Children at a school in Italy have today begun an experiment to replace all their books with personal computers. The pupils involved will each be given a special laptop that contains their entire courses.

Until today, the Don Milani di Rivoli elementary school in central Turin was like any other. Children turned up, got out their books and pens and began the process of learning. But now, in what's being described as a unique experiment, 60 fifth-grade pupils and a number of third-graders, will start using computers only.

The mini-laptops, which run Windows software, all have a full curriculum programmed into them. The pupils will use the computers to do all their reading and writing. Security systems within the laptops mean the children's access to the Internet is strictly controlled. The machines weigh less than a kilogram, can be dropped from a height of 1.5 metres and are waterproof.

Instead of spending 700 dollars a year on books, the laptops, built by the Italian company Olidata, cost less than 400 dollars. One of the teachers involved in the scheme says that, for the first time, schools will be able to verify in a scientific way how a computer alone can improve the learning process. The experiment, which has the backing of parents, is due to last a year.

In other countries, such a programme is also being carried out. Venezuela is ordering one million low cost laptops for its school children. The machines will be based on the Intel Classmate laptop that has been designed for school children. Many see the deal as a blow for the One Laptop Per Child organization that has also been introducing its child- friendly machine to developing nations.

Which of the following is TRUE about the mini-laptop?

A. It is heavy for pupils to carry.         B. It can't be damaged by water.

C. It is one and a half meters high.              D. It is easily broken or damaged.

The pupils use the laptop to ____ in class.

A. learn their lessons as an aid

B. have a course named computer studies

C. surf the Internet mainly to find information

D. do what they used to do with books and pens

How much money can a pupil save by using the mini-laptop to replace all the books in a year?

A. Less than 400 dollars.                            B. More than 400 dollars.

C. More than 300 dollars.                   D. Less than 300 dollars.

Which of the following about the experiment is TRUE?

A. It has been carried out for over one year.

B. It has already turned out to be a success.

C. The pupils' parents are against it in fact.

D. The pupils' parents are supportive to it.

---How do you find James Cameron's 3D version of Titanic?

---Fantastic! It can't be _______ and has brought us a wonderful experience.

I don’t like it at all. It can’t be ______.

　　A. better     B. worse    C. best   D. worst

About 30 years ago, I left Cuba for the United States with my son. After getting settled finally in Brunswick, New Jersey, I enrolled(注册) my son in kindergarten. Several weeks later, my son’s teacher asked me to meet him at his office.
In the teacher’s office, and exchange of greetings was followed by his questions: “ Is your son mentally retarded(弱智的)? Does he suffer from any kind of mental disability?”
Was he talking about my wonderful Scola? No, no, it can’t be. What a helpless, lonely moment! I told him that Scola was a quiet, sweet little boy, instead. I asked him why he was asking me all these questions.
My son could not follow the teacher’s directions, he told me, and thus, Scola was disrupting the class. Didn’t he know my son did not speak English yet?
He was angry: “ Why hasn’t your son been taught to speak English? Don’t you speak English at home?”
No, I didn’t speak English at home, I replied. I was sure my son would learn English in a couple of months, and I didn’t want him to forget his native language. Well, wrong answer! What kind of person would not speak in English to her son at home and at all times? “ Are you one of those people who come to this country to save dollars and sent them back to their country, never wanting to be a part of this society?”
Needless to say, I tried to tell him I was not one of “ those people.” Then he told me the meeting was over, and I left.
As I had expected, my son learned to speak English fluently before the school year was over. He went on to graduate from college and got a job, earning close to six figures. He travels widely and leads a well-adjusted, contented life. And he has benefited from being bilingual(双语的)。
Speaking more than one language allows people to communicate with others; it teaches people about other cultures and other places- something very basic and obviously lacking in the “educator” I met in New Jersey.
【小题1】The teacher asked the author to his office________.

In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand（木架）with a small notepad（记事本）and a hole for a pencil.

I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can’t be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one.

“I’m just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these year.” I say to her, walking bank into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”

My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly well. I’ve always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in these days.”

Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”

This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have traveled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible（看不到的）exhibits at every meal.

1．Why has the author’s mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?

A．To leave messages.                      B．To list her everyday tasks.

C．To note down maths problems.             D．To write down a flash of inspiration.

2. What is the author’s original opinion about the wooden stand?

A. It has great value for the family.

B. It needs to be replaced by a better one.

C. It brings her back to her lonely childhood.

D .It should be passed on to the next generation.

3. The author feels embarrassed for_______.

A. blaming her mother wrongly.

B. giving her mother a lot of trouble.

C. not making good use of time as her mother did.

D. not making any breakthrough in her field.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A .The mother is successful in her career.

B. The family members like traveling.

C. The author had little time to play when young.

D. The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.

5. In the author’s mind ,her mother is_________.

A. strange in behavior.             B. keen on her research.

C. fond of collecting old things.      D. careless about her appearance.