As a Fulbright（富布莱特法案基金）scholar at Yale, I wanted very much to get some individual help from some famous professors, but their office-hours were only once a week and there were always students waiting outside. At first, I was too polite to get their help. Then I realized that Chinese politeness does not work in this society. I needed to be aggressive to get what I wanted. I also noticed that Chinese students or Asian students were very polite in class while American students often interrupted the professor, asking questions and dominating the discussion. The Chinese students were not as aggressive as American students.

I was impressed by the role of the professor in the class. The professor didn’t act as an authority, giving final conclusions, but as a researcher looking for answers to questions together with the students. One linguistic feature of his interacting with his students was that he used many modal verbs-far more than I did in Beiwai. When answering questions, he usually said: “this is my personal opinion and it could be wrong. It would be a good idea if you could read the book I mentioned the other day.” Or,“ You may find the book I recommended helpful.” Or,“You could be right, but you might find this point of view also interesting.” When making comments on students’ performances, the professor usually said:” It might have been much clearer if you had taken in some of the ideas we discussed earlier this semester.”

In China, authorities are always supposed to give wise decisions and correct directions. Therefore students always expect the professor to give an answer to the question. I still remember how annoyed they were when foreign teachers did not provide such an answer. Their expectations from authorities are much higher than those of American students. Once the Chinese students got the answer, they were sure about it. That is why they make far more certain statement than American students. That is why Chinese students find it difficult to use modal verbs because the function of modal verbs is to provide room for negotiation and different ideas.

1. The American professors use many modal verbs because they want to______.

A．argue with their students

B．be more sure about their answers

C．express their ideas more clearly

D．develop their students’ own way of thinking

2. Which of the following statements best expresses the author’s idea?

A．Chinese professors can always give correct answer to the question.

B．American professors are not responsible since they don’t give students answers.

C．American education produces aggressive students.

D．Education in China is not helpful in developing students’ creativity.

3. Which of the following methods did the author mainly employ in developing the article?

A．Comparison and contrast.	B．Cause and effect.
C．Giving examples.	D．Description.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards education in U.S.?

A．Positive	B．Negative
C．Neutral	D．Unsure

So long as teachers fail to distinguish between teaching and learning, they will continue to  undertake to do for what only children can do for themselves. Teaching children to read is not passing  reading on to them. It is certainly not endless  hours spent in activities about reading. Douglas  insists that "reading cannot be taught directly and schools should stop trying to do the impossible."

Teaching and learning are two entirely different  processes. They differ in kind and function. The  function of teaching is to create the conditions and  the climate that will make it possible for children to devise the most efficient system for teaching themselves to read. Teaching is also a public activity: It can be seen and observed.

Learning to read involves all that each individual does not make sense of the world of printed language. Almost all of it is private, for learning is an occupation of the mind, and that process is not open to public scrutiny. If teacher and learner  roles are not interchangeable, what then can be done  through teaching will aid the child in  knowledge. Smith has one principal rule for all  teaching instructions. "Make learning to read easy, which means making reading a meaningful,  enjoyable and frequent experience for children."

When the roles of teacher and learner are seen for what they are, and when both teacher and learner  fulfill them appropriately, then much of the pressure and feeling of failure for both is eliminated. Learning to read is made easier when teachers create an environment where children are  given the opportunity to solve the problem of learning to read by reading.

5. The problem with the reading course as mentioned in the first paragraph is that____.

A．it is one of the most difficult school courses

B．students spend endless hours in reading

C．reading tasks are assigned with little guidance

D．too much time is spent in teaching of reading

6. The word "scrutiny"（Para.3） most probably  means____.

A．inquiry	B．observation
C．control	D．suspect

7. The main idea of the passage is that ____.

A．teachers should do as little as possible in helping students learn to read

B．teachers should encourage students to read as widely as possible

C．reading ability is something acquired rather than taught

D．reading is more complicated than generally believed

Being sociable looks like a good way to add years to your life. Relationships with family, friends, neighbors, even pets, will all help, but the biggest longevity (长寿) seems to come from marriage. The effect was first noticed in 1858 by William Farr, who wrote that widows and widowers (鳏夫) were at a much higher risk of dying than the married people. Studies since then suggest that marriage could add as much as seven years to a man’s life and two to a woman’s. The effect can be seen in all causes of death, whether illness, accident or self-harm.

Even if the chances are all against you, marriage can more than compensate you. Linda Waite of the University of Chicago has found that a married older man with heart disease can expect to live nearly four years longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. Similarly, a married man who smokes more than a pack a day is likely to live as long as a divorced man who doesn’t smoke. There’s a flip side, however, as partners are more likely to become ill or die in the couple of years following their husband or wife’s death, and caring for your husband or wife with mental disorder can leave you with some of the same severe problems. Even so, the chances favor marriage. In a 30-year study of more than 10,000 people, Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School describes how all kinds of social networks have similar effects.

So how does it work? The effects are complicated, affected by socio-economic factors, health-service provision, emotional support and other more physiological mechanisms(生理机制). For example, social contact can promote development of the brain and immune system, leading to better health and less chance of depression later in life. People in supportive relationships may handle stress better. Then there are the psychological benefits of a supportive partner.

