Annalisee Brasil, a 14-year-old girl, is one of the brightest kids of her generation. When Annalisee was 3, her mother Angi noticed that she was stringing together word cards into correct sentences. After the girl turned 6, her mother took her for an IQ text. Her IQ is above 145, placing the girl in the top 0.1% of the population. Annalisee should be the star pupil at school. She is witty and pretty, and it’s easy to imagine she would get along well at school. But Annalisee’s parents couldn’t find a school willing to take their daughter. So her mother homeschooled Annalisee.

But Angi felt something was missing in her daughter’s life. Annalisee didn’t have a rich social network of other kids. She had trouble getting along with others. She described herself as a “perfectionist” and said other students sometimes were jealous of her.

What’s needed is a new model for gifted education. That’s the idea behind the Davidson Academy of Nevada. At the academy, all the kids are skipping ahead quickly. However, the academy’s most important gift to its students is social, not academic. One of the main functions of the school is to provide a good social setting for the highly gifted.

Last year the school enrolled Annalisee, which has been good for her. She has made friends at the academy. She has also developed an interest in calculus(微积分) and biochemistry(生物化学). Socially, Annalisee is finally learning to get along with others. “It’s been interesting having to deal with that and getting used to the judgments of other kinds,” she said. “We get into arguments a lot, because we’re all really smart people with opinions, and it doesn’t always turn out that great. Sometimes I take things a little too personally.”

What is the passage mainly about?

Annalisee Brasil——the star pupil at school.

A smart girl who entered a proper school and benefited from gifted education.

A smart girl who had trouble getting along with others.

A girl who was too smart to find a suitable school.

1.The word “perfectionist” in paragraph two probably means a person who _________.

A．is smarter than others

B．is always favored by teachers

C．can do everything well and has strong demands

D．is accepted by others as a good leader

2.According to the passage, which of the following is true?

A．At the age of 3, Annalisee took an IQ test, in which she scored above 145.

B．Finding no school willing to take Annalisee, her father had to homschool her.

C．The Davidson Academy of Nevada emphasizes social gift more than academic gift.

D．After being enrolled by the academy, Annalisee enjoyed her school life without ant argument with her classmates.

3.What can you infer from the passage?

A．Annalisee has realized her problem and is gradually changing her attitude towards others.

B．One of the main functions of the gifted education is to provide a good social setting for the highly gifted.

C．Without the academy, Annalisee couldn’t have learnt so much.

D． Like Annalisee, many other smart kids also have the similar trouble.

1.Which of the following does NOT provide training?

A．The ABC 2011 Challenge.                 B．Advance.

C．The Volunteer Centre Westminster.          D．The Kingston Advocacy.

2.We learn from the ads that Advance wants volunteers who ­­­______.

A．are over 18 years old                    B．have relevant experience

C．can come to help every week              D．need only one day of training

3.What kind of person might apply to Kingston Advocacy?

A．One who hoped to be paid.

B．One interested in doing interviews.

C．One curious about police life.

D．One who can work late into the night.

The right to die

It was 3:45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary(议会的) debates, Australia’s northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably sick patients who wish to die.

The measure passed by the convincing vote of 15 to 10. Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, executive director of the Right to Die Society of Canada. He sent it on via the group's on line service, Death NET. Says Hofsess: "We posted bulletins all day long, because of course this isn't just something that happened in Australia. It's world history."

The NT Rights of the Terminally III law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications. Some have breathed sighs of relief, others, including churches, right to life groups and the Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage（通过）.

But the tide is unlikely to turn back. In Australia - where an aging population, life extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part, other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia(安乐死). In the US and Canada, where the right to die movement is gathering strength, observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling.

Under the new Northern Territory law, an adult patient can request death, probably by a deadly injection or pill, to put an end to suffering. The patient must be diagnosed(诊断) as terminally ill by two doctors. After a "cooling off" period of seven days, the patient can sign a certificate of request. After 48 hours the wish for death can be met. For Lloyd Nickson, a 54-year-old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer, the NT Rights of Terminally III law means he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering: a terrifying death from his breathing condition. "I'm not afraid of dying from a spiritual point of view, but what I was afraid of was how I'd go, because I've watched people die in the hospital fighting for oxygen and clawing at their masks," he says.

1.This passage is mainly about ________.

A．the development and function of euthanasia

B．the passage（通过）of a law on euthanasia and its worldwide influence.

C．some successful examples about euthanasia

D．conditions and procedures to perform euthanasia in Australia.

2.What does “observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling” mean?

A．Observers are taking a wait-and –see attitude towards the future of euthanasia.

B．There is a possibility of similar bills being passed in the US and Canada.

C．Observers are waiting to see the movement end up in failure.

D．The process of the bill taking effect may finally come to a stop.

