Some American high schools are for students with special interests, like science or the arts. New York City even has a program for those interested in the food service industry, called Food and Finance High School.
New York also has what are called international high schools, or internationals, for immigrant students. They must be new learners of English who have been in the United States less than four years. The first school opened in nineteen eighty-five. The city will begin the new term next month with ten.
New York works with a nonprofit organization, the Internationals Network for Public Schools. Support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has helped the network expand. The network says the graduation rate was seventy percent last year in the four New York schools open long enough to have graduating classes. That, compared with twenty-three percent for English language learners in all of the city schools.
Over all, New York officials recently reported that the city’s four-year graduation rate, reached fifty-two percent last year. At the same time, they reported that the city’s dropout rate fell below fifteen percent. The Internationals Network says its schools have an average dropout rate of just five percent.
Claire Sylvan is the executive director of the group. She says students drop out mainly because their families need them to work or because parents arrange marriages for girls.
The Internationals Network mainly helps find teachers and trains them in the teaching method of the internationals. Claire Sylvan says the teaching approach is to have students use their different strengths to help each other. They work in small groups, but she says they are not grouped by ability. She says the students discuss issues, then produce a product like a paper, a play, a poster or a report. They learn English as they work.
The international high school in New York is __________
| A．for immigrant students with special interests |
| B．for new immigrant students who have been living in New York less than four years |
| C．for new learners of foreign language from around the world |
| D．for new young learners of English language living in the US less than four years |
The international high schools in New York _______
| A．have been opened for less than 20 years and set a good example |
| B．can bring great profit for the Internationals Network for Public Schools |
| C．will expand from having one school to having ten |
| D．have given great support to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation |
Which of the following shows the graduation rate of the schools of the International Networks last year in the four New York schools?
Graduation rate
Dropout and other
A B C D
One of the reasons why some students drop out of school is that _____.
| A．their parents can’t afford to pay for the education |
| B．they have to help their parents with the work |
| C．girls are forced to make money for their families |
| D．they have trouble in passing all kinds of exams |
Claire Sylvan would agree with all the following statements EXCEPT _____.
| A．with the help of the network, the students can find right teachers. |
| B．students use their different strengths to help each other |
| C．students can be divided into different classes according to their ability |
| D．students can discuss with each other and finish their work by themselves |
Time magazine named Russian President Vladimir Putin its "Person of the Year" for 2007 on Wednesday, saying he had returned his country from chaos（混乱）to "the table of world power" though at a cost of democratic principles.
He doesn't care about civil liberties; he doesn't care about free speech; he cares about stability. But Putin, 55, is enormously popular in Russia, presiding over a resurgent economy based on income from oil and natural gas. On the other hand, stability is what Russia needed and that's why Russians adore（爱戴）him.
Time magazine said on its Web site that Putin, the son of a factory worker had led Russia with persistence, a sharp vision and a sense that he showed the spirit of "Mother Russia".
The selection came days after Putin announced a plan to hold onto power after his term ends next year. Putin said on Monday that if his close ally(盟友），Dmitry Medvedev, won the presidency, he would serve as Medvedev’s prime minister. "Putin has put his country back on the map. And he intends to redraw it himself,"Time said. "He will continue to lead his country as its prime minister and attempt to transform it into a new kind of nation, beholden to neither East nor West."
Time said the person of the year distinction, which it has awarded since 1927, is not an endorsement（支持）or a popularity prize but a recognition of the individuals and forces that shape the world. "At significant cost of, the principles and ideas that free nations prize, (Putin) has performed an extraordinary feat of leadership in placing stability on a nation that has rarely known it and brought Russia back to the table of world power. For that reason, Vladimir Putin is Time's 2007 Person of the Year," the magazine said.
