Little wonder the latest survey concludes that the extent and type of hospital teaching available differ a great deal across the country. It is found that half the hospitals in England which admit children have no teacher. A further quarter have only a part-time teacher. The special children’s hospitals in major cities do best; general hospitals in the country and holiday areas are worst off. From this survey, one can estimate that fewer than one in five children have some contact with a hospital teacher—and that contact may be as little as two hours a day. Most children interviewed were surprised to find a teacher in hospital at all. They had not been prepared for it by parents or their own school. If there was a teacher they were much more likely to read books and do math or number work; without a teacher they would only play games.
Reasons for hospital teaching range from preventing a child falling behind and maintaining the habit of school to keeping a child occupied, and the latter is often all the teacher can do. The position and influence of many teachers was summed up when parents referred to them as “the library lady” or just “the helper”. Children tend to rely on concerned school friends to keep in touch with school work. Several parents spoke of requests for work being ignored or refused by the school. Once back at school children rarely get extra teaching, and are told to catch up as best as they can.
Many short-stay child-patients catch up quickly. But schools do very little to ease the anxiety about falling behind expressed by many of the children interviewed.
1. Which of the following statements is true?A.Every child in hospital receives some teaching. | B.Not enough is known about hospital teaching. |
C.Hospital teaching is of poor quality. | D.The special children's hospitals are worst off. |
A.hospital teaching across the country is similar |
B.each hospital has at least one part-time teacher |
C.all hospitals surveyed offer education to children |
D.only one-fourth of the hospitals have a full-time teacher |
A.not welcomed by the children and their parents | B.necessary |
C.not welcomed by the hospitals | D.capable |
A.hospital teachers | B.schoolmates | C.parents | D.school teachers |
A.unfavorable towards children receiving education in hospitals |
B.in favor of the present state of teaching in hospitals |
C.unsatisfied with the present state of hospital teaching |
D.satisfied with the results of the latest survey |
I have listened to music all my life. When I was twelve years old, the Beatles came to America and my whole world opened up. Maybe young people today cannot understand the influence of the Beatles when they exploded across America. Their influence changed the way we dressed, looked, acted and spoke... even our culture. The Beatles arrived in America from the UK just under three months after the assassination(暗杀) of President John Kennedy, which had put America into a great depression. And the freshness and lively spirit of the Beatles was exactly what the country needed to refresh itself.
Music links the heart of the hearer with that of the composer. This means that it mixes the spirit of the composer with your spirit when you listen to it. And the music can take your spirit out of your body and transport you into another world. Music has a great way of touching people. Music can make you laugh, cry or shout. It's also a great source of inspiration.
Try this one day and notice what happens: make yourself a cup of tea, sit on your sofa and play one of your favorite songs. Close your eyes, and soon you'll find yourself creating vivid mental images—matching the music that you are listening to.
1. Music has magical power because it ________.
A.is a kind of language |
B.can be played much louder than words |
C.receives a personal radio signal |
D.can influence a person's spirit |
A.were the biggest band in American history |
B.are not accepted by modern American people |
C.appeared at a special time in American politics |
D.represented the roots of American culture |
A.feeling very refreshed |
B.having emotional changes |
C.painting some vivid pictures |
D.feeling inspired by the composer |
A.has been influenced by the Beatles |
B.enjoys drinking tea in his spare time |
C.admires President John Kennedy very much |
D.likes to match his own feeling with that of the composer |
A study into how lazy British people are has found more than half of adults are so idle that they’d catch the lift rather than climb two flights of stairs.
Just over 2,000 people were quizzed by independent researchers at Nuffield Health, Britain’s largest health charity. The results were startling.
About one in six people surveyed said if their remote control was broken, they would continue watching the same channel rather than get up.
More than one third of those questioned said they would not run to catch a bus. Worryingly, of the 654 respondents with children, 64% said they were often too tired to play with them.
This led the report to conclude that it’s no wonder that one in six children in the UK are classified as obese before they start school. Dr Sarah Dauncey, medical director of Nuffield Health, said, “People need to get fitter, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of their families, friends and evidently their pets too. If we don’t start to take control of this problem, a whole generation will become too unfit to perform even the simple tasks.”
And Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow, was shamed as the most indolent city in the UK, with 75% surveyed admitting they do not get enough exercise, followed closely by Birmingham and Southampton, both with 67%.
The results pose serious challenges for the National Health Service, where obesityrelated illnesses such as heart disease and cancer have been on a steady increase for the past 40 years and are costing billions of pounds every year.
