A new reading tool was put on the market this week for the two-to five-year-old set. It is sold for at least $389, an expensive purchase for a kid – and that doesn’t even include a $99 annual subscription (订阅) fee for games, e-books, and age-appropriate software.
That might be fine for parents willing and able to pay thousands for private nursery schools, but will the tool actually help kids learn language and reading skills more effectively than traditional books?
Probably not, said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center for Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston. “There is a sensory components (感官因素) to books that isn’t there with e-books,” he explained. “You can smell it, turn the pages, and taste it, as young kids are likely to do.”
That might help little ones become more familiar with the books, helping them learn from them, but far more important is whether a person is actually sitting with them while they’re looking at the pages.
Researchers have shown time and again that kids learn better when they’re having interaction (互动) with real people, rather than electronic voices reading to them from a computer or speaking to them from the TV.
A Georgetown University study found that kids who learned to put on gloves from watching a video took six times as long to learn the process as those who watched it shown by an adult standing in front of them.
“I’m a big believer in teaching kids to live in the digital society and use what the rest of the family uses, but they do need to be supervised,” said Dr. Gwenn O’Keeffe, a Boston-based children’s doctor and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “We don’t recommend that young kids use any type of technology for very long since they have the attention span (注意力持续时间) of a butterfly.”
1.According to the text, the new tool .
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A．is mainly used to entertain kids |
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B．can be accepted by most families |
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C．is designed for preschool kids |
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D．can download games for free |
2.Why is Dr. Michael Rich against the new tool?
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A．Because it doesn’t really involve many of the senses. |
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B．Because it does great harm to kids’ eyesight. |
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C．Because kids can’t communicate with it. |
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D．Because traditional books are cheaper. |
3.The study mentioned in Paragraph 6 aims to .
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A．show the disadvantage of kids’ watching videos |
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B．prove the importance of interaction with people |
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C．ask parents to teach their kids to learn |
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D．prove using e-books saves much time |
4.The underlined word “supervised” in the last paragraph can be replaced by “ ”.
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A．punished |
B．watched |
C．encouraged |
D．understood |
5.What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?
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A．To introduce a new electronic device. |
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B．To teach kids how to live in a digital world. |
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C．To show parents how to help kids gain knowledge. |
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D．To throw new light on kids’ use of electronic tools. |
The other day, I received a most unexpected message in response to one of my essays: I am so proud of you and all you have accomplished. I shared your opinion …
It was signed Margaret Leibfried, who was my English teacher — a teacher who appeared at a vital (关键) point in my life and helped me believe that I could become a writer.
Thirty years ago, I entered high school as an introvert (性格内向的人) made all the more shy because I was the school’s only nonwhite student. I always felt in danger of being swept away by a sea of tall white athletes. I spent a lot of time alone, reading and writing stories, hoping to escape being teased.
Ms. Leibfried taught American literature and composition grammar, which involved the usual memorizing vocabulary, but also, thrillingly, reading novels.
Thrilling to me, that is. Many of my classmates expressed dislike for novels because they were “not real.” For once, I didn’t care what they thought. Ms. Leibfried seemed to notice my interest in both reading and writing, and she took the time to make me feel less shy; she even offered me reading suggestions, like one of her favorite novels, “The Bell Jar.”
That year’s big project was a book report, to be read aloud to the class. However, Ms. Leibfried suggested I do something “a little different.” Instead of a report, I chose a passage from “The Bell Jar” that I considered as the best to recite.
The morning of the presentations, I remember my hands sweating so badly as I walked to the front of the class that I kept my hands crossed, so I wouldn’t wipe them on my blouse.
When I finished, to my surprise, the class applauded. “Marie has picked out a particularly sensitive piece of writing and delivered it beautifully,” Ms. Leibfried said, smiling. I felt, maybe for the first time, confident.
1.What was the author’s high school life like before she met Ms. Leibfried?
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A．Lonely. |
B．Exciting. |
C．Wild. |
D．Busy |
2.In Paragraph 5, the author mainly tells us .
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A．how she cared what her classmates thought |
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B．when she became interested in “The Bell Jar” |
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C．why many of her classmates disliked novels |
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D．how Ms. Leibfried helped and encouraged her |
3.Why did Ms. Leibfried ask the author to recite a passage in front of the class?
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A．To test whether she had a good memory. |
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B．To make her earn the respect of her classmates. |
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C．To help deepen her understanding of “The Bell Jar.” |
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D．To guide her to build a good relationship with others. |
4.How did the author feel when she made the presentation?
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A．Comfortable. |
B．sad. |
C．Nervous. |
D．Confident. |
5.What was the author’s purpose in writing the text?
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A．To express her thanks to her teacher. |
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B．To discuss the issue of racial prejudice (偏见). |
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C．To introduce one of her favorite books. |
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D．To suggest the ways to gain confidence. |
Perhaps every older generation since ancient times has complained about young people, and today is no different. Isn’t it obvious that kids these days are self-absorbed social network addicts?
