任务型阅读(共 10 小题,每小题 1 分,满分 10 分)
阅读下面短文,根据所读内容在文后第1至第10小题的空格里填上适当的单词。注意:每空1个单词。
The back-to-school season is upon us, and once again, parents across the country have loaded their kids’ backpacks up with snack packs and school supplies. It’s a good moment to reflect on what else we should be giving our kids as they head off to school.
American parents are feeling particularly anxious about that question this year. The educational process feels more than ever like a race, one that starts in pre-school and doesn’t end until your child is admitted to the perfect college. Most parents are more worried than they need to be about their children’s grades, test scores and IQ. And what we don’t think about enough is how to help our children build their character—how to help them develop skills like perseverance, optimism, responsibility, and self-control, which together do more to determine success than S.A.T. scores or I.Q.
There is growing evidence that our anxiety about our children’s school performance may actually be holding them back from learning some of these valuable skills. If you’re concerned only with a child’s G.P.A., then you will likely choose to minimize the challenges the child faces in school. With real challenge comes the risk of real failure. And in a competitive academic environment, the idea of failure can be very scary, to students and parents alike.
But experiencing failure is a critical part of building character. Recent research by a team of psychologists found that adults who had experienced little or no failure growing up were actually less happy and confident than those who had experienced a few significant setbacks in childhood. “Overcoming those obstacles,” the researchers assumed, “could teach effective coping skills, help engage social support networks, create a sense of mastery over past adversity, and foster beliefs in the ability to cope successfully in the future.”
By contrast, when we protect our children from every possible failure—when we call their teachers to get an extension on a paper; when we urge them to choose only those subjects they’re good at—we are denying them those same character-building experiences. As the psychologists Madeline Levine and Dan Kindlon have written, that can lead to difficulties in adolescence and young adulthood, when overprotected young people finally confront real problems on their own and don’t know how to overcome them.
In the classroom and outside of it, American parents need to encourage children to take chances, to challenge themselves, to risk failure. In the meantime, giving our kids room to fail may be one of the best ways we can help them succeed.
Back to School: Why Perseverance Is More Important than Good Grades? |
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Common phenomena |
☺Parents throughout America |
☺Many American parents don’t |
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The writer’s |
Parents should pay more attention to their kids’ character building. |
Evidence and |
☺Parents’ anxiety about their kids’ performance may |
☺Parents concerned only with a kid’s G.P.A. have a |
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☺Adults who have experienced a few significant setbacks in childhood are |
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☺Denying kids character-building experiences can |
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The writer’s suggestions |
☺ |
☺Give kids room to experience |
Work and study today are very different from what they were like 20 years ago. In the past, people often worked in the same job from graduation till retirement. Today, however, everyone needs to learn new things constantly on the job and it is common practice for people to go back to school from time to time in order to keep up with the fast changing world. Changing jobs has also become common practice for many people as they aim to enrich their work experience, develop new skills and meet new challenges. In today’s world of constant innovation (创新,革新), you can’t afford to think that you have finished with your studies. If you don’t want to be all behind in today’s competitive job market, you have to commit yourself to lifelong learning.
Effective lifelong learning is not only a matter of collecting formal qualifications. It’s also about forming habits that help you study, and developing attitudes that make you receptive (善于接受的,能容纳的) to learning.
Habits that help you study include time management, note taking, analysis and writing. These habits are useful but you won’t learn effectively unless you have the right attitude. Being open-minded is important because learning something new often means challenging the ideas you have already hold. Expecting to learn something that is both new and valuable will in fact help you to do so. For successful lifelong learning, you must take these study habits and attitudes with you when you leave school to start on your adult lives.
School is the ideal place to gain lifelong learning skills because you have support and resources, and you are young and naturally more open to learning. If you invest time in developing your study skills now, you’ll be enjoying the rewards for the rest of your life. In school you also have the time to develop learning skills. Many adults are sadly too busy to develop learning skills once they start work.
Today you cannot assume that completing a course will give you qualifications that will see you through your career. Change is unpredictable and you must be ready for it. In fact, there is no profession that doesn’t require continuous learning. But this is not something to be scared of. All you need to do is to develop learning skills and learn how to learn so that you are ready to keep yourself up-to-date with changes that come your way. Be open-minded, have the right attitude, and be ready for the next challenge.
