With the popularity of Harry Potter novels, the number of children applying to boarding schools has risen, many of them hoping to find their own version of Hogwarts. However, others have interpreted this trend as a reaction to longer working hours and the break up of more marriages. The boarding schools of fiction are presented as one long midnight feast with pillow fights making firm friendships. However, some people say the reality is children having more homesickness and a lack of individual attention. Modern boarding schools have done much to get rid of the image of the mass dormitories with 40 or more beds in one room, some going as far as providing private rooms with bathrooms. Similarly, they make great announcements for their academic advantage, particularly in light of the increase in exams, homework and university entrance requirements facing children wishing to succeed in the modern world.
Alongside these more conventional schools, two types of boarding schools have also become more popular recently. Sports academies and stage schools seek to cater for children with particular interests and talents, while so-called troubled-teens have been able to turn to a range of religious or wilderness schools to solve their problematic behavior.
Boarding schools allow children a safe space in which to accomplish greater control and independence over their daily lives. Teachers and staff can look after and support but they are unlikely to be over-protective. This can be a great preparation for university or for working away from home in later life as it provides an intermediate step between childhood and full independence.
However, Parents are a child’s most natural support and best role models to learn from. If they are separated from them for long periods of time, this may damage their relationship and leave the child feeling anxious or alone. Schools are unlikely to be able to copy the detailed knowledge of each individual child that a parent has and therefore cannot be as effective in supporting the child.
To sum up, boarding schools have both their advantages and disadvantages, so it is up to you to decide whether to send your children to boarding schools or not.
【小題1】What do we know from the passage?

A．More and more children go and visit Hogwarts on their own.

B．Pillow fights in boarding schools make firm friendships in reality.

C．More children want to go to boarding schools because of Harry Potter novels.

D．There aren’t special schools for the particularly talented children.

【小題2】What kind of schools may be the most suitable for the so-called troubled-teens?

A．sports academies	B．Wilderness schools
C．Conventional schools	D．Stage schools

【小題3】We learn from Paragraph 4 that __________.

A．teachers of boarding schools are the best examples for children to learn from

B．children can be more independent if they are separated from their parents

C．parents know their children better than teachers of boarding schools

D．schools are much more effective than parents in supporting children

【小題4】What is the author’s opinion of boarding schools?

A．Neutral

B．Negative

C．Positive

D．Critical

Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed that the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked, Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball and history that he was having a lot of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.

Mark went home after leaving Bill at his house. They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, and then both graduated from junior high school. They ended up in the same high school, where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally the long-awaited senior year came. Three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.

Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. “Do you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother’s sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide(自殺). But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life.”

1.What happened to Bill on his way home from school?

A．Bill almost killed himself.

B．Bill was caught on something and almost fell down.

C．Bill was sleepy from the sleeping pills.

D．Bill noticed Mark following him home.

2.After Bill got home,           .

A．he missed his friend Mark very much

B．he decided to break up with his girlfriend

C．he intended to kill himself immediately

D．he thought of the friendliness of Mark

3.Mark saved Bill from committing suicide by          .

A．helping Bill pick up the fallen books on the ground

B．saying something comfortable and friendly to Bill

C．persuading Bill not to leave a mess for other people

D．being friendly to Bill in trouble

4.Bill cleared his locker in order to           .

A．store away some of his mother’s sleeping pills

B．prepare for the next school year of high school

C．leave the world without troubling others

D．help his mother do some housework the last time

 

The British film star Hugh Grant can’t seem to work out what women want.?

“There’s no girl who only wants bastards（壞種），and no girl who wants a nice guy（伙計(jì)）.Women want both,” the British star tells the May issue of the Talk magazine.?

“And，really，they’d like to change by turns on a weekly basis. Can any man be both? I like to keep women guessing.”

Since Grant’s break-up last year with his longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley，the thought of throwing himself into another big relationship doesn’t seem like it’s expected.?

“How easy do you think it is to find someone you can share 14 years of personal jokes with? Not easy. And I don’t know that I will，” he says.

Still，the 40-year-old star admits he can’t help thinking that his clock is ticking.?

“In the end，I want to have kids（children）.But in the back of my mind，I never wanted to have kids until I’d done something I’m proud of written a book，had my name on something really worthwhile,” he says. “I’m determined not to be in front of the cameras any more.”?

With all of these concerns（心思)inside，has Grant ever considered seeing a psychiatrist（精神病醫(yī)生)to sort things out??

“I don’t think I need treatment，thank you,” sniffs the star.?

“I’m frightened of those people. And more than that，I don’t want to know what lies ?beneath?（在下面）.”?

