1 . What do you usually do after school? Most of you may have to finish homework. After that, some of you may take after-school classes, such as Xueersi to learn English or take math classes. Do you feel like there’s too much work to do? Some of you may not have enough time to sleep. But there is some good news on the way that may cheer you up.
On March 5, during the first session (会议) of the 13th National People’s Congress (全国人民代表大会), Premier Li Keqiang delivered this year’s Government Work Report. Education was one of the highlights.
"We will give attention to solving the problem of heavy extracurricular burdens (课外负担) on primary and secondary school students," Li said during his speech.
Chinese parents often put a lot of effort and money into their children’s education. Many send their children to after-school classes. In 2016, China had about 180 million school-aged students, according to a report by the Chinese Society of Education. More than 137 million of them were taking part in extracurricular classes or off-campus training.
To work out this problem, the Ministry of Education (MOE,教育部) and three other ministries put out guidelines on Feb 26 that call for more action to be taken to reduce extracurricular burdens. Their targets are private training schools that create excess workloads (过度的作业量) and pressure for students.
The guidelines are aimed at training schools which have no professional qualifications (资格) or pose(造成) safety risks, said Lü Yugang, an official from the MOE. He also said that reducing workloads for students should be a priority.
"It is a must-do task for children to study happily and grow in a healthy manner … and sleep half-hour or an hour more every day," said Wang Guoqing, spokesman for the first session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Politial Consultative Conference (中国人民政治协商会议).
1. From the first two paragraphs, we know that _______.| A．students now have more homework than before |
| B．some students take after-school classes |
| C．many aduIts don’t get enough sleep nowadays |
| D．this year’s Government Work Report didn’t mention education |
| A．180 million | B．180 billion |
| C．137 million | D．137 billion |
| A．that are not approved by the MOE |
| B．that punish students physically |
| C．that have no professional qualificeations |
| D．that charge high tuition (学费) |
| A．Risks of off-campus training classes. |
| B．Reducing students’ workloads. |
| C．The 2018 Government Work Report. |
| D．Guidelines created by the 13th National People’s Congress. |
| A．the teachers | B．the parents |
| C．the students | D．the MOE offieials |
One day a student was taking a walk with his teacher. As they went along, they saw a pair of old shoes lying in the path. They were a poor farmer’s, who was working in the nearby field.
The student turned to the teacher, saying: “We will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those trees, and wait to see what he will do.”
“My young friend,” answered the teacher, “we should never make fun of the poor. Why not put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch?” The student did so and they both hid themselves behind the trees. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes.
After putting on his coat, he put his foot into one of his shoes, and felt something hard. Then he bent (弯腰) down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Surprised, he looked at the coin, turned it around and looked at it again. He then looked around, but no person was seen. He put the money into his pocket, and continued to put on the other shoe. His surprise was doubled on finding the other coin.
He couldn’t control his feelings and fell to his knees, looked up to the sky and expressed his thanks. Then he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread. He said the help would save them from dying.
The student stood there deeply moved, and his eyes filled with tears. “Now,” said the teacher, “are you not much happier than if you had hidden the shoes?”
1. Why did the student want to hide the farmer’s shoes? (no more than 10 words)2. What do you think of the teacher? (no more than 5 words)
3. How did the farmer find the coins? (no more than 15 words)
4. At the end of the story, what was the student’s feeling? (no more than 10 words)
5. What can we learn from the passage?
3 . When you enter high school this fall, you’ll find yourself immersed (沉浸) in traditional Chinese culture.
In January, the Ministry of Education worked out a new set of curriculum standards (课程标准) for high school students, People’s Daily reported. One of the biggest changes will be a greater focus on traditional Chinese culture.
According to Professor Han Zhen from Beijing Foreign Language Studies University, the new standards echo (回应) President Xi Jinping’s call for strengthening education. “The standards help students build cultural confidence,” he told People’s Daily.
The new standards call for students to be able to recite 72 ancient poems or articles. The number used to be 14. Recommended classic literature from ancient China includes The Analects of Confucius, Records of the Grand Historian and more.
Apart from Chinese language, other subjects such as fine arts, music and physical education will also focus more on traditional Chinese culture. For example, fine arts will include new lessons on Chinese alligraphy and painting.
China has also seen a growing interest in traditional culture in the private education sector. According to Southern Metropolitan Daily, since 2004, more than 3,000 traditional private schools have been built. They mainly teach traditional Chinese classics.
According to Fu Yan, a Chinese language teacher at Hangzhou Xuejun High School, learning about traditional Chinese culture is a good thing for students.
“At their age, the students may be too young to understand some classics,” Fu told Qianjiang Evening News. “However, as their life experience builds up, they may develop their own thoughts about the wisdom of the classics, which could be a driving force for their growth.”
