4 . Two years ago, a small town in Thailand started to grow a kind of healthy rice. The healthy rice was not grown by farmers but by students from a small school of only about fifty people.

The idea of growing rice came from the school teachers. When making teaching plans, the teachers decided to teach students to grow healthy rice on school land. They wanted the students to get closer to the land and learn to help each other when doing the rice farming outside the classroom.

What’s better, the school made money from selling the rice and giving farming classes to the public. With the money, the school could help students who wished to travel abroad some day. Today the dream is coming true — the students are flying to Japan to share their special farming experiences, and have fun over there! “We all feel very proud that even students from a small town can make themselves seen in the world,” said one of the teachers.

1. Who got the idea of growing healthy rice?

A．The headmaster.	B．The students.
C．The teachers.	D．The farmers.

2. What does the underlined words “the dream” in the last paragraph mean?

A．The teachers’ plan to grow healthy rice.

B．The school’s aim to make more money.

C．The farmers’ hope to build more schools.

D．The students’ wish to visit foreign countries.

3. What is the text mainly about?

A．A successful school project.	B．A farming class for farmers.
C．A new way to make money.	D．An exciting trip to Japan.

5 . Not too long ago, a young man asked me a question: how do you make study more fun? You can improve your study habits and make your process more enjoyable. It’s a matter of many things.

Manage your time

    1     All it takes is sitting down with a calendar, and just mapping out everything you need to do and the time you need to do it: projects, tests, part-time work, homework, parties, doctor appointments.

Set the mood

First, choose a good study area.     2     Your spot may be in your dorm/bedroom or the library. If you prefer to lie on your bed or sit in a corner of the library, develop a study routine that will allow you to focus. Clean spaces are said to improve productivity. To help you focus, turn off your phone! And while you're at it, limit your access to the Internet.

Make it a game

Are you the competitive type? Try competing against yourself.     3     Or try joining or starting a study group with fiends and take bets on who can get the most right answers when doing homework.

Take breaks

In that hour or two you’ve scheduled for studying, make sure you also give yourself enough breaks. Set a timer-even a short one, like 25 minutes-and work during that time. When the timer goes off, give yourself a few minutes to relax, drink some water, etc.     4    

Reward yourself Sweet treats and other snacks often come to mind as a “reward”, and that might work for you, but it’s also probably not a great idea to eat a bag of potato chips after every 25-minute study session. Rewards can be as simple as allowing yourself to watch some interesting videos.     5    

A. And we mean a specific, unique spot.
B. it’s important to realize and make peace with the fact that studying isn’t always going to be “fun”.
C. You can learn how to learn more effectively.
D. Then set another timer and dive back into your studying.
E. Or you can set goals, and then buy yourself something fun when you meet them.
F. Time management may be the secret weapon to succeeding at everything!
G. See if you can improve your reading speed to get yourself under a certain number of pages in five minutes.

6 . I was in the seventh grade, and we had moved to New Jersey in November. By then, everyone already had had their own friends, and no one wanted to talk to a new girl. To make things worse, they put me in ''Section L''. I found out later that everyone called Section L ''Loserville''. It was sort of an open secret that it was the section for troublemakers and not-so-smart kids. When I found out, I wanted to scream. I had always been a good student and had amazing friends, and now everyone thought I was a loser!

I did text my friends in Illinois almost every night, especially my best friend, Ana. At first my friends wanted to hear all about it. But then some stopped texting back once I said something about how miserable I was. One night when I was texting with Ana, I complained about another friend who had just done that. Anas texts came really fast for the next few minutes and they surprised me. She said that she was tired of hearing about how bad everything was in New Jersey, too. She said she did not want to hurt my feelings but that I needed to stop feeling so sorry for myself all the time, and I had to try to make things better.

The next day, I thought a lot about what Ana had said. She was right!

I wish I could say that everything changed overnight after that, but it didn't, I was still stuck in ''Loserville'', and some people were still mean (苛刻) to me, even though I tried to just stay out of their way.

But what did change was me — I stopped feeling so sorry for myself and did something about making friends. I signed up to make sets for the school play. I met a lot of new people there, and suddenly I had friends to say hi to in the halls!

I still miss Illinois sometimes, but life in New Jersey isn't so hard anymore. Even though I couldn't change my situation, I could change my attitude — and that made all the difference.

1. ''Loserville'' is a section for ________.

