1 . Everyone wants to perform well at school. Add these tips to your life and you should be on your way to being a top student!

    1    I cannot stress how important it is to pay attention to what your teacher is teaching you. Take part in class discussions if you have something worth adding. Pay attention during class.

Taking notes is important. You don’t need to write down every single word your teacher says but write down what he or she writes on the blackboard, or any special fact you think you might need for a test.    2       In this way, it will help you learn more effectively by thinking about what you are writing.

Don’t skip school. You will be missing courses.    3    However, you will have more work and you have missed lectures. Also, try not to be late for class. It’s most likely that your teacher won’t appreciate it and you will get yourself behind.

Keep a good attitude (态度) towards things. If you have an “ I don’t care about school or this class” attitude, then teachers will be less willing to help you with problems. The same goes for lazy attitude. Have a respectful attitude to the teacher and other students.     4    

Always ask questions.     5     If you don’t understand, ask someone. Read your textbook and notes, and then if that fails, ask a teacher, friend, classmate, parent, etc.

A．Be prepared.

B．Write in your own words.

C．Staying organized will be helpful.

D．Pay attention to what the teacher says.

E．It is true that you could make up the work.

F．There is no shame (羞愧)in needing some help.

G．Try not to laugh when other students make mistakes.

2 . 语法填空

Have you ever asked yourself why children go to school? You will     1     (probable) say that they go to learn languages, history, science and some other knowledge. That’s quite true, but do you know why they learn these     2     (thing)?

We send our children to school to prepare them    3     the future when they grow up and have to work for     4     (they). Nearly everything they study at school has some practical use in their life. But is that     5     only reason why they go to school?

Actually, there is more in education than just    6     (learn) facts. We go to school above all to learn how to learn, so that when we graduate we can continue to learn.     7     a man really knows how to learn, he will be     8     (success). Because when he has to do something new, he will not only be able     9     (do) it well himself, but he will also be able to teach others how to do it in the     10     (good) way. So the purpose of schools is not to teach languages, history, science, etc., but to teach students the way to learn.

3 . For decades, the homework standard has been a "10-minute" rule, which suggests a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level.

But some schools have begun to give their youngest students a break. A Massachusetts elementary school has announced a no-homework pilot（试点的）program for the coming school year, extending the school day by two hours to provide more in-class instruction. "We really want kids to go home at 4 o'clock, tired," Kelly Elementary School Principal Jackie Glasheen said. "We want them to enjoy their families. We want them to go to soccer practice or football practice."

New solutions to homework differ by community. These local debates aren't easily understood by the fact that even education experts disagree about what's best for kids.

The most all-round research on homework so far comes from an analysis（分析）by Duke University professor Harris Cooper, who found evidence（证据）of a positive relationship between homework and student achievement, meaning students who did homework performed better in school. Cooper's analysis focused on how homework influences test scores. The relationship was stronger for older students-in 7th through 12th grade-than for those in younger grades, for whom there was a weak relationship between homework and performance.

Although there is the weak relationship between homework and performance for young children, Cooper argues that a small amount of homework is useful for all students. Second-graders should not be doing two hours of homework each night, he said, but they also shouldn't be doing no homework.

However, Cathy Vatterott, an education professor at the University Missouri-St. Louis, thinks there is not enough evidence that homework is helpful for students in elementary school, "Relationship is not a cause," she said "Does homework cause achievement, or do high achievers do more homework?" Vatterott thinks there should be more stress on improving the quality of homework tasks, and she supports efforts to ban homework for younger kids.

1. What will Kelly Elementary School have in the new term?

A．No homework.	B．Some football practice.
C．"10-minute" homework.	D．More physical education classes.

2. Who can perform better according to Cooper's analysis?

A．Younger students in all grades with no homework.

B．Younger students in lower grades with no homework.

C．Older students in lower grades with more homework.

D．Older students in higher grades with more homework.

3. What's the writer's attitude towards "10-minute" homework?

A．Positive.

