______ are you doing this evening?        

When a group of children politely stop a conversation with you, saying: “We have to go to work now,” you’re left feeling surprised and certainly uneasy. After all, this is the 1990s and the idea of children working is just unthinkable. That is, until you are told that they are all pupils of stage schools, and that the “work” they go off to is to go on the stage in a theatre.

　　Stage schools often act as agencies（代理机构）to supply children for stage and television work. More worthy of the name “stage school” are those few places where children attend full time, with a training for the theatre and a general education.

　　A visit to such schools will leave you in no doubt that the children enjoy themselves. After all, what lively children wouldn’t settle for spending only half the day doing ordinary school work, and acting, singing or dancing their way through the other half of the day?

　Then of course there are times for the children to make a name and make a little money in some big shows. Some stage schools give their children too much professional work at such a young age. But the law is very tight on the amount they can do. Those under 13 are limited to 40 days in the year; those over 13 to 80 days.

　The schools themselves admit that not all children will be successful in the profession for which they are being trained. So what happens to those who don’t make it? While all the leading schools say they place great importance on children getting good study results, the facts seem to suggest this is not always the case.

　People would stop feeling uneasy when realizing that the children they’re talking to________.

　　  A. attend a stage school　　　　  B. are going to the theatre

　　  C. have got some work to do 　　  D. love singing and dancing

　　 In the writer’s opinion, a good stage school should ________.

　　  A. produce star performers

　　  B. help pupils improve their study skills

　　  C. train pupils in language and performing arts

　　  D. provide a general education and stage training.

　“Professional work” as used in the text means ________.

　　  A. ordinary school work　　　　　  B. money-making performances

　　  C. stage training at school 　 　  D. acting, singing or dancing after class

　 Which of the following best describes how the writer feels about stage schools?

　　  A. He thinks highly of what they have to offer.　　　　

　　  B. He favours an early start in the training of performing arts.

　　  C. He feels uncomfortable about children putting on night shows.

　　  D. He doubts the standard of ordinary education they have reached.

How to protect children Web fans from unsuitable material on-line while encouraging them to use the Internet has long been discussed in the U.S.

For some parents, the Internet can seem like a jungle, filled with danger for their children. But jungles contain wonders as well as dangers and with good guides, some education, and a few precautions(预防措施), the wilds of the Internet can be safely navigated(航行). “Kids have to be on-line. If we tell our kids they can’t have access(机会) to the Internet, we’re cutting them off from their future,” said an expert.

Most kids have started to use search engines. Many of them are great for finding tons of interesting Internet sites, and they can also locate places where you might not want your kids to go. There are search engines designed just for kids. A certain software contains only sites that have been selected as safe. The most popular way to limit access would be to use what is known as a “content screener(过滤器)”. But this can’t be wholly reliable(可靠), and the best thing parents can do is to talk to their kids and let them know what is OK or not OK to see or do on the Internet. Another way is that mum or dad is nearby when the child is surfing(浏览) the Internet.

A few other tips

●Don’t put the PC in a child’s room but keep it in an area where mum or dad can keep an eye on things. That also makes the Internet more of a family activity.

●Ask your child what he or she has been doing and about any friends they make on-line.

●Tell your child not to give on-line strangers personal information, especially like address and phone number.

●And tell your children never to talk to anyone they meet on-line over the phone, send them anything, accept anything from them or agree to meet with them unless you go along.

The passage is mainly about the subject of _______.

A. American children going on-line             B. Internet in America

C. appreciating Internet                              D. opposing children’s on-line

The best way to protect children from improper material is _______.

A. to install(安装) a content screener on the computer

B. to buy some search engines for the children

C. to be nearby when they are surfing the Internet

D. to talk to the children and persuade them to tell right from wrong

Which of the following is right according to the passage?

A. Surfing the Internet is the best method of educating children.

B. Children’s not having access to Internet may have effect on their progress.

C. Using a content screener is most reliable for keeping children having access to Internet.

D. Searching engines can help children to select materials fit for them.

According to the passage, we can infer that _______.

