In the college-admissions wars, we parents are the true fighters. We’re pushing our kids to get good grades, take SAT preparatory courses and build resumes so they can get into the college of our first choice. I’ve twice been to the wars, and as I survey the battlefield, something different is happening. We see our kids’ college background as a prize demonstrating how well we’ve raised them. But we can’t acknowledge that our obsession(痴迷) is more about us than them. So we’ve created various justifications（辩解）that turn out to be half-truths, prejudices or myths. It actually doesn’t matter much whether Aaron and Nicole go to Stanford.

We have a full-developed panic; we worry that there won’t be enough prizes to go around. Fearful parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever. What causes the hysteria(歇斯底里) is the belief that scarce elite（精英）degrees must be highly valuable. Their graduates must enjoy more success because they get a better education and develop better contacts. All seems right but mostly wrong. We haven’t found any convincing evidence that selectivity or prestige matters. Selective schools don’t systematically employ better instructional approaches than less selective schools. On two measures—professors’ feedback and the number of essay exams selective schools do slightly worse.

By some studies, selective schools do enhance（提高） their graduates’ lifetime earnings. The gain is reckoned at 2-4% for every 100-point increase in a school’s average SAT scores. But even this advantage is probably a statistical fluke(偶然). A well-known study examined students who got into highly selective schools and then went elsewhere. They earned just as much as graduates from higher-status schools.

Kids count more than their colleges. Getting into Yale may signify intelligence, talent and ambition. But it’s not the only indicator and, surprisingly, its significance is declining. The reason: so many similar people go elsewhere. Getting into college is not life’s only competition. In the next competition—the job market and graduate school—the results may change. Princeton economist Alan Krueger studied admissions to one top Ph.D. program. High scores on the GRE helped explain who got in; degrees of famous universities didn’t.

So, parents, take it easy（lighten up）. The stakes (利害关系) have been vastly exaggerated. Up to a point, we can rationalize our pushiness. America is a competitive society; our kids need to adjust to that. But too much pushiness can be destructive. The very ambition we impose on our children may get some into Harvard but may also set them up for disappointment. One study found that, other things being equal, graduates of highly selective schools experienced more job dissatisfaction. They may have been so conditioned to being on top that anything less disappoints.

1. Why does the author say that parents are the true fighters in the college-admissions wars?

         A. They have the final say in which university their children are to attend.

         B. They know best which universities are most suitable for their children.

         C. They have to carry out intensive surveys of colleges before children make an application.

         D. They care more about which college their children go to than the children themselves.

2. Why do parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever?

         A. They want to increase their children’s chances of entering a prestigious college.

         B. They hope their children can enter a university that offers attractive scholarships.

         C. Their children will have a wider choice of which college to go to.

         D. Elite universities now enroll fewer student than they used to.

3. What does the author mean by “kids count more than their colleges” Line1, para.4?

         A. Continuing education is more important to a person’s success.

         B. A person’s happiness should be valued more than their education.

         C. Kids’ actual abilities are more important than their college background.

         D. What kids learn at college cannot keep up with job market requirements.

4. What does Krueger’s study tell us?

         A. Getting into Ph.D. programs may be more competitive than getting into college.

         B. Degrees of prestigious universities do not guarantee entry to graduate programs.

         C. Graduates from prestigious universities do not care much about their GRE scores.

         D. Connections built in prestigious universities may be kept long after graduation.

5. One possible result of pushing children into elite universities is that______

         A. they earn less than their peers from other institutions　　

         B. they turn out to be less competitive in the job market

         C. they experience more job dissatisfaction after graduation　

         D. they overemphasize their qualifications in job application

Research shows that humans switch from selfish to unselfish behaviors when they are watched. Do you?

A picture of a set of eyes on a computer screen can cause a change in the way people act. Even images of eyes on a charity donation, collection box encourage people to be unselfish, because people put more money in a collection box that has a picture of eyes on it than they do when a flower symbol is on the box.

Biology in Germany and Bettina Rockenbach of the University of Berlin,

the authors of a new study, found that people act better when they are being

watched because they feel they will be rewarded for good behaviour.

Their report also referred to other research showing that this response of

behaving well when watched is somehow coded into humans and

people respond this way unconsciously, or without realising it.

It is not just humans that act unselfishly when they are being watched.

A fish called the grooming fish cleans other fish. When other fish are

around, it is gentler. When no other fish are around, however, the grooming fish bites chunks from the fish it is supposed to be cleaning.

The researchers suggest that the best way to get people to behave in the correct way is to make them feel watched. This could be the reason for the success of a famous American army poster. On it was a picture of an elderly man staring fiercely and pointing, it appeared, to the person who was looking at the poster. Under the picture was the caption ‘I Want You’. It encouraged hundreds of thousands of young American men to join the army during the Second World War to fight the Germans and Japanese.

