It is found that American students spend less than 15% of their time in school. While there’s no doubt that school is important, a number of recent studies reminds us that parents are even more so. A study published earlier this month by researchers at North Carolina State University, for example, finds that parental involvement — checking homework, attending school meetings and events, discussing school activities at home — has a more powerful influence on students’ academic performance than anything about the school the students attend. Another study, published in the Review of Economics and Statistics, reports that the effort put forth by parents (reading stories aloud, meeting with teachers) has a bigger impact on their children’s educational achievement than the effort devoted by either teachers or the students themselves. And a third study concludes that schools would have to increase their spending by more than $1,000 per pupil in order to achieve the same results that are gained with parental involvement.
So parents matter. But it is also revealed in researches that parents, of all backgrounds, don’t need to buy expensive educational toys or digital devices for their kids in order to give them an advantage. They don’t need to drive their offspring (子孫，后代)to enrichment classes or test-preparation courses. What they need to do with their children is much simpler: talk.
But not just any talk. Recent research has indicated exactly what kinds of talk at home encourage children’s success at school. For example, a study conducted by researchers at the UCLA School of Public Health and published in the journal Pediatrics found that two-way adult-child conversations were six times as potent in promoting language development as the ones in which the adult did all the talking. Engaging in this reciprocal（雙向的) back-and-forth gives children a chance to try out language for themselves, and also gives them the sense that their thoughts and opinions matter.
The content of parents’ conversations with kids matters, too. Children who hear talk about counting and numbers at home start school with much more extensive mathematical knowledge, report researchers from the University of Chicago. While the conversations parents have with their children change as kids grow older, the effect of these exchanges on academic achievement remains strong. Research finds that parents play an important role in what is called “academic socialization” — setting expectations and making connections between current behavior and future goals. Engaging in these sorts of conversations has a greater impact on educational accomplishment.
小題1:Parents are even more important than schools because ______.

A．parental involvement makes up for what schools are not able to do

B．teachers and students themselves do not put in enough effort

C．parental involvement saves money for schools and the local government

D．students may well make greater achievements with parents' attention

小題2:It can be inferred from the 2^nd paragraph that ______.

A．educational toys are unaffordable nowadays

B．digital devices can give children an advantage

C．some parents believe in enrichment classes

D．talking with children is a very simple task

小題3:The word "potent" is closest in meaning to ______.

A．powerful

B．difficult

C．necessary

D．resistant

小題4:Which of the following will more encourage children's success at school according to the passage?

A．Parents order their children to stop playing video games.

B．Parents discuss with their children the possible future career.

C．Parents lecture their children on getting too low marks on tests.

D．Parents introduce colleges around the US to their children.

Disease, poverty, hate, love-Charles Dickens' stories opened his readers' eyes to the most important themes of his age．Two hundred years on, his stories still speak volumes across the world, proving that Dickens' legacy （遺產(chǎn)） was far greater than just "great literature"．
February 7 marks the 200th anniversary of the writer's birthday．To mark this date, BBC writer Alex Hudson listed six things Dickens gave the modern world．Let's take a look at two of them．
A while Christmas
Dickens is described as "the man who invented Christmas" -not the religious festival, but the cultural aspects that we associate with the festive （喜慶的） season today．
In the early 19th century, Christmas was barely worth mentioning, according to critic and writer Leigh Hunt．The committee which ran the Conservative Party even held ordinary business meetings on Christmas Day - unthinkable in the West nowadays, when everyone, but the most necessary workers takes at least three days off．
Many people believe that Dickens' popular depictions（描繪） of the festive period became a blueprint for generations to come．In his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, he not only put forward the idea of snow at Christmas,but also painted a picture of glowing warmth-“home enjoyments, affections and hopes"．
In his biography of Dickens, Peter Ackroyd wrote, "Dickens can be said to have almost single-handedly created the modern idea of Christmas．"
"Dickensian" poverty
Dickens was one of the first to take an honest look at the underclass and the poor of Victorian （the period during British Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 to 1901） London．
He helped popularize the term "red tape" to describe situations where people in power use needless amounts of bureaucracy （官僚作風(fēng)） in a way that particularly hurts the weaker and poorer members of society．
"Dickensian" has now become a powerful word for describing an unacceptable level of poverty．In 2009, when the president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the UK wanted to talk about deprivation in some areas, of Britain, she did not use words like "terrible" or "horrific", but rather described it as "life mirroring the times of Dickens"．
小題1:What is the main idea of the article?

