WASHINGTON—Laura Straub is a very worried woman. Her job is to find families for French teenagers who expect to live with American families in the summer.
It’s not easy, even desperate.
“We have many children left to place: 40 out of 75,” said Straub, who works for a Paris-based foreign exchange programme called LEC. When exchange programmes started 50 years ago, family life was more accommodating. For one thing, more mothers stayed home.
But now, increasing numbers of women work outside the home. Exchange-student programmes have struggled in recent years to sign up host families for the 30,000 teenagers who annually come from abroad to spend their academic year in the United States, as well as the thousands more who participate in summer programmes.
School systems in many parts of the US, unhappy about accepting non-taxpaying students, have also strictly limited the number of exchange students they accept. At the same time, the idea of hosting foreign students is becoming less exotic.
In searching for host families, who usually receive no pay, exchange programmes are increasingly broadening their appeals to include everyone who has the ability to do it.
“We are open to many different types of families,” said Vickie Weiner, eastern regional director for ASSE, a 25- year-old programme that sends about 30,000 teenagers on academic year exchange programmes worldwide.
“For elderly people, exchange students keep us young; they really do!” said Jean Foster, who is hosting 16-year-old Nina Porst from Denmark.
【小题1】Vickie Weiner is the person who ________.
| A．works for a programme called LEC |
| B．works for a programme called ASSE |
| C．is 25 years old |
| D．hosts foreign students |
| A．all the families could host foreign students |
| B．only young couples could host foreign students |
| C．only those who were retired could host foreign students |
| D．those who were not too old could host foreign students |
| A．US Struggles to Find Host Families |
| B．Idea of Hosting Students Is Different |
| C．Foreign-exchange Program Is Going On |
| D．Exchange Students Keep Old People Young |
【小题1】B
【小题2】D
【小题3】A
解析试题分析：文章介绍现在在美国找寄宿家庭接受来自法国的学生是很困难的，因为现在妇女在外面做越来越多，接受外国学生的吸引力也没有过去那么大了，文章还介绍如何应对的措施。
【小题1】细节题：从倒数第二段的句子：“We are open to many different types of families,” said Vickie Weiner, eastern regional director for ASSE,可知Vickie Weiner 是为ASSE工作的人，选B
【小题2】推理题：从倒数第三段的句子：In searching for host families, who usually receive no pay, exchange programmes are increasingly broadening their appeals to include everyone who has the ability to do it.和最后一段的内容，可知过去的交换项目是那些不是太老的寄宿主人，但是现在面向所有的年龄的人，选D
【小题3】主旨题：这是一篇新闻报道，开头就点明要报道的内容，WASHINGTON—Laura Straub is a very worried woman. Her job is to find families for French teenagers who expect to live with American families in the summer.可知本文的主旨：Laura Straub在美国找寄宿家庭接受来自法国的学生是很困难的，选A
考点：考查新闻报道类短文
名校课堂系列答案科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
It is found that American students spend less than 15% of their time in school. While there’s no doubt that school is important, a number of recent studies reminds us that parents are even more so. A study published earlier this month by researchers at North Carolina State University, for example, finds that parental involvement — checking homework, attending school meetings and events, discussing school activities at home — has a more powerful influence on students’ academic performance than anything about the school the students attend. Another study, published in the Review of Economics and Statistics, reports that the effort put forth by parents (reading stories aloud, meeting with teachers) has a bigger impact on their children’s educational achievement than the effort devoted by either teachers or the students themselves. And a third study concludes that schools would have to increase their spending by more than $1,000 per pupil in order to achieve the same results that are gained with parental involvement.
So parents matter. But it is also revealed in researches that parents, of all backgrounds, don’t need to buy expensive educational toys or digital devices for their kids in order to give them an advantage. They don’t need to drive their offspring (子孙，后代)to enrichment classes or test-preparation courses. What they need to do with their children is much simpler: talk.
But not just any talk. Recent research has indicated exactly what kinds of talk at home encourage children’s success at school. For example, a study conducted by researchers at the UCLA School of Public Health and published in the journal Pediatrics found that two-way adult-child conversations were six times as potent in promoting language development as the ones in which the adult did all the talking. Engaging in this reciprocal（双向的) back-and-forth gives children a chance to try out language for themselves, and also gives them the sense that their thoughts and opinions matter.
The content of parents’ conversations with kids matters, too. Children who hear talk about counting and numbers at home start school with much more extensive mathematical knowledge, report researchers from the University of Chicago. While the conversations parents have with their children change as kids grow older, the effect of these exchanges on academic achievement remains strong. Research finds that parents play an important role in what is called “academic socialization” — setting expectations and making connections between current behavior and future goals. Engaging in these sorts of conversations has a greater impact on educational accomplishment.
