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It’s high time someone spoke up for today’s college students. They’re probably the most hardworking, ambitious people in America and their problems are not properly appreciated.
People like the Secretary of Education simply don’t know what they’re talking about when they knock students. Nor do those who complain about falling academic standards.
The vast majority of the nation’s 12 million students are struggling to pay for their educations. They are part of the invisible workforce. Many hold down full-time jobs. They’re frying hamburgers, photographing weddings, working in construction, and waiting on tables. The fact that they even show up for classes is a wonderful event.
The financial situation of most students explains a lot about what is happening in schools. Why are the traditional courses so unpopular? Why are students flocking to accounting and computer science and any professional programs that seem to lead to careers?
Answer: Today’s working student has been forced into a kind of premature matter-of-fact way of viewing things. Romance is gone. The notion of transforming one’s self through study alone has disappeared. Today’s students seek freedom from manual labor, and the status conferred by a good job.
There are other consequences. Today’s students don’t have much time or energy to be devoted, and carry out independent research or even do serious homework. That’s the secret behind falling academic standards. Students have become consumers. They want grades and certifications. Their professors can’t be expected to give a grade of failure to students who are clearly tired from the effort to pay their bills.
There’s a lot wrong with this situation. It’s twisting the definition of education out of shape. Worse, it’s creating a generation that is totally unpleasant. The brightest students turn out to be yuppies (雅皮士). The vast majority are, at least, good-natured semi-literates.
The time has run out for philosophical debates about fixed courses of study. What this country needs is someone to stand up and say that being a full-time student during one’s formative years is an honorable calling worthy of support. If families can’t or won’t give it to their children, then the government should.
The author’s purpose in writing this article is to __________.

A．awaken the whole society to the problems today’s college students face

B．warn Americans that academic standards are falling

C．advise college students to study hard

D．provide a suggestion that only full-time students be enrolled

The most suitable word to describe the author’s feelings about today’s college students
is _________.

A．criticize	B．sympathize
C．complain	D．urge

Which of the following CANNOT be learned from the passage?

A．Many students are often absent from classes.

B．Traditional courses are not popular.

C．Students commit crimes with computers.

D．Students don’t devote much time and energy to their homework.

By saying “Romance is gone” in paragraph 5, the author means ____________.

A．today’s students do not believe in love stories any more

B．today’s students become more practical in dealing with things

C．students think there is no affection any more and break up with their lovers

D．today’s students hold matter-of-fact opinions on love

Which of the following suggestions will the author not agree with?

A．We should encourage students to give up full-time jobs.

B．Families should offer their children more help financially.

C．We should stand up and say something for today’s college students.

D．We should make more strict regulations to force students to study hard.

Although the United States covers so much land and the land produces far more food than the present population needs, its people are by now almost entirely an urban society. Less than a tenth of the people are engaged in agriculture and forestry(林业), and most of the rest live in or around towns, small and large. Here the traditional picture is changing: every small town may still be very like other small towns, and the typical small town may represent a widely accepted view of the country, but most Americans do not live in small towns any more. Half the population now lives in some thirty metropolitan areas(large cities with their suburbs ) of more than a million people each – a large proportion than in Germany or English, let alone France. The statistics(统计) of urban and rural population should be treated with caution because so many people who live in areas classified as rural travel by car to work in a nearby town each day. As the rush to live out of town continues, rural areas within reach of towns are gradually filled with houses, so that it is hard to say at what moment a piece of country becomes a suburb. But more and more the typical American lives in a metropolitan rather than a small town environment.
If now America has 250 million people．how many of them are engaged in agriculture and forestry?

A．About 25 million．	B．More than 25 million．
C．Less than 25 million．	D．Less than 225 million．

Which of the following four countries has the smallest proportion of people living in metropolitan areas?

A．United States

B．Germany

C．France

D．England

What’s the meaning of the word “metropolitan” in the middle of the passage?

A．Of a large city with its suburbs．

B．Of small and large towns．

C．Of urban areas．

D．Of rural areas．

According to the passage，what can we learn about small towns in the United States?

A．Most small towns become gradually crowded．

B．Small towns are still similar to each other．

C．As the traditional picture is changing，towns are different．

D．Small towns are turning into large cities．

Why is it hard to say when a piece of country becomes a suburb?

A．Because they are the same．

B．Because the rush takes place too quickly．

C．Because the process is gradual．

D．Because more and more Americans live in metropolitan areas．

Everybody has had at least one experience from which he knows the meaning of life．This time, which took place several years ago, but seems as if it just happened．
On an afternoon several years ago, my brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's dress and picked out a beautiful skirt．"Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago．She never wore it．She was saving it for a special occasion．" he said．I guess this was the occasion: it was the funeral (葬礼) of my sister, after her unexpected death．
He took the shirt and put it on bed, with the other clothes we were taking to the funeral．Then he closed the drawer and turned to me, "Don't ever save anything for a special occasion．Every day you're alive is a special occasion．"
I'm thinking about his words, and they've changed the way I live my life．I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings．Whenever possible, life should be a kind of experience to enjoy, not to suffer．"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their importance on my vocabulary．If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing,I want to see and hear and do it now．
Ever since that day, I have been trying very hard not to put off, hold hack or save anything that would add laughter and color to our lives．Every morning when I open my eyes．I tell myself that every day, every minute, every breath, truly is a gift．So cherish every day and find the true meaning of your life．
Why did Jan buy the beautiful skirt but didn't wear it?