A．Charles Dickens' impact on the world．

B．An introduction to Charles Dickens' classic novels．

C．Charles Dickens' amazing characters．

D．Why Charles Dickens is popular across the world．

小題2:Why is Dickens called "the man who invented Christmas"?

A．Because he created the religious festival.

B．Because one of his novels helped to shape Christmas celebrations．

C．Because many of his novels have something to do with Christmas．

D．Because he was the first man to have proposed celebrating Christmas．

小題3:According to the article, the phrase “red tape” refers to __.

A．rules or procedures that are required to accomplish a task

B．a(chǎn) situation in which poor members of society are hurt

C．conflict between people in power and weaker people

D．pointlessly time-consuming official procedures

小題4:What can we infer from the passage?

A．Dickens is still popular today in Britain．

B．everyone takes at least three days off at Christmas．

C．Dickens invented Christmas

D．Dickens gave the modern world six things．

A towering South American plant that is believed to kill animals with its spikes(尖刺) and use their rotting bodies as fertilizer is about to bloom(開花) in England. A rare Puya chilensis was planted at a greenhouse in Surrey, a county in the southeast of England about 15 years ago. However, despite its frightening description, the tall, spiked plant is considered a threatened species.
The Royal Horticultural Society has been feeding the plant a diet of liquid fertilizer. “In its natural habitat in the Andes it uses its razor sharp spikes to snare and trap sheep and other animals, which slowly starve to death and rot at the base of the plant, providing it with a bag of fertilizer,” reads a description on the RHS website, which adds that the plant gives off a “gruesome scent.”
But does the plant actually trap and eat sheep? Other sources have simply said it is “believed” that the plant traps small animals with its spikes. After the animals die of starvation, the plant is "believed" to then use their rotting bodies as fertilizer to feed itself.
"I'm really pleased that we've finally persuaded our Puya chilensis into producing flower," horticulturalist Cara Smith said in a press release on the RHS site. Regardless of whether it actually traps sheep, the plant does have sharp spikes that can grow up to 12 feet high and 5 feet wide. However, it’s not all death and danger for this plant. Its flowery blooms reportedly provide nectar(花蜜) for bees and birds.
The Puya chilensis blooms annually in its native land of Chile, but this is the first time it has done so after more than a decade of cultivation efforts from the RHS. "We keep it well fed with liquid fertilizer as feeding it on its natural diet might prove a bit problematic,” Smith said. "It's growing in the dry section of our glasshouse with its deadly spines well out of reach of both children and sheep alike."
小題1:From the passage we learn that in England the Puya chilensis _____.

A．feeds on man-made liquid fertilizer

B．often kills sheep and other animals

C．has once bloomed 15 years before

D．uses animals' rotting bodies as fertilizer

小題2:The underlined word “snare” in the second paragraph probably means“_________”.

A．catch

B．stop

C．fight

D．kill

小題3:We can infer from the passage that _____.

A．it's dangerous to feed the plant

B．it's certain that the plant kills sheep

C．it's difficult for the plant to bloom in England

D．it's rare for the plant to bloom in South American

小題4:What does the writer mainly tell us?

A．A new plant is discovered in Chile.

B．How a rare plant is fed in England.

C．A rare plant is going to bloom in England.

D．How a plant traps animals in South America.

The environmental group 350.org has launched a new campaign called Climate Name Change that proposes to revise to how hurricanes are named: call them after policymakers who say that humans are not to blame for global warming.
This will save the Katrinas and Sandys of the world from the injustice of having their names attached to major disaster, the group says. And, as a bonus, it will produce some peculiar weather reports.
“Rick Perry leaves trail of death,” appears under a broadcast titled “Rick Perry: The Tragedy.”
“Michelle Bachman is incredibly dangerous. If you value your life, please seek shelter from Michelle Bachman,” says an official while addressing a news conference.
The campaign is unlikely to influence the World Meteorological Organization, which has since 1954 named Atlantic tropical storms from an official list.
But the campaign’s goal seems less to actually name a hurricane after the speaker of the house, and more to call attention to an issue that this month has reached an alarming level of seriousness. The campaign comes just a month before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will release its most recent report on the state of global warming and a week after a draft（草稿）of the report was given away to Reuters.
In the draft, scientists concluded with near certainty – about 95 percent sure – that humans are to blame for the worldwide temperature hikes over the last few decades. That was a revision from the 2007 report, which put scientific certainty that human activities were driving global climate change at about 90 percent.
And global warming, the report said, is not slowing down – it, actually, is accelerating. That means that sea levels could balloon upward as much as three feet by the end of the century, if emissions(排放量) continue at their current pace.
Still, as the Washington Post Climate notes, hurricanes are not the best sign of global warming. Though current data suggests that global warming will in the future stir up terrible super storms, there is still not enough evidence to support the idea that climate change strengthens the recent hurricanes that have torn at the US’s eastern coastline.
小題1:It can be inferred that__________ is one of the policymakers who believe that humans are not to blame for global warming.

