You’re lost in the world of dreams and sleep. You roll over, smiling as you come across a swimming pool filled with chocolate. And then, your wonderful dream becomes a nightmare when someone is screaming, “Get up!” It’s just what every teenager goes through each morning!
Now, there seems to be one school that finally understands that requiring teens to show up at 9 am is not just cruel but also harmful to both the kids and the school.
The Monkseaton High School in North Tyneside, Britain, recently decided to experiment to see if there is any difference in student behavior if they just pushed back the start of their day by one hour, from 9 am to 10 am. And the results are surprising.
Since carrying out the later start, Monkseaton has seen a 28% drop in truancy, even hardly any lateness, and best of all, higher test scores. One of the reasons is that the teenagers are much happier to have the extra hour of sleep, but there is also a scientific reason behind why they need the extra sleep.
The school’s decision to push back the time was based on the research done by Oxford Professor Russell Foster, who pointed out that teenagers and adults have different sleep cycles, explaining why teenagers go to bed late and wake up late.
While adults are wide awake and ready at 8 am, teenagers are not fully awake until 10 am, sometimes even noon. Teachers may argue that their students perform better in the morning, but in fact, it is because they are in the zone while their students are still sleepy, making the students easier to control. Memory tests prove that the more difficult classes should be in the afternoon when teenagers are most wide awake.
The Monkseaton school officials are encouraged by the results and plan on voting to make it a permanent change.
1.What’s the best title of this passage?
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A．Get up early, teenagers! |
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B．Finally, a school understands teenagers. |
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C．Why do teenagers stay up late? |
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D．Difference between teens and adults. |
2.What’s the meaning of the underlined word “truancy”?
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A．grades |
B．subject s |
C．absence |
D．classes |
3.What can we learn from the passage?
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A．Teenagers and adults have the same sleep cycle. |
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B．Teenagers are fully awake at 10 am. |
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C．Teenagers are much happier to sleep than study. |
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D．Teenagers need the extra sleep also for a scientific reason. |
4.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
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A．The Monkseaton school is satisfied with the result of experiments. |
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B．It is cruel for the teenagers to show up at 9 am. |
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C．The Monkseaton school plans to change the school time forever. |
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D．Teenagers perform better in the morning than in the afternoon. |
Forget famous goal celebration such as “The Robot” by Peter Crouch and “The Dive” by Juergen Klinsmann, here comes the South African “Diski dance”. The Diski dance, which is performed through heading and kicking an imaginary ball, may be a goal celebration to watch in the following matches.
South Africa’s Siphiwe Tshabalala and his teammates performed this different dance when they celebrated his goal against Mexico in the opening World Cup game on Friday. The dance is already popular on YouTube and many soccer fans may want to learn the moves.
Even South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has learnt the Diski dance which could be better than Cameroon Roger Milla’s corner flag dance celebration in the 1990 FIFA World Cup. US actor John Travolta performed the dance shortly after landing his Boeing 707 at Lanseria airport, north of Johannesburg, on Wednesday morning.
Goal celebrations are now part of the biggest sporting event and players plan them in advance just in case they find the back of the net. In football, a goal celebration is the practice of celebrating the scoring of a goal. The celebration may be performed by the goal-scorer, his or her teammates, the manager or coaches and the supporters of the team.
The Robot goal celebration was so popular that England fans were surprised when Crouch, an English international footballer, said that he wouldn’t be doing it any more unless England won the World Cup.
The word Diski is the word used by the local people for soccer and may also describe the local style of football which focuses on dribbling(带球) and other tricks.
1.Besides “Diski dance”, how many types of goal celebrations are mentioned in the passage?
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A．2. |
B．3. |
C．4. |
D．5. |
2.The underlined part “find the back of the net” in Paragraph 4 means .
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A．score a goal |
B．win the match |
C．take a rest |
D．take part in a match |
3.What do we learn about the word “Diski”?
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A．It has become the most popular sports word in the world now. |
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B．It was used to show how people were good at dribbling. |
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C．It was used to describe a football which was imagined by footballers. |
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D．It was probably mainly used in South Africa before the South Africa World Cup. |
4.What can we infer from the passage?