Ancient Chinese culture is gaining popularity in China. This is reflected not only in the new curriculum standards, but also in the increasing interest in cultural TV programs.
For example, the weekly show National Treasure has become a big hit. It was first aired on China Central Television (CCTV) last December. The show uses dramatic performances to present some of China’s finest cultural treasures.
Other cultural TV programs such as The Chinese Idiom Competition and The Chinese Poetry Competition have also made more people fall in love with traditional Chinese literature.
Throughout China’s history, scholars and authors have written many classics worth studying. Those classic writings also interest people.
Here are some of the country’s most well-known works:
● Three Character Classic ● Tao Te Ching
● The Book of Poetry ● The Great Learning
● The Four Books ● Mencius
1. Which of the following is TRUE about the new curriculum standards?
| A．They came out last year. |
| B．There will be no change for students. |
| C．They focus more on culture worldwide. |
| D．They will help students develop cultural confidence. |
| A．be able to recite 72 ancient poems or articles |
| B．introduce classic works to their classmates |
| C．spend two hours a day learning about traditional Chinese culture |
| D．take extra classes on Chinese calligraphy and painting |
| A．learning the Chinese language is a good thing |
| B．students are too young to learn about classics |
| C．students need to develop their own thoughts |
| D．the classics could help students with their personal growth |
| A．2 | B．3 | C．4 | D．5 |
| A．High school students like learning about traditional Chinese culture. |
| B．The new curriculum standards focus more on traditional Chinese culture. |
| C．China is making efforts to become an educational power. |
| D．People’s interest in traditional Chinese culture is growing. |
Training costs have dropped to, 2,600yuan for students, according to the Haidian Driving School in Beijing. The price is not really low , but students will accept it , seeing it as an investment (投资) in their future. Familiarity with the operation of computers and fluent English are the basic skills graduating students need to find a job. But a driver’s permit has become another factor.
“In the job market, owning a driver’s permit sometimes strengthens a graduating student’s competitiveness for a good position,” says Zhou Yang, an undergraduate at the China University of Political Science and Law.
Cars will become a necessary part of many people’s lives in the coming years, and it’s difficult to get a permit out of campus because of the pressures on working people’s time. “Having a full-time job after graduation offers limited time to learn to drive. We senior students have plenty of spare time, plenty of opportunities to learn.”
Xu Jian, an official at the driving school, said undergraduates were very able and serious, and could grasp in an hour what it took ordinary people four hours to learn. In this driving school, middle-aged people, young women and college students are the main customers.
To get a driver’s permit, a beginner is now required to have at least 86 hours’ practice before the final road test.
1. The undergraduates are learning to drive because .
| A．they like to drive cars |
| B．they need this skill to find a good job. |
| C．most of them will be able to buy cars in the future |
| D．they want to become full-time drivers after graduation |
| A．He decided it was a waste of money and time. |
| B．He thought they must learn it at school. |
| C．He thought they would spend three times more time. |
| D．He agreed that young people had an advantage in learning to drive. |
| A．Students Learn to Drive |
| B．Welcome to Driving School |
| C．It’s Better to Learn to Drive at College |
| D．Students Pay Less to Learn to Drive Now |
5 . Just reading Facebook posts——without posting messages or responding to comments——makes users feel bad about themselves，some studies have discovered. A 2015 study at the University of Michigan，for example，found that students who simply read Facebook posts for 10 minutes were in a worse mood by the end of the day than those who posted messages or commented on friends' posts.
Researchers think that users who only read posts may be always comparing their own lives to others' posts and feel they're coming up short. Or users may simply be missing out on face-to-face human communication.This is necessary and important for a healthier state of mind. "In general，when people spend a lot of time passively（被动地）receiving information——reading，but not interacting（交流）with people——they report feeling worse afterward，"said an unusual Facebook blog post.
The research appears to be bad news for Facebook，but Facebook itself is getting the negative news known to the public. In fact，the findings support the company's push to get users to be more active on the site，the blog noted. Research has also found that “interacting with people—especially sharing message，posts and comments with close friends and thinking of past interactions — is connected with improvements in well-being".
One commenter to the Facebook blog post noted that it's "no surprise that your conclusions-encouraging 'active' Facebook use—are connected with Facebook's business interests. It gives Facebook chances to persuade us into sharing, commenting, and posting more than ever—for our own good!"
The company has faced a lot of negative news about Facebook. Former Facebook Vice President Chamath Palihapitiya told Stanford University graduate business students that social media are destroying society. Palihapitiya said he felt really bad for the role he played in making Facebook so outstanding."We kind of knew something bad could happen."
