Eight-year-old Bethany and seven-year-old Eliza are having a great time jumping around in the orchard of their home in a village near Penrith. They can play any time they like because they don't go to school. Instead, they are educated at home by their parents, Paul and Veronika Robinson. But they don't have lessons, have never used a timetable and learn only what and when they want to learn.

"I want my kids to have freedom in their childhood, not spend it in an institution," says 37-year-old Veronika, "School is all about control and following the rules." Veronika and her 56-year-old husband Paul have never experienced the daily rush to get dressed and out of the door that is common in most households with school-aged children. "We get up at our leisure - usually around 8.30-ish," says Veronika. "We might visit a friend, or go to the library, and on Tuesdays we shop at the market. In summer, we spend most of our time outside and the girls entertain themselves a lot."

New research due to be published this spring reveals a very different picture of Britain's home educators. "Out of 297 families, 184 said that they never use a timetable," says Mike Fortune-Wood of Home Education UK. "Ninety per cent never or rarely use textbooks, and nearly all said that happiness, contentment and self-fulfillment were more important than academic achievement. Only 15% felt that planning what to learn was crucial."

So far, so good. But what, you might ask, are the children actually learning?

"It wasn't important to me that the girls could read by a certain age, but they both picked it up for themselves at around seven," says Robinson. "Weighing cooking ingredients uses maths, and making a shopping list teaches them to write. Observing five hens has taught the girls about survival of the fittest. "

But what about when the children grow up? Can they go to university? The home educators' answer is they can if they want to. There are a variety of routes into higher education, but probably the most common is to join a local college. This is what Gus Harris-Reid has done. "I was educated at home all my life. I'd never had a lesson or been inside a classroom until I started GCSEs," says the 18-year-old. "I'm now studying for 4 A-levels at Exeter College. I've had no problem with the work or with fitting in." When asked to reflect on his experience of home education, his considered response is, "Like a permanent holiday, really!" Not a bad start for someone who plans to take a mechanical engineering degree next year.

1. What is the topic of this article?

 A. New ways of learning to read and write   B. Problems with UK schools

C. Home education in the UK             D. Wild, undisciplined children

2. Why do the Robinsons not send their children to school?

A. They think schools control children too much.    B. They do not like the courses taught in schools.

 C. They want to teach their children farming skills.   D. They live in a remote area where there are no schools.

3. According to the article, in homes with school-going children, ______.

A. mornings are rushed and stressful.      B. the children hardly ever go outside.

 C. the family wakes up around 8.30am.    D. the children must ask permission to go to the toilet.

4. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

 A. Most home educators believe that happiness is more important than good grades.

B. Most home educators believe that planning is important.

 C. Most home educators do not follow a timetable or use textbooks.

 D. Most home educators are not worried about when their children learn to read and write.

5. What does the article say about home-educated children getting into university?

 A. They learn so many useful skills at home that universities are happy to accept them.

 B. They can get into university if they have 4 A-levels.

C. They can go to school later and get the qualifications they need in order to enter university.

 D. Home education is so relaxed that they are likely to experience problems when faced with the pressures of a degree course.

From the ________ shown in the dead body, he ________to death by a certain poisonous chemical, but I can’t tell exactly which.

根据首字母或中文写出正确的单词形式。

The results of this research can be ______ (应用) to new developments in technology.

He suffered a ______ (暂时的) loss of memory so he couldn’t recognize who you were.

At first he didn’t ______（同意）of the decision, but soon he was persuaded.

Facing the great disaster, the whole society c______（集中）its attention on rescuing the people in ruin.

She is an ______（乐观的）girl and she thinks that everything will become good soon.

The guide told us that there would be a system where the waste was ______（丢弃） of using the principles of ecology.

John Snow s______ (怀疑) that the second theory was correct but he needed evidence.

How many countries does the UK ______ (由…组成) of ? Three or four?

They had no time to a______（筹备、安排）their own wedding, so they had it organized by a company.

P______ (早先的) to coming here, I prepared all the documents for you.

Some wonderfully creative uses of X-rays have been in the world of art．But the most impressive one is to uncover what has been covered up．Details unfolded by an X-ray of a painting can ' t be seen any other way．For example, in the past, paintings were often repaired if small pieces of paint fell off the canvas （帆布）． These repairs cannot be seen just by looking at the painting．It takes an X-ray to discover where the repairs have been made．
An X-ray of a painting is one of the best ways to tell if it was created by a famous painter or if it is a forgery（赝品）．If there is a question as to whether an old master has painted a certain painting or not, X-rays are made and compared to those of paintings that are known to be original．If the brushstrokes （笔迹） , for example, are shown to be totally different than in other work done by a certain artist, then the painting is proved to be a fake copy．
Since modern paints are usually made from different materials than paints of hundreds of years ago, the image they leave on an X-ray film looks different．This is another way X-rays can be used to spot a forgery．A modem artist will try to make a forgery look hundreds of years old by painting dirty varnish on it or by using artificial means to get the varnish to look cracked．To the naked eye the forgery may look old, but when a careful study of the X-ray image is made, the deception is obvious．
It was common many years ago for an artist to finish a painting, decide it wasn't any good, and paint a completely different picture on top of it．Or artists would paint over others' work —it was their version of recycling．Taking an X-ray is the only way to find out if there is a picture underneath the picture you see with your eyes．Sometimes museums will be more interested in the painting beneath than the one on top, and will restore the older one by having the top layer painstakingly removed．
【小题1】What is the main purpose of the article?

When should a child start learning to read and write? This is one of the questions I am most frequently (屡次地) asked. There is no hard and fast rule, for no two are alike (同样的), and it would be wrong to set a time when all should start being taught the intricacies (错综复杂的事物) of reading letters to form words.

If a three-year-old child wants to read (or even a two-year-old child for that matter), the child has the right (权利) to be given every encouragement (鼓励). The fact that he might later be “bored” when joining a class of non-readers (非读者) at child school is the teacher’s affair (事情). It is up to the teacher to see that such a child is given more advanced (高级的) reading material.

Similarly, the child who still cannot read by the time he goes to junior school at the age of seven should be given every help by teachers and parents alike. They should make certain that he is not dyslexic (having difficulty in reading 诵读困难的).

Although parents should be careful not to force youngsters (儿童) aged two to five to learn to read (if badly done it could put them off reading for life), there is no harm in preparing them for simple recognition (识别) of letters by labeling (标识) various items in the their rooms. For instance (比如), tie a nice piece of cardboard to their bed with BED written in neat (整齐的), big letters.

Should the young child ask his parents to teach him to read, and if the parents are capable (足以胜任的) of doing so, such an attraction (吸引) should not be ignored (对……不予理会). But the task should never be made to look like a hard job and the child should never be forced to continue, or his interest should start to flag (变弱).

1 This passage is mainly about ____ .

         A. what qualities people teaching children reading should have

         B. difference age groupings of children to be taught reading

         C. when and how children should be taught reading

         D. various problems of children who start learning to reading

2 In the writer’s opinion, children start learning to read ____ .

         A. early and fast       B. at different time C. by a certain rule  D. from word games

3 A three-year-old child who wants to read should ____ .

         A. be encouraged    B. go to an infant school

         C. start from fun stories D. join a class of non-readers

4The purpose of labeling items in the room is to ____ .

         A. make it more colorful

         B. teach children to write neatly

         C. help children recognize simple letters

         D. force children to develop the habit of

5 The writer suggest that ____ .

         A. children should ask their parents to teach them to read

         B. children should not feel bored if given advanced reading material

         C. children starting to read should ask specialists for help

         D. children should be taught with patience , care and a sense of humor