Poet William Stafford once said that we are defined more by the detours(繞行路)in life than by the narrow road toward goals. I like this image. But it was quite by accident that I discovered the deep meaning of his words.

For years we made the long drive from our home in Seattle to my parents’ home in Boise in nine hours. We traveled the way most people do: the fastest, shortest, easiest road, especially when I was alone with four noisy, restless kids who hate confinement(限制)and have strong opinions about everything.

Road trips felt risky, so I would drive fast, stopping only when I had to. We would stick to the freeways and arrive tired.

But then Banner, our lamb was born. He was rejected by his mama days before our planned trip to Boise. I had two choices: leave Banner with my husband, or take him with me. My husband made the decision for me.

That is how I found myself on the road with four kids, a baby lamb and nothing but my everlasting optimism to see me through. We took the country roads out of necessity. We had to stop every hour, let Banner shake out his legs and feed him. The kids chased him and one another. They’d get back in the car breathless and energized, smelling fresh from the cold air.

We explored side roads, catching grasshoppers in waist-high grass. Even if we simply looked out of the car windows at baby pigs following their mother, or fish leaping out of the water, it was better than the best ride down the freeway. Here was life. And new horizons.

We eventually arrived at my parents’ doorstep astonishingly fresh and full of stories.

I grew brave with the trip back home and creative with my disciplining technique. On an empty section of road, everyone started quarreling. I stopped the car, ordered all kids out and told them to meet me up ahead. I parked my car half a mile away and read my book in sweet silence.

Some road trips are by necessity fast and straight. But that trip with Banner opened our eyes to a world available to anyone adventurous enough to wander around and made me realize that a detour may uncover the best part of a journey----and the best part of yourself.

1.Why did the author use to take freeways to her parents’ home?

A. She needn’t stop on the way.

B. It would be faster and easier.

C. Her kids would feel less confined.

D. She felt better with other drivers nearby.

2.What does the author discover from the trip according to Paragraph 6 ?

A. Freeways are where beauty hides.

B. Getting close to nature adds to the joy of life

C. Enjoying the beauty of nature benefits one’s health

D. One should follow side roads to watch wild animals

3.Why did the author ask the kids to get out of the car on their way back home

A. To give herself some time to read

B. To order some food for them

C. To play a game with them.

D. To let them cool down

4.What could be the best title for the passage

A. Charm of the Detour

B. The Road to Bravery

C. Creativity out of Necessity

D. Road trip and Country Life

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：2016屆山東德州高三上學(xué)期期末統(tǒng)考英語(yǔ)試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

Step into an American preschool classroom today and you are likely to fall into a so-called print-rich environment，every surface colorfully decorated with instructional posters，classroom rules，chedules，and mottos，few of which a 4-year-old can understand in fact．

Besides the confusing things on classroom walls，teaching methods and curriculums have changed recently，by which more time is spent on what’s called “seat work”一workbooks and worksheets—but less time devoted to music and art．School—readiness skills are essential for the youngest learners to move on to a subsequent stage. As a result, expectations that may arguably have been reasonable for 5-and 6-year-olds, such as bemg able to sit at a desk and using pencil and paper，are now directed at even younger children, who lack the motor skills and attention span to be successful．

However，parents of preschoolers tend to be on board with these changes，because they fear that the old—fashioned pleasures of unhurried learning have no place in today’s highly competitive world．The stress is obvious：Pick the “wrong” preschool and your child might not go to college．She might not be employable. She might not even be allowed to start first grade!

As preschoolers are learning so much academic knowledge at earlier ages，they seem somehow less curious and less engaged．Some teachers say that more children today seem to lack the language skills．The real focus in the preschool years should not be just on vocabularv and reading，but on talking and listening．By talking with adults, and one another，they pick up information，learn how things work and solve puzzles that trouble them．For our littlest learners，what could be more important than that?

1.Which of the statements does the author probably agree with?

A．Younger children can fully understand the instructional things in classrooms．

B．3-and 4-year-olds shouldn’t be expected too much in school readiness skills．

C．More time should be spent on“seat work’’ instead of music and art．

D．Even 5-and 6-year-olds have good motor skills and attention span．

2.The underlined phrase “be on board with” in the third paragraph most probably means “ ”.

