What is Math Anxiety?

Math anxiety or fear of math is actually quite common. Math anxiety is quite   36  to stage-fright. Why does someone suffer   37  ? Fear of something going wrong in front of a crowd? Fear of   38  the lines? Fear of being judged   39  ? Fear of going completely blank? Math anxiety conjures(使现出) up fear of some type. The fear that one won't be able to do the   40  or the fear that it's too hard or the fear of failure which often stems(起因于) from having a lack of  41  . For the most part, math anxiety is the   42  about doing the math right, our minds draw a   43  and we think we'll fail and of course the more frustrated and anxious our minds become, the  44  the chance for drawing blanks. Added pressure of having time limits on math tests and exams also cause the levels of anxiety to grow for many students.

Where Does Math Anxiety Come From?

Usually math anxiety stems(起源于) from   45  experiences in mathematics. Typically math phobias(恐慌症) have had math presented in such a fashion that it led to limited understanding. Unfortunately, math anxiety is often   46  poor teaching and poor experiences in math which typically leads to math  47  . Many of the students I've encountered with math anxiety have demonstrated an over reliance on procedures in math as opposed to actually understanding the math. When one tries to memorize procedures, rules and routines without much   48  , the math is quickly forgotten and   49  soon sets in. Think about your experiences with one concept — the division of fractions(分数). You probably learned about reciprocals(倒数) and inverses. In other words, ‘It’s not yours to reason why, just invert(反转) and multiply(乘)’. Well, you memorized the rule and it   50  . Why does it work? Do you really understand why it works? Did anyone ever use pizzas or math manipulative(巧妙处理的) to show you why it works? If   51  , you simply memorized the procedure and that was that. Think of math as memorizing all the procedures —   52  if you forget a few? Therefore, with this type of strategy, a good  53  will help, but, what if you don’t have a good memory. Understanding the math is critical. Once students   54  they can do the math, the whole notion of math anxiety can be overcome. Teachers and parents have an important   55  to ensure students understand the math being presented to them.

A. different                   B. similar             C. far                          D. familiar

A. speech                  B. performance     C. threatens                  D. stage-fright

A. understanding        B. memorizing      C. forgetting                D. reading

A. poorly                  B. crazily              C. well                        D. publicly

A. Chinese             B. math                C. English                   D. physics

A. wish                     B. conscience        C. determination           D. confidence

A. fear                      B. joy                   C. pleasure                   D. doubt

A .failure                  B. choice              C. blank                             D. death

A. further                  B. greater             C. less                         D. smaller

A. unpleasant           B. unfair               C. pleasant                   D. successful

A. because               B. thanks to          C. resulting in              D. due to

A. fear                    B. anxiety             C. failure                     D. misunderstanding

A. forgetting            B. use                   C. understanding          D. knowledge

A. panic                  B. excitement        C. disappointment         D. encouragement

A. opens                  B. works               C. starts                       D. runs

A. so                    B. possible            C. not                          D. any

A. Where                B. Why                C. When                      D. What

A. memory              B. method             C. brain                       D. body

A. fill                     B. realize              C. confirm                   D. recognize

A. task                    B. aim                  C. appointment             D. role

第三部分：阅读理解（共16小题；每小题2分，满分32分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
A
In recent years, advances in medical technology have made it possible for people to live longer than in the past. New medicine and machines are being developed every day to extend life. However, some people, including some doctors, are not in favor of these life extending measures, and they argue that people should have the right to die when they want. They say that the quality of life is as important as life itself, and that people should not be forced to go on living when the conditions of life have
become unbearable. They say that people should be allowed to die with dignity (尊严) and to decide when they want to die. Others argue that life under any conditions is always to extend life as long as possible. And the battle goes on and on without a definite (明确的) answer.
57. The best title for the passage is ______.
A. The Right to Live                     B. The Right to Die
C. The Doctor's Duty                     D. Death or Life
58. In recent years, people can live longer than in the past because of______.
A. the development of medical technology     B. big hospitals
C. good medical workers                  D. both B and C
59. In the eyes of the law, whether a dying patient has the right to die or not is up to ______.
A. the doctors                          B. the surroundings
C. the family                           D, the patient himself/herself
60. According to the writer's opinion ______.
A. death is better than life            B. life is better than death
C. neither death nor life is good       D. none of the above

Angels

My friend Heather mentioned that she had never seen an Angel. Then I remembered the  36   I had with my sister Sandra earlier this week.

This will be Sandra’s first Christmas without her husband. This summer he died in her arms. On Thursday, she was in the store 　37　 for an ideal card for her two sons and daughter. Time passed by quickly as she 　38   the many choices. She wanted a card that sent something special to each of them, 　39  she knew they would have a(n) 　40  place in their heart this holiday season.

Finally! She found the one that expressed the 　41  feeling. The words expressed the feelings that she wished to share. However, a sharp pain pierced(穿透) her heart when she realized that the card was 　42  “mom and dad.” She stood there, 　43  it close for a long time, unable to move from the 　44  . Tears began to run down her cheeks.

“Is there something I can do for you?” a 　45  voice asked. She 　46  to face a stranger, a woman, who was looking at her with 　47  and concern. “Uh…oh...OH!” Sandra responded, “I can’t give this card to my children because…because my husband died and this is the 　48  card.”

