At last, the mid-term exams are over. You’ve done the hard work, but you can’t relax. You have to prepare for the next exams. Do you hate exams? If you do, you are not alone. Students in other countries hate them as well.

Luckily for them, British students have fewer exams than Chinese students. And they only have them once a year. Every summer they take a test in each subject. Each test lasts about an hour. These exams don’t count for much, even if a student does really badly they still progress to the next grade. When the results come out, they are then placed in an end-of-year report. The report is sent to the child’s parents. It describes how the student studied at school.

This report is private, so only the teacher, the student and his or her parents see it. This means that the students don’t know how other students scored(得分) in the test. Some students choose to tell each other, but others keep it secret.

Parents’ meetings are held twice a year, at the end of winter term and then at the end of the summer term. Children go along with their parents to meet their teachers privately and discuss their performance at school.

1.For British students, the school life is         than that of Chinese students.

A．more relaxing      B．much tenser       C．more boring       D．much harder

2.The underlined phrase “don’t count for much” means           

A．难以计数         B．不太重要          C．期望不多         D．难度不大

3.Which of the following is NOT true for British students?

A．They have exams once a year.

B．They don’t know their classmates’ scores.

C．Parents’ meetings are held at the end of the terms.

D．They like to tell each other their scores

“What is success?” Mr Gruber asked his 6^th grade business class. It was his opening conversation for the first class of the term.
“Success is riding in a sweet car, watching an 80-inch TV, and living in a place with at least twelve rooms.” One student answered, earning laughs from all the students.
Mr Gruber smiled, but shook his head. “Tom, that is excess(过量). That is not success.”
“How about being able to provide for your family?” A blonde girl named Sandy in the front suggested as an answer.
“Now we’re getting closer,” Mr Gruber smiled, “but try thinking about what you need and what you want.”
“Getting everything you want.” Tom shouted out an answer again, trying for more laughs.
Mr Gruber sighed. “ I believe we’ve already talked about excess versus(与…比较) success.”
“Getting everything you need, but some of what you want?” James, sitting in the back wondered aloud.
“Quite right!” Mr Gruber clapped. “Success is getting everything you need and some of what you want. The more you get that you want, the more successful you are. You do reach a point where you are living in excess, though.”
“What does this have to do with business?” Tom asked. It seemed if it wasn’t funny, he wasn’t happy.
“Well, Tom, think of it this way: the point of business is to make a living to support your family. Once you have properly seen to (确保) their needs, you can then see to getting the extras that you want.”
“What if I don’t have a family?” he continued to be difficult.
“Then you have to provide for yourself, a family of one.”
“He has goldfish to think about!” Peter, Tom’s friend, shouted out.
“Then he needs to provide for a family of one with a fishbowl.” Mr. Gruber corrected himself.
Tom nodded, satisfied with that answer.
“So in the next nine weeks, we’re going to study basic business situations, like having a checking account and understanding credit cards.”
Tom rubbed his hands together excitedly. “When do we get to start spending?”
“You already are, Tom. You’re spending time with us!” Mr. Gruber laughed. “Now, let’s see what you guys know about credit cards…”
【小题1】What class did Mr Gruber teach?

Many students have hobbies, such as reading, painting, growing vegetables in their gardens, and looking after animals. Some hobbies are relaxing and ___(46) are creative. Hobbies can develop your interests and help you learn new skills.
David Smith is a student. His hobby is writing. ___(47) the summer of 2000, he spent four weeks on a summer camp. As well as the usual activities, such as sailing, climbing and mounting biking, there was a writing workshop with a profession ___(48). “She asked us to imagine that we were in a story. Then we wrote about our ___(49) at the camp.”
In senior high school David wrote a story about teenage life, and it ___(50) as a book in 2003. Many teenagers love his book, and as a result, David has become a ___(51) young writer.
David has been very lucky ___(52) his hobby has brought him enjoyment and success. But he is ___(53) interested in many other things. “I like playing volleyball, too.” says David. “I spend some of my free time playing volleyball for my school team. ___(54) I’ll write more books in the future, but I’m not sure.”
It’s something difficult ___(55) that we shouldn’t spend all our time on our favourite hobby. There are many other interesting things to do in life, and we should try to do something new or different.

Liu Xu is a student from a middle school in Guangxi. Once he was riding home when a  robber (盗贼) suddenly jumped out from the roadside. He pulled Liu Xu off his bike and rode away. Liu Xu was scared, but he didn’t run after the robber. He found a telephone and called the police at 110.
“Safety is the first important in such a situation,” Liu said, remembering what his teacher had told him in his first aid class. “It is not safe to run after an adult who is stronger than you.”
Liu’s school has compulsory (必修的) first aid education. Students must take the class once a week.
Teenage safety has become a serious issue recently. According to a survey, about 16,000 teenagers die in accidents in China every year.
At Liu’s school the first aid classes are to “teach students skills how to protect and save  themselves in emergencies (紧急情况)”. Students there often learn by role-playing in first aid classes. For example, one student performed as a stranger knocking at a door. Another one stood inside the door and asked several questions before letting the “stranger” in. Then they changed roles and did it again. They learned a lot while having fun at role-playing.
The topics of the first aid classes are regularly updated (适时的). The students have learned skills for surviving in earthquakes. The teacher also taught the students not to go out at night. If someone tried to do bad things to them, they should quickly run into crowed place.
【小题1】 Liu Xu’s _________ was robbed according to the passage.

China Youth says that more and more girl students have entered colleges to study in recent few years. As we know, once the number of boys was larger than that of girls, and the boys did much better than girls in our country for a long time. Now things have changed a lot.

In recent years, the proportion of girl students is growing fast. In 1998, about 39.7% of college students were girls. In 2000, it was 41.07% and in 2001, the number was 42.14%.

There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, there is little difference between boys and girls in their intelligence(智力). That’s to say, girls are as clever as boys. And boys have more interests than girls, so they may not do well in their study.

Secondly, girls are more careful and more sensible than boys. They work harder at school and they do better in all exams.

Another reason is that with the development of society, people pay more and more attention to girls’ education.

1.China Youth says that more and more ______

A．boys are cleverer than girls

B．boys can’t go to school

C．girls have entered colleges

D．girls begin to study at school

2.42.14% refers to the number of _________

A．girls at schools at schools in 1998

B．girls in colleges in 2001

C．boys at schools in 2001

D．boys in colleges in 1998

3.The writer gave us _________   reasons to explain the question.

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

4.The underlined word “proportion” means _________ in Chinese.

A．身高             B．比例             C．特征             D．速度

5.Which of the following sentences is TRUE?

A．Boys may not do as well in their study as girls because they don’t like studying.

B．Boys are much cleverer than girls because they’re interested in many things.

C．Girls’ intelligence is the same as boys’.

D．Girls study harder, but they couldn’t get higher marks than boys.