An Ofsted (英国教育标准办公室）study reports that teachers are discouraging students who want to leave school and work as apprentices (学徒）in beauty salons (美容中心）or hair dressers.

　　Inspectors questioned 105 young people for a report on apprenticeships published on Wednesday. They found several examples of young people who felt they had been laughed at by their teachers for wanting to progress to work-based learning, particularly in care or hairdressing, rather than stay on at school.

　　Right or wrong, is it any surprise that this is happening? From 2014，the government will measure schools according to the rate of their pupils who go to university. Brian Lightman , general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, says the government has already put teachers under “very great pressure to focus on academic subjects”

　　On the other hand, the Education Act 2011，which came into force in November, places schools under a duty to give fair career advice to pupils. This advice must include information on all post-16 education and training choices, including apprenticeships. This doesn’t appear to be happening in several schools, according to Ofsted9S report. Many of the young people the inspectors talked to said the advice they had received on apprenticeships was “unsatisfactory”.

　　Schools were also blamed for lack of work experience courses, which are particularly important for teenagers considering an apprenticeship. They help students decide whether they enjoy a line of work and enable employers to see whether those on work experience have the potential to be hired as apprentices in future years.

　　But there is a good reason why they can’t do this: they’d be unable to adapt to GCSE (英 国齊通中等教育证书）exams if they did. Sometimes, it seems, schools just can’t win.

1.Why do teachers oppose the students’ leaving school and working as apprentices?

A. The government urges teachers to concentrate on academic subjects.

B. The students are only wasting time working as apprentices.

C. Employers are under great pressure of taking GCSE exams.

D. Employers don’t give students chances to work as apprentices

2.Pressure for schools to provide pupils with career advice comes from ______. 

A. Association of School and College Leaders

B. Education Act 2011

C. GCSE exams

D. OFSTED

3.The underlined word “They” in Paragraph 5 refers to _____.

A. schools

B. employers    

C. work experience courses

D. teenagers considering an apprenticeship

4.What does the author think of teachers’ discouraging students working as apprentices?

A. Surprising               B. Understandable

C. Wrong           D. Right

One morning a few years ago，Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept. For this busy man，it was a sort of alarm: after years of non-stop hard work，he might wear himself out and die an early death.

Only after a week's leave—during which he read novels, listened to music and walked with his wife on a beach—was Rudenstine able to return to work.

In our modern life, we have lost the rhythm between action and rest. Surprisingly, within this world there is a universal but silly saying:“I am so busy.”

We say this to one another as if our tireless efforts were a talent by nature and an ability to successfully deal with stress. The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others. To be unavailable to our friends and family, and to be unable to find time to relax—this has become the model of a successful life.

Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the guide telling us where to go, the food providing us with strength, the quiet giving us wisdom.

How have we allowed this to happen? I believe it is this: we have forgotten the Sabbath, the day of the week—for followers of some religions—for rest and praying. It is a day when we are not supposed to work, a time when we devote ourselves to enjoying and celebrating what is beautiful. It is a good time to bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals，walk and sleep. It is a time for us to take a rest, to put our work aside, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world.

Rest is a spiritual and biological need；however，in our strong ambition to be successful and care for our many responsibilities，we may feel terribly guilty when we take time to rest. The Sabbath gives us permission to stop work. In fact, “Remember the Sabbath ”is more than simply permission to rest；it is a rule to obey and a principle to follow.

