题目内容

Hundreds of secondary schools are using a controversial reward scheme which “bribes” (贿赂)pupils with iPods and DVD players to turn up in classes and do homework.

Almost one million schoolchildren have been issued with supermarket-style reward cards which allow them to collect good-behavior “points” and cash them in for prizes.

Schools taking part in the “Vivo Miles” scheme are spending several thousand pounds a year in an attempt to cut truancy (逃学) and promote achievements. The prizes are ultimately funded by the taxpayer, through school budgets. Nearly 500 secondary schools, one in six, have decided to take part in the scheme, which is intended to replace old-style rewards such as stickers and golden stars.

But the extent of rewards being offered in schools brought a warning that a generation of children is growing up expecting to be rewarded at every stage. Many youngsters are collecting points for ordinary achievements such as remembering to bring their PE kit and wearing the correct uniform.

Under the scheme, teachers award Vivo points—worth 1 penny each—according to the school’s policy. Schools typically spend£4 to£6 on prizes per pupil each year, although some commit considerably more. Most pupils accumulate between 400 and 600 Vivos a year. Vivo Miles insists it is “pretty rare” for a pupil to accumulate enough points to buy an iPod, which requires 3,100 Vivos.

But Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said the scheme amounted to “bribery”. “It misleads children into thinking anything which requires effort has to have a special reward,” he said. “This ‘all must have prizes’ view is damaging to children in the long-term.” The scheme amounted to an “admission of failure” by schools. He said. “It shows a school has failed to convince children education is important.”

1.The “Vivo Miles” scheme is aimed at ______________.

A.increasing the income of the school

B.encouraging students to perform well at school

C.inviting more students to attend the school nearby

D.encouraging parents to donate to the school

2.The underlined word “controversial” in the first paragraph can be replaced by __________.

A.arguable          B.practical          C.strange           D.mature

3.Those who oppose the “Vivo Miles” scheme think ______________.

A.it helps control the problem of truancy

B.it teaches children the importance of saving

C.it will mislead children about efforts and rewards

D.it’s not easy to get more than 600 Vivos a year

4.What’s the writer’s attitude towards the scheme?

A.Supportive.        B.Opposed.          C.Unconcerned.      D.Objective.

 

【答案】

1.B

2.A

3.C

4.B

【解析】

试题分析:本文叙述了在英国进行的一项“Vivo Miles” scheme,是用奖励物质上的东西来鼓励学生认真学习,并描述了不同的人对此的不同态度。

1.B 推理题。根据第二段3,4行Schools taking part in the “Vivo Miles” scheme are spending several thousand pounds a year in an attempt to cut truancy (逃学) and promote achievements.说明学校用这种方法的目的是鼓励学生在学校有更好的表现,能提升他们的成就,故B正确。

2.A 推理题。通读全文可知对于这样的一个计划,有支持也有反对,所以Hundreds of secondary schools are using a controversial reward scheme指的该词是指有争议的。故A正确。

3.C 细节题。根据最后一段2,3行It misleads children into thinking anything which requires effort has to have a special reward,”说明他们认为这样的计划会误导学生关于努力和奖励的关系,认为自己的努力就是为了得到奖励。故C项正确。

4.D 态度意图题。在本文中作者只是客观的描绘了这样的情况,并没有方便自己的个人看法,所以他是持有一种很客观的态度,故D项正确。

考点:考查新闻报告类短文阅读

点评:本文叙述了在英国进行的一项“Vivo Miles” scheme,是用奖励物质上的东西来鼓励学生认真学习,并描述了不同的人对此的不同态度。本文的难点在于词汇的障碍,要求考生能够在有部分不认识的单词的基础上理解文章的大意,做合理的推测和意义的延伸,做出正确的判断。

 

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Working Wives

  Last week, we published an article about modern marriage.A recent survey showed that in England 51 percent of married women go out to work.People were asked what they thought of “working wives”.The results were as follows:

  We asked readers to write and tell us their opinions.Here are some of the hundreds of letters we received.?

