There is a common belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I
have taught in has ever considered spelling unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, quite
different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority (優(yōu)先) it must be given over general language
development and writing ability. The problem is how to encourage a child to express himself freely in
writing without holding him back with spelling.
     If spelling becomes the only point of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to "play
safe". He will write only words within his spelling range. That's why teachers often encourage the early
use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.
     I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: "This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling mistakes." It may have been a sharp criticism of
the pupils' technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad thing for the teacher who had omitted (略過)
to read the composition, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The
teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the mistakes, but if his priority had centered on the child's
ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more hope to
seek improvement.

1. Teachers differ in their opinions about      __ .

A. the difficulties in teaching spelling
B. the necessity of teaching spelling
C. the importance of the basic writing skills
D. the role of spelling in general language development

2. The expression "play safe" probably means ____.

A. to write carefully        
B. to avoid using words one is not sure of
C. to use dictionaries frequently  
D. to do as teachers say

3. Teachers encourage the use of dictionaries so that____.

A. students will be able to express their ideas more freely.
B. teachers will have less trouble in correcting mistakes.
C. students will have more trust in writing.
D. students will learn to spell words correctly.

4. The writer seems to think that the teacher's judgment on that sensitive piece of writing is____.

A. reasonable    
B. unfair        
C. foolish        
D. careless

5. The main idea of the passage is _______.

A. the importance of developing writing skills
B. the importance of spelling
C. the correct way of marking composition
D. the relationship between spelling and the content of a composition

     NOT all memories are sweet. Some people spend all their lives trying to forget bad experiences.
Violence and traffic accidents can leave people with terrible physical and emotional scars. Often the
experiences in nightmares appear repeatedly.
     Now American researchers think they are close to developing a pill, which will help people forget
bad memories. The pill is designed to be taken immediately after a frightening experience. They hope it
might reduce, or possibly wipe out, the effect of painful memories.
     In November, experts tested a drug on people in the US and France. The drug stops the body
releasing chemicals that fix memories in the brain. So far, the research has suggested that only the
emotional effects of memories may be reduced, not that the memories are wiped out. They are not
sure to what degree people's memories are affected.
     The research has caused a lot of argument. Some think it is a bad idea, while others support it.
Supporters say it could lead to pills that prevent or treat soldiers' troubling memories after war. They
say that there are many people who suffer from terrible memories.
     "Some memories can ruin people's lives. They come back to you when you don't want to have them
in a daydream or nightmare. They usually come with very painful emotions," said Roger Pitman, a
professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "This could relieve a lot of that suffering."
      But those who are against the research say that maybe the pills can change people's memories and
changing memories is very dangerous because memories give us our identity. They also help us all avoid
the mistakes of the past.
     "All of us can think of bad events in our lives that were terrible at the time but make us who we are.
I'm not sure we want to wipe those memories out." said Rebecca Dresser, a medical ethicist (倫理學(xué)家).

1.The passage is mainly about        .

A. a new medical invention
B. a new research on the pill
C. an argument about the research on the pill
D. a way of wiping out painful memories

2. The drug tested on people can        .

A. cause the brain to fix memories
B. stop people remembering bad experiences
C. wipe out the emotional effects of memories
D. prevent body producing certain chemicals

3.We can infer from the passage that        .

A. Experts are not sure about the effects of the pills.
B. the pill will certainly stop people's emotional memories
C. taking the pill will do harm to people's physical health
D. the pill has already been produced and used by the public America

4.Which of the following does Rebecca Dresser agree with in the last paragraph?

A. some memories can ruin people's lives.
B. people want to get rid of bad memories.
C. experiencing bad events makes us different from others.
D. the pill will reduce people's sufferings from bad memories.

5.You may probably read the passage in             .

A. a guidebook              
B. a textbook
C. a medical magazine      
D. a science fiction

     Upon reaching an appropriate age (usually between 18 and 21 years), children are encouraged, but
not forced, to "leave the nest" and begin an independent life. After children leave home, they often find
social relationship and financial support outside the family. Parents do not arrange marriages for their
children, nor do children usually ask permission of their parents to get married. Romantic love is most
often the basis for marriage in the United States; young adults meet their future spouses (配偶) through
other friends, at jobs,  and in organizations and religious institutions. Although children choose their own
spouses, they still hope their parents will approve of their choices.
     In many families, parents feel that children should make major life decisions by themselves. A parent
may try to influence a child to follow a particular profession but the child is free to choose another career. Sometimes children do exactly the opposite of what their parents wish in order to be independent. A son
may decide not to go into his father's business on purpose because of a fear that he will lose his
autonomy(自主) in his father's workplace. This independence from parents is not an indication that
parents and children do not love each other. Strong love between parents and children is universal and
this is no exception in the American family. Coexisting (共存) with such love in the American family are
cultural values of self - reliance and independence.

