nurture .What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Easy Ways to Make Friends |
| B．Ups and Downs in Friendship |
| C．How to Mend a Troubled Friendship |
| D．How to Take the Lead in Making Friends |
The “wronged person” underlined in the text refers to a person .
| A．who has been mistaken for another |
| B．who has been blamed unfairly |
| C．who has treated friends badly |
| D．who has admitted his mistakes |
According to the text a friendship can last long only if ．
| A．we have much in common |
| B．we know our friends’ mistakes |
| C．we treat our disagreements wisely |
| D．we have know one another for long |
What should we do if we follow the author’s second suggestion?
| A．Stick to our own prints of view |
| B．Avoid making mistakes |
| C．Make an apology first |
| D．Change our lifestyles |