Holidays are really important. Many of us will have childhood memories of summer holidays where we were taken away from home to experience new environments and learn in different ways.
But holidays are expensive and, for those on low wages or living on benefits, they are often unobtainable. Even the cheapest holidays require travel and other additional costs that are difficult for many families to meet.
For working parents, the long summer break can be a very difficult problem for childcare. When an annual leave allowance amounts to only five weeks, there is a need to spread this across the year. Couples can find themselves taking leave in turn in order to care for children who are on holiday. For some ’ this makes even an affordable family holiday difficult.
The schools that I visit in Nottingham are full of experienced staff committed to giving our children a caring and inspiring learning environment. The number of children receiving free school meals is quite large in Nottingham and many schools have breakfast clubs to make sure that children get a healthy start to the day. Most schools undertake programs of group or individual educational support. Schools also have an important role in sofeguaiding children's welfare through the ongoing touch and support with their pupils. During the long summer holidays, much of this is missed.
While teachers are holidaying in the UK, many of their pupils spend the whole six weeks on the street where they live. The lack of free school meals for six weeks can result in pressure on a family budget and an inability to afford the inspiring experiences that help children to continue their learning.
In setting out its plans for a five-term year, Nottingham City Council (委员会)is seeking to reduce the summer holiday down lo four and a half weeks, with a more balanced five terms of roughly eight weeks, each followed by a two-week break. We believe this will give real “down time" for school staff and pupils alike but will be short enough not to cause a real break in learning.
We acknowledge that this change may be difficult for some school staff, particularly whose own children are educated in other authorities. However, this must be weighed against the benefits for city children for whom we all have the greatest duty of care.
【小题1】 The passage is probably written by   .

Holidays are really important. Many of us will have childhood memories of summer holidays where we were taken away from home to experience new environments and learn in different ways.

But holidays are expensive and, for those on low wages or living on benefits, they are often unobtainable. Even the cheapest holidays require travel and other additional costs that are difficult for many families to meet.

For working parents, the long summer break can be a very difficult problem for childcare. When an annual leave allowance amounts to only five weeks, there is a need to spread this across the year. Couples can find themselves taking leave in turn in order to care for children who are on holiday. For some, this makes even an affordable family holiday difficult.

The schools that I visit in Nottingham are full of experienced staff committed to giving our children a caring and inspiring learning environment. The number of children receiving free school meals is quite large in Nottingham and many schools have breakfast clubs to make sure that children get a healthy start to the day. Most schools undertake programs of group or individual educational support. Schools also have an important role in sofeguaiding children's welfare through the ongoing touch and support with their pupils. During the long summer holidays, much of this is missed.

While teachers are holidaying in the UK, many of their pupils spend the whole six weeks on the street where they live. The lack of free school meals for six weeks can result in pressure on a family budget and an inability to afford the inspiring experiences that help children to continue their learning.

In setting out its plans for a five-term year, Nottingham City Council (委员会)is seeking to reduce the summer holiday down lo four and a half weeks, with a more balanced five terms of roughly eight weeks, each followed by a two-week break. We believe this will give real “down time" for school staff and pupils alike but will be short enough not to cause a real break in learning.

We acknowledge that this change may be difficult for some school staff, particularly whose own children are educated in other authorities. However, this must be weighed against the benefits for city children for whom we all have the greatest duty of care.

1.The passage is probably written by      .

A. an experienced teacher        B. a city council member

C. an inspired student        D. a working parent

2.The underlined word "they" in the second paragraph refers to "       ’.

A. environments        B. wages   C. holidays         D. benefits

3.It is suggested in the passage that the summer break be reduced to       .

A. 2 weeks         B. 6 weeks         C. 5 weeks         D. 4.5 weeks

4.The plans for a shorter summer holiday will help students_____    .

A.      obtain the cheapest holidays without additional costs

B.      get a chance to spend six weeks a term with teachers in school

C.      have more school days to receive free school meals

D.      benefit more from the caring and inspiring learning environment

5.It can be inferred from the passage that          _______.

A.      some school staff will say “ No" to the plans for a shorter summer holiday

B.      the suggested plans for a five-term school year can hardly be carried out

C.      the long summer holiday gives teachers and students real "down time"

D.      working parents can enjoy a five-week break to care for their children

Umbrella is a “difficult” novel. But if you enjoy challenges, just read on because Umbrella, as a Booker Prize winner, is one you can’t miss.

