63. What has been the change in students’ homework loads over the past 30 years? (No more than 14 words) (3 marks)

　　　 ___________________________________________________________

62. According to PTA, how much homework should be given to fourth-graders?(No more than 5 words) (2 marks)

　　　 ___________________________________________________________

61. What is the common belief about the homework loads of today’s American students? (No more than 10 words) (2 marks)

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50. From Julia’s success we can infer that 　　.

　　 A. every successful person has a strong-minded mom

　　 B. the divorce of her parents is acceptable

　　 C. a difficult childhood helped Julia make herself tougher

　　 D. the crime of her father resulted in Julia’s success

Part Ⅲ Writing (45 marks)

Section A (10 marks)

Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in the numbered blanks by using the information from the passage. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

During its existence of more than 40 years, the 911 emergency call system in North America has used technological advances to become a major life-saving communication resource.

911 is the officially designated (指定的) emergency telephone number in Canada and the United States. Anyone in need of an ambulance, reporting a fire, or witnessing a crime in progress only has to dial that number to reach a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) operator who can then send the proper emergency people.

On January, 12, 1968, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) announced plans to establish 911 as its universal emergency service number; however, the plan only affected AT&T companies. Learning of the plan, Bob Gallagher, president of the independent Alabama Telephone Company, decided that his company could perform the system first. Putting in extra hours, Gallagher and his employees successfully completed their work just 35 days after AT&T’s announcement, which means that the nation’s first 911 call was placed on February 16, 1968.

Now there have been significant improvements in the 911 system as technology has developed leading to faster emergency response. Enhanced (增强的) 911 (E911), which was developed starting in the mid-1970s, allows routing of a call from a traditional wired telephone to the nearest PSAP and provides the emergency call-taker with the an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and an Automatic Location Identification (ALI).

Today, the 911 coverage area (覆盖区) in America is quite large. 99% of the population of the United States are covered by some form of 911 service，of which 95% is covered by E911 service. There are 240 million calls placed yearly with about 80 million coming from cellphones.

The establishment of 911 as the nationally-recognized emergency number has been regarded as one of the most remarkable safety measures carried out in North American history.

Title: 　　　51　　

Section B (10 marks)

Directions: Read the following passage. Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage.

Many articles and reports over the past few decades have suggested America’s schools are overloading (使超负荷) kids with more and more homework. But a new study by Brookings’ Brown Center on Education Policy shows the opposite: today, students’ homework loads haven’t changed over the past 30 years.

The study’s author, Tom Loveless, reviewed surveys taken by kids and parents on how much homework young students have. The results showed that the elementary student usually has 30-45 minutes of homework each night. The average high-school student has about an hour. These numbers have remained the same since 1984.

In a set of guidelines (指导方针) published by the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), the amount of time students should spend on homework is their grade level multiplied by ten minutes. For example, a third-grader should have 30 minutes of homework, a fifth-grader 50 minutes, and so on. Loveless, who was a sixth-grade teacher in the 1980s, says this system has stayed the same into the 21st century.

One change that has occurred over the past three decades, however, is among 9-year-olds — the average age of a third-grader. “What’s happened is, there were a number of kids at age 9 who had no homework in 1984, but now that number does have some homework,” Loveless said. “Though it’s a little amount of work, it’s still an increase in the amount of time spent on homework for third-graders.”

Homework is an important part of a student’s education. Some teachers argue that homework prepares kids for state tests and for college. “Homework has benefits that go well beyond what’s going on in school,” says Harris Cooper, a University of Missouri psychology professor who has studied homework’s effects on test scores. “Kids learn to be organized, manage their time and master new skills without a teacher’s help.”

49. According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

　　 A. Julia is older than Sarah.　　　　

　　 B. Julia is seventeen years old now.

　　 C. Julia hates her father very much.

　　 D. Julia won a medal at the last Olympics.

48. Ciro Mancuso came to Italy because he wanted to 　　.

　　 A. win a medal in the Olympics　 B. travel for pleasure

　　 C. watch his daughter ski　　　　　　 D. look for a good job

47. What can we learn about Julia’s mother according to the passage?

　 　 A. She once was a teacher in a kindergarten.

　 　 B. She strongly disagreed with Julia’s skiing at first.

　 　 C. She took great care of her children when her husband was in jail.

　 　 D. She asked for a divorce immediately after her husband was put in jail.

46. The underlined phrase “in jail” in the third paragraph probably means 　　.

　　 A. on business 　 B. on holiday　　 C. in person　 　　 D. in prison

45. We can infer from the passage that 　　.

　 　　　　　　　　　　　　 A. Mathilde is very proud of her hard labor

　 　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. the couple regrets returning the necklace

　 　　　　　　　　　　　　 C. Mathilde buys a fake necklace for her friend

　 　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. the couple didn’t know they lost a fake necklace

C

The skier’s part of this story is set on an autumn morning in 1989, when she was in kindergarten. Julia Mancuso would someday be on two Olympic teams or probably more. On Wednesday she will race in the Olympic downhill in the mountain village of San Sicario outside Turin. She is fit and tough and she has a very real chance to win a medal.

But on that day, 17 years ago, she was just a little girl in bed when her mom, Andrea, woke her up and said, “You don’t have to go to school today. We’re going to go out to breakfast and then come back later, OK?”

Julia saw her beautiful house surrounded by police cars. “I didn’t know then what was going on,” Julia recalls. “I just said, ’OK, Mom.’” That was the day the police took her father away and put him in jail for smuggling (走私). The father’s part of this story is set in the village square of the Alpine resort of Sestriere, Italy. Ciro Mancuso, 57, with a full head of gray hair, has come to Italy to watch his daughter ski in the Olympic Games. “This is about Julia, right?” he asks. Yes, it is about Julia. She has seen her father go to jail twice, one for 17 months when she was a child and the other for four years while she was a teenager. Julia has lived with her mother whom she lovingly calls “a great mom who did a great job with us”. (Ciro and Andrea Mancuso had three daughters — Julia is in the middle between April, 25, and Sarah, 16 — and divorced in 1992; Andrea will also be in Italy to watch her daughter ski.) As a young adult, Julia has welcomed her father back. Ciro Mancuso says, “Everything that happened to Julia made her tougher; you see it in the way she competes.”

44. What does the couple decide to do after failing to find the necklace?

　 　　　　　　　　　　　　 A. Pay its owner a big sum of money.

　 　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. Have it replaced without telling its owner.

　 　　　　　　　　　　　　 C. Borrow another necklace from a rich friend.

　 　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. Tell its owner the truth and ask for a solution.