Time had earlier selected four other Kremlin leaders for the distinction: Stalin, who was chosen twice, Nikita Khrushchev, Yuri Andropov and Mikhail Gorbachev.What does the underlined word "feat" in Para 5 probably mean?
| A．Style. | B．Level. | C．Standard. | D．Achievement. |
What's the major reason why Putin becomes popular in Russia?
| A．His successful economy policy |
| B．His outstanding ability of politics |
| C．His great contributions to Russian economy and social stability. |
| D．His wisdom of changing the world. |
What may be the best title of the passage?
| A．Putin－Time magazine’s person of the year 2007 |
| B．Putin－a world power leader |
| C．Putin－a beloved Russian president |
| D．Putin－an honorable Russian president |
What can we inter from the passage?
| A．Russia, including the former Soviet Union, has been one of the major countries named person of the Year so far. |
| B．Only an individual can be named Person of the Year nowadays. |
| C．Putin played an important role in Russian social and economic troubles. |
| D．Medvedev will certainly be elected Russian President on March 3. |
With winter fast approaching, flu season is here. People can easily catch the flu bug and they try to fight it with western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine or some homemade secret recipes. Yet some of these strategies are ineffective or even harmful, the best way to counter the flu is to protect us from contracting（感染）it. So here are some good habits to protect people from contracting flu from the very beginning.
●During the day, keep the bedroom window open to let fresh air in．
●Wash your face with cold water in the morning and wash your feet with hot water in the evening. This practice can help boost blood circulation and improve the body's resistance.
●Do some exercises in the morning. such as jogging or shadowboxing（太极拳)for 10 minutes.
●Rinse(漱) your mouth with salt water or tea every morning and every evening. This can help kill flu bacteria, clear phlegm(痰）and keep the mouth fresh.
●Wear more clothes when it's cold and take some off when it's warm
●Get a bottle of vinegar or Chinese white wine at hand and smell it now and then. Their pungent smell can help people get refreshed and improve their body's resistance.
● Drink two kinds of beverages（饮料）before going to bed, which can help people stay away from the flu: soup made of radish（萝卜）and vinegar, and tea made of fresh ginger（生姜）．
●Close the doors and windows and put a pot of boiling vinegar in the room Vinegar steam is a good way to kill flu bacteria in the air. Some people like washing their face with cold water in the morning and washing their feet with hot water in the evening perhaps because______．
| A．they want to make themselves handsome or pretty |
| B．they know it is the best way to kill flu bacteria |
| C．they think it can strengthen blood circulation and improve their resistance |
| D．they have developed the good habit of living |
According to the passage, we can know that the best way to fight the flu is to ______.
| A．take western medicine or traditional Chinese medicine |
| B．avoid getting it at the very beginning |
| C．use some homemade secret recipes |
| D．drink two kinds of beverages before going to bed in winter |
What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Eight habits to keep the flu away | B．The cause of contracting the flu |
| C．Winter and flu | D．How to cure the flu |
During the week days, they are luckily busy office people; but on weekends, they are just a brood of（一窝）stay-home animals. A recent survey shows that office workers in China prefer quiet and easy ways to spend their weekends.
In the survey, conducted by job seeking and offering website Zhaopin.com, 32.8 percent of the 6,000 respondents choose to stay home at weekends and have a good rest, the Beijing Morning Post reported.
Twenty percent use their days-off to do housework. And only 19.3 percent are willing to have fun during the break time from work. Their first choice of fun is shopping.
Other choices, though practiced by few, include meeting friends, accompanying the children, trips to the suburbs, and lessons for more skills.
When they. go shopping, 54.5 percent of the white-collars actually shop in supermarkets, while 27.9. percent attend other stores, especially when discounts are offered.
These activities don't seem to cost much, as 60 percent spend average less than 200 yuan (US$26) during weekends, and 30 percent no more than 500 yuan.
When asked whom they would spend the weekends with, about 40 percent mention their partners, and 30 percent prefer a weekend all by themselves. Less than 20 percent hang out with friends.
