Few of us act alone in the real world. Most things are done with the help or ideas of other people. Group projects are great practice for high school, college, and real life, when you will probably have a job that requires working with others. Right now, group projects can be fun and they often allow you to do a bigger, more interesting project than you could alone. With group work, you can actually learn more in less time.
Group projects also give you a chance to get to know kids you might not otherwise know or talk with. Group projects are also a great way to practice skills you’re not so sure of. For example: working on a deadline, staying organized, or being patient. And if you’re a little nervous talking in front of a group, a joint project can help you become more comfortable with it. Maybe your group will pick you to tell the whole class about your project. If so, you’ll know your whole group is rooting for you!
One of the most important things about group work is talking and meeting together. It’s a good idea to continually check with everybody on their progress to see if anyone needs help. You might think the first step is to figure out who will do what, but actually it’s getting to know another a little. Take a few minutes to chat. Even if you know each other well, it can help to take a minute to think about your skills and share your strengths and weaknesses. The second step is to go over ground rules from your teacher and any that you want to create together as a group.
小題1:Group projects can give you a chance to do the following EXCEPT ________.

A．get to know more friends	B．learn more than you do alone
C．work in an organized way	D．get rid of shyness forever

小題2:The underlined phrase “root for” in the second paragraph means _______.

A．like

B．support

C．offer

D．prevent

小題3:What’s the purpose in checking others’ progress?

A．To learn what they will do next.

B．To find good topics to talk with them about.

C．To help them when they need help.

D．To make sure that their work is finished on time.

小題4: According to the passage, we can infer that _______.

A．group members should be your close friends

B．talking with group members should be the first step of group work

C．knowing persons is more important than your projects

D．rules from teachers are more important than working among group members

Reading is not the only way to gain knowledge of the work in the past. There is another large reservoir (知識(shí)庫) which may be called experience, and the college students will find that every craftsman (工匠) has something he can teach and will generally teach gladly to any college student who does not look down upon them. The information from them differs from that in textbooks and papers chiefly in that its theoretical (理論的) part -- the explanations of why things happen -- is frequently quite fantastic (神奇的) . But the demonstration (示范) and report of what happens, and how it happens are correct even if the reports are in completely unscientific terms. Presently the college students will learn, in this case also, what to accept and what to reject. One important thing for a college student to remember is that if Aristotle could talk to the fisherman, so can he.
　　Another source of knowledge is the vast store of traditional practices handed down from father to son , or mother to daughter, of old country customs ,of folklore (風(fēng)俗). All this is very difficult for a college student to examine, for much knowledge and personal experience is needed here to separate good plants from wild grass.The college students should learn to realize and remember how much of real value science has found in this wide, confused wilderness and how often scientific discoveries of what had existed in this area long age.
小題1: In the last paragraph the phrase "this wide, confused wilderness" refers to _____.

A．personal experience

B．wild weeds among good plants

C．the information from the parents

D．the vast store of traditional practices

小題2: Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?

A．The college students have trouble separating good plants from wild grass

B．Craftsman’s experience is usually unscientific

C．The contemptuous (傲慢的) college students will receive nothing from craftsmen

D．Traditional practices are as important as experience for the college students

小題3: The author advises the college students to ______ .

A．be contemptuous to the craftsman

B．be patient in helping the craftsman with scientific terms

C．learn the craftsman’s experience by judging it carefully

D．gain the craftsman’s experience without rejection

小題4: The main idea of this passage is about ________.

A．what to learn from the parents	B．how to gain knowledge
C．why to learn from craftsman	D．how to deal with experience

There are only about 1,000 Hawaiian monk seals(夏威夷僧海豹) left and its population is going down 4% a year. Hawaiian monk seals are found in the northwest part of the Hawaiian Islands. They spend a lot of time at sea. They are able to dive 600 feet deep, and can stay under water for up to 20 minutes. Adults grow up to seven feet long, and weigh between 400 and 600 pounds. They can live as long as 30 years.
These seals are born on land. Every year, usually in May or June, females find sandy beaches and give birth to a single baby. The female seals avoid beaches where the water becomes deep very quickly because this lets sharks swim close to land and catch the seals.
Mothers stay with their babies for six weeks. During that entire time, they do not leave the beach even to eat. Instead, they live off fat that they have stored up over the previous year and feed their babies with fat-rich milk. After six weeks, mothers go back to the sea. The young have to live on their own.
Human disturbance(打擾) has been regarded as the important factor in the decrease of the monk seals. In fact, if human come too near a mother seal too often, she will go out to the sea. Unfortunately, this usually means death for the baby. It is now against the law for people to come within 100 yards of a seal on a beach.
Recent research has shown that the decrease in the Hawaiian monk seal population is due to lack of survival of these seals at one of the most important breeding(繁殖) beaches at French Frigate Shoals. Also, seals often get trapped in fishermen and by changes in weather patterns. If these threats(威脅) were not enough, during the breeding season, males will attack females until they are badly injured or finally killed.
小題1:What can we learn about Hawaiian monk seals?