A. soft wares fit for children want programming

B. a child who is on-line is in danger

C. Internet is a jungle full of danger

D. Internet contains a lot of harmful sites

When I lived in Spain, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visit England by car. Before they left, they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation (住所). I suggested that they should stay at ‘bed and breakfast’ houses, because this kind of accommodation gives a foreign visitor a good chance to speak English with the family. My friends listened to my advice, but they came back with some funny stories.

    “We didn’t stay at bed and breakfast houses,” they said, “because we found that most families were away on holiday.”

    I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought ‘VACANCIES’ meant ‘holidays’, because the Spanish word for ‘holidays’ is ‘vacaciones’. So they did not go to house where the sign outside said ‘VACANCLES’, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to house where the sign said ‘NO VACANCLES’, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels!

    We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word ‘DIVERSION’ means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word ‘DIVERSION’ on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, the road ended in a large hold.

    English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once in Paris, when someone offered me some more coffee, I said “Thank you” in French. I meant that I would like some more. However, to my surprise, the coffee pot was taken away! Later I found out that “Thank you” in French means “No, thank you.”

My Spanish friends wanted advice about ______.

  A. learning English                         B. finding places to stay in England

  C. driving their car on English roads           D. going to England by car

‘NO VACANCIES’ in English means ______.

  A. no free rooms          B. free rooms      C. not away on holiday    D. holidays

When someone offered me more coffee and I said “Thank you” in French, I ______.

  A didn’t really want any more coffee           B. wanted them to take the coffee pot away

  C. really wanted some more coffee             D. wanted to express my politeness

I was surprised when the coffee pot was taken away because I ______.

  A. hadn’t finished drinking my coffee          B. was expecting another cup of coffee

  C. meant that I didn’t want any more           D. was never misunderstood

Where is that noise coming from? Not sure? Try living with your eyes closed for a few years.

Blind people are better at locating sounds than people who can see, a new study says, without the benefits of vision the ears seem to work much better.

Previous studies have shown that blind people are better than others at reaching out and touching the sources of sounds that are close by. Researchers from the University of Montreal wanted to see if blind people were also better at locating sounds that are far away.

Twenty-three blind people participated in the study. All had been sightless for at least 20 years. Fourteen of them had lost their vision before age 11. the rest went blind after age 16. The experiment also included 10 people who could see but were wearing blind-folds.

In one task, volunteers had to pick the direction of a sound coming from about 3 meters away. When the sound was in front of them or slightly off center in front, both groups performed equally well.

When sounds came from the side or the back, however, the blind group performed much better than the blindfolded group. The participants who had been blind since childhood did slightly better than those who lost their sight later.

Recognizing the locations of distant sounds can be a matter of life-or-death for blind people, say the researchers. Crossing the street, for instance, is much harder when you can’t see the cars coming.

Still, the researchers were surprised by how well the blind participants did, especially those who went blind after age 16. In another experiment, the scientists also found that parts of the brain that normally deal with visual information became active in locating sound in the people who were blind by age 11. These brain parts didn’t show sound-location activity in the other group of blind people or in the sighted people. The scientists now want to learn more about the working of brains of “late-onset” blind people.

The recent study shows blind people are better at telling __________.

A. The sources of loud sounds.     B. the locations of distant sounds

C. the direction of sharp sounds    D. the distance of a sound in front of them

Which would be a proper title for the passage?

A. A Research on Blind People     B. Where is That Noise Coming from?

C. Hearing Better in the Dark      D. What If Living Without Your Eyes?

If people were asked to tell the direction of a sound from the side, who would perform best?

A. Those who are blind.              B. Those who have gone blind since children.

C. Those who went blind at age 16.     D. Those who are blindfolded.

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. Whether to be able to locate the sounds can be of vital importance for the blind.

B. All the volunteers in the experiment are sightless.

C. All the participants did equally well when picking sounds from whatever direction.

D. The later people become blind, the better they can perform in telling the direction of sounds.

What do we know about that parts of brain dealing with visual information are active in locating sounds?

A. This happens in almost all the testers.

B. This only occurs in the people who were blind after age 16.

C. It remains nothing new to the scientists any more.

D. It remains a mystery why it is so.