The other day at a supermarket, I saw a naughty child of about six crying loudly, falling to the floor and refusing to move. All the while the troubled mother was trying to persuade him to behave well but failed. A little smack(打)on his bottom would have worked ,I thought.
Teenagers also cause discipline(紀(jì)律)problems. As a teacher I had a 16-year-old student who had fallen in love with a waiter at a fast-food restaurant. In fact, she had left home to stay with him. So we decided to put her in the school hostel .She refused. When she heard her mother begging her to stay in the school hostel, she turned around and said: “Why don’t you stay in the school hostel if you like it so much?”
My hands were going to slap her for being so rude but the poor mother continued to cajole her , hoping the gentle persuasion would work wonders. It did not. Later I heard that she had run away from home again.
The list goes on and on. Could it be that today’s parents are so softer and believe that they must not rod(棍棒懲罰)their children for fear of the bad results? Or do they really believe that the children will get rid of the bad habits and behave well as they grow older? I beg to disagree. I believe it is the parents’ duty to discipline the children even at a young age.
My children who are now adults will prove the fact that I used the rod when I thought it necessary. Later when they went abroad, they told their university friends how they were disciplined. Their friends were shocked and said that I could be charged with child abuse. However ,my daughter showed great respect for me when she told them that she would not be where she was today if not for my strict discipline.
小題1:According to the passage, the author would probably________.

A．beat the children every day	B．treat the children in a soft way
C．leave the children as they are	D．punish the children when necessary

小題2: The underlined word cajole” (in para.3)means_______.

A．persuade

B．scold

C．forgive

D．punish

小題3:In the author’s opinion, how should parents make their children grow up well?

A．rod their children	B．punish their children
C．discipline their children	D．discipline and punish their children if necessary

小題4:Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The naughty boy’s mother hit him

B．The teacher’s daughter lived with her mother

C．The daughter was thankful for her mother’ strict discipline

D．The author was charged with child abuse by the daughter’s friends

Do you blank out, freeze up or feel so nervous in exams that you have trouble writing answers to questions that you knew just last night? If so, you likely have a case of test anxiety.
But, don’t panic. By recognizing the problem, you are taking the first step towards overcoming it.
Believe it or not, a touch of nervousness can sharpen your mind, allowing you to perform more quickly. This is because under stress, the body releases the hormone adrenaline (腎上腺素), which prepares it for something important that will happen. However, too much anxiety can result in sleeplessness, loss of appetite（食欲） before tests, and poor performances. Some people might feel shaky, hot, or even sick.
If you worry a lot or are a perfectionist, you are more likely to have trouble with test anxiety. Those who have prepared poorly for a test or have had negative experiences taking tests may also experience test anxiety.
When you feel a storm of anxiety coming on, stop what you are doing and make your mind a blank. If possible, actually tell yourself to “STOP”. This will get your mind off the stress.
Then think of being at a place of comfort and let your body relax. As you continue the test, find questions you know the answers to and answer them first. This will help restore your confidence.
Talk to yourself using positive language. Make it a habit to replace each negative thought with a logical reason. For example：“ I’ve studied hard and I know the material, so I’m ready to do the best I can.”
Another thing you can do is to learn to accept mistakes. In fact, they can be valuable learning opportunities.
Last but not least, start test preparation early---three to five days ahead of the quiz or test. After all, good study habits and skills ---for example, time management and note-taking – will give you the feeling that your are in control.
小題1:The first step to overcome nervousness is___ .

A．stopping what you are doing, and make your mind a blank.
B．getting aware of your problem that you are always nervous
C．releasing a kind of body liquid.	D．making full preparations

小題2:___ are more likely to feel very nervous in tests.

A．People who feel a touch of nervousness in tests.

B．People who haven’t prepared very well.

C．People who require that everything must be perfect.

D．People who have recognized their problems.

小題3: According to the passage, which statement is TRUE?

A．Those who have ever failed in tests must feel anxious.

B．A touch of nervousness is a good thing.

C．You should answer the questions on the paper one by one.

D．Full preparation is not as important as nervousness controlling.

