67. According to the passage, banning private education will ______.

A. obviously contribute to lower taxes

B. not cause the state schools to be overburdened

C. force the government to boost state education

D. lead to many people losing their jobs　

66. In the eye of Anirudh Mandagere, parents have the right to ______.

A. criticize state-funded schools

B. pay taxes for the promotion of private schools

C. choose the way their children receive education

D. advocate the competition between state schools and private ones

65. The underlined phrase “bank up” in the last paragraph most probably means ____.

A. pile up　　　　　　　 B. pick up　　　　　　　 C. add up　　　　　　　　　　 D. build up

C

Rarely have I experienced a reaction like that which came about following the idea of banning private education. One of those who contacted me to disagree with the idea was 17 year old Anirudh Mandagere. He got 10 A*s at GCSE and is currently studying English, French, Math and History at a private school in Manchester. Here is his response:

For me, the idea that all private schools should be banned is not only ridiculous and unrealistic, but goes against the idea of liberty. We must have the freedom to choose between state-funded and privately educated schools. If parents pay taxes, surely they should be able to choose whether they send their children to a state-funded or a privately-funded school.

The economic impacts of abolishing private education are vast. Banning private schools would obviously contribute to a great transfer to state schools. Many state schools are already overburdened; do they really need more pupils? Abolishing private education would lead to higher taxes for taxpayers since more money would be needed to educate the 7% who were previously private educated. In the times of economic crisis, should the taxpayer need to fork out more money to pay for their education? There would also be a great rise in unemployment of the staff who works at private schools.

It is noted that, in general, private schools have better grades at GCSE and A level than state schools. Yet, why do people view this as a bad thing? The higher private school grades eventually force the government to endlessly improve state education so that the middle-classes do not totally abandon state education for private education. This competition creates reform and progress within state schools and eventually promote them! If the private schools did not exist, where would be the impetus for state school improvement?

Government should not simply ban a system which produces results. It should learn from it and use the private education model as a basis for the state education model. Abolishing a successful system will not help anybody, learning from a successful system will.

64. Which of the following is the immediate effect of long-term sleep loss?

A. Health problems　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. Immune system

C. Reaction times　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. Memory impairment

63. What can we learn from the text?

A. Most of the Americans get six hours or less of sleep a night.

B. Staying up is worse for those who suffer long-term sleep loss.

C.Traffic accidents have little to do with sleepiness.

D. One in six Americans are all-nighters.

62. People with long-term sleep loss ______.

A. are quicker in thinking　　　　　　 　　　B. may feel refreshed soon after waking up

C.are surely energetic　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. can have a strong sense of security

61. The text mainly advises people ______.

A. to sleep more time　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. to sleep in on Saturday

C. to sleep scientifically 　　　　　　　　　　 D. to sleep little on weekend

60. By saying “I’m just starting to live,” Tom means that ______.

A. he is just beginning to understand the real meaning of life

B. he is just beginning to enjoy life as a loving husband

C. he lived an unhappy life before and is now starting to change

D. he is beginning to feel regret for what he did to his wife before

B

Sleeping in on Saturday after a few weeks of too little shuteye may feel refreshing, but it can give a false sense of security.

New research shows long-term sleep loss cannot be cured that easily. Scientists researched the effects of short- and long-term sleep loss and found that those who suffer long-term sleep loss may function normally soon after waking up, but experience steadily slower reaction times as the day goes by, even if they had tried to catch up the previous night.

The research has important safety significances in an increasingly busy society, not just for shift-workers but for the roughly one in six Americans who regularly get six hours or less of sleep a night.

“We know that staying awake 24 hours without sleep will affect your performance to do all sorts of things, and this effect equals to drinking too much when driving,” said lead researcher Dr. Daniel Cohen of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. But when those who suffer long-term sleep loss become all-nighters, “the harm is increased ten times,” Cohen said.

The National Institutes of Health says adults need seven hours to nine hours of sleep for good health. Regularly getting too little sleep increases the risk of health problems, including memory impairment and a weakened immune system. More immediately, too little sleep affects reaction times; sleepiness is to blame for car crashes and other accidents.

It has critically important complicated and unexpected results for anyone who works “crazy hours” and thinks they are performing fine with a few hours of weeknight sleep, said Harris, director at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center. “Don’t think you can just bank up your sleep on the weekend, because it doesn’t work that way,” he warned.

59. The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What does “one thing” refer to?

A. He praised her sweater, which puzzled her.

B. She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated.

C. He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her.

D. He was so good to her that she thought she must be dying.

58. During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because ______.

A. he was determined to be a good husband

B. he had made a lot of money in his Wall Street firm

C. she looked lovely in her new clothes

D. the doctor said his wife was seriously ill