BEIJING — China’s education authority will tighten the widely criticized policy of “extra credits” for the national college entrance examination to ensure a fairer chance for all exam-takers.
Under the policy, high school students who win awards in national Olympic competitions could get ‘‘extra credits’ up to 20 points for the national college entrance exam. Students with talent in sports and students who are from ethnic groups can also benefit from this policy. The extra credits have increased these students’ chances of being admitted by famous universities. Some parents were found to have helped their children fabricate(伪造)award experiences or falsify qualifications to get extra credits.
“It has harmed education equality，” the ministry said.
Xiong Bingqi, vice-chief of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said the policy is designed to help students who have special talents but may be weak in academic performance to have a chance to receive higher education. uIt will still be needed but it is time to make the rules fairer," he said.
The ministry said it will reduce the range of competitions whose winners can get extra credits, and limit the winners, privileges(优先权).
The new policy will apply to students who begin high school in 2011, it said.
Chen Lei, a mother of a 10-year-old girl, said she welcomed the ministry's policy adjustment as she does not want her daughter to become an Olympic competition geek.
But not all the Chinese parents welcomed the new policy. “It is like a thunderbolt for me. My - 13-year-old son has spent so much time studying Olympic math，and participated in so many technological competitions during vacations. It is useless now,” said Dong Wen, a 43-year-old mother.
A student said, “Many students have changed the current study plan, and they can abandon the competition. I will be interested in learning the courses which can improve my abilities.”
Yuan Guiren, minister of education, told China Daily that the reform is an attempt to consider the overall quality of an applicant. “But the country will not stop the national college entrance examination as it is still the most objective way to evaluate talent in China，” lie said.
1.It can be inferred from the passage that_____.
A．high school students with talent in sports are weak in academic performance
B．students who win awards in Olympic competitions can’t get extra credits in 2011
C．the number of competitions whose winners can get extra credits will be smaller
D．the extra credits have reduced students' chances of being admitted by famous colleges
2.What does the underlined word “geek” probably mean?
A．a winner B．a smart learner C．a competitor D．a dull student
3.Which person in the passage was strongly against the new policy?
A．Xiong Bingqi B．Chen Lei C．Dong Wen D．Yuan Guiren
4.What might be the best title for the text?
A．“Extra credits policy in China to be adjusted
B．Promotion of national Olympic competitions
C．Advice on the national college entrance exam
D．Chinese government to push education reform
The koala(考拉) is possibly one of the best known Australian animals, and is found in four states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The word “koala” comes from an Australian aboriginal word meaning “no drink”.
Sometimes people call them “koala bears” but koala is not a bear. It belongs to a special group of Australian mammals, called marsupial(有袋类). Female marsupials have a pouch where the baby animals live after they are born.
Koalas have soft, thick, grey or brown fur on their backs. The fur on the stomach is white. Koala that live in the south have thicker fur than those in the north because of the cold winters, whereas the koalas in the northern part of the country live in warm to hot weather most of the year so have thinner fur. A koala has a large hairless nose and round ears. Koalas don’t have tails. Adult koalas measure between 7 and 14 kilograms.
Koalas spend nearly all their time in the trees using their sharp, curved claws and long toes to climb about and to hold on to the tree branches. They sleep most of the day, and feed and move from tree to tree mainly at night.
The reason koala sleep for much of the day is because their food eucalyptus(桉树) leaves are very tough so they use a lot of energy to digest. Sleeping saves energy. Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to almost every other animal. Koalas rarely drink water; they get water from the leaves they eat.
Each koala has a home range made up of several trees that they visit regularly. They normally do not visit another koala’s home trees except that a male is looking for a female to mate with.
1.Which of the following statements is NOT true about the name “koala bear”?
A．The name was given by the native in Australia
B．The word “koala” is an original English word
C．The name describes one of its living habits
D．The name is partly false
2.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “punch”？
A．House B．Cave C．Pocket D．Nest
3.Why do the koalas live in the south have thicker fur than those in the north?
A．The thicker fur can protect them from the colder weather
B．It’s always hot in summer in the north
C．It’s always cold in the winter in the south
D．They have to move to the north in the winter
4.Why do koalas sleep much in the day?
A．Their foods are poisonous
B．They want to save energy for the activities at night
C．They can’t get enough energy from their tough foods
D．They can’t get enough water from their leaves
Now, there is a growing movement to pay the students in American schools---in some cases, even just for coming to class.