Hearing this, the stranger’s face softened with sympathy(同情) and love. She reached out and 　49  my sister into her arms, giving her unspoken permission to cry in the protection of her embrace(拥抱). She 　50  held my sister until her calmness 　51  . “Thank you for listening to me cry on,” was what my sister said when all was better. “You are welcome, and I am so sorry for your 　52  ,” the stranger answered and said goodbye to her.

During her telling of this event I was feeling 　53  that I hadn’t been there. My sister needed me and a stranger had to do my 　54  .  “You know,” she went on, “a friend suggested that it was like meeting with an Angel.” My 　55  disappeared in an instant. My sister required an Angel, and I think that is exactly what she got.

This is the story of two lovers, who finally got married. Both of them were romantic at first,     on the walk of life, problems, quarrels, profession came into their life.

    One day, she finally decided, “I want to break up.”

“Why?” he asked.

    “I am      ”She answered.

He kept silent the whole night, seemingly in deep      . Finally he asked, “What can I do to      

your mind?”

Looking into his eyes she said, “Answer my question. If you can       my heart, I will change my mind. Let’s say, I want a flower       on the face of a mountain cliff (悬崖), we are both sure that picking the flower will cause your      . Will you do it for me?”

He said, “I will give you my       tomorrow.”

She woke up the next morning, found him gone, and saw a piece of paper on her bed, which      , “My dear, I would not pick that flower for you. The       are …”

“When you use the computer you always        the software, and you cry in front of the screen. I have to save my fingers so that I can help to       the programs. You always leave the house keys behind, so I have to save my       to rush home to open the door for you. You love traveling but always lose your way in a (n)       city. I have to save my eyes to show you the way. You always       at the computer, and that will do nothing good for your eyes. I have to save my eyes       when we grow old, I can help to clip your nails and help to remove those       white hairs.”

“Thus, my dear,        I am sure that there is someone who loves you more than I do … I can not pick that flower yet, and die …”

That’s life, and      . Flowers, and romantic moments are only used and appear on the       of the relationship. Under all this, the pillar of true love stands.

1.A. while                    B. and                           C. but                           D. so

2.A. lonely                            B. dead                        C. worn out                D. awesome

3.A. sorrow                B. thought                   C. shade                       D. anger

4.A. speak                             B. change                    C. blow                         D. keep

5.A. represent           B. expand          C. warm                       D. convince

6.A. grown                           B. planted          C. living                        D. growing

7.A. injury                             B. hurt                          C. wound                     D. death

8.A. decision              B. answer                    C. opinion          D. choice

9.A. wrote                            B. informed                C. printed                   D. went

10.A. answers            B. messages                C. reasons                   D. purposes

11.A. run out             B. put up                      C. use up                     D. mess up

12.A. repair                B. restore                   C. fix                    D. mend

13.A. legs                    B. life                            C. energy                    D. strength

14.A. big                      B. new                          C. modern                  D. strange

15.A. glance               B. look                          C. glare                        D. stare

16.A. as if                    B. now that                 C. so that                     D. in case

17.A. annoying          B. emerging                C. rough                       D. refreshing

18.A. although           B. even if                     C. unless                      D. if

19.A. friction              B. love                          C. couple                    D. power

20.A. surface             B. way                          C. course                     D. nature

Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time. In fact, it is a decrease in death rates, not an increase in birthrates, that has led to the population explosion.

Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies, people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times of famine, infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved, where as if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary(当代的) societies, people feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work; we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illnesses than young or middle-aged people; unless they have wealth or private or government insurance, they must often “go on welfare” if they have a serious illness.

When older people become senile (衰老的) or too weak and ill to care for themselves, they create grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures, they would be cared for at home until they died. Today, with most members of a household working or in school, there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this need, a great many nursing homes and convalescent (疗养的) hospitals have been built. These are often profit making organizations, although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups. While a few of these institutions are good, most of them are simply “dumping (倒垃圾的) grounds” for the dying in which “care” is given by poorly paid, overworked, and under skilled personnel.

71. The author believes that the population explosion results from _______.

A. an increase in birthrates                          B. the industrial development

C. a decrease in death rates                          D. human beings’ cultural advances

72. It can be inferred from the passage that in hunting and gathering cultures _______.

A. it was a moral responsibility for the families to keep alive the aged people who could not work

B. the survival of infants was less important than that of their parents in times of starvation

C. old people were given the task of imparting the cultural wisdom of the tribe to new generations

D. death was celebrated as a time of rejoicing for an individual freed of the hardships of life

73. According to the passage, which of the following statements about the old people in the  United States is true?

A. Many of them live on social security money which is hardly enough.

B. Minority of them remain in a state of near poverty after their retirement.

C. When they reach a certain age, compulsory retirement is necessary and beneficial.

D. With the growing inflation, they must suffer more from unbearable burdens than ever.

74. The phrase “this need” in paragraph 3 refers to ________.

A. prolonging the dying old people’s lives

B. reducing the problems caused by the retired people

C. making profits through caring for the sick or weak people

D. taking care of the sick or weak people

75. Which of the following best describes the author’s attitude toward most of the nursing homes and convalescent hospitals?

A. Sympathetic.           B. Approving.          C. Optimistic.        D. Critical.