Your children’s teacher will be providing extra time for test preparation. This school year’s test will be held on January 8 and 9. The test preparation time is open to all students, and we strongly encourage your children to attend.
This year we are changing the time for our test preparation: it will be on Thursday mornings from 8:10 to 8:50. This helps children who ride the bus and cannot stay for the after-school period. It also helps avoid conflicts with after-school activities.
Danielle and Marina will be working with the recent new test takers 6 days on the following Thursdays: 15^th, Nov; 29^th, Nov; 6^th, Dec; 13^th, Dec.; 20^th, Dec. and 3^rd, Jan.
Besides the test preparation lectures on these dates, teachers are already putting test preparation into their usual courses. We are finding that we can help our students to be both skillful and whole-hearted readers and test takers — after all, we all know that the best test preparation is good reading and writing training.
What can you do at home? Again, the best and most effective test preparation for the ELA test is reading and more reading. The research is quite clear — students who do well in the tests are those who are good readers. Reading not only builds reading ability, it also helps build confidence — important for successful test taking! But do discourage your children from spending too much time on books that are too hard or even a bit too hard. Children best develop comprehension skills when they are reading books just right for them (too easy doesn’t hurt here either).
Finally, on Friday, December 7, we will have a morning lecture on the ELA. Please pay attention!
【小题1】The text is mainly about ________.

The past week was possibly the most eventful in the history of customer technology markets, or to be precise, the 7-inch (17.8-cm) tablet (平板电脑)market. Never before have three of the biggest players in the industry scheduled what could be truly historic product launches (上市）so close together.

Despite its name, the 7.9-inch iPad Mini is one of the largest among the mini-tablets. It's got all the aesthetics of its earlier 9.7-inch iPad and is unbelievably thin-just 7.2 mm, 23 percent thinner than the iPad.

Apple's iPad Mini

Release date: Nov 2,2012 (Wi-Fi version)

 Operating system: iOS 6

Size: 19.9 x 13.5 x 0.7 cm

Prices: $329 (16GB Wi-Fi), $429 (32GB Wi-Fi), $519 (64GB Wi-Fi), or $459 (16GB Data)

$559 (32GB Data), $659 (64GB Data)

Google may have been forced to cancel its Android event in New York City on Oct 29 due to the threat of hurricane Sandy, but that isn't stopping it from making same big announcements. For starters, Google has confirmed (证实）that the Nexus 10 will be running Android 4.2 out of the box, so get excited. It will also come equipped with a 10-inch display running at an impressive 2560x1600 resolution. On the inside, it'll have a A15 dual-core (双核）processor running alongside 2GB of RAM (内存)，so expect the Nexus 10 to be a speedy little tablet. Google's Nexus 10 Release date: Nov 13，2012 Operating system: Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Size: 26.4 x 17.8x0.9 cm Prices: $399 (16GB), $449 (32GB)

Microsoft's Surface is a bold product with some great touches. It doesn't feature a camera and focuses on Office software, which suggests Microsoft is focusing this product on an executive toy. There's no 3G connection (only Wi-Fi) so owners won't have to worry about an extra contract.

The real delight, however, is Metro, the impressive navigation interface (导航界面).It is beautifully designed with brightly colored squares for navigation. Pre-orders for Surface in the US sold out over the weekend, so it would seem customers are excited.

Microsoft's Surface

Release date: Oct 26,2012

Operating system: Windows 8 RT

Size: 27.5 x 17.2 x 0.9 cm

Prices: $499 (32GB M-Fi)

1.What can be inferred from the first paragraph?

A.The three biggest companies made a new product together.

B.A technology has been introduced to tablet industry.

C.The three companies launched their new products nearly at the same time.

D.The tablet market, in October was out of control.

2.What is the 7.9-inch iPad Mini's major contribution to the customers?

A. Wi-Fi version         B. Operating system

C. Prices        D. Size

3.How many technologies will be introduced to the Nexus 10 according to Google?

A. 6   B. 5     C. 4   D. 3

4.Which tablet with 32GB Wi-Fi is the most expensive?