【小题1】Parents are even more important than schools because ______.
| A．parental involvement makes up for what schools are not able to do |
| B．teachers and students themselves do not put in enough effort |
| C．parental involvement saves money for schools and the local government |
| D．students may well make greater achievements with parents' attention |
| A．educational toys are unaffordable nowadays |
| B．digital devices can give children an advantage |
| C．some parents believe in enrichment classes |
| D．talking with children is a very simple task |
| A．powerful | B．difficult | C．necessary | D．resistant |
| A．Parents order their children to stop playing video games. |
| B．Parents discuss with their children the possible future career. |
| C．Parents lecture their children on getting too low marks on tests. |
| D．Parents introduce colleges around the US to their children. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
The bus driver and his passengers were being hailed （拥戴） as heroes last night after rescuing a woman from her burning car following a crash on the Bluff Highway. The 60-year-old woman was taken by ambulance to Southland Hospital after firefighters battled for 30 minutes to cut her from her car.
Acting Senior Sergeant Brock Davis of Invercargill, said emergency services were called to the scene of the crash at the crossroads of Motorimu Rd and State Highway I shortly before 5：00 p.m. yesterday.
Mr. Davis said a Mitsubishi car driven by a 30-year-old man traveling north on the highway and the woman’s southbound （南行的） Suzuki Alto collided （碰撞）. The man suffered slight injuries in the crash, he said.
Invercargill Passenger Transport Ltd driver Bill McDermott and his passengers—New Zealand Aluminum Smelters Ltd workers were first on the scene and alerted emergency services. The scene at the spot was disordered, Mr. McDermott said.
“There was a car on its side and a guy wandering around who was quite excited,” he said. “We stopped, got out and found a lady trapped in her car …… then we noticed flames in the engine bay and the smell of petrol.” Mr. McDermott took a fire extinguisher（灭火器） from the bus, doused （泼洒） the flames, and several other workers controlled traffic.
However, he said his actions were “no big deal”. He was not willing to take any credit for helping the woman.
“The praise goes to all the guys that jumped off that bus.” Invercargill Senior Station officer Alan Goldsworthy, who was an officer in charge at the scene, said there was a possibility the car could have burst into flames if Mr. McDermott and the smelter workers had not helped. “They should acquire a good pat on the back.” he said.
【小题1】It can be known from the passage that the car accident happened _______.
| A．at noon | B．in the afternoon | C．in the morning | D．at night |
| A．Brock Davis. | B．Bill McDermott. | C．Allan Goldsworthy. | D．The firefighters. |
| A．The first witnesses of the accident were passers-by. |
| B．The woman driver was driving north before the accident. |
| C．The firefighters spent half an hour helping the woman out. |
| D．With the bus driver and his passengers’ help, the woman’s car didn‘t burst into flames. |
| A．the government should give each of the heroes a gold medal of honor |
| B．the saved woman should offer as much money to the heroes as she can |
| C．the good deeds of the heroes are well worthy of great appreciation |
| D．everybody there should pat the heroes on the back gently and thankfully |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Kodak’s decision to file for bankruptcy (破产) protection is a sad, though not unexpected, turning point for a leading American corporation that pioneered consumer photography and dominated the film market for decades, but ultimately failed to adapt to the digital revolution.
Although many attribute Kodak’s downfall to “complacency (自满) ,” that explanation doesn’t acknowledge the lengths to which the company went to reinvent itself. Decades ago, Kodak predicted that digital photography would overtake film (胶片) — and in fact, Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975 — but in a fateful decision, the company chose to shelf its new discovery to focus on its traditional film business.
“It wasn’t that Kodak was blind to the future”, said Rebecca Henderson, a professor at Harvard Business School, but rather that it failed to execute on a strategy to confront it. By the time the company realized its mistake, it was too late.
Kodak is an example of a firm that was very much aware that they had to adapt, and spent a lot of money trying to do so, but ultimately failed. Large companies have a difficult time switching into new markets because there is a temptation to put existing assets (资产) into the new businesses.
Although Kodak predicted the unavoidable rise of digital photography, its corporate (企业的) culture was too rooted in the successes of the past for it to make the clean break necessary to fully embrace the future. They were a company stuck in time. Their history was so important to them. Now their history has become a liability.
Kodak’s downfall over the last several decades was dramatic. In 1976, the company commanded 90% of the market for photographic film and 85% of the market for cameras. But the 1980s brought new competition from Japanese film company Fuji Photo, which undermined Kodak by offering lower prices for film and photo supplies. Kodak’s decision not to pursue the role of official film for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was a major miscalculation. The bid went instead to Fuji, which exploited its sponsorship to win a permanent foothold in the marketplace.
