Education is not an end , but a means to an end. In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them. Our purpose is to fit them for life.
In many modern countries it has for some time been fashionable（流行的）to think that by free education for all whether rich or poor, clever or stupid --- one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation. But we can already see that free education for all is not enough: we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degrees（学位）they refuse to do what they think "low" work; and in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful in such countries. But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a professor: we can live without education, but we die if we have no food. If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we should get terrible diseases in our towns…
In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we must be educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability, and secondly, that we can realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that it is very bad to be unwilling to do one's work. Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society.
【小题1】In the writer’s opinion,_________

  Do you know the cold?

Everybody knows what happens when you catch a cold. First you sniffle(抽鼻涕) or get a more throat. Then you sneeze. After coughing and blowing your way through the next few days it’s over---until next time

Do you know what causes a cold, how it is spread or how to help prevent it? And which of the many medicines is best for your cold?

There is no known cure for the common cold. Once you catch a cold, your body usually produces antibodies(抗体) to the virus which caused the cold. These antibodies help the body develop resistance（抵抗力) to the virus if you catch it again. Unfortunately, over 200 different viruses cause the common cold. These viruses may change over time, so your resistance to them reduces. The large number of viruses and the fact that they change help explain why there is no cure for the common cold and why you will suffer colds in the future.

The colds increase in winter(usually between Septenber and March) but Not because of the cold! Cold weather has not been shown to increase the number of colds. People spend more time indoors in winter. They are therefore more likely to come into physical contact with each other and spread the disease. All these ideas remain to be proven. No one has been able to discover what really causes these colds

Common colds are spread by sneezes or by direct contact with a cold sufferer, usually when two people’ hands touch or an object is passed from one person to another. Sneezing spreads colds when someone sneezes near other people, or sneezes on objects which others later touch. A cold virus can survive up to three hours on hard surfaces.

The simplest and most effective way to lower the risk of catching a cold is to wash your hands frequently. Another important step in cold prevention is for cold sufferers to get rid of used tissues immediately after use.

1.From the passage, we can know____________.

A. a cold virus can survive up to four hours      

B. most of people know how to cure a cold

C. there are more colds in November than in May  

D. all of us catch more than one cold a year

2.According to the passage, people tend to catch a cold___________.

A. because they don’t take exercise in winter   

B.if they stay outdoors in freezinf cold winter

C. if they stay indoors more often in winter  

D.because the viruses of colds usually exist in winter

3.We can know colds sre spread through____________.

A. air and touching     B. coughs and objects   C.two people    D. a person and his hands                            

It is not unusual for people to speak two or three languages; they’re known as bilinguals or trilinguals. Speakers of more than three languages are known as polyglots. And when we refer to people who speak many languages, perhaps a dozen or more, we use the term hyper-polyglot.

The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.

Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through hard work?

U.S. linguist Stephen Drashen believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability. As an example, he mentions a Hungarian woman who worked as an interpreter during the 20th century. When she was 86, she could speak 16 languages and was still working on learning new languages. She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.

Some researchers argue to the contrary. They believe that there is such a thing as a talent for learning languages. In the 1930s, a German scientist examined parts of the preserved brain of a hyper-polyglot named Emil Krebs, who could speak 60 languages fluently. The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language. However, we still don’t know if Krebs was born with a brain ready to learn dozens of languages or if his brain adapted to the demands he put on it.

Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it.

1.What does the underlined sentence imply?

A. Mezzofanti could remember 360 words a day.

B. Mezzofanti had a special way to learn languages.

C. Mezzofanti’s achievement was ridiculous.

D. Mezzofanti language ability was astonishing.

2.The Hungarian woman became a hyper-polyglot mainly because of her __.

A. good memory       B. unique brain      C. hard work      D. learning methods

3.The German scientist’s findings showed that Krebs ___.

A. had an unusual brain

B. was born with great talent

C. had worked hard at languages

D. expected too much of himself

4.The author seems to agree that ___.

