Li Bingyin is now studying law at the Stern School of Business at New York University. She wrote this letter just before hurricane Sandy destroyed the East Coast.

Dear readers,

The storm will really take a toll on the city! Right now I am sitting in my dormitory(寝室), waiting for the blackout(停电)to come any second, and listening to the wind howl outside my windows. Hurricane Sandy is supposed to hit the East Coast hard today. Due to the bad weather, most schools and universities have canceled classes for Monday and Tuesday.

Luckily, the university has taken steps to prepare for this storm. University officials sent out e-mails with explanation in the case of a blackout, evacuation(撤离), or other emergency. Just recently, I received several text messages from the school about power off in certain dormitories. They advised us to prepare a bag with essentials(生活必需品), in case we needed to leave the building and move to a safer place.

Yesterday I went out to buy a flashlight(手电筒), but all of the nearby stores were sold out. Everyone was storing water, food and other supplies for the storm.

Right now the city is unusually quiet. On any other day, there would be the sounds of cars, people chatting, and street artists performing. Tonight, there’s just the wind and rain hitting the window. The subway system has been closed since last night, and there is nobody on the streets. Hopefully Hurricane Sandy will soon pass without leaving much damage

Sincerely,

Li Bingyin

1. From the passage we can know that___.

A. Storm Sandy has already caused great damage to New York.

B. Most people haven’t been prepared for the coming of Storm Sandy.

C. The author went out to buy a flashlight but failed.

D. Most schools and universities have canceled classes for 3 days.

2.What does the underlined word “take a toll” means?

A. cause a loss B. destroy C. flood D. burry

3. What steps has the university taken to prepare for the storm?

A. The university has asked students to leave the school at once.

B. The university has asked students to close all the windows and doors.

C. The university has sent text messages to students about what time the storm will come.

D. The university has asked students to prepare necessary things in case of evacuation.

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. New York is a quiet city at other times.

B. New York is a busy city at other times.

C. Storm sandy has already come.

D. The airport system has been closed since last night.

More than a decade ago, cognitive scientists John Bransfgord and Daniel Schwartz, both then at Vanderbilt University, found that knowledge was not the ability to retain facts or apply previous knowledge to a new situation but a quality they called "preparation for future learning." The researches asked fifth graders and college students to create a recovery plan to protect bald eagles from extinction. Shockingly, the two groups came up with plans of similar quality (though the college students had better spelling skills). From the standpoint of a traditional educator, this outcome indicated that schooling had failed to help students think about ecosystems and extinction, major scientific ideas.

The researches decided to go deeper, however. They asked both groups to generate questions about important issues needed to create recovery plans. On this task, they found large differences. College students focused on critical issues. The college students had cultivated the ability to ask questions, the foundation of critical thinking. They had learned how to learn.

Museums and other institutions of informal learning may be more suitable to teach this skill than elementary and secondly schools. At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, we recently studied how learning to ask good questions can affect the quality of people's scientific inquiry. We found that when we taught participants to ask "What if?" and "How can?" questions that nobody present would know the answer to and that would spark exploration, they engaged in better inquiry at the next exhibit—asking more questions, performing more experiments and making better interpretations of their results. Specially, their questions became more comprehensive at the new exhibit.

This type of learning is not limited to museums of institutional settings. Informal learning environment tolerate failure better than schools. Perhaps many teachers have too little time to allow students to form and pursue their own questions and too much ground to cover in the curriculum. But people must acquire this skill somewhere. Our society depend on them being able to make critical decisions about their own medical treatment, says, or what we must do about global energy needs and demands. For that, we have a robust informal system that gives no grades, takes all comers, and is available even on holidays and weekends.

1.What is traditional educators' understanding of the search outcome mentioned in the first paragraph?

A.Students are not able to apply prior knowledge to new problems.

B.College students are no better than fifth graders in memorizing issues.

C.Education has not paid enough attention to major environmental issues.

D.Education has failed to lead students to think about major scientific ideas.

2.In what way are college students different from children?

A.They have learned to think critically.

B.They are concerned about social issues.

C.They are curious about specific features.

D.They have learned to work independently.

3.What is benefit of asking questions with no ready answers?

A.It arouse students' interest in things around them.

B.It cultivates students' ability to make scientific inquiries.

C.It trains students' ability to design scientific experiments.

D.It helps students realize not every question has an answer.

4.What does the author seem to encourage educators to do at the end of the passage?

A.Train students to think about global issues.

B.Design more interactive classroom activities.

C.Make full use of informal learning resources.

D.Include collaborative inquiry in the curriculum.

Many people write to newspaper and magazines to express their opinions. Letters to the editor must carry the writer’s full name, address and telephone number, although the information is not necessary for publication. This requirement to provide personal particulars is a clear indication that writers are held responsible for what they say. When a writer wants his voice heard, he needs to claim ownership of his voice. Responsibility is the name of the game.

“People today prefer living together to putting their signatures on a marriage certificate because they refuse to accept responsibility for the relationship,” said social worker Ken Yip, “and this is what is causing a lot of family problems.” When we sign a paper, for example, a business contract or a bank document, the signature is a seal of consent, an agreement to take the matter seriously. Most governments and many organizations will not process written complaints if they do not bear the writer’s signature. The absence of a signature, they explain, tells us that the writer cannot be too serious and therefore does not deserve a reply.

There are people who wish to remain anonymous(匿名的) for various reasons. Multi-billionaire Mr. King donates generously to charity several times a year. He gives simply because he wants to help but not for the publicity his donations may bring, and he does not want his good deeds to make news. In other cases, people insist on anonymity because they are afraid of the consequences of revealing their identity. Crime witnesses may be willing to assist the police, but most are unwilling to give their names when reporting a crime.

Name or no name? The answer is very personal and lies in how much we want to get involved. We all have a name. It is a matter of responsibility to use it when we make a statement, a claim or an accusation. We all want to honor our own name, and it is only by stamping our expression of an opinion with our own name that we honor what we say.

1.What does the writer mean by saying “Responsibility is the name of the game”?

A. Writers need to provide their personal information in the game.

B. Publication must bear the writer’s full name, address and phone number.

C. Writers should be responsible for their names.

D. Names are required to indicate writers’ responsibility for what they say.

2.The second paragraph suggests that a paper without a signature may _______.

A. not get a reply

B. help to end a relationship

C. be accepted all the same

D. become a family problem

3.Some people don’t want their names known because they are ________.

A. hesitant to make a donation

B. unwilling to draw public attention

C. afraid of an accusation

D. ready for involvement

4.The passage is mainly about _______.

A. honor and writers

B. identity and signature

C. signature and responsibility

D. anonymity and signature

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