A life partner, children and good friends are all recommended if you aim to live to 100. The overall social network is still being mapped out, but Christakis says: "People are inter-connected, so their health is inter-connected."

8. It can be inferred from the context that the "flip side" (Para. 2) refers to _________.

A．the disadvantages of being married

B．the emotional problems arising from marriage

C．the responsibility of taking care of one's family

D．the consequence of a broken marriage

9. What does the author say about social networks?

A．They have effects similar to those of a marriage.

B．They help develop people's community spirit.

C．They provide timely support for those in need.

D．They help relieve people of their life's burdens.

10. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．It's important that we develop a social network when young.

B．To stay healthy, one should have a proper social network.

C．Getting a divorce means risking a reduced life span.

D．We should share our social networks with each other.

Unless you think you're the smartest, who doesn't want to be smarter? Of course I want to be smarter too. So I try to find out who's the real smart guy that maybe I can learn from.    11    

▲ They probably do social media. Not always, but probably.    12    . They also use this to ensure they can feed their brains with things they otherwise wouldn't have come across.
▲     13     They never bother their head about the problem of "work-life balance" and somehow manage to seem 100% engaged in what they're doing, on all fronts simultaneously(同时)，even though you know they're taking appropriate steps behind the scenes to make sure their lives are well balanced.
▲ They know they are the smartest in the room, but they don't spend much time talking about that.    14     That is, they challenge themselves to make everyone else in the room the smartest person too.
▲ They never, ever, under any circumstances, make you look stupid, even though it would be easy to do so. They've learned through bitter experience that the only thing that happens when you make someone look bad is that you look bad yourself.
▲ If they are managers, they will make every effort to get people more connected and more popular than them in their teams.    15     They 're not threatened because they know that smartness is synergistic.(相互促进的）

A．It is not only a chance to listen.

B．They know it is an advantage to them.

C．They take it as a personal challenge instead.

D．They will be smiling even when things go wrong.

E．Now I've got an answer about whether someone's smart.

F．They also ensure their smart people look smarter than them.

G．They deal with home, work and personal interests perfectly.

Volunteering abroad comes with a bit of a social stigma(耻辱).   From my ____, this couldn’t be further from the truth.   Volunteering isn’t so expensive that it’s only a ____ for the well-off. I spent 10 weeks volunteering in Arizona with America Conservation Experience(ACE), helping ____ America’s natural beauty.

The ____ was arranged through BUNAC, a work and volunteer organization.  ____ it cost me around $1,000 — a sum which I ____ mostly by working part-time.

The self-indulgent(放纵自己的) image is ____ to overseas volunteer projects.   However, the work can be ____.   I spent my time maintaining trails, building fences and carrying out projects in some of the national monuments of America.   Summer temperatures in Arizona stay well above 35℃, ____ pleasant if you’re carrying 50kg of concrete for 10 hours at a time.   And then there was the wildlife to deal with, which ____ my strength of character and made my ____ of the English household spider disappear.

___ do most people volunteer for? Probably they want to ____ things to the world.   But in reality, you ____ just as much as the local communities and ecosystems you’re helping.

Spending 10 weeks in America’s most beautiful national parks and forests was ____ .   I gained a far deeper ____ of the local environment than the average tourist, ____ ex-national park rangers(护林者) who knew ____ of the area’s history and ecosystem.   But best of all, my 10 weeks were spent volunteering with young people from a mix of ____ — from Belgians to South Koreans.   When I left Arizona, I returned home having made a lifelong ____ with people from around the world.16.

A．aspect

B．experience

C．impression

D．observation

17.

A．choice

B．dream

C．habit

D．destination

18.

A．explore

B．develop

C．preserve

D．find

19.

A．trip

B．fund

C．organization

D．conference

20.

A．In other words

B．As a result

C．In all

D．On average

21.

A．awarded

B．sponsored

C．invested

D．covered

22.

A．similar

B．equal

C．relevant

D．close

23.

A．easy-going

B．hard-going

C．interesting

D．instructive

24.

A．still

B．never

C．yet

D．even

25.

A．enriched

B．challenged

C．improved

D．affected

26.

A．fear

B．curiosity

C．frustration

D．dislike

27.

A．Why

B．How

C．Who

D．What

28.

A．take out

B．give back

C．make up

D．bring in

29.

A．succeed

B．remember

C．learn

D．benefit

30.

A．unreal

B．unbearable

C．unbelievable

D．unforgettable

31.

A．meaning

B．appreciation

C．understanding

D．commitment

32.

A．interviewing

B．meeting

C．inviting

D．recording

33.

A．perfectly

B．partly

C．naturally

D．vividly

34.

A．origins

B．platforms

C．cultures

D．schools

35.

A．campaign

B．promise

C．contest

D．bond

36. My brother made a c___________ to the construction of our hometown.

37. The bright flowers a__________ that Spring was here.

38. He a__________ for a car to pick up his wife at the airport.

39. She found herself in __________(冲突) with her parents over her future career.