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A．All the footballers should have their own goal celebrations. |
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B．Goal celebrations play an important role in football games. |
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C．Famous goal celebrations all appeared in the World Cup games. |
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D．Footballers often don’t plan their goal celebrations ahead of time. |
I was sleeping in my room when my bed started shaking and a loud noise was heard. I woke up and my mom was screaming my name. Next moment I was running along with my younger sister, mom and dad. Before I ran out of the door, I realized my elder sister hadn’t come out yet. So I screamed her name at the top of my voice. My mom said she had gone to her class. Then the four of us, along with many others, were running on the staircase. We lived on the seventh floor, so I thought we would not be able to make it and the building would fall before we managed to reach even the fourth floor. My dad’s head was injured by something falling down. I did try to put my hand over his head. When we reached the sixth floor, the building split into two. We had no way to get down.
The next thing I remember is silence. There were around 30 people on the staircase and none could react. Five minutes later, someone opened the door of the sixth-floor flat. We all went in. We were wondering how would get down. From the balcony of the sixth-floor flat, I saw people standing on the ground floor. All eyes were stuck on us. I could see my elder sister crying.
Our first hope of surviving came when a worker climbed a rope to where we were. That was the first time we thought maybe we could get down. Half an hour passed and we were still trapped. Finally RSS people arrived with ropes. They got people down one by one. My biggest worry was how my dad would get down. Finally after two and a half hours, we all got down.
That day we saw the power of nature. It has taken more than two years to build the flats and it took just one and a half minutes to destroy the structure.
1.What is this passage mainly about?
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A．Ways to survive an earthquake. |
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B．Reasons why earthquakes happen. |
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C．The love of parents in an earthquake. |
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D．The writer’s experience in an earthquake. |
2.When the building split into two, the writer and his family ____________.
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A．were still sleeping |
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B．were trapped on the sixth floor |
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C．were looking for a family member |
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D．were running on the staircase of the seventh floor |
3.The first time the writer thought they would probably survive was when .
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A．he was encouraged by people on the ground floor |
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B．someone opened the door of the sixth-floor flat |
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C．a worker climbed up on a rope |
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D．RSS people arrived with ropes |
4.The earthquake made the writer realize that .
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A．there is always hope for people |
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B．the power of nature is really great |
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C．natural disasters can happen any time |
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D．human beings are strong in natural disasters |
President Barack Obama set out his plans for the nation on January 27. At the top of his to-do list: his jobs for Americans, health care and education.
“Although we have our difficulties, our union is strong. We do not give up. We do not stop,” President Barack Obama told American in his State of the Union speech on January 27. Guests and government officials filled the hall of the House of Representatives (众议院).
Obama looked back on his first year in office and explained his plan for the future. He dealt with important matters, including health care, the nation’ s high unemployment, national security (安全) and education. Many times during the 70-minute speech, people in the hall clapped (拍手) their hands happily.
The U.S. law system requires the President to report regularly to government officials. Presidents see the speech as an opportunity to set their goals and encourage the nation.
The President devoted much of his speech to the plight of unemployed (失业的) Americans. “Jobs must be our Number 1 focus (焦点) in 2010,” he said. “People are out of work. They are hurting.” Obama also stressed the value of education. “The best way for people to lead a better life is a first-class education.” he told the nation.
Following the President’s speech, the other party always gets the chance to speak. Bob McDonnell, the new governor of Virginia, spoke for Republicans (共和党人). He agreed with many of Obama’s goals, but pointed out policy difference. He tried to persuade both parties to work together. The President had made the same point earlier in the evening. He promised to hold monthly meetings with members of both parties. “Let’s show the American people,” he said, “that we can do it together.”
1.It can be inferred (推断) from the passage that Obama’s speech on January 27 __________.
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A．was made to explain his plan for the future |
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B．was welcomed by the government officials present |
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C．was given to ask for foreign help |
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D．was actually boring |
2.The underlined word “plight” in para. 5 probably means __________.
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A．education |
B．safety |
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C．goal |
D．sadness |
3.Which of the following things does Obama consider the most important in 2010?
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A．Health care. |
B．Jobs. |
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C．Education. |
D．National security. |
4.We can infer from the last paragraph that __________.