  I’m a(woman)photographer.I make plenty of money, travel a lot, and meet a lot of people.I enjoy my work, and would hate to stay at home.I would never marry a man who wanted me to give up my work.

  O’Leary

  At present there are over 1,000,000 unemployed men in Britain.If a woman gets a job, she puts one more man out of work.Perhaps that man has a wife and twelve children to support.Let women stay at home where they belong to.

  Ted Stubbs

  I am a mother of twelve children.When I go to work, my husband looks after the children.He is very good with the children and enjoys staying at home with them.And I enjoy my job as a bus driver.

  Boot Battersea

  We are twin sisters, who both got married recently.One of us(Doreen)kept her job.The other(Doris)gave up her jobs.But Doris gets bored staying at home, and Doreen gets bored going out to work.So now Doreen works for a week, while Doris stays at home.Then Doris does Doreen’s job for a week, while Doreen stays at home.At work, they never know if it’s Doreen who’s working today!

  Doris & Doreen Bean Hendon

(1)

Last week we published an article about _________.

[  ]

A.

marriage nowadays

B.

working women

C.

working wives

D.

a strange marriage

(2)

The woman photographer would not marry a man who _________.

[  ]

A.

has less money than her

B.

likes staying at home

C.

is not very gentle

D.

wants her to stay at home

(3)

Ted Stubbs thought that women going out to work _________.

[  ]

A.

would make men lose chances for work

B.

would be better than men

C.

would weaken the right of the husband at home

D.

would be meaningless

(4)

When the bus driver goes to work, _________.

[  ]

A.

her children take care of themselves

B.

a nurse looks after her children instead of her

C.

her husband looks after the children

D.

she has to have everything ready for the children

Kieron Williamson, a seven-year-old British boy, is being recognized as an art genius after selling 16 paintings for 18, 000 pounds in just 14 minutes. This boy has artistic skills that would be the envy of any serious painter and drawn comparisons to Pablo Picasso, a child prodigy(神童)who became one of the most recognized artists of the 20th century.

 It all began on a family holiday to Cornwall on the southwest English coast when Kieron was five. Inspired by the view, he asked his parents for his first sketch-pad (速写纸). From that moment on, he became deeply interested. While supportive, Kieron’s parents are careful not to push their son. He only paints when and what he wants.

 He has a waiting list of hundreds and requests for his works have been flooding in. His father said a sale of Kieron’s works held in November even drew a buyer from Japan. “We had people driving down that night, there were people on the door waiting to come in the morning who had been standing outside, the phones were going mad as soon as the door opened at nine o’clock and within 14 minutes all the 16 pictures had gone, ” he said.

All this talent, money and high praise could so easily go to a young boy’s head, but Kieron said his friends keep him grounded. “Some of them want to be as good as me and some of them think. . . Umn, ‘you are not too special’, ” he said.

    Kieron’s favourite painter is British artist Edward Seago and he has spent some of his earnings buying a work by his hero. The rest is being invested by his parents until he reaches 25. Kieron’s parents and his younger sister Billi-Jo don’t see him as anything other than a normal seven-year-old boy who likes to tear around the house and who’s mad about football. But for now, with so much still to learn, there’s only one thing he wants to be when he grows up. He said, “I think I’ll definitely be an artist. ”

26. According to Paragraph 1, we can know Kieron Williamson ________.

A. painted 16 paintings in only 14 minutes

B. draws as well as Picasso did

C. is one of the most recognized artists

D. has unusual ability in painting

27. What made Kieron Williamson begin to love painting?

A. His first sketch-pad.

B. His parents’ encouragement.

C. The view at the seaside.

D. His swimming near the coast.

28. In Kieron Williamson’s friends’ opinion, he ________.

A. is famous but a little proud

B. isn’t very special from other children

C. isn’t worth praising at all

D. is hard to get along with

29. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ________.

