Surprises often come in boxes. Birthday presents wrapped in colorful paper, brown paper packages mailed from a friend. No matter what kind of box it is, people like to open it up and see what's inside. In America, and in many other countries, one special kind of box contains the future. It's called a ballot box. What people put into the box on election day can change the course of history.
Elections are the lifeblood of a democracy. The word democracy literally means "the people rule," an important concept in American history. In the mid-1700s, England began passing laws that made the American colonies angry. The colonists had to pay more and more taxes and enjoyed less and less freedom. They felt the government of England didn't represent their interests. On July 4, 1776, the colonies declared their independence from England. They wanted to establish a democracy where people could have a voice in government.
An effective democracy holds regular elections. In America, elections are held every two years for members of Congress. In these elections, all seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate seats are up for grabs. In addition, every four years, voters go to the polls to elect the nation's president and vice-president. Voters also regularly cast their ballots for state and city government leaders and local school board members. Sometimes they also have to vote on a proposed law.
In the American electoral system, people don't really vote for presidential candidates. Instead, voters cast their ballots for "electors" who support each candidate. Each state has as many electors as the total number of its representatives in Congress. This equals two senators per state plus the number of its representatives in the House (which is based on the state's population). The candidate who has the most votes in a state wins all of the state's electors. To win the presidential election, a candidate must gain at least 270 of the 538 total electoral votes.
Over the years, the U.S. has made a number of election reforms. Some early reforms outlawed cheating, giving bribes and threatening voters. They also limited the amount of money candidates could receive from donors and spend on their campaigns. In 1870, black people gained the right to vote, and in 1920, that right was extended to women. In recent decades, laws against unfair rules for voting have been passed. No longer do people have to pay a special tax or pass a test in order to vote. In 1971, the voting age was lowered to 18. Other reforms made voting easier for the blind, the disabled and people who couldn't read. In some areas, ballots had to be printed in languages besides English.
In November, Americans will again elect those who will represent them in government. Although some citizens aren't even registered to vote--and some registered voters don't bother to go to the polls--most Americans exercise their right to vote. They realize that their future is wrapped up in a special package--the ballot box. It's a package that must definitely be "handled with care."
【小题1】According to the context, what does a “ballot box” mean in Chinese?

A.彩票箱B.投票箱C.礼品箱D.保险箱
【小题2】Democracy means that ____.
A.People couldn’t have a voice in a government.
B.In America, elections are held every four years for members of Congress.
C.Democracy is the lifeblood of elections.
D.Basically “ the people rule”, and it’s very important in American history.
【小题3】How will the votes distributed if Romney got 20 votes while Obama received 17 votes in California in the election?
A.Romney will win 20 votes in California.
B.Obama will win 20 votes in California.
C.Romney will win 37 votes in California.
D.Obama will win 37 votes in California.
【小题4】 Which one is RIGHT about election reforms?
A.People have to pay a special tax to vote.
B.There are bribes and threatening in elections now.
C.People above eighteen years old can vote now.
D.The disabled or the blind have tough access to voting.
【小题5】 What’s the main idea of this passage?
A.Birthday boxes in the U.S. B.Election systems in the U.S.
C.Election reforms in the U.S.D.Democracy in the U.S.

阅读下面短文,并按照题目要求用英语问答问题(请注意问题后词数要求)。

Some countries are better than others at looking after the environment. In Europe, Germany(德国)and northem European countries work very hard to improve the environment. The people in Germany put their rubbish into different bags-paper in one bag, plastic in laws that do not allow people to burn too much coal. In the 1970s ,as people learned more about environmental problems, the “Green” movement(运动)began and soon spread all over Europe. The “Green ”movement tries to get governments to protect the environment. It collects information about how industry is damaging(毁坏)the environment and tells newspapers. 

1.Which countries in Europe work very hard to improve the environment? (within 5 words)

                                                                                           

2.Who put rubbish into different bags? (within 4 words)

                                                                                           

3.Can the people in Germany burn too much coal? (within 1 words)

                                                                                            

4.When did the “Green “movement begin? (within 3 words)

                                                                                           

5.What does the “Green”movement try to do?  (within 6 words)

                                                                                           

 

Laws that would have ensured pupils from five to 16 received a full financial education got lost in the ‘wash up’. An application is calling on the next government to bring it back.

 At school the children are taught to add up and subtract(减法) but, extraordinarily, are not routinely shown how to open a bank account — let alone how to manage their finances in an increasingly complex and demanding world.

 Today the parenting website Mumsnet and the consumer campaigner Martin Lewis have joined forces to launch an online application to make financial education a compulsory element of the school curriculum in England. Children from five to 16 should be taught about everything from pocket money to pensions, they say. And that was exactly the plan preserved in the Children, Schools and Families bill that was shelved by the government in the so-called “wash-up” earlier this month — the rush to legislation before parliament was dismissed. Consumer and parent groups believe financial education has always been one of the most frustrating omissions of the curriculum.

 As the Personal Finance Education Group (Pfeg) points out, the good habits of young children do not last long. Over 75% of seven- to 11-year-olds are savers but by the time they get to 17, over half of them are in debt to family and friends. By this age, 26% see a credit card or overdraft(透支) as a way of extending their spending power. Pfeg predicts that these young people will “find it much harder to avoid the serious unexpected dangers that have befallen many of their parents' generation unless they receive good quality financial education while at school.”

