The new studies show that fewer than half of the 9th graders in many of the nati

题型：不详难度：来源：

The new studies show that fewer than half of the 9th graders in many of the nation’s largest cities, can ever graduate. The studies clearly show that the dropout rate isn’t dropping. And, in particular, the dropout rate isn’t dropping for poor and minority students.
Amazingly, though so many regret the rising dropout rate, our schools continue to lack formal plans--or any plans--to teach students motivation(动机). Most schools have no game plan to ensure that students understand that school will be completely necessary. Schools expect youth and children to act as though school is important, but they never teach them to believe that.
Years ago, families ensured that the offspring recognized the value of school. But in many modern families, the children may fail to recognize the importance of school life just because these families may actually tell the child that school is not important. Since many families are not motivating their children to be interested students, youth professionals, like teachers may need to provide this training. Otherwise, it is likely the dropout rate will continue not to drop, but only worsen.
Here are some strategies to convince even the most apathetic (无动于衷的) students that they must stay in school.
Ask students if they will ever need to work: The world has changed. 100 years ago, factory work was the booming job, and it required no education. Today, factories are increasingly automated. Most computer-related jobs require education and at least a high school diploma.
Ask students which century they will be prepared for: In 1900, the most common jobs were farm laborer and domestic servant—education not needed. Now, the most common jobs are office and sales worker—education and diploma usually needed. An amazing 6 out of 10 people today work in a store or office.
Ask students to devise a way that the employee could be replaced. For example, the coming trend in fast food is to use computers rather than people to run the restaurant. A prototype is apparently already being tested. The students should discover that most jobs that lack education and diploma requirements may be ripe for automation.
小题1: What does the underlined part mean in Paragraph1?

A．Few students can afford to go to school in large cities.

B．A large number of the 9^th grades can graduate now.

C．There are still quite a few 9^th graders leaving school early.

D．Most schools in large cities have fewer and fewer students.

小题2:Without the help of youth professionals,_____.

A．more and more families will gradually recognize the value of school.

B．some parents will be more convinced of their children’s future.

C．it is likely that the dropout rate in schools won’t continue to drop.

D．the schools will make proper plans to solve the problems with dropout.

小题3:The author takes factory work for example mainly to ______.

A．tell us that many jobs requires certain education in the past

B．show that there are more factory work and employment in modern society

C．show that employment in the computer field grows at a high rate

D．emphasize that modern jobs require education and schools are necessary

小题4:It can be inferred that______.

A．both schools and families should answer for the high dropout rate

B．many new jobs don’t need children’s high school diploma

C．working in a store doesn’t require a high school diploma

D．most schools are ready to help students recognize the importance of study

小题5: If students play the “Replace Me” game, the result would be “______”.

A．They will know that they can ‘always’ do without a diploma

B．More of them will drop out early to go to work

C．They will discover that lack education is a disadvantage in choosing jobs

D．They will become better at using computers to hunt for a job

答案

小题1:C
小题1:C
小题1:D
小题1:A
小题1:C

解析

小题1:句意理解题：从第一段的开头句：The new studies show that fewer than half of the 9th graders in many of the nation’s largest cities, can ever graduate.可知还有很多九年前学生很早就辍学了。选C
小题1:细节题：从第三段的句子：youth professionals, like teachers may need to provide this training. Otherwise, it is likely the dropout rate will continue not to drop, but only worsen.可知没有老师这样的专业人士的帮助，有可能学校的辍学率不会继续下降。选C
小题1:细节题：从第五段的句子：Today, factories are increasingly automated. Most computer-related jobs require education and at least a high school diploma.可知作者提到工作是为了说明很多工作都需要学历的。选D。
小题1:推理题：文章第二段和第三段的内容可以推断出学校和家庭都负有责任。选A
小题1:推理题：从最后一段的句子：The students should discover that most jobs that lack education and diploma requirements may be ripe for automation.可知学生会发现缺乏教育在找工作的时候是不利因素。选C。