Only 5.8 percent would kill the time with their colleagues. This is because we tend to avoid too many personal contacts with our co-workers when we don't have to work with them, according to some experts. How many of the office workers who are the respondents do the housework at weekends?
| A．1,968. | B．1,158. | C．1,200. | D．1,674. |
Why will less than ten percent of office workers kill the time with their colleagues at weekends?
| A．Because they can't spare time to play with them. |
| B．Because they tend to avoid too many personal contacts with hem when they don't have to. |
| C．Because. they have many things to deal with at weekends. |
| D．Because some experts suggest they should not keep in touch with their colleagues. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the survey?
| A．There is the same percentage about people preferring a weekend all by themselves and people spending no more than 500 yuan during weekends. |
| B．Most office workers can’t afford things in supermarkets, so they prefer to attend other stores, especially when discounts are offered. |
| C．More than one fifth of office workers like to hang out with friends. |
| D．All the office workers prefer to relax themselves and no one is willing to learn more skills. |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．How to spend the weekends |
| B．Several ways of spending their weekends for office people |
| C．How to go shopping on the weekends for office people |
| D．Office people prefer easy weekends |
We know the westerners like to plan for their time carefully in order to do all the things that are important to them. So if your American or English friend asks you to dinner, he usually invites you a week ahead. But if you really have no time and can’t go to the dinner, you can ring him to say sorry. The dinner is usually served at home, sometimes at a restaurant. You should get there on time, and don’t forget to put on your fine clothes. It is also a good idea to take some little presents to your friend, such as flowers, chocolates and so on. When you are at dinner, you should also observe (遵守) some other customs. Here I’ll give you some dos and don’ts about them in the following:
●Don’t leave bones on the table or the floor. (You should put them on your plate with fingers.)
●Don’t use your bowl to drink soup, but use your spoon to help you instead.
●Don’t talk with much food in your mouth.
●Don’t ask others to have more wine. (This is quite different from that in China.)
●After dinner, use your napkin(餐巾) to clean your mouth and hands.
●Make sure small pieces of food are not left on your face.
Then after dinner, you can stay there a little time. And your friend will be pleased if you leave in half an hour or so. Next day, you had better ring him up to thank him for the good dinner.If your American or English friend wants to invite you to dinner, he will invite you _____.
| A．on the night before the dinner | B．on the day before the dinner |
| C．at the last moment | D．a week before the dinner |
It would be impolite to______.
| A．put bones on your plates with fingers | B．drink soup with your spoon |
| C．persuade others to drink more | |
| D．make sure that there is nothing left on your face after dinner |
Which of the following is not true?
| A．You'd better ring your friend the next day to show your thanks。 |
| B．After dinner, you'd better stay and talk with your friends for a long time to show your thanks. |
| C．After dinner, you'd better leave in half an hour. |
| D．After dinner, use napkin to clean your mouth. |
Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own. My mom was one of those people.
My father died when I was nine months old, making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen. While I was growing up, we lived a very hard life. We had little money, but my mom gave me a lot of love. Each night, she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would change my life, “Kemmons, you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”
At fourteen, I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never walk again. Every day, my mother spoke to me in her gentle, loving voice, telling me that no matter what those doctors said, I could walk again if I wanted to badly enough. She drove that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her. A year later, I returned to school — walking on my own!
When the Great Depression (大萧条) hit, my mom lost her job. Then I left school to support the both of us. At that moment, I was determined never to be poor again.
Over the years, I experienced various levels of business success. But the real turning point occurred on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1951. I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels available for families and was angry that they charged an extra $2 for each child. That was too expensive for the average American family. I told my wife that I was going to open a motel (汽车旅馆) for families that would never charge extra for children. There were plenty of doubters at that time.
Not surprisingly, mom was one of my strongest supporters. She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style. As in any business, we experienced a lot of challenges. But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my soul, I never doubted we would succeed. Fifteen years later, we had the largest hotel system in the world — Holiday Inn. In 1979 my company had 1, 759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $ 1 billion a year.
You may not have started out life in the best situation. But if you can find a task in life worth working for and believe in yourself, nothing can stop you.What Kemmons’ mom often told him during his childhood was ______.
| A．encouraging | B．caring | C．moving | D．interesting |
According to the author, who played the most important role in making him walk back to school again?
| A．Doctors. | B．Mom. | C．Nurses. | D．Friends. |
What caused Kemmons to start a motel by himself?
| A． His mom’s support. | B．His previous business success of various levels. |
| C．His terrible experience in the hotel. | D．His wife’s suggestion. |
Which of the following best describes Kemmons’ mother?
| A．Modest, helpful, and hard-working. | B．Careful, helpful and beautiful. |
| C．Loving, supportive and strong-willed. | D．Strict, sensitive and supportive. |