Compared to people with bad attitudes，people who are cheerful and relaxed are less likely to suffer from colds，according to a new study.“It’s possible that being upbeat helps the body fight illnesses，” says Sheldon Cohen，the study’s lead researcher from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh.
In a previous（先前的） study，Cohen and his colleagues put cold­causing viruses into the noses of 334 healthy adults. People who tended to be cheerful and lively were least likely to develop sniffles，coughs，and other cold symptoms. People who showed positive feelings were also less likely to mention symptoms to their doctors，even when medical tests detected those symptoms.
Those findings were interesting，but they didn’t prove that a person’s attitude affects whether he or she gets sick. Instead，it was still possible that a person’s underlying personality is what matters. Evidence suggests，for instance，that certain people are naturally more likely to be outgoing and optimistic，with high self­esteem and a sense of control over life. This would mean that who we are，not how we feel，ultimately decides our chances of catching colds.
To figure out which mattered more (personality or emotions)，the CMU team interviewed 193 healthy adults. The researchers talked to each person over the phone every evening for 2 weeks. At the end of the interviewing period，people got nose drops that contained either cold or flu viruses. Then，each person stayed in an isolated room for 5 or 6 days. The results showed that everyone in the study was equally likely to get infected. Their symptoms，however，differed depending on the types of emotions that they had reported over the previous 2 weeks. Among those who reported good moods and had been infected with the flu virus，for example,28 percent developed coughs and stuffy noses. On the other hand，those symptoms struck 41 percent of people who had been less upbeat.
小題1:
What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Smiles Turn away Colds

B．An Interesting Way to Beat Colds

C．Be Outgoing and Optimistic to Fight Colds

D．What Matters More，Personality or Emotions?

小題2:
In the previous study，people who showed positive feelings______.

A．didn’t catch colds as often

B．developed cold symptoms more slowly

C．were less likely to have cold symptoms detected

D．were less likely to feel cold symptoms

小題3:
What mainly decides our chances of catching colds according to the new study?

A．Personality.

B．Self­esteem（自尊）.

C．Emotions.

D．Attitudes.

小題4:
The underlined word “symptoms” probably means________.

A．something that causes cold

B．something that results in cold

C．signs that something exists，especially something bad

D．changes in your body or mind that show that you are not healthy

By 2050
Futurologists predict that life will probably be very different in 2050.
TV channels will have disappeared. Instead, people will choose a program from a “menu” and a computer will send the program directly to the television. Today, we can use the World Wide Web to read newspaper stories and see pictures on a computer thousands of kilometers away. By 2050, music, films, programs, newspapers, and books will come to us by computer.
Cars will run on new, clean fuels and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed and there won’t be any accidents. Today, many cars have computers that tell drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination. Space planes will take people halfway around the world in 2 hours. Today, the United States Space Shuttle can go into space and land on Earth again. By 2050, space planes will fly all over the world and people will fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo in just 2 hours.
Robots will have replaced people in factories. Many factories already use robots. Big companies prefer robots—they don’t ask for pay rises or go on strike, and they work 24 hours a day. By 2050, we will see robots everywhere—in factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.
Medical technology will have conquered many diseases. Today, there is equipment that connects directly to the brain to help people hear. By 2050, we will be able to help blind and deaf people to see and hear again.
Scientist will have discovered how to control genes（基因）. Scientists have already produced clones(克隆) of animals. By 2050, scientists will be able to produce clones of people, and decide how they look, how they behave and how clever they are. Scientists will be able to do these things, but should they?
小題1:
According to the passage, the following can be realized today EXCEPT __________.

A．reading newspapers on a computer

B．making a space shuttle go into space and land on Earth again

C．creating cloned animals

D．choosing TV programs freely from a “menu”

小題2:
We can learn from the passage that some big companies prefer robots to human workers, because human workers __________.

A．can work 24 hours a day	B．often ask for more pay
C．a(chǎn)re not clever enough	D．a(chǎn)re often late for work

小題3:
From Paragraph 5 we can infer that __________.

A．there will be no blind and deaf people by 2050

B．few diseases will attack people by 2050

C．equipment is connected directly to the brain to help people hear today

D．medical technology will be more effective by 2050

小題4:
What is the author’s attitude towards the cloning technology?

