Since American students have been introduced into the era of the Massive Open Online Course, the opportunity for cheating appears greater than ever. The all-knowing Google search engine is within easy reach. So how can a teacher handle such a large number of examinees so far away, let alone searching out cheaters taking tests across the Internet?
Using technology, of course. While special services via webcam (摄像头) and cheating detecting software have been developed now, Mettl, an online company, has developed advanced techniques for netting cheaters, which the company claims are even more reliable and easier to use. Whatever small attempt to cheat, he or she will be found out.
Mettl has adopted a mass of technologies on its test-taking platform, creating a mini monitoring state in an exam. Here’s how it works: A test-taker signs on to Mettl and selects his／her exam from the site’s library of pre-loaded tests. Facial and keystroke recognition technology confirm the person that has signed in is the very person, and the system records both the test-taker (through the webcam) and the test-taker’s screen throughout the test.
Mettl’s technology uses the test-taker’s webcam to detect how many people are using the computer. Soon, it will track eye movement well enough to sense whether the test-taker is looking away from the screen, perhaps to consult a smart phone or a friend in secret. Mettl also monitors the test-taker’s screen and can detect when the test-taker has changed a computer or moved from the test. The system will soon be able to record sound, detecting whether the test-taker is talking or being talked to.
If any wrongdoings are detected, the system flags the incident and reports it back to the test’s administrator. This can bring any number of things, depending on the test-giver’s wishes: a complete shutdown of the exam, a warning message that appears on the test-taker’s screen, even human instructions from the control center.
Mettl is hoping its technology will help it break into the country’s big MOOC markets.
1.From the first paragraph we can infer that .
A. MOOC has replaced the traditional form of education
B. Teachers should be stricter in dealing with cheating
C. Preventing online cheating is a harder job
D. Google is a software designed for cheating
2.How can Mettl help to get rid of cheating online?
A. By equipping teachers with cameras.
B. By asking test-takers to sign in.
C. By providing different tests at a time.
D. By recording the test-takers’ behaviors.
3.We can conclude from the passage that the technology of Mettl is in the MOOC era.
A. unreliable B. promising
C. wasteful D. instructive
4.Which part of a newspaper does the article come from?
A. Health B. Entertainment
C. Education D. Culture
A couple of days ago, as the test results came out, my son and a group of his 13-year-old friends piled into the back seat of my car, ready for the last-day-of-school party at McDonald's. “Jack got a laptop for getting straight A's, and Laurie got a cell-phone,” one boy said. “Oh, yeah, and Sarah got an iPad, and she's only in third grade,” said another. “And how about Brian? He got $10 for each A.”
I suddenly became concerned. These payoffs might get parents through grammar school, but what about high school and beyond? What would be left after the electric guitar, the cell-phone, and the DVD player?
I saw the road ahead: As the homework load increased, my income would decrease. I saw my comfortable lifestyle disappear before my eyes — no more of those $5 bags of already-peeled organic carrots. No more organic anything!
I started to feel surprised and nervous. Would every goal achieved by my two children fetch a reward? A high grade point average? A good class ranking? Would sports achievements be included in this reward system: soccer goals, touchdowns? What about the orchestra? Would first chair pay more than second? I'd be penniless by eighth-grade graduation.
“We never paid anything for good grades,” said my neighbor across the street, whose son was recently accepted at MIT. “He just did it on his own. Maybe once in a while we went out for pizza, but that's about it.”
Don't you just hate that? We're all running around looking for the MP3 player with the most updates, and she’s spending a few dollars on pizza. She gets motivation; we get negotiation. And what about the primary grades? What do these students get? “When the teacher asked if anyone got rewards for good grades, everyone in my class raised their hands and said they got ice cream cones ,” said one third-grader.
1.What’s the best title for the passage?
A. Tips on Paying Kids for Good Grades
B. New changes in Paying Kids for Good Grades
C. Good Grades Mean Good Rewards
D. Don't Pay Kids for Good Grades
2.What does the underlined sentence in the third paragraph probably mean?
A. Taking care of my children would influence my work.
B. I would spend less money on my children's good grades.
C. More rewards would be needed as my children grow up.
D. Reducing my children's homework load would cost me a lot.
3.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A. if you buy children pizza as a reward, they will work harder
B. if you pay kids for good grades, they will take it for granted
C. children will not ask for rewards when they enter high school
D. good grades won't help kids make great progress in the future
4.The author takes her neighbor as an example to show _______.
A. pizza is the best way to motivate children
B. it is necessary to reward children for their good grades
C. getting rewards for good grades is common nowadays
D. rewards are not the only way to encourage children
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, after its shocking disappearance, has caught the attention of millions around the world as the search for the airplane and its passengers and crew continues. What happened to the flight’s 239 passengers and crew after the plane left Kuala Lumpur on Saturday? It is becoming an increasingly desperate question as the days pass.
But it’s hardly the first mystery of its kind. Here are some half-solved and unsolved airline mysteries that kept investigators clueless for years.
