1 . A few years ago, when I began writing about education, school leaders didn't worry much about teachers. They believed a long line of new teachers waited. Not any longer, as districts struggle to fill math, science, world language and special education jobs.
A 2017 Learning Policy Institute study found 90 percent of open teaching posts are the result of people leaving the profession. While retirements play a role, the report noted two-thirds of teachers depart for other reasons, most saying dissatisfactions with the job.
How can districts support teachers and persuade new ones to enter the field?
Education professor Peter Smagorinsky said, "The best way I know of to support teachers is to listen to them. Teachers know better than anyone how schools work, what kids need, what teachers need to do their best work. But kids and teachers won't always agree, and you will get opposite suggestions. But at least they feel recognized, consulted, listened to, and respected. "
High school principal Betsy Bockman said, "What I try to inform: Firstly, everyone's job is to do all we can every day to support students. Secondly, for the employees who are not teachers at Grady, our job is to remove every single barrier that keeps teachers from teaching.
Make the job of teaching easier. "
Vice-president Gary McGiboney said, "Teachers develop well in a school with a positive school climate where they don't feel alone, which is what teachers desperately want and need. "
My own view is that most want to do their best for their students, but often feel attacked when told they need to improve. To grow, develop and keep effective teachers, Georgia schools must first create a culture in which teachers trust that leaders want them to succeed.
1. Why do too many teachers leave their profession?| A．The leaders don't care about them. |
| B．There are too many trained teachers. |
| C．Most aren't satisfied with their jobs. |
| D．Many teachers have already retired. |
| A．The school's whole effort is to make teaching easier. |
| B．Schools should listen to the teachers' suggestions. |
| C．What the teachers want should be concerned by others. |
| D．School leaders must show respect for the teachers' thoughts. |
| A．To show the author's concern for the teachers. |
| B．To criticize the state of Georgia's education. |
| C．To ask the teachers to do their best for the students. |
| D．To call on the school to create a culture for the teachers. |
| A．Why the schools are short of good teachers. |
| B．How to keep enough and effective teachers. |
| C．What we should do to teach the students well. |
| D．How to deal with teacher-student relationship. |
2 . The American self-image is spread with the golden glow of opportunity. We think of the United States as a land of unlimited possibility, not so much a classless society but as a place where class is mutable(可变的) -- a place where brains, energy and ambition are what count, not the environment of one’s birth. However, we are not who we think we are.
The Economic Mobility Project, an ambitious research led by Pew Charitable Trusts, looked at the economic fortunes of a large group of families over time, comparing the income of parents in the late 1960s with the income of their children in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Here is the finding: The “rags to riches” story is much more common in Hollywood than on Main Street. Only 6 percent of children born to parents with family income at the very bottom move to the top.
That is right, just 6 percent of children born to parents who ranked in the bottom of the study sample, in terms of income, were able to bootstrap their way into the top. Meanwhile, an incredible 42 percent of children born into that lowest are still stuck at the bottom, having been unable to climb a single rung of the income ladder.
It is noted that even in Britain -- a nation we think of as burdened with a hidebound(顽固的，死板的) class system(阶层体系) -- children who are born poor have a better chance of moving up. When the studies were released, most reporters focused on the finding that African-Americans born to middle-class or upper middle-class families are earning slightly less, in inflation-adjusted(扣除通胀后的) dollars, than did their parents.
One of the studies indicates, in fact, that most of the financial gains white families have made in the past three decades can be attributed to(归功于) the entry of white women into the labor force. This is much less true for African-Americans.
The picture that emerges is of a nation in which, overall, “the current generation of adults is better off than the previous one”, as one of the studies notes.
The median(中值的) income of the families in the sample group was $55,600 in the late 1960s; their children’s median family income was measured at $71,900. However, this rising tide has not lifted all boats equally. The rich have seen far greater income gains than have the poor.
Even more troubling is that our nation of America as the land of opportunity gets little support from the data. Americans move fairly easily up and down the middle rungs(横档) of the ladder, but there is “stickiness at the ends” -- four out of ten children who are born poor will remain poor, and four out of ten who are born rich will stay rich.