A．They are in danger of dying out.

B．They spend most of the time on the beach.

C．They are the largest animals on the Hawaiian Islands.

D．They can stay under water as long as they like.

小題2:According to the text, a seal baby______.

A．is born at sea

B．is fed on fat by the mother

C．stays with its parents all life

D．is looked after by its mother for 6 weeks

小題3:It can be inferred from the text that______.

A．sharks are a threat to Hawaiian monk seals

B．male monk seals fight each other for females in the breeding season

C．when disturbed by people, the mother seal will protect the baby seal

D．Hawaiian monk seals give birth usually in July

小題4:What are the last two paragraphs mainly about?

A．Ways to protect Hawaiian monk seals。

B．The struggle of Hawaiian monk seals to survive.

C．The reasons for the decline(減少) of Hawaiian monk seals.

D．The influence of climate change on Hawaiian monk seals.

The following is a father’s advice to his son/daughter, who has just graduated(畢業(yè)) from high school:
First of all, congratulations on your graduation! Graduation from high school means that a new stage of life is ahead of you. 小題1:_____.
小題2:      . After you have messed up（弄亂） something, you should learn to clean it up yourself. Cleanliness is indeed close to good manners.
Don’t mistake knowledge for wisdom（智慧）. No matter how much information or knowledge you have, you will never make right judgments if you don’t have wisdom. 小題3:_____. If you can imagine the possible future outcomes of your present decisions and actions, you can avoid mistakes. And if you can reflect(思考) on the mistake you have made, you can avoid making the same mistakes again and again. Such is wisdom.
Don’t complain(抱怨). When you take up a job, do your best to carry it out. 小題4:_____.
Finally, be an early bird. 小題5:______. And the sight of the rising sun will warm your heart and give you energy for the day ahead. Besides, being an early bird, you have plenty of time to take exercise or do a lot of work.

A．At the beginning of this new stage, I have some advice for you.

B．If you get up earlier than the sun, you can watch it rise up slowly into the sky

C．Once you start a job, you should try your best to do it well.

D．Clean your own room and do your own washing.

E. Don’t waste time complaining about it, no matter how difficult and boring it is.
F. Get up early and go for some morning exercises to build up your body.
G. Wisdom comes from imagination and reflection.

The works of Shakespeare and Wordsworth are “rocket-boosters” to the brain and better therapy than self-help books, researchers will say this week.
Scientists, psychologists and English academics at Liverpool University have found that reading the works of the Bard and other classical writers has a beneficial effect on the mind, catches the reader’s attention and cause moments of self-reflection.
Using scanners, they monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they read works by William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, T.S Eliot and others.
They then “translated” the texts into more “straightforward”, modern language and again monitored the readers’ brains as they read the words.
Scans showed that the more “challenging” prose （散文）and poetry set off far more electrical activity in the brain than the more pedestrian versions.
Scientists were able to study the brain activity as it responded to each word and record how it “l(fā)it up” as the readers encountered unusual words, surprising phrases or difficult sentence structure.
This “l(fā)ighting up” of the mind lasts longer than the initial electrical spark, shifting the brain to a higher gear, encouraging further reading.
The research also found that reading poetry, in particular, increases activity in the right hemisphere （半球）of the brain, an area concerned with “autobiographical memory”, helping the reader to reflect on and reappraise their own experiences in light of what they have read. The academics said this meant the classics were more useful than self-help books.
Philip Davis, an English professor who has worked on the study with the university’s magnetic resonance centre, will tell a conference this week: “Serious literature acts like a rocket-booster to the brain.
"The research shows the power of literature to shift mental pathways, to create new thoughts, shapes and connections in the young and the elderly alike.”
小題1:How do classics such as Shakespeare and Wordsworth benefit the readers?

A．They set off far less electrical activity in the brain.

B．They light up the mind shorter than the initial electrical spark.

C．They shift physical pathways in the young and the elderly.

D．They draw readers’ attention and help make self-examination.

小題2:Why does the author mention” They then” translated”… modern language“？

A．To prove that classics are more useful than ordinary versions.

B．To show self-help books act like rocket-boosters to the brain.

C．To tell serious literature sets off far less electrical activity.

D．To make known ordinary versions set off more electrical activity

小題3:What can we conclude according to the researchers?

A．Self-help books are more valuable than classics.

B．Serious literature lights up the mind shorter than ordinary versions.

C．The right hemisphere of the brain is related to autobiographical memory.

D．Literature has a beneficial effect only on the mind of the young.