A．The author does not support the use of cloning technology.

B．The author thinks human cloning is impossible.

C．The author does not really support the idea of human cloning.

D．The author is quite excited about human cloning.

Most people think that the older you get, the harder it is to learn a new language. That is, they believe that children learn more easily and efficiently than adults. Thus, at some point in our lives, maybe around age 12 or 13, we lose the ability to learn languages well. Is this idea a fact or myth(懸念)？
Is it true that children learn a foreign language more efficiently than adults? On the contrary, research studies suggest that the opposite may be true. One report, on 2,000 Danish children studying Swedish, concluded that the teenagers learned more, in less time, than the younger children. Another report, on Americans learning Russian, showed a direct improvement of ability over the age range tested; that is, the ability to learn increased as the age increased, from childhood to adulthood.
There are several possible explanations for these findings. For one thing, adults know more about the world and therefore are able to understand meanings more easily than children. Moreover, adults can use logical(邏輯的) thinking to help themselves see patterns in the language. Finally, adults have more self-discipline (self-control) than children.
All in all, it seems that the common idea that children are better language learners than adults may not be a fact, but a myth.
小題1:The main idea of the passage is that         .

A．teenagers are more difficult to teach

B．Danish teenagers can learn Swedish faster than younger children

C．a(chǎn)dults are more logical than children

D．the ability to learn languages increases with age

小題2: If most people’s idea of learning languages is true, people may lose ability to learn languages well         .

A．a(chǎn)t an early age	B．when they reach their twenties
C．a(chǎn)t an old age	D．a(chǎn)fter they become young men

小題3:According to the passage, teenagers can learn a foreign language __________ than younger children.

A．harder

B．more efficiently

C．more slowly

D．more carefully

小題4:The reason why adults understand meanings more easily than children is that         .

A．a(chǎn)dults have more self-discipline

B．a(chǎn)dults like to play more than children

C．a(chǎn)dults have more knowledge than children

D．a(chǎn)dults accept new things more easily than children

小題5:The explanation for older student’s better achievement not mentioned in the above passage is that       .

A．a(chǎn)dults know more about the world.	B．a(chǎn)dults can use logical thinking
C．a(chǎn)dults have more self-discipline.	D．a(chǎn)dults can read better.

Although there are no state controlled survival courses in Britain or the United States，there are various independent organizations offering similar activities．Students can participate(take part)in outdoor training courses through university clubs and societies．Anyone can register with such groups，which then organize courses，training and trips for all members．
One of the most popular outdoor training programmes in both the US and Britain is Outward Bound(戶外訓(xùn)練)．It was founded in 1941 in Wales and attracts hundreds of thousands of adventurous types every year. The courses are intended to broaden minds through experiences that build confidence, self-esteem(自尊)and character．As well as specialist courses such as canoeing，leadership skills and sailing，participants can take part in week long adventure training camps which include a host of sports and survival training education skills．
Michael Williams，an American student，took part in an Outward Bound course last year．He said：“We learned lots of first aid skills，lots of natural history ,lots of environmental facts, and participated in a wildlife preservation programme．Beyond that，my favorite skills learned were sailing and rock climbing.”Courses can last up to 40 days and are open to anyone over the age of 14．Students must be in general good health，but do not need to be experienced in outdoor-sports．There is no selection process；everyone is welcome，although new participants are advised to pick a course matching their physical capacity．Most of the British courses take place in the Brecon Beacons in Wales．Another similar organization is the UK Survival School，which includes courses on learning to 1ive with the environment， sailing and  winter survival．On a basic survival weekend students will learn how to get water and food, how to make fire and cook with it，to find and build a shelter，control survival life support，how to cross rivers．Send off a distress signal，and to use compasses(指南針)by day and night．
According to the leaders，such adventures are “an awakening, an exploration into the unknown.”O(jiān)utward Bound believes that participants will “use mind and body traveling some of the Earth’s roughest wilderness areas．”   
小題1:In Britain and the United States，survival courses are popular with    ．

A．old people

B．young people

C．dangerous people

D．weak people

小題2:The advantage of the training courses is that   .

