Robots in class

    Over 600,000 children in the United States spend their long time in hospital each year．Many of them say that they have difficult in returning to school after hospital stays．Thanks to technology，kids who are sick in the hospital no longer have to miss time in the classroom．

    A program called PEBBLES makes it possible for kids in hospital to take part in classroom discussions by using robot．PEBBLES(Providing Education by Bringing Environments to Students)supplies robots to help kids who are staying in hospital keep up with their classmates．

    For Achim Nurse，a 13-yers-old patient at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla，New York，PEBBLES helped him so much．When he first learned about the program，he wasn’t so sure it would work．    

   “When I first saw it，it looked difficult，”said Achim．

    However，after 30 minutes of working with the robot，Achim discovered that he had gotten good at operating it．

    The robots work in pairs—一one in the hospital with the student，the other in the classroom．

    The robot in the classroom gives the student in the hospital a feel of“tele-presence．”A live picture of the students is shown on a video screen in the classroom．Meanwhile，in the hospital room，the student knows clear about what is going on in the classroom．

    The robot at the school has four wheels．so it can move around from class to class．Its“face” is an auto-focus(可以自动调焦的)camera．By using a control box，the student call turn the robot’s head，raise its hand，and adjust the volume(音量)．It is even equipped with a scanner(扫描器)and printer，so if the teacher want to have an exercise or testing class，the student can participate from the hospital．

   “The robot is greeted by students in the classroom．It is also greeted by the sick student。”said Andrew Summa，national director of the robot project．

根据短文内容完成下面各题。

1．Try to use the phrase underlined in the first paragraph to make a sentence．

2．Guess the Chinese meaning of“keep up with”．

3．The robot is greeted by students in the classroom．It is also greeted by the student in the hospital．(改写为同义句)

4．According to the passage，we can know that____

  A．We can operate this kind of robot easily．   

  B．the student in hospital cannot adjust the volume by using control box．

  C．The teacher wants to have a test in the class now. Although the student in the hospital has this kind of robot，he also cannot participate it．

5．What do you think of the robot project in the United States? Do you think it can help sick students? What do you think are its limitations?

Young people and older people do not always agree. They sometimes have different ideas about living, working and playing. But in one special program in New York State, adults and teenagers live together in a friendly way.
Each summer 200 teenagers and 50 adults live together for eight weeks as members of a special work group. Everyone works several hours each day. They do so not just to keep busy but to find meaning and fun in work. Some teenagers work in the forests or on the farms near the village. Some learn to make things like tables and chairs and to build houses. The adults teach them these skills.
There are several free hours each day. Weekends are free, too .During the free hours some of the teenagers learn photo-taking or drawing. Others sit around and talk or sing. Each teenager chooses his own way to pass his free time.
When people live together, they should have rules. In this program the teenagers and the adults make the rules together. If someone breaks a rule, the problem goes before the whole group. They talk about it and ask, “Why did it happen? What should we do about it?”
One of the teenagers has said something about it: “You have to stop thinking only about yourself. You learn how to think about the group.”
【小题1】In one special program in New York State, young and older people_________.

A．don’t work well together

B．live together like friends

C．teach one another new ways of building houses

D．spend eight weeks together, working as farmers

【小题2】All the members work some time every day mainly to_______.

A．lead a busy life

B．learn new skills of farming

C．get used to the life on the farms

D．find useful things and pleasure in work

【小题3】 Living together__________.

A．the teenagers don’t have to obey the rules

B．the members have to obey the rules the adults make

C．the members have no free time but on weekends

D．the members should not break the rules they make together

【小题4】 The last paragraph shows that the teenager thinks this the program is_________.

A．unpleasant

B．tiring

C．helpful

D．boring

【小题5】The best title for the passage is ____________ .

A．The Rules of Living Together

B．Life in New York State

C．Teenagers and Adults Together

D．Free Hours in the Special Work Group

根据短文内容，用方框中所给单词的适当形式填空。每词限用一次。

next    parent   safe     when    you

If you feel stressed out, what do you do? Do some exercise or drink some tea? These may both work. You may ask what else you can do to deal with your stress.
The first step is to know   1 you feel stressed. Early signs（迹象）include back pain, headache, sleeping trouble, weight loss and so on .
The   2  step is to choose a way to deal with the stress. If you can, get rid of the cause of the stress. It is very helpful to find out the reasons that make you feel stressed. 
Change your attitude towards your stress, positive attitude can greatly help you keep away from the stress.
Face up to what is causing the stress until it isn't stressful anymore.
Find a new hobby or sport. Take time to do what you enjoy.
Don't always hide   3  feelings. Don't be afraid to cry. Crying can help you let out bad emotions.
Find a stress-free place in your home. Your room would be a nice place for you. You’ll feel calm and   4  in your own room.
If you feel that you cannot deal with the stress on your own, think about outside help. You can talk to your   5  and friends. They may offer you some help.

