For some kids, old photos and baby pictures are embarrassing. For others, they are cherished keepsakes (纪念品). But for thousands of children living in orphanages (孤儿院) worldwide, these records of the past simply don't exist. Either the kids' parents weren't around to snap photos, or the pictures have been lost.  Whatever the reason is, the Memory Project is giving orphans a lasting document of their youth.
Over the last two years, the Memory Project has provided hand-painted portraits to more than 4,000 children living in orphanages in poor countries. Ben Schumaker, 24, got the idea when he was visiting an orphanage in Guatemala in Central America.   But he's not creating the portraits(肖像) alone. Students in hundreds of high school art classes across the U.S. paint them using photos sent from the orphanages.
Schumaker believes that the artists benefit from the project as much as the orphans do.“There are two purposes of the Memory Project,” he said.   “One is to offer a special gift to the child abroad. The other is to help open the eyes of the student who is painting.”Staring into the eyes of another person, Schumaker believes, it creates a real connection.  This connection raises awareness in U.S. schools about the needs of the world's poor children.“It's about planting a seed,” he said.
Schumaker is also working on Books of Hope, a project in which students of all ages put together homemade books for children in Uganda and India. He hopes that one day children in Uganda and India. He hopes that one day children in Uganda and India  will send books to the U.S. “It's important to me to have it be a two-way exchange,” Schmnaker says.
【小题1】Old photos and baby pictures are clearly unavailable to _  _ .

A．the kids in rich families	B．the kids in common families
C．the kids in expanded families	D．the kids without parents

【小题2】How can the orphans in Guatemala get a continuing record of their youth?

A．By hand-painted portraits that Ben Schumaker painted.

B．By the photos the orphanage taken for them.

C．By the photos taken by the U.S. students in high schools.

D．By the Memory Project started by Ben Schumaker.

【小题3】What does the third paragraph mainly tell us?

A．The special gifts that the world's poor children received.

B．The benefits that the Memory Project brings.

C．The need of the US schools.

D．How to help the orphans.

【小题4】According to the passage, Schumaker helps the kids in       .

A．two countries	B．three countries
C．four countries	D．five countries

For thousands of years, mankind has produced plants and animals to create more desired and useful plants and animals. For example, modern com has been produced to such a large size that it is no longer able to reproduce without man’s assistance. Modern dairy cows produce too much milk and if they are not often emptied of milk, they could leak, burst, become infected, and possibly die. Besides, most dogs raised by people can not survive in the wild even with special training.

Since natural evolution is extremely slow and mankind’s selective production programs only take a few generations to produce a completely new species, natural evolution has already taken a back seat to mankind’s production programs. In addition, mankind has successfully killed off several species all together. For example, there are no more European wolves in existence and mammoths (猛犸象) probably died out because of mankind. Even certain diseases have been permanently got rid of from the planet, and dozens of other diseases will soon be too. Again, natural evolution did i»t cause most of the destruction during man’s rule of the world.

Currently, scientists are creating new species with desired characteristics in the lab significantly faster than natural evolution creates new species. In a single generation, new species can be created and destroyed by mankind, while natural evolution could take thousands of years to do the same but only accidentally. Scientists are even able to replace defective (有缺陷的) or damaged genes with different genes to attempt to cure genetic defects. This is something that natural evolution could possibly never correct.

Eventually scientists will even be able to improve the quality of people. For example, imagine not only correcting your eyesight with gene treatment, but also ensuring that all of your children do not receive your old genes of poor eyesight too. Scientists will one day be able to improve the memory and intelligence of your children, so that they will do better in school and achieve more in life. Doctors and scientists will be able to customize (订制) babies before they are born just like picking options at a car store.

1.According to the first paragraph,______ .

A. man-made evolution has improved all species

B. man-made evolution has weakened some species

C man-made evolution can make up for all natural losses

D. natural evolution won’t happen without man’s assistance

2.What does the underlined part “taken a back seat to” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A. Become powerful assistance to.   

B. Become a huge barrier to.

C Speeded up the process of.   

D. Played a less important role than.

3.What does the third paragraph mainly talk about?

A. Why natural evolution happens so slowly.

B. The way scientists adopt to have genetic defects repaired.

C. The advantages of man-made evolution over natural evolution.

D. How scientists make use of man-made evolution to create new species.

4.What can we infer from the passage?

A. Near-sighted parents will be able to produce babies with good eyesight in the future.

B. Doctors and scientists will be responsible for mass production of babies in the future.

C. It is natural evolution that is to blame for the destruction of European wolves and mammoths.

D. Children can now have their memory and intelligence improved with the help of gene treatment.

 

We lived in a technological society where most goods are mass-produced by unskilled labor. Because of this, most people think that craft(手艺) no longer exists.

One of the ways these people wrongly support their view is by pointing to 100-year-old homes which are still solid, and arguing that it is the craftsmanship that is responsible for their durability(持久性). “Homes in those days were well-built,” they say. No doubt these homes were well-built, but what these people have done is mix up the quality of material used in the house with the quality of the craftsmanship.

Homes today could be built to last just as long as those old homes if people were willing or able to pay the price. For example, more people can no longer afford solid oak stairways, although they were once fairly common in older homes. Nor can they afford the high labor cost of employing a carpenter to build the stairway. Yet if someone can pay the high cost, there are still plenty of carpenters around able to make those stairways. And not only would these carpenters know how to build them, they would probably do a better job than carpenters of old.

