All the teachers and students _________ National Day with a party.

5.Is ____ necessary to complete the design before National Day?

Because of the Mid-autumn Day happening to _________, we have just enjoyed a longer          National Day vacation than ever before, but it is estimated that it will be 38 years __________       we can experience such a coincidence again.

Speaking in his first National Day Rally speech on 15 August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien said Singapore’s education system was set for more reforms in the years ahead, particularly for the primary and secondary education．Read the summary of his thoughts on education below．

For a start, the Government is prepared to send and additional 3,000 teachers to Singapore schools, cut the courses of study even further and change the way the mother tongue, especially Chinese, is taught．But, for the changes to be successful, parents need to help．

Singapore has a devoted group of teachers and principals and quite a few of them are outstanding, but the Republic’s schools can be even better．To help the schools make a jump in quality, the Government plans that within the next 6 years, it will send 1,000 more teachers to primary schools, 1,400 to secondary schools and 550 more to junior colleges．Each school would decide how to use its extra teachers．Some may want to make classes smaller so students get more individual attentions while others may have new teachers assist more senior teachers, but the overall goal is to give teachers the time and space to come up with ways to bring out the best in their students．

More teachers must not mean more homework, however．In fact, the Prime Minister wants to see the courses cut down so that there is less pressure on the students．Good grades are important but they should not be the only goal students have．PM Lee is convinced that “we must teach less so that our children can learn more．”

Another change will be in the teaching of the mother tongue so that students can become more fluent．The key is to teach Chinese as a living language not just an academic subject like Latin．Therefore, the focus should be on speaking and reading the language．To do this, there must be an environment outside the classroom that is contributing to strengthening the Chinese lessons．

The text is mainly about         in Singapore．

      A．the education reform       B．adding more teachers

       C．the mother tongue           D．ways of teaching

The general goal of using extra teachers is to          ．

       A．make classes smaller       B．assist more senior teachers

       C．teach more              D．help teachers improve teaching quality

PM Lee holds that the students should         ．

       A．do more homework        B．give up higher grades

       C．study more courses      D．be given more time to learn more

The key to teaching Chinese well is to          ．

      A．make it academic                B．have a creative environment

       C．give more Chinese lessons      D．encourage speaking and reading a lot

IV.阅读理解（共16小题；每小题2分，满分32分）
阅读下列短文，然后从所给四个选项中选出最佳选项，并标在试卷的相应位置。  
A holiday is any day when people lay aside their ordinary duties and cares. The word comes from Old English. At first, holidays honored some holy(神的) events or persons. People in Great Britain and other countries speak of holidays as Americans speak of vacations.
Every nation has its special holidays. China observes New Year’s Day(January 1), May Day and National Day as legal(法定的) holidays, as it was on Oct. 1, 1949 that People’s Republic of China was founded. The Chinese have long celebrated the Chinese lunar year. In the United States, congress（国会） has declared(宣告) several as legal days such as New Year's Day (January1), Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, Washington's Birthday, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and so on. Some holidays celebrate special events in the development of a country, such as Greece’s Independence Day, Italy’s Liberation Day and India’s Independence Day.
In the United States, banks and schools usually close on a legal holiday. When such a holiday falls on Sunday, the following Monday is often observed. Schools and organizations often observe days known as traditional holidays, although schools and businesses do not close then. Those holidays include Valentine's Day and Halloween.
1. Which of the following holidays has nothing to do with a country’s development?
A. China’s National Day            B. Valentine’s Day
C. Italy’s Liberation Day            D. America’s Independence Day
2. From the passage we can infer that _________.
A. Chinese will no longer observe the Spring Festival
B. students don’t have to go to school on any holiday
C. Chinese and Americans share at least one holiday      
D. Americans can easily draw money from banks on legal days
3. In the sentence “China observes New Year’s Day(January 1)”, “observes” means_____.
A. praises         B. spends         C. celebrates        D. cares
4. If a legal holiday falls on Sunday, people usually celebrate on_________.
A. Sunday                   B. the following Sunday
C. the following Monday       D. the following Tuesday