A recent report on online education, made by SRI International for the Department of Education, has a serious academic (學術(shù)的) title, but a most interesting conclusion: “ Students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”
The report examined the research on online and traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008. Some of it was in K-12 settings, but most of the studies were in colleges and adult continuing education programs.
Over the 12 years, the report found 99 studies in which there were comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses. The result of the Department of Education’ s research showed that usually, students doing some or all of the course online would rank a little higher than the classroom students with little but meaningful difference.
“The importance of the study lies in showing that online learning today is not just better than nothing — it actually tends to be better than traditional instruction.” said Barbara Means, the study’ s lead author and an educational psychologist at SRI International.
This hardly means that we’ll be saying goodbye to classrooms. But the report does suggest that online education could be set to develop sharply over the next few years.
Until fairly recently, online education totaled to little. That has really changed with the arrival of webbased video, instant (即時的) messaging and teamwork tools.
The real promise of online education, experts say, is providing learning experiences that are more suitable for individual (個體的) students than is possible in classrooms. That allows more “l(fā)earning by doing,” which many students find more attractive and useful.
“We are at a turning point in online education,” said Philip R. Regier, the leader of Arizona State University’ s Online and Extended Campus program.
The biggest near-term growth, Mr. Regier predicts, will be in continuing education programs.
小題1:What do we know from the passage?
Most of the studies were done in high schools.
The report was based on more than 100 studies.
The studies were carried out for more than 20 years.
The difference between online and traditional teaching is not big.
小題2:We can learn from the passage that __________.
traditional education will come to an end
traditional education is not popular any longer
online education didn’ t develop rapidly until recently
middle schools are facing the choice between online and traditional teaching
小題3:Which is NOT the reason why many students prefer online learning?
Online teaching is more suitable for individuals.
Classroom teaching is not practical and useful.
Students can learn by doing in online courses.
Online teaching is more interesting.
小題4:Which do you think is the best title for the passage?
Study finds that online education beats the classroom
Why is online education on the rise?
A report on online education
Classroom teaching is out

小題1:D
小題1:C
小題1:B
小題1:A

小題1:. 細節(jié)題：從第三段的句子：The result of the Department of Education’ s research showed that usually, students doing some or all of the course online would rank a little higher than the classroom students with little but meaningful difference.說明網(wǎng)上教育和傳統(tǒng)教育沒有什么差異。選D
小題1:. 推理題：從文章第五段的內(nèi)容：But the report does suggest that online education could be set to develop sharply over the next few years 說明網(wǎng)上教育是最近才發(fā)展的。選C
小題1:文章倒數(shù)第三段提到A、C、D沒有提到B。
小題1:文章的第一段是中心思想，可知是A。
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Federal regulators(調(diào)整者) Wednesday approved a plan to create a nationwide emergence alert (警報) system using text messages delivered to cell phones.
Text messages have exploded in popularity in recent years, particularly among young people. The wireless industry’s trade association, CTIA, estimates（估計） more than 48 billion text messages are sent each month.
The plan comes from the Warning Alert and Response Network Act, a 2006 federal law that requires improvements to the nation’s emergency alert system. The act tasked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with coming up with new ways to alert the public about emergencies.
"The ability to deliver accurate and timely warnings and alerts through cell phones and other mobile services is an important next step in our efforts to help ensure that the American public has the information they need to take action to protect themselves and their families before, and during, disasters and other emergencies," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said following approval of the plan.
Participation in the alert system by carriers –telecommunications companies is voluntary, but it has received solid support from the wireless industry.
The program would be optional for cell phone users. They also may not be charged for receiving alerts.
There would be three different types of messages, according to the rules.
The first would be a national alert from the president, likely involving a terrorist attack or natural disaster. The second would involve "approaching threats," which could include natural disasters like hurricanes or storms or even university shootings. The third would be reserved for child abduction (綁架) emergencies, or so-called Amber Alerts.
The service could be in place by 2010.
小題1:What is the purpose of the approved plan?  
A．To warn people of emergencies via messages.
B．To popularize the use of cell phones.
C．To estimate the monthly number of messages.
D．To promote the wireless industry.
小題2:The improvement to the present system is in the charge of ____. 
A．CTIAB．the Warning Alert and Response Network
C．FCCD．federal regulators
小題3:The carriers’ participation in the system is determined by _____. 
A．the US federal governmentB．mobile phone users
C．the carriers themselvesD．the law of the United States
小題4:Which of the following would be the best title for the text?  
A．Cell Phone Alerts Protecting StudentsB．Cell Phone Alerts by Wireless Industry
C．Cell Phone Alerts of National DisastersD．Cell Phone Alerts Coming Soon

