This is the VOA Special English Education Report. A few weeks ago, we talked about the Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL. A listener in Cambodia named Thida asks if American colleges and universities also accept the IELTS exam. IELTS is the International English Language Testing System. It was developed by the University of Cambridge ESOL examiners.

Cambridge ESOL says the test measures true-to-life ability to communicate in English for education, immigration or employment. The IELTS tests listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. It uses a mixture of accents and spellings, including British English and American English.

The test is used by government agencies, schools and professional organizations in one hundred and twenty countries. And, yes, that includes the United States. The many American schools that accepted the IELTS can be found on the Web at felts.org.

Some schools accept both the TOEFL and the IELTS, but the graduate school at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, for example, says it prefers the IEITS.

The listening and speaking parts are the same for everyone who takes the IELTS, but people have a choice of reading and writing tests -- either academic or general training.

The listening test takes thirty minutes. There are forty questions based on a recording. The reading test takes sixty minutes. Students answer forty questions based on three written passages.

The writing test also takes sixty minutes. Students have to write two essays. One essay has to be at least one hundred and fifty words long and the other at least two hundred and fifty words. The shorter one is description of something; the longer one has to support and argument.

The speaking test takes less than fifteen minutes. The score is based on a recorded talk between the student and a test examiner.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. If you have a general question for our series, write to special@voanews.com. I'm Barbara Klein.

1.What does TOEFL stand for?

A. The Voice of America            B. The International English Language Testing System

C. The Test of English as a Foreign Language

D. The Test of English as a Native Language

2.The International English Language Testing System commonly takes _______ in all.

A. less than 160 minutes                       B. more than 165 minutes

C. no more than 160 minutes                     D. less than 166 minutes

3. According to the passage, we can infer _______.

A. IELTS is efficient and necessary if you want to go to English-speaking countries

B. IELTS is completely different from TOEFL

C. every American needs to accept TOEFL      D. IEITS isn't used more widely than TOEFL

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

A. How can the readers write papers to the VOA programme?

B. It talks about some ways to pass TOEFL.

C. It introduces IELTS.                                          

D. How can the readers pass two kinds of tests?

 

Bored? Lonely? Out of condition?

Why not try the SPORT CENTER?

TENNIS

     Indoor and outdoor courts. Coaching from beginners to advanced, everyday not evenings.

Children only-Sat. mornings.

SKIING

Dry slopes—3 levels instructors at weekends and Fridays. Daytime parcitice. 8 years upwards.

SWIMMING

    2 pools- heated Olympic length. Tuition available.

    Women: Tuesday and Thursday.

Men: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

    Children: Saturday

    Family day: Sunday

GOLF

     9 hole practice course. Professional Coaching. Lessons must be booked in advance in daytime. Evening practice. Minimum age — 9 years.

GYMNASTICS

     Maximum age—18 years. Children aged 5—10. Monday and Wednesdays. 4:00—6:00 p.m. 10—18 year-old. Friday evenings. Bar work on Sunday mornings.

AND MUCH MORE

Table Tennis, Snooker, Darts（標(biāo)槍?zhuān)? Chess（everyday and evening）, Café （all day）Bar（lunch time and evenings）, Nursery（weekdays and weekends, not evenings）. Centre open 10:00 a.m.—10:00 p.m. Daily. Interested? More details inside. Quote Card Number: 99.

1.What is this ad mainly about?

    A．It mainly shows us some ways to spend weekends.

    B．It mainly shows us a place to relax ourselves.

    C．It shows the ways of saving our time.

    D．It shows us a lot of ways to spend our holidays.

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to this passage?

    A．People can play tennis day and night.

    B．Men and women swim in the SPORTS CENTER separately．

    C．Children at any age can play golf in the SPORTS CENTER．

    D．People under 20 can all take gymnastics．

3.How many sports items are mentioned in the passage?

    A．5            B．7．              C．9．          D．12．

4.Where can we find this ad in your opinion?

    A．In a company．       B．In a restaurant．

    C．In a park            D．On a newspaper．

 

第二節(jié)讀寫(xiě)任務(wù)(共1小題，滿(mǎn)分25分)

閱讀下面的短文，然后按照要求寫(xiě)一篇150詞左右的英語(yǔ)短文。

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”

“Yeah sure, what is it?” replied the man.

“Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”

“That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?” the man said angrily.

“I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?” pleaded the little boy.

“If you must know, I make $20 an hour.”

“Oh,” the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, “Daddy, may I please borrow $10?”

The father was furious, “If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard every day for such childish behavior.”

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn’t ask for money very often.

The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.

“Are you asleep, son?” He asked.

“No daddy, I’m awake,” replied the boy.

“I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier,” said the man, “It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $10you asked for.”

