1 . Several decades ago, educators in the USA began to call attention to a national problem: most students leave American schools without the mathematical skills needed for jobs or for higher education. This was especially true for female and minority students. The Educational Testing Service reported that, in an international survey, American teenagers had the lowest math scores.
This situation has been defined as “innumeracy”, or the inability to grasp the basic idea of mathematics. Mathematicians, teachers, and scientists were alarmed by these findings. They looked for the reasons and decided that, in addition to poor education, there are many psychological blocks.
Embarrassment about not knowing math can lead to fear in the classroom. Fear can lead to silence because students do not want to draw attention to their lack of knowledge. As a result, those students fall further and further behind. Low visibility in the classroom has not always been recognized as a silent call for help.
Math educators decided to try to change that. Math reform is beginning with the educators themselves. Teachers are now being trained to recognize and to help students work through “math anxiety” — the roadblock on their way to gaining competence in mathematics. In addition, math textbooks are being updated to help students understand that math is not a sort of foreign language of numbers. Math is a tool that helps us to analyze patterns and structures, and to discover relationships.
Traditional computing skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are still being taught, of course. However, there is added emphasis on logical thinking and creative problemsolving, to which there may be several equally valid solutions.
1. What does the underlined sentence probably mean?| A．Students with low scores fear to ask their teachers for help. |
| B．Poor equipment in classrooms limits teens' chances to learn. |
| C．Math anxiety, hardly noticed, is actually a silent call for help. |
| D．Poorsighted students can't see clearly, which is a silent call for help. |
| A．The methods of teaching. | B．The difficulty of math itself. |
| C．Students’ lack of interest in math. | D．Schools’ not attaching enough value to it. |
| A．What to be taught in America’s revised math programs. |
| B．How to improve teens’ logical thinking and problemsolving abilities. |
| C．How to improve American students’ traditional computing skills. |
| D．Why traditional computing skills are necessary in mathematics education. |
| A．Improvements in mathematics education in the US |
| B．The features of America's mathematics education. |
| C．Mathematic skills needed for higher education. |
| D．The importance of mathematics education in the US. |
A robot,
The robot, called Shimon,
The robot has produced compositions using a marinba. Apart
It has taken seven years to complete the two compositions. However, the pace of composing
This isn’t just a robot
3 . After a lot of local state warnings, investigations and bans of hoverboards, the federal government issued a statement on Wednesday. The message: Many of the machines are a major fire risk.
The Consumer Product safety Commission (CPSC) announced the recall of more than a half-million hoverboards. The safety commission said that the battery-powered machines had been the cause of at least 60 fires. The announcement affects 10 companies that make or sell the products, including Razor and Swagway, two of the leading manufacturers.
Hoverboards, which do not actually hover or fly and bear a vague resemblance to a skateboard, have been the subject of regulatory examination in recent years. Officials have banned them from airplanes and sidewalks, and the safety commission opened an investigation last fall because of reports of fires and explosions.
The risk of fires from the machine’s electrical system and battery pack had attracted the most attention from the safety commission, which says it will now turn its focus toward the risk of falls and other accidents. The agency is worried that flaws in the board’s design could lead riders to lose their balance.
There is no federal safety standard specific to hoverboards. Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a standards-setting and testing organization, came up with voluntary electrical requirements for self-balancing hoverboards as a result of the safety commission’s investigation, said Elliot F. Kaye, the chairman of the CPSC.
He urged consumers to return any hoverboard that did not reach the standards set by the company. However, part of the problem, he explained, was that many hoverboards had been sold by temporary stands such as those in malls or college campuses—fly-by-night sellers that can be harder to track down or contact. “That is a deeply frustrating aspect of it”, Mr. Kaye said. “Somebody can just put up a stand, order a bunch of products, disappear, and there’s nobody there to take responsibility when things go wrong.”
1. Why will so many hoverboards be recalled?| A．Because they aren’t easy to use. | B．Because they are likely to cause fires. |
| C．Because they don’t actually hover or fly. | D．Because they caused many traffic accidents. |
| A．The balance risk of hoverboards. | B．The popularity of hoverboards. |
| C．The recycling of hoverboards. | D．The testing of hoverboards. |
| A．The CPSC. | B．Razor | C．Swagway. | D．UL. |
| A．How to punish illegal hoverboard sellers. |
| B．How to improve the designs of hoverboards. |
| C．How to recall hoverboards sold by temporary stands. |
| D．How to discourage people from buying hoverboards. |
4 . Celebrate literacy
French poet Victor Hugo (1802—1885) once said, “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelt out is a spark.”