A．She waited for a special occasion to wear it on．

B．She wanted to keep it for someone else．

C．She saved it till she grew up．

D．She would give it to herself as a gift some day．

What does the underlined word "cherish" mean?

A．Treasure．

B．Waste．

C．Own．

D．Save．

From his experience, the author learns that _______．

A．everybody can have a happy life through efforts

B．every day in our lives is worth cherishing

C．enjoying ourselves is the most important thing in our lives

D．everybody will have some things left to do after his death

What does the author write this passage for?

A．To show how to make good use of every day in life．

B．To explain the true meaning of his brother-in-law's words．

C．To tell people to cherish every day and find the meaning of life．

D．To encourage people to waste time and enjoy themselves in life．

What's the best title for this passage?

A．Every Day Is a Gift

B．My Sister Jan

C．What Is the Meaningful Life Like

D．The Most Important Time in Your Life

Too much TV-watching can harm children’s ability to learn and even reduce their chances of getting a college degree, new studies suggest in the latest effort to examine the effects of television on children.
One of the studies looked at nearly 400 northern California third-graders. Those with TVs in their bedrooms scored about eight points lower on math and language arts tests than children without bedroom TVs.
A second study, looking at nearly 1000 grown-ups in New Zealand, found lower education levels among 26-year-olds who had watched lots of TV during childhood. But the results don’t prove that TV is the cause and don't rule out that already poorly motivated youngsters(年轻人）may watch lots of TV.
Their study measured the TV habits of 26-year-olds between ages5 and 15. These with college degrees had watched an average of less than two hours of TV per weeknight during childhood, compared with an average of more than 2 1/2 hours for those who had no education beyond high school
In the California study, children with TVs in their rooms but no computer at home scored the lowest while those with no bedroom TV but who had home computers scored the highest
While this study does not prove that bedroom TV sets caused the lower scores, it adds to accumulating findings that children shouldn't have TVs in their bedrooms
According to the California study, the low-scoring group might_____

A．have watched a lot of TV

B．not be interested in math

C．be unable to go to college

D．have had computers in their bedrooms

What is the researchers' understanding of the New Zealand study results?

A．Poorly motivated 26-year-olds watch more TV.

B．Habits of TV watching reduce learning interest

C．TV watching leads to lower education levels of the 15-year-olds.

D．The connection between TV and education levels is difficult to explain

What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A．More time should be spent on computers.

B．Children should be forbidden from watching TV.

C．'IV sets shouldn't be allowed in children's bedrooms,

D．Further studies on high-achieving students should be done

What would be the best title for this text?
A. Computers or Television
B Effects of Television on Children
C. Studies on TV and College Education
D. Television and Children's Learning Habits

Mosquitoes(蚊子) ruin countless American picnics every year, but around the world, this bloodsucking beast isn’t just annoying— it causes a health problem. More than a million people die from the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and yellow fever each year. Attempts to control populations via insecticides like DDT have had ruinous side effects for nature and human health. Neurobiologist Leslie B. Vosshall has a different solution for stopping the insects and the spread of disease. “I believe the key to controlling mosquito behavior is to understand better how they sense us,” she says.
At their Rockefeller University lab, Vosshall and her colleagues are studying the chemical sensory processes by which mosquitoes choose hosts. How do they sense heat, humidity, carbon dioxide, and body odor(气味)? What makes some people more attractive to a mosquito than others? It takes blood and sweat to find out. To study how mosquitoes assess body odor, Vosshall and her teammates might wear stockings on their arms and keep from showering for 24 hours to create sample smells, Then comes the hard part. They insert their arms into the insects’ hidden home to study how mosquitoes land, bite, and feed and then they document how this changes. This can mean getting anywhere from one bite to 400, depending on the experiment. Studying male mosquitoes is more pleasant. Since they don’t feed on blood, the lab tests their sense of smell using honey.
Vosshall and her team have also begun to study how genetics contribute to mosquitoes’ choice of a host. She’s even created a breed that is unable to sense carbon dioxide, an important trigger for the insects. “By using genetics to make mutant(变异的) mosquitoes, we can document exactly how and why mosquitoes hunt humans,” Vosshall says.
Once Vosshall figures out what makes mosquitoes flock to us, she can get to work on making them leave us alone. Many of her lab’s proposed solutions sound simple enough, including bracelets(手镯) that carry long-lasting repellants(驱虫剂) or traps that can reduce populations, but the breakthroughs, when they come, may save millions of lives in the developing world—and a lot of itching everywhere else.
Vosshall and her colleagues are mainly studying mosquitoes’ ______

A．appearance	B．size
C．behavior	D．change

By saying the underlined part “Then comes the hard part”, the author probably means that______.

A．the insects smell terrible

B．the experiment will last long

C．The researchers will probably suffer

D．the researchers have to study lots of documents.

Why is it less challenging to study male mosquitoes?

A．They are not bloodsuckers.

B．They are afraid of stockings.

C．They have a poor sense of smell.

D．They are protective of their hosts.

It can be inferred from the last paragraph that Vosshall’s research______.

A．looks very promising

B．has saved millions of lives

C．is facing great difficulties

D．is quite simple to carry out.