In the college-admissions wars, we parents are the true fighters. We’re pushing our kids to get good grades, take SAT preparatory courses and build resumes so they can get into the college of our first choice. I’ve twice been to the wars, and as I survey the battlefield, something different is happening. We see our kids’ college background as a prize demonstrating how well we’ve raised them. But we can’t acknowledge that our obsession(痴迷) is more about us than them. So we’ve created various justifications(辩解)that turn out to be half-truths, prejudices or myths. It actually doesn’t matter much whether Aaron and Nicole go to Stanford.
We have a full-developed panic; we worry that there won’t be enough prizes to go around. Fearful parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever. What causes the hysteria(歇斯底里) is the belief that scarce elite(精英)degrees must be highly valuable. Their graduates must enjoy more success because they get a better education and develop better contacts. All seems right but mostly wrong. We haven’t found any convincing evidence that selectivity or prestige matters. Selective schools don’t systematically employ better instructional approaches than less selective schools. On two measures—professors’ feedback and the number of essay exams selective schools do slightly worse.
By some studies, selective schools do enhance(提高) their graduates’ lifetime earnings. The gain is reckoned at 2-4% for every 100-point increase in a school’s average SAT scores. But even this advantage is probably a statistical fluke(偶然). A well-known study examined students who got into highly selective schools and then went elsewhere. They earned just as much as graduates from higher-status schools.
Kids count more than their colleges. Getting into Yale may signify intelligence, talent and ambition. But it’s not the only indicator and, surprisingly, its significance is declining. The reason: so many similar people go elsewhere. Getting into college is not life’s only competition. In the next competition—the job market and graduate school—the results may change. Princeton economist Alan Krueger studied admissions to one top Ph.D. program. High scores on the GRE helped explain who got in; degrees of famous universities didn’t.
So, parents, take it easy(lighten up). The stakes (利害关系) have been vastly exaggerated. Up to a point, we can rationalize our pushiness. America is a competitive society; our kids need to adjust to that. But too much pushiness can be destructive. The very ambition we impose on our children may get some into Harvard but may also set them up for disappointment. One study found that, other things being equal, graduates of highly selective schools experienced more job dissatisfaction. They may have been so conditioned to being on top that anything less disappoints.
1. Why does the author say that parents are the true fighters in the college-admissions wars?
A. They have the final say in which university their children are to attend.
B. They know best which universities are most suitable for their children.
C. They have to carry out intensive surveys of colleges before children make an application.
D. They care more about which college their children go to than the children themselves.
2. Why do parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever?
A. They want to increase their children’s chances of entering a prestigious college.
B. They hope their children can enter a university that offers attractive scholarships.
C. Their children will have a wider choice of which college to go to.
D. Elite universities now enroll fewer student than they used to.
3. What does the author mean by “kids count more than their colleges” Line1, para.4?
A. Continuing education is more important to a person’s success.
B. A person’s happiness should be valued more than their education.
C. Kids’ actual abilities are more important than their college background.
D. What kids learn at college cannot keep up with job market requirements.
4. What does Krueger’s study tell us?
A. Getting into Ph.D. programs may be more competitive than getting into college.
B. Degrees of prestigious universities do not guarantee entry to graduate programs.
C. Graduates from prestigious universities do not care much about their GRE scores.
D. Connections built in prestigious universities may be kept long after graduation.
5. One possible result of pushing children into elite universities is that______
A. they earn less than their peers from other institutions  
B. they turn out to be less competitive in the job market
C. they experience more job dissatisfaction after graduation 
D. they overemphasize their qualifications in job application


