When a big exam is coming up, you probably feel anxious about any wasted time and want to begin school as soon as you probably can.
But tens of thousands of British high school students will soon be getting up later. They’re taking part in a new experiment by Oxford University to see if later classes can improve their exam results.
Grades 10 students in the UK have to take the nationwide General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams. They have to pass these exams in order to study more advanced courses, and later apply for universities.
The Oxford University project means that GCSE students from more than 100 schools across England will start school at 10 am, more than one hour later than the current start time (8:50 am).
The project is based on scientific evidence that teenagers are “out of sync(同步)” with traditional school hours, the Telegraph reported. And what they need is more sleep in the morning.
“We know that something funny happens when you’re a teenager, in that you seem to be out of sync with the world,” said professor Colin Epsie, who is leading the study. “Your parents think it’s because you are lazy and opinionated（固执己见的）and everything will be OK if you could get to sleep earlier. But science is telling us that teenagers need to sleep more in the mornings.”
Everyone follows a natural cycle of sleep and wakefulne ss. Biology has decided that teenagers go to sleep around midnight and don’t feel fully awake until 9-10 am, according to scientists. That’s two hours later than adults. And their body clocks stay like this until the age of around 21 for males, and 19 for females.
“Society provides school for learning, but the brain provides sleep. So we are exploring the possibility that if you delay the schools start time until 10 am, that will improve learning performance,” said Epsie.
The results could be positive, based on previous studies.
An early study at the UK’s Monkseaton High School in 2009 found that starting an hour later improved grades in core subjects by 19 percent.
The Oxford project is expecting to publish the results in 2018. It’s time to wait and see whether scientists will give us an excuse to get up late.
1.According to the article, students who take part in the Oxford University project _________.
A. will start school one hour earlier
B. will no longer have to take GCSE exams
C. will perform better academically than those who don’t participate
D. will be guaranteed more sleeping time in the morning
2. The underlined phrase “out of sync”in Paragraph 5 probably means _____________ .
A. breaking the habit of doing something
B. getting used to doing something
C. having no idea of something
D. having trouble keeping up with something
3.We can infer from the article that _______________ .
A. the Oxford University project is targeted at all British high schools
B. getting up late is a sign of laziness in the eyes of most British parents
C. children and adults have different natural cycles of sleep and wakefulness
D. there is still no scientific evidence that supports a late school start time
4. What is the author’s attitude toward the Oxford University project ?
A. Critical B. Optimistic
C. Doubtful D. Uninterested
5. What’s the best title of the article ?
A. Wake up late to excel
B. It’s never too late to learn
C. The later you get up, the better you’ll learn
D. An excuse to get up late
According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the U.K. has about 7.8 million families with dependent children, of which 3.7 million have just one child, compared to 3 million with two and 1.1 million with three children or more. The number of families today with just one dependent child is now 47 percent and will likely rise to more than 50 percent in a decade. As the ONS confirms, “It appears that families are getting smaller.”
One obvious reason for this could be that women are putting off having children until they have established careers when they are bound to be less fertile. But it could just as well be a matter of choice. Parents must consider the rising cost of living, combined with economic uncertainty and an increasingly difficult job market. And this trend may continue growing as having an only child becomes more normal, which seems to be the mood on the mothers’ online forum Mumsnet, where one member announced that she “just wanted to start a positive thread about how fab it is to have an only child”.
She had received 231 replies, overwhelmingly in the same upbeat spirit. Parents of only children insist there are plenty of benefits. Nicola Kelly, a writer and lecturer who grew up as an only child and is now a married mother of one, says her 15-year-old son seems more grown-up in many ways than his contemporaries.
Not all products of single-child families are as keen to repeat the experience. In a moving recent account journalist Janice Turner wrote about her own keenness to “squeeze out two sons just 22 months apart” as a reaction to her only-child upbringing.
She was placed on a pedestal by her doting parents, whom she punished with a “brattish, willful” rejection of everything they stood for. Desperate for a close friend she was repeatedly shattered by rejection and refers to her childhood as being “misery”.
Writer and clinician Dr. Dorothy Rowe, a member of the British Psychological Society, says that we all interpret events in our own individual way and there are some children who no matter what their circumstances feel slighted, while other children see the advantages of their situation.
