to school from the age of 6 to the ages between 14 and 16, depending on the state they live in.
Subjects
In England and Wales the subjects taught in schools are laid down by the NATIONAL
CURRICULUM, which was introduced in 1988 and sets out in detail the subjects that children should
study and the levels of achievement they should reach by the ages of 7,11,14,and 16, when they are
tested.
The National Curriculum does not apply in Scotland, where each school decides what subjects it
will teach.
In the US the subjects taught are decided hy national and local governments.
Whereas British schools usually have prayers and religious instructions, American schools are not
allowed to include prayers or to teach particular religious beliefs.
Examinations
At 16, students in England and Wales take GCSE examinations. These examinations are taken by
students of all levels of ability in any of a range of subjects, and may involve a final examination, an
ASSESSMENT of work done during the two-year course, or both of these things. At 18 some students
take A-LEVEL examinations, usually in not more than 3 subjects. It is necessary to have A-Ievels in
order to go to a university of POLY-TECHNIC.
In Scotland students take the SCE examinations. A year later, they can take examinations called
HIGHERS, after. which they can either go straight to a uruversity or spend a further year at school and
take theCertificate of Sixth Year Studies. In Scotland the university system is different from that in
England and Wales. Courses usually last four years rather than three, and students study a large number
of subjects as part of their degree.
1. According to the passage, children have to go to school between the ages of in both Britain and
the US.
A. 5-14
B. 6-14
C. 5-15
D. 6-17
2. In which parts of the world are the subjects taught only decided by the nation?
A. England and Wales.
B. England and Scotland.
C. US and Britain.
D. Wales and Scotland.
3. As for the A-LEVEL examination, it involves .
A. final examination
B. assessment of work
C. not more than 3 subjects
D. Both B and C
4. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. In the US, only local government can decide the subjects.
B. In Scotland, students can take either the SCE examinations or the Certificate of Sixth
Year Studies.
C. In England, Wales and Scotland, students need to study religion.
D. As for a 16-year-old student in England and Wales, he has to take both GCSE examinations
and final examination.
find wood for the fire.People who do not have wood must spend large amounts of money on cooking fuel.
However,there is a much easier way to cook food using energy from the sun.
Solar cookers,or ovens,have been used for centuries.A Swiss scientist made the first solar oven in
1767.Today,people are using solar cookers in many countries around the world.People use solar ovens to
cook food and to heat drinking water to kill bacteria and other harmful organisms.
There are three kinds of solar ovens.The first is a box cooker.It is designed with a special wall that
shines or reflects sunlight into the box.Heat gets trapped under a piece of glass or plastic covering the top
of the cooker.A box oven is effective for slow cooking of large amounts of food.
The second kind of solar oven is a panel cooker.It includes several flat walls,or panels,that directly
reflect the sun"s light onto the food.The food is inside a separate container of plastic or glass that traps heat
energy.People can build panel cookers with very few supplies quickly.They do not cost much.In Kenya,for
example,panel cookers are being manufactured for just two dollars.
The third kind of solar oven is a parabolic(抛物线的) cooker.It has rounded walls that aim sunlight
directly into the bottom of the oven.Food cooks quickly in parabolic ovens.However,these cookers are
hard to make.They must be reaimed often to follow the sun.Parabolic cookers can also cause burns and
eye injuries if they are not used correctly.
You can make solar ovens from boxes or heavy paper.They will not catch fire.Paper burns at two
hundred thirtytwo degrees Celsius.A solar cooker never gets that hot.Solar ovens cook food at low
emperatures over long periods of time.This permits people to leave food to cook while they do other
things.
B. How to make solar cookers
C. Introduce a new kind of energy
D. Different kinds of cookers
B. people have been using solar cookers for more than 200 years
C. solar energy is the cleanest energy on the earth
D. more and more people cook food on smoky fires
B. they may explode easily
C. they may cause burns and eye injuries
D. they may cause fires
B. explain which is the best cooker
C. prove that solar cookers need improving
D. tell us the different making ups of the three kinds of solar cookers
that can 1 you from sweating and make you smell nice will be _ 2 in future,"she says. Scientists, not
known for being 3 could be the leaders in tomorrow"s fashion world.
A company put a 4 _ keyboard into a pair of trousers. It doesn"t make them more difficult to wear.
You can wash and 5 iron them. The company is also 6 to make a tie that works 7 a computer
mouse.
This company"s technology would change our daily lives 8 . 9 , phones could be made to bepart of
our jackets and the pockets could record meetings. For health and sports, the clothes could give 10 to
the wearers and 11 their bodies if they feel cold. It could also keep a check on the user" health.If there"s
something 12 with the user, it would let a hospital know 13 sending information to the nearest hospital.
To avoid the danger of _14 clothes that are too big or too small, a 3D Measuring System is being
developed.It can check the 15 of the body and keep them on a disk. People can then look at clothes on
the Internet and see how they look on their bodies by "trying them on" in the 16 .
But what about the problem of choosing _17 to wear? Yes, there"s a company over there which
thought about that problem, 18 . The company is developing an online wardrobe. It suggests which
clothes would be good wear _ 19 . the day"s weather or a person"s schedule. In a future of smart clothing,
what else would you expect _ 20 a smart wardrobe?