1. What did the 2015 study mainly show?| A．Not all users considered Facebook useful. |
| B．Using Facebook in the right way could benefit us. |
| C．Not all people loved interacting with others on Facebook. |
| D．Passively using Facebook negatively affected users' moods. |
| A．Avoiding comparing ourselves with others. |
| B．Reading the posts on Facebook positively. |
| C．Interacting with others face to face. |
| D．Sharing experiences on Facebook. |
| A．To encourage people to use Facebook more. |
| B．To show Facebook's concern about its users. |
| C．To apologize to its users for the bad influence. |
| D．To prove the importance of human interaction. |
| A．Facebook has some disadvantages |
| B．Facebook is facing serious challenges |
| C．Facebook disappoints the public deeply |
| D．Facebook is improving some students' life |
6 . When you choose a friend, you should be very careful. A good friend can help you study. You can have fun together and make each other happy. Sometimes you will meet fair weather friends. They will be with you as long as you have money or luck, but when you are down, they will run away. How do I know when I have found a good friend? I look for certain qualities of character, especially understanding, honesty and reliability (可靠).
Above all else, I look for understanding in a friend. A good friend tries to understand how another person is feeling. He is not quick to judge. Instead, he tries to learn from others. He puts himself in the other person’s place, and he tries to think of ways to be helpful. He is also a good listener.
At the same time, however, a good friend is honest. He does not look for faults (过错) in others. He notices their good points. In short, good friends will be honest to each other and accept each other.
Another quality of a friend is reliability. I can always depend on a good friend. If he tells me he will meet me somewhere at a certain time, I can be sure that he will be there. If I need a favor, he will do his best to help me. If I am in trouble, he will not run away from me.
There is a fourth quality that makes a friend special. A special friend is someone with whom we can have fun. We should enjoy our lives, and we would enjoy our friendship. That is why I especially like friends who are fun to be with. A good friend likes the same things I like. We share experience and learn from each other. A good friend has a good sense of humor , too. He likes to laugh with me. That is how we share in the joy of being friends. And I know that he is looking for the same quality in me.
When I meet someone who is reliable, honest, and understanding, I know I've found a friend!
1. If you have fair weather friends, ______ .| A．you will become rich |
| B．you can be sure that you get real friends |
| C．they will give you all that they have when you need help |
| D．you will be refused when you get into trouble |
| A．honesty | B．reliability |
| C．understanding | D．a sense of humor |
| A．understand each other's feelings |
| B．be helped with money |
| C．always point out each other's mistakes |
| D．have money or luck |
| A．the qualities of a friend |
| B．where to choose friends |
| C．how to get along with friends |
| D．the importance of having a friend |
7 . One of the most stressful days of Susan McFrederick’s life was watching her son get wheeled away for surgery hours after he was born in 2011.
But after the operation, Susan burst into tears for a different reason: across the cut on their newborn sons back was a sweet winter scene, hand-drawn on his bandages（绷带）.
“There were rolling hills of snow, a pine tree and a snowman with a hat and broom, she recalled. It was extremely touching and comforting to know that somebody had taken the time to do that for my family. It was a moment I'll never forget.”
Susan soon learned the artist was her sons surgeon, Robert Parry, who discovered another way to use his hands in the mid-1980 s during his internship（实习期）at children's medical center. where he saw one of his colleagues cut out heart and shark shapes to decorate children’s bandages.
“My first reaction was, 'What is he doing? Hey, that’s kind of neat,’ ” Parry recalled. “I especially liked the reactions of the parents and the patients when they saw his artwork. The smiles took everyone's attention from the surgery. Then I decided to follow suit.”
Parry quickly graduated from his early hearts and sharks, and started to surprise families with drawings that captured young patients' personalities. From Snoopy to Spider-Man and bears to butterflies, there isn’t much he hasn’t drawn. Most kids want superheroes sports team logos or princesses, while babies often receive scenes with flowers trees and sea creatures During the last 30 years, Parry estimates he has left examples of his handiwork over the stitches（伤口缝线） of more than 10, 000 children.
“During a time of stress for families, it's nice to be able to help them smile and laugh," Parry said. This is something positive that I can do for them, which is what I like most about it.”
For Parry, the reward is knowing he hopefully made a difference in a child’s life, and except for his drawings on bandages, they can go on and live their lives and never know I was in it.” he said.
He's not ready to retire, but he's found a new hobby to keep his hands skillful in the years to come.
“I've taken up knitting（编织）,” Parry said. “Hats, sweaters, gloves---I enjoy it all. But mostly, I enjoy giving everything away.”
