American middle school students don’t seem to care that they’re worse at maths than their counterparts (同龄人) in China’s Hong Kong and Finland. “I don’t need it,” my student says, “I’m going to be a basketball star.” Or a car mechanic, or a singer.

Middle school students’ maths skills were tested by the International Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The United States ranked 28th out of 41 countries tested. After all, when was the last time you used algebra (代数)？

But maths isn’t just about training Americans to become scientists. It has its own value. It helps you see patterns and develops your logic skills, and it teaches you to concentrate and to separate truth from falsehood. Maths helps you make wise financial decisions, so you can avoid false claims from advertisers, politicians and others. It helps you determine risk. For example, after an airplane crash, studies show that people are more likely to drive than to take a plane in spite of the fact that they are much more likely to be killed or injured while driving. Planes are not like criminals who repeat the same crime over and over. One plane is not more likely to crash just because another plane recently did. In fact, the most dangerous time to drive is probably right after a plane crash because so many people are on the road.

It is not possible to really understand science and the scientific method without understanding maths. A rainbow is even more beautiful and amazing when we understand it.

The precision (精确性) of maths helps us think in a very special way. How do we bring the learning of maths back to life? I don’t have the big answer. I try my best to help pupils find answers to some maths problems. When I can get one to say, “Wow, that’s great,” I feel the joy of a small victory.

1.Some American students don’t care about their poor maths results because __________.

   A. maths is useless to most people

   B. they have no interest in maths

   C. they think maths has nothing to do with their future

   D. they don’t do well in maths

2.The example in Paragraph 3 is used to show __________.

   A. every coin has its two sides

   B. we should not be cheated by fault facts

   C. maths is close to our daily life

   D. a simple fact shows complicated rules

3.The writer would agree that __________.

   A. it’s normal that America kids are weak in maths

   B. without maths we’ll miss much in our life

   C. maths is the most important subject at school

   D. American kids don’t work hard at school

4.This text is most probably written by __________.

   A. a student career guide             B. a researcher on students’ problems

   C. a specialist in students’ studies      D. a maths teacher

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。                      

Trust has been considered as the basis of any relationship, including friendship. No relationship can last long with a lack of trust. Not many of your friends will have real faith in you as you would like to believe.  1.   . Sometimes, it takes years, even a complete lifetime, to trust someone. However, how do we know if our friends have faith in us?

             2.    . With whom will you share things that you don’t want everyone to know? It would be with a close friend, whom you trust as much as you trust yourself. While a few of your friends may be fiercely protective of their privacy and may not tell their secrets to anyone, those who do, surely find you trustworthy and reliable.

         Whom do you look up to for advice when you need it the most? It has to be either your parents or your friends.   3.    . This is a shining example of trust. You only seek advice from people you hold in high regard and find dependable. The friends who trust you will never forget to include you in the important decisions of their life.

         Arguments and heated discussions are a part of every relationship, and this is also true for friendship.     4.      . While some people find it difficult to forgive and forget, your friends will never have problems moving on. It is because they trust you and believe that you will never cause any pain to them on purpose.

         There are times in life when you find yourself a lonely soldier.     5.     . Your friends will never let you down and will strongly stand for you when you need encouragement. You can determine that they trust you and believe in your beliefs, if they side with you when you need them the most. People can be extraordinarily jealous(猜疑的) sometimes.

A.You know they will never pass on a wrong suggestion.

B.In fact, winning trust is, by far, the most challenging aspect of relationships.

C.Two people cannot have identical reactions to a situation and different opinions do exist.

D.No matter how close you are to your friends, you cannot take that comfort level for granted.

E.If your friends share their secrets, there’s a good possibility that they have much faith in you.

F.However, people who are fortunate to have been blessed with true friends are never alone in any battle.

Recently, a scientist did some experiments．He left a group of 4-year-olds in a room with a bell and a candy．If they rang the bell, he would come back and they could eat the candy．If, however, they didn't ring the bell and waited for him to come back on his own, they could then have two candies.

In videos of the experiment, he can see the children kicking, hiding their eyes--trying to exercise self-control so they can wait and get two candies．The results are different．Some broke down and rang the bell within a minute．Others lasted 15 minutes.

The children who waited longer went on to get higher SAT scores．They got into better colleges and had better adult success．The children who rang the bell quickest were more likely to have received worse teacher and parental evaluations （评价） 10 years later and were more likely to have drug problems at age 32.

The experiments are worth noting because people spend a lot of time thinking about how to improve education, how to become rich．But when the result is not good, they will come back to ask "how do we get people to get the sort of self-control that leads to success?" This is to enter the world of human nature.

So these experiments along with everyday experience, tell us that self-control is most important．Young people who can sit through sometimes boring classes to get a degree can work hard in order to learn a language well．They can avoid drugs and alcohol．For people without self-control skills, however, school is a series of failed ordeals（煎熬）．No wonder they drop out and their later life is a group of foolish ideas, such as drug use, stealing and so on.

1.The scientist did some experiments to         .

2.We can learn from the experiment that        

3.What is the best title for this passage?

Directions: Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from the list A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.?

Crossroads International
1. How does Crossroads work?
Crossroads is a resource network. We take goods Hong Kong doesn’t want and give them to people who badly need them. We collect those goods and give them out in the welfare(福利)center in Hong Kong, Mainland China, elsewhere in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.   1 
2. Who do we help?
  2 They are grass-root groups who have seen a need and tried to meet it. They can’t get the job done without back-up, though, so our task is to help them do their task. Our warehouse is full of goods, from computers to high chairs, clothing to books, stationery to medical provision, cupboards to dining sets. They send us a list of their needs and we try to match it with the resource we have in stock.
3.   3 
Crossroads itself also operates on a low budget. We do not buy the goods we send. They are donated.   4  Nobody in our organization receives a salary. Even our full-time staff work on a voluntary basis.
Those that donate goods and services:
●Factories     ●Manufacturers
●Hospitals     ●Hotels
●Educational Institutions  ●Householders
●Transport Companies   ●Offices
●Other Charities
  5 While we receive large quantities of goods and there is never a short supply of requests for them, we are always in need of hands to help sort and prepare them for shipping．