A．a(chǎn)ccept B．reject C．doubt D．worry

3.Why are parents so picky when choosing a preschool for their kids?

A．Because some preschools are too old fashioned．

B．Because a wrong preschool might ruin kids’ future．

C．Because the competitions between kindergartens are fierce．

D．Because it is easy for them to choose a right preschool．

4.What’s the best title of the passage?

A．New Preschool Breaking down the Kids．

B．The Early Bird Gets the Worm．

C．Preschool，the Gatekeeper to Elementary School?

D．Seat work，a Better Choice for the Youngest Kids?

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書(shū)面表達(dá)

假定你是李華，貴校在學(xué)生中征集意見(jiàn)，詢問(wèn)學(xué)生是否贊成開(kāi)設(shè)iPad課堂（iPad classrooms）。你支持開(kāi)設(shè)iPad課堂；請(qǐng)給校長(zhǎng)寫(xiě)一封建議信，要點(diǎn)如下：

1. 資源豐富；

2. 促進(jìn)交流；

3. 利于環(huán)保；

4. 其他理由。

注意：

1. 詞數(shù)100左右；

2. 可以適當(dāng)增加細(xì)節(jié)，以使行文連貫；

3. 開(kāi)頭語(yǔ)已為你寫(xiě)好。

Dear Headmaster,

We have been asked about our opinions on opening iPad classrooms.

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

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Yours sincerely,

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根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，從短文后的選項(xiàng)中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項(xiàng)。選項(xiàng)中有兩項(xiàng)為多余選項(xiàng)。

How to get teenagers to read

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2. You could look at their school homework timetable and work out which evening they have the least amount of work to do. Make sure that your teenager is not going to an out-of-school club that evening.

Buy your teenagers a new set of books. Research the book lists for teenagers. The Chaos Walking Trilogy and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy are suited for both boys and girls. If your teenager will never sit down to read a book, consider buying them an electronic reader like an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite to encourage them to read. Make sure that the electronic reader you buy can only be used to read. 3.

Seize opportunities. If they seem unimpressed then whenever you see them not doing anything constructive, encourage them to pick up one of the books you bought. If they say they don’t want the book then take them out to buy some in a bookstore. 4.

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D. If they still refuse then you could use reading as a punishment.

E. But getting them to pick up a book is a lot easier than it sounds.

F. You’re sure to pick out a book that they really want to read there.

G. You know they could pretend to read and actually play video games.

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Today is Sarah’s birthday. She is seventy-five. We asked a few old friends to dinner.

Like most elderly people, I suppose, we spent most of the evening talking about old times. Thirty years ago, the village used to be a quiet place. Now it has changed. Every Sunday hundreds of cars pass through the village at what I think a dangerous speed. They make the village almost as noisy as the streets of a large town. As a boy I enjoyed riding on the backs of the farm horses. Things are different now. Today there are very few horses working on the farms. The farm workers today drive tractors, not horses. A man is not of much use on a farm unless he knows all about machines. Now almost every house in the village has a TV set. Is it a good thing for children to spend the evening sitting in front of a TV set? When I was young I did not waste my time indoors. I would spend the long summer evenings outdoors. I would play with my friends, go fishing or walk by the river. When my grandchildren asked me the reason why I haven’t bought a TV set, I tell them there are many books I still want to read. I can’t find time for both reading and watching TV.

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B. disliked

C. was fond of

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A. In the past the village was a quiet place.

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4.I would rather _______ than _______.

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Work with a messy (凌亂不堪) desk or work area. Studies have shown that the person who works with a messy desk spends, on average, one and a half hours per day in looking for things. That’s seven and a half hours per week. If you have ever visited the office of a top manager, you can easily find that he or she is working with a clean desk environment.

Don’t take a lunch break. Many people do not take a lunch break. They work through that time period in the hope that it will give them more time to finish the task. Studies have shown that it may work just the opposite. After doing what we do for several hours, our mind will become boring. A lunch break, even a fifteen-minute break, gives us a chance to get our batteries all charged up again.

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A. work harder

B. do the wrong things more rapidly

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D. get nowhere faster

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A. waste a lot of time

B. find the things you need easily

C. become a top manager

D. save seven and a half hours per week

3.The text mainly tells us ______.

A. how to avoid wasting time

B. we should get our batteries all charged up

C. how important time management is

D. some time management mistakes

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