【小题1】What do we learn about Kodak?
| A．It went bankrupt all of a sudden. |
| B．It is approaching its downfall. |
| C．It initiated the digital revolution in the film industry. |
| D．It is playing a dominant role in the film market. |
| A．To show its early attempt to reinvent itself. |
| B．To show its effort to overcome complacency. |
| C．To show its quick adaptation to the digital revolution. |
| D．To show its will to compete with Japan’s Fuji photo. |
| A．They find it costly to give up their existing assets. |
| B．They tend to be slow in confronting new challenges. |
| C．They are unwilling to invest in new technology. |
| D．They are deeply stuck in their glorious past. |
| A．A burden. | B．A mirror. | C．A joke. | D．A challenge. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
The quality of drinking water in Shanghai will meet European Union standard by 2010 and, a decade later, citizens in Shanghai will drink the best water in the world.
These were the goals set out by the Shanghai Water Authority. With the city’s population expected to increase only slightly and the economy to boom by 2020, Chen Yin, and official with the water authority, said Shanghai’s water consumption will not increase from its present amount.
Zhang Yue, director of the Urban Construction Division under the Ministry of Construction, said, “Shanghai is the first city in the country to publicize these ambitions. They will not be easy to achieve.”
He said water saving will help keep the sustainable development of China’s economy.
Saving one cubic meter of water means saving the city’s infrastructure（基础设施）costs by 10,000 Yuan. Last year, Shanghai saved 300 million cubic meters of water either from readjustment of industrial structure or the employment of new technology.
“The aim is to arouse public awareness of the seriousness of water shortages,” Chen said. “The abundant surface water and amount of rain of the city are so misleading that they result in improper use of water.”
Shanghai lacks drinkable water. The Huangpu River, which supplies 80 percent of the city’s drinkable water, is nearing exhaustion.
The city, therefore, has been exploring new sources from the Yangtze River and growing forests along it to conserve quality water.
Besides penning regulations, the authority is popularizing technology among the public to efficiently cut the amount of water used.
At present, the city has 600，000 family toilets, each using 13 liters of water per flush. These are to be renovated（整修）to use only 9 liters of water per flush.
The authority is renovating the first 200 toilets for households – at a cost of 40 Yuan each.
In three years, all the toilets will be renovated, which saves the city nearly 15 million Yuan every year in water conservation.
Another task the city is engaged in is the treatment of sewage（污水）to improve the water environment.
At present the city can only treat 44 percent of its daily 5.04 million tons of waste water. To meet the total demand, 27 more sewage treatment factories are to be established with an estimated investment of 18 billion Yuan.
【小题1】People in Shanghai get their daily water mainly from now.
| A．the underground | B．the rain |
| C．the Yangtze River | D．the Huangpu River |
| A．the renovating of family toilets will save plenty of water |
| B．about half of waste water has been treated already |
| C．advanced technology makes people use water as much as possible |
| D．there is plenty surface water and large amount of rain at present |
| A．make people’s living more convenient |
| B．improve people’s living standards |
| C．ease employment pressure |
| D．meet the total demand of water |
| A．a, b, c, d | B．b, c, e, f | C．b, c, d, e | D．a, b, e, f |
| A．the boom of economy will need a larger amount of water in the future |
| B．citizens today in Shanghai drink the best quality of water in the world |
| C．not everyone today in Shanghai is aware of water shortage |
| D．all the family toilets will be renovated to save water within 3 years |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Xu Hui is very excited. The Senior 1 student in a middle school in Beijing will go to South Korea with his parents during the Spring Festival.
“Overseas touring has always been a dream for me,” he said happily.
Nowadays, Chinese people enjoy longer holidays, such as the three “Golden Week Holidays”(the Spring Festival, May Day and National Day). They have more time to travel. Rising incomes also make travelling abroad realistic for ordinary Chinese people.
Nearly 7 million Chinese travelled overseas in 2001, according to the National Tourism Administration(国家旅游局). The most common problem travellers face is how to choose the best routes.
By the end of 2002, Chinese citizens were allowed to travel to 19 foreign countries and regions at their own expense.
The top 10 places included Hong Kong, Macao and Thailand. European countries are also becoming increasingly popular.
“More and more Chinese people have shown interest in travelling to Europe, particularly France and Finland,” said Tan Wen, a general manager of China Youth Travel Service. “Sooner or later, there will be a peak(高峰) in European tours.”
Another consideration is choosing the right travel agencies and finding the best price. The China Consumers’ Association(CCA, 中国消费者协会) offered tips to consumers on choosing the right travel agencies to help prevent a relaxing vacation from turning into a costly disaster.
“Price should not be the single most important factor in choosing a travel agency,” said Zhang Yuanchao, CCA vice-secretary general. Consumers are advised to choose large State travel agencies with good reputations(名声) and official approval to organize overseas tour groups.
