Read the following passage. Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage.
In Britain and other countries, young people usually take a “gap year”, a year off between high school and college. This idea never gained a big following in the United States. Recent news reports have suggested that interest may be growing, though there are no official numbers.
Charles Deacon, the dean of admissions estimates that in the current first-year class of one thousand six hundred students, only twenty-five percent decided to take a year off. He says this number has not changed much over the years. He says the most common reasons to have a chance to travel, but international students may take a gap year to meet requirements at home for military duty.
Some high school graduates see a year off as a chance to recover after twelve years of required education. But it can also give students a chance to explore their interest.
Many colleges and universities support gap-year projects by permitting students to delay their admission. Experts say students can grow emotionally and intellectually as they work at something they enjoy. The Harvard admissions office has an essay on its Web site called “Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation”. It praises the idea of taking time off to step back, think and enjoy gaining life experience outside the pressure of studies. Of course, a gap year is not for everyone. Students might miss their friends who go on directly to college. And parents might worry that their children will decide not to go to college once they take time off. Another concern is money. A year off, away from home, can be costly.
Holly Bull is the president of the Center for Interim Programs. Her company specializes in helping students plan their gap year. She notes that several books have been written about this subject. And she points out that many gap-year programs cost far less than a year of college.
1.How do many colleges and universities support gap-year projects? (No more than 8 words)
2.According to Charles Deacon, how many students in the current first-year class of his school decided to take a gap year? (No more than 8 words)
3.What is the purpose of some high school students taking a gap year?( No more than 6 words)
4.Why do parents worry about children’s gap year? (No more than 15 words)
Read the following passage. Fill in the numbered blanks by using the information from the passage.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
Would you work for nothing? Non-paid internships(实习生) have been common in the US for some time now. But these days, they are becoming more and more popular in other countries, too. Is this a good thing?
For young people, there are clear benefits to doing an internship. Firstly, interns get a valuable insight into an industry they might be interested in working for. Also, having done an internship looks good on your CV, which is very important in today’s competitive job market. A lucky few may be hired at the end of the internship, so it’s a good way of getting a foot in the door. For other interns, there is even extra welfare: deals on clothes if they’re working in the fashion in industry, free trips if they’re working for a travel agency…and so on.
There are obvious benefits to companies, too. They can help select employees who are better. “If you put two young people to work as interns for twelve weeks, you’ll soon see who is good.” said one manager. Besides, they can save money. “If I use interns, I don’t have to pay another salary, or worry about paying pensions or giving people overtime pay.” said another.
So, what do interns do? Most tasks are fairly routine. These may include photocopying, filing documents, or writing up notes from meetings. At times, interns may be given jobs with more responsibility, such as making sales calls, writing newsletters or updating websites.
However, for some interns the experience can become unpleasant. “I worked for a theatre company for six weeks and spent the whole time photocopying scripts and making the tea and coffee. It is dull.” said one intern. On the other hand, non-paid internships violate the labor law in some countries, where workers must be paid the minimum wage and paid for overtime.
Internship can provide benefits to both sides, but these unpaid workers are also easy to take advantage of!
Title 1._________
I. Facts:
2._________ in the US.
More and more popular in other countries.
II.3._________:
For young people
●Getting a valuable insight into4._________.
●Looking good on their CV.
●5.__________ after the internship.
For others
●Extra welfare such as deals on clothes and 6._______.
7._________.
●Helping select 8._________.
●Saving money.
III .Duties:
9.__________ tasks.
More responsible jobs.
IV. Problems:
Doing 10._________.
Violating the labor law in some countries.
Virginia is set to begin enforcing the toughest drunken-driving punishment, one that will require thousands of first-time offenders—whether they were highly drunk or slightly over the limit—to install in their cars blood- alcohol testing devices that can lock the ignition. The devices work like this—A driver must blow into a blood alcohol device linked to the car’s ignition. If the result is higher than the legal limit, the car will not start. The device also requires random “rolling retests” once the driver is on the road.
Virginia’s current law requires only repeated offenders or those with a blood alcohol level of 0.15 or higher to have an ignition interlock device in their cars.
The new law, which takes effect in July, will roughly increase the number of people required to use ignition interlock devices four times, and offenders will have to pay about $ 480 for a typical six-month installation.
The measure has caused a debate between groups battling drunken driving and those representing offenders. Such groups as Mother Against Drunken Driving and The Washington Regional Alcohol Program say that Virginia’s 274 alcohol-related road deaths and more than 5,500 injuries in 2010 remained unacceptably high despite years of cracking down on drunken driving. Ignition interlock devices, they say, reduce repeat offenses. But some public defenders and lawyers argue that the devices are too severe a punishment for offenders at the legal blood alcohol limit 0.08, and that the court system will be burdened by more cases going to trial and lower-income drivers will be affected by the fees.