举一反三

Drunken driving –sometimes called America’s socially accepted form of murder—has become a national epidemic (流行病). Every hour of every day about three Americans on average are killed by drunken drivers, adding up to an incredible 250,000 over the past ten years. A drunken driver is usually referred to as one with 0.10-blood alcohol content or roughly three beer glasses of wine or shots of whisky drunk within two hours. Heavy drinking used to be an acceptable part of the American manly image and judges were lenient in most courts, but the drunken killing has recently caused so many well-publicized tragedies, especially concerning young children, that public opinion is no longer so tolerant.
Twenty states have raised the legal drinking age to 21, reversing a trend in the 1960s to reduce it to 18. After New Jersey lowered it to 18, the number of people killed by 18-20 years old drivers more than doubled, so the state recently upped it back to 21.
Reformers, however, fear raising the drinking age will have little effect unless accompanied by educational programs to help young people to develop “responsible attitudes” about drinking and teach them to resist peer pressure to drink.
Though new laws have led to increased arrests and tests in many areas already, to a marked drop in accidents, some states are also punishing bars for serving customers too many drinks. A bar in Massachusetts was fined for serving six or more double brandies to a customer who was “obviously drunk” and later drove off the road, killing a 9-year-old boy.
As the accidents continue to occur daily in every state, some Americans are even beginning to speak well of the 13 years national prohibition of alcohol that began in 1919, which President Hoover called the “noble experiment”. They forgot that legal prohibition didn’t stop drinking, but encouraged political corruption and organized crime. As with the booming drug trade generally, there is no easy solution.
小题1: From paragraph one, we can know that ____________.

A．most Americans like drinking

B．heavy drinking is hard to avoid

C．many Americans are killed by drunk drivers

D．Americans are not shocked by traffic accidents

小题2:What can be inferred from the fact of the traffic accidents in New Jersey?

A．The legal drinking age should be raised.

B．Young drivers were usually bad.

C．Most drivers hoped to raise the legal drinking age.

D．Drivers should not be allowed to drink.

小题3:The underlined word “lenient” in the first paragraph means “_________”.

A．serious

B．cruel

C．merciful

D．determined

小题4:In America, public opinion about drunken driving has changed because __________.

A．judges are no longer lenient

B．new laws are introduced in some states

C．the problem has attracted public attention

D．drivers do not appreciate their manly image

小题5:Which of the following best shows the writer’s opinion of drunken driving?

A．It may lead to organized crime.

B．It is difficult to solve this problem.

C．The new laws can stop heavy drinking.

D．There should be no bars to serve drinks.

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"Hey, little boy, will you support me when I’m getting old?" Wang Wenshan, 35, asked his newborn baby as he picked him up at home．
The Chinese tradition of raising sons to support parents in their old age has been weakened by the rapidly growing economy and improving standard of living．As is the case with more and more developed countries, China faces an aging society．People are living longer and having fewer children．Therefore, many Chinese families are falling into a 4-2-1 family pattern: a couple raises one child and supports four elderly parents．But few realize that a problem is likely to happen ahead．
The aging of the population is a trend that now affects a growing number of countries．Not long ago, the Information Office of the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued a white paper on measures China is taking to help its elderly population．The paper said China s population entered the aging period at the end of the 20th century as the proportion rote） of people aged 60 and above accounted for over 10 percent of the entire population, By the end of 2005, China had nearly 144 million people over 60, accounting for 11 percent of the population, according to the white paper．
An expanding aged population inevitably means that many issues must be settled, as the problem concerns every aspect of society．It puts more pressure on each family, causing disturbing economic consequences and serious social problems．It also challenges the labor force supply and the pension system．
"I used to think that it’s not an issue for me to provide, for the aged," said Wang, whose parents and parents-in-law all enjoy pensions and medical insurance．But last year Wang s father suffered a serious illness and afterward Wang began to feel the pressure on his shoulders．
After his father recovered, Wang opened bank accounts for each parent and deposited some money into the account every month to prepare for future uncertainties．In addition, he has to save money every month to provide for his son s future education．"I m now breaking my back working to support my family: saving pensions for the parents, my son s education funds, and living costs．"
Wang also bought some commercial old-age insurance for himself．"We have to take precautions before it is too late, and many of my colleagues share the same view," he said．
小题1:Which of the following is not caused by an aging society?

A．Social problem．	B．The problem of the pension system．
C．More pressure on the family．	D．Unemployment．

小题2:From the passage, we can infer___．

A．the aging people problem is one of the concerns for the Chinese government

B．China will encourage young couples to have more than one child

C．many people have realized the problem of aging society

D．children will not support their parents in an aging society

小题3:Which of the following can be used to replace the underlined word inevitably?

A．Surprisingly．	B．Certainly．
C．Hopefully．	D．Unluckily

小题4:From the text we can see that .

