Most American schools have boys and girls in the same classroom. But a public high school in the small, rural town of Boonsboro, Maryland, offers a special program called the Academy. Top students in the ninth and tenth grades can attend single-sex classes for math, science, English and social studies.
The aim is to help teenagers keep their mind on their work by keeping males and females apart. What they really want to do is take that top group of kids and take them to the very highest level they can achieve there, so that they’re prepared for college.
Students are invited to enter this program after they finish middle school, and placement in the Academy is voluntary. However, they need high marks and test scores and strong teacher recommendations. They also need to be involved in activities.
Almost 350 students have taken part in the Academy. It began as an experiment in 2010.
Michael Bair has been at Boonsboro High for twenty years and directs the Academy. His ninth-grade English class for boys centers on books that he believes boys find interesting. He says that the novels the students are reading now are very manly (男子气概的) novels. These novels deal with the arrogance (傲慢) of man and the pride of man which finally leads to man’s downfall.
One of those books, for example, is The Call of the Wild by Jack London. This classic story tells of a dog stolen from his home and sold to work as a sled dog in Canada’s Klondike Gold Rush.
Morgan Fleet, a senior at Boonsboro High, likes being in the Academy. She says boys and girls act differently when they are together in a classroom. She believes this difference seems to prevent her from developing herself because she’s more focused on thoughts like “Oh, I wish they would shut up. Oh, what do they think of me?’’ instead of focusing on “What’s the homework? What’s going on in this class? What’s the lesson?”.
There is one activity that girls and boys in the Academy do together. At the end of the day, many of them stay and help tutor students who are having trouble in school.
1.What is the purpose of the Academy program?
A. To offer a special program in high school.
B. To help students concentrate on study.
C. To strengthen sex education for teenagers.
D. To start learning college courses earlier.
2.To enter the Academy program, students are NOT required to _________.
A. do well in their study B. be recommended by teachers
C. take part in some activities D. have worked as volunteers
3.The Call of the Wild is given as an example to show that male students ___.
A. should learn more about literature
B. should have a sense of protecting the wildlife
C. are reading more manly novels
D. are interested in stories on animals
4.Which is likely to be Morgan Fleet’s opinion?
A. A girl cares about the boys’ opinions of her.
B. Single-sex classes should be stopped.
C. Girls are more focused when studying with boys.
D. Boys and girls act the same in separate classrooms.
5.The passage is intended to _________.
A. introduce the single-sex class project
B. explain the differences between boys and girls
C. persuade students to enter the Academy program
D. urge students to work hard in their study
With large and small keyboards everywhere, neither children nor adults need to write much of anything by hand. That’s a big problem. Study after study suggests that handwriting is important for brain development — helping kids get fine motor skills and learn to express and create ideas. Yet the time devoted to teaching penmanship in most schools has shrunk to just one hour a week. Is it time to give up handwriting? Have a look at the link between the brain and penmanship, and you may get the answer.
A test among students in grades 2, 4 and 6 found that they not only wrote faster by hand than by keyboard, but also created more ideas when composing essays with handwriting. And other research shows that the finger movements required to write by hand activate brain areas involved with thought, language, and short-term memory.
A recent Indiana University study had one group of children practice writing letters by hand while a second group just looked at those letters. Then, both groups of kids entered a functional MRI (核磁共振) that scanned their brains as the researchers showed them the same letters. Researchers found that the brain activity in the first group was far more advanced and “adult-like”.
Handwriting also affects other people’s way they think of adults and children. Several studies have shown that the same average essay will score much higher if written with good penmanship and much lower if written out in poor handwriting. These studies have also found that people judge the quality of a person’s ideas based on his or her handwriting. And the consequences are real: On standardized tests with handwritten sections, like the SAT, all essay that is considered hard to recognize gets a big zero.
Studies show that this isn’t only an English-language phenomenon. Chinese and Japanese youths are suffering from “character amnesia”. They can’t remember how to write characters, thanks to computers and text messaging. Some experts fear that Chinese writing and reading are so closely linked in the brain that China’s reading ability as a nation could suffer.
1.According to the passage, it can be learned that ________________.
A. many researches have been done on handwriting
B. essays can’t be composed without handwriting
C. all children write faster by keyboard than by hand
D. most schools are trying to teach more handwriting
2.What does the Indiana University study imply?
A. Children should practice writing letters
B. Handwriting can increase brain activity
C. It’s good for children to enter a functional MRI.
D. Letters should often be shown to children
3.What does the 4th paragraph mainly talk about?
A. Handwriting affects both adults and children.
B. Handwriting helps a person write better essays.
C.SAT should be done with good handwriting.
D. Good handwriting makes a person seem smarter.
4.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Essays written with keyboards will get lower scores.
B. The quality of your ideas depends on your handwriting.
C. Chinese and Japanese youths don’t know how to write.
D. Less handwriting may affect China’s reading ability.
5.The passage tries to tell us that __________________.
A. keyboards are more popular than handwriting
B. we shouldn’t judge people by their handwriting
C. handwriting is of great importance
D. it’s time to give up using keyboards
While I was in my 4th month of pregnancy (妊娠期) with my second child, we were preparing for a trip to Louisiana, where Marshall’s family live, to celebrate Jane’s 2nd birthday. Two days before we were to leave, we got the shocking news that I was going to lose the baby. Not knowing when this would happen, we decided to continue with our trip.
