Sitting on a chair all day in school can make anyone want to move around. So, more and more teachers are letting students have a ball. By sitting on exercise balls instead of chairs , teachers find students’ posture(姿势) and attention improve.

Dottie Pownall, a fifth-grade teacher in West Virginia, USA, has been using balls as chairs since December 2008. “The students love them”, she says. Pownall took a survey(调查) of her students. She found that 80% of the students thought sitting on the balls helped them pay more attention to what they were learning.

The teacher, Pisa Witt, felt so strongly about the use of balls as chairs, she started Witt Fitt. This company encourages the use of the balls. And the company educates not only teachers but also students on how to use them. “Our products are used in 24 states, three provinces in Canada, Puerto Rico (波多黎各) and Japan,” says Witt, “ Research shows that sitting on the balls makes them sit up straighter（直的）. You can slouch(低头垂肩地坐)on a ball,” says Witt, “but it feels bad.” Because the students are moving, their blood (血液) increases. That carries more oxygen( 氧气) to the brain , so the kids have more energy and can pay attention longer.

“Besides, they’re fun.” says Pownall.

1.What will happen if a student sits on a chair all day in school? The student will_________.

A．pay more attention to his lessons	B．be fun
C．like to move around	D．sit up straighter

2.How long has Dottie Pownall used the balls?

A．About four years.	B．Only one year.
C．In 2008.	D．Since he was a fifth-grade teacher.

3.In how many countries are the balls used as the students’ chairs?

A．Four.

B．Three.

C．Two.

D．One.

4.Teachers choose balls instead of chairs because sitting on balls helps the kids _________.

A．improve the students’ posture and attention

B．slouch on the chairs

C．have fun

D．Both A and C are correct answers

5.Which is better for kids to study in class, sitting on a chair or sitting on a ball?

A．Sitting on a chair.	B．Sitting on a ball.
C．They are the same.	D．We don’t know.

 

Why are so many people so afraid of failure? Quite simple because no one tells us how to fail so that failure becomes an experience that will lead to growth. We forget that failure is part of the human condition and that every person has the right to fail.

   Most parents work hard at either preventing failure or protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed. One way is to lower standards. A mother describes her child’s hastily made table as “Perfect!” even though it doesn’t stand still. Another way is to shift(转移)blame. If John fails science, his teacher is unfair or stupid.

   The trouble with failure prevention is that they leave a child unequipped for life in the real world. The young need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time and that it’s possible to enjoy a game even when you don’t win. A child who’s not invited to a birthday party, who doesn’t make the honour roll on the baseball team, feels terrible, of course. But parents should not offer a quick comfort, prize or say “It doesn’t matter.” because it does. The young should be allowed to experience disappointment and be helped to master it.

Failure is never pleasurable. It hurts grownups and children alike. But it can make a positive contribution to your life once you learn to use it. Step one is to ask “Why did it fail? Don’t blame someone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong, how you can improve. If someone else can help, don’t be shy about inquiring. Success, which encourages repetition of old behaviour, is not nearly as good a teacher as failure. You can learn from a bad party how to give a good one, from an ill-chosen first house what to look for in a second. Even a failure that seems definitive can cause fresh thinking, a change of direction. After twelve years of studying ballet, a friend of mine applied for a professional company. She asked. That ballet master shook his head. “You will never be a dancer,” he said,” you haven’t the body for it.”

In such cases, the way to use failure is to take stock bravely asking “What have I left? What else can I do?” My friend put away her shoes and moved into dance treatment center, a field where she’s both able and useful. Failure frees one to take risks because there’s less to lose. Often there is recovery of energy — a way to find new possibilities.

1.The first paragraph tells us ______.

  A. failure is very natural for every person

  B. the reason why we don’t know how to fail

  C. the reason why so many people are afraid of failure

  D. one should be ready to face failure at any time

2.How many preventions may parents use when a child fails according to the passage?

  A. only two  B. no more than three  C. less than three  D. more than three

3. Which statement below does the writer support?

  A. Failure is as good an experience as success.

  B. Failure is the mother of success.

  C. Failure is far from a good teacher like success.

  D. Definitive failure gives us nothing but fresh thinking.

4. We can learn from the last paragraph that _______.

  A. failure is the recovery of energy

  B. failure makes one free to do something dangerous

  C. failure should be forgotten in our life

  D. failure is likely to do us good in life

 

 

Weather changes when the temperature and the amount of water in the atmosphere change. We can see and feel water coming from the atmosphere when we have rain. But the water must somehow get back to the atmosphere. Meteorologists call this the water cycle.

   There are many stages in the water cycle. Rain falls when water vapour in clouds condenses(凝结). Drops of water form and fall to the ground. The water soaks into the ground and feeds streams and rivers. A lot of rain falls into the sea. The heat of the sun evaporates some of the water in the ground and in the rivers, lakes, and the sea. It changes the liquid water into water vapour. The vapour rises onto the air. Water vapour is normally invisible. On a very damp or humid day, however, you can sometimes see water vapour rising from a puddle(水坑) or pond in a mist(薄雾) above the water. Water vapour also gets into the air from living things. Trees and other plants take in water through their roots and give off water vapour from their leaves. People and land animals drink water and breathe out water vapour. In all these ways the water returns to the air. There it gathers to form clouds and condenses to form rain. The rain falls to earth, and the cycle starts again. It continues even if snow or hail(冰雹) fall instead because both eventually melt to form water. The amount of water vapour in the air depends on the temperature. The air is more moist(潮湿) in the tropics(热带) than in the cold polar regions.

1. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Water cycle.                                 B. Water vapour.

C. How rain forms.                      D. Water, vapour, rain.

2. How many ways of the water returning to the air are discussed in the text?

A. Two.                  B. Three.        C. Four.        D. Five.

3. Whether water vapour can be seen or not depends on _______.

A. how much water is evaporated         B. how good your eyes are

C. in which way water is evaporated           D. climate or weather

4. From the passage we get to know _______.

A. there is more water vapour in the air in the tropics than in cold polar regions

B. there is more water vapour in the air in cold polar region than in the tropics

C. it gets more rain in the tropics than in cold polar regions because there is less vapour

D. the amount of water vapour in the air depends on how often it rains

The Eskimos believed that a human being is made up of a body, a soul, and a name, and it is not ___1___ unless it has all three. This ___2___ has a great ___3___ on the Eskimos daily life and runs like a golden ___4___ through the Eskimos culture.

As for the soul of man, the Eskimos do not claim to know exactly what it is… but, who does? They see it, however, as the beginning of life, and the energy ___5___ which life cannot continue.

An Eskimo’s name is ___6___ to give life of ___7___. It has in it all the good qualities of all the persons who have been called by it. Many Eskimos believe that a newborn baby ___8___ because it wants ___9___ name and will not complete until it gets it. 

Immediately after a birth, some wise elders ___10___ to ___11___ the child. The name that is ___12___ must be ___13___ of someone who has died ___14___. When my son was born, everyone realized that ___15___ was great-grandfather, Mequsaq(who had died a few months ___16___,) who had been reborn in him. The newborn baby had a slight squint(看一眼) in ___17___ eye that old Mequsaq had ___18___ to the enemy ride in the battle. This was taken as a ___19___ from the name spirit that the baby ___20___ be called Mequsaq.

1. A. separate  B. complete    C. serious       D scientific

2. A. thought  B. idea    C. belief  D. theory

3. A. result     B. effect  C. control       D. touch

4. A. thread    B. line     C. way    D. rope

5. A. with       B. without      C. by      D. along

6. A. believed B. taken  C. held    D. regarded

7. A. his own  B. its own       C. own    D. itself

8. A. sobs       B. laughs C. weeps D. cries

9. A. it    B. his      C. her     D. its

10. A. run       B. discuss       C. gather D. appear

11. A. name    B. call     C. hold    D. dress

12. A. decided B. selected      C. elected       D. demanded

13. A. this      B. these   C. those   D. that

14. A. recently       B. long ago     C. just now     D. meanwhile

15. A. this      B. that     C. it D. who

16. A. since    B. later    C. ago     D. before

17. A. the other      B. the same     C. the different      D. other

18. A. hurt      B. wounded    C. lost     D. injured

19. A. choice  B. decision     C. notice D. sign

20. A. could    B. might  C. would D. should

In urban China，where English is almost the official second language，many Chinese people have learned to speak as professionally as native speakers. However they may have an accent and make a few minor grammatical mistakes.Years ago many people used a certain Chinese-English dictionary or a series of textbooks and accepted their teachings. Consequently，language learners developed a peculiar vocabulary. Some people call these word choices “Chinglish”. The words are not incorrect—native speakers still understand them—but they stand in the way of using standard English. Here are some common examples, both from written and spoken English:

Clever (adj.): Native speakers usually say “smart” instead. “Smart” is a broader and more common word. “Clever” suggests an ability to think your way out of a specific problem or take advantage of a specific situation. Being smart serves you for life.

Examination(n.): Use “exam”, the short form of it, or the more common word, “test”. (The verb for all three words is “take”.) Another word you may hear is “quiz”. It means a short and relatively unimportant test that the teacher often gives as a surprise.

Film: This is largely a technical word. The common term is “movie”. (Native speakers often say “short film for the movie”.)

House (n.): a stand-alone building with its own street entrance that is home to one family. A home in a building full of families is an “apartment” or a “flat”. When in doubt, just say “home”.

Puzzled (adj.): We use this word to describe mild reactions to difficult math problems, and not even very often for this purpose (we say “I’m stumped” or “I have no idea” instead). But when we’re addressing a life issue such as whether to pursue (从事) a graduate education or go straight to work, we say “confused”. This is a stronger word as well as a more common one.

49. The writer wrote this passage to______.

A. prove there are so many Chinese people learning English in a wrong way

B. teach us to choose correct and exact English words to express ourselves

C. tell people that if we want to speak English as well as native speakers we must memorize as many English words as possible

D. explain what Chinglish is

50. According to the passage, which of the following is more common?

A. Would you like to go to the film tonight?

B. He will take an examination next week.

C. Tom is cleverer than his brother.

D. He felt confused whether he would go abroad for further study.

51. This passage suggests that______.  

A. native speakers say “I’m puzzled with this math problem.” more often used than they say “I’m stumped with the math problem.”

B. the word “home” is much often used than the word “house” in spoken and written English

C. the word “examination” is more common than its short form“exam”

D. we can say “do a quiz”

52. We can infer from the passage that______.  

A. native speakers can understand “Chinglish”

B. saying “take a test” is more common

C. to English learners, developing more English vocabulary doesn’t mean speaking good English

D. it’s easy to learn English words well