There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill There are, however, vastly different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority it must be given over in general language development and writing ability. The problem is, how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities of spelling?
If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to "play safe". He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurous language. That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.
I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: "This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling errors and your writing is illegible." It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil's technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had omitted to read the essay, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the errors, but if his priorities had centered on the child's ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation to seek improvement.Teachers differ in their opinions about ________.
| A．the difficulties in teaching spelling |
| B．the necessity of teaching spelling |
| C．the complexities of the basic writing skills |
| D．the role of spelling in general language development |
The expression "play safe" probably means “_______”.
| A．to write carefully |
| B．to avoid using words one is not sure of |
| C．to do as teachers say |
| D．to use dictionaries frequently |
Teachers encourage the use of dictionaries so that ______.
| A．teachers will have less trouble in correcting mistakes |
| B．students will have more confidence in writing |
| C．students will be able to express their ideas more freely |
| D．students will learn to be independent of teachers |
The major point discussed in the passage is ________.
| A．the relationship between spelling and content of a composition |
| B．the importance of developing writhing skills |
| C．the correct way of marking compositions |
| D．the complexities of spelling |
Would you eat a ready meal from the fridge rather than cook by yourself? Have you been doing Internet shopping rather than going to the stores? What can't you be bothered to do?
A study into how lazy British people are has found more than half of the adults are so idle (懒散的) that they'd catch the lift rather than climb two flights of stairs.
Just over 2000 people were quizzed by independent researchers at Nuffield Health, Britain's largest health center. The results were extremely surprising.
About one in six people questioned said if their remote control was broken, they would continue watching the same channel rather than get up.
More than one third of those questioned said they would not run to catch a bus. Worryingly, of the 654 respondents with children, 64% said they were often too tired to play with them.
This led the report to conclude that it's no wonder that one in six children in the UK are classified as obese (very fat) before they start school.
Dr Sarah Dauncey, medical director of Nuffield Health, said, “People need to get fitter, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of their families, friends and evidently (明显地；显然) their pets too.”
“If we don't start to take control of this problem, a whole generation will become too unfit to perform even the most fundamental tasks.”
And Scotland's largest city, Glasgow, was shamed as the most idle city in the UK, with 75% questioned admitting they do not get enough exercise, followed closely by Birmingham and Southampton, both with 67%.
The results bring serious challenges for the National Health Service, where obesity-related illnesses such as heart disease and cancer have been on a steady increase for the past 40 years and are costing billions of pounds every year.
1. How many people questioned don't play with their children?
A. 1280. B. More than 333. C. 654. D. About 420.
2. The study leads us to believe that _____________.
A. the pets in the UK will be in trouble if their owners keep their way of life
B. Glasgow people feel ashamed because they don't get enough exercise
C. British people are the laziest around the world
D. five sixths of the British children are healthy
3. How does the author convince the readers?
A. By presenting the results of a study. B. By providing answers to questions.
C. By interviewing some experts. D. By telling a story.
4. What is the passage mainly about?
A. A study of British people's laziness. B. A study of British people's lifestyles.
C. The health service in the UK. D. The obesity problem in the UK.
Read the following reviews for movies that are showing at the moment. And then answer questions.
Happiness（Romance）★★★★
Happiness tells the story of two people（Lisa Turbot and Danny Roy）who work for different advertising companies. They talk on the phone all the time and don't like each other. But then they correspond by e-mail and fall in love. This movie will be very popular with teenagers and people who like romances. It also has beautiful music.
I Scream（Thriller）★★
In I Scream, Paul（Colin Jacks）is a young man who joins a thriller club. Each of the members tries to frighten the others. Paul is told to stay in an old house for the night. Everyone who has tried to stay in the house before has died. This movie is very frightening but also quite silly. It doesn't make sense for Paul to stay in the house when things start to go wrong. Only for people who like thrillers.
Paul's Heroes（Comedy）★★★
This is a very funny war movie set in World War Two. Six soldiers（including Sammy Turblow）have to get to Italy to take secret messages to the American army there. During the movie, they dress up as women and fight with Italian workers. You can guess the ending, but it's great fun getting there.
_____________（Drama）★★★★
This is a very good drama with Jack Ross, who plays a hard-working truck driver. His wife becomes ill and he has to find a doctor who can help her. In his travels he meets Dr. Lloyd（Phil Driver）who has found the cure for the illness, but Jack Ross has only twelve hours to get the medicine back to his wife on the other side of America. This is an excellent movie, which is very exciting.
1. Which of the four movies is the least popular with people?
A. The 1st one. B. The 2nd one. C. The 3rd one. D. The 4th one.
2. The underlined word "correspond" can be replaced by _____________.
A. date B. exchange C. write D. communicate
3. A thriller is most probably a film which tells something _____________.
A. frightening B. instructive C. humorous D. interesting
4. Which of the following is the best title for the fourth film?
A. A Hard-working Truck Driver B. Medicine
C. A Strange Illness D. Twelve Hours
第三部分阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的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。
At present, in many American cities especially, many teachers in the public schools say they are underpaid. They point to jobs such as secretary or truck driver, which often pay more to start than that of a teacher. In many other fields, such as law, medicine, computer science, a beginning worker may make more than a teacher who has taught for several years.