Today, when we read books, road signs and posters, it’s probably hard to imagine that only half a century ago, about 60 percent of the world’s adults were still illiterate, according to data from UNESCO. In other words, the “sparks” that now light up our world failed to do the same for theirs.
In response to this situation, UNESCO decided to name Sept. 8 as International Literacy Day, starting from 1967. Every year, the day is celebrated to highlight the importance of literacy and the progress that has been made, which itself is huge—in 2016, the global adult literacy rate rose to 86 percent, while the youth literacy rate was as high as 91 percent, according to UNESCO.
This raises a question: if the mission to boost literacy has basically been accomplished, why do we still celebrate this day?
The truth is that the definition of “literacy” keeps changing. For example, the theme for 2007 and 2008 International Literacy Day was “Literacy and health”, which targeted people’s ignorance of diseases like HIV and malaria. For 2017, the emphasis was placed on “Literacy in a digital world”, because not knowing anything about the Internet in today’s world is just like lacking basic reading abilities in the 1960s—it’s the “new illiteracy”.
The focus for this year’s International Literacy Day will be “Literacy and skills development”.
But the skills in question are not job-specific skills, such as those required to be an electrician or carpenter. Instead, the focus will be on “transferable skills”—communication, critical thinking, multitasking, teamwork, and creativity, to name a few. These are the things that allow us to do our job well—any job.
This echoes what Greek philosopher Socrates said almost 2,500 years ago: “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel”.
And with more people becoming literate, it’s only a matter of time before their small flame turns into a big fire.
1. Since the introduction of International Literacy Day, the global adult literacy rate had risen by _______ by 2016.| A．about 26% | B．about 30% | C．about 46% | D．about 50% |
| A．It reminds people of the importance of education. |
| B．It focuses on helping people improve their reading abilities. |
| C．It equips people with digital skills in a modern society. |
| D．Its themes are closely connected with the changing times. |
| A．completely wipe out illiteracy in the world |
| B．raise people’s health awareness |
| C．help people develop different portable skills |
| D．improve people’s job-specific skills for future career development |
| A．show that for everyone education is a slow and long process |
| B．stress that education helps to develop skills essential for personal growth |
| C．prove that it’s very important to put what we learn into practice |
| D．explain why literacy is needed for people to be experts in specific jobs |
5 . When I first met George, I was in my early 30s, seeking a creative outlet (出路) unrelated to boring housework and raising little ones. My children, then aged three and five, were just entering kindergarten and school life. At 65, George had recently retired and was seeking a rewarding hobby. For both of us, painting was ‘it’ and we met at a local painting class. Thus began a friendship that was to last until the day he died.
George arrived in Australia as an immigrant from Britain with his wife and two children. He worked hard, played hard, and had an opinion about everything. He adored his wife, his family, and his friends. A slim and energetic man, George took pride in his fitness and walked three kilometres every day.
As the only male in a painting class full of women, George ruled the roost and we were his hens. He adored his singular role and looked after his brood (一窝雏鸡) with the same attention he gave to everything.
He took to painting with great passion, even transforming the spare bedroom into a studio. A studio! His painting equipment was comprehensive. Ever practical, George housed many of these items in a red metal tool box.
After the completion of the course, we still kept in touch. One day when George was about 80 years old, he asked me to come to his house. George explained that he was giving up painting because of his illness and he gave away all his ‘stuff’ to me.
I still use much of his equipment today. The most treasured thing is the red tool box. The original shop sticker is still firmly in place although the price has long since worn off. But that’s all right because to my mind friendship is beyond price.
