“I had a test and didn’t want to do it, so I pretended to be ill”, says 13-year-old Mary. But Mary did not enjoy her day off. “It was boring. I wished I had gone to school.”
Mary’s story is not unusual in Britain. According to the latest government figures, pupil absences are rising, despite schools taking a hard line on truancy (逃学).
Dr Philip James from Cardiff University thinks she knows why: “As schools make more efforts to find and punish missing students, students find better ways to avoid being caught.”
For several years, James has researched teenager truancy and discovered that most truancy was “a response to factors within the school”. Students that skip school are not necessarily less advanced or less intelligent. They complained of teachers who failed to engage them, and of “boring” lessons. “Many of them really enjoy school and believe in education, but drop out when aspects of it are ineffective.” James says.
The views of students like Adam, who believes that skipping lessons has little impact on his schooling, are common. “I only take off for a lesson, or a couple of days. It doesn’t affect my education,” he told James.
James believes that schools need to address the question of why pupils want to leave in the first place. “Pupils need help from the start.” she says. “Schools need to look at the reasons for truancy rather than the number, so that instead of walking away from school, students have the skills and chances to talk through problems and make a change.”
【小题1】What is one of the reasons that many students skip school according to James’ study?

单词拼写 （满分 5分 ）
【小题1】It is necessary for you to__________(系牢) your safety belt when you drive.
【小题2】The cruel and________________(贪婪的) woman was punished by the two boys.
【小题3】I remember you mentioned the same thing on a _________(以前的) occasion.
【小题4】I felt very g__________ for forgetting her birthday again.
【小题5】She’s been____________(故意地) ignoring him all day.
【小题6】I decided to c____________ all my efforts on finding somewhere to live.
【小题7】He got hurt during the football match and the i__________ was serious.
【小题8】The old man was sent to hospital because of high blood p_____________.
【小题9】There is a wide v____________ of patterns to choose from.
【小题10】With the a_________ of my English teacher, I have made rapid progress in English.

D
For several days I saw little of Mr. Rochester. In the morning he seemed very busy with business，and in the afternoon gentlemen from the neighborhood called and sometimes stayed to dine with him. When his foot was well enough，he rode out a great deal.
During this time，all my knowledge of him was limited to occasional meetings about the house，when he would sometimes pass me coldly， and sometimes bow and smile. His changes of manner did not offend me, because I saw that I had nothing to do with the cause of them.
One evening，several days later，I was invited to talk to Mr. Rochester after dinner. He was sitting in his armchair，and looked not quite so severe，and much less gloomy. There was a smile on his lips, and his eyes were bright，probably with wine. As I was looking at him，he suddenly turned, and asked me，“Do you think I am handsome，Miss Eyre? ”
The answer somehow slipped from my tongue before I realized it: “No，sir.” “Ah，you really are unusual! You are a quiet， serious little person， but you can be almost rude.” “Sir，I'm sorry. I should have said that beauty doesn't matter，or something like that,” “No，you shouldn't! I see，you criticize my appearance，and then you stab (刺) me in the back! You have honesty and feeling. There are not many girls like you. But perhaps I go too fast. Perhaps you have awful faults to counterbalance (抵消) your few good points.”
I thought to myself that he might have too. He seemed to read my mind，and said quickly，“Yes，you're right. I have plenty of faults. I went the wrong way when I was twenty-one，and have never found the right path again. I might have been very different. I might have been as good as you, and perhaps wiser. I am not a bad man，take my word for it，but I have done wrong. It wasn't my character，but circumstances which were to blame. Why do I tell you all this? Because you're the sort of person people tell their problems and secrets to, because you're sympathetic and give them hope.”
It seemed he had quite a lot to talk to me. He didn't seem to like to finish the talk quickly，as was the case for the first time.
“Don't be afraid of me， Miss. Eyre，”he continued. “You don't relax or laugh very much，perhaps because of the effect Lowood school has had on you. But in time you will be more natural with me，and laugh， and speak freely. You're like a bird in a cage. When you get out of the cage, you'll fly very high. Good night.”
67. At the beginning Miss Eyre's impressions of Mr. Rochester were all except_______.   
A. busy                 B. sociable             C. dull                 D. changeable
68. The underlined sentence means________.
A. Only by meeting him around the house sometimes did I know a little about him.
B. Only by coming to the house could I know about him.
C. I occasionally met him but my knowledge about him was poor.
D. What I knew about him was limited in the house.
69. From what Mr. Rochester told Miss Eyre, we can conclude that he wanted to _______.
A. tell her all his troubles                         B. tell her his life experience
C. blame her for misunderstanding him                 D. change his circumstances
70. At the end of the passage, Mr. Rochester sounded ________.
A. rude                 B. cold                   C. polite              D. encouraging
71. According to the passage, which of the following statements is WRONG? 
A. Miss Eyre was at Lowood School before she came to Mr. Rochester’s house.
B. Miss Eyre didn’t see Mr. Rochester often.
C. Miss Eyre was honest, brave and confident.
D. Miss Eyre was brave, polite and warm-hearted.

“Football is a very short-term career. Football really prepares you for almost nothing. The only thing I got out of football was the ability to work hard.” says Gales Sayers. So what do you do after your glory days on the field are over? Here’s what one of the top players, Gales Sayers did after he put down the pigskin.
Gales Sayers: #40, Chicago Bears, Running Back.  
Gales Sayers became famous in 1965. After recovering from a serious knee injury in 1968, Sayers returned to the Bears in 1969 and was awarded the George Halas Award as “the most courageous player in professional football.” At the award ceremony, he owed his prize to his friend and teammate Brian Piccolo, who was dying of cancer.
Sayers couldn’t get away from the injuries, though, and another blow to his knee put an end to his football career in 1971. His personal life was unfortunate as well, as he and his wife, Linda, split up that year. Shortly after that, Sayers started a new life and career as an assistant athletic director in the University of Kansas. By 1976 he was moving up the ladder at Southern Illinois University, becoming the first African-American athletic director at a major university.
Sayers started a computer supplies company in 1984 with his second wife, Ardie, whom he married in 1973. The couple was looking for a field with a future, and computers seemed to have it all. Seventeen years later, the company that bears his name is a national provider of technology solutions, with 10 locations and over 350 employees across the country. Just like in the old days the honors started rolling in. Sayers was listed into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship(企业家) Hall of Fame in 1999.
【小题1】What does the underlined sentence “he put down the pigskin” mean?
A. Sayers ended his football career.              
B. Sayers was too tired to go on playing.
C. Sayers intended to start a new career.            
D. Sayers only wanted to rest for some time.
【小题2】 How many times was Sayers honored in his life?

Memory, they say, is a matter of practice and exercise. If you have the wish and really made a conscious（自觉的）effort, then you can quite easily improve your ability to remember things. But even if you are successful, there are times when your memory seems to play tricks on you.
Sometimes you remember things that really did not happen. One morning last week, for example, I got up and found that I had left the front door unlocked all night, yet I clearly remember locking it carefully the night before.
Memory “trick” work the other way as well. Once in a while you remember not doing something, and then find out that you did. One day last month, for example, I was sitting in a barber（理发师）shop waiting for my turn to get a haircut, and suddenly I realized that I had got a haircut two days before at the barber shop across the street from my office.
We always seem to find something funny and amusing（有趣的）in incidents caused by people’s forgetfulness or absent-mindedness. Stories about absent-minded professors have been told for years, and we never got tired of hearing new ones. Unfortunately, however, absent-mindedness is not always funny. There are times when “trick” of our memory can cause us great trouble.
【小题1】If you want to have a good memory, .