Robert is nine years old and Joanna is seven. They live at Mount Ebenezer. Their father has a big property. In Australia they call a farm a property.

Robert and Joanna like school very much. At school they can talk to their friends but Robert and Joanna cannot see their friends. They live 100, perhaps 300, miles away and like Robert and Joanna, they all go to school by radio.

Mount Ebenezer is in the center of Australia. Not many people live in “The Center”. There are no schools with desks and blackboards and no teachers in “The Center”. School is a room at home with a two-way radio. The teacher also has a two-way radio. Every morning she calls each student on the radio. When all students answer, lessons begin… Think of your teacher 300 miles away!

1. The children in “The Center” do not go to a school because ______.

2. In order to send their children to school, parents in “The Center” of Australia must have ______.

3.Teachers in “The Center” of Australia teach ______.

4. A “property” in Australia is a ______.

Hilton English Language Center

Information for New Students

CLASS TIME: 9:00a.m.---10:30a.m., 11:00a.m.---12:30p.m., 1:30p.m.---3:00p.m.. The Language Center is open Monday to Friday. Each class has one afternoon free per week. On the first day, go to the lecture hall to check your timetable.

SELF-ACCESS: The language laboratory (Room 1110) is open Monday to Friday from 3:15p.m. to 5:00p.m. for all full-time students.

You can learn how to use computers for language games or word-processing（文字处理）. There are tapes for students to borrow to practice their English. Go in and ask the teacher to show you. If you plan to take public examinations, there are dictation（听写）and listening comprehension tapes for you to practice with. There are cloze exercises on the computers. Ask your class teacher for a list of past exam essays. Students can borrow tapes to take home but they must be returned after two days.

ATTENDANCE（出勤）：All students are expected to attend classes regularly. Students who do not attend classes will be reported to OSS. Eighty percent attendance is required for students to receive their certificates（证书）when they finish their courses. It is also required by OSS for an extension to your visa.

BOOKS: If students are given course books, the books are their responsibility. If a book is lost, the student will be expected to pay for it.

If students wish to buy books, there is a bookshop in the college specializing in English books (Room 3520).

1. When do classes begin and end on a full day?

A. 9:00a.m. ---1:30p.m.     B. 9:00a.m. ---3:00p.m.

C. 9:00a.m. ---3:15p.m.     D. 3:15p.m. ---5:00p.m.

2.How many afternoons does a class meet each week?

A. Two.    B.  Three.   C. Four.   D. Five.

3.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. No teachers are in the language lab.

B. 90% attendance is required for the students.

C. Books can’t be taken out of the center.

D. Students can prepare for exams by listening to tapes.

4.Timetable can be seen in _____.

A. the lecture hall    B. Room 3520     C. the classroom  D. Room 1110

                                     B

People come in all shapes and sizes，colors and races (种族). Some speak differently while others act differently.

My mother is in a wheelchair. I would like to say something about this special woman I call "Mommy".

My mom does what a mom needs to do every day. She picks me up from school，drives me to meetings，cooks dinner，and helps me with my homework. This is just part of what makes her great，though.

She is my best friend and can immediately notice when I am unhappy. She helps me solve problems that my friends do not understand. Mommy makes me laugh when times are tough. I look forward to coming home because I know there is someone there who cares about what I have done.

Mommy has always tried to be like a "normal" mom. But I think my mother is a wonderful woman and she doesn’t need to change. She teaches me life lessons that no teacher or friend can. She shows me how to accept everyone for what is inside，rather than what is on the outside.

You may have realized that all the qualities (品质) I admire have nothing to do with what she looks like. Everyone could be the way she is，but most are not.

I want everyone to look beyond the surface and see what is inside others. You may fail to notice someone who is very special like my mom because you cannot accept their outside features.