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A．Republicans don’ t agree with Obama’ s goals |
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B．Obama will try to cooperate with the other party |
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C．Bob McDonnell was not clear about the two parties’ policy differences |
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D．Republicans thought it difficult for the two parties to work together |
A recent report on online education, made by SRI International for the Department of Education, has a serious academic (学术的) title, but a most interesting conclusion: “ Students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”
The report examined the research on online and traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008. Some of it was in K-12 settings, but most of the studies were in colleges and adult continuing education programs.
Over the 12 years, the report found 99 studies in which there were comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses. The result of the Department of Education’ s research showed that usually, students doing some or all of the course online would rank a little higher than the classroom students with little but meaningful difference.
“The importance of the study lies in showing that online learning today is not just better than nothing — it actually tends to be better than traditional instruction.” said Barbara Means, the study’ s lead author and an educational psychologist at SRI International.
This hardly means that we’ll be saying goodbye to classrooms. But the report does suggest that online education could be set to develop sharply over the next few years.
Until fairly recently, online education totaled to little. That has really changed with the arrival of webbased video, instant (即时的) messaging and teamwork tools.
The real promise of online education, experts say, is providing learning experiences that are more suitable for individual (个体的) students than is possible in classrooms. That allows more “learning by doing,” which many students find more attractive and useful.
“We are at a turning point in online education,” said Philip R. Regier, the leader of Arizona State University’ s Online and Extended Campus program.
The biggest near-term growth, Mr. Regier predicts, will be in continuing education programs.
1.What do we know from the passage?
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A．Most of the studies were done in high schools. |
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B．The report was based on more than 100 studies. |
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C．The studies were carried out for more than 20 years. |
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D．The difference between online and traditional teaching is not big. |
2.We can learn from the passage that __________.
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A．traditional education will come to an end |
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B．traditional education is not popular any longer |
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C．online education didn’ t develop rapidly until recently |
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D．middle schools are facing the choice between online and traditional teaching |
3.Which is NOT the reason why many students prefer online learning?
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A．Online teaching is more suitable for individuals. |
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B．Classroom teaching is not practical and useful. |
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C．Students can learn by doing in online courses. |
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D．Online teaching is more interesting. |
4.Which do you think is the best title for the passage?
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A．Study finds that online education beats the classroom |
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B．Why is online education on the rise? |
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C．A report on online education |
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D．Classroom teaching is out |
There are several ways to break the technology code that teenagers have written among themselves. The following are ideas to help parents understand the sometimes confusing world of the teens.
Social Networking (人际关系网) Sites: Sites like MySpace and Facebook appeal to all generations and are a good way for a parent to understand what social standards your teen is living with. There are many ways to help you take part in your child's online activities. You also can be from an onlooker (旁观者) who keeps a bird' s-eye view of his cyber world to an active member of his social group.
MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game comes in the form of games. A child can easily become addicted to (沉溺于) them if no limits are set. To fully understand the attraction behind MMORPG, you can make your own account and character to explore the digital (数码的) world. Playing the online games may seem strange at first to your teen, but experience has led me to only positive feedback (反应) from young people who can communicate with adults about their gaming experiences.
Text and Instant Messenger: The ways of teenage communication have produced a whole new language, such as "LOLZ" (laughing out loud) and "PSOS" (parent standing over shoulder). Learning the basic shorthand (速记法) of teens can open up a whole new world of communication, not only talking to your teens, but being able to listen on their terms as well. You may just find yourself texting faster and ending your correspondence (联系) with TTYL (talk to you later). To teens, texting anyone looks cool, even Mom and Dad.
Email: Emailing your child is easy. This, of course, cannot take the place of face-to-face communication, but it provides another way for your child to reach you. Another benefit is that your child cannot act like he didn't hear you.
1.What does the underlined part "appeal to" in the second paragraph mean?
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A．harm |
B．attract |
C．upset |
D．attack |
2.According to this passage we can infer that the author's child __________.
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A．works hard at school |
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B．is active on Facebook |
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C．enjoys playing online games |
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D．likes talking with adults |
3.If you are standing beside your child, he is most likely to text his friend __________.
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A．PSOS |
B．MMORPG |
C．TTYL |
D．LOLZ |
4.What does the passage mainly tell us?
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A．Parents can use technology to stay in touch with their children. |
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B．Many children are very crazy about the online games. |
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C．Science and technology make life easy and convenient. |
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D．Parents can do something interesting like their children do. |