However, the one part of life that is unlikely to get any easier for only children is when they grow up and find themselves looking after their own parents as they become older.
1.The passage is written with the purpose of ___________________.
A. illustrating the strength and weakness of having an only child
B. guiding people to look at the same issue from different perspectives
C. analyzing the reasons why having an only child becomes popular
D. presenting us with different opinions about having an only child
2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 mean?
A. Nearly half of families intend to have just one child.
B. Some people fail to recognize the advantage of having an only child.
C. All people don’t stand for the idea of having an only child.
D. People brought up in an only child family resist downsizing the family.
3.From what Dr. Dorothy Rowe said, we know that _____________________.
A. it’s necessary for us to look at the event from our own angle
B. journalist Janice Turner experienced a miserable childhood
C. she has a positive attitude towards Janice Turner’s reaction
D. some are unable to make an objective assessment of their conditions
When international aid is given, steps must be taken to ensure (确保)that the aid reaches the people for whom it is intended. The way to achieve this may not be simple. It is very difficult for a nation to give help directly to people in another nation. The United Nations Organization (UNO) could undertake to direct the distribution of aid. Here however rises the problem of costs. Also tied with this is time. Perhaps the UNO could set up a body of devoted men and women in every country who can speedily distribute aid to victims of floods and earthquakes.
More than the help that one nation can give to another during a disaster; it would be more effective to give other forms of help during normal times. A common proverb says, “Give me a fish and I eat for day, teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime.” If we follow this wise saying, it would be right to teach people from less developed nations to take care of themselves. For example, a country could share its technology with another. This could be in simple areas like agriculture or in more complex areas like medical and health care or even in building satellites. Even small country is able to help less developed nations. Sometimes what is take for granted, like the setting up of a water purification plant or the administration of a school, could be useful for countries which are looking about to solve common problems. It does not cost much to share such simple things. Exchange students could be attached for a number of months or years and learn the required craft while on the site. They can then take their knowledge back to their homelands and if necessary come back form time to time to clear doubts or to update themselves. Such aid will be truly helpful and there is no chance of it being temporary or of it falling into the wrong hands.
Many countries run extensive courses in all sorts of skills. It will not cost much to include deserving foreigners in these courses. Besides giving effective help to the countries concerned, there is also the build-up of friendships to consider. Giving direct help by giving materials may be effective in the short run and must continue to be given in the event of emergencies. However, in the long run what is really effective would be the sharing of knowledge.
1.According to the author, how could international aid reach the victims in time?
A. By solving the cost problems
B. By solving the transportation problems
C. By setting up a body of devoted people in every country.
D. By relying on the direct distribution of the UNO.
2.What does the author try to express in the underlined sentence?
A. Providing food is vital
B. Learning to fish is helpful
C. Teaching skills is essential
D. Looking after others is important.
3.Which aid is likely to fall into the wrong hands?
A. A medical team. B. An exchange program.
C. A water plant. D. Financial support.
4.What can we infer about international aid from the passage?
A. It is facing difficulties
B. It is unnecessary during normal times
C. It should be given in the form of materials
D. It has gained support developed countries
IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer, and the man behind it is Ingvar Kamprad, one of the world’s most successful enterprisers. Born in Sweden in 1926, Kamprad was a natural businessman. As a child, he enjoyed selling things and made small profits from selling matches, seeds, and pencils in his community. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him some money as a reward for his good grades. Naturally he used it to start up a business—IKEA.
IKEA’s name comes from Kamprad’s initials (I.K.) and the place where he grew up (‘E’ and ‘A’). Today IKEA is known for its modern, minimalist furniture, but it was not a furniture company in the beginning. Rather, IKEA sold all kinds of miscellaneous goods.
Kamprad’s goods included anything that he could sell for profits at discounted prices, including watches, pens and stockings.
IKEA first began to sell furniture through a mail-order catalogue in 1947. The furniture was all designed and made by manufacturers near Kamprad’s home. Initial sales were very encouraging, so Kamprad expanded the product line．Furniture was such a successful aspect of the business that IKEA became solely a furniture company in 1951.
In 1953 IKEA opened its first showroom in Almhult, Sweden. IKEA is known today for its large stores with furniture in attractive settings, but in the early1950s, people ordered from catalogues. Thus response to the first showroom was overwhelming: people loved being able to see and try the furniture before buying it. This led to increased sales and the company continued to develop. By 1955, IKEA was designing all its own furniture.
