Can you remember a morning when you've woken up to the ring of your alarm clock and
wished you could stay in bed? You haven't slept well, your hair is a mess. Worse, you
can't stop yawning. Yawning is universal to humans and many animals. Cats, dogs and fish
yawn just like humans do! Yawning is an involuntary (無(wú)意識(shí)的,不自覺(jué)的) action during
which you open your mouth and breathe deeply. The average duration of a yawn is about 6
seconds.
    The purpose and cause of yawning are still a mystery. Scientists are not sure what
causes a yawn. People yawn when they are tired or bored, but they also yawn when they
aren't. There are many ideas explaining why we yawn.
    One idea is that yawning is a way for the body to become more alert by taking in more
oxygen. A yawn increases the heart rate, forces carbon dioxide out of the lungs and blood
stream, and brings oxygen to the brain. But one study showed that volunteers given a lot
of oxygen did not yawn any less than before, while those given a lot of carbon dioxide
did not yawn more.
    Another idea is that early humans used yawning as a form of communication. If one
decided it was time to sleep, they would tell the others by yawning and they would do it
in return to show they agreed.
    A third explanation comes from psychology professor Gordon Gallup of University at
Albany in New York. He said that as people yawn, they cool off their brains. "Brains are
like computers." he said. "They only operate efficiently and effectively when they're
cool. Many things connected to yawning, like being tired, make the brain hot, and yawning
can reduce the heat."
    Scientists have sent people into space, and created terrible nuclear weapons, but
there are lots of seemingly simple things, such as why we yawn, or hiccup, that they
can't figure out. Next time you are in class in the morning, let out a big yawn and watch
to see how many of your classmates yawn in response!

1. What's the purpose of the description of how bad you may feel when you're woken up in
    the morning?

A. To explain why humans yawn.
B. To explain how humans start yawning.
C. To lead into the topic of yawning.
D. To complain about being woken up by the clock.

2. Which is not among the possible reasons for yawning mentioned in the passage?

A. A way to show that you feel hot.
B. A way to get rid of carbon dioxide.
C. A way to cool off your brain.
D. A way to communicate.

3. In which situation are you likely to yawn?

A. When you feel sleepy.
B. The weather is hot.
C. Someone else yawns near you.
D. When you breathe in a lot of carbon dioxide.

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A. The real reason why humans and most animals yawn.
B. Hiccups are an involuntary human action similar to yawns.
C. The more an action can be studied, the easier it is to research.
D. Finding out why humans yawn should be easier than sending people into space.

    Electronic monitoring devices, mobile phone detectors and giant screens connected to
close-circuit TV cameras. Does it sound like a high security operation? Well, the National
College Entrance Examination (NCEE) in China is nothing less than that.
    The education authorities' efforts to prevent cheating at the exam have gone almost
unnoticed. The authorities launched the country's new monitoring system for the all-
important exam yesterday. The system is based on local schools' networks and is connected
to provincial headquarters, especially set up for the exam. The government has plans to
cover all the 31 provinces and regions in the next three years and offer the services for
other national exams, too.
    The records of students caught cheating during national tests, such as the college
entrance exam, would be stored in the system and made available online for higher
educational institutions' and future employers' reference.
    But despite all these measures, cheating remains a big temptation for some candidates.
The number of students caught cheating in last year's NCEE was 3,000, up from 1,300 in
2005. But this is hardly surprising because passing the NCEE is the only way most of the
students can get access to higher education.
    10.1 million students registered for this year's NCEE, 9.6 million taking the exam,
but only 5.67 million would enter college. Among the successful candidates will be about
500,000 with special merits who will be admitted to universities directly, which means
roughly 13 in every 24 candidates can actually enter college. That should explain why
some students are tempted to cheat during the exam.
    Cheating in such a well-monitored exam is not an easy thing to do, says an MOE
official, and it's very risky business too. The chance of a student getting away with
cheating is minuscule. And if caught, he/she risks ruining his/her entire career because
higher educational institutions and potential employers can always check his/her record.

1. The passage is most probably taken from _____.

A. a politics textbook.
B. a fashion report.
C. a reference book.
D. a newspaper.

2. According to the passage, what will happen if a student is caught cheating in the NCEE?

A. He/She will lose the chance to sit for more exams.
B. His/Her behavior will be recorded, stored and made available online.
C. He/She will get no records and lose the opportunity to go to college.
D. He/She will be blamed and his/her career and life will be put an end to.

