However important school life may be, we can't ignore the fact that children spend more time at home
than in the classroom.Therefore the great influence of parents can't be ignored or discounted by the teacher.  They can become strong supports of the school or they can consciously or unconsciously prevent the
school from accomplishing its aims.
     Administrators have been aware of the need to keep_parents_apprised_of the newer methods used in
schools.Many principals have conducted workshops explaining such matters as the reading readiness
program and developmental math.
     Moreover, the classroom teacher can also play an important role in explaining to parents what they
should do.The informal tea and many interviews carried on during the year, as well as new ways of
reporting pupils' progress, can significantly aid the interchange of ideas between school and home.
     Suppose that a father has been drilling Junior in arithmetic processes night after night. In a friendly
intervie  w, the teacher can help the parent change his method.He might be persuaded to let Junior
participate in discussing the family budget, buying the food, using a measuring cup at home, setting the
clock, calculating mileage on a trip and engage in scores of other activities that have a mathematical basis.
     If the father follows the advice, it is reasonable to assume that he will soon realize his son is making
satisfactory progress in math and at the same time, enjoying the work.
     Too often, however, teachers' conferences with parents are devoted to unimportant accounts of
children' s wrongdoing, complaints about laziness and poor work habits, and suggestions for punishments
and rewards at home.
     What is needed is a more creative approach in which the teacher, as a professional advisor, plants
ideas in parents'minds for the best use of the many hours that the child spends out of the classroom.In
this way, the school and the home join forces in fostering the fullest development of youngsters'
competence.
1. The underlined phrase"keep parents apprised of"in Para.2 probably means to let parents________.

A. judge  
B. know
C. design  
D. develop

2. What is the purpose of the schools' informal tea and interviews?

A. To improve the relationship between teachers and parents.
B. To explain to parents the change of the school curriculum.
C. To report students' misdoings and suggestions for punishments.
D. To help develop good communication between school and home.

3. Why does the author provide the example in Paragraph 4?

A. To help parents know the importance of home activities.
B. To show how the teacher can guide in home training.
C. To prove parents are nonprofessional advisors.
D. To advice parents to teach kids math at home.

4. From the passage we learn that the author________.

A. thinks teachers should do better as professionals
B. is worried about children' s performance at home
C. is satisfied with the present state of school education
D. believes time spent out of the classroom has been wasted

     Madame de Stael says that only the people who can play with children are able to educate them.For
success in training children, the first condition is to become a child oneself.It means to treat the child as
really one's equal, that is, to show him the same consideration, the same kind of confidence one shows to
an adult.It means not to affect the child to be what we ourselves want him to become, but to be affected
by the impression of what the child himself is: not to treat the child with cheating, or by force, but with the
seriousness and true love suitable to his own character.
     Not leaving the child in peace is the greatest problem of present methods of training children.Parents
do not see that during the whole life, the need of peace is never greater than in the years of childhood, an
inner peace under all outside liveliness.
     But what does a child experience?Corrections, orders, interference (干涉), the whole livelong day.
The child is always required to leave something alone, or to do something different, to find something
different, or to want something different from what he does, or finds, or wants.He is always guided in
another direction from the true inner will that is leading him.All of this is caused by our socalled enthusiasm
in directing, advising, and helping the child to become the same model produced in one assembly line (流水線). Understanding, the deepest characteristic of love, is almost always absent.
    To bring up a child means carrying one's soul in one's hand: it means never placing ourselves in danger
of meeting the cold look on the face of the child.It means the truth that the ways of injuring the child are
limitless while the ways of being useful to him are few.How seldom does the educator remember that the
child, even at four or five years of age, has already had a sharp feeling!The smallest mistrust and
unkindness, the least act of injustice, leave wounds that last for life in the heart of the child.While, on the
other hand, unexpected friendliness and kindness make quite as deep an impression on those soft senses.

1. The passage mainly talks about________.

A. misleading zones and right ways ineducating children
B. current problems in training children
C. what should be taught to children
D. the importance of educating children

2. Children, according to the passage, are experiencing________.

A. corrections, orders and peace
B. orders, interference and peace
C. interference, orders and corrections
D. peace, guide and praise

3. If you were a parent, which of the following methods is TRUE according to the text?

A. You could treat your children not so seriously for they don't understand many things.
B. You could train your children as you wish them to be.
C. You should sometimes leave your children in peace as they wish in their childhood.
D. You should correct your children immediately if their behavior is not what you want.