A．smart students	B．low achievers
C．class leaders	D．new comers

2. The writer complained all the time in the new environment because ________.

A．Ana didn’t text back to her	B．she was a good student
C．her friends hurt her feelings	D．she was unfairly treated

3. What made a difference in changing the situation?

A．She managed to go back to Illinois.	B．She ended the friendship with Ana.
C．She began to make friends with others.	D．She fought back with her classmates.

4. The best title for the passage can be ________.

A．Everlasting Friendship	B．Say Goodbye to ''Loserville''
C．An Incident at School	D．Unhappiness in ''Loserville''

7 . Half a Day

I walked alongside my father, holding his right hand. All my clothes were new: the black shoes, the green school uniform, and the red cap. They did not make me happy, however, as this was the day I was to be thrown into school for the first time.

"Why school?" I asked my father. "What have I done?”

"I'm not punishing you," he said, laughing. "School's not a punishment. It's a place that makes useful men out of boys. Don’t you want to be useful like your brothers?"

I was not convinced. I did not believe there was really any good to be had in tearing me away from my home and throwing me into the huge, high-walled building.

When we arrived at the gate we could see the courtyard, vast and full of boys and girls. "Go in by you,” said my father, "and join them. Put a smile on your face and be a good example to others. "

I hesitated and squeezed his hand firmly, but he gently pushed me from him. “Be a man”, he said. "Today you truly begin life. You will find me waiting for you when it's time to leave. "

I took a few steps. Then the faces of the boys and girls came into view. I did not know a single one of them, and none of them knew me. I felt I was a stranger who had lost his way. But then some boys began to glance at me in curiosity, and one of them came over and asked, "Who brought you?"

"My father,” I whispered.

"My father's dead,” he said simply.

I did not know what to say. The gate was now closed. Some of the children burst into tears. The bell rang. A lady came along and said, "This is your new home. There are mothers and fathers here, too. Everything that is enjoyable and beneficial is here. So dry your tears and face life joyfully. "

Well, it seemed that my misgivings had had no basis. From the first moments I made many friends. I had never imagined school would have this rich variety of experiences.

1. On the way to school, the boy felt__________.

A．happy	B．embarrassed
C．upset	D．excited

2. About schooling, Father suggested __________.

A．wearing a smile	B．tearing himself away from games
C．waiting for parents	D．throwing himself to studying

3. ________ helped him most on the first day at school.

A．Teachers and classmates	B．Courtyards and buildings
C．Father and brother	D．New uniforms and shoes

4. What would probably happen next?

A．The school life would turn out to be a failure.

B．Boys in the school would watch him curiously.

C．He would open up a new journey of colorful life.

D．His parents would accompany him at the school

8 . My First Day of School

Fear started taking over, I was walking into my first school in America. I had traveled a long distance from India in order to join my parents, who had been for three years, hoping America would help my future. My father decided that I would be better off going to school here, so I enrolled(登记)in the local high school in my new town.

I was afraid how I would do. On the first day, I went to my second period class after I had missed my first. With anxiety, I reached for the door, opening it slowly. Without paying attention to my classmates, I went straight to the teacher and asked if this was the right class. With a soft voice he answered. “Yes.” His voice comforted me a little. He gave me a sheet called Course Requirements, which I would never get in India because we didn’t have anything like that. Then he asked me to choose where I would sit. I didn’t actually want to pick a seat. In India we had fixed seats, so I never needed to worry about that. I spent the rest of the class taking notes from the image produced by the overhead projector. In Indian schools, we didn’t use the technology we had. We had to take notes as the teacher spoke.

It was noon. I was very confused about when I would have lunch. I went to my next class and the bell rang as I entered. I went through the regular process of asking the teacher if I was in the right class. She said, “It’s still fourth period.”

“But the bell just rang,” I said.

Changing from a gentle tone to a harsher(刺耳的)one, she said, “That is the lunch bell, young man.”

I apologized. Without another word I headed for the cafeteria. I felt lucky because we didn’t have this in India. Every confusion seemed like a barrier I had to get through to reach my goal. At the end of the day, I was on my way to the bus which we didn’t have in India either. I spotted my bus and sat down inside happily. I was thinking, today wasn’t o bad.