小題4:Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．Ordinary Versions Create New Thoughts

B．Modern Language Increases the Brain

C．Classics Help lmprove the Brain Activity

D．Self-help Books, Rocket-boosters

Dear Dr Fang,
How are you? I am writing to ask for some   36  about how to help my 15-year-old son. At the moment, he refuses to do almost anything his mother and I ask him to do. He is our only child and we treat him very   37 . Though his grandparents buy him many things, yet he is still   38  to them and often shouts at them. He also   39  to spend time with us or do as we tell him.
Recently, he has been refusing to do his homework, and instead insists on   40  his time listening to foreign music. I cannot understand that   41 , and I don’t like it. Meanwhile, he spends too much time in Internet cafes, where he either plays games   42  chats on the Internet. He is wasting valuable time during this   43  period in his life!
What shall I do? I am worried about it.   44  I keep allowing him to do what he wants, he may fail at school, or worse. How can I help my son   45  hurting our feelings?
Best regards
Liu Zhen     
小題1:A  questions      B  advice      C  problems      D  lessons
小題2:A  badly      B  ill          C  well        D  coldly
小題3:A  kind          B  good      C  polite        D  rude
小題4:A  prefers       B  wants       C  likes        D  refuses
小題5:A  saving        B  missing     C  wasting      D  winning
小題6:A  music         B  film      C  game       D  play
小題7:A  and           B  or         C  but         D  so
小題8:A  dark         B  old       C  sad        D  important
小題9:A  If            B  Until        C  Though      D  Before
小題10:A  for           B  in          C  without       D  about

The possibility that pleasant smells might reduce pain has recently been suggested by new research. In a scientific study, doctors asked 20 men and 20 women to keep their hands in very hot water for as long as possible while breathing in different smells.
As people believe that strong smells can affect the senses, volunteers were asked not to eat or drink for eight hours before the experiment began. During the experiment, volunteers were asked to take in pleasant smells such as vanilla (香草), and unpleasant smells such as durians (榴蓮). The volunteers kept their hands in the water until it became too hot for them. When they could not bear the pain any more, they took their hands out of the water.
Scientists are interested in whether the senses or smell is related to pain and whether men and women have the same senses. Now, the study has proved that for women, pleasant smells reduce pain. For men, there is no change.
Dr Finkelstein has been studying smells since 1999. He says that scientists already have data from 40 volunteers. He adds that this year, scientists will test another 60 volunteers and will be in a better position to explain the results.
One explanation is that women’s sense of smell developed long ago, and is linked to recognizing the smell of babies. Scientists used to believe that mothers recognized their children by sight only. Now, they have started to believe that the sense of smell also helps, but why pleasant smells do not reduce pain in men is a question still to be answered by scientists.
小題1:Before the experiment, volunteers ______.

A．a(chǎn)re gathered and take a training

B．cannot eat or drink for several hours

C．must wash their hands carefully

D．will be interviewed by Dr Finkelstein

小題2:If both men and women are asked to keep their hands in hot water while taking in some pleasant smells, ______.

A．women may stand the pain of the hot water longer

B．men may keep their hands in the hot water longer

C．they will probably take their hands out at the same time

D．we are not quite sure who will take their hands out earlier

小題3:From the passage we learn that _________.

A．the reason why women are sensitive to smells is clear

B．the experiment for the sense of smell has come to an end

C．unpleasant smells affect men’s senses more than women’s

D．scientists have not totally explained the result of the study

小題4:Now scientists believe that _______.

A．mothers recognize their children only by sight

B．men’s sense of smell developed a long time ago

C．strong smells have a great influence on people’s senses

D．smells are helpful for mothers to spot their children

小題5:The writer wrote the passage in order to ________.

A．supply some entertainment to us

B．show women’s sharper senses than men’s

C．inform the readers of some knowledge

D．call for volunteers for the experiment

Most recently, it’s very common in students who need a parent present for job interviews.
Naturally, it’s easy to blame the students in these situations, but the bigger problem is us. We—as parents—are so eager to protect our kids that we fail to realize that this in itself is harming them. As the mother of two young sons, I have to remind myself all the time that the biggest responsibility I have as a parent is to help them develop the skills needed to live in, to live without me. So, I’ll let them fail.
I’ll let them fail because as long as they are safe and warm inside their comfort zones, they will never grow. And failure—along with loss, heartbreak, disappointment, etc.—will be part of growth for them. Call me the anti-tiger mom, but leaving them alone is my way of helping them become equipped to fit in this world as we know it today. From terrorism (恐怖主義) and seemingly endless natural disasters, to our national debt and beyond, if we expect the next generation to stand up to the very real problems of our time, we need to stop feeding them and start teaching them how to fish.
My children are faced with hard situations in their own life almost each day, but they try to negotiate (協(xié)商) everything now. It’s a small price to help them learn a skill they’ll use for the rest of their lives, including when I don’t come with them on job interviews. 
小題1:Why do parents go along with their kids on job interviews?

