At 18, many American young people go off on their own. They go away to college or find full-time jobs, and they often rent their own apartments. Some get married and start families. This independence(獨立性)is learned from childhood. From an early age, American children learn responsibility.Children as young as 2 begin to put away their toys and dress themselves. At 3, many children do simple chores like setting the table.
Using money wisely is also taught early. As soon as a child understands the value of money, he or she receives a weekly allowance. This is used for things the child wants, like toys or treats. The child can spend of save it, usually with little guidance(指導) from parents. If the child wants money besides his or her allowance, it must be made by doing extra chores.
Children are taught early in life to think for themselves. They are allowed to make some decisions-and make mistakes. Failure(失敗) often teaches more than success.
【小題1】Many American young people begin to live on themselves _____ .

A
Xia Ming was worried about his study, so he wrote a letter to a magazine.

One day, a teacher was giving a speech to his students. He held up a glass of water and asked the class, "How heavy do you think this glass of water is?"
The students' answers ranged from 20 g to 500 g. "It does not matter on the weight itself. It depends on how long you hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it is OK. If I hold it for an hour, I will have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you will have to call an ambulance (救護車). It is exactly the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes. "
If we carry our burdens (負擔) all the time, sooner or later, we will not be able to carry on, the burden becoming increasingly heavier. "
"What you have to do is to put the glass down, rest for a while before holding it up again. "
We have to put down the burden sometimes, so that we can be refreshed and are able to carry on.
So before you return home from work tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it back home. You can pick it up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you are having now on your shoulders, let it down for a moment if you can.
【小題1】   The teacher brought a glass of water to the class because         .

Do you learn from your mistakes? I hope so. But have you ever made the same mistake twice? I have．Sometimes I make the same mistake three or four times!
Sometimes，good things happen because of mistakes．Once I got on the wrong train．That was a big mistake．But on that train，I saw a good friend．I was so happy I made that mistake!
Another time I ruined a surprise．My mother planned a surprise party for my father．She told me it was a secret．But I was just a little boy and I couldn't keep the secret．I told my father about the party．At first，my mother was mad at me．But then my father said he was happy he knew about it．He said he didn't like surprises．
When a good thing comes out of a mistake，that's a happy accident!
【小題1】The boy saw ______ on the wrong train.

Do you know how to study better and make your study more effective(有效的)？We all know that Chinese students usually study very hard for long  35   .This is very good, but it doesn’t       36   a lot, for an effective student must have enough sleep, enough rest and exercise. Every day you need to go out for a walk or visit some friends or some nice places. It’s good for your study.
When you return   37   your studies, your mind will be refreshed(清醒) and you’ll learn more  38  study better. Psychologists(心理學家)  39  that learning takes place in this way. Here take English learning    40   an example. In the first few months you can make a lot of progress and you feel happy. Then your language study seems   41   the same. So you will think you’re learning  42  and you may give up. This can last for days or even weeks, yet you needn’t give up. At some point your language study will take another big  43  . You’ll see that you really have been learning all along. If you get enough sleep, food, rest and exercise, studying English can be very effective and interesting. Don’t  44  along the way. Learn slowly and you’re sure to get a good result.

Now, there is a new-type school in New York, which has no everyday lessons, no class teachers and even no school buildings. It is called “City-as-School”. The name just means the city itself is the place where students learn their lessons. They are from the age of 15 to 18. The students choose areas of work which interest them. Then they help to do that work. One girl spends her week in a government office helping the public with problems like housing. Then she goes to help in a theatre for a day and she spends a week for first-year courses at college.
Well, students have to pass Maths and science exams before they enter the “school”. These subjects are not easy to provide in“City-as-School”. Teachers watch the progress of the students. The success rate (比率) is high. 80% of the students go to college after the “City-as-School”.
The students like the duty of their work. They have the sense of purpose. They know a lot about different kinds of work in the city. One of the students, Lizette Martinez, writes “I want to say that I do not know where I would be right now if I had never become part of City-as-School. Leaving my regular high school and going to City-as-School was the best decision I have ever made. The way the school works to get you to go out there and learn different fields instead of sitting in a classroom is wonderful. For all those who are in between school and dropping out, go to CAS and it will change your life forever.”
City-as-School High School is the nation’s leading (引導) external (外部地) learning or experiential (來自經(jīng)驗的) learning model for high school students.
【小題1】What can we learn about“City-as-School”?