1. Why did the author go to a painting class?| A．To enjoy school life again. | B．To make some new friends. |
| C．To accompany her children. | D．To do something interesting. |
| A．Reliable and caring. | B．Proud and sensitive. |
| C．Talented and honest. | D．Smart and adventurous. |
| A．To tell her about his disease. | B．To ask her something about his studio. |
| C．To give his painting equipment to her. | D．To invite her to enjoy his paintings. |
| A．Fun in painting classes | B．The red tool box |
| C．A friend—a second self | D．Life lessons from an old man |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
At 16, my uncle decided he was ready to having a full-time job and leaves school. At the first my grandparent did not agree with him. In fact, they were very angry with him. “We’re concerned your future!” my grandfather said. But my uncle was determined to prove them wrongly, so he applied to dozens of jobs. In the end he was offering a job in an accountant’s office, because he was good at maths. Before long, he found he was difficult to do the job well, therefore he began studying accountancy in his spare time. Thankful, a few years later, he passed his accountancy exams and became a partner in the firm.
7 . Language development occurs at the same time as the development of thought in young children.
Language acquisition
Language development directly
Language development is
| A．However | B．Moreover | C．Therefore | D．Instead |
| A．interest | B．difficulty | C．confidence | D．experience |
| A．follows | B．creates | C．shows | D．changes |
| A．in | B．without | C．for | D．beyond |
| A．reading | B．writing | C．language | D．academic |
| A．begins | B．stops | C．continues | D．finishes |
| A．thought | B．model | C．subject | D．vocabulary |
| A．suddenly | B．directly | C．together | D．well |
| A．resist | B．believe | C．prove | D．notice |
| A．practising | B．knowing | C．testing | D．acquiring |
| A．explanations | B．names | C．descriptions | D．skills |
| A．reflects | B．influences | C．shares | D．controls |
| A．necessarily | B．quickly | C．normally | D．essentially |
| A．willing | B．eager | C．able | D．quick |
| A．still | B．just | C．only | D．also |
| A．anger | B．emotion | C．courage | D．spirit |
| A．student | B．baby | C．teacher | D．parent |
| A．behavior | B．words | C．effort | D．ideas |
| A．carefully | B．patiently | C．seriously | D．effectively |
| A．physically | B．financially | C．mentally | D．socially |
8 . One of the most common remarks about today’s emerging adults (18- to 29-year-olds) is that they’re lazy. They expect work to be fun, and if it’s not fun, they refuse to do it. It’s true that emerging adults have high hopes for work. Ian, a 22-year-old, chose to go into journalism, even though he knew that: “ If I’m a journalist making $20,000 a year, my dad ( a wealthy physician )makes vastly more than that.” More important than the money was finding a job that he could enjoy. The great majority of emerging adults spend most of their twenties in a series of dull and low-paying jobs as they search for something better. It’s unfair to consider the many hard-working emerging adults with a stereotype (刻板模式) that is true for only a small percentage of them.
Another widespread slur against emerging adults is that they are selfish. It’s probably true that most emerging adults today grow up with a higher level of self-respect than in previous generations. Their Baby Boomer parents keep telling them: “You’re special!”“You can be whatever you want to be.” Popular culture has conveyed similar messages in movies, television shows and songs. But that doesn’t mean they’re selfish. It simply means that they are highly confident in their abilities to make a good life for themselves.
Strangely, these stereotypes continue even though there is persuasive evidence to the contrary. Rates of violent crime committed by young men have dropped. Not only have bad things gone down, but good things about this generation have gone up. Nearly 90 per cent of American college freshmen reported doing volunteer work in the past year, the highest level ever. Furthermore, applications to post-college volunteer programmes have reached record levels. Young Americans are also more tolerant and accepting of diversity than older generations.
The origins of the many prejudices against today’s emerging adults are complex, but maybe one key reason is that many of their elders still use old yardsticks to measure their progress. The pace of social, economic and technological change over the past half-century has been quick, and what is “normal” among young people has changed so fast that the rest of society has not yet caught up.
1. Ian chose to be a journalist because__________.| A．he followed his father’s advice |
| B．journalists make big money |
| C．he loved the job very much |
| D．It’s an interesting job |
| A．confusion | B．confidence | C．self-control | D．self-centeredness |
| A．To support the author’s viewpoint. |
| B．To keep readers’ interest in the text. |
| C．To make a summary of the first two paragraphs. |
| D．To provide background information of the next paragraph. |
| A．think in a more complicated way |
| B．recognize they’re behind the times |
| C．believe that young people are normal |
| D．stop using old views to judge young people |
9 . Looking for a new weight loss plan? Try living on top of a mountain. Mountain air contains less oxygen than air at lower altitudes, so breathing it causes the heart to beat faster and the body to bum more energy. A handful of studies have found that athletes training at high altitudes tend to lose weight. Doctor Florian Lippl of the University Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich wondered how the mountain air would affect overweight individuals if they weren’t doing any more physical activity than usual.