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. “Oh, thank you daddy!” He yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father.

“Why do you want more money if you already have some?” the father grumbled.

“Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied. “Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.”

[寫(xiě)作內(nèi)容]

1以約30詞概括上文的主要內(nèi)容。

2以約120詞對(duì)父母為工作而忽視孩子的現(xiàn)象進(jìn)行議論，內(nèi)容包括：

(1)你對(duì)父母為工作而忽視孩子的現(xiàn)象的看法：

(2)你的父母(或其他親人)是如何是如何處理工作和關(guān)愛(ài)孩子的關(guān)系的；

(3)你認(rèn)為父母怎樣才能更好地做到工作和關(guān)愛(ài)孩子兩不誤。

[寫(xiě)作要求]

1作文中可以使用親身經(jīng)歷或虛構(gòu)的故事．也可以參照閱讀材料的內(nèi)容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子。

2作文中不能出現(xiàn)真實(shí)姓名和學(xué)校名稱(chēng)。

[評(píng)分標(biāo)準(zhǔn)]

概括準(zhǔn)確，語(yǔ)言規(guī)范，內(nèi)容合適，語(yǔ)篇連貫。

 

Birds that are half-asleep—with one brain hemisphere（半球）alert and the other sleeping—control which side of the brain remains awake, according to a new study of sleeping ducks．

    Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds．The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves．The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere’s eye stays open and alert．Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once．

    Decades of studies of bird groups led researchers to predict extra alertness in the end-of-the-row sleepers which tend to be attacked more easily．Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions．Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze（注視）direction．

    Also, birds napping at the end of the line depend on single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did．Turning 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found that compared with 12 percent for birds in internal spots, outer birds half-asleep during some 32 percent of napping time．

    “We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness at the same time in different regions of the brain,” the researchers say．

    The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing assumption that single-hemisphere sleep evolved（發(fā)展）as creatures scanned for enemies．The preference for opening an eye on the lookout side could be widespread, he predicts．He’s seen it in a pair of birds napping side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror．The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open．

    Useful as half-sleeping might be, it’s only been found in birds and such water animals as dolphins, whales, and seals．Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning．

    Studies of birds may offer unique insights（深刻的理解）into sleep．Jerome M．Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds’ half-brain sleep “is just the tip of the iceberg．” He supposes that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species．

1.According to the passage, birds often half sleep because ______．

       A．they have to watch out for possible attacks

       B．their brain hemispheres take turns to rest

       C．the two halves of their brain are differently structured

       D．they have to constantly keep an eye on their companions

2.What is implied about the example of a bird’s sleeping in front of a mirror?

       A．An imagined companion gives the bird a sense of security．

       B．Birds prefer to sleep in pairs for the sake of their security．

       C．The phenomenon of birds napping in pairs is widespread．

D．A single pet bird enjoys seeing its own reflection in the mirror．

3.While sleeping, some water animals tend to keep half awake in order to ______．

A．a(chǎn)lert themselves to the approaching enemy

       B．emerge（浮現(xiàn)）from water now and then to breathe

       C．be sensitive to the ever-changing environment

       D．a(chǎn)void being swept away by rapid currents

4.By saying “just the tip of the iceberg”, Siegel suggests that ______．

       A．half-brain sleep has something to do with icy weather

       B．the mystery of half-brain sleep is close to being solved

       C．most birds living in cold regions tend to be half sleepers

       D．half-brain sleep may exist among other species

 

The Best of Friends

The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly held image (印象) of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.

An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past. “We were surprised by just how positive today’s young people seem to be about their families,” said one member of the research team. “They’re expected to be rebellious (叛逆的) and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds; they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There’s more negotiation (商議) and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don’t want to rock the boat.”

So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends. “My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17-years-old Daniel Lazall. “I always tell them when I’m going out clubbing. As long as they know what I’m doing, they’re fine with it.” Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees. “Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I’d done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”

Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments, “Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over.”

1. What is the popular image of teenagers today?

A. They worry about school.                  B. They quarrel a lot with other family members

C. They have to be locked in to avoid troubles.   . D. They dislike living with their parents.

2.The study shows that teenagers don’t want to ______.

A. share family responsibility              B. make family decisions

C. go boating with their family             D. cause trouble in their families

3. Compared with parents of 30 years ago, today’s parents______.

A. go to clubs more often with their children       B. give their children more freedom

C. care less about their children’s life             D. are much stricter with their children

4. According to the author, teenage rebellion ______.

 A. existed only in the 1960s                  B. is common nowadays

 C. may be a false belief                     D. resulted from changes in families

5. What is the passage mainly about?

A. Harmony in family.                         B. Education in family.

C. Negotiation in family.                       D. Teenage trouble in family.