Though the ways of teaching have come a long way, the ways of communicating between teachers and students are almost the same. But now, a European country is trying to change that by building schools that have no classrooms, no subject lessons and best of all, no grades.

The idea behind the special school is that children are creative. And researchers also think that kids’ learning and ideas are as important as those of the CEO of Google, so why not give them a similar environment? Kids may be successful in such an environment.

To make kids more creative, the schools are built with special learning areas instead of traditional classrooms. And even the lessons are taught in a special way, with mobile phones and computers.

There is no “right” or “wrong” kind of education. The school believes that everything is a learning experience, whether it is about a serious science project or making a movie inside the school’s recording studio.

One of the special schools opened in August, 2011. It has five learning areas. The Cave is a secluded place where students fix their attention on individual (个人的) projects without being bothered (打扰). The Lab is a place where students can do all kinds of experiments and test their ideas. Kids can work in groups in the same projects in The Camp Fire. The Show Off is where kids can show their inventions. And if the kids need a rest, they can visit The Watering Hole, which has all kinds of fun activities.

Sounds great? And the coolest thing is that the school is free! I hope more schools like this will appear in the world!

1.What is the idea behind the special school?

A. The children are creative.

B. All the students need to be taught.

C. All the students must be successful.

D. All the students must have high grades.

2.From the passage we can infer (推断) that ?????? in the special schools.

A. students are bored???????????????? B. students are tired

C. students learn freely?????????????? D. students learn from their teachers

3.“The Cave is a secluded place ….” The word “secluded” probably means “??? ” in Chinese.

A. 清静的?????? ????????????? B. 固定的?????? ????????????? C. 吵闹的?????? ????????????? D. 混合的

4.Paragraph 5 mainly tells us that ????? .??????????????

A. the school doesn’t have grades

B. the school has clever students

C. the school has five learning areas

D. the school doesn’t have classrooms

Jean is a bright young woman who comes from a rich and famous family. She goes to a good university and has everything that money can buy. Well, almost everything. The problem is that the people in Jean’s family are so busy that they can hardly find time to be with her. In fact, Jean is quite lonely.
So Jean spends a lot of time on her QQ. She likes being anonymous(匿名), talking to people who do not know about her famous family and her rich life. She uses the name Linda on QQ and has made a lot of friends who she keeps in touch with quite often.
Last year Jean made a very special friend on QQ. His name was David and lived in San Francisco. David was full of stories and jokes. He and Jean had a common(共同的) interest in rock music and modern dance. So it always took them hours to talk happily on QQ and sometimes they even forgot their time. Of course, they wanted to know more about each other. David sent a picture of himself: He was a tall, good-looking young man with a big, happy smile. As time went by, they became good friends and often sent cards and small things to each other.
When Jean’s father told her that he was going on a business trip to San Francisco, she asked him to let her go with him so that she could give David a surprise for his birthday. She would take him the latest DVD of their favorite rock singer. But when she knocked on David’s door in San Francisco, she found that her special friend was a twelve-year-old boy named Jim!
【小题1】Jean spends a lot of her time on QQ because she is _________.

Laptop computers are popular all over the world. People use them on trains and airplanes, in airports and hotels. These laptops connect people to their workplace. In the United States today, laptops also connect students to their classrooms.

Westlake College in Virginia will start a laptop computer program that allows students to do schoolwork anywhere they want. Within five years, each of the 1500 students at the college will receive a laptop. The laptops are part of a $10 million computer program at Westlake, a 110-year-old college. The students with laptops will also have access to the Internet. In addition, they will be able to use e-mail to “speak” with their teachers, their classmates, and their families. However, the most important part of the laptop program is that students will be able to use computers without going to computer labs. They can work with it at home, in a fast-food restaurant or under the trees-anywhere at all!

Because of the many changes in computer technology , laptop use in higher education, such as colleges and universities, is workable. As laptops become more powerful, they become more similar to desktop computers. In addition, the portable computers can connect students to not only the Internet, but also libraries and other resources. State higher-education officials are studying? how laptops can help students. State officials are also testing laptop programs at other universities, too.

At Westlake College, more than 60 percent of the staff use computers. The laptops will allow all teachers to use computers in their lessons. As one Westlake teacher said, “ Here we are in the middle of Virginia and we’re giving students a window on the world. They can see everything and do everything.”

1. The main purpose of the laptop program is to give each student a laptop to ________.

A. use for their schoolwork?

B. access the Internet

C. work at home

D. connect them to libraries

2.Why is the word “speak” in the second paragraph in quotation marks(引号)?

A. They don’t really talk.

B. They use the computer language.

C. Laptops have speakers.

D. None of the above reasons is correct.

3.Which of the following is true about Westlake College?

A. All teachers use computers.

B.1500 students have laptops.

C. It is an old college in America.

D. Students there can do everything.

4.A window on the world in the last paragraph means that students can ________.

A. attend lectures on information technology

B. travel around the world

C. get information from around the world

D. have free laptops

5. What can we infer from the passage?

A. The program is successful.

B. The program is not workable.

C. The program is too expensive.

D. We don’t know the result yet.

Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the  money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States and Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will either learn a musical instrument(乐器) or ballet, or other classes which will give them a head in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter. However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap.
Parents can see that their children are very skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today's children are short of self-respect and self-confidence.
The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills that they need to be confident, happy and clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework. Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking requires patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and finish his job successfully step by step. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and lots of self-confidence.
Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse(激发) his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not only teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.
【小题1】Most Chinese parents don't realize_______.