Zhang’s association dealt with more than 5, 000 complaints about travel agencies last year. And the majority of the complaints were about random changes in travel routes, bad tour guides, and forced shopping.
Travellers were warned to look carefully at their contracts(合同) with agencies and to buy travel insurance(保险).
【小题1】How many reasons are given in the article as to why ordinary Chinese people are traveling abroad more today?
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
| A．Choosing the best travel agent. |
| B．Deciding the best way to get to the places they want to go to. |
| C．Traveling to Europe. |
| D．Cost. |
| A．People buy more souvenirs than they had planned to. |
| B．People spend more money than they had planned to. |
| C．People go to different places than they had planned to. |
| D．People complained more than they had planned to. |
| A．the travelers agreed with the changes. |
| B．the travel agency didn’t make any changes. |
| C．the travel agency refused to changes the routes. |
| D．the travel agency changed the routes or time without following the original plan. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Taking exams in a large group setting can be stressful for students and for the staff members who are watching over them. When classrooms are crowded and desks are close together, cheating might be tempting.
One university in Thailand came up with an anti-cheating hat that makes it almost impossible for students to see other students’ papers. A photo of the students wearing the anti-cheating hats made its way to the internet, and the university was criticized for making students wear those ridiculous looking homemade hats. The hats were made by stapling two pieces of paper onto a headband, one to each side of the head.
After being criticized, senior academic staff at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand, released a statement saying that the hats idea came from students. They said that in a bid to prevent cheating they asked the students for ideas on how to prevent cheating in the upcoming exam, which was being taken by almost one hundred students. Students came up with different ideas, then the paper hat idea was selected by them as the most fit. The university claims that no-one was forced to use the hat, but they all chose to do so. “When wearing the hat during the exam, students felt more relaxed,” Nattadon Rungruangkitkrai, a lecturer at the university said.“It was not meant to indicate that Kasetsart students often cheat on exams. I apologize if the photo makes other people look at my students in a negative way,’ Rungruangkitkrai added.
【小题1】Why was the university criticized on the Internet?
| A．The homemade anti-cheating hat looked too simple. |
| B．Wearing the anti-cheating hat made students look ridiculous. |
| C．Wearing the anti-cheating hats couldn’t prevent students from cheating in the exam. |
| D．The university forced students to wear the anti-cheating hat. |
| A．skeptical | B．supportive | C．objective | D．negative |
| A．It’s useless wearing the anti-cheating hat in the exam. |
| B．Kasetsart students are often caught cheating in the exam. |
| C．Wearing the anti-cheating hat is effective in some degree. |
| D．Some students are forced to wear the anti-cheating hat. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
For their nick-of-time acts, Toby, a 2-year-old dog, and Winnie, a cute cat, were named Dog and Cat of the Year by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
As Amy Paul choked(哽住) on a piece of apple at her home, her dog jumped up, landing hard on her chest and forcing the piece in her throat out. When the Keesling family of Indiana was about to be killed by carbon monoxide, their cat clawed at the wife Cathy’s hair until she woke up and called for help.
No one could explain their timely heroics.
Both pets were rescued by their owners in infancy-----Toby as a 4-week-old thrown into a garbage bin to die, and Winnie as a week-old orphan hiding under a barn, so helpless that Cathy’s husband, Eric, had to feed her milk with an eyedropper.
As the Keeslings recalled it, a gas-driven pump being used broke down, spreading carbon monoxide through the house. By the time Winnie went to rescue, the couple’s 14-year-old son was already unconscious. “Winnie jumped on the bed and was clawing at me, with a kind of angry sound,” Cathy Keesling said. The state police responding to her 911 call said the family was only minutes from death, judging by the amount of poisonous gas in the house.
Amy Paul’s husband was at his job when she took a midday break from making jewelry and bit into an apple. “Normally I peel them, but I read in Good Housekeeping Magazine that the skin has all the nutrients, so I ate the skin, and that’s what caused me to choke,” she recalled. “I couldn’t breathe and I was in panic when Toby jumped on me. He never does that, but he did, and saved my life.”
Both Toby and Winnie accompanied their owners to the awards luncheon.
【小题1】What would be the suitable title for the passage?
| A．Great Honors for Cat and Dog |
| B．Dog and Cat Honored for Saving Their Masters |
| C．Unforgettable Experiences |
| D．So Smart Animals Are |
| A．jumping onto its owner | B．calling for help |
| C．making some strange noises | D．clawing at Cathy’s hair |
| A．babyhood | B．Youth | C．Middle age | D．agedness |
| A．A pump breaking down. | B．A driver breaking into the house. |
| C．The burning gas. | D．The poisonous gas. |
| A．She was too young to care for herself. |
| B．She had a big bite. |
| C．She didn’t peel the skin as usual. |
| D．The apple was too hard. |
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