Do American children still learn handwriting in school? In the age of the keyboard, some people seem to think handwriting lessons are on the way out. 90% of teachers say they are required to teach handwriting. But studies have yet to answer the question of how well they are teaching it. One study published this year found that about three out of every four teachers say they are not prepared to teach handwriting. Some teachers are teaching handwriting by providing instruction for 10 to 15 minutes a day, and then other teachers who basically teach it for 60 to 70 minutes a day — which really for handwriting is pretty much.
Many adults remember learning that way — by copying letters over and over again. Today’ s thinking is that short periods of practice are better. Many experts also think handwriting should not be taught by itself. Instead, they say it should be used as a way to get students to express ideas. After all, that is why we write.
Handwriting involves two skills. One is legibility, which means forming the letters so they can be read. The other is fluency — writing without having to think about it. Fluency continues to develop up until high school.
But not everyone masters these skills. Teachers commonly report that about one fourth of their kids have poor handwriting. Some people might think handwriting is not important any more because of computers and voice recognition programs.
But Steve Graham at Vanderbilt says word processing is rarely done in elementary school, especially in the early years. American children traditionally first learn to print, and then to write in cursive, which connects the letters. But guess what we learned from a spokeswoman for the College Board, which administers the SAT college admission test. More than 75 percent of students choose to print their essay on the test rather than write in cursive.
1.From Paragraph 1 we can learn ________.
A. teaching handwriting is a basic requirement in teaching job
B. most teachers prefer to teach handwriting
C. teachers spend little time in teaching handwriting
D. a keyboard has taken the place of the handwriting entirely
2.The underlined word “legibility” in Paragraph 3 means ________.
A. being easy to read B. being complex
C. being unexpected D. being unreadable
3.The best title for the passage is ________.
A. How to improve handwriting in school
B. Right or wrong: the death of handwriting
C. Handwriting involves two skills
D. Handwriting lessons are on the way out
4. The author’ s attitude towards whether still to learn handwriting in school is________.
A. negative B. objective
C. critical D. optimistic
“Do you like doing things for people?” I asked a friend.
“Yes, most of the time,” she replied.
“Most of the time?”
“Well, I love to do things that are unexpected. I like to do little things most people wouldn't think about doing,” she said.
“But why did you say most of the time?”
“Well, sometimes after doing those little things people take advantage of you. I mean, they expect you to do it again. They ask you to do it. That’s when I don’t like it.”
It was odd that I had this conversation. This just happened to me. I love to do little things. I will pay for a meal card for the people in the office every time we have a meeting there. Not a big thing. It’s a little thing. $5.30 will pay for almost five lunches. Hey, big spender!
I also bought a bag of animal crackers for a friend at work. She was having a tough day and not very happy at all. I drove down to the Wal-Mart and picked up a huge bag for under $2.00. Her smile was worth it.
But one week she said, “Bob, we ran out of crackers. We love them so much.” I didn't want to do it. I smiled and she persisted. I finally admitted, “It’s different when I do it because I want to, but now you are trying to make me go to get them. It’s not the same.” But I bought it for her.
Unfortunately, a big fire in my family took away all the possessions we had. I didn’t know what to do and how to do it. What happened to me then surprised me most. I once had my bike repaired, but the repairman said “no charge” on hearing my sufferings. A stranger called James Kennedy read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings for Slate, the online magazine, and wanted to give us a new house across the lake from New Orleans. I refused but I felt moved. Another poet at the University of Florida also wanted to let his house to me free of charge while he was on holiday. My mates gave us more money for us to rebuild my home. When you do something kind for others, do you always get rewarded? Yes, but not in the way you might expect.
1.What’s the main purpose of the first paragraph?
A. To tell the background of the story.
B. To attract the attention of the readers.
C. To get the readers to know main idea directly.
D. To explain the reasons why he wrote the passage.
2.What do we know about James Kennedy?
A. He was a writer of an online magazine.
B. He was also a poet at the University of Florida.
C. He offered the author a new house free of charge.
D. He learned about the author’s sufferings online.
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A. Misfortune of blessing on happiness.