Since Marshall’s family lives on a 600-acre cattle farm, you often find that you have a lot of time to yourself to think when you are there. That is precisely what I did not want to do at this time. I told Marshall that I needed to get a good book to get lost in while I was there. I told him I heard the Harry Potter books were good, so he went out and got the first one for me.
During that trip, I totally got lost in the book, which was of great help during a time when I needed a distraction to forget about the sadness. In the book, I noticed the name “Seamus”. I vaguely remembered it was pronounced “Shamus” and I liked the sound of that. I mentioned it to Marshall and he liked it too. Toward the end of the trip, I had just 5 chapters left and I knew I was about to finish the first book, which I was pretty excited about.
Soon after we put Jane down to bed, I had started labor (分娩), so I was unable to read. The labor lasted 5 and 1/2 hours, but Marshall stayed there with me, sitting beside me and reading aloud the last 5 chapters of Harry Potter. I can never fully explain how much that helped me through the experience. And ever since then, Marshall and I both have been fans of the Harry Potter books. We remember how they helped us get through that time of our lives.
We were sad to have lost the baby, but the name Seamus started our journey toward adoption. And we gave this name to our adopted son. Though our Seamus doesn’t have a drop of Irish blood in him, the name fits him perfectly.
1.Why did the writer want a good book during the trip?
A. Because the trip to Louisiana would take a long time.
B. Because she didn’t want to think of losing her baby.
C. Because she had nothing else to do except reading.
D. Because a good book could help her enjoy her trip.
2.According to the story, we can know that the Harry Potter books _________________.
A. made the family’s trip more exciting
B. include five books all together
C. have someone called Seamus in them
D. can help people deal with their problems
3.The writer named her son Seamus because ___________________.
A. she wanted to keep her trip in memory
B. she loved this name very much
C. her son doesn’t have Irish blood
D. it is a perfect name for a boy
4.Which of the following is TRUE about the couple?
A. They planned their trip after getting the shocking news.
B. They thought the cattle farm was too large to do anything on.
C. They felt excited when they almost finished the trip.
D. They liked reading Harry Porter very much after the trip.
5.Which is the best title for the passage?
A. Funny Stories Of My Family B. Seamus And Harry Potter
C. How We Got To Louisiana D. How My Son Got His Name
Have you ever asked yourself why children go to school? You will 1. (probable) say that they go to learn languages，arithmetic，history, science and some other knowledge．That is quite true；but why do they learn these things?
We send our children to school to prepare them for the time 2. they will be big and will have to work for 3. ．Nearly everything they study at school has some practical use in their life．But is that 4. only reason why they go to school?
There is more in education than just 5. (1earn)facts．We go to school to learn how to learn，so that when we have left school we can continue to learn．A man 6. really knows how to learn will always be successful，because when he has to do something new, he will not only be able to do it well himself, he will also be able to teach others 7. to do it in the best way．The 8. (educate)person，on the other hand，is either unable to do something new，or just 9. (do) it badly．The purpose of schools，therefore，is not to teach languages，arithmetic，history science，etc．， 10. to teach pupils the way to 1eam．
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This is one of life’s ______ questions and people have been debating about it for thousands of years. Now scientists believe they have solved this ______. Researchers from Sheffield and Warwick Universities in England discovered the answer ____. They used a super computer to observe the shell-making process while a new shell was ____. Then they found one protein called OC17 that is ______ for forming eggshell. This is only found inside a chicken’s body, which is proof that the ______ came first. The team was ______ looking at how animals and birds make eggshells but suddenly made their surprising ______. The big question now is where chickens came from. The ______ is from dinosaurs.
The research team said eggshells are one of nature’s most ______ creations. Professor John Harding from the team told reporters: “Understanding how chickens make eggshells is fascinating in itself, but it can also be _____ in designing new materials.” Eggshells are very lightweight but incredibly strong. Even the most up-to-date materials _____ by the world’s top engineers cannot produce anything as ______ as an eggshell. Professor Harding added that ______ eggshells could help to cure bone diseases and design materials for the construction industry. “Nature has found wonderful ways that ___ for all kinds of problems in materials science and technology — we can learn a lot from them.” he said.
1.A. strangest B. best C. oldest D. Closest
2.A. puzzle B. fact C. history D. opinion
3.A. on purpose B. by chance C. without hesitation D. at work
4.A. breaking B. changing C. disappearing D. Forming
5.A. necessary B. easy C. kind D. impossible
6.A. egg B. eggshell C. chicken D. dinosaur
7.A. obviously B. originally C. thoughtfully D. surprisingly
8.A. invention B. mistake C. statement D. discovery
9.A. answer B. research C. road D. egg
10.A. common B. ridiculous C. funny D. amazing
11.A. interesting B. helpful C. normal D. correct
12.A. bought B. cut C. designed D. carried
13.A. brilliant B. ordinary C.1ight D. small
14.A. finding B. watching C. studying D. making
15.A. happen B. work C. wait D. Look
－I’m thinking of the test tomorrow. I’m afraid I can’t pass this time.
－ ! I’m sure you’ll make it.
A. Go ahead B. Cheer up C. No problem D. Good luck
