It makes no difference what you read or study if you can't remember it. You just waste your valuable time．1.  One dependable aid that does help you remember what you study is to have a specific purpose or reason for reading．

Why does a clerk in a store go away when your reply to her offer to help is, “No, thank you．I'm just looking.”? Both you and she know that if you aren't sure what you want, you are not likely to find it．But suppose you say instead, “Yes, thank you．I want a pair of sun glasses.” She says, “Right this way, please”

 2.  If you choose a book, “just looking” for nothing in particular, you are likely to get just that--nothing．But if you do know what you want, you are almost sure to get it．Your reasons will vary; they will include reading or studying “to find out more about”, “to understand the reasons for” and “to find out how”．

 3.  Before you start to study, you say to yourself something like this, “I want to know why Stephen Vincent Benet happened to write about America”．Because you know why you are reading or studying, you relate the information to your purpose and remember it better．

4.  At least two important processes go on at the same time．As you read, you take in ideas rapidly and accurately. But at the same time you express your own ideas to

yourself as you react to what you read. You have a kind of mental conversation with the author．

This additional process of thinking about what you read includes evaluating it, relating it to what you already know, and using it for your own purposes．5.  One part of critical reading, as you have discovered, is distinguishing between facts and opinions．Facts can be checked by evidence, opinions are one’s own personalreactions．Another part of critical reading is judging sources．Still another part is drawing accurate inferences．

A．Maybe you have already discovered some clever ways to keep yourself from forgetting．

B．It is important for students to have a positive attitude to their study．

C．You remember better when you know what you' re reading．

D．In other words, a good reader is a critical reader．

E. It’s quite the same with your studying．

F. Reading is not one single activity．

G. This is the way it works．

 

Some years ago, writing in my diary used to be a usual activity. I would return from school and spend the expected half hour recording the day’s events, feelings, and impressions in my little blue diary. I did not really need to express my emotions by way of words, but I gained a certain satisfaction from seeing my experiences forever recorded on paper. After all, isn’t accumulating memories a way of preserving the past?

　When I was thirteen years old, I went on a long journey on foot in a great valley, well-equipped with pens, a diary, and a camera. During the trip, I was busy recording every incident, name and place I came across. I felt proud to be spending my time productively, dutifully preserving for future generations a detailed description of my travels. On my last night there, I wandered out of my tent, diary in hand. The sky was clear and lit by the glare of the moon, and the walls of the valley looked threatening behind their screen of shadows. I automatically took out my pen….

At that point, I understood that nothing I wrote could ever match or replace the few seconds I allowed myself to experience the dramatic beauty of the valley. All I remembered of the previous few days were the dull characterizations I had set down in my diary.

Now, I only write in my diary when I need to write down a special thought or feeling. I still love to record ideas and quotations that strike me in books, or observations that are particularly meaningful. I take pictures, but not very often—only of objects I find really beautiful. I’m no longer blindly satisfied with having something to remember when I grow old. I realize that life will simply pass me by if I stay behind the camera, busy preserving the present so as to live it in the future.

I don’t want to wake up one day and have nothing but a pile of pictures and notes. Maybe I won’t have as many exact representations of people and places; maybe I’ll forget certain facts, but at least the experiences will always remain inside me. I don’t live to make memories—I just live, and the memories form themselves.

1. Before the age of thirteen, the author regarded keeping a diary as a way of ______.

A. observing her school routine     B. expressing her satisfaction

C. impressing her classmates       D. preserving her history

2.What caused a change in the author’s understanding of keeping a diary?

A. A dull night on the journey.

B. The beauty of the great valley.

C. A striking quotation from a book

 D. Her concerns for future generations.

3.What does the author put in her diary now?

A. Notes and beautiful pictures.

B. Special thoughts and feelings.

C. Detailed accounts of daily activities.

D. Descriptions of unforgettable events.

4.The author comes to realize that to live a meaningful life is ______.

A. to experience it             B. to live the present in the future

C. to make memories           D. to give accurate representations of it

 

Scientists Alan M．Goldberg and Thomas Hartung describe recent advances in replacing the use of animals in toxicology(毒物学)testing．Improvements in cell and tissue culture technologies，for example，allow a growing number of tests to be performed on human cells alone．Computer models are becoming increasingly complex and many could one day become more accurate than trials in living animals．

    Since the late 1990s，Huntingdon Life Sciences--a company that conducts testing of substances on animals conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration—has become a proving ground for aggressive strategies by animal-rights militants （好战分子）．At a hearing，a Senate．committee listened to testimony（证词） against Huntingdon employees and financial institutions providing services to the company．One experimentation witness at the hearing insisted that any means necessary were justified（辩护） to spare animals’ lives；he has previously accepted the idea of murder to that end．

    Use of animals in testing and in biomedical research continues to be necessary in many instances and is ethically（伦理道德地）preferable to experimenting on humans or giving up cures that could save human lives．But for the sake of people and animals alike，the development and acceptance of animal substitutes deserve enthusiastic support．

