Back in April 1939 and armed with $5,000 provided by the Rockefeller Foundation, Columbia University Teachers College professor Frank Cyr took a tour of ten states to make a research about school transportation problems. What he found was that many students had no dependable way to get to school and the ones who did often traveled in unsafe buses in the over 100,000 school areas.
Seeing a need to fix this problem, Cyr organized a meeting- one that would change the future of school buses forever. School officials and transportation experts met to set much-needed standards for buses, including those for color, height and width as well as safety rules that hadn’t been set before or that were different in every state.
There were many different bus colors in the US before this meeting; several areas even planned to have red, white and blue buses as a way of encouraging students to love their country. Cyr presented his new choices to education officials, a reported “50 shades(色度) changing from lemon yellow to deep orange-red”. The matter was settled quickly. Yellow, or “National School Bus Glossy Yellow”, was chosen because it was quite striking, making the school bus easy to be seen. Besides, it made the bold(黑体的), black writing on the side of each bus clear. (The bold, black writing gives information about each school area, telling students which school bus they could take during early morning and late afternoon hours.) Thirty-five states made the changes quickly, and every state was on board by 1974.
Being recognized as the “father of the yellow school bus”, Frank Cyr has surely influenced your life if you ever rode a school bus or saw that noticeable color pulling up to your stop on a dusky morning.
1.What did Frank Cyr find about the school buses in the US?
A.Funny. B.Surprising.
C.Disappointing. D.Reliable.
2.What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?
A.Who attended the meeting. B.Why the meeting was held.
C.What was settled in the meeting. D.What was discussed in the meeting.
3.What does the underlined word “striking” in the Paragraph 3 mean?
A.Soft. B.Bright.
C.Natural. D.Beautiful.
4.What is the main idea of the text?
A.Why school buses in the US are yellow.
B.How school buses developed in the US.
C.How students in the US recognized school buses.
D.Why there are school buses for students in the US.
When we are young we are taught that it’s wrong to lie and we should always tell the truth. Unfortunately, most children lie even if they’re told not to. Research carried out at the Institute of Child Study at Toronto Univercity has shown that this might not be such a bad thing. Apparently (显然地), children who tell lies when they’re two years old have a good chance of becoming successful adults (成年人).
According to the research, at the age of two, 20 per cent of children lie. At the age of three, 50 per cent lie, and at four almost 90 per cent lie. By the age of 12 almost every child tells lies.
Lying needs much brain work, and the better the lie is, the more work the brain has to do. By training the brain early, researchers believe children will be able to think more clearly when they are adults.
Recent research, carried out by the Science Museum in London, has shown some interesting facts about the way we lie as adults. According to the research, the average British man tells three lies every day; that’s over 1,000 lies a year. However, the average woman apparently only lies twice a day.
Most people think women are better liars (说谎者) than men although in fact they tell fewer lies. Popular women’s lies include ‘Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine’, ‘I don’t know where it is, I haven’t touched it’, and ‘It wasn’t that expensive’.
Some people say you can lie as long as it’s a white lie. A white lie is a lie told to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. One of the most common lies for both men and women is ‘It’s just what I’ve always wanted’, said after opening a present from their partner.
1.What will happen to young children who lie?
A.They will possibly do wrong later.
B.They’re likely to succeed in the future.
C.They will keep lying when they grow up.
D.They may have a good chance of losing others’ trust.
2.What do the numbers in Para. 2 show about children?
A.Older children tell bigger lies than younger ones.
B.As they grow, they often lie about their age.
C.The older they are, the more likely they lie.
D.It’s quite natural for them to tell lies.
3.What did the research by the Science Museum find out?
A.Men lie more than women. B.Women are better liars than men.
C.Women’s lies are usually not serious. D.Men sometimes have to lie to women.
4.What’s the true feeling behind the underlined part in the last paragraph?
A.You know me so well. B.I don’t like the present.
C.You are good at picking presents. D.I haven’t received a present I really like.
In the summer of 1885, nine-year-old Joseph Meister was very ill. He had been wounded by a sick dog that had rabies(狂犬病), a very dangerous disease. His parents were told that there was probably only one man who could save Joseph’s life——Louis Pasteur.
When Pasteur was a young boy in France, he spent many hours every day with the chemist (药剂师) who lived in his small town. At that time, the chemist had to make all the medicines himself. Young Louis enjoyed watching the chemist as he worked and helped those people who came to him each day.