A．Because they want to protect their kids from difficulties.

B．Because they think they can protect them from being hurt.

C．Because their kids are too shy to attend interviews.

D．Because their kids strongly request them to do so.

小題2:According to the author, what is helpful to kids’ development?

A．Protecting them.	B．Keeping them safe.
C．Leaving them alone.	D．Blaming them.

小題3:The author believes experiencing failure in life can make kids ___________.

A．become healthier than other kids

B．grow in this challenging world

C．develop all social skills

D．escape from natural disasters

小題4:If the writer’s boy goes to a job interview, she probably will ___________.

A．go with him to protect her kid from difficulty

B．stay home but give him directions over telephone

C．wait outside and talk with other parents

D．let him go to the interview by himself

小題5:Which of the following might be the best title of the text?

A．Never help your kids	B．Let your kids fail
C．Go to the interview with your kids	D．Live without parents

Have you ever noticed someone "talking" to them-selves? What did you think? The word "crazy" probably came to your mind. Wait a minute, though. Maybe they’re doing something meaningful.
Speaking practice can be effective in many different forms when people learn English or another foreign language. Imitating the speech of others is proven to be highly effective in developing a native speaker’s level of fluency in a language. Actually you’ve already proven that to your-self.
How? That’s how you learned your first language! Whether it was English, Spanish, French or some other language, you "imitated" your mother, father, other family members, friends, teachers and whoever else was around making "talking" noises at you as you formed your first communicative language skills.
So don’t think those who are talking to themselves are "crazy". At least don’t do so until you’ve tried it for your-self, in English or in your new foreign language.
As you go through your day, in English or your new foreign language, tell yourself what you’re doing at the moment and what you’re going to do during the day.
"Which of these shirts, ties, etc. should I wear today? Not this one, I wore it just last week. Maybe this one, but I don’t like this color with the pants. Let’s try another one," you might say as you are getting dressed.
If you live alone, you can talk aloud whenever you want without disturbing others. If you don’t live alone, however, then first explain to your family or roommates what you’ll be doing, to avoid a quiet phone call to the local psychiatrist (精神病學(xué)家).
小題1:The author wrote the passage mainly to _______.

A．tell us how to talk to ourselves

B．introduce a method of learning a foreign language

C．tell us why some people talk to themselves

D．explain to us how we learned our native language

小題2:What does the underlined word "it" in the fifth paragraph refer to?

A．The word "crazy".	B．A foreign language.
C．The skill of communicating.	D．The method of talking to oneself.

小題3:From the passage we can know that ______.

A．people who talk to themselves are crazy

B．if you live alone, you should talk to yourself

C．you should tell yourself what you’re doing

D．we learned our native language by imitating

You can’t hide a natural disaster from children, so how do we prepare them for it? First of all, you should explain to them that acts of nature aren’t necessarily disasters but can become one. These may include floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, winter storms, wild fires, and earthquakes. The way to prepare children for these disasters is to educate them about what each type is and then make it fun by making them “Disaster Masters” or whatever title you can think of.
Making them a Disaster Master won’t be easy. They must know what’s in a disaster emergency kit(工具箱) and why it’s included. You can get your friends involved, too. If your friends have children, they may want to be involved in your emergency preparations. Make it a group project. This is the opportunity for everyone to become familiar with the equipment.
We have to be aware of our conduct and the way we react to stress. The children will be easily influenced by your attitude and demeanor. The calmness, steady manner, and good humor of your spouse (配偶) and you will go a long way toward the easing or the reduction of stress.
Explain to them what they’re likely to encounter or see and describe how people may react. Disasters can come and go very quickly and generally don’t last long. If you must stay away from home, try to get into a routine quickly and encourage them to make new friends. Let them know they can look to their parents and other adults if they become scared or confused. And it’s important to let them know it’s OK to cry during a disaster.
It’s sometimes helpful to let the children draw pictures of what they’ve experienced. Encourage them to write what they learned and what could have been done better. Save the story. Make it part of a documented family history!
小題1:This passage was written mainly to tell us about ______.

A．the importance of mutual help in disaster preparation

B．tips for preparing children for a natural disaster

C．the importance of educating children about natural disasters

D．ways to raise children’s courage in natural disasters

小題2:It is a must that a Disaster Master knows ______.

A．when a natural disaster will come

B．why there are natural disasters

C．how to use a disaster emergency kit

D．how to teach others about emergency preparations

小題3:The underlined word “demeanor” in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by “______”.

A．personality

B．lifestyle

C．emotion

D．behavior

小題4:When they meet with a natural disaster, children ______.

A．must write down what they see and how they feel

B．should believe that the disaster will never last long

C．can cry if they are frightened

D．should help other children despite the danger

小題5:The author wrote the passage mainly for ______.

A．parents

B．young children

C．teachers

D．college students