A．Katrina

B．Rick Perry

C．Flossie

D．Sandy

小題2:350.org has launched the campaign with the real purpose of _________________.

A．changing the ways of naming hurricanes

B．introducing the methods of naming hurricanes

C．reminding policymakers to change their attitudes

D．calling attention to the coming report on global warming

小題3:The draft of the global warming report tells us that _____________.

A．global warming is speeding up at the same rate

B．it is human beings that have caused global warming

C．the new report has a more accurate data than the one in 2007

D．human beings are not the only one to blame for global warming

小題4:The writer of the passage seems to believe that______________.

A．policymakers should be blamed for the global warming

B．the campaign will cause the change of naming hurricanes

C．global warming has no necessary relation to terrible hurricanes

D．global warming will surely cause terrible super storms in the future

The only survivor of one of the two Sandy Hook Elementary School first-grade classrooms where Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children tricked the gunman by playing dead，the girl’s pastor(牧師)said.
“She ran out of the school building covered from head to toe with blood and the first thing she said to her mom was,“Mommy，I’m OK but all my friends are dead” Pastor Jim Solomon told ABC News’ Lara Spencer this weekend
“Somehow，at that moment, by God’s grace，she was able to act as she was already dead.”he said.
The girl, a 6-year-old whose name is not being announced for privacy(隱私)reasons，was the first student to appear from the lockdown(封鎖)at Sandy Hook，Solomon said．He said the young girl described the shooter to her mom in a way that only a young child can．
“Well, she saw someone who she felt was angry and someone she felt was very mad，”Solomon said. “I think it's impossible without the help of God. She has wisdom beyond her years, for sure’’
Of the 20 children killed on Friday in the Newtown，Conn., school, eight were boys and l2 were girls Six staff members，all female, were also killed. The gunman,whose mother was also killed by him before he went to the schoo1 classrooms, was found dead at the present spot.
“The mom told me—and I thought this was very insightful(有深刻見解的)—that she was suffering from what she felt was survivor’s guilt because so many of her friends no longer have their children but she has hers,” Solomon said how the girl’s mother and father are handling the trauma(傷害)．“I don’t know whether l would have the type of faith that they have if the same thing happened to me.”
小題1:How did the girl manage to avoid being shot?

A．She pretended to be dead

B．She hid herself under the desk

C．She rushed out of the school building in time

D．She persuaded the shooter into not shooting her．

小題2:Which of the following best describes the girl ?

A．Talented and innocent	B．Serious and insightful
C．Active and happy	D．Clever and brave

小題3:The killing case which happened in Sandy Hook Elementary School         .

A．ended up with the shooter being killed

B．was a shooting by a group of people

C．was due to the gunman getting angry with the pupils

D．was not open to the public for the moment

小題4:Which of the following is TRUE about the girl’s mom?

A．She was disappointed with the pastor

B．She felt very dissatisfied with other parents

C．She felt terribly sorry for those who had lost their children

D．She strongly condemned the police．

小題5:What can we know from the text?

A．It is not difficult for the parents to handle the trauma.

B．The girl’s parents have asked for help from their pastor．

C．The girl has helped the police in catching the gunman.

D．The gunman has worked in the school.

In 2016, athletes from around the world will compete for gold medals in the Summer Olympics. Even though the games are three years away, Brazil’s residents already feel like winners.
The nation was named to host this important sporting event in October,2009. It will be the first Olympics held in South America.
The games will take place in Rio de Janeiro. The city beat out three other sites, Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago, to host the event. When the International Olympic Committee chose Rio de Janeiro, cheering people flooded the city’s streets. “This is huge for Rio and for the whole country,” says resident Sueli Ferreira.
The Olympics are expected to attract tens of thousands of people. Brazilian officials have already started to prepare for the crowds. “ We know what we need to do,” explains Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. “ The words from now on are work, work and work.”
Officials want to fix up local sports centers before Rio de Janeiro steps into the spotlight. They also want to reduce the amount of crime.
They hope hosting the games will improve life in Brazil. About 30 percent of people there live in poverty, or poor conditions. Tourism during the Olympics is expected to create more than 2 million jobs.
“ It’s going to be good for the economy, good for the people,” Ferreira says. “ This gives us hope that things will be better here.”
小題1:According to the passage, the 2016 Olympics will be held in ______.

