So much to do, so little time．So much information, so little time to read．In this age there is more information than ever before．There is not enough time to read everything we want to read．However, you can take in and understand more information in shorter time through speed-reading．This article will not make you read 3 000 words per minute, but it will show you how to increase your speed greatly．You will also learn the basic techniques of speed reading, along with the dos and don'ts of speed-reading．

When you first learned to read, you would say the word out loud and sound it out．Then you might whisper the word because people can become annoyed when you read aloud．The stage you are now at is saying the word in your head．Most people tend to read this way．Saying the word in your head will cut your reading speed tremendously (極大的)．

How do you calculate your reading speed? The speed is measured by how many words per minute you can read．Get some reading material, preferably a book．Find out how many words are on the page．Time yourself one minute．Start your timer and start reading．When the timer sounds, stop at once．If you counted 500 words on the page and you read half of the page, then you are probably reading at 250 words per minute．

The first thing about speed-reading is looking at the word and recognizing it．Don't say the word in your mind, just look at it and recognize its appearance．Later you will recognize groups of four words or more to increase your speed．This is the first and most important step in speed-reading．

The next step is technique．As with any other skill, speed-reading requires technique．You should first be sitting up straight with your book on a horizontal (水平的) surface, such as a table or desk．Next, should be able to see the entire page．This is necessary if you want to recognize clumps of words．Lastly, you should be focused．It's hard to read a lot of noise．Find a quiet place to read．This will help your understand of the text．You need something to guide your eyes while reading．Then right, you should use your hand, Remember when you were little, you would read using your finger．That is a great technique, only now you're using your hand to underline each line．Move your finger smoothly across page．No need to go rush , start our slow．Keep your eyes focused on words as you recognize them while using your hand as a guide．This will increase you speed．

The third step is practice．Practice makes perfect．Set time intervals(間歇)．Read using different techniques, but make sure you understand what you're reading．

1．Which of the following statements is true according to the text?

     A．Now there is limited information than ever before．

     B．Now conditions ask people to use less time to know more information．

     C．Now people can read what they like．

     D．The less you read, the more time you will spend．

2．What is the subject discussed in the text?

     A．What speed-reading is． 

     B．Why we need speed-reading．

     C．Now it is much information time．

     D．People should practice speed-reading in different kinds of ways．

3．Which of the following shows the right way for the speed-reading from the text?

     a．Ask for some techniques．

     b．Look at many words and recognize them．

     c．Practice more．

      A．c, a, b          B．c, b, a       C．b, a, c       D．a(chǎn), c, b

4．The underlined sentence “you should be focused” in the fifth paragraph means that _________．

     A．a(chǎn) person should devote his attention to it while reading

     B．your feelings will be hurt while reading

     C．a(chǎn) person should smooth away difficulties while he reads

     D．you should pay attention to your faults while you are reading

5．To speed up your reading, you should_________．

      A．sit up straight with your book flat and use something to guide your eyes

      B．say every word out loud and sound it out

      C．know it is necessary to read quickly

      D．underline some important words while you say them

Turning on the TV, a wonderful scene comes to your eyes—a group of men, tall, strong and handsome, and women, young, beautiful and attractive, too. Together they eat in the finest restaurants, traveling everywhere around the world by luxurious planes and pleasure ships. They are models.

  Do you envy them? What sort of life are models leading? Is it a wonderful life for a young lady or a young man?

A few models are well-known actors or actresses who can make a lot of money only by showing themselves off in commercials. But the majority of them are just curious to see what it is like. They’d like to be models just because they are attracted by what they imagine—models earn a lot of money and lead a glorious life. This is true for those who are very successful. However, most models find it difficult to get work. Very few can earn enough to live on, and for all models their expenses are high. Their agents claim about 20% of the earnings, and no model will get very far without a clever agent. Besides, they have to buy good clothing. They also have to pay to travel to interviews and reach the places where the work is to be done.

  Interviews for a model job are known as cattle-markets in the modeling world, and not without a good reason. A top model can choose his or her work, demand and receive high fees and has his or her expenses paid. But for most models, the situation is quite different. And agent or employer inspects each model much as a farmer inspects cattle at a market. Intelligence, qualifications and personal characteristics count for little against good looks and tight figures. For all except the very few lucky ones, the life of a model is a continual search for work, trying to sell himself or herself in the face of fierce competition and, sometimes, not particularly moral standards on the part of some employers.