1.Judging from what Hugh Grant says，the film star may consider himself 　　　　.?

A. either a bastard or a nice guy

B. both a bastard and a nice guy at the same time?

C. a bastard in one week and a nice guy in the other?

D. neither a bastard nor a nice guy?

2. Hugh Grant 　　　 .

A. is looking for another girlfriend at the present time?

B. never feels sure of finding a girlfriend who can take the place of Elizabeth Hurley?

C. considers it a shame to look for another girlfriend?

D. doesn’t value much the relationship he had with Elizabeth Hurley?

3.The underlined clause “his clock is ticking” possibly means 　　　 .?

A. he’s having a good time　　　　　 B. he can’t stand being single?

C. his film life is going to end soon　　　　 D. he is getting too old?

4.Hugh Grant thinks that he is not yet successful enough to be 　　　 .

A. a nice guy　　　　　　　　　　 B. a husband

C. a film star　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. a father??

 

Students who date (約會(huì)）in middle school have significantly worse study skills, are four times more likely to drop out of school and report twice as much alcohol and tobacco use than their single classmates, according to new research from the University of Georgia.
"Romantic relationships are a trademark of adolescence, but very few studies have examined how adolescents differ in the development of these relationships," said Pamela Orpinas, study author and professor in the College of Public Health and head of the Department of Health Promotion and Behavior.
Orpinas followed a group of 624 students over a seven-year period from 6th to 12th grade.
Each year, the group of students completed a survey indicating whether they had dated and reported the frequency of different behaviors, including the use of drugs and alcohol. Their teachers completed questionnaires (調(diào)查表）about the students* academic efforts. He found some students never or hardly ever reported dating from middle to high school, and these students had consistently the best study skills according to their teachers. Other students dated infrequently in middle school but increased the frequency of dating in high school.
"At all points in time, teachers rated the students who reported the lowest frequency of dating as having the best study skills and the students with the highest dating as having the worst study skills,” according to the journal article. Study skills refer to behaviors that lead to academic success such as doing work for extra credit，being well organized, finishing homework, working hard and reading assigned chapters.
"Dating a classmate may have the same emotional complications of dating a co-worker," Orpinas said, "when the couple break up. they have to continue to see each other in class and perhaps witness the ex-partner dating someone else. It is reasonable to think this could be linked to depression and divert (轉(zhuǎn)移）attention from studying.”
Dating should not be considered a ceremony of growth in middle school，”O(jiān)rpinas concluded.
【小題1】When doing his study, Orpinas_____.

A．followed a group of students of 6th and 12th grade

B．completed a survey and a report each year

C．completed questionnaires about the students’ academic efforts

D．found that the students’ study skills have connection with their frequency of dating

【小題2】Study skills may include the following behaviors and qualities Except_____

A．being diligent	B．being well organized
C．being kind and helpful	D．finishing assigned schoolwork

【小題3】What can possibly happen to the school couples after they break up?

A．They don’t want to see each other any longer.

B．Their attention to studying will be affected.

C．They will miss their ex-partners sometimes

D．They will think it’s reasonable to get depressed.

【小題4】Orpinas’attitude towards dating in middle school is_____

A．supportive

B．positive

C．negative

D．indifferent

 

A couple from Miami, Bill and Simone Butler, spent sixty –six days in a life-raft (救生艇) in the seas of Central America after their boat sank.

Twenty-one days after they left Panama in their boat, Simony, they met some whales (鯨魚). “They started to hit the side of the boat,” said Bill, “and then suddenly we heard water.” Two minutes later, the boat was sinking. They jumped into the life-raft and watched the boat go under the water.

For twenty days they had tins of food, biscuits, and bottles of water. They also had a fishing-line and a machine to make salt water into drinking water— two things which saved their lives. They caught eight to ten fish a day and ate them raw (生的). Then the line broke. “So we had no more fish until something very strange happened. Some sharks (鯊魚) came to feed, and the fish under the raft were afraid and came to the surface. I caught them with my hands.”

About twenty ships passed them, but no one saw them. After fifty days at sea their life-raft was beginning to break up. Then suddenly it was all over. A fishing boat saw them and picked them up. They couldn’t stand up. So the captain carried them onto his boat and took them to Costa Rica. Their two months at sea was over.

68. Bill and Simone were traveling ______ when they met some whales.

A. in a life-raft    B. in Miami     C. in Simony     D. in Panama

69. During their days at sea, ______ saved their lives.

A. tins of food and bottles of water    B. a fishing-line and a machine

C. whales and sharks               D. Twenty passing ships

70. After their boat sank, the couple ______.

A. jumped into the life-raft          B. heard water

C. watched the boat go under water   D. stayed in the life-raft