The US government has started a website, Admongo, to help children think critically about the advertising aimed at them. It claims to provide visitors with an “aducation” through games and other entertainment.
A cartoon man dressed in old time pilot clothing greets visitors to Admongo. "Call me Haiz", he says upon arrival in a rocket ship that opens up with a crazy world inside it. Spacey dance music plays in the background as Haiz tells visitors that they need to learn about advertising.
Its inventors say eight to twelve years old is the age kids develop their critical thinking abilities. Kids that age are also a big market for advertisers.
The idea behind Admongo is to teach children three things: To identify the advertiser. To know what the advertiser is really saying. And to know what the advertisement is trying to get the child to do.
Children learn these things through a video game. They create their own game character. They can choose different skin colors, hair styles, eye and mouth shapes. Then they begin a trip through ad-land, where there are ads on buses and billboards. The players have to find all the marketing in the neighborhood before they can move on to the next level.
The Admongo game takes players inside a home, to the advertising studio and everywhere else ads can be found. It is a complete exploration of the world of marketing.
One such area is food marketing. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says it is a big business. The FTC estimates that food, drink and fast-food restaurants spent more than one and a half billion dollars on advertising to young people in 2009.
The FTC says children are important for three reasons. They buy products. They influence parents and caregivers to buy. And they are the future adult buyers of the products.
A recent study says most advertising aimed at children is for foods of the lowest nutritional value. First Lady Michelle Obama has said she would like to see advertisers marketing healthy foods for children.
1.What is the best title of the text?
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A．The guide of Admongo |
B．An aducation website for children |
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C．A popular online video game |
D．A website aimed at children |
2.Why did the government start the website?
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A．To attract the biggest market of buyers. |
B．To sell the products of its company. |
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C．To help children know about advertising. |
D．To advertise the video game for children. |
3.What can players do in the website game?
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A．Choose hair styles for their character. |
B．Travel to a supermarket. |
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C．Eat in a fast-food restaurant. |
D．Play video games during the trip. |
4.Children are important for advertising because they are __________.
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A．important for the society |
B．the most potential buyers |
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C．easily influenced by ads |
D．easily affected by poor products |
Short Skirts Are Out!
After decades of skimpy skirts and sleeveless tops on game days, some schools in the US are saying cheerleader uniforms will have to meet stricter dress codes when they are worn in class.
In Lake County, Florida, cheerleaders with uniforms too skimpy for the code are being asked to wear long shorts or trousers under their skirts and a T-shirt under the sleeveless tops, according to a district memo. Principals at two of Lake’s eight high schools – Leesburg and Lake Minneola – are not allowing the outfits in school at all.
Michelle Thomas, a cheerleader at Leesburg High School, was disappointed when she learned she couldn’t wear her outfit to school on game days.
“It shows that we’re a team just like all the other sports,” she said.
But the school administrators did not agree. “During the educational portion of the day, they have to meet the dress code just like every other student,” said school board chairwoman Debbie Stivender, who ordered the staff to bring the outfits into line with the dress code.
Bare midriffs are banned across the state by the Florida High School Athletic Association, but no state rules mention cheerleader miniskirts. Sheila Noone, a spokeswoman for cheerleading uniform company Varsity Brands, says the outfits haven’t become more revealing over the last 10 years. She says that the short skirts are designed to help the girls jump and kick.
“Cheerleading is athletic,” Noone said. “There’s a lot of jumping, so you won’t want a knee-length skirt that might hamper a tie touch.”
Most cheerleaders were sad to hear the news, but say they’ll follow the rules. Even male cheerleaders, whose pants and tops meet dress codes, chose not to wear their outfits to show unity.
“I understanding, because they are kind of short,” said Holly Bishop, 14, a Lake Minneola High School cheerleader, about her miniskirt. “It would have been really, really cool to wear them to school.”
1.According to the new dress codes for cheerleaders in some American schools, __________.