B．Negative.

C．Unknown.

D．Doubtful.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Is homework good for students?	B．How much homework is proper?
C．Does high-quality homework work?	D．Do students really hate homework?

4 . Age has never been a problem for 16-year-old Thessalonika Arzu-Embry. After all, she’s already got her master’s degree.

The North Chicago-area teen started homeschooling at the age of 4. She began having an influence on others soon after. When she was 6 years old, she was an inspirational speaker at an organization called Tabitha House Community Service, which is for people who were forced to leave their homes because of earthquake, flood and other natural disasters.

At the age of 11, she graduated from high school and then earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2013. She completed those classes online as she was traveling for church events and leadership meetings.

She doesn’t stop there, though. The teen plans to focus on aviation psychology (航空心理学) for her further study, a decision inspired by her father who is a pilot. She grew up around airplanes and took fights all the time. Her goal is to use it to help pilots deal with problems that could have deadly results once the plane takes off — a topic that has been in the news lately. For her, it’s a mix of two of her interests.

In her free time, Thessalonika enjoys playing tennis, swimming and being active in her youth group at church. She also has three self-published books, which are on her site. Jump the Education Barrier is written to help students finish college, and in the future aims to help business owners with trends. Her third book The Genius Race is designed to help people to be talents in various areas of life.

1. Which of the following is TRUE about Thessalonika?

A．When she was 6 years old, she started homeschooling.

B．She gained her master’s degree at the age of 11.

C．She majored in science and technology.

D．In 2013 she got her bachelor’s degree through completing courses online.

2. What is her next plan according to the passage?

A．Major in aviation psychology.

B．Deliver inspiring speeches for church events and leadership meetings.

C．Be active in her youth group at church.

D．Write another book to help people to be talents.

3. Why does she write the book Jump the Education Barrier?

A．It aims to help people to be geniuses.

B．It is intended to give students a hand to complete college.

C．It is designed to arouse people’s awareness of psychology.

D．The author hope to share her own experience with others.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．The Story of Thessalonika	B．To be a talent
C．Three Published Books	D．Homeschooling

5 . Some high school students think it useless to receive higher education. Therefore, they choose not to go to college. If you're one of them, think again. Here are some reasons why you should go to college and receive a good education there.

Schools and universities are the first places to get knowledge. We take that knowledge later on to build our careers after graduation. More knowledge will be gained after you start working, but without education, that job will not be within easy reach. Knowledge leads to knowledge.

While limited within the walls of the educational places, we openly explore other cultures of the world! We come to know that ours is not the only culture. Other cultures have valuable things to share, enriching our own. Education also makes us want to travel and exchange with various cultures, getting more experience.

When there's a recession in the economy（经济）, those who attended college will be more likely to find a new job than those who only finished high school and have a limited skills set. The more education you have, the more chances you will get to improve the quality of your life as you have a better job and earn a higher salary.

When you're skillful and knowledgeable, you gain access to people of similar backgrounds and tastes. It means a good education leads to excellent networking. Good networking can benefit you a lot in your later life.

A good education makes you a more interesting person. You can talk about ideas and events instead of just other people and what's on sale in stores. An educated person doesn't gossip（说闲话）, having a preference to discuss ideas and listen to what other people have to say.

1. What can we learn about college education from Paragraph 2?

A．It offers you a chance to study abroad.	B．It can allow you to gain more knowledge.
C．It can improve the quality of your daily life.	D．It encourages you to travel around the world.

2. What does the underlined word "recession" in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．change.

B．drop.

C．growth.

D．support.

3. How can one benefit from a good education ?

A．You can gossip about others’ affairs.	B．You are likely to study well at school.
C．You can work well with your coworkers.	D．You get to know excellent people with similar interests.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．The benefits of attending college.	B．The exchange with other cultures.
C．The access to good networking.	D．The ways of college education.