While reading a story on 20-somethings complaining about how the economy was ruiningg their life plans, I couldn’t help but think the 20-somethings sounded like a bunch of spoiled who grew up expecting everything to be easy for them. As a 20-something myself, certainly share their disappointment : my husband and I probably won’t be able to buy a house until we’re in our 40s, and we two are burdened by student loans(贷款). But why should it be any different? Being young persons in America, shouldn’t they take up all of the challenges and opportunities that this country offers?
Consider some of these views shared in the story: Jennifer, 29, owner of a two-bedroom apartment with her husband, worries that she won’t be able to have children for at least a decade because they can’t afford to buy a house yet.
I read that, and I thought what planet she is living on where you need to own a house in order to have kids? Has she ever visited a developing country, or even downtown areas in this one? Home ownership is a luxury(奢华), not a fertility requirement.
A 26-year-old in the story is disappointed that he can’t afford to get a Ph. D in literature. Well, that sounds a bit like expressing disappointment that no one will pay you to write poetry on the beach in Thailand for five years.
Yes, it’s sad that these young people feel so lost. But I think the problem is their extremely high expectations, not economic reality. Beth Kobliner, author of Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties, says that she thinks people’s expectations grew up at a time when everyone’s wealth appeared to be increasing, Their parents probably saw their home values rise along with their investments. “So you have people who have grown up in an environment where people had great expectations of what living well means,” says Kobliner.
This recession(经济衰退) will certainly play a role in forcing those expectations into more realistic group. In the meantime, it seems a lot better for our mental health to focus on being grateful---for our one-bedroom apartments, for living in modern cities, or perhaps just for being able to eat three meals a day---than on longing for some kind of luxury life.
【小题1】. What makes the author think the 20-somethings sound like a bunch of spoiled children?

A.They expect everything to be easy for them.
B.They complain that the economy is spoiling their life plans.
C.They are unwilling to face all of the challenges.
D.They are burdened by student loans.
【小题2】. The underlined word “fertility” in paragraph 3 probably means“_____”.
A.baby productionB.pleasantC.baby comfortD.comfortable
【小题3】. Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the complaints of the 20-somethings?
A.They can’t have children for at least a decade a decade to buy a house.
B.They have only a one-bedroom apartment to live in.
C.They can’t buy a house until 40 and are burdened by student loans.
D.They despair at not being able to afford a PH. D in literature.
【小题4】. What’s the Kobliner’s attitude towards the 20-somethings with high expectations?
A.UnbearableB.OppositeC.DoubtfulD.Understanding
【小题5】What is the best title for this passage?
A.Young people afford to continue their study
B.Young people can’t afford to buy a house
C.Young people’s high hopes create despair
D.The 20-somethings’ high expectations


Many people consider their pets members of the family and are very sad when they die, but what if you could clone your dog, cat or bird?
A scientist in New Orleans, who has proved his ability to clone other animals, is now offering the possibility to pet owners here in Wisconsin.
Scientists have not been able to clone dogs, cats or other pets, but if and when the time comes, several companies will be ready and able to do the job.
The question is: Are you ready to clone your pet? Brett Reggio is betting on it.He is working on his Ph. D at Louisian State University. He's successfully cloned a goat five times and wants to try the process on family pets.  So he started a business called Lazaron. “What Lazaron provides is the first step in the cloning process. ”He said.“It’s for curing and storing the fiberglass cells that will be used for cloning.”
“Your first reaction is yeah! I think I’d like that.” said Donna Schacht, a pet owner.
“I don’t believe you can ever replace a special love,” pet owner Paulette Callattion said.
Most pet owners will tell you freezing your pet’s  DNA in hopes of one day cloning it is a personal decision.
Scientists say that cloning your own pet doesn’t mean that the offspring(后代) will have the same intelligence, temperament(性情) or other qualities that your pet has.
【小题1】From the passage we know that scientists have ______.

A.tried to clone animals
B.cloned many kinds of animals
C.been able to clone pets for people
D.once cloned goats successfully
【小题2】Brett Reggio started a business in order to _____.
A.clone pets for people
B.store the DAN of people’s pets for cloning one day
C.make pets members of a family
D.collect different ideas on cloning from people
【小题3】Some people seem not interested in cloning pets because___________.
A.they think it would be too expensive
B.they don’t think scientists will one day be able to clone their pets
C.they think the cloned pet would not be the one they once had
D.they don’t want to give any love to the cloned pet
【小题4】If you cloned a pet, your might find that it_____.
A.looked different from the pet you once had
B.turned out to be another kind of animal
C.had a different character
D.were just the same pet your once had