50. The “alarm” in the first paragraph refers to “______”.

　　A. a signal of stress                                   B. a warning of danger

　　C. a sign of age                                       D. a spread of disease

51. According to Paragraph 4,a successful person is one who is believed to ____.

　　A. be able to work without stress　　            B. be more talented than other people

　　C. be more important than anyone else　　 D. be busy working without time to rest

52. Some people feel guilty when taking time to rest because they ____.

　　A. think that taking a rest means lacking ambitions

　　B. fail to realize that rest is an essential part of life

　　C. fail to realize that religions force them to rest

　　D. think that taking a rest means being lazy

53. What is the main idea of this passage?

　　A. We should balance work with rest.

　　B. The Sabbath givers us permission to rest.

　　C. It is silly for anyone to say “I am so busy.”

　　D. We should be available to our family and friends.

D
　　Beyond two or three days，the world’s best weather forecasts are doubtful, and beyond six or seven they are worthless.
　　The Butterfly Effect is the reason. For small pieces of weather—to a global forecaster，small can mean thunder—storms and blizzards（暴风雪）—any prediction becomes worse rapidly. Errors and uncertainties increase，from dust devils and storms up to continent-size eddies（旋涡）that only satellites can see.
　　The modern weather models work with net-like points sixty miles apart，and even so，some starting data have to be guessed，since ground stations and satellites cannot see everywhere. But suppose the earth could be covered with sensors placed one foot apart，rising at one-foot intervals all the way to the top of the atmosphere. Suppose every sensor gives perfectly accurate readings of temperature，pressure，humidity（温度）, and any other data a weatherman would want. Exactly at noon a powerful computer takes all the data and calculates what will happen at each point at 12.01, then 12.02，then 12.03…the computer will still be unable to predict whether Princeton will have sun or rain one month away. At noon the spaces between the sensors will hide fluctuations（波动）that the computer will not know about. By 12.01，those fluctuations will already have created small errors one foot away. Soon the errors will have added to the ten-foot scale，and so on up to the size of the globe.
63．A weather forecast ____________ in the world.
A．is reliable within one or two days
B．is doubtful beyond 24 hours
C．becomes useless beyond two or three days
D．is still worthwhile in seven days
64．Usually there is a weather sub-station____________.
A．in every city 　　　　　　　　　　B．every 60 miles
C．between two cities 　　　　　　　 D．every one foot
65．Which of the following statements is true？
A．People have not placed sensors one foot apart in the atmosphere.
B．Scientists have already put sensors one foot apart in the world.
C．Every sensor gives perfectly accurate data a weatherman wants.
D．Ground weather stations and satellites can see every place on earth.
66．Our computer will not be able to know about fluctuations because ____________.
A．the sensors are not good enough
B．they are hidden by the spaces between the sensors
C．they are too far away
D．they move very fast

Maybe ten-year-old Elizabeth put it best when she said to her father, "But, Dad, you can't be healthy if you're dead."

　　Dad, in a hurry to get home before dark so he could go for a run, had forgotten to wear his safety belt-- a mistake 75% of US population make every day. The big question is why.

　　There have been many myths (神化,虚构的事) about safety belt ever since their first appearance in cars some forty years ago. The following are three of the most common.

　　Myth the Number One: It's best to be "thrown clear" of a serious accident.

　　Truth: Sorry, but any accident serious enough to "throw you clear" is able going to be serious enough to give you a very bad landing. And chances are you'll have traveled through a windshield (挡风玻璃)or door to do it. Studies show that chances of dying after a car accident are twenty-five times in cases where people are "thrown clear".

　　Myth Number Two: Safety-belts "trap" people in cars that are burning or sinking in water.

Truth: Sorry again, but studies show that people knocked unconscious due to not wearing safety belts have a greater chance of dying in these accidents. People wearing safety belts are usually protected to the point of having a clear head to free themselves from such dangerous situation, not to be trapped in them.

　　Myth Number Three: Safety belts aren't needed at speeds of less than 30 miles per hour (mph).

　　Truth: When two cars traveling at 30 mph hit each other, an unbelted driver would meet the windshield with a force equal to diving headfirst into the ground from a height of 10 metres.

1.Why did Elizabeth say to her father, "But, Dad, you can't be healthy if you're dead"?

A．He didn't have his safety belt on.

B．He was running across the street.

C．He was driving at great speed.

D．He didn't take his medicine on time.

2.he reason father was in a hurry to get home was that he __________.

A．wasn't feeling very well                   B．hated to drive in the dark

C．wanted to take some exercise              D．didn't want to be caught by the people

3.According to the text, to be "thrown clear" of a serious accident is very dangerous because you ________.

A．may be knocked down by other cars.

B．may get serious hurt thrown out of the car

C．may find it impossible to get away from the seat

D．may get caught in the car door

4.Some people prefer to drive without wearing a safety belt because they believe _______.

A．they will be unable to think clearly in an accident

B．the belt prevents them from escaping in an accident

C．they will be caught when help comes

D．cars catch fire easily

5.What is the advice given in the test?

A．Never drive faster than 30 miles an hour.

B．Try your best to save yourself in a car accident.

C．Drive slowly while you're not wearing a safety belt.

D．Never forget to wear the safety belt while driving.

Employers fear they will be unable to recruit (招募) students with the skills they need as the economic recovery kicks in, a new survey ___21___.
Nearly half of the organizations told researchers they were already struggling to find ___22___ with skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), ___23___ even more companies expect to experience ___24___ of employees with STEM skills in the next three years.
The Confederation of British Industry___25___694 businesses and organizations across the public and ___26___sectors , which together employ 2.4 million people.
Half are ___27___ they will not be able to fill graduate posts in the coming years, while a third said they would not be able to ___28___ enough employees with the right A-level skills.
　　“___29___ we move further role recovery and businesses plan ___30___ growth, the demand for people with high-quality skills and qualifications will ___31___.” said Richard Lambert, Director General, CBI. “Firms say it is already hard to find people with the right ___32___ or engineering skills. The new government must make it a top ___33___ to encourage more young people to study science-related ___34___.”
　　The survey found that young people would improve their job prospects (预期) ___35___ they studied business, maths, English and physics or chemistry at A-level. The A-levels that employers ___36___least are psychology and sociology. And while many employers don’t insist on a ___37___ degree subject . A third prefer to hire those with a STEM-related subject.
The research ___38___ worries about the lack of progress in improving basic skills in the UK ___39___. Half of the employer expressed worries about employees’ basic literacy and numeracy（计算) skills, while the biggest problem is with IT skills, ___40___ two-thirds reported concerns.