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Bexley Middle School eighth-graders won the grand prize at the 2009 National Engineers Week Future City Competition (TM) on Feb. 18 in Washington, D.C. They competed with 37 other schools across the country.
The students qualified for the national competition by winning a regional competition on Jan. 17 in Columbus. By winning the national event, the students earned an all-expenses paid trip to Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., according to a Bexley school district news report.
Future City aims to stir (激發(fā)) interest in science, technology, engineering and math among young people. Bexley team members were Tom Krajnak, Abby Sharp, Wyatt Peery, Elizabeth Maher, Aaron Hutchinson and Truman Haycock. They work in teams under the guidance of a teacher, Margaret Englehardt, and a volunteer engineer, Mark Sherman, design and build a city of tomorrow. Mayor John Brennan presented the students during a recent Bexley City Council meeting. Each team in the Future City competition plans its city using Sim City software and creates a model to show a physical representation of one section of the city. Team members must write both an essay about the yearly theme and an abstract about their city. They also must make a presentation to judges.
Focusing on eco-responsibility, the Bexley team built “Novo-Mondum,” an Icelandic city in the year 2171. Krajnak said the team’s project included a new water system for each resident unit and a 500-word essay on using bacteria to purify water. “We used our essay and abstract (摘要) to build a model,” he said. “It was hard to organize which building would go where, what each building does and how to make it look good.”
Englehardt said her students did a good job answering impromptu (即席) questions during the regional competition. “They can think on their feet,” she said. Principal Harley Williams said the school is very proud of the students’ performance.
小題1:.. From the passage we can learn that the grand prize winners will _________.
A．receive scholarship for further studies
B．get a free trip to Space Camp in Huntsville
C．earn a large sum of money for their designs
D．be admitted to universities without exams
小題2:.The goal of the Future City competition is to _________.
A．make the Sim City software popular
B．test the students’ knowledge of city planning
C．select future engineers from young students
D．make students become interested in engineering
小題3:. Each team must do the following EXCEPT _________.
A．write brief abstracts describing their city
B．present and defend their designs before judges
C．build a future city in Iceland by themselves
D．create model cities using the Sim City software
小題4:. According to Margaret Englehardt, the students _________.
A．a(chǎn)lways stand still in the competition
B．react very quickly to the questions
C．prepare for the questions in advance
D．take pride in the advisers’ performance
小題5:

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

For several years, scientists have been testing a substance called interferon(干擾素), a possible wonder drug that is proving to be effective in treating a variety of diseases, including virus infections, bacterial infections, and cancers. To date, the new drug has no side effect of great influence to discourage its use.  But in spite of its success, last year only one gram was produced in the entire world.
The reason for the shortage lies in the structure of interferon. A special protein, the interferon produced from one animal species cannot be used in treating another animal species. In other words, to treat human beings, only interferon produced by human beings may be used. The drug is produced by infecting white blood cells with a virus. Fortunately, it is so effective that the amount given to each patient each time is very small.
Unlike antibiotics (抗生素), interferon does not attack germs directly. Instead, it protects healthy cells from being infected, and prevents the reproduction of viruses within cells.
As you might conclude, one of the most special uses of interferon has been in the treatment of cancer. Dr. Hans Strander, a research physician at Sweden’s famous Karolinska Institute, has treated more than one hundred cancer patients with the new drug. Among a group of selected patients who had received operations for advanced cancer, half were given  traditional treatments and the other half were given interferon. Among those treated with interferon 70 percent of them remained alive over three years, as compared with only 10 to 30 percent among those who had received the traditional treatments.
In the United States, a large-scale project supported by the American Cancer Society is now under way. If the experiment were successful, interferon could become one of the greatest medical discoveries of our time.
小題1:What is the difference between antibiotics and interferon?
A．Interferon has serious side effects, while antibiotics do not.
B．Antibiotics kill germs by attacking them directly, while interferon does not.
C．Antibiotics are very effective, while the effect of interferon is limited.
D．They are different in structure, although they are both proteins.
小題2:According to the passage, if 170 cancer patients received interferon treatment, how many of them would remain alive over three years?
A．About 30.
B．About 50.
C．About 120.
D．About 70.
小題3:The passage tells us that ________.
A．it is difficult to produce interferon in large quantities because of its special structure.
B．interferon is produced widely in lots of countries.
C．few of the patients who had received traditional treatments remained alive.
D．most of the patients who received interferon also needed traditional treatments.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

   As they migrate（遷移) , butterflies and moths choose the winds they want to fly with, and they change their body positions if they start floating in the wrong direction. This new finding suggests that insects may employ some of the same methods that birds use for traveling long distances. Scientists have long thought that insects were simply at the mercy of the wind.
Fascinating as their skills of flight are, migrating behavior has been difficult to study in insects because many long distant trips happen thousands of feet above ground. Only recently have scientists developed technologies that can detect such little creatures at such great heights.
To their surprise, though, the insects weren't passive travelers on the winds. In autumn, for example, most light winds blew from the east, but the insects somehow sought out ones that carried them south and they positioned themselves to navigate directly to their wintering homes.
Even in the spring, when most winds flowed northward, the insects didn't always go with the flow. If breezes weren't blowing in the exact direction they wanted to go, the insects changed their body positions to compensate. Many migrating birds do the same thing.
The study also found, butterflies and moths actively flew within the air streams that pushed them along. By adding flight speeds to wind speeds, the scientists calculated that butterflies and moths can travel as fast as 100 kilometers an hour. The findings may have real-world applications. With climate warming, migrating insects are growing in number. Knowing how and when these pests move could help when farmers decide when to spray their crops.
小題1: What's the main idea of the text?
A．Windsurfing insects have real direction.
B．Wind helps insects greatly in migrating.
C．Insects migrate with the seasons.
D．Scientists have trouble in observing insects.
小題2:Scientists originally thought that _____.
A．insects were just blown about by the wind
B．insects chose the winds they wanted to ride
C．insects always waited for their favourable winds
D．insects positioned themselves in the winds
小題3: It is not easy to study the migrating behavior of the insects because ______.
A．the little creatures can fly very fast
B．their flight is long and high above ground
C．the wind's direction is hard to foresee
D．they have no regular migrating courses
小題4: We can learn from the text that _____.
A．insects never position themselves when flying low
B．insects travel more easily in autumn
C．insects fly in the way birds do
D．insects rest a lot when the wind pushes them along