Air France Flight 447: An Airbus A330 flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, killing all 228 passengers and crew on board. But it took a full five days for search and rescue teams to find the wreckage（残骸）and another three years for investigators to report that ice crystals had caused the autopilot (自动驾驶仪) to disconnect. The bodies of 74 passengers remain unrecovered.
Amelia Earhart: Top pilot Amelia Earhart disappeared in her twin-engine monoplane Electra over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to travel around the globe. No sign of her plane was ever found even after a multi-million dollar search effort, and Earhart was officially declared dead in 1939.
Flying Tiger Line Flight 739: A U.S. military flight left Guam in 1962 with more 90 personnel headed for the Philippines, but it never arrived. The pilots never issued a distress call, and 1,300 people involved in the U.S. military search never found any sign of wreckage.
British South American Airways: It took more than 50 years to find any trace of the 11 people aboard a 1947 flight that disappeared in the Andes Mountains. A pair of Argentineans rock climbers discovered engine wreckage in the Andes in 1998, and an army expedition later found human remains as well.
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571: A flight headed to Santiago, Chile carrying 45 passengers and crew crashed into the Andes Mountains in poor weather in 1972, killing twelve people. In the meantime, eight were killed in an avalanche (雪崩) that hit the plane’s wreckage where they were taking shelter, and the rest stayed alive by eating the flesh of the dead before they were finally found more than two months after disappearing out of the sky.
1.The underlined word “plunged” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _____.
A. jumped B. broke C. dived D. flew
2.What can we learn from Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571? _____.
A. 12 people were lost until now.
B. 25 people were rescued immediately.
C. The rest who stayed alive killed 8 people.
D. 8 were killed by a fall of a large mass of snow down a mountainside.
3.From the passage, what could have led to British South American Airways crash?
A. The bad weather. B. Not mentioned.
C. The ice crystals. D. The lightning.
4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage? _____.
A. Earhart was declared dead by the local government two years later.
B. The bodies of Flight 447 had all been found after three years.
C. Two Argentineans rock climbers discovered the dead in the Andes.
D. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was regarded as the largest air crash.
To win an Oscar is an achievement at any age. To do so at 22, as Jennifer Lawrence has, is just amazing. Recently, the American star won Best Actress at Academy Awards for her role in the film The Silver Linings Playbook. According to Time magazine’s Richard Corliss, Lawrence is that rare young actress who “lends a mature intelligence to any ro1e”. Though Lawrence has found great success through her big screen work, Lawrence wasn't sure what she really liked doing before the age of l4. She thought she’d go to college and may be find a career as a doctor or a travel agent.
Lawrence’s two brothers were star athletes and one of them was a straight-A student. Unlike them, she suffered through school, never quite finding where she belonged. However, during a trip to New York, Lawrence suddenly realized that she wanted to be an actress. When she was enjoying the beautiful city, a model seeker asked if he could take her picture, and the next day he called her in for an audition(试镜).
“I read the play and it was the first time I had that feeling like I understand this.” Lawrence said. “Within 20 minutes, in the cab ride from the hotel room, I decided I didn’t want to be a model. In fact, I wanted to be an actress.” Having appreciated this young lady’s performance, the agency was so impressed with her reading that they signed her on the spot. But she insisted on finishing high school so she could give her full attention to her acting career.
Lawrence burst onto the Hollywood scene with The Hunger Games, which established her as the highest box office female action hero of all time. Rolling Stone called her “the most talented young actress in America”.
1.What can we know about Jennifer Lawrence from Paragraph 2?
A. Her parents were really strict with her.
B. Her school performance made her today's reputation.
C. She seemed not to fit in with her school days well.
D. Her two brothers were doing well in all school subjects.
2.Lawrence made up her mind to be an actress because of _____.
A. her brothers’ examples
B. a model interview
C. the taxi-ride to her hotel room
D. the beautiful scenery of New York
3.What is the best title of the text?
A. Winning Young B. Acting Wisely
C. Choosing Early D. Following Dreams
书面表达
假如你是英国的Frank，你的朋友小鱼打算到国外留学，他写信询问你什么样的中国学生最受国外高校青睐。
请你根据下列要点给对方写一封回信：
1．语言是必要条件； 2．适应能力很重要；
3．兴趣爱好被看重； 4．要有社会责任感。
注意：
1．词数100左右；
2．开头和结束语已为你写好，不计入总词数。
Dear Xiaoyu,
I’m glad to hear that you want to study abroad in your letter·
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
短文改错
假定英语老师要求同桌之间互相修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下面划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：
1．每处错误及其修改均仅限1词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Last Sunday, I didn’t get up early as usually. In the morning after I finished my homework, I do some washing. Then I telephoned one of my classmates, invite him to see a film. And unfortunately, when we got to the cinema, we found all the tickets had sold out. Then we went back to school and played the football. After that, we were about to go home then we saw our English teacher, Ms Gao, coming into the school gate. She told us we had made great progresses in English. This term she suggested that we should read more and wrote more. She also asked us to help those on need. She hoped we would improve English together.