  Immigration officials at airport look suspiciously at a girl whose passport shows her occupation as “Model”, and these are men and women of considerable experience of the world. It comes no surprise to find that some models prefer to put “Secretary” or “Businessman” as their jobs in their passports.

  Modeling is a changeable world with great rewards for a tiny minority but not for the majority.

1. For models, their good looks and tight figures are ____, compared with their intelligence and qualifications.

   A. more important                        B. less needed    

C. less essential                        D. more looked down upon

2. Which of the following can lead you to believe according to the passage?

   A. A model’s traveling expenses are usually paid by his employer.

   B. To be a model, good looks are the most important qualification.

   C. Most models have a fairly easy way of life with high pay.

   D. A model can hardly be successful without a good agent.

3. Models often put “Secretary” or “Businessman” instead of “Model” in their passports because ____.

   A. they want to avoid being stopped to sign their names by fans

   B. a person with the occupation of a model is easily attacked by black societies

   C. models are sometimes looked down upon

   D. secretaries and businessmen are free of custom duty

4. What may be the author’s attitude towards modeling?

   A. It is a worthwhile life for a young lady or a young man.

   B. He is in favour of young people to try modeling.

   C. Before being crazy about a model job, young people should be aware of the difficulties.

   D. It is a field in which everyone has a great chance to succeed.

5. The underlined word “suspiciously” can most probably be replaced by ____.

   A. doubtfully        B. excitedly        C. proudly         D. sadly

請根據(jù)以下情景說明,使用5個規(guī)范的英語句子描述全部所給的信息內(nèi)容.

[情景說明] 湖北省最近規(guī)定，允許中小學(xué)學(xué)生上課時間上廁所。對此,同學(xué)們有不同的看法.

[寫作要求]1.短文必須包括以上表格中的全部內(nèi)容,可以適當(dāng)增加細(xì)節(jié),使內(nèi)容連貫;

2.使用5個句子介紹全部所給的內(nèi)容其中至少3個句子必須為復(fù)合句.

參考詞匯: 課間休息：break time    集中（注意力）：concentrate

題目: Is it OK to permit students to go to the toilet during class ?

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Getting plenty of exercise is very important. I enjoy swimming very much. Last summer I went to the____1_____every day. I plan to go there ____2_____summer too, but I may not be able to. I have a new ___3_____and sometimes I have to work until ___4_____at night. Although I now work more hours than I used to, yet I do receive a larger salary. I didn’t receive much pay on my___5_____job. I like my new job,_____6___ had I known that it would take__7____ so much of my free time, I would not have taken it. I prefer__8______to making more money. I have heard that riding a bike is good exercise. Maybe I will be able to___9_____ enough money to buy a bike. My neighbor, Mrs. Wilson, has a bicycle that I could _10________ but I would rather own my own bike. If I used____11_____ . I would worry about _12_______ it. Since I make more money now, I think that I can afford to buy my own. Getting a bike is really a good idea, because while I’m riding to and from, I will be getting 13________at the same time. It’s easier to get to the seaside___14____ a bike, too. I might be able to go swimming everyday after all. This new job is great! I’m very__15_____. This will be a summer full of exercise.

1. A. playground       B. shore       C. seaside       D. sea

2. A. last             B. next        C. this          D. that

3. A. office           B. job         C. love          D. interest

4. A. far              B. deep       C. late           D. lately

5. A. favorite         B. new        C. past           D. old

6. A. if               B. and        C. or             D. but

7. A. up               B. down       C. away           D. back

8. A. riding           B. swimming    C. playing       D. working

9. A. keep             B. save        C. take          D. cost

10. A. ride            B. lend        C. borrow       D. renew

11. A. others          B. his         C. her          D. hers

12. A. destroying      B. dirtying     C. harming     D. missing

13. A. enjoyment      B. rest          C. exercise     D. money

14. A. by             B. with         C. in            D. on

15. A. moved          B. excited       C. interested    D. disappointed

Among rich countries, people in the United States work the longest hours. They work much longer than in Europe. This difference is quite surprising because productivity per hour worked is the same in the United States as it is in France, Spain and Germany, and it is growing at a similar speed.

In most countries and at most times in history, as people have become richer they have chosen to work less. In other words, they have decided to “spend” a part of their extra income on a fuller personal life. Over the last fifty years Europeans have continued this pattern, and hours of work have fallen sharply. But not in the United States. We do not fully know why this is. One reason may be greatly lower taxes in America, which increase the rewards（回報(bào)）to work.  Another may be more satisfying work, or less satisfying personal lives.