    In some instances, substitutes are already thought as good or better than animals，but supervising agencies（监督机构）have yet to catch up．In both the European Union and the U．S．，scientists and companies wanting to use the new alternative tests complain that regulatory standards for proving a drug or chemical to be safe for humans force the continued use of animals．Thus，animal-loving Americans might turn to persuading the EPA and the FDA to speed validation（确认）of new methods so that they can be more widely employed．And animal advocates（保护者） who want to influence business could consider investing in the small biotech’s and large pharmaceutical（药品的） companies that are working to develop alternatives to animals in research．

1._____ plays a leading role in replacing the use of animals in testing．

A．Huntingdon Life Sciences     B．Improvement in technologies

C．Animal-fights militants      D．Scientists Alan and Thomas

2.Accordingly, the animal-rights militants hold the view that_____．

A．animals shouldn’t be used in toxicology testing

B．animals should enjoy equal rights with human beings

C．animals should live wildly and freely

D．we should protect animals from being killed casually

3.From the passage，we can find _____．

A．the use of animals in testing has been stopped abruptly

B．animal substitutes are not preferable

C．supervising standards contribute to the continued use of animals in testing

D．only Huntingdon Life Sciences is accused

4.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Saving animals and people．

B．The new trend in toxicology testing

C．The use of animals in testing is against human nature

D．New technology changes the fate of animals

5.The writer’s attitude towards replacing the use of animals in toxicology is____．

A．arbitrary（武断的，随意的）  B．pessimistic

C．indifferent（不关心的 ）    D．optimistic

 

When I was seven my father gave me a Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore it for years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking a decade ago. Why? Because I don’t need one. I have a mobile phone and I’m always near someone with an iPod or something like that. All these devices（装置）tell the time—which is why, if you look around, you’ll see lots of empty wrists; sales of watches to young adults have been going down since 2007. 
But while the wise have realized that they don’t need them, others—apparently including some distinguished men of our time—are spending total fortunes on them. Brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Breitling command shocking prices, up to £250.000 for a piece.
This is ridiculous. Expensive cars go faster than cheap cars. Expensive clothes hang better than cheap clothes. But these days all watches tell the time as well as all other watches. Expensive watches come with extra functions—but who needs them? How often do you dive to 300 metres into the sea or need to find your direction in the area around the South Pole? So why pay that much of five years’ school fees for watches that allow you to do these things?
If justice were done, the Swiss watch industry should have closed down when the Japanese discovered how to make accurate watches for a five-pound note. Instead the Swiss reinvented the watch, with the aid of millions of pounds’ worth of advertising, as a message about the man wearing it. Rolexes are for those who spend their weekends climbing icy mountains; a Patek Philippe is for one from a rich or noble family; a Breitling suggests you like to pilot planes across the world. 
Watches are now classified as“investments”(投资). A 1994 Philippe recently sold for nearly £350, 000, while the 1960s Rolexes have gone from £15, 000 to £30, 000 plus in a year. But a watch is not an investment. It's a toy for self-satisfaction, a matter of fashion. Prices may keep going up—they’ve been rising for 15 years. But when fashion moves on, the owner of that £350, 000 beauty will suddenly find his pride and joy is no more a good investment than my childhood Timex.
【小题1】It seems ridiculous to the writer that_______________.

A．people dive 300 meters into the sea

B．expensive clothes sell better than cheap ones

C．cheap cars don’t run as fast as expensive ones

D．expensive watches with unnecessary functions still sell

【小题2】What can be learned about Swiss watch industry from the passage?

A．It’s hard for the industry to beat its competitors.

B．It targets rich people as its potential customers.

C．It wastes a huge amount of money in advertising.

D．It’s easy for the industry to reinvent cheap watches.

【小题3】Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．Watches? Not for Me!	B．My Childhood Timex
C．Timex or Rolex?	D．Watches—a Valuable Collection

As a professor at a large American university,there is a phrase that I hear often from students:“I’m only a 1050.”The unlucky students are speaking of the score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test(SAT),which is used to determine whether they will be admitted to the college or university of their choice,or even if they have a chance to get a higher education at all.The SAT score,whether it is 800,1100 or 1550,has become the focus at this time of their life.

It is obvious that if students value highly their test scores,then a great amount of their self-respect is put in the number.Students who perform poorly on the exam are left feeling that it is all over.The low test score,they think,will make it impossible for them to get into a good college.And without a degree from a prestigious university,they fear that many of life’s doors will remain forever closed.

According to a study done in the 1990s,the SAT is only a reliable indicator of a student’s future performance in most cases.Interestingly,it becomes much more accurate when it is set together with other indicators-like a student’s high school grades.Even if standardized tests like the SAT could show a student’s academic proficiency(学业水平)，they will never be able to test things like confidence,efforts and willpower,and are unable to give us the full picture of a student’s potentialities(潜力).This is not to suggest that we should stop using SAT scores in our college admission process.The SAT is an excellent test in many ways,and the score is still a useful means of testing students.However,it should be only one of many methods used.

The purpose of the SAT is to test students’ ______.

A.strong will

B.academic ability

C.full potentialities

D.confidence in school work

Students’ self-respect is influenced by their ______.

A.scores in the SAT

B.achievements in mathematics

C.job opportunities

D.money spent on education

“A prestigious university” is most probably ______.

A.a famous university

B.a technical university

C.a traditional university

D.an expensive university

This passage is mainly about ______.

A.how to prepare for the SAT

B.stress caused by the SAT

C.American higher education

D.the SAT and its effects