In 1956 Kamprad saw a man disassembling(拆卸) a table to make it easier to transport. Kamprad was inspired. The man had given him a great idea: flat packaging. Flat packaging would mean lower shipping costs for IKEA and lower prices for customers. IKEA tried it and sales went up. The problem was that people had to assemble furniture themselves, but over time, even this grew into an advantage for IKEA. Nowadays, IKEA is often seen as having connotations(内涵) of self-sufficiency. This image has done wonders for the company, leading to better sales and continued expansion．
Today there are over 200 stores in 32 countries. Amazingly, Ingvar Kamprad has managed to keep IKEA a privately-held company. In 2004 he was named the world’s richest man. He currently lives in Switzerland and is retired from the day-to-day operations of IKEA. IKEA itself, though, just keeps on growing.
1.The author states in Paragraph 6 that flat packaging___________.
A. needs large space to assembly furniture
B. is a business concept inspired by Kamprad
C. helps reduce transportation costs
D. makes the company self-sufficient
2.What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Ingvar Kamprad is the richest man in the world.
B. IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer.
C. The advantage of IKEA’s furniture is dissembling.
D. Ingvar Kamprad established IKEA and led it to great success.
3.What is the author’s attitude towards IKEA’s future according to the last paragraph?
A. Indifferent B. Optimistic
C. Doubtful D. Pessimistic
We often talk about ourselves as if we have permanent genetic defects (缺陷) that can never be changed. “I’m impatient.” “I’m always behind.” “I always put things ______!” You’ve surely heard them. Maybe you’ve used them to describe ______.
These comments may come from stories about us that have been _____ for years—often from ______ childhood. These stories may have no ______ in fact. But they can set low expectations for us. As a child, my mother said to me, “Marshall, you have no mechanical (操作机械的) skills, and you will never have any mechanical skills for the rest of your life.” How did these expectations ______ my development? I was never ______ to work on cars or be around ______. When I was 18, I took the US Army’s Mechanical Aptitude Test. My scores were in the bottom for the entire nation!
Six years later, ______, I was at California University, working on my doctor’s degree. One of my professors,Dr. Bob Tannbaum, asked me to write down things I did well and things I couldn’t do. On the positive side, I ______ down, “research, writing, analysis, and speaking.” On the ______ side, I wrote, “I have no Mechanical skills.”
Bob asked me how I knew I had no mechanical skills. I explained my life ______ and told him about my ______ performance on the Army test. Bob then asked, “______ is it that you can solve complex mathematical problems, but you can’t solve ______ mechanical problems?”
Suddenly I realized that I didn’t ______ from some sort of genetic defect. I was just living out expectations that I had chosen to ______. At that point, it wasn’t just my family and friends who had been ______ my belief that I was mechanically hopeless. And it wasn’t just the Army test, either. I was the one who kept telling myself, “You can’t do this!” I realized that as long as I kept saying that, it was going to remain true. ______ , if we don’t treat ourselves as if we have incurable genetic defects, we can do well in almost ______ we choose.
1.A. off B. away C. up D. down
2.A. them B. myself C. others D. yourself
3.A. said B. spoken C. repeated D. spread
4.A. as far back as B. as long as C. as well as D. as much as
5.A. plot B. basis C. cause D. meaning
6.A. lead B. improve C. inspire D. affect
7.A. agreed B. forbidden C. hoped D. encouraged
8.A. means B. equipments C. tools D. hammers
9.A. however B. therefore C. somehow D. instead
10.A. calmed B. took C. laid D. got
11.A. passive B. negative C. active D. subjective
12.A. roads B. trips C. experiences D. paths
13.A. unexpected B. excellent C. poor D. average
14.A. Why B. What C. How D. When
15.A. hard B. advanced C. usual D. simple
16.A. arise B. suffer C. separate D. come
17.A. receive B. suspect C. adapt D. believe
18.A. strengthening B. weakening C. disliking D. accepting
19.A. As a result B. On the contrary C. In addition D. At the same time
20.A. nothing B. something C. anything D. little
— Tom, what a pity! I almost succeeded yesterday.
—_______. I told you to be careful before.
A. One tree does not make a forest
B. Where there’s life, there’s hope
C. One false step will make a great difference
D. Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today