1. What’s the function of Paragraph 1？

2.Which of the following words can best describe the writer’s mother？

3. We can know from Paragraph 5 that             

4.What can we learn from the passage？

5. The writer writes the passage to                  

Forty-two of the fifty American states offered some kind of public online learning this past school year．One state，Michigan，now requires all students to have an online learning experience before they finish high school．Even the idea of a school has changed since the rise of the Internet in the 1990s．

  A new report from the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University says eighteen states have full-time virtual schools．There are no buildings．All classes are online．

  Florida started the first statewide public virtual school in the United States in 1997．Today，the Florida Virtual School offers more man ninety courses．56,000 students were enrolled as of December．Almost sixty percent were female．The school's website says each student was enrolled in an average of two classes．

  Florida Virtual School has now opened the Florida Virtual Global School．Students in other countries pay for classes．Janet Heiking teaches an English class．She lives in Indianapolis, Indiana．Her students live as far away as Africa and Japan．She says they are taking her Advanced Placement class to prepare for attending an American college．They can earn college credits by passing the AP test．

    So how good are virtual schools? Studies have shown mixed results, as a new report from Indiana University notes．For example, students at Florida Virtual School earned higher grades than those taking the same courses the traditional way．And they scored higher on a statewide

test．But virtual school students in Kansas and Colorado had lower test scores or performed at a lower level than traditional learners．Studies also find that virtual schools may not save much in operating costs．

   Education experts say the mixed results suggest the need for more research to find the best ways to teach in virtual schools．A1so, they say schools of education need to train more teachers to work in both real and virtual classrooms．

1.A virtual school is one that___________．

    A．is set up after the rise of the Internet

    B．uses textbooks as a main teaching resource

    C．uses computer-based resources and has no teachers

    D．has online classes and no real classrooms

2.The first statewide public virtual school in the USA was started in ________ ．

    A．Florida    B．Indiana  C．Michigan    D．Colorado

3.Florida Virtual School is open to ________．

    A．students in Indiana

    B．students only around the USA

    C．students across the world

    D．only foreign students

4.Foreign students take Advanced Placement classes for the eventual purpose of __________ ．

   A．earning college credits

   B．entering an American college

   C．learning advanced science

   D．passing the AP test

5.From the passage we learn that________．

    A．the majority of virtual school students in Florida are male

    B．all senior students m Michigan have an online learning experience

    C．virtual schools are better than traditional schools

D．both real and virtual classrooms need more trained teachers

Hilton English Language Center

Information for New Students

CLASS TIME: 9:00a.m.---10:30a.m., 11:00a.m.---12:30p.m., 1:30p.m.---3:00p.m..

The Language Center is open Monday to Friday. Each class has one afternoon free per week. On the first day, go to the lecture hall to check your timetable.

SELF-ACCESS: The language laboratory（Room 1110）is open Monday to Friday from 3:15p.m. to 5:00p.m. for all full-time students.

You can learn how to use computers for language games or word-processing（文字处理）. There are tapes for students to borrow to practice their English. Go in and ask the teacher to show you. If you plan to take public examinations, there are dictation（听写）and listening comprehension tapes for you to practice with. There are cloze exercises on the computers. Ask your class teacher for a list of past exam essays. Students can borrow tapes to take home but they must be returned after two days.

ATTENDANCE（出勤）：All students are expected to attend classes as it is required. Students who do not attend classes will be reported to OSS. Eighty percent attendance is required for students to receive their certificates（证书）when they finish their courses. It is also required by OSS for an extension to your visa.

BOOKS: If students are given course books, the books are their responsibility. If a book is lost, the student will be expected to pay for it.

If students wish to buy books, there is a bookshop in the college specializing in English books（Room 3520）.

When do classes begin and end on a full day?

A. 9:00a.m. ---1:30p.m.        B. 9:00a.m. ---3:00p.m.

C. 9:00a.m. ---3:15p.m.        D. 3:15p.m. ---5:00p.m.

How many afternoons does a class meet each week?

A. Two.       B. Three.     C. Four.       D. Five

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. No teachers are in the language lab.

B. 90% attendance is required for the students.

C. Books can’t be taken out of the center.

D. Students can prepare for exams by listening to tapes.

Timetable can be seen in _____.

A. the lecture hall            B. Room 3520

C. the classroom        D. Room 1110

The books which the students wish to buy are in the _____.

A. library                B. book-shop in the college

C. street                 D. classroom