( )1. A. help ( )2. A. popular ( )3. A. famous ( )4. A. modern ( )5. A. still ( )6. A. planning ( )7. A. as ( )8. A. fortunately ( )9. A. At home ( )10. A. information ( )11. A. help ( )12. A. bad ( )13. A. in ( )14. A. buying ( )15. A. health ( )16. A. computer ( )17. A. how ( )18. A. either ( )19. A. because of ( )20. A. rather than | B. avoid B. expensive B. bright B. invisible B. again B. designing B. like B. seriously B. In cinema B. telephones B. warm B. wrong B. on B. getting B. information B. mirror B. what B. also B. more than B. more than | C. keep C. unacceptable C. fashionable C. soft C. even C. likely C. at C. instantly C. In their free time C. signals C. serve C. serious C. during C. selling C. measurements C. home C. which C. too C. as a result of C. less than | D. let D. friendly D. free D. sensitive D. also D. wishing D. for D. greatly D. At work D. money D. keep D. changeable D. by D. making D. state D. store D. where D. as well as D. according to D. other than |
阅读理解 | |||
We often think of future. We often wonder what the world will be like in a hundred years" time. Think of space, perhaps a permanent (永久的) station on the moon will have been set up. Perhaps people will be able to visit the moon as tourists. Cheap rockets for space travel will have been developed, permitting long journeys throughout the solar system(太阳系). When that time comes, people will be taking holidays in space and visiting other planets. Creat progress will have been made in medicine, too. Perhaps a cure will have been discovered for the most terrible of all diseases-cancer. Pollution is a problem we must solve. In a hundred years" time it will have been controlled. All the world will have been developed-even Antarctica. There will be large cities in Antarctica. We already have supersonic (超音速的) flight, but in a hundred years" time we will have supersonic land travel as well. We will have used up most of the earth"s land tobuild our cities, so floating cities will have been built. The Japanese already have plans for cities of this kind.And there will be cities under the sea. The first of these will have been completed. . | |||
1. We will have developed _ in a hundred years" time, permitting long journeys all over the solar system. | |||
A. cheap rockets for space travel B. a plane C. a spaceship D. a satellite | |||
2. Man will also have supersonic land travel . | |||
A. in a year B. about half a century later C.in the year 2050 D. about a century later | |||
3. The last paragraph mainly talks about _ . | |||
A. we"ll make good use of space on the earth B. cities under the sea C. Japan will first build floating cities D. earth"s land is in danger | |||
阅读理解 | |||
How soon will it be before robots become so intelligent that will be able to do things, such as teaching | |||
1. Which of the following is the best title for this passage? | |||
A. Servants of the Future B. How to Make Robots C. Robots More Clever Than Man D.The Robots and People | |||
2. Dr Sandra Lomax thinks that . . | |||
A. no robot will ever be able to prepare an omelette B.a robot will soon be able to do unusual house- work people can"t do C. we can programme a robot to learn from experience D. making an omelette is easier for a robot than recognizing a bad egg | |||
3. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to this passage? | |||
A. All experts agree that there will soon be robots that can teach languages and look after patients in hospital. B. Dr Sandra Lomax believes there are very great problems in developing intelligent robots. C. Robots have taken an important part in people"s daily life. D. Such machines are already being sold into ordinary homes. | |||
4. A London company called UAS has already developed a machine which _ . | |||
A. can teach languages and care for the patients in hospital B. can help old people do certain jobs in the house C.is controlled by microcomputer "brain" D. can accept simple voice instructions | |||
5. The director of UAS believes that in the next five to ten years new forms of machines will . | |||
A. be able to "think" with their own brains and do anything with imagination B. cost much less than $1 000 C. be used more in ordinary homes than in industry D. do more housework | |||
阅读理解。 | |||
MIT researchers and their colleagues are working tofind out whether energy from trees can power a network ofsensors(传感器)to prevent spreading forest fires. What they learn could also raise the possibility of usingtrees as silent guards along the nation"s borders to discoverpotential threatssuchassmuggled (走私的 ) radioactivematerials. The U. S. Forest Service currently predicts and tracksfires with a variety of tools, including remotc automatcdweather stations. But these stations arc expcnsive andsparsely (稀疏地) distributed. Additionalsensors could savetrees by providing better local climate data to be used in fireprediction models and earlier warnings. However,rechargingor replacing batteries by hand at very hard-to-reach locationsmakes it impractical and costly. The new sensor system seeks to avoid this problem bydeveloping trees into a self-sustaining power supply. Eachsensor is equipped with a battery that can be slowly recharged using electricity produced by the tree. "A singletree doesn"t generate a lot of power, but over time thetrickle (细流 ) chargeaddsup, justlike "-", saidShuguang Zhang, one of the researchers on the project andthe associate director of the MIT" s Center for Biomedica}Engineering( CBE). " The system produces enough electricity to allow the temperature and humidity sensors to wirelessly send outsignals four times a day,or immediately if there"s a fire.Each signal spreads from one sensor to another, until itreaches an existing weather station that sends the data bysatellite to a forestry command center in Boise,Idaho. Scientists have long known that trees can produceextremely small amounts of electricity. But no one knew exactly how the energy was produced or how to takeadvantage of the power. | |||
1. What are the disadvantages of the remote automatedweather stations? a. They cost too much. b. They are of poor quality. c. They are not enough. d. They can"t reach remote places. | |||
A. a,b B. b,d C. a,c D. b,c | |||
2. Which of the following is the best sentence to fill in theblank? | |||
A. Far water does not put out near fire. | |||
3. What would be the best title for the passage? | |||
A. Preventing forest fires with tree power B. Trees can produce electricity C. Tree power in daily life D. Developing new energy |