Hundreds of secondary schools are using a controversial reward scheme which “bribes” (賄賂)pupils with iPods and DVD players to turn up in classes and do homework.
Almost one million schoolchildren have been issued with supermarket-style reward cards which allow them to collect good-behavior “points” and cash them in for prizes.
Schools taking part in the “Vivo Miles” scheme are spending several thousand pounds a year in an attempt to cut truancy (逃學(xué)) and promote achievements. The prizes are ultimately funded by the taxpayer, through school budgets. Nearly 500 secondary schools, one in six, have decided to take part in the scheme, which is intended to replace old-style rewards such as stickers and golden stars.
But the extent of rewards being offered in schools brought a warning that a generation of children is growing up expecting to be rewarded at every stage. Many youngsters are collecting points for ordinary achievements such as remembering to bring their PE kit and wearing the correct uniform.
Under the scheme, teachers award Vivo points—worth 1 penny each—according to the school’s policy. Schools typically spend￡4 to￡6 on prizes per pupil each year, although some commit considerably more. Most pupils accumulate between 400 and 600 Vivos a year. Vivo Miles insists it is “pretty rare” for a pupil to accumulate enough points to buy an iPod, which requires 3,100 Vivos.
But Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said the scheme amounted to “bribery”. “It misleads children into thinking anything which requires effort has to have a special reward,” he said. “This ‘a(chǎn)ll must have prizes’ view is damaging to children in the long-term.” The scheme amounted to an “admission of failure” by schools. He said. “It shows a school has failed to convince children education is important.”
【小題1】The “Vivo Miles” scheme is aimed at ______________.

A．increasing the income of the school

B．encouraging students to perform well at school

C．inviting more students to attend the school nearby

D．encouraging parents to donate to the school

【小題2】Those who oppose the “Vivo Miles” scheme think ______________.

A．it helps control the problem of truancy

B．it teaches children the importance of saving

C．it will mislead children about efforts and rewards

D．it’s not easy to get more than 600 Vivos a year

【小題3】What’s the writer’s attitude towards the scheme?

A．Supportive.

B．Opposed.

C．Unconcerned.

D．Objective.

If you look for a book as a present for a child. You will be spoiled for choice even in a year when there is no new Harry Potter. J.K Rowling’s wizard is not alone: the past decade has been a harvest for good children’s books, which has set off a large quantity of films and in turn led to increased sales of classics such as The Lord of the Rings.
Yet despite that, reading is increasingly unpopular among children. According to statistics, in 1997 23% said they didn’t like reading at all. In 2003, 35% did. And around 6% of children leave primary school each year unable to read properly.
Maybe the decline is caused by the increasing availability of computes games. Maybe the books boom has affected only the top of the educational pile. Either way, Chancellor Gordon Brown plans to change things for the bottom of the class .In his pre-budget report, he announced the national project of Reading Recovery to help the children struggling most.
Reading Recovery is aimed at six-year-olds, who receive four months of individual daily half-hour classes with a specially trained teacher. An evaluation earlier this year reported that children on the scheme made 20 months’ progress in just one year, whereas similarly weak readers without special help made just five months’ progress, and so ended the year even further below the level expected for their age.
International research tends to find that when British children leave primary school they read well, but read less often for fun than those elsewhere. Reading for fun matters because children who are keen on reading can expect lifelong pleasure and loving books is an excellent indicator of future educational success. According to the OECD, being a regular and enthusiastic reader is of great advantage.
【小題1】Which of the following is true of Paragraph 1?

A．Many children’s books have been adapted from films.

B．Many high-quality children’s books have been published.

C．The sales of classics have led to the popularity of films.

D．The sales of presents for children have increased.

【小題2】Statistics suggested that              .

A．the number of top students increased with the use of computers

B．a(chǎn) decreasing number of children showed interest in reading

C．a(chǎn) minority of primary school children read properly

D．a(chǎn) large percentage of children read regularly

【小題3】What do we know about Reading Recovery?

A．An evaluation of it will be made sometime this year.

B．Weak readers on the project were the most hardworking.

C．It aims to train special teachers to help children with reading.

D．Children on the project showed noticeable progress in reading.

【小題4】Reading for fun is important because book-loving children _________.

A． take greater advantage of the project

B．show the potential to enjoy a long life

C．a(chǎn)re likely to succeed in their education

D．would make excellent future researchers

【小題5】The aim of this text would probably be _________.