The story itself is not difficult to follow. It concerns a woman named Audrey, a Lo  ndoner who grows up during World War I, works in a military factory, and then survives an epidemic （传染病）spreading through Europe between 1915 and 1926. She is admitted to a mental hospital in 1922, and remains there, mind out of time, until 1971, when a doctor named Zach Busner awakens the sleeping beauty with a special drug. And decades later-on April 8,2010, to be exact — Busner

thinks back on all this as he visits his old hospital.

The story also involves painful facts of how the mentally ill were

mistreated, and the careers of Audrey’s two brothers, one of whom

becomes a soldier in the Great War. Fans of World War I will not want

to miss the vivid descriptions of battlefields.

What makes Will Self’s novel challenging is how he tells his story.

Is opens in the spring of 1971 but thereafter time travels back and

forth between Audrey’s Edwardian childhood and 2010, jumping

mid-sentence from one era to another with no reminders to guide the reader. It is a new style many many modernists adopted, who thought that the old ways were not enough to show the great changes at the beginning of the 20th century.

This story isn’t new: Oliver Sacks dealt with the same sleeping sickness and its treatment in Awakenings. What’s appealing about Umbrella is that Self combines from with content perfectly, using modernist techniques. The readers may feel confused about the switch of time, it’s Self’s wild style that offers other delights – richly detailed settings that bring mental hospitals alive and much more than that.

Yes, “Umbrella” is a “difficult” novel, but it amply rewards the effort.

66．The underlined phrase "mind out of time" in the second paragraph probably refers, to          .

       A．a way a person faces difficulties light-heartedly

       B．a condition where a person is unconscious

       C．a situation which makes someone embarrassed

       D．an occasion where a person doesn't mind the time

67．What troubles the readers most when they are reading Umbrella?

       A．The relations of the characters．

       B．The abstract language．

       C．The switch of time．

       D．The settings of battlefields．

68．We can safely infer from Paragraph 4,______．

       A．Self displays a fast-changing world to readers

       B．Self created the style in which he wrote his story

       C．Self avoided describing the scene of the war

       D．Self’s style was followed by many other writers

69．Who else wrote a similar story besides Self?

       A．Audrey．                                B．Zach Busner．

       C．Oliver Sacks．                          D．Audrey's brother．

70．The novel Umbrella really attracts the readers because______．

       A．the potential Self has as a modernist writer

       B．the strange writing technique Self created

       C．the new material Self chose for his story

       D．the perfect combination of the form and content

阅读下列材料，从所给的六个选项（A、B、C、D、E和F）中，选出符合各小题要求的最佳选项。选项中有一项是多余选项。

Five people below are all looking for entertainment to amuse themselves in March in Shanghai.After the description of these people, there is some information about six advertisements of activitiesA—F. Decide which activity would be most suitable for the person mentioned in questions 61—65 andthen mark the correct letter(A—F) on your answer sheet. There is one extra paragraph about oneactivity which you do not need to use.______ 1. Raymond, a foreign student studying history in Shanghai Fudan University, is planning for his weekend the first week of March. As he has a phone from his father from home, he is surely to return to his dormitory before 8:pm.

______ 2. Vanessa, has been working in Shanghai for a couple of months and has got a number of friends, who are interested in western music and dance. What they want to do is to amuse themselves and learn something new.

______3. Jackson and his friends usually enjoy their joyful weekend by attending late nightactivities. As they are music fans, they would like to listen to a live concert.

______ 4. Smith, a music fan, is interested in a variety of music and he is free in early March. He would like to amuse himself by attending concerts, no matter what price they might be.

______ 5. Alice, a French girl of 26, is returning home in 2 days. She and her companions want to doshopping in the evening and bought some presents for their family and friends back home.

This March is a busy month in Shanghai. There's a lot to do. Here are the highlights.

A. Brightman' s Solo Concert

     Brightman, the versatile singer who shifts freely between opera, musicals, trip hop and folksongs, is to give a ~lo concert in Shanghai in March. The event will be part of a global tour promotingher new album "Harem".

     Her concert in Shanghai has outrageously high ticket price between 2,500 and 380 yuan, but"hardcore" fans have bought tickets worth 2 million yuan in just one week.

