Should schools allow Halloween celebrations?
Halloween is one of the most celebrated holidays in the United States. 1. Many schools also celebrate the holiday by having kids dress up in costumes, take part in costume shows, and join in a variety of activities relating to Halloween. On October 31, the halls of schools across the country will be filled with princes, princesses, and superheroes. In addition to costumes, school Halloween celebrations often include classroom parties and trick-or-treating.
2. They also say that dressing up in costumes allows kids to express themselves and show off their creativity.
3. Officials at many of those schools say the celebrations are too time-consuming (费时的) and take away class time. They also point out that kids who can't afford costumes or who don't celebrate Halloween for cultural reasons feel left out. For example, Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, New Jersey, canceled（取消）its Halloween celebration last year. Officials at the school said that in the past, many students stayed home on that day.
4. Bree Picower, a Professor of Early and Elementary Education at Montclair State, said, “Maplewood is a wonderful example of a school being responsive to society. Many schools plan to learn from it. Schools are places where students should feel included.”
Parents in Maplewood had different opinions of this policy. Some said that the new no-Halloween policy was a welcome change. 5.
A. It brings a lot of safety problems.
B. Experts say Maplewood is not alone.
C. Many people dislike these costumes.
D. Each year there're millions of Americans celebrations the holiday.
E. But more and more schools have canceled（取消）Halloween celebrations in recent years.
F. Many teachers, parents, and students see these celebrations as a fun break from the school day.
G. And others said that it was unfair that their children are now not allowed to celebrate Halloween in school.
Sand, sun, fitness, and fun were popular at the LeapFrog’s Fit Made Fun Day event on September 6. With LeapFrog’s new LeapBand activity tracker, the event look place at Santa Monica Beach in California educate kids about staying active.
The LeapBand is Leapfrog’s newest product. It straps (用带子系好) onto the wrist, like a watch, features a virtual (虚拟的) pet that kids can care for. Kids do activities such as walking like a penguin and popping like popcorn to earn points and power-ups, which unlock new pets and rewards.
“We want to make sure kills understand that gelling up, getting active, having fun, and getting healthy tips can all be part of their daily lives,” says Greg Ahearn, who works for LeapFrog. “Our goal with the LeapBand is to get kills up and active and having fun.”
The event included creative Illness activities for kids and parents. Artie Green and Easy A. D., who are a part of an organization called Hip Hop Public Health, performed songs and taught dances. There were photo opportunities, healthy snacks, and goodie bags too.
Mia Hamm, a former member of the United States national women’s soccer team, is the official spokesperson for the LeapBand. Hamm took part in Women’s World Cups and the Olympics. When she was about 15, she knew that her sport was soccer. “I loved the way it challenged me every single day,” she said. Hamm says exercising should be fun “whether it’s playing soccer with your friends or hopping on one foot or dancing”. She advises aspiring athletes to “go for it. It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s meaningful”.
Later in the afternoon, the crowd came together to try to break three Guinness World Records: the most people making sand angels, the most people hopping on one foot, and the most people doing the swim dance. Participants (参加者) enjoyed exercising together, dancing, hopping, and flapping along to music. Better yet, they broke all three records! Ahearn hopes these families and many more continue to take part in fitness activities. “Fun is the most important thing,” he says.
1.The event LeapFrog’s Fit Made Fun Day is to ________.
A.encourage participants to break Guinness World Records
B.introduce LeapFrrog’s newest product — the LeapBand
C.instruct people, especially kids to keep an active lifestyle
D.find suitable volunteers to rare for virtual pets
2.According to the passage, what can we know?
A.Kids don’t understand the value of active life.
B.The activities of the event are concerned with fitness.
C.Soccer doesn’t mean a lot to Hamm.
D.Ahearn thinks breaking all three records is the most important thing.
3.The fifth paragraph mainly intends to tell us Mia Hamm________.
A.is active in sports activities
B.was a famous woman soccer player
C.acts as the spokesperson for the LeapBand
D.calls on people to do sports activities
4.What’s the main purpose of the passage?
A.To sell a product
B.To provide information about an activity
C.To promote an activity
D.To describe an experience
It is widely known that any English conversation begins with The Weather. Such a fixation with the weather finds expression in Dr. Johnson’s famous comment that “When two English meet, their first talk is of weather.” Though Johnson’s observation is as accurate now as it was over two hundred years ago, most commentators(评论员) fail to come up with a convincing explanation for this English weather-speak.
Bill Bryson, for example, concludes that, as the English weather is not at all exciting, the obsession with it can hardly be understood. He argues that” To an outsider, the most striking thing about the English weather is that there is not very much of it.” Simply, the reason is that the unusual and unpredictable weather is almost unknown in the British Isles.
Jeremy Paxman, however, disagrees with Bryson, arguing that the English weather is by nature attractive. Bryson is wrong, he says, “because the English preference for the weather has nothing to do with the natural phenomena(现象).” The interest is less in the phenomena themselves, but in uncertainty.” According to him, the weather in England is very changeable and uncertain and it attracts the English as well as the outsider.
Bryson and Paxman stand for common misconceptions about the weather-speak among the English. Both commentators, somehow, are missing the point. The English weather conversation is not really about the weather at all. English weather-speak is a system of signs ,which is developed to help the speakers overcome the natural reserve and actually talk to each other. Everyone knows conversations starting with weather-speak are not requests for weather data. Rather, they are routine greetings, conversation starters or the blank “fillers”, In other words, English weather-speak is a means of social bonding.