A．Europe

B．Asia

C．North America

D．South America

小題2:The feeling of Brazilians can be described as _________.

A．proud

B．surprised

C．worried

D．nervous

小題3:The underlined word “flooded” in Para.3 means_______

A．crossed

B．filled

C．visited

D．cleaned

小題4:According to Brazil’s president, we can know________.

A．the government needs help from the Brazilian public

B．the government will begin to prepare for the Olympics soon

C．Brazilian officials will try hard to prepare for the Olympics

D．Brazilian official are now too busy to prepare for the Olympics

小題5:We can learn from the last two paragraphs that___________.

A．Brazilians’ life will be better because of the Olympics

B．not all Brazilians are interested in the Olympics

C．most Brazilians are now living in poor conditions

D．Brazilians worry about losing jobs during the Olympics

According to an English newspaper, scientists could begin cloning human embryos in Britain in 2001. It is understood that the government has already agreed to use Frankenstein’s technology, believing the benefits are more important than ethical （倫理的）concerns .Researchers think it will be possible to grow brain tissue to cure the diseases that are likely to get worse as time passes like Alzheimer’s , and produce “spare part” organs like hearts and kidneys for transplant （移植）.
Ministers are aware that the change in the law will be as controversial as the law which legalized abortion (墮胎）more than 30 years ago. Some politicians reacted angrily , arguing that the government had already made up its mind without discussion. Church leaders and anti-abortion campaigners have long expressed their horror at the plans, arguing that even the earliest embryos are forms of human life.They believe that getting an embryo from cells is morally unacceptable . And it will also cause arguments about how far scientists should interfere with nature and lead to accusations that they  are “playing God”.
The cloning of human embryos to provide spare parts is regarded by most experts to be the most important step forward in the 21^st century medicine. Scientists say treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s will be the first application of cloning. The ability to clone embryos was first achieved by scientists in Scotland in the late 1990s and now the ability to grow stem cells into tissues and organs is being developed by American researchers. Combining the two technologies will mean an end to long waits for organs from donors and problems caused by rejection (排異反應(yīng)） of transplanted tissues by the body.
Ian Wilmut, the man who cloned Dolly the sheep, has warned that British experts will go to America, where such work is legal, if the government does not permit it.
小題1:The government has decided to allow scientists to clone human embryos because they think that ____.

A．Frankenstein’s technology is advanced

B．Its advantages are more important than its disadvantages

C．Diseases like Alzheimer’s are a serious problem in their country

D．They can make a lot of money from it

小題2:The underlined word “they”in Paragraph 2 refers to ______.

A．Ministers	B．Scientists
C．Church leaders	D．Anti-abortion campaigners

小題3:Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Most experts think that the cloning of human embryos is beneficial.

B．Politicians were in favour of the government’s decision.

C．It is legal for scientists to clone embryos in America now.

D．American researchers are developing the ability to grow stem cells into tissues and organs.

小題4:What’s the best title for this passage ?

A．Science of cloning.

B．Cloning and abortion

C．Cloning human embryos

D．the argument between politicians and scientists

The US will seek to expand its own oil production in an attempt to reduce dependence on imported oil and bring down fuel prices , President Obama says . New contracts for exploration will be signed in non-protected areas of Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico.
In his weekly speech , the President insisted the US could reduce its need for imported oil and improve safety. Using his speech to tell Americans that he understood their concerns about rising prices, President Obama focused particularly on the price of fuel, which has risen in recent months.
US consumers have historically enjoyed cheap fuel , but have seen prices rise in recent months even though US oil production in 2010 reached its highest level for seven years.
Although the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 was serious, Mr Obama said the Gulf remained a key part of the country’s future energy supply.
The President’s proposals (議案）come after Republicans (共和黨人） introduced a series of proposals that would expand and speed up oil and gas production.
The White House has criticized the Republican proposals for safety reasons , but Mr Obama was clear in his speech that he felt safety and environmental standards could be maintained even though production might rise.
“ I believe that we should continue to expand oil production in America —even as we increase safety and environmental standards ,”he said.
“As a nation, we should be investing in the clean, renewable sources of energy that are the solution to high gas prices.”
Mr Obama has previously called for a step-change in energy policy, saying the US must move towards getting 80%of its electricity from clean energy sources by 2035.
小題1:Which of the following is NOT included in Mr Obama’s speech?

A．The dependence on imported oil.

B．Improving safety standards

C．The reason for the rising oil prices .

D．Expanding oil production.

小題2:Mr Obama thinks the Republican proposals are ______.