A．participants can make friends with others

B．participants can visit some places of interest

C．participants can experience different adventures

D．participants can learn how wonderful nature is

小題3:In an Outward Bound course last year，the most exciting experience Michael Williams had was   .

A．learning first aid skills	B．collecting facts of environment
C．rock climbing and sailing	D．preserving wildlife

With alarming regularity, we read about oil tankers having accidents near land and the terrible consequences of the oil spills（泄露） on people, nature, and the environment．
Millions of dollars have been used in developing special chemicals to help dismiss the spills and to clean up the animals, beaches, and land spoiled by the oil．Unfortunately, when many of these chemicals are used, more damage is caused to the environment, especially to lives in the sea．
Of all of today’s environmental disasters, an oil spill may actually be one of the least serious．Although oil is poisonous, it is a natural material．In the end, it breaks down naturally．There are, of course, long-term effects, but it is usually more serious in the short term．
Nature by itself works better than chemical materials, but when there is a spill we demand that governments act immediately with as much hi-tech knowledge as possible．In 1967 the tanker Torrey Canyon sank off the Sicily Isles near the coast of England and spilled 120,000 tones of oil into the ocean．If you go there today, you will find it hard to see any sign that it ever happened．
Governments seem to accept the risk of transporting millions of tons of oil by ship every day so that we can fill up our cars and drive around and cause even more environmental damage．Interestingly, the biggest companies in the world produce cars, and the next biggest supply the gasoline to make them run!
We should be thinking more about reducing our dependency on oil．Governments should be encouraging research into new technologies, such as cars run by solar power（太陽能）, electricity, hydrogen, and so on．Much of this research has, in the past, been held back by the oil, gas, and coal．
If the world’s millions of cars were 10% more efficient（高效的）— and the industry could easily produce cars at least twice as efficient — we would need many fewer tankers crossing the oceans each year．If this happened, the risks of oil spills would be reduced, and the air we breathe would be cleaner and fresher, too．
小題1:What is the passage mainly talking about?

A．Oil tanker accidents．	B．Oil spills pollution．
C．What oil pollution is．	D．How to reduce oil pollution．

小題2:How does the author support the idea that oil spills are not as serious as people believe?

A．By giving a description．	B．By making an argument．
C．By giving an example．	D．By drawing a diagram．

小題3:What does the underlined word “risk” in Paragraph 5 refer to?

A．Transportation depending more on oil．

B．Poisonous oil breaking down naturally．

C．Millions of tons of oil spilling into the sea．

D．More environmental damage being caused．

小題4:Which suggestion is made for reducing oil tank accidents according to the passage?

A．We should develop new technologies to cut oil use

B．Tankers should not be allowed to sail near the coastlines．

C．We should build safer oil tankers in the near future．

D．Countries should build more oil pipelines under the sea．

At the beginning of this century, medical scientists made an interesting discovery: we are built not just of flesh(肌肉) and blood but also of time. They were   21  to show that we all have a ‘body clock’   22  us, which controls the   23  and fall of our body energies,   24  us different from one day to the next.
The   25  of a ‘body clock’ should not be too   26  since the lives of most living things are controlled   27  the 24-hour night-and-day cycle(循環(huán)). We feel   28  and fall asleep at night and become  29  and energetic during the day. If the 24-hour cycle is   30  most people experience unpleasant   31 . For example, people who are not   32  to working at night can find that   33  of sleep causes them to   34  badly at work.
  35  the daily cycle of sleeping and   36 , we also have other cycles which   37  longer than one day. Most of us would   38  that we feel good on some days and not so good on  39 ; sometimes our ideas seem to flow and at other times, they   40  do not exist.
小題1:  

A．a(chǎn)nxious

B．careful

C．a(chǎn)ble

D．proud

小題2:  

A．a(chǎn)round

B．inside

C．between

D．on

小題3:  

A．rise

B．supply

C．use

D．movement

小題4:

A．showing

B．treating

C．changing

D．making

小題5:

A．idea

B．opinion

C．story

D．invention

小題6:

A．difficult

B．exciting

C．interesting

D．surprising

小題7:

