California, once regarded as a leader in the United States for its public higher education system, ranks next to the last in the U．S．for its number of adults with at least a high school diploma, according to the report, titled “California at the Edge of a Cliff,” released by the California Faculty Association．

       Meanwhile, the state’s investment（投资） in public higher education has dropped over the past three decades, and now ranks 22nd in the country．That’s despite having the country’s largest public higher education system, the report said．

       “It's a collapse（衰退）,” said Thomas Mortenson, author of the report, who is an independent analyst living in Iowa and a senior scholar at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education in Washington,        D． C． “Ranking 49th out of 50 states is an indication that shows the quality of the state’s educational has become much worse in recent decades．” Mortenson said in the report．As of 2007, California ranked 14th in the United States in terms of college educated members of the workforce over 25 years of age, a drop from eighth place in 1981, the report showed．

       Mortenson said that California has never been the state of high status in education and economy while other states have made greater gains in building a college-educated workforce．

       The California Faculty Association is using the report’s findings to criticize Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed funding cuts for education．

       Struggling with a 14．8-billion-dollar state budget deficit（赤字）, Schwarzenegger has proposed a combination of sales tax increases, borrowing and major budget cuts, including cutting billions of dollars from the state’s education budget．

The passage is mainly about __________．

       A．California’s worse situation in higher education

       B．the dangerous situation in California

       C．California’s research on education and economy

       D．funding cuts for high education in California

From the passage we can infer that __________．

       A．investment in higher education has dropped in all states

       B．Thomas Mortenson works at California Faculty Association

       C．governor in California agreed to spend more money on education

       D．California had higher quality in higher education in the past

The reason why California has a lower rank in education is that________．

       A．the number of adults has decreased recently  

       B．the result of report has been published late

       C．the money to invest in education has been cut      

       D．the progress in other states has been made

According to the report’s findings, ________ is to blame for the drop in rank of education．

       A．Arnold Schwarzenegger  B．Thomas Mortenson

       C．the Pell Institute             D．California Faculty Association

       California, once regarded as a leader in the United States for its public higher education system, ranks next to the last in the U．S．for its number of adults with at least a high school diploma, according to the report, titled “California at the Edge of a Cliff,” released by the California Faculty Association．

       Meanwhile, the state’s investment（投资） in public higher education has dropped over the past three decades, and now ranks 22nd in the country．That’s despite having the country’s largest public higher education system, the report said．

       “It's a collapse（衰退）,” said Thomas Mortenson, author of the report, who is an independent analyst living in Iowa and a senior scholar at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education in Washington, D．C． “Ranking 49th out of 50 states is an indication that shows the quality of the state’s educational has become much worse in recent decades．” Mortenson said in the report．As of 2007, California ranked 14th in the United States in terms of college educated members of the workforce over 25 years of age, a drop from eighth place in 1981, the report showed．Mortenson said that California has never been the state of high status in education and economy while other states have made greater gains in building a college-educated workforce．

       The California Faculty Association is using the report’s findings to criticize Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed funding cuts for education．

       Struggling with a 14．8-billion-dollar state budget deficit（赤字）, Schwarzenegger has proposed a combination of sales tax increases, borrowing and major budget cuts, including cutting billions of dollars from the state’s education budget．

1．The passage is mainly about __________．

       A．funding cuts for high education in California

       B．the dangerous situation in California

       C．California’s worse situation in higher education

       D．California’s research on education and economy

2．From the passage we can infer that __________．

       A．California had higher quality in higher education in the past

       B．governor in California agreed to spend more money on education

       C．Thomas Mortenson works at California Faculty Association

       D．investment in higher education has dropped in all states

3．The reason why California has a lower rank in education is that________．

       A．the number of adults has decreased recently

       B．the money to invest in education has been cut

       C．the progress in other states has been made

       D．the result of report has been published late

4．According to the report’s findings, ________ is to blame for the drop in rank of education．

       A．Thomas Mortenson                             B．Arnold Schwarzenegger

       C．the Pell Institute                                   D．California Faculty Association

       California, once regarded as a leader in the United States for its public higher education system, ranks next to the last in the U．S．for its number of adults with at least a high school diploma, according to the report, titled “California at the Edge of a Cliff,” released by the California Faculty Association．

       Meanwhile, the state’s investment（投资） in public higher education has dropped over the past three decades, and now ranks 22nd in the country．That’s despite having the country’s largest public higher education system, the report said．

       “It's a collapse（衰退）,” said Thomas Mortenson, author of the report, who is an independent analyst living in Iowa and a senior scholar at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education in Washington, D． C． “Ranking 49th out of 50 states is an indication that shows the quality of the state’s educational has become much worse in recent decades．” Mortenson said in the report．As of 2007, California ranked 14th in the United States in terms of college educated members of the workforce over 25 years of age, a drop from eighth place in 1981, the report showed．

       Mortenson said that California has never been the state of high status in education and economy while other states have made greater gains in building a college-educated workforce．

       The California Faculty Association is using the report’s findings to criticize Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed funding cuts for education．