A．China is the only country to face an aging society

B．most of the developing countries face an aging society

C．countries with a large population face an aging society

D．more and more developed countries face an aging society

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In recent years, especially during the l960s, there was much discussion about “the brain drain (排干, 流失),” which dealt with the problem of students and learned people who left their own countries for other countries that offered better chances for study, research, and employment．For example, according to a report from U．N., between 1962 and l966 more than 50 percent of all engineering graduates of Iran and 14 percent of Iranian scientists left their country for work abroad．Over 30 percent of Chilean engineers and 15 percent of Turkish physicians also went to work in other countries．Probably the greatest brain drain occurred among young scientists who had gone abroad to study．Many of them had planned to return to their countries to teach but chose to remain in more industrialized nations where they were able to continue their work and their research in fields in which there were no job possibilities at home．The countries that attracted most of these scientists were the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Canada, and Australia.
　　Recent studies show that the brain drain to the United States may be decreasing．Many foreign scientists are going home again, and in some cases American scientists are leaving the United States for employment in other countries．The main reasons are that good jobs are becoming fewer here, money for national research has been sharply cut, and university fellowships reduced too．However, in the field of medicine the drain to the United States still goes on．Today more than one of every five American doctors is foreign - born, and several thousand foreign doctors immigrate to the United States each year．Over eighty countries have asked the State Department to send students who are skilled in important fields such as medicine back home when their study programs are over.
小题1:Which of the following is not the reason for “the brain drain”?

A．Good housing.	B．Better research condition.
C．Good job possibility	D．Better chances of study..

小题2:The brain drain to the United States may be decreasing mainly because __________.

A．many foreign scientists are ordered to return to their motherlands

B．they don’t need any foreign scientists now

C．there are fewer and fewer good jobs in the USA

D．the universities refuse to provide money for the foreign scientists

小题3:How many American doctors are foreign - born?
A．About half of them.　　 B More than 20 percent　
C．Several thousand.　　 D．About 15 percent.
小题4:Which is the best title for this passage?
A．How to seek a job in the USA.　　 B．Doctors’ immigration to the USA.
C．A strange case. D．The brain drain.

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We use the Internet for many things: business, shopping, writing letters, talking to people, finding information and so on. In recent years, a new kind of English has grown on the Internet. There’s no real word for it yet, so we’ll call it e-talk. People don’t like typing too much. To save time, they turn phrases into a few letters (called acronyms). Acronyms are often used in chat rooms(聊天室). Some of them are:
BTW(by the way); BRB(be right back); LOL(laughing out loud); IMO(in my opinion)
People also use many abbreviations. They are shortened forms of words. Some common abbreviations are:
info(information); puter(computer); pic(picture); sec(second)
We ususally don’t see people when we communicate on the Internet, so people have new ways to show feelings. Most people use their keyboards to draw “feelings”, such as:
:-) (happy); ;-)(joking); :-((sad); :-O(surprised)
These days, many forums(论坛)have picture feelings. For example:

(happy) (sad) (angry) (cool)
There are even whole new words, like ”newbie’s” (someone who is new on a chat board or forum). When you write something bad about someone else, it’s called “flaming” the person.
It takes time for people to get used to e-talk. Also, different groups on the Net have their own special ways of communicating. Newbie’s sometimes have to ask other people what they mean. As the Internet grows, e-talk will continue to grow and change.
小题1:Why do people type acronyms?

A．To show their feelings.	B．To make jokes.
C．To save time.	D．In this way newbie’s won’t understand them.

小题2:What does “BTW, my computer is not working well, :-( ”mean?

A．The person is happy about getting a new computer.

B．The person has to go away from his/her computer.

C．The person is angry at somebody.

D．The person is sad that his computer is having problems.

小题3: If someone is angry, what may he type?

A．

B．BRB

C．LOL

D．

小题4:E-talk will probably_______.

A．keep changing	B．stay the same
C．be used by people on the telephone	D．be easy for newbie’s to understand.

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A growing number of students in the United States are studying Mandarin(普通话). It is the official language of China. More and more people speak Mandarin than those who speak other languages in the world.
Schools that teach Mandarin want to prepare students for a future in which they are likely to work with people from China. Business in China is booming(繁荣的), and that trend(趋势) is expected to grow.
The US government is trying to encourage even more public schools to teach Mandarin. Officials are considering spending about $1 billion on Mandarin programs in schools. China is getting involved(参与) too. The Chinese government has donated Mandarin textbooks to US schools. Some schools are also taking part in teacher exchange programs with China.
“It is important for students to learn Mandarin and Chinese culture,” said Mary Patterson, a school principal(校长) in Portland, Oregon. “Students who do so will have wider opportunities when they become adults.”
小题1:Why are US schools teaching Mandarin?

A．To help students communicate with Chinese students.

B．To encourage students to move to China,

C．To prepare students for the future.

D．To get students interested in business.

小题2:The underlined word “donated” (in Paragraph 4) can be replaced by “______”?

A．provided

B．kept

C．made

D．found

小题3: What is the best title for this passage?

A．Why US students learn Mandarin	B．Schools in China
C．How to speak Mandarin	D．China today

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