 The UK has been in the worst financial recession(衰退)for generations. It does seem odd that — unless parents step in — young people are left in the dark until they are cruelly introduced to the world of debt when they turn up at university. In a recent poll of over 8,000 people, 97% supported financial education in schools, while 3% said it was a job for parents.

1.The passage is mainly about _____________.

A.how to manage school lessons             B. teaching young people about money 

C.how to deal with the financial crisis          D.teaching students how to study effectively

2.It can be inferred from the first two paragraphs that __________.

A.laws on financial education have been effectively carried out

B.pupils should not be taught to add up and subtract

C.students have been taught to manage their finances

D.the author complains about the school education

3.The website and the consumer campaigner joined to _________.

A.instruct the pupils to donate their pocket money

B.promote the connection of schools and families

C.ask the government to dismiss the parliament

D.appeal for the curriculum of financial education

4.A poll is mentioned to ___________.

A.show the seriousness of the financial recession

B.stress the necessity of the curriculum reform

C.make the readers aware of burden of the parents

D.illustrate some people are strongly against the proposal

 

Patricia Blues, 29, has a new aim in life: to keep drivers' hands on their steering wheels and off their cell phones. On November 2, 2007, Blues lived through a horrible experience. A motorist dialing a cell phone drove through a stop sign at 45 miles per hour and run into the side of Blues' car. Blues' 2-year-old daughter was killed immediately in the crash.

Blues has since dedicated her time to pushing for laws that would prevent this type of tragedy from happening again.

Cell phones are not the only distractions (分神) that cause accidents. Eating, changing CD, reading maps, talking to passengers, and just reaching for an object on the floor can be dangerous. Therefore, the emphasis should be on educating drivers to avoid all distractions. However, talking on cell phones might be easier to regulate than eating or changing music. At least 34 states have already passed laws to restrict cell phone use in moving cars. No state has banned it yet, but several U. S. cities have. Worldwide, 13 nations, including Australia, England, Germany, Japan and China have banned drivers' use of cell phones in moving cars.

To date, no scientific evidence has been published showing that talking on the phone affects driving safety. But according to a test by some high school students, "driving while on the phone does affect safety and probably shouldn't be done".

64. What happened to Patricia Blues last November? ________.

A. She was seriously injured in a car crash  

B. She lost her daughter in a road accident

C. She broke the traffic rules at a bus stop  

D. Her vehicle was destroyed by a motorbike

65. The tragedy was caused by ________.

A. Blues' lack of driving experience   

B. the motorist’s failure of seeing the stop sign

C. Blues' poor car conditions         

D. the motorist's absence of mind while driving

66. Patricia Blues' new goal of life is to persuade the government ________.

A. to prohibit the carrying of cell phones in cars  

B. to educate drivers to avoid all distractions

C. to ban talking on the phone while driving  

D. to study, harmful results of using cell phones

67. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text? ________.

A. Using cell phone while driving is easier to be controlled by law than other distractions

B. It is more important to make laws than educate drivers to be aware of driving safety

C. Driving while on the phone is firmly against only by some students from high school

D. It is extremely urgent for the cities with a large population to restrict using cell phones   

 

Since new technologies are ever growing, employers now have the chance to monitor (监控) their employees to make them spare more time to work when they use their phones, computer terminals, emails and even when an employee is using the Internet.

Recent surveys have shown that a majority of employers monitor their employees’ activities.It was found that three fourths of employers monitored the websites their employees visited in order to prevent improper surfing.The survey further indicated that 65% of employers used software to block connections to websites considered off limits to employees.One third of employers monitored their employees’ number of keystrokes and the amount of time spent on the keyboard and lastly just over half of the employers surveyed review and kept email messages.

Most of the time, email is not considered private if the email system is used at a company, the employer owns it and is allowed to review its contents.Email messages that are sent within the company, as well as those that are sent from the employee’s terminal to another company, or from another company to the employee are subject to monitoring.If an email is deleted out of the employee’s account, that doesn’t mean that they are totally deleted.The messages are kept in memory.Emails are often backed up along with other important data from the computer system.If an employer’s email policy specifically states that messages marked as “private” will be kept confidential (机密的),however, there may also be some exceptions to that policy (政策).

In order to know their employer’s email policy, employees should read over the employee handbook.If the handbook doesn’t address the issue of email monitoring, they should speak with their employer about their policy for emails and privacy.Currently there are very few laws that address workplace privacy; however, there are some organizations that are working to advocate for employees so that there will be a stronger government regulation of employee monitoring activities.

1.According to the author, the employers’ monitoring ____.

A.may be an efficient management method

B.should be performed secretly

C.has resulted from the development in computers

D.is quite common nowadays

2.Employers probably think that monitoring the employees can help them ____.

A.improve their work efficiency(有效)

B.use computers properly

C.develop a way of keeping office secrets

D.reduce their mental pressures

3.It can be inferred from the passage that ____.

A.employees should delete their own emails at once to keep them secret

B.an employer’s email policy may protect the employees’ privacy

C.nobody can help solve the problem of office privacy

D.an employee may feel troubled by being monitored in the office

4.The underlined phrase “advocate for” in the last paragraph means “____”.

A.tell the employees the truth

B.publicly support

C.ask the employees to be more attentive

D.remind the employees of the possible failure

 

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