A．to overcome primary school pupils’ reading difficulty

B．to encourage the publication of more children’s books

C．to remind children of the importance of reading for fun

D．to introduce a way to improve early children reading

Last week, President Barack Obama gave a back- to-school speech to students at the Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Students in schools across the country al­so tuned in to watch the President's speech on TV. He stressed the importance of trying new things, working hard and believing in yourself.
While admitting that times are tough for families across the country, Obama reminded students that hard work now can mean big success later. “Nobody gets to write your destiny(命運）but you,” he said. “Your future is in your hands. Your life is what you make of it. And nothing—absolutely nothing—is beyond your reach."
Obama spoke about his own life, and lessons he learned from his mother, who had to remind him to stay focused on his studies. He told students the recipe (訣竅) for success: “Showing up to school on time. Paying attention in class. Doing your homework. Studying for exams. Staying out of trouble. ”
Obama encouraged students to embrace(欣然接受)what makes them different. “We shouldn't be em­barrassed by the things that make us different,” he said. “We should be proud of them.”
He also suggested taking advantage of all of the opportunities at your school, and always being open to trying new things. “Just because you’re not the best at something today doesn't mean you can't be tomorrow,” he said. “Even if you don't think of yourself as a math person or as a science person—you can still excel in those subjects if you're willing to make the effort. And you may find out you have talents you’d never dreamed of.”
【小題1】What does Obama mainly want to tell the students in Paragraph 2?

A．Some families are experiencing a hard time.

B．Different people have different destinies.

C．They can create their own future.

D．Those who don't study hard will achieve nothing.

【小題2】In Paragraph 3, Obama tried to encourage the students by _______.

A．telling an interesting story

B．sharing the secret to success

C．telling his own life experience

D．referring to some famous people

【小題3】Obama suggested the students should    _________ .

A．not study hard for high marks

B．a(chǎn)ccept things that make them different

C．do what they are really interested in

D．not do things which are difficult for them

【小題4】The underlined phrase “excel in” in the last para­graph means “_________”.

A．be careful with	B．be attracted to
C．be interested in	D．be good at

How to improve my life? Many people think that they have to accept whatever life throws at them. They'll say, "This is my fate, my destiny. I cannot change it."
Of course not! You don't have to suffer needlessly. Your destiny depends on you, not on any other external factors.
I know someone who says she just accepts what life gives her because she has done everything she can to improve it. Guess what her lifestyle is? She wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes back home, relaxes, chats with people, watches TV, then goes to sleep. Next day, the same routine cycle follows.
Huh! Is this what she calls "doing her best"? She believes she has tried her best and just accepts it in her heart that this is the life that God has intended for her to live; that her luck can only change if God wills it.  Of course God wants us to be happy and live our life to the fullest, but we have to do our share of exerting(運用) the effort to live the life of our dreams.
Remember that you reap what you sow. You just don't sit around and wait for a million dollars to fall from the sky. You have to get off the couch, get your eyes off the TV screen, get your hands off the phone. Don’t expect your luck to change unless you do something about it. If something goes wrong, don't just regard it as a temporary setback; but use it as feedback. Learn your lesson, make the most of the situation, and do something to solve the problem. It's not enough to think positively; you also have to act positively.
If someone's life is in the trouble, do you just hope and pray that things will turn out fine? Of course not! You get to do anything you can to save the person. So it is with your own life. It is not enough to hope for the best, but you have to do your best. In other words, don't just stand (or sit ) there, do something to improve your life.
【小題1】According to the woman mentioned in Para.3, her life ____________. 

A．Doesn't need improving	B．couldn't be improved
C．will be better some day	D．Will be worse in the future

【小題2】What does the author think of the woman's life? ____________.

A．positive

B．satisfying

C．colorful

D．passive

【小題3】Which of the following statements is the author's opinion? ___________.

A．Your temporary problem is not discouraging.

B．Your luck can be changed by your efforts

C．You can only achieve success when God wills it.

D．You should treat yourself in the way you treat friends.

【小題4】In Para.5, the author emphasized the importance of _____________.

A．positive action	B．positive thinking
C．hope for the best	D．intention to succeed

【小題5】The text is mainly written to advise you to ____________.

A．understand yourself	B．improve your life
C．believe in yourself	D．change your normal way

For many parents , raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming, the goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right, it doesn’t matter what the topic is----politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg ----the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority ---- someone who actually knows something ---- and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.
【小題1】Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?

A．both can continue for generations.

B．both are about where to draw the line.

C．Neither has any clear winner.

D．Neither can be put to an end.

【小題2】What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict.

B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict.

C．The teens accuse their parents of misleading them.

D．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents.

【小題3】Parents and teens want to be right because they want to ________.

A．give orders to the other

B．know more than the other

C．gain respect from the other

D．get the other to behave properly

【小題4】What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?

A．Causes for the parent-teen conflicts.

B．Examples of the parent-teen war.

C．Solutions for the parent-teen problems.

D．Future of the parent-teen relationship.