1. The writer discusses the marriage of young adults in order to show which of the following?

A. They have a strong desire to become independent.
B. They want to win the permission of their parents.
C. They enjoy the freedom of choosing their spouses.
D. They want to challenge the authority of their parents.

2. Most young adults in the U.S. get married because of __________.

A. their parents              
B. financial concern  
C. love      
D. family background

3. From the passage we can know that _________.

A. American young adults are likely to obey their parents
B. most American people never make major decisions for their children
C. American young adults possess cultural values of independence
D. once a young person steps into his twenties, he will leave his home permanently

4. A son is unwilling to work in his father's business mainly because ________.

A. he wishes to make full use of what he has learnt in school
B. he wants to prove his independence
C. he wishes to do the opposite of what his parents approve of
D. he wants to show his love for his parents

5. The main idea of this passage is ________.

A. family values              
B. marriage arrangements
C. the pursuit of a career        
D. decision making

     Children's Storybooks and Tales: This site is dedicated to Children's Story Books and how to tell
Children's Stories. If you enjoy a child's story or have kids of your own then please browse (瀏覽) this
site to find some great stories and how to read them.
     The Cat in the Hat-Dr. Seuss
     In the first book featuring the character (The Cat in the Hat, 1957), the Cat brings chaos (混亂) to a
household of two young children on one rainy day while their mother is out. Bringing with him two
creatures appropriately named Thing One and Thing Two, the Cat performs all sorts of tricks to amuse
the children, with mixed results. The Cat's tricks are vainly opposed by the family pet, who is a conscious
goldfish. The children (Sally and her older brother) finally prove good ones, capturing the Things and
bringing the Cat under control. He cleans up the house on his way out, disappearing seconds before the
mother comes back.
     The Famous Fire-Enid Blyton
     The Famous Fire is Enid Blyton's most popular and celebrated series of children's books. The
sequence (順序) began life in 1942, when the first book, Fire on a Treasure Island was published and it
has won great praise from both fans and critics. The series has gone on to become amongst the
best-loved stories ever to have been written for children.
     Tom and Pippo in the Garden-Helen Oxenbury
     In 1988 Helen Oxenbury created a series of books featuring Tom, a naughty young boy, and his
beloved stuffed monkey, Pippo. Ms. Oxenbury remarked that Tom was very much like her son "when
he was a little boy". Like Tom, her son would often blame his misdeeds on his trusted buddy, the friendly
family dog.
The BFG-Roald Dahl
     The story is about an orphan girl named Sophie. One night when Sophie cannot sleep during the
"witching hour" and sees a giant blowing something into bedroom windows down the street. The giant
sees her, and although she tries to hide in the bed, he reaches through the window and carries her away
to his home.

1. It can be inferred from the The Cat in the Hat that ________.

A. the goldfish likes to keep company with the cat
B. all tricks performed by the cat are not amusing
C. Sally has to clean up the house before her mother comes back
D. the cat finally takes control of the Things

2. From the book Tom and Pippo in the Garden, we know ________.

A. Pippo is a naughty dog causing trouble in the family
B. Tom likes to keep a pet dog at home
C. Ms. Oxenbury complained about her son's dishonesty
D. Pippo always gets the blame for everything that goes wrong

3. According to the book The BFG, "the witching hour" may refer to a time ________.

A. when magic things can happen
B. when a girl can't fall asleep
C. when a person dreams a nightmare
D. when a child can be taken away