We each have a memory. That’s why we can still remember things after a long time. Some people have very good memories and they can easily learn many things by heart, but some people can only remember things when they say or do them again and again. Many of the great men of the world have got surprising memories.
A good memory is a great help in learning a language. Everybody learns his mother language when he is a small child. He hears the sounds, remembers them and then he learns to speak. Some children are living with their parents in foreign countries. They can learn two languages as easily as one because they hear, remember and speak two languages every day. In school it is not so easy to learn a foreign language because the pupils have so little time for it, and they are busy with other subjects, too.
But your memory will become better and better when you do more and more exercises.
【小題1】 Some people can easily learn many things by heart because.

I have had thousands of classes since I started school nine years ago. But only one   36 was the most important.
It happened last term just after I had got a   37 result in an exam. I was sad and had lost my confidence. I decided to go to a class which can tell me how to be  38 .
The speaker walked into the room. But he did not start talking  39 a teacher. In­stead, he held up a twenty yuan note(鈔票) !
“Who wants this?” he asked. Unsurprisingly,   40 of us in the class held up our hands.
The speaker smiled. Then he put up the note on the blackboard and asked the same question. Again, we all put up our hands. The speaker smiled again, but   41 nothing. Suddenly, he threw the note onto the floor! Then he asked the same  42 a third time.
I didn’t   43 what the speaker was doing. Why was he asking the same question again and again? I didn't know what to do. I wanted the note,   44 I put my hand up again. After a while, he  45 the note and started to laugh. “You have all just told me how to be­come successful,”   46 said to us with the note in his hand.
“The note is worth twenty yuan. It is   47 worth twenty yuan, even though I throw it on the floor. You are like the note. No matter  48 happens to you, you still have your worth.”
When I heard those words, I was deeply moved. Suddenly, I  49 I was worth a lot. I may have done badly in an exam, but it doesn't   50 I can’ t do well in the future. If I believe in myself, I will be successful!

Mobile phone (手機)has become a problem for middle schools. Some middle schools in Australia have banned (禁止) students from carrying mobile phones during school hours.
Mobile phone use among children has become a problem for the schools this year. Several children have got mobile phones as Christmas presents, and more students want them.
Mary Bluett, an official(官員), said mobile phone use is a distraction(分心) to students during school hours and it also gives teachers so much trouble in their classrooms. Teachers were also saying that sometimes students might use phone messages to cheat during exams.
She said some schools had tried to ban mobile phones. Some parents felt unhappy, because they couldn’t get in touch with their children.
Many teachers said students should not have mobile phones at school, but if there was a good reason, they could leave their phones at school office. They also said there were many reasons why the students should not have mobile phones at school; they were easy to lose and were a distraction from studies.
Many people say that they understand why parents would like their children to have phones, but they think schools should let the students know when they can use their mobile phones.
【小題1】 Some middle schools in Australia have banned students from carrying mobile phones
____.

根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，選擇最佳答案。（每小題2分，共20分）
（A）
We all have our own ways of sharing our life experiences with others.

Photographers use cameras, artists use brushes, musicians use songs and writers use stories.
Spencer Johnson’s story Who Moved My Cheese? Shows changes exist in (存在于) our life. Life changes and so we do. We must change ourselves to face the changing environment, or we will fail.
Just look at the cycle (循環(huán)) of the seasons. Trees bud (發(fā)芽) in spring and in summer their leaves turn green. In autumn, their leaves start to fall onto the ground. When winter arrives, there are no leaves on trees. Next spring the cycle begins again. Since we know there are cycles in nature, we can prepare for them. We know it is colder in winter and hotter in summer, so we can dress properly.
Since we accept the cycles of nature, we should also accept the changes in our life.
We can prepare ourselves for changes by becoming more flexible(靈活的). We can regard the changes in our life as chances. As we keep changing ourselves, we can keep up with the changes in our life.
【小題1】What do writers use to share their life experiences?