School education is very important and useful. Yet no one can learn everything from school. A teacher, no matter how much he knows, can not teach his students everything they want to know. The teacher’s job is to show his students how to learn. He teaches them how to read and how to think. So much more is to be learned outside school by the students themselves.
It is always more important to know how to study by oneself than to learn some facts or a formula by heart. It is actually quiet easy to learn a certain fact in history or a formula(公式) in mathematics. But it is very difficult to use a formula in working out a maths problem. Great scientist, such as Einstein, Newton and Galileo, didn’t get everything from school. But they were all so successful and invented so many things for men. They worked hard all their lives, wasting not a single moment. They would ask many questions as they read and they did thousands of experiments.
【小題1】According to the passage, a good teacher should be one who is to_________.

A．help his students to gain a good memory.

B．train his students’ ability to learn

C．teach his students everything he knows

D．have his students studying long hours

【小題2】If a student want to learn better, the most important thing for him to do is_______.

A．to learn all the useful facts and formula by heart

B．to do everything as his teacher have said in class

C．to absorb (吸收) as much knowledge from his teacher as possible

D．to think more while he is studying

【小題3】The main reason for the success of the great scientists is that________.

A．the teachers who had taught them were all experienced.

B．they used to work and study without a moment’s rest.

C．they had received more schooling than other people

D．they know how to study and worked hard

【小題4】What’s the good advice the writer gives us?

A．We can learn better without teachers

B．We should do more asking and thinking while studying

C．We should pay enough attention to classroom

D．Book knowledge is of little use

Having friends may well keep you healthier and help you deal with stress better. Some studies show that people with close friends have a greater ability to fight disease than people who are alone.
Place friendship in the first place. Find the time to be with friends even if it means letting the lawn go unmowed or the dishes unwashed for a while. When you can’t get together, use the phone to keep in touch.
Open up to close friends. Keeping a deep friendship requires a level of “heartfelt” intimacy (親密).Don’t be afraid to express your inner fears and disappointments. Listen to your friends when they have problems，but offer advice only when it’s wanted. Help raise friends’ self­esteem when they are sad about a job loss, or other such events.
Have different friends for different activities, such as going to the movies，singing in a choir，and joining in a bowling league.
Don’t wait for a friend to ask for helps. When a friend has the flu，offer to go to the store or drive his or her children to their after­school activities.
Never take a friendship for granted. Like a good marriage，friendship needs care and patience. Become a joiner. Find a group that matches your interests.
Talk to strangers. Conversations started in museums, laundry rooms，or bookstores can lead to firm friendship.
Enroll in an adult­education course. A classroom is an ideal place to meet others with similar interests.
【小題1】People with close friends have a        ability to fight disease than people who are alone.

A．less

B．greater

C．poorer

D．little

【小題2】According to the passage，you’d better offer advice to your friends       .

A．a(chǎn)t any moment

B．only when they are happy

C．only when they want it

D．only when you are glad

【小題3】What we should do to have friends according to the author?

A．Make friendship a priority.

B．Open up to close friends.

C．Never take a friendship for granted.

D．All the above.

【小題4】Which of the statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．You should have different friends for the same activities.

B．You should wait for a friend to ask a favor.

C．You should avoid talking with strangers in museums, laundry rooms, or bookstores.

D．You should never take a friendship for granted.

【小題5】The underlined word “enroll” in the last paragraph means         .

A．give

B．join

C．get

D．catch

In order to know a foreign language completely, four things are necessary. First, we must understand the language when we hear it spoken. Secondly, we must be able to speak it ourselves, correctly with confidence  and without hesitation (猶豫). Thirdly, we must be able to write it. We must be able to make sentences that are correct in grammar. There is no short way to succeed in language learning. A good memory is a great help, but it is not enough only to memorize the rules from a grammar book. It is no much use learning by heart long lists of words and their meanings, studying the dictionary and so on. We must learn by using the language. If we are pleased with a few rules we have memorized, we are not really learning the language. We must “Learn through use”. Practice is important. We must practise speaking and writing the language whenever we can.
【小題1】The most important things to learn a foreign language are         .

A．understanding and speaking

B．hearing, speaking, reading and writing

C．writing and understanding

D．memorizing and listening

【小題2】Someone hears and writes English very well, but he speaks it very badly. This is because     .

A．he doesn’t understand the language when he hears it spoken

B．he doesn’t have a good memory

C．he always remember lists of words and their meanings

D．he often hesitates to practise speaking it

【小題3】One can never learn a foreign language well only by         .

A．much practice	B．studying the dictionary
C．learning through use	D．using the language

【小題4】Which of the following is the most important in learning a foreign language?

A．A good memory.	B．Speaking.
C．Practice.	D．Writing.