1.The author mentions Dr. Johnson’s comment to show that________.
A.most commentators agree with Dr. Johnson
B.Dr. Johnson is famous for his weather observation
C.the comment was accurate two hundred years ago
D.English conversations usually start with the weather
2.What does the underlined word “obsession” most probably refer to?
A.A social trend. B.An emotional state.
C.A historical concept. D.An unknown phenomenon.
3.According to the passage, Jeremy Paxman believes that________.
A.Bill Bryson has little knowledge of the weather
B.there is nothing special about the English weather
C.the English weather attracts people to the British Isles
D.English people talk about the weather for its uncertainty
4.What is the author’s main purpose of writing the passage?
A.To explain what English weather-speak is about.
B.To analyze misconceptions about the English weather.
C.To find fault with both Bill Bryson and Jeremy Paxman.
D.To convince people that the English weather is changeable.
I was about 5 when I first heard the word “Greenland”, and my interest grew from there. Finally, after decades, I decided to go.
When I finally arrived, the place, at first glance, was clearly misnamed: The east coast of Greenland was an expanse (宽阔的区域) of ice and snow, with no sign of human habitation.
One of my purposes of going to Greenland was to make contact with some native Greenlanders. I didn’t know I would achieve this, but success came in an unexpected way.
When I arrived at the Illunnguujuk Hostel, where I had reserved a bed, a young couple and their baby were out front, enjoying the sun and unusual warmth. Greenlanders speak their own Inuit language and learn Danish in school, and many also speak English well. The young woman, however, was not one of these. Her English turned out to be anticlimactic.
When I identified myself, her eyes widened. Another traveler had arrived earlier and, mistaking him for me, they had given him my bed. There was no more space in the hostel. “But don’t worry,” she said, as she threw herself into cleaning a tiny house the family owned. “This is for you,” she said. And as if that weren’t enough, she invited me to eat supper with her family. That evening I sat down to a dinner of fresh fish with a loving, happy native family.
When I first set foot in Greenland I found myself all but shocked by the emptiness, the vastness, and the silence. I had decided that I would probably never return. And then I was taken into this Greenlandic home. I can now say that even cold, empty, and silent scenery is worth visiting, so long as one has a warm and welcoming place to go to.
1.What did the author intend to do in Greenland?
A.Get a part-time job.
B.Live with a native family.
C.Make some native contact.
D.Do business with the natives.
2.What does the underlined word “anticlimactic” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A.Simple. B.Modem.
C.Outstanding. D.Disappointing.
3.The author lost his bed in the hostel because of .
A.the language barrier B.a misunderstanding
C.a wrong address D.the high price
4.What made the author’s visiting Greenland worthwhile?
A.Tasting the local food. B.Helping a local family.
C.Meeting friendly people. D.Enjoying the great scenery.
Make space in your summer for free fun
You don’t have to go to the moon to meet an astronaut.You can do it at the Air and Space Museum on July 16.
Pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart disappeared on a flight around the globe in 1937.But she’ll be at the National Air and Space Museum on July 16—the museum’s first Family Day of the season—to tell you all about her adventures.(Okay，it’s actually an actress pretending to be Earhart.) NASA astronaut Patrick Forrester will be there to answer your questions，too.Come to learn how space exploration changed the world.
Another Family Day event takes place on July 25.At “Discover the Moon Day！” you can steer (驾驶) a robotic rover (a vehicle for exploring the surface of a planet)，examine meteorites (陨石) that were found on the moon，see the capsule (太空舱) that took the Apollo 11 astronauts there and back and view photos of the lunar surface using 3－D glasses.
You can create lunar art and take a moon quiz.We’ll give you one example:July 20，1969—46 years ago this month.Do you know what happened that day?
National Air and Space Museum
Independence Avenue at Sixth Street SW
Open daily 10 a.m.to 7:30 p.m.through September 1 (with a few early closings at 5:30 p.m.；visit our website for details).
Family Day programs are from 10 a.m.to 3 p.m.Information specialists are available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.to 5 p.m.and Saturday from 9 a.m.to 4 p.m.
All ages，but best for age 7 and older.
For more information，call 202－633－2214 or go to www.airandspace.si.edu.
1.What can museum visitors do on July 16?
A.Create lunar art.
B.Step into an unusual capsule.
C.See a movie about Earhart’s adventures.
D.Learn about a missing woman pilot’s adventures.
2.What do we know about “Discover the Moon Day！”？
A.It includes a moon quiz competition.
B.It’s the first Family Day at the museum.
C.It features a famous astronaut’s explanations.
D.It gives people first－hand experience of space.
3.What’s the closing time for the Family Day programs?
A.3 p.m. B.4 p.m.
C.5:30 p.m. D.7:30 p.m.
听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.Who is poor at listening?
A.Ann. B.Tom. C.Kevin.
2.How often does Tom have the English speaking class?
A.Once a week. B.Twice a week. C.Three times a week.
3.What is May’s plan for the future?
A.To go to a British university.
B.To set up a story－telling club.
C.To learn English from Mr.Smith.
4.What is Sarah weak in?
A.Speaking. B.Reading. C.Writing.
