It’s not piano lessons or dance classes.Nowadays,the biggest extra-curricular activity in the west is going to a tutor.Pat,a mother in Canada,spends about 800 Canadian dollars a month on tutors when finding out half her daughter’s class have tutors.She feels like her child is going to fall behind because everyone else seems to be ahead.
Shelley,a mother of three,also has tutors constantly coming in and out of her home.She was always yelling when she couldn’t manage to get her children focused.When she gets a tutor once a week,they become focused for one entire hour and can get most of their homework done.
Tutoring isn’t simply a private school phenomenon.Nor is it intended only for lower-achieving students.In Canada alone,seven percent of high school students reported using a tutor in 2010.That increased to 15 percent in 2015.
Overall,parents hire tutors because they are worried school are not meeting their expectations,but there is also a culture shift.A special value is placed on education in Asia,where tutoring is viewed as an extension to the school day. As a large number of Asians emigrated to the west over the recent years,their attitudes towards education have had an influence.
Another reason for the growth in business is parental frustration and their packed schedules.A lot of parents just don’t have time to help their children with homework and some others couldn’t help their children after Grade 3,according to a president of an American tutoring company.
There has been a noticeable change in the attitudes,too.Children used to get bullied（被欺负）for having a tutor, now it’s becoming the norm to have one.
Children don’t seem to mind that they have a tutor.One parent feels surprised that so many of her child’s classmates have tutors.For the amount parents pay in tuition,children should have as much extra help children with a tutor because_______.
1.Shelley decided to equip her children with a tutor because_______.
A. her children’s school is not meeting her expectation B. over half of her children’s classmates have tutors
C. her children’s homework is too difficult for her D. she had a hard time getting her children focused
2.In Canada,the population of high school students using a tutor grew by _______from 2010 to 2015.
A. 7%. B. 8%. C. 10%. D. 15%.
3.According to the passage,which of the following statement is TRUE?
A. Pat got a tutor because she can’t help her children with homework.
B. Shelley spends about 800 Canadian dollars on tutors every month.
C. Asians usually place more emphasis on education that Canadians.
D. Most students with the help of tutors have poor grades at school.
4.The tutoring business in the west has been seen in growth in recent years because_______.
a.a lot of parents are too occupied to help their children with homework.
b.children no longer get bullied for going to a tutor and getting extra help
c.many schools cannot offer as much help as their students need
d.Asians emigrating to the west have affected people’s attitude to tutoring.
A. a,b,c. B. a,b,d. C. a,c,d. D. b,c,d.
Moby Dick,or The Whale,of which only 5 copies were sold in the year of its first publication,has been recognized as one of the greatest masterpieces of the twentieth century novels across the world.Yet its author,Herman Melville,was not blessed enough to change his fate as the great work did.
Herman was born into an upper class New York family in 1819,but he had to drop out of school at the age of 15due to bankruptcy （破产）of the family.He struggled for living by working as a clerk at a bank,a farmer and a primary school teacher,but did not manage to hold on quite long to any of the jobs.And in 1841,he turned himself a whaling sailor on a big whaler.
In the next three years,his sailor’s life was torn apart by betrayal,injury,living with anthropophagi（食人族）， love,killing,imprisonment,prison break,which did not bear the expected fruit of fortune or being a captain.
At the age of 25 ,Herman returned to America,starting his writing career.During the following five years,he published five novels,among which was Moby Dick,but none of the works brought him any fame or sense of success.
He had to live up with his poor life,supported by regular financial help from his father in-law.Not much changed even after his father-in-law assisted him onto a post at the customhouse(海关).His self-doubt whether he should fight to write as an author disturbed Herman for the rest of his life till his death in 1899,which is suggested in his wife’s diary.And his wife described his several struggles where he fought bitterly back to his desk to pick up his pen.
1.Which of the following statements is TRUE about Moby Dick according to the passage?
A. It came out as a published novel in the twentieth century.
B. It was not recognized as a great work until the twentieth century.
C. It was not for sale until the twentieth century.
D. It was adampted from the passage?
2.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Herman chose his life on purpose to make himself a great writer.
B. Herman’s parents had scheduled those failures in his life to make him a man.
C. Herman did not offer the best of himself to foresee and avoid those series of misfortune.
D. Herman’s insufficient capability to fight problems he was faced with might result.
3.What is the first working element that built Herman up be a most outstanding writer?
A. His rich life experience and perseverance. B. His sharp sense to observe and think.
C. Help from his wife and father-in-law. D. His brilliant language talent and skill.
4.What can we learn from Herman’ life story?