1. According to the report, why does a person behave better when he feels he is being watched?

         A. He does not want to be shamed by others.

         B. He needs to show he is a good person.

         C. He desires others to like him more.

         D. He feels he will receive some social reward.

2. The underlined word ‘coded’ (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to______.

         A. hidden            B. programmed     C. forgotten         D. leaned

3. What is the text mainly about?

         A. It describes changed behaviour when observed.

         B. It details ways to control people's behaviour.

         C. It tells how to make people work harder.

         D. It discusses different advertising methods.

4. According to the text, which of the following statements is True?

         A. People pretend to behave better when they are watched.

         B. Fish bite other fish in a fish tank when they are alone.

         C. People donate more money when they feel they are watched.

         D. Soldiers fought better during World War II because of a poster.

5. Where would the study described in the text most likely be found?

A. In a newspaper.                     B. In a scientific journal.

C. In an advertising magazine.           D. In a science textbook.

第Ⅱ卷 (非选择题，共35分)

注意事项：

1．第Ⅱ卷共2页，用蓝、黑色的钢笔或圆珠笔直接答在试卷中。

2．答卷前，请将密封线内的项目填写清楚。

第三部分：写作

第一节：阅读表达（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）

阅读下面短文，按照要求完成阅读任务。

Native Tongue

At first Kate thought the Romanian girl could not speak and understand English. Nadia would not reply to anything Kate said. Kate was in charge of showing Nadia around on her first day at Buckminster Grade School. Kate could not figure out why the school had put Nadia in a class where she could not understand what people were saying.

“Why did they do this?” Kate wondered aloud. “I mean, you can’t learn if you can’t understand the teacher.”

Nadia’s voice was a whisper. “I understand English. I will learn.” Nadia’s English was perfect.

Kate was perplexed. She couldn’t understand why Nadia did not like to speak. Then she realized that moving to a new country probably wasn’t the easiest thing to do. There were hundreds of unfamiliar and unusual things to learn all at the same time.

“There’re a lot of new things to learn, huh?” said Kate.

Nadia nodded rapidly. In a quiet voice she replied, “Many things people say, I do not understand. I have been speaking English and Romanian all my life, but I do not know what some children are saying. For example, yesterday a boy asked if I could help him find the USB port on a thin black box he was carrying. Isn’t a port a place for ships? I was confused.”

“Don’t worry,” said Kate. “You’ll figure everything out in time. You see, that thin black box was a computer. A USB port is a place where you can connect other machines to a computer.”

Nadia and Kate were quiet after that. They took notes while the teacher gave a maths lesson. To Kate’s surprise, Nadia put up her hand and offered to answer questions at the blackboard.

Nadia handled every question the teacher gave her. Some of the questions were really difficult, and no one understood what was going on except Nadia and the teacher. When the teacher said that Nadia answered everything correctly, the whole class clapped their hands.

Nadia was smiling when she sat back down next to Kate. “Some things,” she said in a normal voice, “are the same all over the world.”

56. Where did Nadia come from? (Within 5words)

_______________________________________________________________________________57. What made Kate perplexed? (Within 5words)

______________________________________________________________________________

58. Please explain the phrase “figure everything out” in English. (Within 10words)

______________________________________________________________________________

59. Will you please give the reason why Nadia always kept quiet? (Within 15words)

______________________________________________________________________________

60. Did Nadia change a lot after her stay in America, what are they?  (Within 20 words)

_______________________________________________________________________________

第二节：书面表达 （满分25分）

自1978年以来，我国海外留学生回国人数逐年上升。请在Beijing Daily上发表一篇文章，根据图表叙述海外人员归国情况，分析回流原因，并希望更多的海外学者回国创业。

要求： 1）可根据内容要点适当增加细节，使行文连贯。

       2）词数：120字左右。短文开头已为你写好，不计入词数。

参考词汇：制定政策 work out policies      海归人员 returnee

一系列优惠政策a series of preferential policies

There has been a reversal of the brain drain since 1978 across the country. Between 1978 and 2007, about 7,000 overseas Chinese returned to Beijing after completing their studies abroad. They accounted for about 25% of all returnees nationwide. The year 2008 has witnessed a boom. The number of returnees came up to 15,000. By the end of 2010, a further 22,000 will have returned to this city.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

--- What is the weather like tomorrow?

--- The weather forecast says a big snowstorm is___________.

By ______ nature, you are an adventurer, full of amazement and curiosity about ______ world bigger than life itself.

  A. a; the                          B. the; the                 C. /; a                             D. the; /

Low-carbon lifestyle is of great benefit to improve the world environment. ______ can be enjoyed from it until you have a deep understanding of it, however.

  A. Something       B. Nothing       C, Few             D. Much

Today, ______ rapid transportation and communication, the whole world seems to be smaller.

  A. regardless of     B. in spite of      C. instead of         D. because of

Parents are advised to take pressure ______ a child and give him encouragement before an exam.

  A. off                                B. out                          C. from                          D. away

 --- Recently many people have no intention of buying a house.

  --- I think the reason may be ______ the house price is too high.

  A. that                             B. why                         C. because                    D. which