Many Americans are turning to Japan, they think, a country of high academic(学术的) achievement and economic success, for possible answers.However, the answers provided by Japanese preschools are not the ones Americans expected to find. In most Japanese preschools, surprisingly little emphasis is put on academic instruction.In one survey, 300 Japanese and 210 American preschool teachers, child development specialists, and parents were asked about various aspects of early childhood education.Only 2 percent of the Japanese respondents(答问卷者)listed “to give children a good start academically” as one of their top three reasons for a society to have preschools.In contrast, over half the American respondents chose this as one of their top three choices.To prepare children for successful careers in first grade and beyond, Japanese schools do not teach reading, writing, and mathematics, but rather skills such as determination, concentration, and the ability to work as a member of a group.The huge majority of young Japanese children are taught to read at home by their parents.

Like in America, there is diversity(多样性) in Japanese early childhood education.Some Japanese kindergartens have specific aims, such as early musical training or potential(潜力的) development.In large cities, some kindergartens are attached to universities that have elementary and secondary schools.Some Japanese parents believe that if their young children attend a university-based program, it will increase the children’s chances of eventually being admitted to top-rated schools and universities.Several more progressive programs have introduced free play as a way out for the heavy intellectualizing in some Japanese kindergartens.

1.We learn from the first paragraph that many Americans believe ________.

A. Japanese preschool education emphasizes academic instruction

B. Japanese parents are more involved in preschool education than American parents

C. Japan’s economic success is a result of its scientific achievements

D. Japan’s higher education is superior to theirs

2.In Japan’s preschool education, the focus is on ________.

A. preparing children academically

B. shaping children’s character

C. teaching children mathematics

D. developing children’s artistic interests

3.Why do some Japanese parents send their children to university-based kindergartens?

A. They can do better in their future studies.

B. They can make more group experience grow there.

C. They can be individually oriented when they grow up.

D. They can have better chances of getting a first-rate education.

4.Free play has been introduced in some Japanese kindergartens in order to ________.

A. broaden children’s knowledge

B. train children’s creativity

C. lighten children’s study load

D. enrich children’s experience

Loch Ness, the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles, is twenty four miles long and, at one point, one mile wide. It has an average depth of four hundred and fifty feet and at times drops close to a thousand. It is cold and murky(浑浊的), with dangerous currents. In short, it is the perfect place to hide a monster from even the sharpest eyes of science.

The Loch Ness Monster, also called Nessie, is supposedly living in this area. The earliest recorded sighting of the Loch Ness Monster was in the biography of Life of St. Columba by Adamnan in the year AD 565. The monster apparently attacked a man who was swimming in the River Ness.

The monster didn’t make headlines again until August 27, 1930, when 3 fishermen reported seeing a creature with 20 feet long approaching their boat, throwing water in the air. In 1933, after a new road was built along the edge of the Loch, the number of reports rose suddenly. Early in 1934, Author Grant, a young student, was out on his motorcycle one evening when he almost ran into the monster as it crossed the road. Grant’s description of the thing — small head, long thin neck and tail with a big body, seemed to match the appearance of the plesiosaur(蛇颈龙), an aquatic(水生的) type of dinosaur that has been extinct(已灭绝的)for 65 million years.

The Loch Ness Investigation Bureau was formed in 1962 to act as a research organization for information about the creature. Even now, efforts have continued to find the monster. A great deal of information was discovered about the Loch, but they haven’t yet to produce any specific evidence of a monster.

Skeptics(怀疑论者) argue that the water in the Loch is too cold for a plesiosaur to live in. They also argue that an air-breathing animal, like a whale or seal, would spend much more time on the surface than the creature seems to, and would be spotted more often.

Some scientists have wondered if the sightings might be caused by an underwater wave which is known to sometimes occur in deep, long, and cold lakes, like Loch Ness. Such a wave might push debris(废弃物)to the surface that might look like a strange animal.

However, none of these is identified.

1.According to the skeptics, which of the following is TRUE?

A. It is impossible for a monster to live in cold water.

B. The Loch Ness Monster often stays under the water.

C. The Loch Ness Monster is an air-breathing animal.

D. There is no so-called monster in Loch Ness.

2.The purpose of setting up the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau is to .

A. research the plesiosaur in the Loch Ness

B. protect the Nessie in the lake

C. collect some information about the Nessie

D. catch the Loch Ness Monster

3.Which of the following is the correct order for the things that happened in the passage?

A. A young student met with a monster crossing the road.

B. A swimmer was attacked by a monster in Loch Ness.

C. A new road was built along the edge of the Loch.

D. The Loch Ness Investigation Bureau was set up.

e. Three fishermen saw a creature swimming towards their boat.

A. b, e, c, a, d B. a, b, e, d, c

C. b, d, a, c, e D. d, c, e, b, a

4.We can infer from the passage that .

A. Nessie is an aquatic type of dinosaur

B. Nessie has a 20-foot-long body

C. Nessie is an underwater wave

D. Nessie is still a mystery

5.What does this passage mainly talk about?

A. The natural scenery of Loch Ness.

B. The Nessie.

C. Skeptics’ opinions on Loch Ness Monster.

D. The Loch Ness Investigation Bureau’s research results.

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