题目内容
Young people in Britain are ______________(疯狂的)about “Harry Potter”.
crazy
The speaker, a teacher from a community college, addressed a sympathetic(赞同的) audience. Heads nodded in agreement when he said, “High school English teachers are not doing their jobs.” He described the inadequacies of his students, all high school graduates who can use language only at a grade 9 level. I was unable to determine from his answers to my questions how this grade 9 level had been established.
My topic is not standards nor its decline(降低). What the speaker was really saying is that he is no longer young; he has been teaching for sixteen years, and is able to think and speak like a mature adult.
My point is that the frequent complaint of one generation about the one immediately following it is inevitable. It is also human nature to look for the reasons for our dissatisfaction. Before English became a school subject in the late nineteenth century, it was difficult to find the target of the blame for language deficiencies (缺陷). But since then, English teachers have been under constant attack.
The complainers think they have hit upon an original idea. As their own command of the language improves, they notice that young people do not have this same ability. Unaware that their own ability has developed through the years, they assume the new generation of young people must be hopeless in this respect. To the eyes and ears of sensitive adults the language of the young always seems inadequate.
Since this concern about the decline and fall of the English language is not perceived(察觉) as a generational phenomenon but rather as something new and peculiar(特有的) to today’s young people, it naturally follows that today’s English teachers cannot be doing their jobs. Otherwise, young people would not commit offenses against the language.
【小题1】 The speaker the author mentioned in the passage believed that _____.
A.the language of the younger generation is usually inferior(差的) to that of the older generation |
B.the students had a poor command of English because they didn’t work hard enough |
C.he was an excellent language teacher because he had been teaching English for sixteen years |
D.English teachers should be held responsible for the students’ poor command of English |
A.gave a correct judgment of the English level of the students |
B.had exaggerated(夸大) the language problems of the students |
C.was right in saying that English teachers were not doing their jobs |
D.could think and speak intelligently |
A.neutral | B.positive | C.critical | D.compromising |
A.it is justifiable(有理由的) to include English as a school subject |
B.the author disagrees with the speaker over the standard of English at Grade 9 level |
C.English language teaching is by no means an easy job |
D.language improvement needs time and effort |
A.it is unfair to blame the English teachers for the language deficiencies of the students |
B.young people would not commit offences against the language if the teachers did their jobs properly |
C.to eliminate(消除) language deficiencies one must have sensitive eyes and ears |
D.to improve the standard of English requires the effort of several generations |
For a small but increasing number of young women in modern-day China, true love is all about the numbers. A potential suitor may have a good sense of humor and reasonable good looks, but what they say really matters is if he owns an apartment and how many square feet it is. A sizable bank account is also a must, and, some say, so is a luxury car。
At least, that’s the way things look if you watch Chinese television these days. The latest reality-TV scandal to shock the nation involves Ma Nuo, a 22-year-old model from Beijing who appeared on China's most popular dating show, If You Are the One. She rejected an offer from a male contestant to take a ride on his bike. "I'd rather cry in a BMW (宝马) car than laugh on the backseat of a bicycle," Ma told her suitor with a giggle.
The televised words swept the Internet and made an instant celebrity of Ma, who becomes one of the most talked-about women in the country. The reaction among young Chinese was especially severe, reflecting growing anxieties over the widening gap between rich and poor, shifting societal values and public attention on the difficulties of finding a mate in a country where men are expected to outnumber women by 24 million in a decade.
As disgusted as they have been by some of the contestants, viewers continue to watch religiously. Why are people still tuning in? "Audiences like programs because they are honest. They show the current reality of Chinese society," says Yan Mu, one of the founders of Baihe.com. Young people are so focused on making money and building their careers these days, they have little time to devote to dating, he says. "Many people feel pressure from their parents and peers," Yan adds. " It can be a struggle to find a partner." Money may not buy you love. But on China's reality shows, it can at least get you a date.
【小题1】The underlined words“numbers”in the first paragraph include the following except_______
A.the age and degree | B.the size of the house | C.the sum of the deposit | D.the price of the belonging |
A.When she is in a BMW car, she will cry | B.When she is on a bike, she will laugh |
C.She prefers money to true love | D.She prefers true love to money |
A.because they think they may get true love from them |
B.because they think China’s reality shows can at least give them a chance to date |
C.because their parents and peers force them to do so |
D.because viewers like dating shows |
A.some contestants have been disgusted because they are dishonest |
B.young people are too busy to take part in dating shows |
C.some people are worried that societal value are changing |
D.Ma Nuo rejected the bike offered by the contestant |
A.China’s TV Dating Show | B.Date for Love or money |
C.Date Makes You a Celebrity | D.Popular TV Dating Show |
Computer programmer David Jones makes 35,000 pounds a year designing new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank prepared to let him have a credit card (信用卡). Instead, he has been told to wait another two years, until he is 18.
The 16-year-old boy works for a small firm in Liverpool, where the problem of most young people of his age is finding a job. David’s firm puts two new games on the home market each month.
But David’s biggest headache is what to do with his money. In spite of his salary, made by inventing new programs within a quite short period of time, the bonus payments and profit-sharing (奖金和分红), he cannot drive a car, get some money from a bank to buy a house, or get credit cards.
He lives with his parents in their house in Liverpool, where his father is a bus driver. His firm has to pay £150 a month in taxi fares to get him the five miles to work and back every day because David cannot drive.
David got his job with the firm a year after leaving school with six 0-levels and working for a time in a computer shop. “I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs,” he said.
“I suppose 35,000 pounds sounds a lot but actually that’s not good enough. I hope it will come to more than that this year.” He spends some of his money on records and clothes, and gives his mother 20 pounds a week. But most of his spare time is spent working.
“Unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school,” he said. “But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I know what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway.”
David added, “I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement (退休) is a possibility. You never know when the market might disappear.”
【小题1】Why is David different from other young people of his age?
A.He earns a very high salary. | B.He has not a job. |
C.He does not go out much. | D.He lives at home with his parents. |
A.making the banks treat him as a grown-up | B.inventing computer games |
C.spending his salary | D.learning to drive |
A.he had worked in a computer shop | B.he had written some computer programs |
C.he worked very hard | D. he had learned to use computers at school |
A.he did not enjoy school |
B.he wanted to work with computers and staying at school did not help him |
C.he was afraid of getting too old to start computing |
D.he wanted to earn a lot of money |
A.One has to be young to write computer programs. |
B.He wants to stop working when he is a millionaire. |
C.He thinks computer games might not always sell so well. |
D.He thinks his firm might go bad. |