1. Susan burst into tears after her baby's operation because she was__________.| A．moved | B．amused |
| C．stressed | D．heartbroken |
| A．He was motivated by his patients. |
| B．He was inspired by his colleague. |
| C．He was required to learn the skill during his internship. |
| D．He was encouraged by Susan to show his genius for art. |
| A．devoted himself more to art than to medicine. |
| B．knew more about his patients than their parents. |
| C．took into consideration the tastes of individual patients. |
| D．created a large number of works beyond his expectations. |
| A．To get a reward from the artistic circle. |
| B．To win the admiration of his colleagues. |
| C．To make a difference in his dull medical career. |
| D．To lift the spirits of his patients and their parents. |
| A．He is eager to show others his new skills. |
| B．He enjoys trying new ways to help others. |
| C．He is looking forward to life after retirement. |
| D．He is more interested in knitting than drawing. |
8 . The next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) may be sitting right beneath you, at least if furniture maker Ikea has any say in the matter. The Swedish furniture company’s “future-living” research lab in Copenhagen is conducting a survey to understand what people want when it comes to smart furniture.
AI is now walking into more aspects of people’s daily lives. Self-driving cars are just around the corner, and AI robots can play and beat the best players of strategy games. As smart home technologies have become more ubiquitous, products ranging from smart electrical outlets (插座) to smart smoke alarms are flooding the market. Therefore, it’s not surprising that Ikea would be moving in the same direction.
Exactly why people would want their sofa or bed frame to speak to then, track their daily movements or offer help is not yet clear. Though Ikea’s the new survey doesn’t directly answer that question, it does provide a hint of what people would feel comfortable with. Most participants wanted a more human-like form of virtual (虚拟的) assistants, as opposed to one that is more robotic. In terms of the ideal gender (性别) of the assistants, the most popular choice was neither male nor female. Few wanted a religious form of AI.
Just as with human friends, most wanted AI friends that were like them, affirming their own worldview. They wanted an AI assistant that was reasonably intelligent-that could collect data to predict what a person wanted before he or she asked, and that could prevent someone from making mistakes.
This is not the first time that Ikea has set foot in the field or futuristic technologies. In addition to wireless charging tables and chainless bikes that never rust, the furniture giant has also pictured smart kitchens that can cook the best meal. To decide on how intelligent you want your next sofa or bookshelf to be, you can take Ikea’s survey online.
1. The survey carried out by Ikea aims to ________.| A．know peoples need for smart furniture |
| B．understand future lifestyle |
| C．promote the company’s smart furniture |
| D．answer people’s questions |
| A．Beautiful. | B．Common. |
| C．Normal. | D．Environmental. |
| A．The differences between robot-like and human-like assistants. |
| B．What form of AI assistants people want. |
| C．What kind of friends people want. |
| D．The popular robots on the market. |
| A．help them become smarter |
| B．communicate with them without troubles |
| C．have its own worldview |
| D．deal with their problems in advance |
| A．Smart sofas that can speak to you. |
| B．Smart beds that can track your daily movements. |
| C．Wireless charging car. |
| D．Rustless bikes without chains. |
9 . Not many years ago, a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five, he gave 12,000$ to the village school to buy land and equipment for a children’s playground.
As a result of his kindness, many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman. During their talk, Johnson said that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy—five. Johnson had a sense of humor. He liked whisky(威士忌)and drank some each day. “I have an injection(注射)in my neck each evening.” he told the newspaperman, thinking of his evening glass of whisky. The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy-five and had a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain asking him for the secret of his daily injection.
1. Johnson became a rich man through _________.| A．making whisky. | B．doing business. | C．cheating. | D．buying and selling land. |
| A．had no children. | B．wanted people to know how rich he was. |
| C．was very warm-hearted and fond of children. | D．was a strange man. |
| A．what kind of whisky he had. | B．how to live alone. |
| C．how to become wealthy. | D．in which part of the neck to have an injection. |
| A．should have reported what Johnson had told him. |
| B．shouldn’t have asked Johnson what injection he had. |
| C．was eager to live a long life. |
| D．should have found out what Johnson really meant. |
| A．he liked drinking a glass of whisky in the evening |
| B．he needed an injection in the neck. |
| C．a daily injection in the evening would make him sleep well. |
| D．there was something wrong with his neck |
10 . At a special ceremony(仪式), a special award was offered to a group of students from Changjiang University on February 11, 2010. They were brave enough to help save two boys from Changjiang River. All the students were there except three, who lost their lives when they tried to save the boys.
On the afternoon of October 24, 2009, some students were taking a trip to Changjiang River. Suddenly two boys fell into the river. Some of them quickly jumped into the water and saved one boy. However, things didn’t go so well when they tried to save the other one. More students joined in, and, hand in hand, they formed a human wall. Finally the other boy was saved.
However, the human wall broke down and many students were swept away by the rushing water. At that moment several members of a winter swimming team nearby came to help and succeeded in saving many of the students. But the three of them, who were only 19, were nowhere to be found.
1. What did the students receive at the ceremony? (no more than 5 words)2. Were all the students who saved the boys at the ceremony? (no more than 5 words)
3. What was described in the second paragraph? (no more than 10 words)
4. Why were many students rushed away by the water? (no more than 6 words)
5. What’s your idea after reading this story? (no more than 15 words)