4. We may conclude that the author believes people should________.

A. play with the children with enthusiasm all day long just to please them
B. try to give an order, advice and suggestions to their children at any time
C. treat their children just as the way they treat an adult in their daily life
D. regard their children as an equal to them and have understanding of the inner peace of them

     If you travel to a new exhibit at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers, you will have chances to
see some meateating plants.Take bladderworts (貍藻類植物), a kind of such plant,for example. They
appear so small and grow in a quiet pond. "But these are the fastestknown killers of the plant kingdom,
able to capture a small insect in 1/50 of a second using a trap door!"
     Once the trap door closes on the victim, the enzymes (酶) similar to those in the human stomach slowly digest the insect. When dinner is over, the plant opens the trap door and is ready to trap again.
     Meateating plants grow mostly in wet areas with soil that doesn't offer much food value. In such
conditions, these amazing plants have developed insect traps to get their nutritional needs over thousands
of years. North America has more such plants than any other continents.
     Generally speaking, the traps may have attractive appearance to fool the eye, like pitcher plants, which get their name because they look like beautiful pitchers (a container like a bottle) full of nectar (花蜜)．
     The Asian pitcher plant, for example, has bright colors and an attractive halfclosed lid. Curious insects
are tempted to come close and take a sip, and then slide down the slippery (光滑的) slope to their deaths.
     Hairlike growths along the pitcher walls ensure that nothing can escape, and the digestive enzymes can get to work. A tiny insect can be digested in a few hours, but a fly takes a couple of days.
     Some of these pitchers are large enough to hold two gallons. Meateating plants only eat people in
science fiction movies, but sometimes a bird or other small animals will discover that a pitcher plant isn't a
good place to get a drink.

1. From the first paragraph,we learn that bladderworts can _____.

A. kill an insect in a second
B. capture an insect in 1/50 of a second
C. be found floating on a quiet lake
D. digest a fly in a few hours

2. If the trap door of a meateating plant is closed,the plant is _____.

A. fooling insects into taking a sip
B. producing nectar
C. tempting insects to come close
D. enjoying a dinner

3. Meateating plants can grow in wet and poor soil because they _____.

A. can get nutrition from animals
B. don't need much food value
C. can make the most of such conditions
D. have developed digestive enzymes

4. What can be captured by meateating plants for food?

A. A child.  
B. A dog.
C. A little bird.  
D. A little fish.

     People with less education suffer fewer stressful days, according to a report in the current issue of the
Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
     However, the study also found that when less-educated people did suffer stress it was more severe and had a larger impact on their health.
     From this researchers have concluded that the day-to-day factors that cause stress are not random
(隨意的). Where you are in society determines the kinds of problems that you have each day, and how
well you will deal with them.
     The research team interviewed a national sample of 1,031 adults daily for eight days about their stress
level and health.People without a high school diploma reported stress on 30 percent of the study days,
people with a high school degree reported stress 38 percent of the time, and people with college degrees
reported stress 44 percent of the time.
     "Less advantaged people are less healthy on a daily basis and are more likely to have downward turns
in their health," lead researcher Dr.Joseph Grzywacz, of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center,
said in a prepared statement. "The downward turns in health were connected with daily stressors
(緊張刺激物) and the effect of daily stressors on their health is much more devastating (毀滅性的) for
the less advantaged."
     Grzywacz suggested followup research to determine why lesseducated people report fewer days of
stress when it is known that their stress is more severe and lasting.
     "If something happens every day,maybe it's not seen as a stressor," Grzywacz says."Maybe it is just
life."

1. Stress level is closely related to _____.

A. family size  
B. social status
C. body weight  
D. work experience

2. The 1,031 adults were interviewed _____.

A. on a daily basis for 8 days  
B. during one of eight days
C. all by Grzywacz  
D. in groups

3. Which group reported the biggest number of stressful days?

A. People without any education.
B. People without high school degrees.
C. People with high school degrees.
D. People with college degrees.