However, this summer, my impression of today’s kids has been restored by the story of Rachel Beckwith. She could teach my generation a great deal about maturity (成熟) and unselfishness — even though she’s just 9 years old, or was when she died on July 23.
At age 5, Rachel had her long hair cut off and sent to Locks of Love, which uses hair donations to make artificial hair for children who have lost their own hair because of cancer or other diseases. After that, Rachel announced that she would grow her hair long again and donate it again. And that’s what she did.
Then when she was 8 years old, her church began raising money to build wells in Africa through an organization called “charity: water”. Rachel was astonished when she learned that other children had no clean water, so she skipped her ninth birthday party. Rachel set up a birthday page on the charity: water website with a target of $300. Instead of presents, she asked her friends to donate $9 each to charity: water. Finally Rachel raised only $220 — which had left her just a bit disappointed.
Then, on July 20, a serious traffic accident left Rachel critically injured. Church members and friends, seeking some way of showing support, began donating on Rachel’s birthday page — charitywater.org/Rachel — and donations reached her $300 goal, and kept rising.
When it was clear that Rachel would never regain consciousness, the family decided to remove the life-support machine. Her parents donated her hair for the final time to Locks of Love, and her organs to other children.
Word spread about Rachel’s last fund-raiser (募捐行动). Contributions poured in, often they donated $9. The total donations soon topped $100,000, then $300,000.
This is a story not just of one girl, but of a young generation of outstanding problem-solvers working creatively.
1.Which of the following is TRUE of Rachel?
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A．She died at the age of 8. |
B．She was a cancer patient. |
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C．She was a warm-hearted girl. |
D．She founded Locks of Love. |
2.The underlined word “skipped” in Paragraph 4 probably means “ ”.
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A．put off |
B．gave up |
C．expected |
D．planned |
3.According to the text, Rachel set up the birthday page to .
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A．make more new friends |
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B．call on people to donate hair |
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C．ask her friends to send her gifts |
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D．raise money to help African children |
4.How does the author feel about the young generation now?
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A．Worried |
B．Critical. |
C．Appreciative. |
D．Doubtful |
5.What would be the best title for the text?
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A．Rachel’s last fund-raiser |
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B．Rachel and her birthday page |
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C．Kids are addicted to social networks. |
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D．What’s wrong with the young generation? |
Kids will often ignore your requests for them to shut off the TV, start their chores (杂事), or do their homework as a way to avoid following your directions. Before you know it, you’ve started to sound like a broken record as you repeatedly ask them to do their assignments, clean their room, or take out the trash. Rather than saying, “Do your chores now,” you’ll be more effective if you set a target time for when the chores have to be completed. So instead of arguing about starting chores, just say, “If chores aren’t done by 4 p. m., here are the consequences.” Then it’s up to your child to complete the chores. Put the ball back in their court. Don’t argue or fight with them, just say, “That’s the way it’s going to be.” It shouldn’t be punitive (惩罚性的) as much as it should be persuasive. “If your chores aren’t done by 4 p. m., then no video game time until chores are done. And if finishing those chores runs into homework time, that’s going to be your loss.” On the other hand, when dealing with homework, keep it very simple. Have a time when homework starts, and at that time, all electronics go off and do not go back on until you see that their homework is done. If your child says they have no homework, then they should use that time to study or read. Either way, there should be a time set aside when the electronics are off.
When a kid wears his iPod or headphones when you’re trying to talk to him, make no bones about it；he is not ignoring you, he is disrespecting you. At that point, everything else should stop until he takes the earplugs out of his ears. Don’t try to communicate with him when he’s wearing headphones—even if he tells you he can hear you. Wearing them while you’re talking to him is a sign of disrespect. Parents should be very tough about this kind of thing. Remember, mutual respect becomes more important as children mature.
1.According to the passage, it seldom happens that________.
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A．kids turn a deaf ear to their parents’ requests |
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B．parents’ directions sound like a broken record |
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C．children are ready to follow their parents’ directions |
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D．parents are unaware of what they are repeating to their kids |
2.Parents will be able to deal with their child more effectively if they ________.
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A．avoid direct ways of punishment |
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B．make him do things at their request |
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C．argue and fight with their child |
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D．allow their child to behave in his own way |
3.When the kid is doing his homework, parents________.
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A．should provide him with a good learning environment |
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B．can do whatever they like |
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C．can stay aside watching TV |
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D．must switch off the power |
4.It can be inferred from the passage that________.
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A．parents should take off their headphones when trying to have a talk with their child |
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B．it will make no difference that a kid is wearing his earplugs while talking to his parents |
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C．parents shouldn’t give in to their kid when he shows no sign of respect |
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D．kids’ purposely talking to their parents with iPod gives them a sense of power and control |
5.The main idea of the passage is________.
