Teachers have long said that success is its own reward. But these days, some students are finding that
good grades can bring them cash and luxury gifts.
In at least a dozen states this school year, students who bring home top marks can expect more than just
thankfulness.
     The most ambitious experiment began in September, when seven states - Arkansas, Alabama,
Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington－won spots in an Mobil-funded
program that, in most cases, pays students $100 for each passing grade on advanced placement (AP)
college-prep exams.
     It's an effort to get low－income and minority students interested in the courses, says Tommie Sue
Anthony, president of the Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Math and Science. "We still have students
who are not sure of the value, who are not willing to take the courses," she says. "Probably the motivation will make a difference with those students."
     Gregg Fleisher of the National Math and Science Initiative, which runs the seven-state program, says
the effort is modeled on a program adopted by Dallas in the 1995-96 school year that saw AP
course-taking jump obviously. That program is now statewide.
     While many educators would be against offering kids cash for good grades, Fleisher and others say
the idea is simple: "It's an encouragement to get them to basically make the right decision and choose a
more strict class," he says. "This teaches them that if they work at something very hard and have a lot of
support, they can do something they didn't think they could do."
     An analysis of the Texas program last month by Cornell economist C. Kirabo Jackson found that it
linked to a 30% rise in the number of students with high SAT and ACT scores and an 8% rise in
college-going students.(Notes: 1.SAT: 美国学术能力评估考试；2. ACT: 美国大学入学考试.)

1. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. Success is its own reward.
B .A new motivation for students.
C. Good grades deserves gratitude.
D. Success makes a difference.

2. What's the purpose of the experiment?

A. To offer poor students luxury gifts on their birthdays.
B. To help poor students to keep on with education.
C. To get relatively poor students interested in their studies.
D. To make an effort to raise the value of money.

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Students who top at college - prep exams get $ 100.
B. The program didn't have any effect on student's achievements.
C. The program has been going on half a dozen states this year.
D. The program was probably first adopted by Dallas.

4. According to the passage, the program         .

A. encourages students to study harder
B. makes everything possible
C. helps students choose right classes
D. teaches students to spend money

     It's not easy being a teenager(13至19岁青少年)-nor is it easy being the parent of a teenager. You
can make your child feel angry, hurt, or misunderstood by what you say without realizing it yourself. It is
important to give your child the space he needs to grow while gently letting him know that you you'll still
be there for him when he needs you.
     Expect a lot from your child, just not everything.Except for health and safety problems, such as drug
use or careless driving; consider everything else open to discussion. If your child is unwilling to discuss
something, don't insist he tell you what's on his mind. The more you insist, the more likely that he'll clarn
up. Instead , let him attempt to solve(解决)things by himself. At the same time, remind him that you're
always there for him should he seek advice or help. Show respect for your teenager's privacy (隐私).
Never read him his mail or listen in on personal conversations.
     Teach your teenager that the family phone is for the whole family. If your child talks on the family's
telephone for too long, tell him he can talk for15 minutes, but then he must stay off the phone for at least
an equal period of time. This not only frees up the line so that other family members can make and
receive calls, but teaches your teenager moderation(节制). Or if you are open to the idea, allow your
teenager his own phone that he pays for with his own pocket money or a part -time job

1. The main purpose of the text is to tell parents      .

A. how to get along with a teenager    
B. how to respect a teenager
C. how to help a teenager grow up      
D. how to understand a teenager

2. What does the phrase "clam up" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A. refuse to talk  
B. show respect    
C.become excited      
D. seek help

3.The last paragraph is about how to teach a teenager

A. to answer the phone quickly      
B. to pay for his own telephone
C. to share the phone quickly        
D. to use the phone in a sensible way

4. What should parents do in raising a teenager according to the text?

A. Nor allow him to learn driving or take drugs  
B. Give him advice only when necessary
C. Let him have his own telephone            
D. Not talk about personal things with him

