WelcometoArundelCastlewhichiss-优题课

Students are being forced to take additional exams to get into leading universities because good A-levels do not always indicate the brightest candidates. Sixth formers applying to courses such as medicine and law are being asked to sit American-style aptitude (智能) tests, which are designed to assess (评价) thinking skills, among fears that too many A-level candidates are getting top grades. Last year, almost one in six students applying to universities such as Oxford and Cambridge from independent schools had to sit additional tests to secure a place.
Head teachers criticized the move, which they said would pile more pressure on schools and students. But universities insisted that the reforms were unavoidable, because A-level exams were no longer an accurate barometer (标准) of ability.
In 1986, 40 percent of students starting at Oxford achieved straight As at A-level. Mike Nicholson, its admissions director, said that this year almost every candidate offered a place would get perfect grades. It meant the university had to stage additional tests to identify the most able candidates. "The ability to achieve three A grades is no longer the end-point in the admissions process," he said. "The potential to achieve three A grades will allow them to enter the race for a place."
Oxford is not the only university turning to aptitude tests. At Cambridge, the number of students taking the university's Thinking Skills Assessment shot up 26 percent to more than 3, 000. A survey of 16, 830 sixth formers applying to higher education from private schools last year showed that 2, 860 had to sit at least one exam.
Earlier this year, the National Foundation for Educational Research recommended that most sixth formers should sit SAT tests —a standard reasoning exam widely used in American colleges—to make iteasier to pick out the best candidates.
What is the attitude of head teachers to the reform?

A．Approving.

B．Doubtful.

C．Opposed.

D．Neutral (中立的)

Which British university first started to use aptitude tests to pick out the best candidates?

A．Harvard.

B．Oxford.

C．Cambridge.

D．Washington

What can we know about the A-level system?

A．It can indicate the brightest candidates.

B．It was designed to assess students' thinking abilities.

C．It is longer an accurate way to assess students' abilities.

D．It was recommended by the National Foundation for Educational Research.

What can we infer from the passage?

A．The reform is more popular in American colleges than in British ones.

B．The reform will be applied by all universities in the future.

C．Universities used to depend on the A-level system to choose the best students.

D．Passing additional tests will allow the student to enter Oxford, regardless of whether he or she gets As.

What is the passage mainly about?

A．How to get into leading universities.

B．The disadvantages of the A-level system.

C．Different ways to identify students' abilities.

D．Universities using extra exams to choose students.

Choose Your Virginia
Rock House Museum

Rock House Museum. Take a journey through history with a visit to the exciting museum and historic sites of Wytheville. The Rock House Museum offers glimpses into daily life in the 19th century. The museum is part of the 50 structures featured in Wytheville's Historic Walking Tour. 540/223-3330.
Natural Bridge of Virginia

Natural Bridge of Virginia, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Caverns of Natural Bridge, guided tours of underground wonders; Natural Bridge Inn & Conference Center, Indoor Heated Pool, largest Gift & Souvenir Shop in the East. Information 800/533-1410.
Grand Caverns

Grand Caverns is America's oldest showcave. Beautiful and massive formations. Union troops visited the caverns. Thomas Jefferson visited—you should too! Open weekends in March, daily April～October, 9 am～5 pm. Hour tours leave every 30 minutes. 703/249-5705.
The News Museum

The News Museum in Arlington, the world's only interactive (互动) museum of news. Visitors can be reporters or television newscasters, see today's news as it happens on a block-long video news wall, and be takenbehind the scenes to see how news is made. The news museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 am～5 pm. 888/NEWSEUM.www.Newsmuseum. Org
Kenmore Plantation & Gardens

Kenmore Plantation & Gardens, visit over two hundred years of history from the Revolutionary War, Civil War and into the 21st century. Home of Betty Washington, George Washington's only sister, and Patriot Col, Fielding Lewis. Explore this historic building and city block of restored gardens. Tea and ginger cookies served.540/373-3381.
Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach offers 11，000 hotel/motel rooms, plus cottages and campgrounds. Enjoy miles of clean beaches and a variety of family attractions. Fine restaurants, various shopping areas, exciting nightlife, and special events are offered throughout the year. 800/ 822-3224.
What is the author's purpose in writing this passage?

A．To attract tourists to Virginia.

B．To encourage people to settle in Virginia.

C．To introduce historic sites in Virginia.

D．To give people a general description of Virginia.

What way is the News Museum different from Rock House Museum?

A．It is larger.

B．It is more exciting.

C．Visitors can act in it.

D．Visitors can see more in it.

If you want to enjoy yourself in the evening, you may go to __________.

A．The News Museum

B．Kenmore Plantation & Gardens

C．Grand Caverns

D．Virginia Beach

Which of the following places is not open in the winter months?

A．Natural Bridge of Virginia.

B．Grand Caverns.

C．Virginia Beach.

D．Kenmore Plantation & Gardens.

Which of the following is NOT true about Virginia Beach?

A．Tourists can camp in the open air.

B．Tourists can enjoy some special events there.

C．Tourists can not go there in their own cars.

D．Tourists can enjoy themselves on the clean beach.

"Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move," said David Belle, the founder of parkour (跑酷).
Do you love running? It is a good exercise, yet many people find it boring. But what if making your morning jog a creative one? Like jumping from walls and over gaps, and ground rolls? Just like the James Bond in the movie Casino Royale, Bond jumps down from a roof to a windowsill and then runs several blocks over obstacles on the way. It is just because of Bond's wonderful performances that the sport has become popular worldwide.
Yes, that's parkour, an extreme street sport aimed at moving from one point to another as quickly as possible, getting over all the obstacles in the path using only the abilities of the human body. Parkour isconsidered an extreme sport. As its participants dash around a city, they may jump over fences, run up walls and even move from rooftop to rooftop.
Parkour can be just as exciting and charming as it sounds, but its participants see parkour much more than that.
Overcoming all the obstacles on the course and in life is part of the philosophy (理念) behind parkour. This is the same as life. You must determine your destination, go straight, jump over all the barriers as if in parkour and never fall back from them in your life, to reach the destination successfully. A parkour lover said, "I love parkour because its philosophy has become my life, my way to do everything."
Another philosophy we've learnt from parkour is freedom. It can be done by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world. It is a kind of expression of trust in yourself that you earn energy and confidence.
Parkour has become popular throughout the world because of __________.

A．its founder, David Belle

B．the film Casino Royale

C．its risks and tricks

D．the varieties of participants

The underlined word "obstacles" in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to "__________".

A．streets

B．objects

C．barriers

D．roofs

Which of the following is true of parkour?

A．It challenges human abilities.

B．It is a good but boring sport.

C．It needs special training.

D．It is a team sport.

As its participants move around a city, __________.

A．they can ask for help

B．they may choose to escape

C．they should run to extremes

D．they must learn to survive

STRANGERS parties go wild these days. The main idea of them is to never let the people know who their matches are until the last minute. These are some popular practices that are storming the world’s youth on this V-day.
Speed dating
It's exactly what the name implies. Complete with a timer, a whistle and 50 willing singles, speed dating is not the traditional dinner and a movie type of first date. Singles pay US MYM35 for three minutes with more than two dozen future dates. They ask questions and try to get to know each other. At the sound of a whistle, they do the same thing all over again—25 times in all.
Lock and key party
Women are given a lock and men are given a key, upon arriving at the party. Each key and lock has several matches. One can hunt for his/her laterto-be sweetheart in various groups, and try out the key or lock. Each time a lock and key matching the pair are entered into a ballot (票数) for top prizes!
Dinner in the dark
Waiters wearing night vision glasses guide the guests through the pitch-black dining room. They are seated at the table and familiarized with the wine glass and plate. Food is handled with the fingers. People will not see the food they are eating or the guests at their table until the dessert course. At that moment, dining partners will appear.
Message party
Have A Cocktail, Leave A Message! When you arrive, you get a tag with a number and a pad of post it notes. If you see someone you like, write a message on the message board. But wait... You've got a message... Go and collect it! You can make newfriends and win lots of gifts. The more messages you leave on the bulletin board, the more chances you have of winning prizes.
What do you think the similarities of these parties are?

A．All the parties have very strict rules for their members.

B．If you want to go to any of the parties, you have to buy a ticket.

C．All the parties are aimed at strangers who want to be lovers.

D．All the parties are suitable not only for the young but for the old.

In which party does a participant have to be careful with the time?

A．Speed dating.

B．Lock and key party.

C．Dinner in the dark.

D．Message party.

If you go to the Dinner in the dark, __________.

A．you have to wear night vision glasses

B．you have to eat with your hands

C．guests eat all the courses in the darkness

D．your dining partners will help you choose the food

How many of the parties offer gifts or prizes?

A．1.

B．2.

C．3.

D．4.

Robots have proved to be valuable tools for soldiers, surgeons and homeowners hoping to keep the carpet clean. But in each case, they are designed and built specifically for the job. Now there is a movement under way to build multipurpose machines—robots that can move about in changing environmentssuch as offices or living rooms and work with their hands.
All-purpose robots are not, of course, a new idea. "It's been five or 10 years from happening for about 50 years, " says Eric Berger, co-director of the Personal Robotics Program at Willow Garage, a Silicon Valley organization. The delay is in part because even simple tasks require a huge set of capabilities. For a robot to fetch a mug, for example, it needs to make sense of data gathered by a variety of sensorslaser scanners identifying potential blocking objects, cameras searching for the target, force feedback in the fingers that grasp the mug, and more. Yet Berger and other experts are confident that real progress could be made in the next decade.
The problem, according to Willow Garage, is the lack of a common platform for all that computational effort. Instead of enlarging the capabilities of a single machine, everyone is designing robots and the software to control them, from the ground up. To help change this, Willow Garage is currently producing 25 copies of its model PR2 (for "Personal Robot 2"), a two-armed, wheeled machine that can switch off the electricity, open doors and move through a room. Ten of the robots will stay in house, but 10 more will go to outside research groups, and everyone will share their advances. This way, Berger says, if you want to build the robotic equivalent (等同物) of a Twitter (推特网站), you won't start by constructing a computer. "You build the thing that's new."
The robots are mentioned to do some specific jobs EXCEPT in __________.

A．battle fields

B．operation room

C．people's houses

D．wild fields

The multipurpose robot may be identified as a machine that __________.

A．can move about in changing environments and work with their hands

B．can make sense of data gathered by a variety of sensors

C．has a huge set of abilities to finish all the simple tasks

D．has identifying laser scanners, searching cameras and force feedback

According to Willow Garage, we will make realprogress in building all-purpose robots if __________.

A．everyone is designing robots and the software to control them

B．they can produce 25 copies of its model PR2

C．people can enlarge the capabilities of a single machine

D．people can start by constructing a computer