3. During a “cooling off” period, a patient will _________.

A．wait for two doctors’ diagnosis

B．sign a certificate of request

C．think over his decision of euthanasia

D．turn to his doctors for more advice

4.What’s the author’s attitude towards euthanasia?

A．Hostile           B．doubtful           C．Favorable         D．Indifferent

A. Independence leading to family breakup

B. Women’s easy and convenient life in USA

C. No marriage for many people nowadays

D. Average American families getting small

E. Full freedom for young women

F. Divorce--- a social problem in USA

1._________

Marriage, like other social instructions, is showing the strains of modern life. While more Americans are getting married today than ever before, the divorce rate is also disturbingly on the rise (one divorce for every three marriages last year). Why should this be so, and what, if anything, can we do to reverse this trend?

2.__________

For most people, life is easier and more comfortable than ever before. Convenience foods from the supermarket simplify shopping and cooking. Household appliances like the vacuum cleaner and the washing machine have made housework much easier to do. Released from these household chores, many wives have found jobs outside the home. Women are achieving economic independence.

3._______

Families, too, are simpler today. In American, it is not customary for parents to live with their married children. With our greater mobility, relatives have scattered, the parents retiring to Florida or Arizona and the young people, after they marry, going wherever their jobs or their interests take them.

4.________

Young adult women have new freedom, too. While attending college, they often live away from home, sometimes far from their parents or their relatives. After college, they move to the city, find a job, and set up “bachelor” apartment. This is the era of women’s liberation.

5.________

But all this freedom and affluence have had an unforeseen and in some respects a devastating effect on marriage. Men and women, no longer dependent on each other for food and maintenance, find it harder to accept the responsibilities and restraints or endurance the misunderstandings of married life. When happiness becomes misery, many couples decide to terminate their marriage through divorce. On the other hand, there is a growing trend today for couples in trouble to try to save their marriage by consulting a professional counselor. He listens patiently while they talk, knowing that only through self-understanding can they solve their problems.

From bankers to factory staff, employees in the west face the bleak prospect (暗淡的前景) of losing their jobs as a global recession (衰退) starts to bite. For colleagues in the East the pain is more likely to come through a pay cut.

Human resource experts say cultural differences explain why Asian firms try harder to keep jobs in difficult times, which will stop unemployment and may help keep Asian economies afloat at a time of slowing exports.

The East Asian attitude may also make it easier for firms to recover quickly from the economic downturn since they will not need to rehire or train new staff, leaving some experts predicting Western shift to Eastern flexibility.

“In the Confucian (儒家的) attitude, the right thing to do is to share the burden. There is the sense of collective responsibility whereas (然而) in the West, it’s more about the individual survival,” said Michael Benotlel, associated professor of organizational behavior at Singapore Management University.

Steven Pang, Asian Regional Director for Aquent, a headhunting firm, said in many East Asian companies there was a responsibility “ to take care of the members of the family and go through the pain together” even if that meant causing losses.

US firms from General Motors to Goldman Sachs plan to lay off workers by the thousand. But at the Asian units of Western multinationals, job cuts will probably be less severe.

Japan’s jobless rate was 4 percent in September, up from 3.8 percent in January, while Hong Kong’s was flat at 3.4 percent. But US unemployment is expected to have jumped to 6.3 percent last month from below 5 percent in January.

Experts say that while there are noticeable differences in labor practices in East and West, the gap will narrow as more firms become more multinational and competition forces firms to adopt the best practices of rivals (对手) from abroad.

(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS.)

1.What caused the different practices of Asian and Western firms facing the global recession?

2.Why is it easier for the East Asian firms to recover quickly from the economic downturn?

3.Firms in the west would lay off workers when facing a bleak prospect because of ______.

4.______ will make the differences in East and West less noticeable.

Directions: Translate the following sentences into English. You are required to use the word given in the bracket for each respective sentence.

这本书将为我们提供所需要的全部信息。（supply）

没人能否认“锻炼有益于健康”这一事实。(同位语从句)

我老是把可乐当成葡萄酒，这令我很尴尬。(mistake)

我去拜访他的时候，他碰巧在给我写信。（happen）

人们把美国西部电影里的牛仔看成是自由的人群，充满了勇气和力量。（think of）

Guided writing（25分）

Directions: Write an English composition in 120—150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.

人们常说“战胜自己，超越自我”。请你以“I only compete with myself”为题写一篇短文。叙述你生活或学习中的一件事，说明只有战胜了自己，超越了自己才有意义，才是真正意义上的成功。

__________ he sees people in trouble, he always lends them a hand.

A．Every time         B．The moment       C．The next time      D．The first time

I could have offered you some help last weekend, but I _______ with my work at that time.

A．would be occupied                      B．was occupying

C．had been occupied                      D．was occupied

–If you like I can do some shopping for you.

–That’s a very kind _______ .

A．offer             B．service           C．point             D．suggestion