4. For whom is the passage most likely intended?

A. Children.
B. Parents.
C. Teachers.
D. Writers.

    If you are looking for an animal to take the title of "most violent fish in the sea", then the tiger puffer
(河豚) fish would have to be a strong contestant. Not only is it deadly poisonous - though that doesn't
stop people trying to eat it - but it is also able to scare off enemies by inflating itself to become much
larger than normal, when it is young it even chews on its own brothers and sisters.
     Tiger puffer fish attach their eggs to rocks near the bottom of the sea, often at the mouths of bays.
Then the larvae (幼魚) move to the entries of rivers and lakes once they have grown a little. Then,
having put on a lot of weight, they head out to sea. There's no innocent childhood for the puffer fish, as
Shin Oikawa of Kyushu University in Japan and his colleagues found out when they put the larvae of
tiger puffer fish in the lab and monitored them for two months. They found that the larvae went through
three steps in which their metabolic(新陳代謝) rates increased dramatically when they reached body
weights of 0.002g, 0.01g, and 0.1g. When a larva went through one of these steps, its behaviour also
changed. For instance, once a larva had passed the first level it would have grown its first tooth and
could start attacking larvae that had not yet reached that stage. Similarly, any larva that had reached
the 0.01g or 0.1g levels would start attacking lighter larvae.
     The researchers noted that the baby fish had a "relatively small mouth", so rather than swallowing
their brothers and sisters whole, they would bite pieces out of them. Despite this limitation, the fish
caused plenty of deaths -up to 12 per cent of the deaths that happened in the lab each day.
Those fish that grew fast enough to be able to chew on their fellows had an advantage. The extra food
accelerated their growth and development. Tiger puffer fish are likely to be faster and swifter, so they
can deal better with enemies.
     As the name suggests, puffer fish can inflate to make themselves seem much larger than they really
are, thus scaring off enemies. They do this by filling their stomachs, which are extremely elastic(彈性的),
with water. If that's not enough of a threat, the tiger puffer fish -like most of the other puffer fish in the
family -carries a deadly toxin(毒素). Eat one puffer fish and the poison will paralyse (癱瘓) your muscles,
including the muscles responsible for breathing, so death is usually caused by a lack of oxygen. Famously,
the fish is a delicacy in Japan, where highly qualified chefs produce dishes that contain the safe level of the poison. Interestingly, the puffer fish does not go to the trouble of producing the poison itself. Instead, it
hosts bacteria (細(xì)菌) that produce the stuff. It obtains these bacteria from its diet, so the youngest adult
fish are not poisonous.

1. All of the following statements account for the violence of puffer fish except that_____.

A. they are very difficult to catch
B. they can become larger to threaten enemies away
C. they kill their younger companions as they grow up
D. they are deadly poisonous

2. We can learn from the second paragraph that puffer fish _____.

A. can only grow to a weight of 0.1g
B. do not change their behavior as they grow up
C. like to find a safe place to hatch the next generation
D. begin to grow teeth when they reach the third level

3. Where does the poison in the puffer fish's body come from?

A. Its inner organs.          
B. The air it breathes in.
C. The diet it eats.          
D. The bacteria around it.

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Puffer fish can only produce poison when they face danger.
B. People like eating puffer fish even though they are poisonous.
C. The larvae are more aggressive than adult puffer fish.
D. Young puffer fish taste better than adult puffer fish.

     Chinese people are now spending more time surfing the net than watching TV, according to results of
a survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) published Thursday.
     The survey, of citizens of five Chinese cities, found that 79 percent of interviewees use the internet for
information, and 55.1 percent to read news on the internet. About 63 percent of the interviewees use
e-mail.The average times spent surfing the net and watching TV were 2.73 hours and 1.29hours,
respectively.
     Only 10.4 percent reported use the internet primarily to send and receive email; 65.9 percent read
online news; 62.2 quite often play games on-line. More and more people have taken an interest in the
entertainment opportunities online. Up to 56.5 percent of interviewees quite often download music, and
53.5 percent get entertainment messages from the internet.
     Yet the survey found that television is still the dominant mass medium. Seventy-nine percent of
interviewees choose to watch TV to get information, and another 75 percent take newspapers as
important as TV.
     Five major web sites in the Chinese language, namely Sina, Sohu, Netease, Baidu and Yahoo are
still ranked top ones by web users, and those that voted for Sina as the best among them were 30.9
percent.
     Authorized statistics showed that web users in China have already exceeded 100 million, second to
that of the United States.

1. Which of the following is not true?

A. Chinese people are now spending more time surfing the net than watching TV.
B. There are more Chinese people using the internet for information compared with those reading
     news on the internet.
C. There are more people using e-mail compared with those searching information on the internet.
D. There are more people using e-mail compared with those reading news on the internet.

2.The survey shows that _____.