4. The less advantaged people are, the greater _____.

A. the impact of stress on their health is
B. the effect of education on their health is
C. the level of their education is
D. the degree of their health concern is

     MS, multiple sclerosis (多發(fā)性硬化癥), is not easy to say.Those who suffer from the disease may
also have difficulty naming it.One sign of multiple sclerosis is losing the ability to speak clearly.It is
estimated that more than 2.5 million people worldwide suffer from multiple sclerosis.
      MS is a disease of the brain and spinal cord (脊髓). In patients with MS, the covering of the nerves
is destroyed.This temporarily blocks signals that pass through the nerves to the muscles of the body and
back to the brain.The disease especially affects the ability to see, the sense of touch and the use of the
arms and legs.Most forms of MS are described as progressive.This means that the disease gets worse as
time passes.
      For years, doctors believed that the cause of multiple sclerosis was environment.They believed this
because most of those suffering from the disease lived in northern Europe and the northern half of the
United States.In recent years, however, doctors have changed their beliefs about the causes of MS.
Recent studies support the theory that there are several causes.The studies appear to show that genetic
problems might be involved in making people likely to get the disease.The studies show that environmental causes like viruses or bacteria are more involved.However, researchers have not identified just what those causes might be.Another likely cause is a problem within the body's defences against diseases, when the
defences misunderstand signals and attack the body.
      Recently, an American study shows that women who get plenty of vitamin D during pregnancy(懷
孕) may be protecting their babies from developing MS later in life.Their body produces the vitamin after
contact between the skin and sunlight.
     Scientists say multiple sclerosis does not appear to be passed from parents to children.Yet it does
appear to be found in families.The National Multiple Sclerosis Society says one in every 750 Americans
is at risk of developing MS.But the risk rises to one in every 40 people among those who have a close
family member with the disease.
There is no cure for multiple sclerosis.MS does not always result in severe disability.Many patients are
able to live a  normal life.The National Institute of Neurological Disorders  and Stroke says some patients do well with no treatment at all.It notes that many medicines to treat the disease have serious  side effects while some carry risks.

1. Which of the following is the sign of MS?

A. The patient can't name the disease.
B. The patient is short of vitamin D.
C. The patient hasn't good sense of touch.
D. The patient can't speak properly.

2. According to the passage, a person is likely to get the disease MS mainly because________.

A. he lives in northern Europe
B. his defences fight against a disease
C. the covering of his muscles is destroyed
D. he has been infected with viruses or bacteria

3. What can be learnt from the passage?

A. Vitamin D is a way to cure the disease MS.
B. There are effective medicines to cure the disease MS.
C. The disease MS must be passed among close family members.
D. The disease MS doesn't have seriously bad effects on many patients.

4. What could be the best title of the passage?

A. MS, a newlyfound disease  
B. MS, a troublesome disease
C. MS, a mysterious disease  
D. MS, a deadly disease

     Back in the 1970s, the robots were coming for our boring manufacturing (生產(chǎn)) jobs.Now, they're
coming for our boring table service jobs.Korean company ITM Technology has developed the restaurant
concept around a little robot that fulfills the role of a waiter.Robo Caf? avoids ordering errors, reduces
staffing costs greatly for restaurant owners, and even brings the boss all the tips.
     Japan is preparing for some very tough times ahead.When its aging population become too old to
work, labor is going to be in severe shortage.So inventive technology departments are exploding with really fascinating ideas to take the pressure off when it hits.
     To small caf? and restaurant owners, the solution might well look something like Robo Café, a
restaurant designed to operate as efficiently as possible with the absolute minimum human workforce
possible.The building needs to be designed with small horizontal (水平的) pathways leading from the kitchen to all the tables.A small team of waiter robots can then get around to every table in the house when they're asked to come.Customers can either order orally, or touch a screen on the robot's belly.When the
kitchen has finished preparing the food, the robot brings it out to customers.
     Dan Carlin talks about the "kitchen of the future ", where everything is automated and the labor is free
because you own it.Really, the_kitchen_of_the_future_is actually_the_kitchen of_the_past, when you
consider that throughout human history, there have been many examples of slaves working for no pay.
     As Carlin points out, today's concept of slavery is mostly restricted to nonhumans.And the ownership
of robot labor in a Robo Caf ?type situation will almost certainly prove itself far more economical and
dependable than a human workforce once the technology itself becomes mature.Of course, slaves have a worrying habit of rising up against their owners.

1. According to the passage, the robots that were invented in the last century could________.

A. do some work that people dare not do
B. bring lots of fun and profits to their owners
C. do some housework such as table service work
D. save people from having to do some boring manufacturing work

2. According to the passage, what will a Robo Café-type restaurant be like?

A. Most of the work will be done by robots.
B. Owners needn't pay for the labour of their employees.
C. Robot waiters are designed to serve customers voluntarily.
D. The building will be designed for the convenience of customers.

3. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A. Employees depend on owners of restaurants as before.
B. Technology won't change the core of the kitchen.
C. Labor free of charge can be used in the kitchen again.
D. Labor free of charge is no longer limited to humans.