3. The underlined word"minuscule" in the last paragraph probably means _____.

A. tiny
B. impossible
C. difficult
D. incredible

4. We can draw a conclusion from the passage that _____.

A. the education authorities are making great efforts to prevent cheating in exams
B. although it is very hard to succeed, many students take a chance to cheat in exams
C. honesty is still the best policy when it comes to exams
D. it is not easy to get access to higher education in China

    You need the right college
    What's out there? How can you learn all of America's college? How do you find the
best match-the best college for you? Big or small, conservative or liberal, private or public
1______ Researchers are essential for making a good college decision. 2______ Don't
easily believe what others say, such as "Someone told me that Colorado College is too
small" and "Someone told me that Michigan is too big." Every college has something for
someone. 3______ Just because you have heard the name of a college it does not mean it
will be a good place for you. Just because you have not heard the name of a college it
doesn't mean that you will not like it. 
    4______ That means in these colleges you can fit in with the other students, find the
level of education you need and feel good on campus. Researching the colleges means
finding several colleges where you really want to go.
    One quick way to research the colleges is to take a virtual (虛擬的) tour of the college
on you computer. 5______ Check out the hundreds of colleges on these two websites.
When you find one that sounds like a place you would like to be, check out its website and
learn more. Make a list of 20 colleges and then choose a short list of 10.

A. There is no college that is wonderful for everyone.
B. Here are the two top websites to get you started.
C. Get your parents involved in the decision-making process.
D. That means collecting information from many sources.
E. Don't take too much time doing your research.
F. There are many things to consider.
G. There are many colleges where you will be happy.

    Perhaps the most famous theory, the study of body movement, was suggested by
Professor Ray Birdwhistell. He believes that physical appearance is often culturally
programmed. In other words, we learn our looks-we are not born with them. A baby
has generally informed face features. A baby, according to Birdwhistell, learns where
to set the eyebrows by looking at those around-family and friends. This helps explain
why the people of some areas of the United States look so much alike. New Englanders
or Southerners have certain common face features that cannot be explained by genetics
(遺傳學(xué)). The exact shape of the mouth is not set at birth, it is learned after. In fact,
the final mouth shape is not formed until well after new teeth are set. For many, this can
be well into grown-ups. A husband and wife together for a long time often come to look
alike. We learn our looks from those around us. This is perhaps why in a single country
area where people smile more than those in other areas. In the United States, for example,
the South is the part of the country where the people smile most frequently. In New
England they smile less, and in the western part of New York State still less. Many
southerners find cities such as New York cold and unfriendly, partly because people on
Madison Avenue smile less than people on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia. People in
largely populated areas also smile and greet each other in public less than people in small
towns do.

1. Ray Birdwhistell believes that physical appearance _____.

A. has little to do with culture
B. is ever changing
C. is different from place to place
D. has much to do with culture

2. According to the passage, the final mouth shape is formed _____.

A. as soon as one's teeth are newly set
B. sometime after new teeth are set
C. around 15 years old
D. before birth

3. Ray Birdwhistell can tell what area of the United States a person is from by _____.

A. what he or she likes best
B. how he or she raises his or her eyebrows
C. how much he or she smiles
D. the way he or she talks

    Children become more generous as they get older, learning the principles of equality
by the age of eight. That may not be too surprising to anyone who has kids.
    Humans are born with a sense of fairness that most other animals seem not to share,
but it's not been clear exactly when this concept starts to develop.
    Dr. Alva Zhao and her colleagues conducted a series of tests to measure just how
much children care about equality at different ages. In three different versions of a game,
children were asked to choose between two ways of sharing a number of sweets with
themselves and an unfamiliar partner. They could choose, for example, between one for
me and one for you, or just having one for themselves.
    At the age of three, children were "almost completely selfish", says Zhao.
    They refused to give sweets away even if it made no difference to themselves. But by
the age of eight, children generally preferred the fair option, sharing a prize equally rather
than keeping it all to themselves.
    Several other factors influenced how fair the children were. The team found that children
without brothers or sisters were 28% more likely to share than children with brothers or
sisters. On the other hand, the youngest children in a family were 17% less willing to share
than children who had only younger brother or sister.
    In addition, if children knew that their partner was from the same playgroup or school,
they were more concerned about being fair. This suggests that being nice to people you
know is something that develops a sense of equality.

1. The main idea of the first paragraph is _____.

A. parents know clearly when their kids are more willing to share
B. the kids' willingness of sharing is learned from their family
C. the older the kids are,the more selfish they will become
D. kids become more generous when they reach a certain age

2. The tests conducted by Dr. Alva Zhao and her colleagues were aimed at _____.

A. how kids develop a quality of fairness in games
B. children's awareness of equality at different ages
C. the reasons why children care about equality
D. children's attitudes towards other partners

3. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Children under three know little about being fair.
B. Children above eight years old become less selfish.
C. Children with brothers or sisters tend to be more generous.
D. The youngest child in a family tends to be less generous.