【小題5】“Learn through use” means      .

A．we use a language in order to learn it

B．we learn foreign language in order to use it

C．we can learn a language well while we are using it

D．both B and C

TOEFL stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language, which assesses the proficiency (熟練) of English language of a person in an academic setting. Various institutions, scholarship programs require this test as a trusted and effective indicator of a person’s ability to communicate in English.
TOEFL is available in CBT—Computer-based Technology, PBT—Paper-based Technology and IBT—Internet-based Test formats to assess the proficiency of the English Language. IBT TOEFL is a four-hour test comprising sections: Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing. In areas where internet-based test is not available, a paper-based test (PBT) is given. PBT is a three-hour test comprising four sections: Listening, Structure and Written Expression, Reading Comprehension and Writing.
Taking TOEFL test opens many doors to get admission in foreign universities. More than 7500 colleges, universities and agencies in more than 130 countries rely on TOEFL test scores to check proficiency for English Language. It is very convenient to take this test and it is available in 165 countries worldwide.
It measures your academic skills that whether you are ready to study or train at under graduate or post graduate level in foreign universities or not. In the test candidates are provided with a passage from text books and questions based on lectures, and you can be asked to speak or write in response related to that passage.
As the test is made up of 100 % academic questions, so many universities consider it the most effective test while taking any admission. To take TOEFL test you should:
—Improve your writing skills;
—Improve your vocabulary;
—Practice other reading passages on the TOEFL Test;
—Be familiar with the format of the test;
—Practice for listening test on the TOEFL test.
To take admission in World’s famous Harvard University, the minimum TOEFL score required is 587 on the paper-based test, 240 on the computer-based test, or 94-95 on the internet-based TOEFL.
【小題1】The underlined word “comprising” in Paragraph 2 probably means ________.

A．explaining

B．forming

C．combining

D．including

【小題2】Which section is NOT included in IBT TOEFL?

A．Reading.	B．Structure and Written Expression
C．Speaking.	D．Writing.

【小題3】According to the passage, many students are required to take TOEFL test probably because the test can________.

A．improve their academic skills

B．provide scholarship programs in many countries

C．indicate their proficiency of English language

D．decide your graduation from foreign universities

【小題4】What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Advantages of TOEFL test	B．Introduction to TOEFL test
C．Preparations for TOEFL test	D．Assessment of TOEFL test

One is never too old to learn. Life learning (sometimes called un-schooling or self-directed learning) is one of those concepts that are almost easier to explain by saying what it isn’t than what it is. And that’s probably because our own schooled backgrounds have convinced us that learning happens only in a fine building on certain days, between certain hours, and managed by a specially trained professional.
Within that schooling framestudy, no matter how hard teachers try and no matter how good their textbooks, many bright students get bored, many slower students struggle and give up or lose their self-respect, and most of them reach the end of the process unprepared to enter into society. They have memorized a certain body of knowledge long enough to rush back the information on tests, but they haven’t really learnt much, at least of the official curriculum.
Life learners, on the other hand, know that learning is not difficult, that people learn things quite easily if they’re not compelled and forced, if they see a need to learn something, and if they are trusted and respected enough to learn it on their own timetable, at their own speed, in their own way—no matter what age and no matter whether we’re at school or at home.
Life learning is independent of time, location or the presence of teacher. It does not require mom or dad to teach, or kids to work in workbooks at the table from 9 to noon. Life learning is learner-driven. It involves living and learning—in and from the real world. It is about exploring, questioning, experimenting, making messes, taking risks without fear of making mistakes, being laughed at and trying again.
Furthermore, life learning is about trusting kids to learn what they need to know and about helping them to learn and grow in their own ways. It is about providing positive experiences that enable children to understand the world and their culture and to interact with it.
【小題1】 It is implied in the text that it is hard to ___________.

A．find a specially trained teacher

B．carry life learning through

C．learn without going to school

D．tell the nature of life learning

【小題2】. According to the author, the schooling framestudy often ____________.

A．produces slow students with poor memories

B．fails to provide enough knowledge about life

C．ignores some parts of the official curriculum

D．gives little care to the quality of teaching materials

【小題3】 Life learners recognize that learning will not be difficult if they are ____________.

A．clear about why to learn

B．careful to make a time table

C．a(chǎn)ble to respect other people

D．cautious about any mistakes

【小題4】According to the author, life learning ___________.

A．could be a road full of trials and errors

B．teaches a kid how to avoid being laughed at

C．makes a kid independent of his parents

D．could prevent one from running risks

【小題5】 Through life learning, children ___________.

A．will grow without the assistance from parents

B．will be separated from the negative side of society

C．will be driven to learn necessary life knowledge

D．will learn to communicate with the real society