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To most of us, school means classes, teachers, schedules, grades and tests. But for the children at Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts, school is very different.

Firstly, there are no lessons. All the children, aged between 4 and 19, do whatever they want. There are no teachers, only “staff members”. The idea behind this is that you do not need to make children learn, because children want to learn anyway. “You do not need to say to a three-year-old, ‘Go explore your environment.’ You can’t stop them!”says Daniel Greenberg, a founder of the school. “But if you make children do what you want all day… they will lose all taste of learning.” At Sudbury Valley School, you will find children talking, reading, painting, cooking, working on computers, studying French, playing the piano, climbing trees, or just running around. Two boys spent three years just fishing!

The other way that Sudbury Valley School is different is that the children can decide the rules. Every week, there is a school meeting where both children and staff have one vote (投票)each—even the four-year-olds. They decide the school rules, how to spend the school money, and even which staff they want and do not want anymore.

When the school first opened in 1968, people said it would never work. But today, the school has 200 students, and 80% of its students go on to college. Even the two boys who went fishing all the time have successful careers today. One of them is a musician and the other is a computer scientist.

1.What's special about the school?

A. There is nobody but students there.

B. All the students are of the same age.

C. There are no classes for the students.

D. There are no rules in the school.

2.What do the students do in the school?

A. They learn everything there from the staff members.

B. They grow up there without learning anything.

C. They spend all the time with their parents.

D. They do whatever they are interested in.

3.The school seems to believe that children________.

A. learn best when they are doing what they want

B. are too young to learn anything by themselves

C. can look after themselves without any help

D. can't go to college without any hard work

4.The last paragraph wants to tell us that_          .

A. the writer doesn't like the idea of the school

B. the school is quite successful in its work

C. most of the parents don't believe in the school

D. younger students learn better there than older ones

5.The underlined word career in the last paragraph most probably means_.

A. family   B. money    C. lifestyle    d. job

_____ of the teachers are women in our school.

A. Second thirds                             B. Two threes             C. Two thirds

As a teenager, I am often asked what I am going to be in the future. A lawyer? A doctor? Or a scientist? No, my ideal career is to be a teacher. One of the       for that is I want to be a teacher like Mr. Chen.

“Look! Do you know what it is? A-ha, it’s the      ! And it will always move around the sun.” Mr. Chen said and pointed to his head. He then touched the nose and      , “Can you tell me the name of this mountain? It is the highest mountain on Earth! What’s the       of it? Yes, it’s 8844.43 metres…” I’ll never forget my first geography lesson. He was       humorous that we all fell in love with his lessons      . It’s Mr. Chen who opened the door of geography for us.

Generally speaking, most of the teachers are strict       students and sometimes a little bit demanding（苛求的）, not so with Mr. Chen. He is a lighthouse, showing us the way to the treasure of knowledge. He is a friend and easy to get         with, always encouraging us to speak out loud without        our shyness and other disadvantages. He is an example, volunteering his time to students and other teachers.

One day I happened to meet him in the hospital. Seeing the cut on his arm, I realized he was donating his        . I was moved and was         another lesson, a lesson of love and devotion.

Every time I see my globe（地球仪）, it would        me of Mr. Chen. He is the most unforgettable teacher I have      met and he will always be. Someday I hope I am        to be a teacher like him.

Thank you, Mr Chen, thank you for making learning not a job but a joy.

Thank you for helping me to discover what I do best and to do it even       .

Thank you for understanding all of us and giving us the time and care each of us needs.

1.A. replies               B. reasons                C. rewards                      D. results

2.A. moon      B. earth                   C. star                D. sun

3.A. advised             B. announced             C. added                     D. answered

4.A. distance  B. weight                     C. size                      D. height

5.A. very               B. too                        C. really                            D. so

6.A. at present       B. at once                    C. at times                        D. at first

7.A. with                B. to                         C. in                               D. for

8.A. away                B. together           C. angry                 D. along

9.A. thinking    B. caring               C. considering                  D. supposing

10.A. money  B. blood                      C. clothes                        D. time

11.A. taught        B. given                        C. taken                            D. had

12.A. remembers  B. represents      C. warns                           D. reminds

13.A. just                  B. never                     C. ever                           D. yet

14.A. able      B. about                      C. allowed              D. available

15.A. well           B. good               C. better                         D. best

Most middle school students find it boring to learn English. But students in Yat Sen middle school in New York, US, don’t think so. Why? Because they are in the school of One Program, which asks students to work on their own or in small groups on computers to have math lessons.
“The program gives the students a new learning style. No traditional classroom can compare with it. We give each lesson according to the students’ interest and their strong and weak points,” said JoelⅠ. Klein, the school’s head teacher, “we’re looking for a new way that interest students children.”
Students enjoy these math lessons, especially lessons with video games. They must find out the answers to math problems to get through the game. One such game is Dimension M. As students move through mazes(迷宫) with their keyboards, some questions come up.
Caleb Deng had to answer the question: What is 5+ (6×3)? He calculated on paper quickly because there was just a minute left to play.
“ I was right,” said Deng, 14, as he ended the game with a high score (高分). “this really makes math lessons more exciting, since we are fighting to learn better.”
【小题1】Students in Yat Sen Middle School like math because __________.