     Some plants get so hungry they eat flies, and even small frogs. What's more amazing is that these plants occur naturally (in special environments) in every state. In fact, they're found on every continent except
Antarctica.
     You've probably seen a Venus' flytrap -- a small plant, which grows 6 to 8 inches tall in a container. At the end of its stalks (茎) are leaves that act like traps (陷阱). Inside each trap is a lining of tiny hairs. When an insect lands on them, the traps suddenly shut. Over the course of a week or so, the plant feeds on its
catch.
     The Venus' flytrap is just one of more than 500 species of meat-eating plants, says Barry Meyers-Rice, the editor of the International Carnivorous Plant Society's Newsletter. He states although you might have
read some science-fiction stories, no meat-eating plant does any danger to humans.
Barry says a plant is meat-eating, only if it does all four of the following: "attract, kill, digest, and absorb"
some form of insects. Meat-eating plants look and act like other green plants -- well, most of the time.
All green plants make sugar to produce food. What makes meat-eating plants different is their special
leaves, which need insects for one reason: nitrogen (氮). Nitrogen is a nutrient that they can't obtain any
other way. Why?
     Almost all green plants on our planet get nitrogen from the soil. Meat-eating plants can't. They live in
places where nutrients are hard to get from the soil because of its acidity. So they've come to rely on
getting nitrogen from insects and small animals. In fact, nutrient-rich soft is poisonous to meat-eating plants. Never fertilize (施肥) them! But don't worry, either, if they never seem to catch any insects. They can
survive, but they'll grow very slowly.

1. According to the passage, a Venus' flytrap ______.

A. is a small plant which grows in a container
B. is a kind of plant which gets hungry easily
C. can trap and feed on some form of insects
D. can only grow 6-8 inches tall

2. From the passage, we can infer that ______.

A. meat-eating plants are found nowhere else except Antarctica
B. all green plants get nitrogen from the soil
C. meat-eating plants endanger humans in science-fiction stories
D. the nutrient-poor soil is beneficial to meat-eating plants

3. Meat-eating plants grow very slowly, ______.

A. so you'd better fertilize them
B. probably because the supply of nitrogen is cut off
C. simply because they can't absorb nitrogen from the soil
D. and then they will die slowly

4. Which of the following is true?

A. Meat-eating plants look and act like other green plants.
B. It's hard to get nutrients in the soil when acidity is high.
C. The Venus' flytrap eats flies to get nutrient from them.
D. Green plants make sugar at night.

1. The writer's purpose in writing the text is to ______ .

A. show the relationship between parents and children
B. teach parents ways to keep order at the dinner table
C. report on the findings of a study
D. give information about family problems

2. By saying "Middle children are invisible" in paragraph 3, Lewis means that middle children ______ .

A. have to help their parents to serve dinner
B. get the least attention from the family
C. are often kept away from the dinner table
D. find it hard to keep up with other children

3. Parents with large families ask fewer questions at dinner because ______ .

A. they are busy serving food to their children
B. they are busy keeping order at the dinner table
C. they have to pay more attention to younger children
D. they are tired out having prepared food for the whole family

4. Lewis research provides an answer to the question ______ .

A. Why TV is important in family
B. why parents should keep good order
C. why children in small families seem to be quiet
D. why middle children seem to have more difficulties in life

5. Which of the following statements would the writer agree to?

A. It is important to have the right food for children.
B. It is a good idea to have the TV on during dinner.
C. Parents should talk to each of their children frequently.
D. Elder children should help the younger ones at dinner.

     As an aid-fashioned as it sounds, doctors say the best way to lose weight is to eat less and
exercise more. For women who are middle-aged 'or older, experts say an hour of daily exercise
is necessary just to keep weight.
     But for most women, fitting in an hour of exercise in an already busy day is difficult, and it is
even impossible. Especially for many women, most hours are already filled with a full-time job
and raising a family. At the end of the tiring day, at least in the U.S., there is little incentive to
prepare a dinner when fast food is so available--and so much more fattening.
     Nearly twenty million women in the U.S. have the problem of obesity. The United Nations
report notes that America is one of the countries that have the most obese people in the world
and Mississippi has more overweight women than any other state in the U.S.. The U. S. Center
for Disease Control says the number of overweight women increased by 60% between 2004
and 2009 in America. The World Health Organization says more than one billion women in other
nations are in the same shape.
     While there is plenty of advice on how to lose kilograms, a new study is carried out on
middie-aged and older women who keep normal body weight, or BMI (Body Mass Index). "We
found that physical activity was effective in controlling weight only among women who started to gain
weight from a normal BMI ,'I-Min Lee and her colleagues found more exercise did not help.
     "Once a woman is obese, there was no relation between physical activity and weight change
among these women, "Lee said. The researchers say the only way that obese women can lose weight
is to simply cut calories.