1. What do lazy British people probably choose to do?
A.Go to stores. | B.Catch the lift. |
C.Cook from scratch. | D.Climb flights of stairs. |
A.About 419. | B.About 333. |
C.About 654. | D.About 1280. |
A.People will not get enough exercise. |
B.People will not have enough money. |
C.People will not be able to do the easy job. |
D.People will not cure themselves of heart disease. |
A.Indifferent. | B.Doubtful. |
C.Negative. | D.Supportive. |
But after a while I couldn’t ignore the high relationship between success and rising early. On those rare occasions where I did get up early, I noticed that my productivity (效率) was always higher. So I set out to become a habitual early riser. But whenever my alarm went off, my first thought was always to stop that noise and go back to sleep. Eventually some sleep research showed that my strategy was wrong.
The most common wrong strategy is this: supposing you’re going to get up earlier, you’d better go to bed earlier. It sounds very reasonable, but will usually fail.
There are two main schools (流派) of thought on sleep patterns. One is that you should go to bed and get up at the same time every day. The second school says you should go to bed when you’re tired and get up when you naturally wake up. However, I have found both are wrong if you care about productivity. If you sleep at fixed hours, you’ll sometimes go to bed when you aren’t sleepy enough. You’re wasting time lying in bed awake.
My solution is to combine both methods. I go to bed when I’m sleepy and get up with an alarm clock at a fixed time. So I always get up at the same time (in my case 5 a.m.), but I go to bed at different times every night.
However, going to bed only when I’m sleepy, and getting up at a fixed time every morning are my ways. If you want to become an early riser, you can try your own.
1. According to the passage, the underlined phrase refers to ________.
A.people who stay up until the next morning |
B.people who get up early in the morning |
C.people who feel sleepy in the morning |
D.people whose productivity is the lowest in the morning |
A.Because he / she found that the productivity was higher. |
B.Because he / she wanted to do morning exercise. |
C.Because he / she wanted to test which school is better. |
D.Because he / she wanted to have more sleep time. |
A.going to bed after midnight |
B.asking scholars for advice on sleeping habits |
C.getting up early occasionally |
D.pressing off the alarm to go on sleeping |
A.Going to bed early and getting up early. |
B.Going to bed late and getting up late. |
C.Going to bed when sleepy and getting up at a fixed early time. |
D.Going to bed early and getting up late. |
A.main schools of thought on sleep patterns |
B.how to have a good sleep |
C.wrong strategies for getting up early |
D.how to become an early riser |
And on Tuesday, August 23rd, witnesses say she seemed to sense the big earthquake that shook much of the East Coast before any humans knew what was going on. And she’s not the only one. In the moments before the quake, an orangutan (猩猩) let out a loud call and then climbed to the top of her shelter.
“It’s very different from their normal call,” said Brandie Smith, the zookeeper. “The lemurs (monkey-like animals of Madagascar) will sound an alarm call if they see or hear something highly unusual.”
But you can’t see or hear an earthquake 15 minutes before it happens, can you? Maybe you can — if you’re an animal. “Animals can hear above and below our range of hearing,” said Brandie Smith. “That’s part of their special abilities. They’re more sensitive to the environment, which is how they survive.”
Primates weren’t the only animals that seemed to sense the quake before it happened. One of the elephants made a warning sound. And a huge lizard (蜥蜴) ran quickly for cover. The flamingoes (a kind of bird) gathered before the quake and stayed together until the shaking stopped.
So what kind of vibrations were the animals picking up in the moments before the quake? Scientist Susan Hough says earthquakes produce two types of waves — a weak “P” wave and then a much stronger “S” wave. The “P” stands for “primary”. And the “S” stands for “secondary”. She said she thinks the “P” wave might be what set the animals off.
Not all the animals behaved unusually before the quake. For example, Smith says the zoo’s giant pandas didn’t jump up until the shaking actually began. But many of the other animals seemed to know something was coming before it happened. “I’m not surprised at all,” Smith said.
1. Why did Mandara act strangely one day?
A.Because it sensed something unusual would happen. |
B.Because its daughter Kibibi was injured. |
C.Because it heard an orangutan let out a loud call. |
D.Because an earthquake had happened. |
A.many animals’ hearing is sharp |
B.earthquakes produce two types of waves |
C.primates usually gather together before a quake |
D.humans can also develop the ability to sense a quake |
A.vibration | B.shelter | C.quake | D.range |
A.A giant panda. | B.A flamingo. | C.A lemur. | D.A lizard. |
A.How animals survive a quake. |
B.How animals differ from humans. |
C.How animals behave before a quake. |
D.How animals protect their young in a quake. |