4. The passage is mainly written to________.

A. explain why robots are popular in Japan
B. tell people that robots can work as waiters in restaurants
C. persuade readers to come to restaurants that use robots
D. show the similarities between robots in 1970 and new robots

     Compared to adults, children seem to be moving constantly.So it’s no surprise that most parents who
are quizzed about their child’s physical activity level describe their children as fairly active.But a new study of nearly 2,000 British school children suggests that many parents overestimate the amount of physical
activity their children are really getting.
     The researchers equipped 1,892 British school children, ages 9 and 10, with accelerometers that
measure all physical activity during a given time period.The research, known as the Speedy study
collected the exercise data from children at 92 schools in Norfolk, England, between April and July 2007.
     A child was regarded inactive if he or she recorded less than an hour a day of physical activity.
Although the majority of children studied were getting enough physical activity, a_sizable_minority_of_
children_were_not.Overall,39 percent of girls and 18 percent of boys studied were getting less than an
hour of physical activity each day.
     But if you asked the parents of the inactive children to describe their child’s activity level, the vast
majority-80 percent-described their children as fairly or very physically active, according to the findings
published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.Interestingly, the children themselves had
more awareness about their lack of physical activity.Overall,40 percent of children overestimated their
physical activity.
     But it wasn’t the parents of overweight children who were most likely to guess wrong about physical
activity levels.The parents who were most out of touch about their child’s physical fitness were more
likely to have children who were slim.Parents of girls were also more likely to overestimate physical
activity.The researchers noted that parents should be educated about the importance of physical activity
for children even if the child is not overweight.
    “Parents of slim children appear to assume that their children are adequately  active, ”  the study
authors reported.“Increasing awareness regarding health benefits of physical activity beyond weight
control might help have a correct idea of physical activity levels and encourage behavior change.”

1. According to the Speedy study, what kind of children can be judged physically inactive?

A. Slim children.
B. Children with less than an hour a day of physical activity.
C. Overweight children.
D. Children out of touch with their parents for a long time.

2. What does the writer probably mean by saying “a sizable minority of children were not” in Paragraph 3?

A. The amount of children’s physical activity is far from the writer’s satisfaction.
B. Only a small number of children were not getting enough physical activity.
C. A small number of children didn’t overestimate their physical activity.
D. The minority of children were not studied at all.

3. The passage is intended to________.

A. encourage parents to fairly judge their children’s physical activity levels
B. persuade parents to keep an eye on their children’s weight
C. urge children to wear accelerometers during exercise
D. advise parents to keep in touch with their children

     Have you ever thought about what determines the way we are when we grow up？Remember the
TV program Seven Up？It started following the lives of a group of children in 1973.We first meet them
as wideeyed sevenyearolds and catch up with them at sevenyear intervals：nervous 14yearolds, serious
21yearolds and then grownups.
     Some of the stories are inspiring, others sad, but what is interesting in almost all the cases is the way
in which the children’s early hopes and dreams are shown in their future lives.For example, at seven, Tony
is a lively child who says he wants to become a sportsman or a taxi driver.When he grows up, he goes on
to do both.How about Niki？She says, “I would like to find out about the moon.” And she goes on to
become a space scientist.As a child, softspoken Bruce says he wants to help “poor children” and ends up
teaching in India.
      But if the lives of all the children had followed this pattern, the program would be far less interesting
than it actually was.It was the children whose childhood did not prepare them for what was to come that
made the program so interesting.Where did their ideas come from about what they wanted to do when
they grew up？Are children influenced by what their parents do, by what they see on television or by
what their teachers say？How great is the effect of a single important event？Many film directors,
including Steven Spielberg, say that an early visit to the cinema was the turning point in their lives.Dr
Margaret McAllister, who has done a lot of research in this area, thinks that the major factors are parents, friends and their wider society.

1. What does the text mainly discuss?

A. New ways to make a TV program interesting.
B. The importance of TV programs to children.
C. Different ways to make childhood dreams come true.
D. The influence of childhood experience on future lives.

2. What does the underlined word “influenced” mean in the last paragraph?

A. Impressed.  
B. Improved.
C. Affected.  
D. Attracted.

3. What are the examples in Paragraph 2 meant to show?

A. Many people’s childhood hopes are related to their future jobs.
B. There are many poor children in India who need help.
C. Children have different dreams about their future.
D. A lot of people are very sad in their childhood.

4. Spielberg’s story is meant to show that________.

A. going to a movie at an early age helps a child learn about society
B. a single childhood event may decide what one does as a grownup
C. parents and friends can help a child grow up properly
D. films have more influence on a child than teachers do