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A．bare midriffs are banned |
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B．cheerleading miniskirts are banned |
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C．cheerleader uniforms have switched from skirts to trousers |
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D．cheerleaders have to make their uniforms less revealing |
2.Which of the following statement is TRUE according to the article?
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A．School administrators believe cheerleader uniforms do not match school dress codes. |
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B．Most cheerleaders show understanding of the new dress codes. |
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C．Sheila Noone believes that cheerleading miniskirts are not revealing. |
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D．School administrators don’t take cheerleading seriously. |
3.Some cheerleaders are not happy about the news because __________.
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A．they hate the dress codes that other sports have |
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B．they consider their uniforms special and cool |
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C．they want to wear revealing clothes |
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D．they will have to buy new uniforms |
Competition between international universities is heating up, as China grows as one of the largest exporters of students aiming to study abroad. “Lots of universities are becoming more and more aggressive to attract Chinese students. Every day I receive contacts from universities in the US expressing the desire to come to China to recruit students,” said Frank Joseph, a commercial officer from embassy of the United States.
One key reason why more Chinese students are able to study abroad is the economy: With China’s boom within the past decade, more families have the financial wherewithal (资金) to send their children to international universities. There will be a total of 200,000 family-funded Chinese students studying overseas in 2011, up 20 percent from last year, said Wu Zaofeng, deputy secretary general of China Education Association for International Exchange.
International institutions, Joseph said, are also facing increasingly tough financial situation with a shortage of domestic students and a drop in government subsidies (补贴). Students, especially in the US are paying high tuition fees and living expenses. Chinese students with money to spend, according to experts, can fill up the gap. Students on average spend 150,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan every year studying in US, according to statistics from the US Institute of International Education. During 2009-2010, there were approximately 81,000 Chinese students studying in the US, up 19.8 percent from 2008.
Representatives from approximately 60 universities from the United States are planning to arrive in Beijing this weekend to attract more Chinese students at this year’s fair. Besides the US, many other countries are also vying (竞争) to enroll Chinese students.
Post-study work visa put out by British government allows all international students completing a UK degree qualification to apply for a visa to stay on and look for work in UK for up to 2 years. Being the third most popular destination for international students next to the US and the UK, France has set up two types of scholarships and has handed out an increase of 26 percent in scholarship funds to Chinese students in recent years.
1.The reason for heating up competition between international universities is __________.
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A．that China has become one of the largest exporters of the students aiming to study abroad |
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B．China’s boom, the students’ desire and foreign universities’ commercial motive |
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C．that the students in China are becoming richer and richer |
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D．that the students in foreign countries do not want to go to universities |
2. Why are more Chinese students able to study abroad?
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A．Because their families have enough money to send them to international universities. |
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B．Because they can’t go to the best universities at home. |
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C．Because they want to win the scholarship of foreign universities |
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D．Because the Chinese students enjoy following others and they want to be independent. |
3.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
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A．In 2011 there will be 200,000 Chinese students studying in the US. |
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B．Chinese students are able to study abroad for their relatives overseas. |
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C．In 2011 there will be 200,000 state-funded Chinese students studying overseas. |
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D．There are fewer family-funded Chinese students studying abroad in 2010 than in 2011. |
4. From the passage we can learn that __________.
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A．the number of foreign students is becoming smaller and smaller |
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B．the international universities are short of money |
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C．there were approximately 81,000 foreign students studying in the US during 2009-2010 |
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D．the Chinese students spend more money than the American students |
Some say everyday miracles (奇迹) are predestined (注定的)----the right time for the appointed meeting. And it can happen anywhere.
In 2001, 11-year-old Kevin Stephan was a bat boy for his younger brother's Little League team in Lancaster, New York. It was an early evening in late July. Kevin was standing on the grass away from the plate, where another youngster was warming up for the next game. Swinging his bat back and forth, giving it all the power an elementary school kid could give. The boy brought the bat back hard and hit Kevin in the chest. His heart stopped.