1. What did the Economic Mobility Project find in its research?| A．Children from low-income families are unable to move up to the top. |
| B．Hollywood actors and actresses can get rich easily. |
| C．The rags to riches story is more fiction than reality. |
| D．The rags to riches story is only true for a small minority of whites. |
| A．perfect its self-image as a land of opportunity |
| B．have a lower level of upward mobility than Britain |
| C．enable African-Americans to earn more than whites |
| D．encourage the current generation to work harder than their parents |
| A．The US is a land where brains, energy and ambition are what count |
| B．Inequality remains between whites and blacks in financial gains. |
| C．Middle-class families earn slightly less with inflation considered. |
| D．Children in lowest-income families manage to climb a single rung of the ladder. |
| A．Social Upward Mobility. | B．Incredible Income Gains. |
| C．Inequality in Wealth. | D．America Not Land of Opportunity |
3 . For many adolescents, “screen time” is almost a full-time job that could lead to obesity, diabetes and other health issues, a Canadian researcher says.
Adolescents now spend an average of six hours a day in front of some type of screen, whether it’s a television or computer screen or one of the many portable devices now popular with young people, studies done by Dr. Ian Michael Janssen show. “They spend more hours daily in front of a screen than they do in a classroom in a given year,” said Janssen, a researcher at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada
. The result is a rise in obesity rates among adolescents. Unfortunately, fixing the problem isn’t as easy as simply cutting down screen time, Janssen cautions. “Decreasing screen time will not automatically increase physical activity levels,” said Janssen, Some active kids also spend a lot of time in front of television and computer screens, and some kids who have low screen times also have low levels of physical activity, he points out.
As well, screen time is not necessarily bad, Janssen said. “The tricky part is that children today need to be using computers,” he said. Computers are required for schoolwork, and technological skills are important for future job prospects. The quality of screen time matters too, along with the quantity---consider the negative health messages found in food advertising during children’s shows, he said. Ideally, children should aim for no more than two hours of recreational screen time a day.
Janssen’s real worry about the rise in childhood obesity rates is not that there are now rare cases of type diabetes in kids, where once there were none, but the health problems these children are likely to face in the future as adults, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease.
1. Which one doesn’t belong to “screen time” according to the passage?| A．Watching TV. | B．Surfing the Internet. |
| C．Seeing a film on an MP4. | D．Making a telephone call. |
| A．lose weight. | B．decrease screen time |
| C．take physical activities | D．go on a diet |
| A．Concerned. | B．Passive. |
| C．Positive. | D．Frightened. |
| A．many of the people having full-time jobs suffer from obesity and diabetes. |
| B．decreasing screen time can’t really solve the problem |
| C．children today most use computers to finish their school work |
| D．a new type of obesity in kids becomes Janssen’s real worry |
General introduction
The Future Stars was set up in 1988 as a non-profit service center for child development devoted to providing quality childcare in a loving and educational environment for children 6 weeks to 6 years of age. Our funds mainly come from public donations.
A healthy curiosity about learning is the most important quality for early childhood development. We aim at offering high quality developmentally age-appropriate activities for early childhood, the most Important time of child development, so that they can do better after they start formal schooling.
Hours of operation
Childcare will be provided for the child from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday except for holidays. Children may not arrive before 7:00 am or remain after 6:00 pm. Should an emergency arise, the parent should immediately make us know in consideration of our work arrangements. A late charge of $ 1.00 per minute will be assessed if the child is not picked up by 6:05 pm. Charges for these services are to be paid directly to the staff person that has been looking after your child until your arrival, not to the center. Failure to pay late charges may affect continued services with the center.
Tuition (学费)
When it has been confirmed that a position is available for your child, you must pay a registration (注册) fee of $200 per child.
The weekly tuition fee is $ 98.00. You can make payments either by credit card or in cash on Monday every week. If your payment is not made by Tuesday at 9:00 am, you will be charged a $ 25.00 late fee.
