D
At the railway stations all across Britain next week, groups of students will gather with their backpacks to wait for the trains that will carry them home for Christmas. This is a large movement of human beings as before, but with more contradictory traffic flows, so that trains filled with the young pass each other travelling in every direction.
At first, I went home every weekend with my washing, but then those visits became less regular. How did I let my parents know I was coming? They had no phone. Perhaps I wrote to them (“Expect me with dirty shirts this Friday afternoon”), but more likely I didn’t let them know, and just turned up or didn’t turn up, not understanding that my parents’ hopes of seeing me were a greater disappointment of my carelessness than a spoiled tea.
And in all this I suspect I was typical (有代表性的), at least of young men. As for our fathers and mothers, none of them talked of “empty-nest syndrome (综合症)”, even though its possible effect that the main human duty is to protect and feed the young would have suited their generation better than ours. Then, the feeling of loss went without a name. Today, it’s a condition with remedies, which will make parents feel more enjoyable in their life, The Mayo Clinic, for example, suggests you try to maintain regular contact with your children through “visits, phone calls, emails, texts or video chats”. If you feel unhappy, lean on (depend on … for support) loved ones or your mental health providers. Above all, stay positive: “Thinking about the extra time and energy that you might have to devote to your marriage or personal interests after your last child leaves home, it might help you adapt to this major life change.”
What can’t be denied, however, is that children often leave home. In modern societies, this is what they do. Christmas is the very time they can be depended on to return. For the non-religious, that may be this season’s true comfort and significance.
【小题1】The main reason for the busy traffic across Britain next week is that _______.

A town in Oxfordshire has become the first in the UK to have biomethane（生物甲烷）gas from human waste piped to their homes for gas central heating and cooking.
Up to 200 families in Didcot now receive the gas via the national gas power system. Head of energy and technology at British Gas, Martin Orrill, said customers wouldn’t notice any difference as the gas is purified（提炼）to the highest standard and has no smell. The gas is produced at a sewage（污物）treatment works plant in Didcot.
The entire process takes only less than three weeks, with the sewage being collected and sent first to settlement tanks. The solid waste material is then fed into digesters, where anaerobic bacteria（厌氧菌）digest the sewage, with the aid of enzymes（酶）to speed up the process. The digestion process produces methane, which can be burned to drive machines to produce electricity, or can be purified and fed into the gas network and piped to homes and businesses. British Gas says supplying the gas rather than electricity is far more efficient since around two-thirds of the energy is lost in producing electricity.
Partners in the Didcot project, British Gas, Scotia Gas Networks, and Thames Water, all hope to expand the process to other towns, and other companies such as Ecotricity and United Utilities have also announced biomethane projects being planned. One of these projects, in Manchester, could be supplying 500 homes with biomethane by mid next year. Another British Gas project in Suffolk will provide gas from digestion of brewery wastes to around 235 families.
The Didcot project cost ￡2.5m and was influenced by promises of government aids aimed at encouraging companies to develop renewable technologies. An EU directive means the UK must ensure at least 15 percent of its energy is from renewable sources by 2020.
The UK produces about 1.73 million tons of sewage annually. If all sewage treatment works in the UK were fitted with the technology, they could supply gas for up to 350,000 families.
【小题1】Which of the following is true of the biomethane gas?

D

Providing small classes for at least several grades starting in early primary school gives students the best chance to succeed in late grades, according to groundbreaking new research from a Michigan State University scholar.

The research by Spyros Konstantopoulos, a professor of education, is the first to examine the effects of class size over a period and for all levels of students. The study appears in the American Journal of Education.

He is also a member of a group for the Department of Education’s Instiute of Education Sciences that will give official advice on class size to the states. He said the advice will mirror his research: the best plan is to provide continuous small classes(13 to 17 students) for at least several years starting in kindergarten or first grade.

“For a logn time states thought they could just do it in kindergarten or first grade for one year and get the benefits,” He said. “I don’t believe that. I think you need at least a few years in a row where all students, and especially low-achievers, receive the treatment, and then you see the benefits later.”

His research used data from the Project Star study in Tennessee that analyzed the effects of class size on more than 11,000 students in primary and middle school. He found that students who had been in small classes from kindergarten through third grade had actually higher test scores in grades four through eight than students who been in larger classes early on.

Students from all achievement levels benefited from small classes, the research found. “But low-achievers benefited the most, which narrowed the achievement gap with high –achievers in science, reading and math, ” he said.

Although the study didn’t consider classroom practices, he said the reason for the narrowing gap is likely due to low-achieving students receiving more attention from teachers.

“This is especially important in poorer schools because teacher effectiveness matters more in schools with more disadvantaged and low-performing students, ” he said.

48．The professor argues about ________ .

       A．the size of the class

       B．the period of the class

       C．the attention from teachers

       D．the achievements of students

49．The result of the research shows that _________.

       A．small classes for one year in early grade are enough

       B．continuous small classes help students achieve more

       C．it’s best to attend small classes in kindergarten

       D．small classes do equal good to students of all levels

50．What can we infer from the passage?

       A．High achievers will not benefit from small classes.

       B．Continuous small classes have not been widely accepted.