A. Microsoft's Surface.      B. Apple's iPad Mini.

C. Google's Nexus 10.        D. A15 dual-core processor.

London, Dec.17 (Xinhua) “Drivers on London Underground trains have started reading out sayings from great thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi , Frindrich Engels, and Albert Einstein in a bid to cheer up passengers ,” officials said. As well as the usual announcements urging passengers to “mind the steps” and warning of delays, the sayings such as “ an ounce ( 盎司) of action is worth a ton of theory” have taken the place of commercial ad in the underground carriages .

New York, Oct.8 (Xinhua) Once as a famous actor, now the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to abandon textbooks in favor of digital ones. He plans to launch this program in August next year when California’s high-school pupils will have access to online math and science text. But some teachers wonder whether his idea of getting rid of textbooks might end up costing more not less, with digital textbook going for $300.

Amsterdam, Nov.30 (Xinhua) A few cups of coffee a day may not only help to put off the disease—dementia(痴呆) but also can treat it, according to Dr. Arendash, who led the research. After giving mice with memory damage water containing caffeine, he found the mice developed better memories and quick thinking. The reason is that caffeine is a safe drug for most people. It easily enters the brain and directly affects the disease process. He suggested people should drink five eight–ounce cups of ordinary coffee, two cups of strong ‘coffee shop’ coffee, 14 cups of tea, or 20 cola drinks to get the same amount of 500 milligrams of caffeine.

1.What’s the purpose of putting up sayings on the underground carriages in London?

A．to help passengers to kill time.

B．to encourage passengers to learn.

C．to lift the spirits of passengers.

D．to make money as a commercial ad.

2.What can we conclude from the second news?

A．digital textbooks will replace traditional textbooks.

B．online math is already available to high-school pupils .

C．digital textbooks are convenient to carry anywhere.

D．Not all the teachers support their governor’s idea.

3.Which of the following statements is true from the third news?

A．The more coffee you drink, the less chance there will be for dementia.

B．Caffeine can make mice become more and more intelligent and energetic.

C．Caffeine can affect the process of the disease—dementia and treat it.

D．Caffeine is a safe drug for all the people for everyday use so enjoy it.

Sports Tickets

Your children’s teacher will be providing extra time for test preparation. This school year’s test will be held on January 8 and 9. The test preparation time is open to all students, and we strongly encourage your children to attend.

This year we are changing the time for our test preparation: it will be on Thursday mornings from 8:10 to 8:50. This helps children who ride the bus and cannot stay for the after-school period. It also helps avoid conflicts with after-school activities.

Danielle and Marina will be working with the recent new test takers 6 days on the following Thursdays: 15^th, Nov; 29^th, Nov; 6^th, Dec; 13^th, Dec.; 20^th, Dec. and 3^rd, Jan.

Besides the test preparation lectures on these dates, teachers are already putting test preparation into their usual courses. We are finding that we can help our students to be both skillful and whole-hearted readers and test takers — after all, we all know that the best test preparation is good reading and writing training.

What can you do at home? Again, the best and most effective test preparation for the ELA test is reading and more reading. The research is quite clear — students who do well in the tests are those who are good readers. Reading not only builds reading ability, it also helps build confidence — important for successful test taking! But do discourage your children from spending too much time on books that are too hard or even a bit too hard. Children best develop comprehension skills when they are reading books just right for them (too easy doesn’t hurt here either).

Finally, on Friday, December 7, we will have a morning lecture on the ELA. Please pay attention!

1.The text is mainly about ________.

   A. how teachers will provide more time for test preparation

   B. the reason why time for test preparation will be changed

   C. how teachers have put test preparation into their usual courses

   D. test preparation information that parents should know about

2.The time for test preparation has been changed to _________.

   A. make it more convenient for the students to attend

   B. help the new test-takers have more time to read

C. avoid disagreement in time between different years of students

   D. avoid conflicts between preparation time and the usual courses

3.From the passage, we know that ________.

   A. Danielle will help students prepare for different tests

   B. the school year test will be on a Tuesday

   C. all the children must take part in the test preparation

   D. the students can learn how to write well in the test preparation

4. Parents should _____ at home.

   A. prepare good meals for their children

   B. read more books with their children

   C. ask their children not to spend too much time on reading

   D. encourage their children to read more books fit for them

5.Why did the school encourage all the students to take part in the test preparation?

   A. Test preparation is what they always do.

   B. The students will learn what will be included in the final exam.

   C. Test preparation helps students to be more interested in reading and confident.

   D. The test is a long way off and there are better things to do.