阅读理解。 This is the VOA Special English Education Report. A few weeks ago, we
题型：浙江省模拟题难度：来源：
as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL. A listener in Cambodia named Thida asks if American colleges and
universities also accept the IELTS exam. IELTS is the International English Language Testing System. It was
developed by the University of Cambridge ESOL examiners.
Cambridge ESOL says the test measures true-to-life ability to communicate in English for education,
immigration or employment. The IELTS tests listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. It uses a mixture
of accents and spellings, including British English and American English.
The test is used by government agencies, schools and professional organizations in one hundred and twenty
countries. And, yes, that includes the United States. Many American schools that accepted the IELTS can be
found on the Web at felts, org.
Some schools accept both the TOEFL and the IELTS, but the graduate school at Duke University in
Durham, North Carolina, for example, says it prefers the IEITS.
The listening and speaking parts are the same for everyone who takes the IELTS, but people have a choice
of reading and writing tests-either academic or general training.
The listening test takes thirty minutes. There are forty questions based on a recording. The reading test takes
sixty minutes. Students answer forty questions based on three written passages.
The writing test also takes sixty minutes. Students have to write two essays. One essay has to be at least
one hundred and fifty words long and the other at least two hundred and fifty words. The shorter one is
description of something; the longer one has to support and argument.
The speaking test takes less than fifteen minutes. The score is based on a recorded talk between the student
and a test examiner.
And that"s the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. If you have a general
question for our series, write to special@voanews.com. I"m Barbara Klein.
B. International English Language Testing System.
C. Test of English as a Foreign Language.
D. Test of English as a Native Language.
B. more than 165 minutes
C. no more than 160 minutes
D. less than 165 minutes
B. IELTS is completely different from TOEFL
C. every American needs to accept TOEFL
D. IEITS isn"t used more widely than TOEFL
B. It talks about some ways to pass TOEFL.
C. It introduces IELTS.
D. How can the readers pass two kinds of tests?
答案
举一反三
the sight of a test makes some kids sweat. For others, it is a blank answer sheet. Then there are the frightening
words, "Take out your Number 2 pencil." All three fill 10-year-old Chelsea Logo with fear. "I start to tap my
pencil on the desk," says the fifth grader, "Then I feel the butterflies in my stomach."
Chelsea is not alone. In a recent survey, more than 70% of kids aged 9 to 13 said they worry about tests.
It"s no wonder. Across the United States, public schools give more than 250 million standardized tests each
year.
Why do kids have to take so many tests? The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law requires that students in
grades 3 through 8 be tested each year. The law"s goal is for all students to be at grade level by 2014. Students
must pass the tests and meet other requirements or their schools may be shut down.
US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wants to change NCLB. But that doesn"t mean he favors getting
rid of tests. Duncan believes tests should be used mainly to evaluate kids" strengths and weaknesses. Tests,
Duncan says, should not be used to punish kids or their schools for failure. "The goal is to focus on great
teaching and learning," Duncan said.
Under NCLB, each state sets its own standards for students to meet. The result, Duncan says, is that states
are making the tests easier. To fix this problem, 48 states are now working together to create common
standards. "I want to set a high bar for kids," Duncan says, "so they"ll be in great shape to achieve their dreams."
Like them or not, tests are here to stay. So how can you handle test stress? Schools are teaching students
to relax through deep breathing and stretching. In Oakland, California, Principal Zarina Ahmad of Piedmont
Avenue Elementary leads her students in a cheer to get them excited about learning.
B. nervous
C. exciting
D. proud
B. is requiring schools to make the tests more difficult
C. is trying to make schools be responsible for students
D. aims to evaluate kids" strengths and weaknesses by means of tests
B. suggests closing some schools
C. is concerned about students" development
D. suggests each state set its own standard
B. schools have no good way to deal with students" stress
C. tests help assess what students have to learn
D. schools are aware of students" stress caused by tests
注意：每个空格只填一个单词。
The treadle pump (脚踏抽水机) is based on a design developed in the 1970s by Norwegian engineer Gunnar
Barnes. It can be made locally and easy to build from bamboo or other wood and two metal cylinders (圆筒)
with pistons (活塞). The pistons go up and down as a person stands on lever (控制杆) devices, treadles, and
uses a natural walking motion.
How many hours a day the pump needs to be operated depends on the season and how much water is
needed for crops. It could be two hours a day or seven hours a day. Small children sometimes stand with their
parents on the treadles. Everyone in the family can take turns operating the pump.
Families using them ate more vegetables, because they were able to grow more to eat and to sell. Many of
these families also drank more milk, because they bought a cow with their added earnings. Men with treadle
pumps often no longer have to leave the farm to seek extra work in cities. The pumps can also improve
education. Farmers often use their extra earnings to buy books for their children or to pay for schooling.
A farmer in Zambia said he hoped to have enough money in three years, to buy a diesel-powered pump.
Then he could grow more crops over a larger area. But the world economic crisis has had an effect on some
farmers. Even some who were able to buy diesel pumps now do not have enough money to buy fuel. So they
are using their treadle pumps again.
| If cars had wings, they could fly- and that just might happen, beginning in 2011. The company Terrafugia, based in Woburn, Massachusetts, says it plans to deliver its car-plane, the |  | |||||||||||
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