B. Never too late to learn.
C. Helping others means helping yourself.
D. Many hands make the work lighter.
假如你是李华，你的班级打算在寒假组织一次班级活动，有三种活动方案供大家选择：一、慈善义卖帮助家庭有困难的同学；二、聘请英语专家介绍有效的学习方法；三、组织一次班级新年派对。
请你选择其中一个方案，用英语写一篇100-120个词的短文，提出对该项活动的建议并谈谈理由。你的写作中必须包括：
1．选择方案，并对该方案提出建议；
2．谈谈你提出建议的理由。
开头已给出，不计入词数。参考词汇：慈善：charity（n．）
Our class is planning to organize a class activity during winter vacation．
第一节：短文改错（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
下面短文中有10处语言错误。请在有错误的地方增加、删除或修改某个单词。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写上该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词。
注意：1． 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2． 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
One Sunday, I was reading my book while it suddenly occurred to me that it was mother birthday the next day. However, I forgot it complete. I was worried that I didn’t prepare any present to her. At that moment, idea of online shopping came to my mind. I clicked the mouse and search some famous shopping websites. Having compared the price of many dresses, I chose one with a reasonable price which I supposed Mum would appreciate it and bought it as soon as possible. The next day I received the dress as expected without get out of my room. You see, online shopping is very convenient that it has made our life colorful．
A． Life isn’t a competition．
B． Fight for a better life with determination．
C． Love should be your rule．
D． Be grateful and feel hopeful about life．
E． Life can be cruel at times．
F． Be open to life anyway．
Dear Seth,
You’re only three years old, and at this point in your life you can’t read, much less understand what I’m going to try to tell you in this letter. But I’ve been thinking a lot about the life that you have ahead of you, about my life so far as I reflect on what I’ve learned, and about my role as a dad in trying to prepare you for the trials that you will face in the coming years. As with my advice, take it with a grain of salt. What works for me might not work for you. But someday when you’re ready, I hope you will find some wisdom and value in what I share with you.
1. _____________________________
You are young, and life has yet to take its toll on you, to throw disappointments and heartaches and loneliness and struggles and pain into your path. You have not been worn down yet by longs hours of thankless work, by the slings and arrows of everyday life. For this, be thankful. You are at a wonderful stage of life. You have many wonderful stages of life still to come even if they are not without their costs and great dangers．
2. _____________________________
There will be people in your life who won’t be very nice because you’re different, or for no good reason. There’s not much you can do except to learn to deal with them, and learn to choose friends who are kind to you, actually care about you, and make you feel good about yourself. There will be times when you are met with disappointment rather than success. Life won’t always turn out the way you want. But instead of letting these things get you down, push on. Learn to turn negatives into positives. You’ll also face heartbreak and abandonment by those you love. I hope you don’t have to face this too much, but it happens. Let these pains become stepping stones to better things in life and learn to use them to make you stronger．
3. _____________________________
Yes, you’ll find suffering in your journey through life, but don’t let that close you to new things or wall yourself off. Be open to new things, experiences and people. You might get your heart broken ten times but find the most wonderful woman the 11th time. You might get teased and hurt by people you meet. If you close yourself off to new people, who will be there during the toughest times of your life and create some of the best times of your life. You will fail many times but if you allow that to stop you from trying, you will miss out on the amazing feeling of success once you reach new heights with your accomplishments.
4._____________________________
You will meet many people who will try to outdo you in school, in college, at work. They’ll try to have nicer cars, bigger houses, nicer clothes, cooler gadgets. To them, life is a competition — they have to do better than their peers to be happy. Here’s a secret: Life isn’t a competition. It’s a journey. If you spend that journey always trying to impress other, to outdo others, you’re wasting it. Instead, learn to enjoy the journey. Make it a journey of happiness, of constant learning, of continual improvement, of love. Find your passion, and pursue it doggedly. Life is too short to settle for a job that pays the bills．
5. _____________________________
If there’s a single word you should live your life by, it should be this: Love. It, I know, might sound corny, but trust me, there’s no better rule in life. Some would live by the rule of success. Their lives will be stressful, unhappy and shallow. Others would live by the rule of selfishness. They will live lonely and unhappy lives. Live your life by the rule of love. Love your spouse, children, parents, friends, with all of your heart. Love not only your loved ones, but your neighbours, coworkers, strangers, even your enemy. And most of all, love yourself. While others criticize you, learn not to be so hard on yourself, to think that you’re ugly or dumb or unworthy of love. Instead, learn to love yourself for who you are．
Finally, know that I love you and always will. You are starting out on a weird, scary, daunting, but ultimately incredibly wonderful journey. And I will be there for you when I can．
Love,
Your Dad