Students at one school in New Mexico can earn up to three hundred dollars a year for good attendance. In Baltimore, Maryland, high scores in state graduation tests can be worth more than one hundred dollars. And a New Jersey school system plans to pay students fifty dollars a week to attend after---school tutoring programs.
Schools that pay students can be found in more than one---fourth of the fifty states. Other schools pay students with food or other rewards.
Robert Schaefer is a public education director. He says paying students may improve performance in the short term, but students develop false expectations for the future. He sees a lack of long term planning in these programs because of the pressure on schools to raise test scores.
Public schools need to show improvement under the education reform law. Low---performing schools may lose their federal money; teachers and administrators(行政人员) may lose their jobs. Often these schools are in poor neighborhoods where getting students to go to school can be a continual problem.
Critics(评论家) say paying students sends a message that money is the only valuable reward. But some students say it makes school more exciting. And some teachers have reported getting more requests for extra help.
In two thousand four, the city schools in Coshocton, Ohio, launched a program. They wanted to see if paying elementary school students as much as one hundred dollars would help in passing the state exams.
Now, Eric Bettinger of Case Western Reserve University (EUCWRU) has reported mixed results. Math scores increased, but only white students were able to get paid. And there was no evidence of higher scores in reading, social studies and science. Official will decide later this year whether to continue the program.
1.Paying students who show improvement in tests __________.
A．has been done in most American schools
B．is becoming a growing practice in the USA
C．is not very popular with teachers
D．only aims at high scores at school
2.According to the text, Robert Schaefer _____________.
A．is a very excellent teacher
B．thinks highly of paying students
C．thinks students will show improvement in study in the future
D．thinks people should make a careful plan for the paying program
3.From the last paragraph we can see __________.
A．EBCWRU has got great success in its paying program
B．not all the students in EUCWRU have made progress in all subjects
C．only students who study math can get paid
D．EBCWRU will go on with the paying program
4.The text is mainly written to _____________.
A．persuade teachers to give students more prizes
B．tell people how to become an excellent student
C．introduce something about American paying students program
D．explain the advantages of American paying students program
Throughout his early years, Obama was known at home and at school as “Barry”. Obama’s parents met while both were attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was enrolled(登记入读) as a foreign student. They separated when he was two years old and later divorced(离婚). His father received Master’s degree in Economics from Harvard University, then returned to Kenya, where he became a finance minister before dying in an automobile accident in 1982. His mother married another foreign student, Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro’s home country of Indonesia in 1967. Obama attended local schools in Jakarta, from age 6 to 10, where classes were taught in the Indonesian language.
During his time in Indonesia, he first attended St. Francis Assist Catholic school for almost three years. When Obama was in third grade he wrote an essay saying that he wanted to be president. His teacher later said that his reason for becoming president was that he wanted to make everybody happy.
Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his materal(母亲一方的) grandparents while attending Punahou School, a private college elementary school, from the fifth grade until his graduation in 1979. Obama’s mother, Ann, died of cancer a few months after the publication of his 1995 memoir(传记), Dreams from My Father.
In the memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his mother’s middle class family. Of his early childhood, Obama writes, “That my father looked nothing like the people around me---that he was black as pitch(沥青), my mother white as milk .”
Some of his fellow students at Punahou School later told the Honolulu Star—Bulletin that Obama was mature(成熟的) for his age as a high school student and that he sometimes attended parties and other events in order to connect with African American college students and military service people.
1.When Obama was a child, _________.
A．people used to call him Berry
B．his father died of serious illness
C．his father became a finance minister of America
D．his parents attended Harvard University
2.Which of the following is TURE about Lolo Soetoro?
A．He got college education in Indonesia
B．He is a person from Kenya in Africa
C．He is Obama’s stepfather and is a black
D．He is a foreign student in America
3.Obama’s mother, Ann, died of cancer in about ________ while his father died in _________.
A．1982; 1967 B．1967; 1982 C．1979; 1967 D．1995; 1982
4.Which of the following is NOT true?
A．Obama’s father was very black while his mother very white
B．Obama’s materal grandparents lived in Honolulu of Indonesia
C．Obama wanted to be president because he liked making people happy
D．Obama’s classmates thought he was mature for his age as a high school student
Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be enough rain. Other times there is too much. Maybe thereisn’t a lot we can do to control the rain, but there is a lot we can do to reduce problems caused bydifferent rainfall patterns.