6 . Knowing the best way to study will help you to be a better student. By using your time properly, you can do your homework more quickly.     1    

The first thing to remember is that you must be willing to learn.     2     It does mean, however, that you must be willing to do whatever is necessary to learn. Try to understand why it is important and how it will help you learn other things. Knowing mathematics facts will be useful in your whole life. Knowing how to spell makes any kind of writing easier. Sometimes the subject that you think is going to be uninteresting will be exciting when you begin to work at it and understand it more clearly.     3    

Here's some advice for you: have a certain time each day and a quiet place with good lighting for study, so that you can concentrate on your study without interruption (打扰).     4     Be sure you understand what you should learn before you start. Read carefully and pay special attention to the most important things. When memorizing something, first find out the main parts and then recite the whole thing.     5     Never forget the importance of reviews and previews.

A．Learning to study is not difficult.

B．It is necessary to take notes in class.

C．Check your homework after you finish it.

D．It doesn't mean that you must always like the subject.

E．Remember that you must follow the teacher in studying.

F．Leaning things can be fun if you are willing to work with them.

G．Have everything ready before you sit down to study like a dictionary, paper, a pen and books.

7 . To put missing sentences into a text, you have to work like an investigator and look for clues.     1    

Usually these streets were full of busy people (Missing sentence).

It was completely quiet on the streets outside. Guy thought it was strange. Now they were completely empty. The snow that had fallen looked like a carpet. Outside looked like inside.

The missing sentence refers back to a former sentence as there is a reference to streets (these streets).     2     In the missing sentence we know that usually the streets were full. This links to the following sentence as “now they were empty”. Here “they” refers back to “the streets”.

Read all the sentences taken out of the text. Read the text and match the sentences with the gaps you are sure about.     3     There will always be a link between these sentences and the missing sentence. Look for reference words. What do they refer to? Typical reference words include: personal pronouns (I, you, he, she...), possessive pronouns (my, mine, your...) and demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those). Besides, look for discourse markers such as in addition, however, as a result, then, etc.

    4     If you think there are two possible sentences for one gap, write down both answers and check again later. Write down all the possibilities for each gap. If you make the wrong choice at the beginning, this may affect the rest of your answers. You don’t have to read the text in order. You can move backwards and forwards to different paragraphs.

There may be extra sentences you don’t need.     5    

A．Here are the tips on how to order paragraphs.

B．The missing sentence also refers to the next sentence.

C．This example and the tips that follow show you how.

D．Read the sentences before and after the gap carefully.

E．Discourse markers are really important to help you find the missing sentences.

F．If you are not sure which sentence goes in the gap, leave it and move on to the next.

G．But remember, there will always be a link between the correct missing sentence and the text.

8 . Since his students began using Quizlet, the English teacher Tristan Thorne has noticed an improvement in their ability to learn and use new words. Quizlet is a learning app, a computer program you use on your mobile phone. It can help users build and test their knowledge of English words. Quizlet has words set for millions of subjects. And, it is quickly becoming a useful mobile tool for language learners.

Thorne teachers at Columbia University in New York City. Thanks to learning apps, Jeff Strack, another English teachers, has also noticed the improvement in his students’ ability to remember information. He teachers at Hostos Community College, also in New York. He and Thorne are part of a growing number of language educators adding mobile apps to their classes.

Strack and Thorne seem to agree that the days when teachers would not permit(允许) the use of mobile phones are gone. When they use apps, language learner communicate more differently than in a traditional classroom. Users act on or respond to something, instead of just listening to new information.

Thorne believes that apps can help learners become more active in learning. For example, each week, his students are required to add vocabularies to Quizlet for others to use. He says some apps also make it easy for students to know their language strengths and weaknesses.

The biggest improvement Strack has seen in his students is that they are much more active in whole-class or small-group discussions. “Apps let all students take part in the activity, whether it’s a game, quiz or practice activity.” he says.

Many existing learning apps are designed for students of all ages and levels. Some are designed for group activities. Some support independent learning. Still some are good for homework. Thorne says he especially likes Quizlet and three other apps: QR Codes, Socrative and Evernote.

