【推荐3】Have you ever taken a test that you thought you could have passed easily, only to make some silly mistakes that really hurt your grade? More than a few students have done that. And some seem to do it over and over again.

There are several problem areas that can cause students to goof up or do poorly in a test that they could have passed.

Some students can become overconfident about their knowledge of the subject matter. They think they know the material better than they actually do. It is easy for students to misjudge their own knowledge, and when they realize that they don't know the material, it is too late.

What happens more often, though, is that some students feel they are smart enough to be able to guess their way through a test. So they don't bother studying the material. They are overconfident about their ability to figure things out.

In either case, overconfidence can result in lower grades in tests. Does this apply to you?

Another thing that can happen is that students underestimate the difficulty of the test hey expect an easy test, but the teacher throws in a really tough test that they haven't prepared for. Sometimes the teacher may cover material in the test that students weren't expecting. That can happen, especially if you weren't paying attention in class.

Finally, there are students who don't feel that getting a good grade is important to them, so they don't bother to study or even try to do well. Such students may be trying to punish their parents, have a poor image of themselves, or be just plain foolish. Hopefully, you are not one of these students.

1. The writer believes that many students      .

A．are afraid of exams	B．make careless mistakes
C．hate homework	D．lack confidence in exams

2. What does the underlined phrase "goof up" mean?

A．Be overconfident.	B．Be nervous.
C．Make silly mistakes.	D．Make wrong choices.

3. According to the writer, who will be most unwilling to try his best in a test?

A．Edward, dissatisfied with his parents.	B．Johnson, expecting an easy test for him.
C．Dobby, believing he is the smartest in the class.	D．Peter, being overconfident about his ability.

4. What would be discussed in the paragraph that follows?

A．Ways to prepare for a test.	B．The causes of overconfidence.
C．The causes of a poor self-image.	D．Ways to avoid making such mistakes.

【推荐1】This year some twenty-three hundred teenagers (young people aged from 13-19) from all over the world will spend about ten months in US homes. They will attend US schools, meet US teenagers, and form impressions of the real America. At the same time, about thirteen hundred American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and gain a new understanding of the rest of the world.

Here is a two-way student exchange(交流/交换) in action. Fred, nineteen, spent last year in Germany with George's family. In turn, George's son Mike spent a year in Fred's home in America.

Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months’ study, the language began to come to him. The school was completely different from what he had expected—much harder. Students rose respectfully (尊敬地) when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that are usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities.

Family life, too, was different. The father's words were the law, and all activities were around the family rather than the individual. Fred found the food too simple at first. Also, he missed having a car.

“Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out and have a good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon learn to like it.”

At the same time, in America, Mike, a friendly German boy, was also forming his idea. “I suppose I should criticize(批评) American schools," he says. "It is far too easy by our level. But I have to say that I like it very much. In Germany we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many outside activities. I think that maybe your schools are better in training for citizens. There ought to be some middle ground between the two.”

1. This year _______ teenagers will take part in the exchange program between America and other countries.

A．twenty-three hundred	B．thirteen hundred
C．over three thousand	D．less than two thousand

2. The whole exchange program is mainly to _______.

A．help teenagers in other countries know the real America

B．send students in America to travel in Germany

C．let students learn something about other countries

D．have teenagers learn science

3. What is particular in American schools is that _______.

A．there is some middle ground between the two teaching buildings

B．there are a lot of outside activities

C．students usually take fourteen subjects in all

D．students go outside to enjoy themselves in a car

4. After experiencing the American school life, Mike thought _______.

A．a better education should include something good from both America and Germany

B．German schools trained students to be better citizens

C．American schools were not as good as German schools

D．the easy life in the American school was more helpful to students

【推荐3】多任务混合问题

Mrs. Whitson taught us science. On the first day，she gave us a lecture about a creature called the cattywampus, an animal that was wiped out during the Ice Age. She passed around a skull（头骨）as she talked. We all took notes and later had a quiz.

When she returned my paper，I was shocked. There was a big red X through each of my answers. I had failed. There had to be some mistakes！（A）我确切地记下了老师说的。Then I realized that everyone in the class had failed. What had happened？

Very simple，Mrs. Whitson explained. She had made up all the stuff about the cattywampus. There had never been any such animals. The information in our notes was，therefore，incorrect.

Needless to say，we were（B）outraged. What kind of test was this？And what kind of teacher？We should have figured it out，Mrs. Whitson said. After all，at every moment she was passing around the cattywampus skull（in truth，a cat’s）.Hadn’t she been telling us that there was no such an animal？She had described its amazing night vision，the color of its fur and any number of other facts she couldn’t have known. She had given the animal a ridiculous（荒谬的）name，and we still believed her words were right.

（C）The zeroes on our papers would be recorded in her grade book，she said. And they were.

Mrs. Whitson said she hoped we would learn something from this experience. She told us not to let our minds go to sleep, and to speak up if we ever thought she or the textbook was wrong.

1. Was the skull the teacher took to the classroom the cattywampus skull？
2. 把（A）处划线部分的句子翻译成英语。
3. Why was the information in the students’ notes incorrect？
4. 猜测（B）处划线部分单词的意思，写一个同义词。
5. 把（C）处划线部分的句子翻译成汉语。