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Researches show what we already suspected: Three out of four babies who died of SIDS(嬰兒猝死) involved co-sleeping. We’ll say it again. The safest course is not to sleep with babies.
We know the argument: Bad parenting, not co-sleeping, is to blame for the dozens of babies’ deaths. Some parents stick to co-sleeping because it helps them bond with their newborns. They say those who give co-sleeping a bad name either had been drinking, used drugs or were too tired to notice that they rolled over on their children.
But, most of the cases did not involve drugs or alcohol. There’s a “but” here, however. Submitting to a test for drugs or alcohol in these cases is voluntary, so it’s difficult to know with certainty.
Organizations like the Black Health Coalition and others have explained the safe way to co-sleep. While we understand those arguments, we also know that mistakes can happen and that it only takes one time for something to go terribly wrong. The risk outweighs the benefit.
In all likelihood, parents will continue to co-sleep, and some will do so without ever having an incident, but babies are too vulnerable(易受傷的) for parents to take such chances. Therefore, the best place for babies to sleep is in their own beds, on their backs, with no pillows, blankets or toys. No parent wants a tragedy(悲劇) to occur. The best way to make sure the tragedy doesn’t happen is to allow babies to sleep alone in their own cribs(搖籃).                                         
小題1:According to the author, most of the SIDS cases happened because of ________.
A．drugs
B．co-sleeping
C．drinking
D．bad parenting
小題2:Some parents think sleeping with their babies can ________.
A．keep the babies healthy
B．give co-sleeping a good name
C．prevent themselves from drinking
D．develop a good relation with their babies
小題3:The author holds the opinion that ________.
A．parents can sleep with babies, but cautiously
B．co-sleep helps to bring babies closer to parents
C．parents can’t take chances to sleep with their babies
D．a(chǎn)ccidents only happen to those careless parents
小題4:Which of the following best describes the structure of the text?
A．①B．①②C．①D．①
↙↘                                   ↓                  ↙↓↘              ↙↓↓↘
②③④                  ③④                 ②③④           ②③④⑤
↘↙                                  ↓                  ↘↓↙
⑤                            ⑤                  ⑤

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

The bar-tailed godwit （斑尾鷸）has just broken its own record for the world’s longest non-stop flight, including humans in planes, according to a report made by Lund University Press. The bird can fly non-stop for eight days, while the most impressive man-made airplane can only remain in the sky for 82 hours without a stop.
The bar-tailed godwit’s journey, from Alaska to New Zealand, covers over 6,835 miles. It completes this trip twice a year, in autumn going to New Zealand, and in spring back to Alaska. The tireless bird ends the trip without stopping once for food or rest. All other birds can only finish trips that are twice as short as what the bar-tailed godwit travels.
One reason for the bar-tailed godwit’s success is that it has made the best use of its fuel, which is only 0.41 percent of its body weight over each hour of any given long flight. Hedenstrom, a professor from Lund University, says, “This figure is extremely low compared with other birds.” The bird also has a special body shape that helps it fly easily. It stores body fat and protein to manage its trips. It also travels fast, compared to other birds and animals.
Many questions remain about this bird record holder that never gets lost in the air. Researchers wonder whether it has an inside compass (指南針) that helps it to know the direction. Please watch how beautiful bar-tailed godwits look as they come in for a landing, along with other birds.
小題1:For the flight from Alaska to New Zealand, the bar-tailed godwit__________
A．doesn’t need to stop to eat
B．is afraid of hot weather
C．seems very tired at last
D．should fly less than 7,000 meters
小題2:The main reason why the bar-tailed godwit can break the record is that it ______.
A．eats little food every hour
B．has a special body shape
C．stores much water in its body
D．has very light body weight
小題3:The last paragraph tells us that _________.
A．researchers have understood the bird very well
B．the bird has a very good sense of direction
C．there are still many who doubt the bird’s ability
D．the bird has an inner compass