Title: The Importance of Lifelong Learning |
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_____ |
People in the past often ___ |
People today need to learn new things ____ Going back to school to learn new things becomes common practice. |
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Effective lifelong learning includes much essence. |
Collecting formal qualifications. Forming habits that are ____ ___ |
Study habits and attitude needed for successful lifelong learning |
Time management Note taking __ Being open-minded |
____ |
Learners have support and resources when in school. Learners in school have far more time to develop learning skills, _____ |
How to be a lifelong ___ |
Be ready for the unpredictable changes. Have learning skills __ Be open-minded, have the right attitude, and be ready for the next challenge. |
阅读下面短文,根据所读内容在文后的空格里填上适当的单词或短语。注意:每空不超过三个单词。
My name is Jane. My job is to write stories and newsletters for a magazine. My hobby is traveling and I hope to visit Great Britain one day. I’d like a pen-pal from London, who is interested in discussing the differences between Europe and Asia. I love listening to pop music and playing football.
I’m Manuel. I’m a businessman and have a large company with many workers and clerks. I’d like to find a pen-pal who is also a businessman and lives in North America. I like using the Internet.
I am working in a university. I speak English, French and Russian. My family name is Jackson but my students usually call me Sarah. I’d like a pen-pal who is fond of language learning working in Oxford University. I don’t like using computers for learning and I believe that true language can only happen in a classroom.
I’m Peter and interested in the differences bet ween East Europe and North America. I love riding my horse and listening to jazz. I usually get up at 7 o’clock and go to school around 7:30 in the morning. I want to find a pen-pal living in Sydney who has the same interest as me.
Cindy is my first name. I’m working in a travel agency. Sometimes I am called Mr. Guide as I am working. I’d like to find a pen-pal who comes from Europe. I like playing the piano and listening to jazz. I’m interested in history, but I don’t like to discuss languages.
Name Vocation(职业)___________ Pen-pal from
Jane_____________ Traveling;
listening to pop music and ____________
London _____________ Businessman Using
_________ North America
Jackson _____________ Teaching Oxford University
Peter Student ____________ and listening to jazz
_____________
Cindy _____________ Playing the piano; listening to jazz; history
_____________
请认真阅读下面短文,并根据所读内容在文章后图表中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。
注意:每空只填一个单词。
Bored at school now? How do you think it will look in the future? Last week, about 600 teenagers in the U.S. imagined a future changed by technology in which their lessons are taught by robots and they learn about celebrities (名人)and alien(外星人)languages.
According to a survey published last week by the U.S. ,Internet service provider American Online(AOL), only one in 100 thinks that in the future they will walk from home to school; the rest believe they will use jet packs, and hover boards(滑板) as everyday transport.
All the participants(参与者)of the survey are teenagers born into the Internet age. The study is to show how the first cyber (网络的)generation dream about a future life created by advanced technology.
Most believe there will still be schools to go to, but that technology will play an increasingly important role in learning. The 600 teens surveyed think there will still be teachers, but 37 percent imagine them to be robots. Some 24 percent believe that teachers will still be human but they will have inter-changeable microchips so that one person can teach all subjects.
More than one in two believe hover boarding will be popular, while one-third say that wearing rocket boots will be their favorite activity. Another third think jet packs will be popular. Nearly 30 percent think playing football and bike-riding will remain popular.
When it comes to the curriculum(课程), they think future generations will be learning about robot building(63 percent), alien languages(47 percent) celebrities(26 percent) and R’n’B music(22 percent).
Children will wear virtual(虚拟的)reality helmets(头盔) to bring lessons to life, say 40 percent, while over 20 percent believe they will not need lessons because microchips implanted(植入)in their head will send relevant information into the brain. Matt Whyman, adviser to the chief medical officer on youth issues of AOL, said: “ The kids seem very aware of the liberation qualities of technology.”
Title_________school
Changes in the way of |
At present, most students walk to school. In the future, students will use jet packs, and hover boards. |
Changes in the way of |
In the future, robots will |
Changes in the way of |
Virtual reality helmets can bring |
Changes in |
Most students will |
“BANG! BANG!” Setting off firecrackers(爆竹), which has been the most typical custom on the Spring Festival, is the happiest part of the Festival for most Chinese kids. They light the fuse(导火线) nervously, run away in a hurry, cover their ears with their hands and watch the colorful display with a big smile on their faces. Faced with the beautiful scene, they feel they are the happiest ones in the world as if they had never had a more exciting experience.
While setting off firecrackers can bring kids so much fun, these firecrackers can also be dangerous. Therefore, many Chinese big cities including Beijing began to ban them in the 1980s. Such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities because the government took security, noise and pollution factors into consideration. As a replacement, some buy tapes with firecracker sounds to listen to, some break little balloons to get the sound too, while others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.