Del. Sal R. Iaquinto, who sponsored the bill, had a simple reply for concerns about the costs of the interlock devises: “How much does a life cost?” “Blowing into a tube for six months, you will remember that,” Iaquinto said, “And you’re not likely to offend again.”
1.The underlined word “ignition” in Paragraph 1probably refers to the part in a car where ___________.
A．the alarm goes off B．the engine starts C．the door opens D．the car is fueled
2.Who are required to install the blood alcohol devices according to the current law?
A．The first time drunken-driving offenders.
B．The drivers who are not able to pay offence fees.
C．The repeat drunken-driving offenders.
D．Drivers whose blood alcohol level is below 0.15.
3.The reason why some defenders and lawyers oppose the new law is that ____________.
A．fewer cases go to trial
B．lower-income drivers will not afford to drink again
C．interlock devices increase repeat offenses
D．the devices are too severe a punishment for offenders
4.The debate aroused by the measure implies that ___________.
A．prevention is better than cure B．no law is absolutely perfect
C．punishment is the key to all D．justice has long arms
5.What is Del. Sal R. Iaquinto’s attitude towards the new law?
A．Negative. B．Indifferent. C．flexible. D．workable.
America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending sometimes deeply into both families.
ericans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily. Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home.
1.In which part of a newspaper can this article be found?
A．Culture. B．News. C．Story. D．Travel.
2.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.
B．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.
C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.
D．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.
3.The underlined words “flower”(in Line 5) probably means ___________.
A．weaken B．develop C．stretch D．disappear
4.From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be___________.
A．treated hospitably at his home B．offered a ride to his home
C． warmly welcomed at the airport D．treated to dinner in a restaurant
5.The writer mainly talks about ___________ in the text.
A．friendships between Chinese B．Americans’ hospitality
C．different views of friendship D．friendships between Americans
Ammie Reddick from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, was only 18 months old when she had the accident that had scarred（留下创伤） her for life. The curious child reached up to grab the wire of a hot kettle in the family kitchen and poured boiling water over her tiny infant frame.
Her mother Ruby turned round and, seeing Ammie horribly burnt, called an ambulance which rushed her daughter to a nearby hospital. Twenty percent of Ammie’s body had been burned and all of her burns were third-degree. There, using tissue taken from unburned areas of Ammie’s body, doctors performed complex skin transplants to close her wounds and control her injuries, an operation that took about six hours. Over the next 16 years, Ammie underwent 12 more operations to repair her body.
When she started school at Maxwelton Primary at age 4, other pupils made cruel comments or simply wouldn’t play with her. “I was the only burned child in the street, the class and the school,” she recalled, “some children refused to become friends because of that.”
Today, aged 17, Ammie can only ever remember being a burned person with scars; pain is a permanent part of her body. She still has to have two further skin transplants. Yet she is a confident, outgoing teenager who offers inspiration and hope to other young burns victims.
She is a member of the Scottish Burned Children’s Club, a charity set up last year. This month, Ammie will be joining the younger children at the Graffham Water Center in Cambridgeshire for the charity’s first summer camp. “I’ll show them how to get rid of unkind stares from others,” she says. Ammie loves wearing fashionable sleeveless tops, and she plans to show the youngsters at the summer camp that they can too. “I do not go to great lengths to hide my burns scars,” she says, “I gave up wondering how other people would react years ago.”
1.How many operations has Ammie already had?
A．Twelve B．Thirteen C．fourteen D．Fifteen
2.What did other children do when Ammie first went to school?
A．They were friendly to her. B．They showed sympathy to her.
C．They were afraid of her. D．They looked down upon her.
3.Ammie will teach the younger children at the Graffham Water Center to___________.
A．face others’ unkindness bravely B．hide their scars by proper dressing
C．live a normal life D．recover quickly
4.Which of the following words can’t properly describe Ammie?
A．Courageous B．Confident C．sensitive D．Outgoing
5.What can be the best title of the passage?
A．A Seriously Burned Girl Survives B．Ways to Get Rid of Unkind Stares
C．Permanent Scars And Pain For a Girl D．A seriously burned angel of Hope
Complete the following passage by filling in each blank with one word that best fits the context.
The global financial crisis has contributed to 1. more fierce competition in job markets. College graduates are finding themselves in a situation 2. too many job seekers are fighting for survival. Our class has had a heated discussion on this problem.
Some think that 3. makes sense that they realize an early employment by lowering their income expectations. They also believe there are better opportunities for development 4. they go to work in the west or rural areas. Others consider full employment an unrealistic goal, 5. they choose to continue their further study 6. go to vocational schools to learn some practical skills to make better preparations for future careers.
As 7. me, I am confident and capable of overcoming the current difficulties and challenges after a series of timely measures taken by the government. All I need to do is make sure 8. I can make full use of our talent and skills.