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A．that respecting each other is more important than anything else |
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B．how kids behave to ignore and disrespect their parents |
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C．that children should make choices and decisions on their own |
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D．how parents can deal with their kid’s behavior effectively |
Most people consider skydiving (高空跳伞) a product of the 20th century, but its history actually goes further back than that. The Chinese attempted to parachute (跳伞) in the 10th century, a thousand years before we did. The Chinese did what we would today call base diving; that is, they jumped off a place that would allow them to float from a height to the ground.
The first person to attempt to parachute was a Frenchman named Jacques Garnerin. He jumped from his hot-air balloon at the end of the 18th century and did tricks on the way down and stupefied the crowds by landing safely on the ground. At the end of the 19th century, Kathie Paulus, a brave German woman, became famous for her skydiving skills.
Once the airplane was invented, skydiving took on a whole new form. The airplane made it possible to dive from greater heights at greater speeds, allowing for more range in the movements in the air. A woman named Tiny Broadwick became the first woman to jump from a plane in 1913 and dive free fall in 1914.
Skydiving was not called skydiving until the middle of the 1950s, when Ronald Young invented the word. It had been called parachuting before this and was mainly used by the military (军事) to land troops in inland locations, or for pilots to jump out of their planes when necessary. Once World War I was over, parachuting became a sport, which we now call skydiving.
After World War II, this activity became more a hobby than a military action. Soldiers were trained in parachuting and enjoyed the thrill so much that they continued on for fun. From this, teams and competitions were formed. Skydiving schools appeared in the late 1950s and now it is a recognized extreme sport enjoyed by many.
1.The underlined word “stupefied” in paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.
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A．disappointed |
B．encouraged |
C．surprised |
D．attacked |
2.Who was the first woman to jump from a plane?
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A．Jacques Garnerin. |
B．Kathie Paulus. |
C．Tiny Broadwick. |
D．Ronald Young. |
3.Which of the following is TRUE?
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A．The Chinese attempted different skydiving skills in the 10th century. |
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B．Skydiving became popular after the airplane was invented. |
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C．The word skydiving was first used in a military action. |
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D．There were no skydiving schools until the late 1950s. |
4.What can we infer from the passage?
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A．Skydiving is not a military action any more. |
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B．Kathie Paulus is famous for her skydiving skills. |
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C．The first person who parachuted was from Germany. |
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D．The history of skydiving is longer than that of parachuting. |
5.What would be the best title for this text?
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A．The history of skydiving |
B．The popularity of skydiving |
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C．What is skydiving? |
D．Why is skydiving an extreme sport? |
There is a very special wolf that lives in Africa. They are actually called, the African wild dog, of painted dogs.
These animals live in open woodlands, or in the plains of Africa. Today, however, most of the animals can be found in eastern or southern Africa. These animals are beautiful. They have rounded ears instead of pointed like most dogs, and they have four toes (脚趾) on each of their four feet, also a unique characteristic because other dogs have five. Their fine fur is always different from each other. The fur is usually a combination of black, brown, red, and white, and sometimes even yellow. No wonder they’re called the painted wolf.
The African wild dog is a very social animal. They live in groups and have numbers from five to about twenty. The members of a group are always very close to one another. They communicate in their own language or body language. When someone is very old or sick, the others will help, and they are willing to share the food with the elders and with those who are weak, which is what we should learn from.
The family does everything together, from raising young, to sleeping together, to hunting. When they hunt, they will work together suing team work to kill animals that are larger than them.
They sometimes hunt farm animals. This is unfortunate, because both poachers (偷猎者), and people who own farms shoot the painted dogs who are just trying to survive.
Before, there used to be many large groups throughout the land, but now the African wild god is very rare. They are also losing their population because of their own loss of habitat thanks to human’s farming and forest cutting.
1.From the text we learn that the African wild dog .
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A．lives in the north of Africa |
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B．has sixteen toes altogether |
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C．has pointed ears like most dogs |
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D．lives in forests in groups |
2.Why do African wild dogs get the name “painted dogs”?
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A．They all have colorful fur. |
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B．The dogs in the same group are of different colors. |
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C．Artists love to paint them in different colors. |
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D．None of them has the same color. |
3.According to the author, what should we learn from African wild dogs?
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A．They always do everything together. |
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B．They help the sick, the elderly and the weak. |
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C．They are always very close to one another. |
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D．They communicate in their own language. |
4.Which of the following is NOT the reason why African wild dogs are becoming very rare?
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A．Poachers kill some of them. |
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B．They are short of food sometimes. |
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C．They are losing their habitat. |
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D．Farmers shoot some of them. |
5.Where could this passage probably be found?
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A．The Travelers |
B．Fashion Weekly |
C．Animal World |
D．Star Magazine |