A. Only 10.4% reported use the internet to send and receive email.
B. Less than half of the people use the internet for entertainment.
C. All of the people reported like to play games on-line.
D. Most of the people reported read online news.

3. The underlined word "exceeded" means _____ .

A. increased to
B. increased by
C. risen  
D. decreased

     Most American students go to traditional public schools. There are about 88, 000 public schools, all
over the US. Some students attend about 3000 independent public schools called charter schools.        
     Charter schools are self-governing. Private companies operate some charter schools. They are similar
in some ways to traditional public schools. They receive tax money just as other public schools do.
Charter schools must prove to local or state governments that their students are learning. These
governments provide the schools with the agreement called a charter that permits them to operate.
     Charter schools are different because they do not have to obey most laws governing traditional public
schools. Local state, or federal governments cannot tell them what to teach. Each school can choose its
own goals and decide the ways it wants to reach them. Class size is usually smaller than in traditional
public schools.
     The Bush Administration strongly supports charter schools as a way to re-organize public schools that
are failing to educate students. But some education agencies and unions oppose charter schools. One
teachers' union has just made public the results of the first national study comparing the progress of
students in traditional schools and charter schools.
     The American Federation of Teachers criticized the government's delay in releasing the results of the
study, which is called the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Union education experts say the
study shows that charter school students performed worse on math and reading tests than students in
regular public schools.
     Some experts say the study is not a fair look at charter schools because students in those schools have more problems than students in traditional schools. Other education experts say the study results should
make charter school officials demand improved student progress.

1. If a private company wants to operate a charter school, it must______.

A. try new methods of teaching      
B. prove its management ability
C. obey the local and state laws      
D. get the government's permission

2. Charter schools are independent because_____.

A. they make greater progress      
B. their class size is smaller
C. they enjoy more freedom          
D. they oppose traditional ways

3.What's the government's attitude toward charter schools?

A. Doubtful.    
B. Supportive.
C. Subjective.
D. Optimistic.

4.What can we learn from the text?

A. More students choose to attend charter schools.
B. Charter schools are better than traditional schools.
C. Students in charter schools are well educated.
D. People have different opinions about charter schools.

5. It can be interred from the text that ___.

A. charter schools are part of the public education system
B. one-on-one attention should be paid to students      
C. the number of charter schools will be limited
D. charter schools are all privately financed

     Active listening is an essential skill in learning. It is when you listen carefully to make sure you
understand and learn the information that is being conveyed.     1   Here are some things which can help
you to listen actively.
     ◆Listen for the main point and major subpoints.   2   Listen carefully and make sure you understand
what the purpose of this lecture is. As you take down notes, keep the main point in mind and make sure
you understand how these notes are related.
     ◆Listen for an organizational structure. Listen carefully to figure out how the ideas are organized and
they will make more sense.
     ◆Pay attention to organizational cues.     3     Pay close attention to the introduction, as it will
probably indicate how you should organize your notes. If the lecture begins with, "Today I'm going to
talk about three ethnic conflicts in the Middle East," then you have a good idea of what's going to follow.
Listen for "signpost" words to indicate a transition for one point to the next, such as "next" and "finally"
and numerical signposts like "first" or "third".
     ◆Listen with your eyes.    4     Watch the teacher and be aware of how he or she uses hand gestures, eye contact and other body language to convey points.
     ◆Remove distractions. Put away the campus newspaper, your cell phone and anything else that
might be more interesting than the lecturer.
     Learning to concentrate and listen actively is an endurance skill.   5   

A. Speakers communicate information through nonverbal communication.
B. Unfortunately, many students don't know how to listen actively when they attend classes.
C. If your teacher indicates that something is important, mark it.
D. Make yourself do it, and it will get easier over time.
E. Listen carefully for words and phrases that reflect the organizational structure of the lecture.
F. Your teachers' notes are probably organized into some kind of outline.
G. Don't just write everything down.