       Struggling with a 14．8-billion-dollar state budget deficit（赤字）, Schwarzenegger has proposed a combination of sales tax increases, borrowing and major budget cuts, including cutting billions of dollars from the state’s education budget．

1．The passage is mainly about __________．

       A．California’s worse situation in higher education

       B．the dangerous situation in California

       C．California’s research on education and economy

       D．funding cuts for high education in California

2．From the passage we can infer that __________．

       A．investment in higher education has dropped in all states

       B．Thomas Mortenson works at California Faculty Association

       C．governor in California agreed to spend more money on education

       D．California had higher quality in higher education in the past

3．The reason why California has a lower rank in education is that________．

       A．the number of adults has decreased recently

       B．the result of report has been published late

       C．the money to invest in education has been cut

       D．the progress in other states has been made

4．According to the report’s findings, ________ is to blame for the drop in rank of education．

       A．Arnold Schwarzenegger                       B．Thomas Mortenson

       C．the Pell Institute                                   D．California Faculty Association

California, once regarded as a leader in the United States for its public higher education system, ranks next to the last in the U．S．for its number of adults with at least a high school diploma, according to the report, titled “California at the Edge of a Cliff,” released by the California Faculty Association．

Meanwhile, the state’s investment（投资） in public higher education has dropped over the past three decades, and now ranks 22nd in the country．That’s despite having the country’s largest public higher education system, the report said．

“It's a collapse（衰退）,” said Thomas Mortenson, author of the report, who is an independent analyst living in Iowa and a senior scholar at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education in Washington, D．C．  “Ranking 49th out of 50 states is an indication that shows the quality of the state’s educational has become much worse in recent decades．” Mortenson said in the report．As of 2007, California ranked 14th in the United States in terms of college educated members of the workforce over 25 years of age, a drop from eighth place in 1981, the report showed．Mortenson said that California has never been the state of high status in education and economy while other states have made greater gains in building a college-educated workforce．

The California Faculty Association is using the report’s findings to criticize Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed funding cuts for education．

Struggling with a 14．8-billion-dollar state budget deficit（赤字）, Schwarzenegger has proposed a combination of sales tax increases, borrowing and major budget cuts, including cutting billions of dollars from the state’s education budget．

1．The passage is mainly about __________．

       A．funding cuts for high education in California

       B．the dangerous situation in California

       C．California’s worse situation in higher education

       D．California’s research on education and economy

2．From the passage we can infer that __________．

       A．California had higher quality in higher education in the past

       B．governor in California agreed to spend more money on education

       C．Thomas Mortenson works at California Faculty Association

       D．investment in higher education has dropped in all states

3．The reason why California has a lower rank in education is that________．

       A．the number of adults has decreased recently

       B．the money to invest in education has been cut

       C．the progress in other states has been made

       D．the result of report has been published late

4．According to the report’s findings, ________ is to blame for the drop in rank of education．

       A．Thomas Mortenson                             B．Arnold Schwarzenegger

       C．the Pell Institute                                   D．California Faculty Association

Many people think of the brain as a mystery.They don't know much about intelligence and how it works.When they do think about what intelligence is，many people believe that a person is born smart，average，or dumb—and stays that way in the whole life.But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle—it changes and gets stronger when you use it.And scientists have been able to show just how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn.

Everyone knows that when you lift weights，your muscles get bigger and you get stronger.A person who can't lift 20 pounds when he/she starts exercising can get strong enough to lift 100 pounds after working out for a long time.That's because the muscles become larger and stronger with exercise.And when you stop exercising，the muscles shrink and you get weaker.That's why people say “Use it or lose it！”

But most people don't know that when they practice and learn new things，parts of their brain change and get larger a lot like muscles do when they exercise. Inside the cortex(皮层)of the brain are billions of tiny nerve cells，called neurons. The nerve cells have branches connecting them to other cells in a complicated network. Communication between these brain cells is what allows us to think and solve problems. When you learn new things，these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger.The more you challenge your mind to learn，the more your brain cells grow.Then，things that you once found very hard or even impossible to do—like speaking a foreign language or doing algebra(代数)—seem to become easy after learning them for a period of time.The result is a stronger，smarter brain.

Scientists started thinking that the human brain could develop and change when they studied animals'brains.They found out that animals that lived in a challenging environment were more perspicacious—they were better at solving problems and learning new things.

1.According to the first paragraph，________.

A．the function of our brain is like that of the muscle

B．until now it's impossible to explain the brain's mystery

C．many people believe one's intelligence is naturally determined

D．one's brain grows stronger as the age increases

2.Training muscles is compared to ________.

A．using the brain

B．connecting things in your brain

C．lifting weights

D．doing research about the brain

3.What does the underlined word“perspicacious”in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Strong.? ????????????? B．Smart.

C．Popular.? ????????????? D．Active.

4.The following paragraph will most probably talk about ________.

A．the differences between animals'brains and humans'brains

B．the relation between human brains and muscles

C．scientists' findings about animals' brains

D．how to make your brain smarter through self?development