       C．Low-achievers should be separated from high-achievers.

       D．Teachers’ attention matters less than classroom practices.

51．The underlined word “This” in the last paragraph refers to _______.

      A．the gap between low and high achievers

       B．continuous small classes

       C．classroom practices in later grades

       D．the Project Star Sturdy

  A new study in West Africa shows how farm irrigation systems powered by the sun can produce more food and money for villagers. The study in Benin found that solar-powered pumps are effective in supplying water, especially during the long dry season.

  Sub-Saharan Africa is the part of the world with the least food security. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more than one billion of the world’s people faced hunger last year. Around two hundred sixty-five million of them live south of the Sahara Desert. Lack of rainfall is one of their main causes of food shortages.

  Jennifer Burney from Stanford University in California led the study. The research team helped build three solar-powered irrigation systems in northern Benin.

The solar-powered irrigation systems produced an average of nearly two metric tons of vegetables per month.

  They sold the surplus(过剩的) produce at local markets. The earnings greatly increased their ability to buy food during the dry season which can last six to nine months.

  People in the two villages with the systems were able to eat three to five more serving of vegetables per day. But making the surplus available at markets also had a wider effect.

  The study compared the villages with two others where women farmed with traditional methods like carrying water in buckets. The amount of vegetables eaten in those villages also increased, though not as much.

  The researchers note that only four percent of the cropland in sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated. Using solar power to pump water has higher costs at first. But the study says it can be more economical in the long term than using fuels like gasoline, diesel or kerosene. And solar power is environmentally friendly.

1.People living in sub-Saharan Africa are short of food mainly because______.

  A. it seldom rains there throughout the year   B. there is little farmland in the area

  C. people there lack experience in farming    D. people know nothing about irrigation techniques

2.Which of the following is an advantage of Jennifer’s irrigation systems?

  A. They are not affected by the weather.

B. They cost much less than traditional irrigation systems.

  C. They have no bad effects on the environment.

  D. They use less fuel than traditional irrigation systems.

3.We can learn from the last paragraph that______.

  A. people in South Africa will soon be provided with enough food

  B. the demand for fuels like gasoline will greatly decrease in Africa

  C. people in sub-Saharan Africa don’t take agriculture seriously

  D. it’s worthwhile to use the new irrigation systems on the while

4.People in the two villages owe all the following to Jennifer’s irrigation systems EXCEPT that ______.

  A. they could buy more food during the dry season

  B. they could eat more vegetables than usual every day

  C. they could supply local markets with vegetables

  D. they could provide people in other villages with food

C

Children start out as natural scientists, and eager to look into the world around them. Helping them enjoy science can be easy; there's no need for a lot of scientific terms or expensive lab equipment. You only have to share your children's curiosity. Firstly, listen to their questions. I once visited a classroom of seven-year-olds to talk about science as a job. The children asked me "textbook questions" about schooling, salary and whether I liked my job. When I finished answering, we sat facing one another in silence. Finally I said, "Now that we've finished with your lists, do you have questions of your own about science?"

After a long pause, a boy raised his hand, "Have you ever seen what a grasshopper (蚱蜢) eats? When I try eating leaves like that, I get a stomachache. Why?"

This began a set of questions that lasted nearly two hours.

Secondly, give them time to think. Studies over the past 30 years have shown that, after asking a question, adults typically wait only one second or less for an answer, no time for a child to think. When adults increase their "wait time" to three seconds or more, children give more logical, complete creative answers.

Thirdly, watch your language. Once you have a child involved in a science discussion, don't jump in with "That's right" or "I'd never thought of it that way before," or coming up with more questions or ideas.

Never push a child to "think". It doesn't make sense. Children are always thinking, without your telling them to. What's more, this can turn a conversation into a performance. The child will try to find the answer you want, in as few words as possible, so that he will be a smaller target for your disagreement.

Lastly, show; don't tell. Real-life impressions of nature are far more impressive than any lessons children can learn from a book or a television program. Let children look at their fingertips through a magnifying glass, and they'll understand why you want them to wash before dinner. Rather than saying that water evaporates, set a pot of water to boil and let them watch the water level drop.

64. According to the passage, children are natural scientists, and to raise their interest, the most important thing for adults to do is ___________.

A. to let them see the world around                B. to share the children's curiosity

C. to explain difficult phrases about science               D. to supply the children with lab equipment

65. In the last sentence of the first paragraph, the word "lists" could best be replaced by "_________".

A. any questions                 B. any problems     

C. questions from textbooks        D. any number of questions

66. According to the passage, children can answer questions in a more logical, complete and creative way if adults__________.

A. ask them to answer quickly                       B. wait for one or two seconds after a question

C. tell them to answer the next day                 D. wait at least for three seconds after a question

67. In which of the following paragraph (s) does the author tell us what to say to encourage children in a science discussion?

A. The second and third.      B. The fourth.     C. The fifth.       D. The sixth and seventh.

68. The author mentions all of the following techniques for adults to share with their children's curiosity EXCEPT that adults should _________.

A. tell their children stories instead of reciting facts

B. offer their children chances to see things for themselves

C. be patient enough when their children answer questions

D. encourage their children to ask questions of their own