For more information, please call 434-293-6110 or visit www.childdevelopmentcenter.com.
1. The Future Stars is intended for______.
| A．would-be parents | B．teenagers |
| C．child experts | D．pre-school children |
| A．They may affect continued services with the center. |
| B．Parents have to pay late charges for them to the center. |
| C．Parents have to inform the center of them right away. |
| D．They greatly disturb the work arrangements of the center. |
| A．pay extra for delayed payment |
| B．pay every TuesdayC pay $ 98 for registration |
| C．pay in cash |
| A．To attract public donations. |
| B．To promote early education. |
| C．To tell the benefits of childcare. |
| D．To introduce a child development center. |
5 . NOT all memories are sweet. Some people spend all their lives trying to forget bad experiences. Violence and traffic accidents can leave people with terrible physical and emotional scars. Often they relive these experiences in nightmares.
Now American researchers think they are close to developing a pill, which will help people forget bad memories. The pill is designed to be taken immediately after a frightening experience. They hope it might reduce ,or possibly erase(抹去),the effect of painful memories.
In November, experts tested a drug on people in the US and France. The drug stops the body releasing chemicals that fix memories in the brain. So far the research has suggested that only the emotional effects of memories may be reduced, not that the memories are erased.
The research has caused a great deal of argument. Some think it is a bad idea, while others support it.
Supporters say it could lead to pills that prevent or treat soldiers' troubling memories after war. They say that there are many people who suffer from terrible memories.
"Some memories can ruin people's lives. They come back to you when you don't want to have them in a daydream or nightmare. They usually come with very painful emotions," said Roger Pitman, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "This could relieve a lot of that suffering."
But those who are against the research say that changing memories is very dangerous because memories give us our identity (特质). They also help us all avoid the mistakes of the past.
"All of us can think of bad events in our lives that were horrible at the time but make us who we are. I'm not sure we want to wipe those memories out, "said Rebecca Dresser, a medical ethicist.
1. The passage is mainly about ___________.
| A．a new medical invention |
| B．a new research on the pill |
| C．a way of erasing painful memories |
| D．an argument about the research on the pill |
| A．cause the brain to fix memories |
| B．stop people remembering bad experiences |
| C．prevent body producing certain chemicals |
| D．Wipe out the emotional effects of memories |
| A．people doubt the effects of the pills |
| B．the pill will stop people's bad experiences |
| C．taking the pill will do harm to people's health |
| D．the pill has probably been produced in America |
| A．Some memories can ruin people's lives. |
| B．People want to get rid of bad memories. |
| C．Experiencing bad events makes us different from others. |
| D．The pill will reduce people's sufferings from bad memories. |
The city is seeing a rise in private car owners. In March, the city sent out 2,000 private car licenses, the highest number of licenses ever sent out in a month. And prices rose to 14,600 yuan, 500 more than in February. Industry experts say this suggests that local people have a strong, active interest in buying cars.
By the year 2020, the number of automobiles in Shanghai will probably reach two million. If one parking lot is for each car, then a lot of parking space should be built for these vehicles.
Downtown Shanghai is most short of parking space. However, experts point out that simply building more parking lots in downtown areas is not practical and doesn’t provide an ideal solution. The idea of “Park & Ride” system has been suggested. This means that drivers can leave their vehicles in car par nearby subway or bus stations and ride public transport to go downtown. Based on this idea, the city will limit the number of parking lots in downtown areas and demand higher parking fees but build more parking areas near main subway and bus stops.
1. The underlined phrase “mapping out ” in the first paragraph means __________.
| A．making | B．arguing | C．controlling | D．inspiring |
| A．850,000 | B．1,000,000 | C．150,000 | D．2,000,000 |
| A．The city sent out more private licenses in February. |
| B．Less and less people bought cars in March. |
| C．The city sent out less private licenses in March. |
| D．More and more people are going to buy cars. |
| A．send out more private car licenses |
| B．build more parking lots near bus stops |
| C．encourage people to buy more cars |
| D．build more parking areas in downtown |