A. Edward Seago thinks highly of Kieron’s painting

B. Kieron likes doing sports and painting instead of studying

C. Kieron’s family is very poor

D. Kieron wants to be a great painter

30. The passage mainly tells us________.

A. a seven-year-old painting genius

B. how to be a great painter

C. Kieron Williamson may become the second Picasso

D. the painting changed Kieron Williamson’s life greatly

The Great Fire of London started in the very early hours of 2 September 1666. In four days it destroyed more than three-quarters of the old city, where most of the houses were wooden and close together. Over one hundred people became homeless, but only a few lost their lives.

   The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the King’s baker(面包师)in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window into the roof. A strong wind blew the fire from the bakery(面包房)into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the beginning.

   By eight o’ clock three hundred houses were on fire. On Monday nearly a kilometer of the city was burning along the River Thames. Tuesday was the worst day. The fire destroyed many well-known buildings, old St Pauls and the Guildhall among them.

  Samuel Pepys, the famous writer, write about the fire, “People threw their things into the river. Many poor people stayed in their houses until the last moment. Birds fell out of the air because of the heat .”

  The fire stopped only when the King finally ordered people to destroy hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire. With nothing left to burn, the fire became weak and finally died out.

  After the fire, Christopher Wren, the architect(建筑师), wanted a city with wider streets and fine new houses of stone. In fact, the streets are still narrow, but he did build more than fifty churches, among them the mew St Pauls.

  The fire caused great pain and loss, but after it London was a better place: a city for the future and not just of the past.

1.The fire began in_________ .

A. a hotel    B. the palace   C. Pudding Lane    D. Thames Street

2.The underlined word “family” in the second paragraph means_________ .

A. home       B. children     C. wife and husband    D. wife and children

3.Why did the writer cite(引用)Samuel Pepys?

A. Because Pepys was among those putting out the fire.

B. Because Pepys also wrote about the fire.

C. To show that poor people suffered most.

D. To give the reader a clearer picture of the fire.

4.How was the fire put out according to the text?

A. The soldiers came to help.

B. All the wooden houses in the city were destroyed.

C. People managed to get enough water from the river.

D. Houses standing in the path of the fire were destroyed according to the King’s order.

 

I know it is wrong to envy your children. But when I see my son, Tonio and his younger brother Sam going down a slide together, one’s arm around the other, I know I have missed something wonderful.

Not only did I never have a brother, but also I had no friendships like theirs. My sister was old enough to help take care of me, so she was more a mother than a playmate, and I was more a pest than a friend. A brother would have been wonderful, but it was not in the family planning.

Now I finally live with brothers, my sons, Tonio and Sam. I am watching them build the kind of relationship that I once dreamed about. They go to bed together. When one comes into our bed after a nightmare, my wife and I know that before morning his brother will follow.

Sam manages the world with more ease than his elder brother, whose frustrations often bring him to tears. With a sincere “Smile, Tonio,” Sam is the one who comforts him. Tonio, on the other hand, has stopped playing with boys at his age who don’t like playing with Sam. They are always backing each other up.

I don’t know what kind of relationship they will have when they grow up. Parents always want their children to have what they never could. I want them to have each other. So I imagine them going to the same college, marrying sisters and living on the same block.

That’s why I was so worried the day Tonio started kindergarten. I felt that I would lose something too. As we headed for school that morning, both boys seemed relaxed, as if neither had any idea that the day was going to be different, that starting then, Tonio would be leaving behind his brother, his best friend, his right arm.

Tonio’s first day was chaotic, with hundreds of children outside looking for their teachers. Before any of us could say goodbye, Tonio disappeared with his new classmates. He turned to wave and then was gone. It was so sudden. Sam even didn’ t see him go. Although parents had been asked to ease the craziness of the first day by statying out of the school, I lifted Sam up and took him to Tonio’s classroom, looking for a glimpse of Tonio. Sam spotted him first.

My wife and I didn’t head back home immediately, stopping instead at a coffee shop to treat Sam to hot chocolate. We even let him eat ice-cream with his fingers. Sam was still quiet, so I asked him if he missed his brother already.