A. There is no much point struggling and working too hard in one’s like.
B. Never invest too much of yourself into what others have the power to judge.
C. Never trust decisions that have been made by others.
D. Never doubt yourself but stick to what you are committed to.
The Today I learned–The New York Times’ fun column always highlights some surprising and interesting facts. In that spirit,The New York Times lists some of the most eye-catching things out of the column and edits them into What I Learned This Year.Following are some facts out of What I Learned in 2016.
The world’s most-used natural resource (apart from water,listed at the second place and air,as the champion) is sand,which consists of extremely small pieces of stone-and it’s disappearing.
A team’s success (at work) is often driven by 3 factors (with the importance from high to low) —its culture,the interpersonal relationship and the IQ or talent of its individuals.
Giraffes have been keeping a secret from most of us for a long time: They’ really four different species,not one. The Greenland Shark lives at least 272 years and it could live as long as 512 years,which makes it the oldest living thing with a backbone（脊椎）on Earth.
More that 70 percent of Americans think Granola Bars (格拉诺拉燕麦棒)are healthy.Interesting,less than 30 percent of nutritionists（营养学家）agree.
Nearly 80 percent of teenagers say they don’t like to eat cereal porridge（燕麦粥）for breakfast,because they have to clean up the bowls after eating it.
It’s myth that closing unused apps on your smartphone will prolong battery life.And turning off Wi-Fi doesn’t help,either.
Annual percentage of highway death had been going down for the last four decades till it last year recorded the largest increase in 50 years.Blame Snapchat and other smarphone apps.
Death from gun-shooting is as enough as from car accidents in the United Stated and as scarce as from lightning strikes in Japan,which owns the reputation of one of the safest countries.
1.According to the passage,the world’s most-used natural resource is______.
A. water B. air C. sand D. stone
2.According to the passage,the most important factor of a team’s success is_____.
A. a team’s culture B. the interpersonal relationship C. individual IQ D. individual talent
3.Which of the following descriptions is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Most people still don’t know that giraffes have four species.
B. The Greenland Shark is the oldest living life on Earth.
C. Cereal porridge is as unhealthy as Granola Bars for teenagers.
D. Closing unused apps on smart phones will prolong battery life.
4.The underlined word “scarce” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ____.
A. enough B. safe C. familiar D. rare
PorPiaTod (Spring rolls) Pantawan Cooking
Ingrediants
—garlic 1
—sliced cabbage 1/3 cup
—sliced cabbage 1/3 cup
—pork 50g
—glass noodles（粉丝） 1 cup
—sliced carrot 1/3 cup
—pepper sauce 1 spoon
—sugar 1 spoon
—soy sauce 1 spoon
—vegetable oil 1 spoon
—bean sprouts（豆芽） 1 spoon
—spring roll sheet 4
—egg white 1 spoon
How to cook:
—Put the spring roll sheet on the kitchen board or a big plate and be ready for the rolling time.
—Put the filling on the spring roll sheet and start to roll from one corner of the sheet.
—Keep rolling until you have reached the middle,when you take both sides of the sheet to the center.
—Then continue rolling to the end corner and seal with egg white.
1.According to the passage,the sliced vegetables include______.
A. vegetable oil B. garlic C. bean sprouts D. carrots
2.The spring roll filling is ready after__________.
A. the sliced garlic and the pork are well cooked B. the seasonings and all the vegetables are well cooked
C. the glass noodles and the bean sprouts are well cooked D. the spring roll sheet and the egg white are well cooked
3.Which of the following descriptions is TRUE according to this passage?
A. You stick the spring roll sheet together with egg white.
B. You begin to roll the sheet at the corner of the kitchen board.
C. You use the egg white as a kind of spring roll filling.
D. You take both sides of the sheet to the center before you roll it.
假如你是李华，北京成功获得2022年冬奥会主办权的消息令你兴奋。请你给你的英国朋友Lucy写一封信，邀请她2022年冬奥会期间来中国游玩。要点如下：
1．介绍冬奥会的时间、地点；
2．阐述冬奥会的意义；
3．表达你的愿望。
注意：
1．词数100左右；
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3．开头和结尾已为你写好，不计人总词数。
Dear Lucy，
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有lO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（八），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：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后酌词。
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。
Last Sunday, I accompanied two of my foreign friend, Tom and Mary, to travel around Beijing. We began with touring South Luogu Lane(南锣鼓巷) , which is known for their traditional Chinese architecture. I know a place very well so I acted as their tour guide ! For lunch, we had tried some Beijing fried sauce noodles(炸酱面). Tom in particular thought that they tasted deliciously. After lunch, we went to Houhai skate on the frozen lake. Mary was skating beautifully while Tom called for help. We finished the day with going shop, and both Tom and Mary bought some paper-cuts like souvenirs. It was a fantastic day but I hope they will come back again soon.