This year good news came for teens in Beij ing. The ban on firecrackers was cancelled on September 9, 2008. It will add much fun to the coming Spring Festival in tile capital. Hearing the news, many kids were wild with joy.
According to Chinese custom, lighting firecrackers is a must during the Spring Fesrival. People believe the sound of the firecrackers drives away demons(恶魔) and bad luck for the coming year. Their beautiful colours and sound also bring much excitement during this most important traditional Chinese festival.
Since the ban, people complained that the Spring Festival was too quiet and not traditional enough. Children lost the fun and grown-ups lost their childhood memories.
Some even worried that if the ban continued, the next generation would only know the custom of lighting firecrackers through books. This would be a great loss for tradition.
Everybody knows that we can’t give up eating for the slight risk of choking(因噎废食). So in recent years, many cities have resumed the old custom at the request of local residents. This year Beijing kids will also be able to join in.
However, every year there are kids injured by setting off fireworks in a dangerous way. So while enjoying yourself, please bear safety in mind.
Don’t light fireworks among crowds, inside a bottle or with a part of your body right over it.
No matter how much fun firecrackers are, the most important thing is to keep away from danger. We wish every kid an exciting and safe Spring Festival!
Title:Firecrackers back in Beijing on the Spring Festival
for setting off firecrackers |
☆It is the most typical custom of the Chinese. ☆The sound of the firecrackers is ☆Their beautiful colours and sound also make people |
Fun for kids |
☆Feeling nervous and running away ☆Covering the ears with hands and |
☆It is very dangerous for people and their properties. ☆Its noise and smoke cause heavy |
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Complaints about the ban |
☆Much fun for kids will be ☆It’s difficult for grown-ups to remember their childhoods. |
Return of firecrackers |
☆The government ☆If taking proper |
请认真阅读下列短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的词(每空1词)。
For centuries people dreamed of going into space. This dream began to seem possible when high-flying rockets were built in the early 1900s.
In 1903 a Russian teacher named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky figured out how to use rockets for space travel. His plan was the first one in rocket science to use correct scientific calculation. About 30 years later, a U.S. scientist named Robert Goddard built the first rockets that could reach high altitudes. During World War II, German scientists built large rockets that could travel very far and carry dangerous explosives. After the war, scientists from Germany went to the United States and the Soviet Union to help those countries build space rockets.
These two countries were soon racing to get to space first. Each of these countries wanted to prove that it was stronger and more advanced than the other one. Both countries also had powerful bombs. People in the United States were worried when the Soviets were first to launch a space satellite, which was called Sputnik. The Soviets were also first to send a person into space. Yury Gagarin orbited the earth in the Vostok I spaceship in 1961.
The US government set a goal for its space program to be the first country to put a person on the Moon. The U.S. space program built a series of Apollo spaceship. These vehicles were powered by huge Saturn 5 rockets. In 1969 Apollo II took three men to the moon successfully. Nell Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon.
The Soviets may have lost the race to fly people to the Moon, but they built the first space station in 1971. The United States also built a space station. The space stations allowed people to live and work in space. Then the Soviet Union and the United States cooperated to hook two spaceships together in space. This action ended the "space race". Today a much larger space station, built by several countries together, orbits Earth.
Another new way to go to space is by space shuttle. A space shuttle, first made in the United States in 1981, looks like an airplane. Astronauts who fly spaceships have used shuttles to help put satellites into space.
The |
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Time |
Events |
Information concerned |
Early 1900s |
High-flying rockets were built. |
It made the ancient dream of going to space possible to come |
1903 |
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky a way to use rockets for space travel. |
He planned to put correct scientific calculation to use in rocket science. |
Around 1933 |
Robert Goddard built new rockets. |
The rockets could fly very |
During and after World War II |
German scientists built large rockets that could travel very far and carry dangerous explosives. |
Germany was ahead of all the other countries in building space rockets and later it even offered |
The Soviet Union and the United States competed to get to space first. |
The Soviet Union became the of the race when it launched the first satellite and sent the first astronaut into space. |
|
1969 |
The United States |
In one way, it |
1970s |
The Soviets built the first space station and was soon followed by Americans. And they finally ended the "space race" by |
Astronauts can live and work in space stations. |
1980s-- |
Space shuttles are used as new vehicles for space |
Shuttles are also used to help put satellites into space. |