C
I don’t ever want to talk about being a woman scientist again. There was a time in my life when people asked constantly for stories about what it’s like to work in a field dominated by men. I was never very good at telling those stories because truthfully I never found them interesting. What I do find interesting is the origin of the universe, the shape of space-time and the nature of black holes.
At 19, when I began studying astrophysics, it did not bother me in the least to be the only woman in the classroom. But while earning my Ph.D. at MIT and then as a post-doctor doing space research, the issue started to bother me. My every achievement--- jobs, research papers, awards --- was viewed through the lens of gender(性别)politics. So were my failures. Sometimes, when I was pushed into an argument on left brain versus right brain, or nature versus nurture(培育, I would instantly fight fiercely on my behalf and all womankind.
Then one day a few years ago, out of my mouth came a sentence that would eventually become my reply to any and all provocations: I don’t talk about that anymore. It took me 10 years to get back the confidence I had at 19 and to realize that I didn’t want to deal with gender issues. Why should curing sexism be yet another terrible burden on every female scientist? After all, I don’t study sociology or political theory.
Today I research and teach at Barnard, a women’s college in New York City. Recently, someone asked me how many of the 45 students in my class were women. You cannot imagine my satisfaction at being able to answer, 45. I know some of my students worry how they will manage their scientific research and a desire for children. And I don’t dismiss those concerns. Still, I don’t tell them “war” stories. Instead, I have given them this: the visual of their physics professor heavily pregnant doing physics experiments. And in turn they have given me the image of 45 women driven by a love of science. And that’s a sight worth talking about.
72. Why doesn’t the author want to talk about being a woman scientist again?
She feels unhappy working in male-dominated fields.
She is not good at telling stories of the kind.
She finds space research more important.
She is fed up with the issue of gender discrimination.
73. From Paragraph 2, we can infer that people would attribute the author’s failures to ______.
her over-confidence as a female astrophysicist
the very fact that she is a woman
her involvement in gender politics
the burden she bears in a male-dominated society
74. Why does the author feel great satisfaction when talking about her class?
Her students’ performance has brought back her confidence.
Her female students can do just as well as male students.
More female students are pursuing science than before.
Female students no longer have to bother about gender issues.
75. What does the image the author presents to her students suggest?
A.  Women students needn’t have the concerns of her generation.
Women have more barriers on their way to academic success.
Women now have fewer problems pursuing a science career.
Women can balance a career in science and having a family.

Deception (骗术)is something that people do all the time ,and it plays an important role in military (军事的)strategy. Now some researchers are trying to figure out how to get robots to do it, by looking at the behavior of squirrels and birds.
At Georgia Tech, a team led by Ronald Arkin , a professor at the School of interactive Computing, studied the literature on squirrels hiding their acorns (橡果).Squirrels will hide their food m a certain place, but when they see other squirrels trying to steal from them, they attempt to fool the thieves by running to a fake location.
Ronald Arkin and his Ph. D. student Jaeeun Shim used that as a model for robot behavior. They programmed the robot into tricking a “predator (捕食者)” machine by doing what εi squirrel does: showing the enemy a false location for an important resource.
The team also looked at how other animals in this case,a species of bird called Arabian babbler~ drive off predators. A babbler will make an alarm call when they see a predator and other babblers will join the bird and make more calls. They then surround the predator, all the while flapping (拍打)wings and making noises. The babblers don’t ever actually fight the animal they want to drive off; they just make enough noises and flaps around enough so that it seems that attacking a babbler isn’t worth it
They found that the deception works when the group reaches a certain size—essentially, when enough birds arrive to convince the enemy that it’s best to back off . Davis modeled that behavior in software using a military scene and found that it worked even if the group didn’t have the firepower to confront the enemy directly.
The military is interested in this because a robot that can fool an opponent is a valuable tool. It could lead an enemy down a fake trail or make itself look more dangerous than it actually is.
【小题1】Why does the military want to take advantage of squirrels’trick?

A.It can reduce the use of firepower to confront the enemy.
B.It can fool the enemy into believing it is more dangerous.
C.It can lead the enemy in a wrong direction to avoid losing resources.
D.It can scare the enemy away who wants to destroy the acorns.
【小题2】Which of the following is NOT the way Arabian babblers drive off predators?
A.One bird makes an alarm call and other birds will join it
B.They fight the enemy bravely face to face.
C.They make noises and flaps around the predator.
D.They force the predator aware that it isn't worthwhile to attack.
【小题3】What is the main idea of the passage?
A.Animals' behaviors are researched to be applied to the study of military robots.
B.Robots, fooling tricks are applied to the study of animals’behaviors.
C.Birds and squirrels are the animals that are good at deception.
D.Researchers are interested m animals’military-related behaviors.

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