A new development at the London Wetland Centre in Barnes solves the problems of managingwater with a “Rain Garden”. We are likely to be hearing about it a lot more often over the next fewyears. The idea is that the garden owner can store rainwater and use it in dry periods. They canreduce the problems caused by extra rain this way.
One of the key problems that the rain garden tries to deal with is the problem caused by toomuch water in the street. In a natural environment, a lot of rainwater is sent back into the air byplants. Much is also absorbed deep into the ground, and flows into streams and rivers. What happensin city environments can be completely different —— a large amount of rainwater flows straight offthe hard surfaces of roofs and roads. The harder the rain, the less likely it will be absorbed into theground —— floods are the result. Rainwater running off roads is often polluted.
The rain garden deals with living plants rather than hard surfaces. Plants are designed to holdwater and release it slowly, either into the ground, to be absorbed by plant roots (and so eventuallyback up into the atmosphere) or to go down into the water table. Not only does the rain gardenreduce the amount of water that flows onto the street, but it helps to clean it because plants are very goodat breaking down pollutants(污染物).
1.What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?
A．Explaining why there is a lack of rain at times.
B．Introducing several different patterns of rainfall.
C．Telling us how to avoid problems caused by rain.
D．Giving the idea that there are ways to manage rain water.
2.According to the second paragraph, “Rain Gardens" are likely to _____.
A．harm the environment in the short run
B．become popular over the next few years
C．be turned down by most new developments
D．be too expensive for common people to accept
3.We can learn from the third paragraph that _____.
A．floods are often the results of small rains
B．a heavy rain is less difficult for plants to absorb
C．the rain garden helps send rainwater back into the air
D．larger amounts of rainwater flow straight off in city environments
4.According to the last paragraph, what does the rain garden help to clean?
A．The plants B．The ground. C．The water. D．The street.
When you think of American culture, what first comes to your mind? McDonald’s? Coca Cola? Levi’s? Disneyland? Michael Jordan? Julia Roberts? Many people 1 American culture is a 2 of popular symbols like these. Actually, these symbols are only one 3 part of American culture—pop culture.
What is pop culture? Well, pop is 4 for popular. The origins of pop culture can often be traced to popular movies, television shows, music stars and sports figures. Pop culture is 5 promoted by business and advertising. The most 6 examples of American pop culture appear among high school and college students. Trends (趋势) 7 by famous personalities quickly become part of young people’s 8 .
American pop culture has spread around the world. One major reason for its 9 is that English is a universal language. English is the language of diplomacy, international business and transportation. 10 language and culture go together, learning English means becoming 11 of English-speaking cultures. Besides, America is a world 12 in movies, music and magazines. The kind of American culture 13 in those media is pop culture. Finally, pop culture is easy to package and to 14 . For that reason, it is easy to “sell” to the world.
Many people believe that American pop culture is what American is all 15 . Does pop culture 16 the true culture of America? Yes and no. Pop culture does 17 a portion (比例) of American society — especially the 18 young people that are tuned in to the media. But American pop culture is faddish (流行一时的) and 19 . If you want to learn about real American culture, you’ll have to go a little 20 than McDonald’s.
1. A．wonder B．imagine C．wish D．pretend
2. A．behavior B．signal C．side D．collection
3. A．small B．large C．main D．super
4. A．good B．eager C．known D．short
5. A．never B．only C．also D．just
6. A．famous B．common C．obvious D．helpful
7. A．set B．pushed C．ignored D．caused
8. A．hobbies B．taste C．admiration D．lifestyles
9. A．tendency B．popularity C．influence D．preference
10. A．Although B．Unless C．How D．Since
11. A．aware B．fond C．careful D．tired
12. A．driver B．worker C．leader D．officer
13. A．written B．communicated C．described D．taught
14. A．discuss B．display C．copy D．export
15. A．for B．about C．above D．against
16. A．reflect B．pay C．form D．affect
17. A．combine B．follow C．represent D．demand
18. A．urban B．rural C．quiet D．diligent
19. A．difficult B．simple C．ever-changing D．ever-lasting
20. A．slower B．farther C．nearer D．higher