One thing the modern carpenter has which enables him to do a better job is much more advanced tools. Such tools as laser beams and power planes help them lay out a house better and make more precision cuts on the wood. Also, it is not uncommon any more to find carpenters with college degrees and carpenters with a solid knowledge of mathematics, which would enable them to deal with more difficult house designs.

The problems of modern quality, then, really  boils down to the problem of material, for the modern carpenter is just as able to produce craftsmanship as the carpenter of fifty years ago, but only if given proper material.

1． Compared to the carpenters in the past, modern carpenters are _______.

A．more successful	B．more learned
C．more imaginative	D．more hardworking

2． What does the underlined word “they” (paragraph 2) refer to?

carpenters who are fond of oak stairways.

carpenters who have college degrees.

people who think highly of carpenters of old.

people who think that modern material is of low quality.

3． What does the third paragraph mainly discuss?

People in the past preferred to use oak to build stairways.

It is now expensive to employ a carpenter.

Modern houses last as long as the old one.

Good carpenters still exist in modern times.

4． What would be the best title for the text?

Is Craft Dead?

Craft, Back to life?

History of craftsmanship

Carpenters Today and Yesterday

 

 

Primary teachers are responsible for guiding children through the formation of many important life skills, and also watching over their students’ social development. Primary teachers come into contact with about 30 students every day, and teach them a variety of subjects. Many hours are spent before and after class on planning, preparation and correction. One should be a very patient, caring, yet firm person to be able to deal with the demands of children in the four to twelve-year-old age group.

Secondary teachers teach specific subjects to various groups of students. Just like primary teachers, they spend an amount of time planning and preparing lessons and correcting homework—their duties are not restricted to face-to-face teaching. Dealing with twelve to eighteen-year-olds requires a wide range of skills.

If you become a primary teacher, you will need to decided whether to be a “generalist (多面手)”, teaching a wide range of subjects, or a "specialist", teaching only one or two. Most primary teachers are specialists. Generalist teachers spend the greatest part of their day with one class, which means that they spend more time with the same children. Specialist teachers have more time away from their students. It is therefore very important for generalist teachers to develop a strong working relationship with their students.

The unique rapport (和谐) you can develop with a particular set of students is one of teaching’s greatest pleasures. However, the disadvantage of primary teaching is that if you have a difficult student, you will be forced to deal with him or her, all day, every day, throughout the school year. Teachers need to work out strategies to get themselves and their students through such difficulties.

Primary teachers today are generally four-year trained. They usually do a three or four-year undergraduate degree, and if this degree does not include teacher training, they will have to undertake postgraduate study in education as well.

1. After class primary teachers usually_____________

A. come into contact with students          

B. teach students a variety of subjects

C. deal with the demands of children      

D. make planning, preparation and correction

2. What does the third paragraph mainly discuss?

A. What a primary teacher needs to do in the classroom.

B. The differences between generalist and specialist teaching.

C. How a primary teacher should try his best in the school.

D. The relationship between the primary teachers and students.

3. We can learn from this passage that___________

A. a primary teacher needs a wide range of skills

B. the disadvantage of primary teaching is having difficult students

C. teacher training is not important for a primary teacher

D. secondary teachers mainly teach children two subjects

4. The author writes the article in order to_________

A. tell teachers how primary teachers guide students

B. tell teachers what you should do as a primary teacher

C. let readers know more about primary teachers

D. let readers know how to be a primary teacher

 

The area of child psychology is one of the most significant and well studied of all the branches of psychology. It aims to help with achieving a greater understanding of the behavior of children through an understanding of their minds. It deals with children who range from the prenatal(出生前的)stage right up to the stage of adolescence.
The psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) has been credited with making a major breakthrough in this area when he put forward his idea that children were not actually less intelligent than adults, rather they just thought in a different way. Preciously the development of children right from birth through to adulthood was an area that was almost completely neglected. In fact very little work was done in this area. However, interest in this field has now developed to the point of being one of the most debated of all the areas of psychology.
Despite popular belief that factors such as genetics or personal characteristics are the only determining factors that influence a youth’s behavior, this is not in fact the case. In reality, development actually includes many more factors than those contained within an individual. Factors such as environment, which can include social relationships and the surrounding culture, also play important roles. Relationships with both peers and adults will no doubt affect how children think and learn, and therefore develop. These relationships can include those that are found not only within families but also in schools and peer groups.
Culturally speaking, this factor will contribute greatly to how children develop their personality concerning the values they end up holding (perhaps for a lifetime) as well as how they view such things as traditions and customs.
Nowadays, psychologists have agreed that a child’s psychology is both unique and highly complex. However, there are debates on many different points in this field and many viewpoints exist.
【小题1】The word “neglected” underlined in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by “______”.

A．ignored

B．destroyed

C．developed

D．explored

【小题2】What does the third paragraph mainly tell us?

A．Popular belief about child psychology.

B．The role families play in a child’s development.

C．Factors that affect a child’s development.

D．The importance of relationships to a child.

【小题3】The author’s purpose in writing the passage is to ____.

A．introduce an important psychologist.

B．give a brief introduction to child psychology.

C．compare some of the areas of psychology.

D．explain the development in psychology.