1. What makes it difficult for most women to have an hour of exercise every day?

A. Losing confidence in exercising.        
B. Paying all attention to their jobs.
C. Having no interest in exercising.        
D. Being too busy to find spare time.

2. The third paragraph shows us that ______.

A. more and more women are caring about their weight
B. the problem of woman obesity worldwide is serious
C. many organizations are built to care about fat women
D. America has more overweight women than any other country

3. What should an obese woman do to lose weight according to Lee?

A. Eat more vegetables and fruit and less fat.
B. Keep busy all day long and do a lot of exercise.
C. Find a high energy costing and tiring job.
D. Sleep less, eating less and exercising more.

4. From the passage, we know an hour of daily exercise can ______.

A. help people to lose weight          
B. make people put on weight
C. make people keep weight      
D. keep people busy

                                                                Money Matters
     Parents should help their children understand money.__1___So you may start. talking about money
when your child shows an interest in buying things , candy or toys , for example.
      l. The basic function of money
     Being explaining the basic function of money by showing how people trade money for goods or
services. It's important to show your child how money is traded for the thing he wants to have. If he
wants to have a toy, give him the money and let him hand the money to the cashier.__2___ When your
child grows a bit older and understands the basic function  of money , you  can  start  explaining more 
 complex ways of using money.
     2. Money lessons
     Approach money lessons with openness and honesty. ___3___ If you must say no to a child's
request to spend money, explain, " You have enough toy trucks for now. " Or, if the request is for many
different things, say, " You have to make a choice between this toy and that toy. "
     3.___4____
     Begin at the grocery store. Pick out similar brands of a product-a name brand butter and a generic
  (无商标产品 ) , for example. You can show your child how to make choices between
different brands of a product so that you can save money. ___5___ If he chooses the cheaper brand,
allow him to make another purchase with the money saved. Later, you may explains how the more
expensive choice leaves less money for other purchases.
A. Wise decision.
B. The value of money.
C. Permit the child why he can or cannot have certain things.
D. Talk yourself what things that cost money are most important to you.
E. Ask yourself what things that cost money are most important to you.
F. Talk about how the money bought the thing after you leave the toy store.
G. The best time to teach a child anything about money is when he shows an interest.

     A study involving 8 ,500 teenagers from all social backgrounds found that most of them are ignorant
when it comes to money. The findings ,  the first in a series of reports from NatWest that has started a
five-year research project into teenagers and money, are particularly worrying as this generation of young
people is likely to be burdened with greater debts than any before.
      University tuition fees (学费) are  currently  capped  at ￡3 , 000 annually, but this will be reviewed
next year and the govemment is under enormous pressure to raise the ceiling.
       In the research, the teenagers were presented with the terms of four different loans but 76 percent
failed to identify the cheapest. The young people also predicted that they would be eaming on average
￡31,000 by the age of 25, although the average salary for those aged 22 to 29 is just ￡17 ,815. The
teenagers expected to be in debt when they finished university or training, although half said that they
assumed the debts would be less than ￡10 , 000. Average debts for graduates are ￡12 ,363.
    Stephen Moir, head of community investment at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group which owns
NatWest, said, "The more exposed young people are to financial issues, and the younger they become
aware of them, the more likely they are to become responsible, forward-planning adults who manage
their finances confidently and effectively. "
      Ministers are deeply concemed about the financial pressures on teenagers and young people because
of student loans and rising housing costs. They have just introduced new lessons in how to manage
debts. Nikki Fairweather, aged 15 , from St Helens,  said that she had benefited from lessons on
personal finance, but admitted that she still had a lot to learn about money.

1. Which of the following can be found from the five-year research project? 

A. Students understand personal finances differently.
B. University tuition fees in England have been rising.
C. Teenagers tend to overestimate their future eamings.
D. The students' payback ability has become a major issue.