A．from

B．over

C．by

D．during

小題8:

A．dull

B．dreamy

C．tired

D．peaceful

小題9:

A．regular

B．excited

C．clear

D．lively

小題10:

A．shortened

B．disturbed

C．reset

D．troubled

小題11:

A．moments

B．senses

C．feelings

D．effects

小題12:

A．used

B．a(chǎn)llowed

C．expected

D．prevented

小題13:

A．miss

B．none

C．need

D．lack

小題14:

A．show

B．perform

C．manage

D．control

小題15:

A．With

B．Except

C．As well as

D．Rather than

小題16:

A．waking

B．moving

C．living

D．working

小題17:

A．repeat

B．remain

C．happen

D．last

小題18:

A．believe

B．a(chǎn)gree

C．realize

D．a(chǎn)llow

小題19:

A．others

B．the other

C．a(chǎn)ll other

D．other

小題20:

A．only

B．just

C．still

D．yet

Consult the page adapted from an English dictionary and do Questions

小題1:
What does the phrase “green shoots” mean in “Green shoots have begun to appear in different markets”?

A．Signs of recovery.	B．High prices.
C．Environmental protection.	D．Change in policy.

小題2:
Fill in the blank in the sentence “I can’t believe this is Joshua—he’s ______ since we last met!”

A．shot out

B．shot through

C．shot up

D．shot down

小題3:
When you are talking about unimportant things, we say you are ______.

A．shooting yourself in the foot	B．shooting the breeze
C．shooting your mouth off	D．shooting questions at somebody

小題4:
Choose a word to complete the sentence “The ______, which killed a policeman and wounded a passer-by, was reported to have lasted only 13 seconds.”

A．shooter

B．shoot

C．shot

D．shooting

When you think about math, you probably don’t think about breaking the law, solving mysteries or finding criminals. But a mathematician in Maryland does, and he has come up with mathematical tools to help police find criminals.
People who solve crimes look for patterns that might reveal(揭示) the identity of the criminal. It’s long been believed, for example, that criminals will break the law closer to where they live, simply because it’s easier to get around in their own neighborhood. If police see a pattern of robberies in a certain area, they may look for a suspect(嫌疑犯) who lives near the crime scenes. So, the farther away from the area a crime takes place, the less likely it is that the same criminal did it.
But Mike O’Leary, a mathematician at Towson University in Maryland, says that this kind of approach may be too simple. He says that police may get better clues to the location of a criminal’s home base by combining these patterns with a city’s layout(布局) and historical crime records.
The records of past crimes contain geographical information and can reveal easy targets — that is, the kind of stores that might be less difficult to rob. Because these stores are along roads, the locations of past crimes contain information about where major streets and intersections are. O’Leary is writing a new computer program that will quickly provide this kind of information for a given city. His program also includes information about the people who live in the city, and information about how a criminal’s patterns change with age. It’s been shown, for example, that the younger the criminal, the closer to home the crime.
Other computer programmers have worked on similar software, but O’Leary’s uses more math. The mathematician plans to make his computer program available, free of charge, to police departments around the country.
The program is just one way to use math to fight crime. O’Leary says that criminology — the study of crime and criminals — contains a lot of good math problems. “I feel like I’m in a gold mine and I’m the only one who knows what gold looks like,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun.”
小題1:
To find criminals, police usually ______.

A．focus on where crimes take place	B．seek help from local people
C．depend on new mathematical tools	D．check who are on the crime scene

小題2:
O’Leary is writing a computer program that ______.

A．uses math to increase the speed of calculation

B．tells the identity of a criminal in a certain area

C．shows changes in criminals’ patterns

D．provides the crime records of a given city

小題3:
By “I’m the only one who knows what gold looks like”, O’Leary means that he ______.

A．is better at finding gold than others

B．is the only one who uses math to make money

C．knows more criminals than other mathematicians

D．knows best how to use math to help solve crimes

小題4:
What is the main idea of the text?

A．Criminals live near where crimes occur.

B．Math could help police find criminals.

C．Crime records could be used to fight crime.

D．Computer software works in preventing crimes.