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

The German shepherd runs off and noses around in the grass of Kenya’s Laikipia Plateau. “OK, Oakley,” the dog’s handler orders, “Find it!”
Oakley sniffs (嗅) until he comes to a bush, then stops, sits, and looks up at his handler. She bends to see what he has found: the waste of an endangered African wild dog. “Good dog!” she praises. The handler pulls a tennis ball from her pocket. Oakley jumps for his reward.
“He doesn’t actually want the waste,” says Aimee Hurt, a founding member of the U.S.-based group Working Dogs for Conservation. Hurt is in Kenya to train both Oakley and his handler. “He finds it so he can play with his ball. We’re the ones who want the waste.”
Detection dogs are sometimes taught to locate actual animals. Black-footed ferrets (雪貂) have been studied with their help. But more often the dogs learn to locate the waste of creatures such as bears, wolves and mountain lions.
What the dogs find provides scientists with data about a species. Scientists can use the DNA collected from animal waste to identify individuals, sex, and population sizes — all without ever seeing the animal itself. “It can take years to gather this kind of information if you have to trap animals,” Hurt explains.
Waste analysis might make a huge difference when wild species are accused of attacking domestic livestock (家畜). Hurt says, “A good detection dog will find the waste so we can see what the animal is actually eating.” This may help reduce problems between people and wildlife.
小題1: The underlined word “She” in Paragraph 2 refers to  “_____”.
A．the German shepherd
B．a(chǎn)n African wild dog
C．Aimee Hurt
D．the handler
小題2: Oakley is interested in finding the waste because _____.
A．he wants to study endangered animals
B．he can get a tennis ball to play with
C．he wants to eat it
D．he wants to play with it
小題3:Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Trapping animals is not difficult.
B．People are making efforts to protect the environment.
C．Detection dogs attack domestic livestock frequently.
D．Collecting animal waste is a good way to gather information.
小題4:What is the main idea of the passage?
A．Detection dogs can help scientists study wildlife.
B．Detection dogs can defend wildlife.
C．Detection dogs can help the police catch the criminals.
D．Detection dogs can help local people defend domestic livestock.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Fish Ears Tell Fish Tales
　 Fish have ears. Really. They’re quite small and have no opening to the outside world carrying sound through the body. For the past seven years, Simon Thorrold, a university professor, has been examining fish ears, small round ear bones called otoliths (耳石).
　 As fish grow, so do their otoliths. Each day, their otoliths gain a ring of calcium carbonate (碳酸鈣). By looking through a microscope and counting these rings, Thorrold can determine the exact age of a young fish. As a fish gets older, its otoliths no longer get daily rings. Instead, they get yearly rings, which can also be counted, giving information about the fish’s age, just like the growth rings of a tree.
　 Ring counting is nothing new to fish scientists. But Thorrold has turned to a new direction. They’re examining the chemical elements (元素) of each otolith ring.
　 The daily ring gives us the time, but chemistry tells us about the environment in which the fish swam on any given day. These elements tell us about the chemistry of the water that the fish was in. It also says something about water temperature, which determines how much of these elements will gather within each otolith ring.
　 Thorrold can tell, for example, if a fish spent time in the open ocean before entering the less salty water of coastal areas. He can basically tell where fish are spending their time at any given stage of history.
　 In the case of the Atlantic croaker, a popular saltwater food fish, Thorrold and his assistant have successfully followed the travelling of young fish from mid-ocean to the coast, a journey of many hundreds of miles.
　 This is important to managers in the fish industry, who know nearly nothing about the whereabouts of the young fish for most food fish in the ocean. Eager to learn about his technology, fish scientists are now lending Thorrold their ears.
小題1:What can we learn about fish ears from the text?
A．They are small soft rings.
B．They are not seen from the outside.
C．They are openings only on food fish.
D．They are not used to receive sound.
小題2:Why does the writer compare the fish to trees?
A．Trees gain a growth ring each day.
B．Trees also have otoliths.
C．Their growth rings are very small.
D．They both have growth rings.
小題3:Why is it important to study the chemistry of otolith rings?
A．The elements of the otoliths can tell the history of the sea.
B．Chemical contents of otoliths can tell how fast fish can swim.
C．We can know more about fish and their living environment.
D．Scientists can know exactly how old a fish is.
小題4:How would you understand “fish scientists are now lending their ears”?
A．They are very interested in Thorrold’s research findings.
B．They want to know where they can find fish.
C．They lend their fish for chemical studies.
D．They wonder if Thorrold can find growth rings from their ears.

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