Lippl and his colleagues invited 20 overweight men to an environmental research station about 300 meters below the summit of Zugspitze, a mountain around 2,970 meters near the Austrian border. They were allowed to eat as much as they liked. The men also gave blood so that researchers could test for hormones (荷尔蒙) linked to appetite and fatness. At the end of the week, the men, whose mean weight starting out was 105kg, had lost on average about 1.5kg. The men’s blood pressure also dropped, which the researchers attributed to weight lost.
Exactly what caused the weight loss is uncertain. Loss of appetite is common at higher altitudes, and indeed the men ate significantly less than usual—about 700 calories fewer per day. Lippl also notes that because their consumption was being recorded, they may have been more self-conscious about what they ate. Regardless, eating less accounts for just 1kg of the 1.5kg lost, says Lippl. He thinks the increased metabolic (新陈代谢) rate, which was measured, also contributed to weight loss but cannot separate the different effects with the given data.
Appetite loss at high altitudes could certainly be key, notes Damian Bailey, a physiologist at the University of Glamorgan, UK, who recently lost 11kg during a 3-month expedition to the Andes in Chile.
Unfortunately, for the average person, there’s no treatment that can resemble living at high altitude, says Lippl. The only alternative is a hypobaric chamber (低压舱) , which exposes subjects to low oxygen and isn’t practical as a therapy. He says, half-jokingly, “if fat people plan their holidays, they might not go to the sea, but maybe to the mountains.”
1. What contributes the most to one’s heart rates, according to the first paragraph?| A．Our bodyweight. |
| B．The consumption of energy. |
| C．The rates of our breathing. |
| D．The amount of oxygen provided. |
| A．He experimented with the new weight loss plan in the Andes. |
| B．He found no other reasons for his loss of weight in the Andes. |
| C．He researched the related subject in the Andes. |
| D．He lost much weight in the high altitude Andes. |
| A．casualness | B．inaccuracy |
| C．uncertainty | D．confidence |
10 . Welcome to BookCrossing!
It’s a smart social networking site, where books get new life.
There are currently 1,583,246 BookCrossers and 11,350,976 books travelling throughout132 countries.
It’s easy to find books, share books, and meet fellow book lovers.
Step 1. Label
Register your book for FREE, and get a unique BookCrossing ID (BCID). This ID allows you to follow your specific book. There are several ways you can label your book:
Download free BookCrossing labels here and print them from your computer.
Create custom labels with our Bookplate Creator using your own image and message.
Step 2. Share
There are a few different ways you can share your book:
Give it away. Pass your book on to a friend, or a stranger! You can find someone in the BookCrossing community who’s looking for your book and make their day by sending it to them. These particular methods are referred to as “controlled releases”.
Release it into the wild. Referred to as “wild releases”, this type of sharing needs you to leave your labeled book on a park bench or in a train station — anywhere it’s likely to be caught by another delighted reader.
Be creative! BookCrossers might establish an “Official BookCrossing Zone”, a physical location where books are regularly caught and / or released. They may start a “bookring”, “bookray” or “bookbox”, all of which are controlled ways of passing books throughout a set group of members.
Step 3. Follow
Once you’ve labeled and shared it, follow your book’s adventures.
When another reader finds your book, they can enter the BCID on BookCrossing.com and report that it’s been caught. Some books tend to stay in one region while others really move!
1. The BCID mainly helps BookCrossers to ___________.| A．search for the book they want to read | B．share a book that they think is good |
| C．find out where their book goes | D．claim ownership of their book |
| A．Official BookCrossing Zone. | B．Bookplate Creator. |
| C．Bookring. | D．Bookray. |
| A．It charges registration fees. | B．It publishes various books. |
| C．It has users all over the world. | D．It encourages its users to write. |
| A．A novel. | B．A report. | C．A website. | D．A newspaper. |