A. it is not hard to learn foreign languages

B. hard work plays a part in language learning

C. there is no such thing as a talent for languages

D. hyper-polyglots have an inborn talent for language

It is not unusual for people to speak two or three languages; they’re known as bilinguals or trilinguals. Speakers of more than three languages are known as polyglots. And when we refer to people who speak many languages, perhaps a dozen or more, we use the term hyper-polyglot.

The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.

Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through hard work?

U.S. linguist Stephen Drashen believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability. As an example, he mentions a Hungarian woman who worked as an interpreter during the 20th century. When she was 86, she could speak 16 languages and was still working on learning new languages. She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.

Some researchers argue to the contrary. They believe that there is such a thing as a talent for learning languages. In the 1930s, a German scientist examined parts of the preserved brain of a hyper-polyglot named Emil Krebs, who could speak 60 languages fluently. The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language. However, we still don’t know if Krebs was born with a brain ready to learn dozens of languages or if his brain adapted to the demands he put on it.

Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it.

1.What does the underlined sentence imply?

A. Mezzofanti could remember 360 words a day.

B. Mezzofanti had a special way to learn languages.

C. Mezzofanti’s achievement was ridiculous.

D. Mezzofanti language ability was astonishing.

2.The Hungarian woman became a hyper-polyglot mainly because of her __.

A. good memory       B. unique brain      C. hard work      D. learning methods

3.The German scientist’s findings showed that Krebs ___.

A. had an unusual brain

B. was born with great talent

C. had worked hard at languages

D. expected too much of himself

4.The author seems to agree that ___.

A. it is not hard to learn foreign languages

B. hard work plays a part in language learning

C. there is no such thing as a talent for languages

D. hyper-polyglots have an inborn talent for language

Anna lived on the side of a valley. One winter, there was a very big flood, and a lot of houses 36   Anna's were washed away. Anna's house was high enough to escape the flood, so when the water had disappeared and the other houses were __37   there with no roof and no walls and all covered with __38  , her house was  39  quite all right.

   Her house was quite small, her husband was dead, and she had four children ,  40  Anna took in one of the families that had lost  41  in the flood and she 42  her home with them until it was  43  for them to rebuild their houses.

  Anna's friends were  44   when they saw Anna do this. They could not understand why Anna wanted to give  45  so much more work and trouble when she already had quite a few children to  46  .

"Well," Anna  47 her friends, "at the end of the First World War, a woman in the town where I 48  lived found herself very poor, because her husband  49   in the war and she had a lot of children,  50   I have now. The day before Christams, this woman said to her children, ‘We won’t be able to have much for  51   this year, so I’m going to  52   only one present for all of us. Now I’ll go and get it.’ She came back  53   a girl who was even poorer than they, and who had no parents. ‘Here’s our present, ’ she said to her children. The children were  54   to get such a present. They welcomed the little girl, and she grew up as their sister.  55   was that Christmas present.

1.A．down below      B．just around        C．next to   D．above

2.A．rising          B．appearing          C．falling   D．standing

3.A．water           B．trees              C．dust  D．mud

4.A．just            B．already            C．yet   D．still

5.A．so              B．but                C．for   D．since

6.A．nothing         B．everything         C．anything  D．something

7.A．made            B．found              C．shared    D．built

8.A．possible        B．necessary          C．important D．valuable

9.A．worried         B．disappointed       C．puzzled   D．impressed

10.A．them           B．herself            C．them all  D．her

11.A．support        B．supply             C．grow  D．keep

12.A．explained to   B．asked for          C．talked with   D．spoke as

13.A．actually       B．then               C．before    D．later

14.A．had killed     B．might be killed    C．had been killed   D．killed

15.A．for            B．as                 C．like  D．that

16.A．you            B．us                 C．Christmas D．your birthday

17.A．get            B．send               C．buy   D．make

18.A．for            B．from               C．like  D．with

19.A．sad            B．happy              C．worried   D．sorry

20.A．It         B．She                C．Such      D．I