Longer hours do of course increase the GDP(國內(nèi)產(chǎn)生產(chǎn)總值). So the United States has produced more per worker than, say, France. The United States also has more of its people at work, while in France many more mothers and older workers have decided to stay at home. The overall result is that American GDP per head is 40% higher than in France, even though productivity per hour worked is the same.

It is not clear which of the two situations is better.  As we have seen, work has to be compared with other values like family life, which often get lost in its interest. It is too early to explain the different trends(趨勢) in happiness over time in different countries. But it is a disappointing idea that in the United States happiness has made no progress since 1975, while it has risen in Europe. Could this have anything to do with trends in the work-life balance (平衡)？

1. From the text we know that the author_________.

   A. believes that longer working hours is better

   B. prefers shorter working hours to longer ones

   C. says nothing certain about which pattern is better

   D. thinks neither of the patterns is good

2. Which of the following countries has more of its people at work?

   A. Spain.        B. France.   C. Germany.            D. America.

3. In the last paragraph, the underlined word “which” refers to ________.

   A. family life   B. situations   C. other values    D. trends

4. What message can we get from the text?

   A. The GDP of Europe is higher than that of America.

   B. Two possible reasons are given for working longer hours in the US.

   C. People all over the world choose to work less when they are richer.

   D. Americans are happier than Europeans.

5. Which of the following would be the best title for the text？

  A. Americans and Europeans    B. Staying at Home

  C. Work and Productivity      D. Work and Happiness

It is commonly believed that school is where people go to get education.  1  , it has been said that today children interrupt their education to go to school. The   2  between schooling and education suggested by this is important.

Education is  3 , compared with schooling. Education knows no edges. It can take place   4  , whether in the shower or on the job, whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both the  5__ learning that takes place in schools and the whole universe of learning out of class.   6   the experience of schooling can be known in advance, education quite often produces surprises. A chance talk with a 7   may lead to a person to discover how  8  he knows of another country. People obtain education from  9  on. Education, then, is a very  10  and unlimited term. It is lifelong experience that starts long  11  the start of school, and one that should be a necessary part of one’s entire life.

Schooling, on the other hand, is a  12  experience, whose style changes  13   from one way to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive at school at the same time, take  14  seats, use similar textbooks, do homework, and   15  , and so on. Schooling has usually been limited by the edges of the subjects being taught.

1. A. Then           B. However         C. Thus            D. Therefore

2. A. difference    B. importance      C. use             D. problem

3. A. unexpected    B. endless        C. countless       D. simple

4. A. anywhere       B. nowhere         C. somewhere       D.somewhere else

5. A. part-time      B. public          C. standard        D. strict

6. A. If             B. Because         C. So              D. Though

7. A. neighbor      B. friend          C. foreigner       D. teacher

8. A. wonderful      B. well            C. greatly         D. little

9. A. babies        B. grown-ups        C. women           D. men

10. A. long         B. broad            C. narrow          D. short

11. A. that         B. when             C. after           D. before

12. A. basic        B. right            C. final           D. irregular

13. A. unusually    B. differently      C. little          D. frequently

14. A. large        B. new              C. fixed           D. small

15. A. take exams   B. hold exams       C. mark papers     D. read papers

Most Americans don’t like to get advice ___1___ （介詞）members of their family. They get advice from “___2___ (strange)”. When they need advice, they don’t usually go to people they know. Many of them write letters to newspapers and magazines ___3___（關(guān)系詞） give advice ___4___ （介詞）many different subjects ___5___ (include) family problems, the use of language, health, cooking, child care, clothes, ___6___ （連詞）even on how to buy a house or a car.

Most newspapers ___7___ (regular派生詞) print letters from readers with problems. Along with the letters there are answers __8__(write) by people who are supposed to know how to solve such problems. Some of these writers are doctors, others are lawyers or educators. But two of __9__（冠詞）most famous writers of advice are women without special ___10___ (train) for this kind of work.

Visitors from space may have landed on our planet hundreds of times during the long, empty ages, while Man was still a dream of the distant future. Indeed, they could have landed on 90% of the earth as recently as two or three hundred years ago, and we could never have heard of it. If one searches through old newspapers and local records, one can find many reports of strange incidents that could be interpreted (解釋) as visits from outer space. A winter, Charles Fort, had made a collection of UFO sightings in his book. One is tempted to believe them more than any modern reports, for the simple reason that they happened long before anyone had ever thought of space travel. Yet at the same time, one can’t take them too seriously, for before scientific education was widespread, even sightings of meteors (流星) and comets (慧星) gave rise to the most unbelievable stories, as they still do today.