As a school boy, Pasteur worked slowly and carefully. At first, his teachers thought that young Louis might be a slow learner. Through elementary school, high school, and college, Pasteur worked in the same thoughtful way. Then he became a college professor and a scientist , and he continued to work very carefully.
Pasteur was studying about the germs(细菌)that cause rabies when Joseph Meister became ill.In fact, Pasteur believed he had a medical treatment for rabies, but he had never given it to a person before. At first, Pasteur was afraid to treat Joseph, but the poor child was dying. Pasteur gave Joseph an inoculation(预防接种)every day for ten days. Slowly, the child became better.
During his lifetime, Pasteur studied germs and learned how they cause diseases in animals and people. He developed vaccinations(疫苗)that prevent many of these diseases. On September 28,1895, Louis Pasteur passed away, at the age of 72. The work of this great man has been of great help to modern medicine.
1.The story of Joseph Meister is given to __________.
A.express the author’s sadness
B.introduce the subject of the text
C.show some common diseases in 1885
D.warn children to stay away from dogs
2.According to the text, young Louis _________.
A.was once badly hurt by a dog
B.was very interested in medicine
C.made a living by working for a chemist
D.had been thought of by his teachers
3.We can learn from Paragraph 3 that Louis Pasteur __________.
A.was always patient B.was clever but proud
C.was a slow learner D.was a humorous professor
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A.Germs and diseases
B.Rabies: a terrible disease
C.The earliest chemist in France
D.Louis Pasteur: a great scientist
Kenya’s long-distance runners are among the best in the world. Is their food and daily routine (常规) a key to the secret of their success? We spent a week at a training camp with ten top athletes (运动员) to find out. This is what we discovered.
They eat five times a day:
08:00 Breakfast
10:00 Mid-morning snack
13:00 Lunch
16:00 Afternoon snack
19:00 Supper
The Kenyan runners’ food is based on bread, rice, potatoes, porridge, cabbage, beans and ugali (balls of cornmeal). Ugali is usually eaten with vegetables.
Meat is eaten in fairly small amounts, just four times a week. The athletes drink a lot of tea with milk and sugar. They get all the vitamins (维生素) they need from their food — they never take vitamin pills.
They usually train as a group twice a day. The first run is at 6 o’clock in the morning and the afternoon run is at 5 o’clock. They run 10 to 15 kilometres in the morning and 6 to 8 kilometres in the afternoon. Once a week, the two 1,500-metre runners in the group run shorter distances at higher speeds.
An amazing part of the Kenyan food is its richness in carbohydrates (碳水化合物). Every 24 hours, they have about 600 grams of carbohydrates to give them energy for their training. They only eat a little fat, most of it coming from the milk they have in their tea. They drink about a litre (升) of water every day. Surprisingly, they drink more than a litre of tea every day, too. They always eat soon after training.
Rest and sleep are also an important part of the athletes’ programme. They are always in bed early and they always get a good night’s sleep.
1.Why did the author go to the training camp?
A.To improve his running. B.To report who are the best runners.
C.To learn from the athletes’ good habits. D.To find out why the athletes do so well.
2.What do we know about the first group run of the day?
A.It starts at midmorning. B.It happens before breakfast.
C.It is shorter than the second run. D.It is led by two 1,500-metre runners.
3.What surprised the author about the athletes?
A.They drink a lot of tea. B.They eat five times a day.
C.They never take vitamin pills. D.They take in a lot of milk and sugar.
假如你是李华，你在美国某高中做交换生，你校校报新开了“中国文化”专栏，邀请你介绍中国传统绘画艺术，请给校报编辑写一封回信介绍该艺术形式，内容包括以下要点：
1.写信目的；
2.中国画的特点；
3.著名的中国画画家。
注意:1.可适当增加细节，以使结构完整，行文连贯；2.词数100左右。
参考词汇:专栏 column 中国画 Chinese painting
Dear editor,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中有10处语言错误。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写上该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线,并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意:1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
Different experiences give people different feelings. I once studied in the USA as a exchange student. Upon arrival, I felt everything was interesting. But a few week later, I began to miss my home very much. As my American classmates were general polite, they kept me at a distance. What was bad, I met with some problems in my studies. The worst one was that I couldn't make sense of any jokes telling by the teacher! I was really upset, but I know I couldn't give up! After one struggle term, I finally got used to my new life. I am grateful for that I have had a chance experience difficulties and overcome them.