When Kevin fell to the ground, the mother of one of the players rushed out of the stands to his aid. Penny Brown hadn't planned to be there that day, but at the last minute, her shift (换班) at the hospital had been changed to see her son’s performance. She was given the night off. Penny bent over the senseless boy, his face already starting to turn blue, and giving CPR, breathing into his mouth and giving chest compressions. And he revived in the end.
After his recovery, he became a volunteer junior firefighter, learning some of the emergency first-aid techniques that had saved his life. He studied hard in school and was saving money for college by working as a dishwasher in a local restaurant in his spare time.
Kevin, now 18, was working in the kitchen when he heard people screaming, customers in confusion, employees rushing toward a table. He hurried into the main room and saw a woman there, her face turning blue, her hands at her throat. She was choking.
Quickly Kevin stepped behind her, wrapped his arms around her and clasped his hands. Then, using skills he'd first learned in Scouts. The food that was trapped in the woman's throat was freed. The color began to return to her face.
"The food was stuck. I couldn't breathe," she said. She thought she was dying. "I was very frightened."
Who was the woman?
Penny Brown.
1.The author wrote the passage to show us that __________.
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A．miracles are predestined and they can happen anywhere |
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B．whoever helps you in trouble will get a reward one day |
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C．God will help those who give others a helping hand |
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D．miracles won’t come without any difficulty sometimes |
2.Which of the following statements is True of Kevin Stephan?
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A．He was hit on the face by a boy and almost lost his life |
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B．He was a volunteer junior firefighter, teaching the players first-aid skills |
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C．He worked part-time in a local restaurant to save money for college |
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D．He saved Penny Brown though he didn’t really know how to deal with food choke |
3.The underlined word “revived” (paragraph3) most likely means __________.
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A．came back to life |
B．became worse |
C．failed |
D．moved |
4.Why did Penny Brown change her shift and was given the night off that night?
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A．She was invited to give the players directions |
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B．She volunteered to give medical services |
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C．She was a little worried about his son’s safety |
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D．She came to watch her son’s game and cheered him |
When I was a teenager, my dad did everything he could do to advise me against becoming a brewer (造酒人). He’d 36 his life brewing beer for local breweries only to make a living, 37 had his father and grandfather before him. He didn’t want me 38 near a vat (酿酒用的桶) of beer. So I did as he asked. I got good 39 , went to Harvard and in 1971 was accepted into a graduate program there that 40 me to study law and business at the same time.
In my second year of graduate school, I began to realize that I’d 41 done anything but go to school. So, at 24 I decided to drop out. 42 , my parents didn’t think this was a great idea. But I felt strongly that you can’t 43 till you’re 65 to do what you want in life.
I packed my stuff into a bus and headed for Colorado to become an instructor at Outward Bound. Three years later, I was ready to go back to 44 . I finished Harvard and got a highly-paid job at the Boston Consulting Group Still, after working there five years, I 45 , “Is this what I want to be doing when I’m 50?” At that time, Americans spent good money on beer in 46 quality. Why not make good beer for 47 ? I thought.
I decided to give up my job to become 48 . When I told Dad, he was 49 , but in the end he 50 me. I called my beer Samuel Adams, 51 the brewer and patriot (爱国者) who helped to start the Boston Tea Party. 52 I sold the beer direct to beer drinkers to get the 53 out. Six weeks later, at the Great American Beer Festival, Sam Adams Boston Lager (淡啤酒) won the top prize for American beer. In the end I was destined (注定) to be a brewer. My 54 to the young is simple: Life is very 55 , so don’t rush to make decisions. Life doesn’t let you plan.
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— According to my grandma, it is a good idea to eat chicken soup when you have a cold.
— ________, scientists agree with her.
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A．Sooner or later |
B．Once in a while |
C．To be exact |
D．Believe it or not |