Teaching has never been a profession that attracted people interested in high salaries. It is by history a profession that has provided rewards in addition to money—the satisfaction of sharing knowledge, of influencing others, of guiding young people. But in the past several years, there are more difficulties in teaching, for many, than there are rewards.
Unruly（蛮横的）students, especially in big cities, large classes and a lack of support from the public in terms of money and understanding have led many public school teachers to leave the profession.
As a result, many of the best students, who would have chosen teaching as their life career in the past, are going into other fields.
Another reason for this change in teacher candidates is the changing status（地位）of women in the United States. Until the late 1960s and 1970s, one of the most popular choices for women was teaching. But as other professions, such as law and medicine opened up to women, women stopped pouring into teacher training programs. Thus, a major pool of excellent candidates for the teaching profession dwindled (减少；缩小).
Bit by bit government officials and others realized that the status of the teacher had suffered. They talked about change. But the change in a vast society like the United States is not easy. People’s attitudes have formed over many years, and sometimes change takes many years.
1. The underlined word “that” in Paragraph 1 refers to “_____________”.
A. money B. job C. secretary D. truck driver
2. What is the present situation of the teaching?
A. Teachers work harder and get underpaid.
B. Teachers have no opportunities to work in other fields.
C. Teaching can attract best students to work as a teacher.
D. Teaching can provide rewards as well as high salaries.
3. Many public school teachers turn to other professions because _____________.
A. the government doesn’t financially support them
B. they have to work longer hours than a lawyer
C. their students refuse to listen to them
D. they are not fairly treated
Among rich countries , people in the United States work the longest hours. They work much longer than in Europe. This difference is quite surprising because productivity per hour worked is the same in the United States as it is in France, Spain and Germany, and it is growing at a similar speed.
In most countries and at most times in history, as people have become richer they have chosen to work less. In other words they have decided to “spend” a part of their extra income on a fuller personal life. Over the last fifty years Europeans have continued this pattern, and hours of work have fallen sharply. But not in the United States. We do not fully know why this is. One reason may be more satisfying work, or less satisfying personal lives.
Longer hours do of course increase the GDP (国内生产总值). So the United States has produced more per worker than, say, France. The United States also has more of its people at work, while in France many more mothers and older workers have decided to stay at home. The overall result is that American GDP per head is 40% higher than in France, even though productivity per hour worked is the same.
It is not clear which of the two situations is better. As we have seen, work has to be compared with other values like family life, which often get lost in interest. It is too early to explain the different trends（趋势）in happiness over time in different countries. But it is a disappointing idea that in the United States happiness has made no progress since 1975, while it has risen in Europe. Could this have anything to do with trends in the work-life balance (平衡) ?
1.From the text we know that the author _____.
A. believes that longer working hours is better
B. prefers shorter working hours to longer ones
C. says nothing certain about which pattern is better
D. thinks neither of the patterns is good
2.Which of the following countries has more of its people at work?
A. Spain. B. France. C. Germany. D. America.
3.In the last paragraph, the underlined word “which” refers to_______.
A. family life B. situations C. other values D. trends
4.What message can we get from the text?
A. The GDP of Europe is higher than that of America.
B. Two possible reasons are given for working longer hours in the US.
C. People all over the world choose to work less when they are richer.
D. Americans are happier than Europeans.
5.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A. Americans and Europeans B. Staying at Home
C. Work and Productivity D. Work and Happiness
John Grisham was born on February 2,1955, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in the USA. His father was a construction worker and moved his family all around the southern states of America, stopping wherever he could find work. Eventually they settled in Mississippi. Graduating from law school in 1981, Grisham practiced law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation(诉讼). In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990.
One day at the Dessoto County courthouse, Grisham heard the horrifying testimony(证词) of a 12-year-old rape victim. He decided to write a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl’s father had murdered her attackers. He got up every morning at 5 am, to work on the novel, called A Time to Kill, which was published in 1988. Grisham’s next novel, The Firm, was one of the biggest hits of 1991, spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Grisham was then able to give up law and concentrate on writing. Grisham lives with his wife and two children, dividing their time between their Victorian home on a 67 acre farm in Mississippi and a 204 acre plantation near Charlottesville, Virginia.
When he’s not writing, Grisham devote time to charitable(慈善) causes, including mission trip with his church group. As a child he dreamt of becoming a professional baseball player, and now serves as the local Little League leader. He has built six ball fields on his property and hosts children from Little League teams.
1．What inspired Grisham to write his first novel?
A．A case of murder. B．A case of rape.
C．His father’s experience. D．His life on the farm.
2．The story of the novel A time to Kill would probably focus on __________.
A．how the girl was attacked B．what the circumstances of the rape were
C．how the girl’s father would act D．how the case of rape was settled
3．Which of the following is not true of the novel The Firm?
A．It was popular at the time of publication. B．It earned Grisham great fame.
C．It brought Grisham wealth. D．It was carried by the New York Times as a series.
4．It can be inferred from the passage that Grisham has built ball fields on his property _______.
A．to achieve his life’s goal as a professional baseball player
B．to coach children in baseball
C．to see his childhood dream being realized in the children
D．to provide facilities of baseball training
5．John Grisham is a _______ at present.
A．writer B．lawyer C．Congressman D．professional baseball player