He says the problem with teachers is, “What will a kid learn from someone who chose to become a teacher?” He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true what they say about teachers: Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of biting his and stop myself from reminding the other dinner guests that it’s also true what they say about lawyers－that they make money from the misfortune of others.

“I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor,” he says to me.” Be honest. What do you make?”

I wish he hadn’t asked me to be honest, because now I have to teach him a lesson.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I can make a C+feel like a great achievement and an A-feel like a failure.

How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best?

I make parents tremble in fear when I call them:

I hope I haven’t called at a bad time.

I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.

Billy said, “Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?”

And it was the bravest act I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are and what they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them criticise.

I make them think.

I make them apologise and mean it.

I make them write, write, write.

And then I make them read.

I teach them to solve math problems that they once thought impossible.

I make them understand that if you have brains then you follow your heart and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you teach them a lesson.

Let me make this simple for you, so you know what I say is true:

I make a great difference! What about you?

1.What is the tone of the passage?

A．Upset and disappointed.                  B．Cheerful and positive.

C．Angry and proud.                       D．Humorous and light-hearted.

2.What do we know about the man that the author is speaking to?

A．He dislikes lawyers.                      B．He is actually a lawyer.

C．He is respectful to teachers.               D．He is in the author’s home.

3.What’s the best title of this passage?

A．Requirements of a Good Teacher           B．An Argument Between Two Guests.

C．A Dinner Conversation                   D．What Teachers Make

4.The underlined phrase “bite my tongue” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to       .

A．stop myself saying what I really think         B．say something that is wrong

C．speak out honestly but carelessly           D．keep silent about myself

I travel a lot, and I find out different "styles" (风格) of directions every time 1 ask "How can I get to the post office?"

Foreign tourists are often confused (困惑) in Japan because most streets there don't have names in Japan. People use landmarks (地标) in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, "Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop."

In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat; in many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, "Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile."

People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map; they measure distance in time, not miles. "How far away is the post office?" you ask. "Oh," they answer, "it's about five minutes from here." You say, "Yes, but how many miles away is it?" They don't know.

It's true that a person doesn't know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, 'Sorry, I have no idea." But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers "I don't know." People in Yucatan believe that "I don't know" is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get very, very lost in Yucatan!

1.When a tourist asks the Japanese the way to a certain place they usually _________

A．describe the place carefully

B．show him a map of the place

C．tell him the names of the streets

D．refer to recognizable buildings and places

2.What is the place where people measure distance in time?

A．New York.         B．Los Angeles.       C．Kansas.           D．Iowa.

3.People in Yucatan may give a tourist a wrong answer ________

A．in order to save time                     B．as a test

C．so as to be polite                        D．for fun

4.Which sentence is true according to the text?

A．There is no street names in Japan.

B．There is no landmarks in the countryside of American.

C．People in Yucatan always give wrong answers when asked the way.

D．People in Los Angeles measure distance in time, not miles when asked the way.

5.What can we infer from the text?

A．It's important for travelers to understand cultural differences.

B．It's useful for travelers to know how to ask the way properly.

C．People have similar (相似的) understandings of politeness.

D．New Yorkers are generally friendly to visitors.

Twelve years ago, when I was 50,I wondered what 60 or 70 would be like? I looked around and saw only one style of living. It’s not fair, I thought. Young people have so many styles to choose from, but older people have just one choice. So I decide to do something about it , something practical.

I worked on my fitness by joining exercise classes in town. A few years later, my husband and I moved to a retirement community, and I wanted to teach aerobic（有氧运动的）classes. The community center wouldn’t give me a room to teach in, so I had to walk around and find any available empty room.

One day, the community center staff came to me and asked if I would help with the entertainment for a Hawaiian luau（夏威夷式宴会）they were putting on. I said yes. Then I talked five other ladies into dancing with me. We performed the hula（呼啦舞）and a war chant and brought the house down. Someone had a camera and took pictures, and then sent them to our local paper. We got requests for more engagements, which in turn led to more publicity and yet more engagements. Soon we had invitations from all over the country. The Dancing Grannies were born!

??? I think the real secret of the Dancing Grannies is out attitude. I was raised extremely poor ---no-food poor. If we wanted toys we had to make things up to play with ,so I learned early to be very creative. And you know,I think being poor was one of the best things that ever happened to me because I learned to look for treasures.

That’s what I’m still doing today—looking for the treasure in growing old. I’m getting better and better.

It’s true that antiques have to be treated a bit differently, with a little care, but they still have a beauty of their own.?

1.What did the writer think of the living style of the older people when she was 50?

A. Unsatisfying?????? B. Favorable??????? C. Pleasant??????? D. Practical

2.Why did the writer have to walk around and find an empty room?

A. Because she couldn’t offer an expensive room.

B. Because she wasn’t given a room to teach in by the community center.

C. Because she wanted to find a better one.

D. Because she wanted to keep fit by walking.

3.What can we infer from the writer’s performance???