He didn’t answer. Instead he asked, “Daddy, is Tonio going to be gone forever?”

“No, Sammy,” I said, feeling happy about his sweet question. “Not forever, just until three o’clock.”

I sometimes think that the greatest thing I have ever done is to help create these brothers. And I didn’t stop with them. We had another child, and for the third time in a row, it was a boy. It wasn’t long before his brothers climbed into the crib(婴儿床) to play with him. I am surrounded by brothers.

1.What makes the author envy his sons?

A. He has no friends like Sam and Tonio.

B. He has only one brother in his family.

C. He doesn’t enjoy brotherhood as they do.

D. He doesn’t have a good relation with his sister.

2.What does the underlined word “pest” in paragraph 2 mean?

A. a bad person     B. an annoying person

C. a good companion    D. a lovely brother

3.What can we learn about the two little brothers?

A. Tonio often encouraged Sam when Sam burst into tears.

B. The two brothers went to the same kindergarten.

C. Neither of the brothers played with other children.

D. They supported each other in different ways.

4.The author was worried the day Tonio started his kindergarten, because__________.

A. Tonio might not spend so much time with Sam

B. Tonio might not do well with his study

C. he was afraid he would lose Tonio forever.

D. he wanted Tonio to have what he didn’t have

5.On the first day of the kindergarten, __________.

A. Tonio had a nice day playing with his new classmates

B. Sam was very sad because Tonio was gone forever

C. Sam was allowed to have ice-cream with fingers as usual

D. the father felt happy when he sensed Sam’s love to Tonio

6.What does the title “Surrounded by Brothers” suggest?

A. The author experienced brotherly affection by raising his sons.

B. The author often plays with his sons whenever he has time.

C. Parents want their children to stay at home and play together.

D. The youngest son is always surrounded by his elder brothers.

 

My husband Ollie had retired from teaching and we were making plans to travel together to Florida. Then he was terribly ill and became very weak, hardly able to speak. Weeks passed and it became clear that Ollie was near death, but I prayed day and night that he could get better.

One of us was always in Ollie’s hospital room—either me, or our grown children, Bruce and Karen. One day, in his broken and weak speech, Ollie told Bruce, “Go home. You should be with Gwen.” Gwen was Bruce’s wife. They had been married for six years and lived hundreds of miles away. Gwen was about to have a baby. We felt an extra sadness, knowing Ollie would never see his first grandchild.

“I don’t want to leave you, Dad,” Bruce said. Ollie repeated, “You should be with Gwen.” Reluctantly, Bruce left. “When the baby comes,” he promised Ollie, “you will be the first to know.” A few days later, around 2 p.m., Ollie awoke from a sleep. He turned and looked at me. I sat close to hear his weak words. “The baby is coming now. It’s a boy,” he said. For a moment his eyes were filled with tears. Then he went back to sleep again. Not long after that, Karen ran into the room. “Bruce called,” she said, a smile lighting her face. “Gwen gave birth to a healthy baby boy around two o’ clock.”

Ollie smiled; he had been the first to know. That night, Ollie died in his sleep.

1.Ollie didn’t travel to Florida because________.

A.he was too weak to travel

B.he could hardly be able to speak

C.he could not afford the trip

D.he was waiting for his grandchild to be born

2.Why did Ollie want Bruce to be with Gwen?

A.Ollie thought it was too much trouble for Bruce to stay at hospital.

B.Ollie wanted Bruce to bring the baby along as soon as it was born.

C.Ollie didn’t want his son to be absent when his baby was born.

D.Ollie couldn’t bear his son seeing him dying with a broken heart.

3.The underlined word in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to_______.

A.Disappointedly

B.Unwillingly

C.Excitedly

D.Immediately

4.What can we learn from the passage ?

A.Ollie and his wife had planned to settle in Florida.

B.Ollie cared for his son more than his daughter.

C.Ollie was sad about not being able to see his first grandchild.

D.Ollie died happy and in peace.

 

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