1. What do Strack and Thorne do to improve their teaching?

A．They design learning apps for their students

B．They allow their students to use apps to study

C．They don’t allow their students to use apps after class

D．They order their students not to use mobile phones in class.

2. According to the text, how do the apps help the language learners?

A．They help language learners save much time and money

B．The help language learners remember their weaknesses

C．The help language learners improve their weakness

D．They help language learners take an active part in Learning

3. What can we learn about the exiting learning apps?

A．They have three types in total	B．There are too few to choose from
C．They are designed for different uses	D．They are only designed for homework

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Better Language Learning with Mobile Apps

B．Great changes in Science and Technology

C．The Use of Mobile Phones Will Be Gone

D．Ways to Choose from Different Mobile Apps

9 . As the school year barely starts in Denver, French teacher Melanie is filled with worry that her students are always absent-minded. Yet, the problem isn’t messaging, enjoying video games or delivering notes. Surprisingly, the problem is about the ongoing heat wave in Denver.

“Today was a little bit hot, so I noticed kids were very sleepy and they were having to get up to drink water quite often.” said Melanie, who works at Denver’s East High School. “If you lose too much water, and you have to keep going to the water fountain, that can take away from their classroom experience.” While nodding off in class on a warm day may seem acceptable for the average teen, Melanie’s observation carries a bigger consequence than dry lips.

“There have been quite a few media reports about teachers noticing that students weren’t able to focus on hotter days,” said R Jisung Park, a researcher, “Does a hotter climate during the school year actually affect the rate of learning?” The drops in academic achievement couldn’t be explained by hotter weekends or hotter summers, but the trend was connected to higher temperatures on school days alone.

The connection between lost learning and a greater number of hot days is one more example of how climate change is already affecting our lives — and it’s an alarm bell for what we stand to lose in the future. Humans still have time to lessen the worst consequences of continued global warming. Without the unlikely important changes in the next 10 years, the globe will be trapped in an unavoidable era of heat waves that were unprecedented (前所未有的) for human beings.

1. What may cause students absent-minded according to the text?

A．Video games.	B．Text messages.
C．Heat waves.	D．Classroom notes.

2. What can be inferred from the second paragraph?

A．Kids often go to the water fountain for lack of water.

B．Extreme heat may lower a kid’s ability to learn.

C．Nodding off in class is a sign of respecting teachers.

D．Kids are more interested in drinking water than sleeping.

3. How does the author feel about dealing with the future global warming?

A．Optimistic.

B．Uncertain.

C．Worried.

D．Indifferent.

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．The way that global warming continues.

B．The reasons why kids are absent-minded in class.

C．The hotter it grows, the more focused kids become.

D．The hotter it grows, the harder it will be for kids to learn.

10 . Starting high school is a great experience for any teenager. Whether you are coming from a middle school ( grades six through eight) or a junior high school (grades seven through nine) , there are many things about high school that are different from your old school environment.     1    

You will face being in a new school, making new friends in an unfamiliar class   and getting to know new teachers.These new teachers will usually have higher academic (学术的)level than your middle school teachers.     2     In return, they expect you to work hard and develop your skills. On top of all this, peer pressure（压力）to drink and smoke often increases in high school.     3    

Although there is a lot of pressure, it is nothing you cannot deal with. If you are feeling pressure to do something that you feel is wrong, talk to a friend, parent or counselor to find a solution.     4    

If you are not succeeding academically, find someone to help you. If you feel lonely, try to join a school club or group to make new friends.

    5     With time，you will come to be thankful for everything about your experience. On the point of starting your high school, are you ready?

A．You will experience many changes.

B．They want to help you get into college.

C．High school may seem discouraging(令人沮丧的)at first.

D．You can make friends at senior high school easily.

E．They are there to help you get into this great new time in your life.

F．High school is difficult for those who are not prepared well at first.

G．Besides, the pressure could also come from grades, loneliness and so on.