Bushwick is a tough place to grow up. This part of Brooklyn, in New York City, has a lot of crime. More than half of its 100,000 residents rely on aid from the government. Only 50% of students at Bushwick High School graduate in four years.

Some people might say, “We should help these poor kids who have so many challenges.” But Malaak Compton-Rock looks at the teens in Bushwick and says, “ Go to help kids who have even bigger challenges than you do.” She believes that once young people see the power they have to make things better, they can handle their own problems more easily. So her service group, the Angel Rock Project, took 30 Bushwick kids to Soweto, in South Africa, to help poor families there. Soweto is a township outside the city of Johannesburg. The effort, called Journey for Change, aims to show that any kid can change the world.

“Kids in Bushwick face pressure to drop out of school or become involved in gangs and drugs.” Says Compton-Rock. “We want them to live a life of purpose and service.”

In Soweto, many parents have died of AIDS, a deadly disease. When that happens, a grandparent or a child must lead the family. The Bushwick volunteers helped such families. They tended vegetable gardens, cared for babies and bought groceries.

“The saddest thing was when we visited an orphanage (孤儿院) and I helped a little boy who had been abandoned because he had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS,” says Queen Clyde, 12. “It‘s been good to be on this trip. But what’s also important is what we do when it’s finished. That’s what counts.” “ I never appreciated what I had until I saw some people who had nothing,” says Sadara Lewis, 12 “It’s really changed my attitude. I want to make a difference.”

The trip was two weeks long. But the kids, aged 12 to 15, will spend all year speaking about their experience, fund-raising and more.

1.What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?

A．Bushwick is the poorest place in New York City.

B．Bushwick still needs more care from the government.

C．It is children who suffer most in New York City.

D．Children in Bushwick are living in a bad situation.

2.In Compton-Rock’s opinion, the Bushwick kids __________.

A．have few challenges

B．should be kept out of schools

C．can learn to deal with their own problems by helping others

D．are living much better than people in Africa

3.Compared to Bushwick kids, some children in Soweto __________.

A．may have bigger challenges

B．receive no care from the government

C．are much more independent

D．are able to lead the family

4.According to the passage, “Journey for Change” can be best seen as the saying “________”.

A．God helps those who help themselves

B．saying and doing are two things

C．one stone kills two birds

D．a friend in need is a friend indeed

5.From the passage we know that __________.

A．there are few students in Bushwick High School

B．the trip to Soweto will have a long influence in spite of its short time.

C．most children are suffering from AIDS in Soweto

D．kids with HIV will be abandoned in Soweto

One year our family decided to have a special celebration of Mother’s Day, as a token of appreciations for all the sacrifices that Mother had made for us. After breakfast we had arranged, as a surprise, to hire a car and take her for a beautiful drive in the country. Mother was rarely able to have a treat like that, because she was busy in the house nearly all the time.

    But on the very morning of the day, we changed the plan a little, because it occurred to Father that it would be even better to take Mother fishing. As the car was hired and paid for, we might as well use it to drive up into the hills where the streams are. As Father said, if you just go driving without object, you have a sense of aimlessness, but if you are going to fish there is a definite purpose that heightens the enjoyment.

So we all felt it would be nicer for Mother to have a definite purpose . Father had just got a fishing rod the day before, which he said mother could use if she wanted to. Only Mother said she would much rather watch him fish than try to fish herself.

    So we got her to make up a sandwich lunch in case we got hungry, though we were to come home again to a big festive dinner.

    Well, when the car came to the door, it turned out that there was not as much space in it as we had supposed. It was plain that we couldn’t all get in.

    Father said that he could just stay home and put in the time working in the garden. He said that there was a lot of rough dirty work that he could do, like digging a trench for the garbage, which would save hiring a man, and so he said that he’d stay home; he said that we were not to let the fact that he had not had a real holiday for three years stand in our way. He wanted us to go right ahead and not to mind him.

    But of course we all felt that it would never do to let Father stay home, especially as we knew he would make trouble if he did. The two girls, Anne and Mary, would have stayed and helped the maid get dinner, only it seemed such a pity,for the two girls were eager to show their new hats on a lovely day like this. But they said that Mother had only to say the word and they’d gladly stay home and work. Will and I would have dropped out, but unfortunately we wouldn’t have been any use in preparing the dinner.

1.The author’s family decided to celebrate Mother’s Day specially to _______.

A. show love for their mother                     

B. show gratitude to their mother

C. show respect for their mother                  

D. to make up for a previous appointment

2.According to Paragraph 2, we know that the plan was changed because________.

A. Father proposed to go fishing out       

B. we thought that driving out is boring

C. we failed to hire a car to go out         

D. the car was not big enough

3.What problem did we find when the car arrived?

A. The car was too old to drive on mountain roads.          

B. The car was larger than we expected.

C. The car was too small to accommodate us all.                 

D. The car was too plain looking.

4.Why didn’t the author drop out of the activity?