4. We can learn that children care more about equality while with _____.

A. unknown people
B. nice people
C. familiar people
D. fair people

A. Social background for the Development of Adult Education
B. What is the present situation?
C. The purposes in Adult Education
D. Ways of Adult Education
E. The history of Adult Education F.What is Adult Education

1.______
    Voluntary learning in organized courses by mature men and women is called adult
education. Such education is offered to make people able to enlarge and interpret their
experience as adults. Adults may want to study something which they missed in earlier
schooling, get new skills or job training, find out about new technological development,
seek better self-understanding, or develop new talents and skills.
2.______
    This kind of education may be in the form of self-study with proper guidance through
the use of libraries, correspondence (函授) courses,or broadcasting. It may also be acquired
collectively in schools and colleges, study groups, workshops, clubs, and professional
associations.
3.______
    Modern adult education for large numbers of people started in the 18th and 19th centuries
with the rise of the Industrial Revolution. Great economic and social changes were taking place:
people were moving from rural areas to cities: new types of work were being created in an
expanding factory system. These and other factors produced a need for further education and
reeducation of adults.
4.______
    The earliest program of organized adult education arose in Great Britain in the 1790s, with the
founding of an adult school at Nottingham and a mechanics' institute at Glasgow. The earliest adult
education institution in the United States was founded by Benjamin Franklin and some friends in
Philadelphia in 1727.
5.______
    People recognize that continued learning is necessary for most forms of employment today. For
example, parts of the adult population in many countries find it necessary to take part in retraining
programs at work or even to learn completely new jobs. Adult education programs are springing up
constantly to meet these and other needs.

    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 interview,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 non-professional 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

     Even plant can run a fever, especially when they're under attack by insects or disease. But unlike human,
plants can have their temperature taken from 3,000 feet away straight up. A decade ago, adopting the infrared
(紅外線) scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley
came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The
goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide (殺蟲劑) spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field,
which invariably includes plants that don't have pest (害蟲) problems.
     Even better, Paley's Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became
visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3,000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat sent
out by crops. The data were transformed into a color-coded map showing where plants were running "fevers".
Farmers could then spot-spray, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide that they otherwise would.
     The bad news is that Paley's company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the
new technology and long-term backers were hard to find. But with the renewed concern about pesticides on
produce, and refinements (改進(jìn)) ininfrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture
experts have no doubt the technology works."This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land
in the United States," says George Oerther of Texas A& M, who recently retired from the Department of
Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only if Paley
finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago.

1. In what situation will plants have a fever? (No more than 8 words)
    ________________________________________________________________________________________
2. How can we apply pesticide spraying precisely? (No more than 10 words)
    ________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Why may infrared scanning technology by brought back into operation? (No more than 13 words)
    ________________________________________________________________________________________
4. What is the biggest problem that might prevent bringing infrared scanning technology back? (No more than
    7 words)
    ________________________________________________________________________________________

     In bringing up children, every parent watches eagerly the child's acquisition (學(xué)會(huì)) of each new skill in the
first spoken words, the first independent steps, or the beginning of reading and writing. It is often tempting to
hurry the child beyond his natural learning rate, but this can set up dangerous feelings of failure and states of
worry in the child. This might happen at any stage. A baby might be forced to use a toilet too early, a young
child might be encouraged to learn to read before he knows the meaning of the words he reads. On the other
hand, though, if a child is left alone too much, or without any learning opportunities, he loses his natural
enthusiasm for life and his desire to find out new things for himself. 
     Parents vary greatly in their degree of strictness towards their children. Some may be especially strict in
money matters. Others are severe (嚴(yán)格的) over time of coming home at night or punctuality for meals. In
general, the controls represent the needs of the parents and the values of the community as much as the child's
own happiness.
     As regards the development of moral standards in the growing child, consistency (一致性) is very important
in parental teaching. To forbid a thing one day and excuse it the next is no foundation for morality (道德). Also,
parents should realize that "example is better than precept". If they are not sincere and do not practice what they
preach (說(shuō)教), their children may grow confused when they grow old enough to think for themselves, and
realize they have been to some extent fooled.
     A sudden awareness of a marked difference between their parents' principles (原則) and their morals can be
a dangerous disappointment.

1. Eagerly watching the child's acquisition of new skills _____.

A. should be avoided
B. is universal among parents
C. sets up dangerous states of worry in the child
D. will make the child lose interest in learning new things

2. In the process of children's learning new skills, parents _____.

A. should encourage them to read before they know the meaning of the words they read
B. should expect a lot of the children
C. should achieve a balance between pushing them too hard and leaving them on their own.
D. should create as many learning opportunities as possible

3. The second paragraph mainly tells us that _____.

A. parents should be strict with their children
B. parental controls reflect only the values of the community
C. parental restrictions vary, and are not always for the benefit of the children alone
D. it's parents' and society's duty to control the children

4. The word "precept" in Paragraph 3 probably means "_____".

A. opinion
B. punishment
C. behavior
D. instruction

5. In terms of moral matters, parents should _____.

A. follow the rules themselves
B. be aware of the huge difference between adults and children
C. forbid their children to do anything
D. always ensure the security of their children