A. It was just so-so.??? B. It was a failure.??

C. It was average.???? D. It was a success.

4.What made the writer learn to look for treasures?

A. Being active?????? B. Being creative????

C. Being rich???????? D. Being poor

5.What does the underlined word “antiques” (in the last paragraph) refer to???

A. Ancient treasures?? B. Poor children

C. Old people??????? D. The Dancing Grannies

It’s true that quite a few most respected scientific authorities have confirmed that the world is becoming hotter and hotter. There’s also strong evidence that humans are contributing to the warming. Countless recent reports have proved the same thing. For instance, a 2010 summary about the climate science by the Royal Society noted that: “The global warming over the last half-century has been caused mainly by human activity.”

You may not believe that humans could change the planet’s climate, but the basic science is well understood. Each year, billions of tons of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere because of human activity. As has been known for years, these gases hold heat that would otherwise escape to space, wrapping the planet in an invisible (看不见的) blanket.

Of course, the earth’s climate has always been changing due to “natural” factors such as volcanic eruption or changes in solar, or cycles concerning the Earth’s going around the sun. According to the scientific research, however, the warming observed by now matches the pattern of warming we would expect from a build-up of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere – not the warming we would expect from other possible causes.

Even if scientists did discover another reasonable explanation for the warming recorded so far, that would give birth to a difficult question. As Robert Henson puts it: “If some newly discovered factor is to blame for the climate change, then why aren’t carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases producing the warming that basic physics tells us they should be?”

The only way to prove with 100% certainty that humans are responsible for global warming would be to run an experiment with two identical Earths – one with human influence and one without. That obviously isn’t possible, and so most scientists are careful not to state human influence as an absolute certainty.

1.In most scientists’ opinion, the global warming is mainly caused by ________.

A．solar activity                           B．volcanic activity

C．natural factors                          D．human factors

2.The text is developed by ________.

A．giving typical examples

B．following the order of space

C．analyzing a theory and arguing it

D．comparing and finding differences

3.The underline word “identical” in the last paragraph probably means ________.

A．totally different                         B．exactly the same

C．extremely important                     D．partly independent

4.Which of the following is not the cause of climate change?

A．volcanic eruption

B．cycles concerning the Earth’s going around the sun

C．changes in solar

D．floods and droughts

5.Which of the following can be the best title?

A．Are All the Scientists Really Scientific?

B．Where Is Global Warming Leading Us to?

C．Are Humans Definitely Causing Global Warming?

D．What’s the Relation of Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases?

Learn a Foreign Language

Spend the time!

The more time you spend with the language, the faster you will learn. This means listening, reading, writing, speaking, and studying words and phrases. This does not mean sitting in class looking out the window, nor listening to other students who do not speak well, nor getting explanations in your own language about how the language works. This means spending time enjoyably connected to the language you are learning.

Listen and read every day!

Listen wherever you are on your MP3 player. Read what you are listening to. Listen to and read things that you like, things that you can mostly understand, or even partly understand. If you keep listening and reading you will get used to the language. One hour of listening or reading is more effective than many hours of class time.

Focus on words and phrases!

Build up your vocabulary, you’ll need lots. Start to notice words and how they come together as phrases. Learn these words and phrases through your listening and reading. Read online, using online dictionaries, and make your own vocabulary lists for review. Soon you will run into your new words and phrases elsewhere. Gradually you will be able to use them. Do not worry about how accurately you speak until you have accumulated plenty of words through listening and reading.

Take responsibility for your own learning!

If you do not want to learn the language, you won’t. If you do want to learn the language, take control. Choose content of interest, which you want to listen to and read. Seek out the words and phrases that you need to understand your listening and reading. Do not wait for someone else to show you the language, nor to tell you what to do. Discover the language by yourself, like a child growing up. Talk when you feel like it. Write when you feel like it. A teacher cannot teach you to become fluent, but you can learn to become fluent if you want to.

Relax and enjoy yourself!

Do not worry about what you cannot remember, or cannot yet understand, or cannot yet say. It does not matter. You are learning and improving. The language will gradually become clearer in your brain, just make sure you spend enough time with the language. That is the greatest guarantee of success.

56. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. It’s necessary to get explanations in your own language about a foreign language.

B. It’s important to listen to and read things in order to get used to a foreign language.

C. You can speak accurately as long as you have grasped plenty of foreign words.

D. It’s true to learn a foreign language by yourself completely other than anyone else.

57. What is the author’s intention by writing this passage?

A. To make a comparison about which is the best way to learn a foreign language.

B. To make an advertisement for some foreign language training centre.

C. To introduce the effective ways to learn a foreign language.

D. To encourage students to learn a foreign language well.

58. Which of the following is closest meaning to the underlined word “accumulated” (in Para 3)?

A. grasped    B. learned    C. revised   D. collected

59. If you are suffering from the trouble that you can’t remember vocabulary, you must ______.

A. listen or read whatever you come across

B. recite the words and phrases by yourself

C. make your own vocabulary lists for review

D. make sure you spend enough time to learn it