1. According to the passage visitors from space may have landed on the earth _____.

A. long before man had dreamed of it 

B. long before there were human beings

C. in the last few hundred years      

D. after the space age began

2. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

A. All observations of UFO are believable

B. Charles Fort collected a lot of UFOs himself

C. Older civilization (文明) may exist on other planets

D. People have seen visitors from other planets everywhere

3. If visitors from other planets have actually landed on the earth, one can suppose that they came to _____.

A. make war  B. play jokes   C. settle down   D. explore

4. The passage implies that with the spread of scientific education, it has _____.

A. made the reported sightings unbelievable 

B. increased the number of UFOs

C. stopped the scientific study of UFO      

D. given clearer pictures of UFOs

5. According to the passage, _____.

A. UFO’s are only recent observations     

B. UFO sightings are not new

C. UFO’s always are meteors and comets   

D. UFO’s are invented by people

Dog owners now have a little help understanding their furry friends . A new device called Bow-Lingual “translates” dog barks into English , Korea or Japanese.

Bow-Lingual’s Japanese inventors spent much time and money analyzing dog barks . They found that dog noises can be broken down into six different emotions : happiness , sadness , frustration , anger , assertion and desire .

Part of the Bow-Lingual device hangs on the dog’s collar . The other part is a handle-held unit for the owner . When the dogs barks , the unit displays translated phrases .

Some people have scoffed at Bow-Lingual. “Who would pay US$ 120 to read a dog’s mind?” they ask .

But those who have purchased Bow-Lingual praise the device . Pet owner Keiko Egawa , of Japan , says it helps her empathize with her dog , Harry . “Before we go to the park , he always says he wants to play,” says Egawa , “and after a walk , he always says he is hungry.”

Bow –Lingual is not yet available in Chinese. So you’d better keep studying Studio Classroom , or soon your dog may know more English than you do !

1．This passage is mainly talking about         .

A．Bow-Lingual’s inventors    

B．dog’s different emotions

C．talking dogs                 

D．a(chǎn) little help for dog owners

2．Which of the following sentences is TRUE according to the passage ?

A．Dog owners now can understand their dogs better .

B．Bow-Lingual is a new device that enables dogs to talk in English , Korean or Japanese .

C．More and more Chinese dog owners would keep studying Studio Classroom in

 order to know more English than their dogs .

D．People who have used the Bow-Lingual say it helps them better understand their dogs .

3．What does “scoffed at” mean in the 3rd paragraph ?

A．shouted at      B．questioned at   C．laughed at    D．doubted about

4．How do you understand the sentence “Bow-Lingual is not yet available in Chinese” in the last paragraph ?

A．Bow-Lingual has not yet appeared in Chinese market .

B．Bow-Lingual can not yet recognized Chinese dogs’ barks .

C．Chinese dog owners do not know yet how to use Bow-Lingual .

D．Dog barks can not yet be translated into Chinese phrases with Bow-Lingual .

5．The writer of this passage is most likely to be         .

A．a(chǎn) dog owner  B．a(chǎn) reporter   C．a(chǎn)n advertiser   D．a(chǎn)n expert on dog barks

When you enter a supermarket, you see shelves full of food. You walk between the shelves. You carry a shopping basket and put your food in it. You probably hear soft, low music as you walk between the shelves. __1  .

Maybe you go to the meat department first. There is some meat on sale, and you want to find it. The manager of the supermarket knows where customers enter the meat department.       2  . Maybe you will buy some of the expensive meat instead of the meat on sale.

     The department selling milk and milk products such as butter and milk powder is called the dairy department.   3   . One store has three different jars of low fat milk. One says “1 percent fat” on the jar. The second says “99 percent fat free.” The third says “LOW FAT” in big letters and “1 %” in small letters. As you can see, all the milk has the same amount of fat. The milk is all the same,    4   . Maybe the customers will buy the milk that costs the most.

       5  . The expensive meat says “Buy me!” as you walk by. The expensive jar says “Buy me! I have less fat.”

A. However, in this store the three jars of milk cost three different amounts of money.

B. If you hear fast music, you walk quickly. The supermarket plays slow music, and you walk slowly and have more time to buy things.

C. Most of the food in the supermarket is very pleasing. It all says “Buy me!” to the customers.

D. The cheaper meat is at the other end of the meat department, away from where the customers enter. You have to walk by all the expensive meat before you find the cheaper meat.

E. Many customers like milk that has only a little fat in it.