2. The phrase " to raise the ceiling"  in Paragraph 2 probably means"________".    

A. to raise the student loans
B. to improve the school facilities
C. to increase the upper limit of the tuition
D. to lift the school building roofs

3. According to Stephen Moir, students_________.    

A. are too young to be exposed to financial issues
B. should learn to manage their finances well
C. should maintain a positive attitude when facing loans
D. benefit a lot from lessons on personal finance

4. What can we leam from the passage?  

A. Many British teenagers do not know money matters well.
B. Teenagers in Britain are heavily burdened with debts.
C. Financial planning is a required course at college.
D. Young people should become responsible adults.

     Topping the class academically was certainly an advantage. Studying was a breeze for Nigel. The
reward was certainly incomparable to the little effort that he had to put it. It began when he was selected
to help the teachers in the computer laboratories.
     The peak of his school career came not when he topped the school but when he was selected for the
nationwide competition.Unlike everyone else, Nigel wanted to join the contest because he liked playing
with the Lego sets and making something out of them. Nigel spent the next two months rebuilding the
robot. It was during the time that Nigel found out about the prizes for the competition as well as another
competitor, Alicia, from a neighboring school. His early intentions were forgotten. Getting the
thousand-dollar prize was more important than anything else. Nigel decided to befriend Alicia.Unaware
of his intentions, she told him all about the robot that she had been building for the competition. He even
helped her to put the finishing touches to her robot. He was glad with the way things had progressed. His
robot looked even better than   Alicia's and it was able to bounce a ball with its arm , something Alicia
had failed to do.
     On the day of the competition, he saw Alicia. Everything dawned on her the minute she saw him
among the competition. She stared at him, puzzled at rirst, then angry and finally a look of helplessness
came over her.
     The flashbulbs of the camera exploded in Nigel's face. The robot had performed actions so unique
and different that the specialists' judgments were the same. Nigel was so personal with himself that he
did not even notice the girl standing a few feet away from him. Without her,he would never have won the
competition.

1. What reward did Nigel receive for doing well in his school work?_________

A. He was offered a part-time job.
B. He was honored with a scholarship.
C. He helped his teachers construct a robot.
D. He helped in the computer laboratories.

2. Nigel's original intention of joining the contest was to_________.

A. be the top student of the school
B. being great honor to his school
C. construct a robot with the Lego sets
D. win the thousand-dollar prize

3. Why did Nigel help Alicia finish her robot?___________

A. He tried to make friends with her.
B. He was fond of building robots.
C. He intended to help her.
D. He didn't want her to suspect him.

4. What is the author's attitude towards Nigel's actions?_________  

A. He is mildly critical.        
B. He is strongly critical.
C. He is in favor of them.      
D. His attitude is not clear.

     We can achieve knowledge either actively or passivelr(被动地). We achieve it actively by
direct experience,by testing and piroving an idea,or by reasoning.
    We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someoneelse. Most of the learning that
takes place in the classroom and thekind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers
ormagazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive leaning,it'snot surprising that we
depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers.
    Unfortunately,passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we
are told even when it is little more than hear say and rumor(谣言).
    Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one personwrites down a message but
doesn' t show it to anyone. Then the person whispers it,word for word, to another person.That
person,inturn,whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the peopleplaying the game. The
last person writes down the message word forword as he or she hears it. Then the two written
statements arec ompared. Typically, the original message has changed.
    That' s what happens in daily life. The simple fact that peoplerepeat a story in their own words
changes the story.Then,too,most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own
creativetouch to a story,trying to improve on it,stamping(打上标记)it with their own personal
style. Yet those who hear it think they know.
    This process is also found among scholars and authors:Astatement of opinion by one writer
may be re-stated as fact by another,who may in turn be quoted by yet another；and this process
may continue,unless it occurs to someone to question the facts onwhich the origihal writer based
his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.

1. According to the passage,passive learning may occur in______. 

A. doing a medical experiment  
B. solving a math problem
C.visiting an exhibition  
D.doing scientific reasoning

2. The underlined word"it"in Paragraph 2 refers to________.

A.active learning        
B. knowledge        
C. communication    
D. passive learning

3. The author mentions the game Rumor to show that_________.

A. a message may be changed when being passed on
B. a message should be delivered in different ways
C. people may have problems with their sense of hearing
D. people tend not to believe in what they know as rumor

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A. Active learning is less important.
B. Passive learning may not be reliable.
C. Active learning occurs more frequently.
D. Passive learning is not found among scholars.