     Do you want to live forever? By the year 2050,you might actually get your wish-if you are willing to
leave your biological body and live in silicon circuits (半導(dǎo)體電路). But long before    then, perhaps as
early as 2020,some measures will begin offering a semblance of immortality (虛的永生).
     Researchers are confident that the technology will soon be able to track every waking moment of your
life?Whatever you see and hear,all that you say and write,can be recorded,analyzed and added to your
personal chronicles (履歷). By the year 2030,it may be possible to catch your nervous systems through
electrical activities,which would also keep your thoughts and emotions.
     Researchers at the laboratories of British Telecommunications have given the name of this idea as
Soul Catcher.Small electronic equipment will make preparation for Soul Catcher.It would use a wearable
supercomputer,perhaps in a wristwatch, with wireless links to microseosors under your scalp (頭皮) and
in the nerves that carry all five sensory signals.So wearing a video camera would no longer be required.
    At first,the Soul Catcher's companion system-the Soul Reader-might have trouble copying your
thoughts in complete details. Even in 2030,we may still be struggling to understand how the brain is
working inside, so reading your thoughts and understanding your emotions might not be possible. But
these signals could be kept for the day when they can be transferred to silicon circuits to revitalize minds
everlasting entities (永生實(shí)體). Researchers can only wonder what it will be like to wake up one day
and find yourself alive inside a machine.
    For people who choose not to live in silicon,semblance of immortal ity would not be as useless as they
thought.People would know their lives would not be forgotten, but would be kept a record of the human
race forever.And future generations would have a much fuller understanding of the past.History would
not be controlled by just the rich and powerful, Hollywood stars,and a few thinkers in the upper society.

1.The main idea of this passage is that_____ .

A. human beings long for living forever
B. there are many difficulties in making the Soul Catcher
C. people can live forever as technology develops
D. the invention of Soul Catcher has great importance

2. According to this passage.a Soul Catcher will be______ .

A. a new machine on which research measures have already been made
B. a new invention in order to catch and keep human's thoughts
C. made by British scientists to offer something that looks like living forever
D. made of silicon circuits which can catch people's nervous activity

3.We can infer from the passage that semblance of immortality is______. 

A. to be a reality sooner or later    
B. far from certain
C. just an idea that couldn't be realized at all  
D. a fading hope

4.The meaning of the underlined word revitalize, in the fourth paragraph is close to___.

A. make dead    
B. make famous    
C. make known  
D. make active

     American schoolchildren often wear uniforms if they attend religious or other private schools. Most public schools do not require uniforms. But over the last ten years or so, more of them have moved in that direction, including high schools. Another option is that students may just have to dress alike - for example, white shirts and dark colored pants or skirts. Even schools that do not require uniforms generally have a dress rule about what they consider acceptable. Schools commonly forbid clothing that shows images or words causing displeasure, or simply too much skin. Hats may be forbidden because, for example, different colors may be connected with bad guys.
     Some parents like the idea of uniforms. Some say it means they do not have to spend much on clothing for their kids. Others, though, argue that uniforms represent an unnecessary cost.
     There are also debates about whether uniforms or other dress rules go against civil rights. Students and parents have taken legal action against school dress requirements. At the beginning of this July, a middle school was asked to stop its dress rule unless families have a way out of it. The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California brought the case for the families of several students who had been punished by the school. Most attention centered on a girl who wore socks with the Tigger character from Winnie the Pooh. The school said its clothing rules, including no pictures of any kind, were needed to control a growing problem with gangs. The families argued that the policy went against free speech rights as protected by the United States and California constitutions (憲法).
     The United States Supreme Court says student expression is protected as long as it does not harm the work and the rule of a school. But some educators believe dressing alike helps improve student learning. They believe that uniforms help create a sense of unity and reduce the risk of fights. They also say uniforms make it easier for security reasons to tell if someone belongs to the school or not.

1. According to the passage there is a trend(趨勢) in the USA that ______.

A. most public schools do not require uniforms
B. most public schools move in the direction of requiring uniforms at church
C. most schools require the students to be dressed in white shirts and dark colored pants
D. more and more schools have a dress rule about what are suitable for schoolchildren

2.Which of the following is NOT a reaction mentioned to the dress rule?

A. Some parents like the rule which means they could spend less on clothing for the kids.
B. Some parents think the rule has nothing to do with them.
C. Some parents say that uniforms are an extra cost for them.
D. Some others argue that uniforms or other dress rules go against civil rights.

3. What is the girl's problem?

A. She brought her pet called Tigger to school.
B. She put Tigger into her shoes in class.
C. She wore socks with pictures.
D. She had a problem with some gangs.

4. School dress requirements can benefit schools and students except to help ______.

A. the court protect student expression
B. students focus on their studies
C. make a united effort to avoid fights
D. strengthen campus security