  Height is just one of the thousands of features your genes decide. In fact, because you have two parents, your genes provide you a height that usually lands somewhere between the height of each parent. If both your parents are tall, then most probably you will be tall, too, but if you have questions about how tall you're going to be, ask your doctor if he or she can help you find it out.

But genes don't decide everything. For example, eating an unhealthy diet can keep you from growing to your full potential(潜力). Getting plenty of sleep and enough exercise will help you grow to the expected height.

No doubt you're wondering how fast you should grow. It depends. There's no perfect or right answer. Generally speaking, kids grow about 2 inches (6 centimeters) a year between age 3 and the time when they start puberty (when your body starts changing and becoming more grown up).

Your doctor will know how your growth has been going over the years. Two centimeters here and 2 inches there are not nearly as important as the height you're at now, how you've been growing up to this point, and what other changes your body may be going through.

Don't be scared if you seem to have grown a lot in a very short time. Everyone has a growth spurt（高峰）during puberty. The age for starting puberty is about 10 for girls and about 11 for boys. But it can be earlier or later ----between 7 and 13 for girls and 9 and 15 for boys.

You'll usually begin to notice that you're growing faster about a year or so after your body starts to show the first changes of puberty. 

1.. The Chinese for the word “puberty” is 　　　　　　　　　.

   A. 童年时期          B.婴幼儿时期        C.习惯养成期        D. 生长发育期

2. If you want to know how fast and how tall you should grow, _____.

   A. you should have enough exercise   B. you can ask doctors for help

   C. you should save the environment   D. You can record your growth during puberty

3. This passage is mainly about 　　　　　　　　　.

   A. how the genes work in your body           B. when is the time you grow fast

   C. why you look like your parents                D. how you grow to a certain height 

4. After reading this passage, we can explain 　　　　　　　　　.

   A. how good it is to be a doctor             B. how much sleep time we need

   C. why genes can’t decide everything            D. what healthy diet is

5. Which is NOT mentioned in the passage?

   A. Your height most probably depends on how high your parents are.

   B. Girls’ age for starting puberty is usually earlier than that for boys’.

   C. The time showing the first changes of puberty is never noticed.

   D. You may be scared sometimes when you grow too fast.

 

 

What’s your dream vacation? Watching wildlife in Kenya? Boating down the Amazon? Sunbathing in Malaysia? New chances are opening up all the time to visit the world. So we visit travel companies, compare prices, and pay our money.
We know what our vacation costs us. But do we know what it might cost someone else? It’s true that many poorer countries now depend on tourism for foreign income. Unfortunately, though, tourism often harms the local(本地的) people more than it helps them.
It might cost their homes and lands. In Myanmar, 5,200 people were forced to leave their homes among the pagodas(佛塔) in Bagan so that tourists could visit the pagodas.
Tourism might also cost the local people their jobs and dignity(尊严). Local workers often find only low-paying jobs in the tourist industry. And most of the money do not help the local economy（经济）. Instead, money return to the tour operators in richer countries, When the Maasai people in Tanzania were driven from their lands, some moved to poor places of the city. Others now make a little money selling things or acting for photos.
Problems like these were noticed more than 20 years ago. But now tour operators and local governments are working together to begin correcting them. Tourists, too, are putting on the pressure.     
The result is “ethical（合乎职业道德的）tourism”. Ethical tourism has people at its heart. New international agreements and rules can help protect the people’s lands, homes, economies and cultures. The beginnings are small, though, and the problems are complex(复杂的).
But take heart. The good news is that everyone, including us, can play a part to help the local people in the places we visit. Tour operators and companies can help by making sure that local people work in good conditions and earn the money they should get.
They can make it a point to use only locally owned hotel, restaurants and guide services. They can share some money to help the local economy. And they can help the local people plan and manage tourism.
What can tourists do? First, we can ask tour companies to provide information about the conditions of local people. We can then make our choices and tell them why. And while we’re abroad, we can:
Buy local foods and products.
Pay a fair price for goods and services and not bargain for the cheapest price.
Ask before taking photographs of people.
They are not just part of the scenery!
Let’s enjoy our vacation and make sure others do, too.
【小题1】Which of the following is not mentioned?

A．Local people protected the pagodas in Bagan well.

B．Tourists may stay in hotels opened by local people.

C．Local people are mainly provided with low-paying work.

D．Tourists had better not bargain with local people for a cheap price.

【小题2】 The underlined phrase "take heart" means"      ".

A．pay attention

B．take care

C．cheer up

D．give up

【小题3】 According to the passage, the writer thinks          .

A．tourism is not a promising industry

B．dream vacations should be spent abroad

C．the problems caused by tourism are easy to settle

D．tourists should respect local customs and cultures

【小题4】What is probably the best title for the passage?

A．Tourism Causes Bad Effects.	B．Tourism Calls for Good Behavior.
C．Vacations Bring a Lot of Fun.	D．Vacations Cost More Than You Think.