1. The author attended an American high school because _______.

A．his father preferred American schools

B．his family wanted him to have a bright future

C．his mother had worked in it for 3 years

D．he had been longing to leave his homeland

2. What do we know about the author's first day of school?

A．He went to the wrong class for the second period

B．He met some enthusiastic teachers and classmates

C．He got the Course Requirements sheet from his classmate

D．He experienced differences from the Indian schools in many ways

3. How did the author feel at the end of the day?

A．Worried	B．Puzzled
C．Relieved	D．Excited

9 . AFrom：jovangagic56@memail．com
To：kmallory@LN．org
Subject：Hi!
Dear Mr．Mallory，
I am writing to tell you my deep disappointment for my experience at Lingua Nova English summer school in the first two weeks of July．I had been thoroughly looking forward to learning English and learning about culture in the UK，but I am afraid that my time at your summer school failed to live up to my expectations．
Your brochure states that the student accommodation is situated "in the heart of Edinburgh"．This is misleading as my accommodation was，in fact，situated a good fifty minutes bus ride from the city center in what I can only describe as a less than picturesque part of the suburbs．
In addition，the activity programme did not reflect the fact that we were located in one of Europe's most interesting and historical cities: one evening activity consisted of a walk to a nearby park，another was a trip to a narrow street which was not usually used by cars．Finally，on our one trip into the city center our "guide" readily admitted that she was not from Edinburgh，and had in fact never visited the city before．I had been eagerly expecting a guided tour of Scotland's treasures．In fact，I was left in the city center with no map and told to "check things out" while your employee went shopping in Princes Street．This was a long awaited trip and cost me over two years' hard work and saving．Although I do have positive memories of my trip (my English teachers were knowledgeable and inspiring)，the accommodation and activity programme were wholly unsatisfactory．
I would like to get my money back for the accommodation and would really appreciate a reply within the next two weeks．
Yours sincerely，
Jovan Gagic
1. Jovan wrote the email to __________．

A．provide information

B．share experiences

C．express dissatisfaction

D．raise expectations

2. According to Jovan，the guide __________．

A．organized cultural activities

B．failed to perform duties

C．had a good knowledge of the city

D．received punishment for bad behavior

3. What effect does Jovan want his email to have on Mr．Mallory?

A．To make him feel sorry．

B．To cause him worry．

C．To bring him disappointment．

D．To get him into trouble．

10 . This summer, Monika Lutz’s life took an unusual turn. Instead of heading off to college, the high school graduate packed her bags for a Bengali jungle. Lutz, like a growing number of other young Americans, is taking a year off. Gap(间隔) years   are quite common in Britain and Australia, but they are just beginning to catch on in the U.S. Lutz, who grew up in Boulder, Colo., has put together a 14-month schedule that includes helping deliver solar power to some communities in India and interning (实习) for a fashion designer in Shanghai---experiences that are worlds away from the lecture halls and university dormitories that await other students. “I could not be happier,” she says.
Why are students attracted to the gap-year concept? According to new survey data from Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson, education-policy experts and co-authors of The Gap-Year Advantage, the most common reason for this is to avoid burnout. “I felt like I was focused on college as a means to an end,” says Kelsi Morgan, an incoming Middlebury College freshman who spent last year interning for a judge in Tulsa, Okla., and teaching English at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. The hope is that after a year out of the classroom, students will enter college more energized, focused and mature. That can be an advantage for colleges too. Robert Clagett, dean of admissions at Middlebury, did some research a few years ago and found that a single gap semester was the strongest predictor of academic success at his school.
Most experts recommend securing a spot in college before taking a gap year and warn against using the time off to lengthen your resume. “Most admissions folks can see right through that,” says Jim Jump, the academic dean of St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Va. But for students like Lutz, who, after getting rejected from five Ivies, decided to take time off, a gap year can help focus interests. Lutz now plans to apply mostly to non-Ivies that have strong marketing programs. “This experience has really opened my eyes to the opportunities the world has to offer,” she says.
But at least one education expert doesn’t want schools spreading the gap-year message. In a study that followed 11,000 members of the high school class of 1992 for eight years after graduation, Stefanie DeLuca, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, found that, all things being equal, those who delayed college by a year were 64% less likely to complete a bachelor’s degree than those who didn’t. DeLuca did not say whether these students voluntarily started college late, but at the very least, her work indicates that taking a gap year doesn’t guarantee success. “I’m not going to say that time off does not have benefits,” says DeLuca. “But I think we should not be so enthusiastic.”
1. The students take gap years mainly because ______.

A．they want to be more unusual

B．they want to refresh themselves

C．some experts advise them to do so

D．their parents think it good for them

2. According to Lutz, the gap year has made her more ______.

A．energetic	B．relaxed
C．practical	D．enthusiastic

3. Stefanie DeLuca probably agrees that ______.

A．students should think twice before taking gap years

B．taking gap years enables students to achieve success

C．schools should encourage their students to take gap years

D．taking gap years increases students’ chances of getting a good job

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards gap years?

A．Sceptical.	B．Positive.
C．Disapproving.	D．Objective.