A. Because his sisters didn’t join in.                                       

B. Because he needed to have dinner.

C. Because he couldn’t cook the dinner.                                                 

D. Because he hadn’t had a real holiday for three years.

5.Which of the following proverbs describes the text best?

A. Everything comes to him who waits.                        

B. Changes always go beyond plans.

C. Better late than never.                                         

D. Once on shore, one prays no more.

A group of eight public high school students  in Massachusetts, aged l5 to l7，designed and ran their own school within a school. They named their practice the Independent Project. They represented the usual range: two were close to dropping out before they started the project，while others were honors students.

Their guidance teacher was their adviser, consulting with them when the group encountered difficulties. Though they sought advice from English，math and science teachers， they were responsible for monitoring one another’s work and giving one another feedback. There were no grades, but at the end of the term，the students wrote evaluations of their classmates.

The students also designed their own course. In addition to some  regular courses，they each took on an ‘individual project’，learning to play the piano or to cook，writing a novel or making a video about domestic(国内的) violence. At the end of the term，they performed their new skills in front of the entire school. The last part of their self - designed course was to do a ‘collective project’ that had social significance. Because they felt the whole experience had been so life – changing，they ended up making a film showing how other students could start and run their own schools.

The project was a success. After returning to their traditional study，the students have high motivation and are doing well. One student who had failed all of his previous math courses spent three weeks teaching the others about probability. The lesson learned here is that if students are given the opportunity to take control or contribute significantly to their own learning they will become more accomplished，more engaged and more knowledgeable.

The students in the project are remarkable because they demonstrate the kinds of learning and  personal growth that are possible when teenagers feel ownership of their high school experience，learn things that matter to them and learn together.

1.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Some students might drop out of high school.

B．The teachers monitored the students’ homework.

C．The students themselves solved all their problems.

D．The teachers evaluate the students’ performances.

2.The students involved in the Independent Project             .

A．didn’t need to learn common lessons

B．tended to escape from the whole society

C．were unwilling to share their experiences

D．focused on self-study and working together

3.According Paragraph 4，we know that             .

A．the traditional study is better than the project

B．all the students had failed their math courses

C．the students have freedom to design their lessons

D．the project was mainly concerned with math courses

4.The project made the students outstanding because             .

A．they are unusually talented

B．they have better backgrounds

C．they have supportive teachers

D．they are owners of their education

5.What would be the best title of the text?

A．Structure the kids’ days to the minute

B．Let kids rule their own school within a school

C．Offer students few opportunities to do anything

D．Provide traditional education to the students

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.
【小题1】The scientist did some experiments to         .

In modern society, receiving systematic college education seems a necessary way for success as a graduate from first-class university may always get more opportunities than others. However, if it is gold, it will shine one day. In this article, we will get to know three most successful people in U.S. who never finished their college education. Following experiences of these successful dropouts may give you some inspiration.

1. Bill Gates

Harvard’s campus paper “Harvard Crimson” called Bill Gates “Harvard’s most successful dropout,” while the rest of the world preferred to name him “the world’s richest man” for more than a decade. Now, even not on the top, he is still among the list of the world’s wealthiest people.Gates entered Harvard in the fall of 1973. Two years later, he dropped out to found Microsoft with friend Paul Allen. And in 2007, he finally received an honorary doctorate from Harvard.

2. Steve Jobs

The iPad, even Buzz Lightyear probably wouldn’t have existed if Steve Jobs stayed in school. Because his family couldn’t afford his college education, Jobs had to drop out of Reed College just after entering for 6 months. Then he found Apple, NeXT Computer and Pixar, which had made great influences on development of modern technique and culture. However, this wizard thought that his brief college education was not worthless.

3. Frank Lloyd Wright

As the America’s most celebrated architect, Wright spent more time on designing colleges rather than attending classes in them. Once spent one year in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then he left for Chicago and started to learn from Louis Sullivan, the “father of modernism." Wright’ s splendid resume included more than 500 works, most famous of which are Fallingwater and New York City's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

1.What does“dropouts”in Paragraph One mean?

A．Hardworking students.

B．Very successful students.

C．Students failing to finish their school education.

D．Students from poor families.

2.Which of the following is right according to Paragraph One?

A．People graduating from famous universities are more likely to get jobs.

B．Many successful people had the experience of giving up their school education.

C．If one has a lot of gold, he will become very rich one day.

D．We should stop our college education to follow in those successful people’s steps.

3.According to the writer, Bill Gates _________.

A．is richer than any other man in the world

B．is well-known in Harvard University

C．finally finished his study at Harvard and got a doctorate degree

D．is the only founder of Microsoft

4.Which of the following statements can’t be learned from the last two paragraphs?

A．The reason for Jobs’ dropping his college education is that his parents couldn’t pay for it.

B．Jobs thought his six-month college education gave him no help.

C．Wright’s teacher was a very famous artist.

D．Wright is the designer of New York City’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

5.What does the author want to tell us in this passage?

A．Successful people often have unordinary life experience.

B．College education is not so important to one’s success.

C．People from poor families are more likely to give up their college education.

D．Even without college education, one can still achieve success with one’s hard work.