A．Not safe enough	B．Not environmentally friendly
C．Practical	D．Clear

小題3:What can we learn from the text ?

A．The US has got most of its electricity from clean energy.

B．US oil production is too small to keep the present low fuel prices.

C．The US produced the most oil in 2010 in its history.

D．The Gulf is still important in energy supply in spite of the oil spill in 2010.

小題4: Which of the following can serve as the title?

A．Obama: US will seek oil in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico.

B．Obama: US will import less oil to improve safety and environmental standards .

C．Obama: the time of high fuel prices will be gone.

D．Obama: clean, renewable sources of energy are the solution to high gas prices

A meteorite (隕石) flew fast across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, raining fireballs over a vast area and causing a shock wave that smashed windows, damaged buildings and injured l,200 people.
People heading to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt the shock wave.
According to Russian space agency Roscosmos, the fireball, travelling at a speed of 30km per second, had burnt very brightly across the horizon, leaving a long white trail that could be seen as far as 200km away. Car alarms went off, thousands of windows shattered and mobile phone networks were disrupted.
“I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it were day,” said Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg in the Urals Mountains. “I felt like I was blinded by headlights.”
The meteorite, which weighed about 20 tons and may have been made of iron, entered Earth’s atmosphere and broke apart 30-50km above ground, according to Russia’s Academy of Sciences.
The energy released when it entered the Earth’s atmosphere was about several thousand tons, the academy said, the power of a small atomic weapon exploding.
No deaths were reported, but the Emergencies Ministry said 20,000 rescue and clean-up workers were sent to the region after President Vladimir Putin told Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov to ease the disruption and help the victims.
The Interior Ministry said about l,200 people had been injured, at least 200 of them children, and most from broken pieces of glass.“While events this big are rare, an impact that could cause damage and death could happen every century or so. Unfortunately there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop impacts.”
小題1:When did the meteorite incident happen?

A．At midnight.	B．In the early morning.
C．In the late morning.	D．In the evening.

小題2:According to the text, the meteorite explosion caused _________.

A．some deaths	B．road accidents
C．communication problems	D．building collapse

小題3:The Russian government’s response to the incident was ________.

A．a(chǎn) little slow but effective	B．quick and serious
C．cold and slow	D．quick but ineffective

小題4:It can be inferred that the loss caused by meteorites _________.

A．is nearly unavoidable	B．happens every few years
C．can be avoided	D．is hard to estimate

“The Voice” has become a major player in the TV talent-show stages, as the show has become NBC’s biggest entertainment prime-time program of 2012. In addition to being a hit in the ratings, “The Voice” is also a hit with critics and Emmy voters: The second season of the show , which aired from February to May 2012, has earned the 2012 Critics’ Choice Award for Best Realty-Series Competition and an Emmy nomination (提名) for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program.
All the original coaches are back for the third season in a row: Christina Aguilera, Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton. The show’s other on-air talent returning for Season 3 are host/producer Carson Daly and social media reporter Christina Milian, who has been with the show since Season 2. The grand prize for the winner is also the same: a record deal with Universal Republic Records.
The third season of “The Voice” features two big new changes: “steals”, in which the coaches can steal contestants who have been rejected from another coach’s team, and “knockout rounds”. In the “battle rounds,” two contestants face off in a duet (二重唱) of a song chosen by their coach. When a contestant is rejected from a team after a battle round, another coach has the option to “steal” the contestant for his or her team. If more than one coach wants the same contestant, then the contestant gets to choose the coach. In the “knockout rounds,” two contestants face off by each doing a different song of the contestant’s choice, and coaches can no longer “steal” a contestant who is rejected.
Season 3 will also have a new group of four advisers, who are each paired with a coach: Green Day lead singer with Aguilera; Mary J. Blige with Levine; Michael Bublé with Shelton; and Matchbox Twenty lead singer Rob Thomas with Green. At an August 2012 press event held at “The Voice” executive producer Mark Burnett’s home in Malibu, California, members of the media gathered for a press conference with Burnett, Aguilera, Green, Shelton, Levine, Daly and Milian to discuss changes in the show and what the future holds for “The Voice.”
小題1:What does the underlined word “aired” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．open

B．perform

C．sing

D．broadcast

小題2:On which section of a newspaper will you read this passage?

A．Finance

B．Current affairs

C．Tech

D．Entertainment

小題3:According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．“The Voice” has earned the recognition of critics and Emmy voters.

B．The prize of “The Voice” remains the same as the previous year.

C．“The Voice” has become the biggest world entertainment of 2012.

D．All the original coaches are back for the third season in a row.