B. Raffles City Shanghai

     Positioning the mall in the middle and middle upper income group, the target consumers of 20—35 age groups. Each floor presents a specific theme like popular young fashion, casual wear andbeauty gallery, lifestyle, food and kids, international collections, health and fine dining, etc.

C. Exhibitions —Shanghai Museum

     There are 120,000 pieces on show here. You can see the whole of Chinese history underone roof. It's always interesting to visit, but doubly ~ at the moment with the Egyptian Tombsexhibition. There are lots of mummies and more gold than you' ve ever seen before. Let us know if you see a mummy move!

D. Dining—Sushi chef in town

     Sushi is getting really big in Shanghai. In Japan, it's become an art form. The most famousSushi artist is Yuki Kamura. She's also one of the few female chefs in Japan. She' 11 be at SushiScene all of this month.

E. Live Music—Late Night Jazz

     Enjoy real American jazz from Herbie Davis, the famous trumpet player. He's coming with hisnew 7-piece band, Herbie' s Heroes. Herbie is known to play well into the early hours, so don't expectto get much sleep. This is Herbie's third visit to Shanghai. The first two were sold out, so get yourtickets quickly.

F. Scottish dancing

Take your partners and get ready to dance till you drop. Scottish dancing is fun and easy to learn.Instructors will demonstrate the dances. The live band, Gordon Stroppie and the Weefrees, are alsoexcellent.

Holidays are really important. Many of us will have childhood memories of summer holidays where we were taken away from home to experience new environments and learn in different ways.
But holidays are expensive and, for those on low wages or living on benefits, they are often unobtainable. Even the cheapest holidays require travel and other additional costs that are difficult for many families to meet.
For working parents, the long summer break can be a very difficult problem for childcare. When an annual leave allowance amounts to only five weeks, there is a need to spread this across the year. Couples can find themselves taking leave in turn in order to care for children who are on holiday. For some ’ this makes even an affordable family holiday difficult.
The schools that I visit in Nottingham are full of experienced staff committed to giving our children a caring and inspiring learning environment. The number of children receiving free school meals is quite large in Nottingham and many schools have breakfast clubs to make sure that children get a healthy start to the day. Most schools undertake programs of group or individual educational support. Schools also have an important role in sofeguaiding children's welfare through the ongoing touch and support with their pupils. During the long summer holidays, much of this is missed.
While teachers are holidaying in the UK, many of their pupils spend the whole six weeks on the street where they live. The lack of free school meals for six weeks can result in pressure on a family budget and an inability to afford the inspiring experiences that help children to continue their learning.
In setting out its plans for a five-term year, Nottingham City Council (委员会)is seeking to reduce the summer holiday down lo four and a half weeks, with a more balanced five terms of roughly eight weeks, each followed by a two-week break. We believe this will give real “down time" for school staff and pupils alike but will be short enough not to cause a real break in learning.
We acknowledge that this change may be difficult for some school staff, particularly whose own children are educated in other authorities. However, this must be weighed against the benefits for city children for whom we all have the greatest duty of care.

1. 1.

   The passage is probably written by   .

   1. A.
      an experienced teacher
   2. B.
      a working parent
   3. C.
      an inspired student
   4. D.
      a city council member
2. 2.

   The underlined word "they" in the second paragraph refers to "  ’.

   1. A.
      environments
   2. B.
      holidays
   3. C.
      wages
   4. D.
      benefits
3. 3.

   It is suggested in the passage that the summer break be reduced to.

   1. A.
      2 weeks
   2. B.
      4.5 weeks
   3. C.
      5 weeks
   4. D.
      6 weeks
4. 4.

   The plans for a shorter summer holiday will help students_____ .

   1. A.
      obtain the cheapest holidays without additional costs
   2. B.
      get a chance to spend six weeks a term with teachers in school
   3. C.
      benefit more from the caring and inspiring learning environment
   4. D.
      have more school days to receive free school meals
5. 5.

   It can be inferred from the passage that   _______.

   1. A.
      working parents can enjoy a five-week break to care for their children
   2. B.
      the suggested plans for a five-term school year can hardly be carried out
   3. C.
      the long summer holiday gives teachers and students real "down time"
   4. D.
      some school staff will say “ No" to the plans for a shorter summer holiday