D

Holidays are really important. Many of us will have childhood memories of summer holidays where we were taken away from home to experience new environments and learn in different ways.

But holidays are expensive and, for those on low wages or living on benefits, they are often unobtainable. Even the cheapest holidays require travel and other additional costs that are difficult for many families to meet.

For working parents, the long summer break can be a very difficult problem for childcare. When an annual leave allowance amounts to only five weeks, there is a need to spread this across the year. Couples can find themselves taking leave in turn in order to care for children who are on holiday. For some, this makes even an affordable family holiday difficult.

The schools that I visit in Nottingham are full of experienced staff committed to giving our children a caring and inspiring learning environment. The number of children receiving free school meals is quite large in Nottingham and many schools have breakfast clubs to make sure that children get a healthy start to the day. Most schools undertake programs of group or individual educational support. Schools also have an important role in safeguarding children, welfare through the ongoing touch and support with their pupils. During the long summer holidays, much of this is missed.

While teachers are holidaying in the UK, many of their pupils spend the whole six weeks on the street where they live. The lack of free school meals for six weeks can result in pressure on a family budget and an inability to afford the inspiring experiences that help children to continue their learning.

In setting out its plans for a five-term year, Nottingham City Council (委员会)is seeking to reduce the summer holiday down to four and a half weeks, with a more balanced five terms of roughly eight weeks, each followed by a two-week break. We believe this will give real “down time” for school staff and pupils alike but will be short enough not to cause a real break in learning.

We acknowledge that this change may be difficult for some school staff, particularly whose own children are educated in other authorities. However, this must be weighed against the benefits for city children for whom we all have the greatest duty of care.

43. The underlined word “they” in the second paragraph refers to “____”.

A. environments   B. holidays      C. wages       D. benefits

44. It is suggested in the passage that the summer break be reduced to _____.

A. 2 weeks   B. 4.5 weeks   C. 5 weeks   D. 6 weeks

45. The plans for a shorter summer holiday will help students _____.

A. obtain the cheapest holidays without additional costs

B. get a chance to spend six weeks a term with teachers in school

C. benefit more from the caring and inspiring learning environment

D. have more school days to improve their study

46. It can be inferred from the passage that _____.

A. working parents can enjoy a five-week break to care for their children

B. the suggested plans for a five-term school year can hardly be carried out

C. the long summer holiday gives teachers and students real “down time”

D. some school staff will say “No” to the plans for a shorter summer holiday

E

Do you know how it is when you see someone yawn and you start yawning too? Or how hard it is to be among people laughing and not laugh yourself? Well, apparently it’s because we have mirror neurons (神经元)in our brains.

Put simply, the existence of mirror neurons suggests that every time we see someone else do something, our brains imitate(模仿) it, whether or not we actually perform the same action. This explains a great deal about how we learn to smile, talk, walk, dance or play sports. But the idea goes further: mirror neurons not only appear to explain physical actions, they also tell us that there is a biological basis for the way we understand other people.

Mirror neurons can undoubtedly be found all over our brains, but especially in the areas which relate to our ability to use languages, and to understand how other people feel. Researchers have found that mirror neurons relate strongly to language. A group of researchers discovered that if they gave people sentences to listen to (for example: “The hand took hold of the ball”), the same mirror neurons were triggered as when the action was actually performed (in this example, actually taking hold of a ball).

Any problems with mirror neurons may well result in problems with behavior. Much research suggests that people with social and behavioral problems have mirror neurons which are not fully functioning. However, it is not yet known exactly how these discoveries might help find treatments for social disorders.

Research into mirror neurons seems to provide us with ever more information concerning how humans behave and interact(互动). Indeed, it may turn out to be the equivalent(相等物) for neuroscience of what Einstein’s theory of relativity was for physics. And the next time you feel the urge to cough in the cinema when someone else does—well, perhaps you’ll understand why.

47. Mirror neurons can explain _____.

A. why we cry when we are hurt

B. why we cough when we suffer from a cold

C. why we smile when we see someone else smile

D. why we yawn when we see someone else stay up late

48. The underlined word “triggered” in the third paragraph probably means “____”.

A. set off    B. cut off   C. built up    D. broken up

49. We can learn from the passage that mirror neurons _____.

A. relate to human behavior and interaction

B. control human physical actions and feelings

C. result in bad behavior and social disorders

D. determine our knowledge and language abilities

50. What is the passage mainly about?

A. Ways to find mirror neurons.    B. Problems of mirror neurons.

C. Existence of mirror neurons.    D. Functions of mirror neurons.

第二节 补全对话(共5小题;每小题2分, 满分10分)

M: Look, a few weeks ago another customer had his doubts when I suggested that he buy one of these chairs. __53__ No way! In fact, he called me up and ordered another one.

W: It is comfortable.

M: There is no doubt about it. But the decision is up to you. If you’d like, __54__ Of course, I can’t guarantee(保证) that chairs will still be here.

W: Oh, __55__

M: The last one in stock. They’ve been selling like hot cakes.

A. Is this the only one you have?

B. You can look around and come back.

C. What about red? It looks very nice.

D. It’s very important that your chairs be comfortable.

E. Whites get dirty so quickly.

F. He took it away happily.

G. But do you think he bought it back?

第二卷(非选择题, 共60分)

第一节  阅读表达(共5小题;每小题2分, 满分10分)

阅读下面短文并回答问题, 然后将答案写到试卷规定的位置上(请注意问题后的字数要求)。

One of the greatest contributions to the first Oxford English Dictionary was also one of its most unusual. In 1879, Oxford University in England asked Prof. James Murray to serve as editor for what was to be the most ambitious dictionary in the history of the English language. It would include every English word possible and would give not only the definition but also the history of the word and quotations (引文) showing how it was used.

This was a huge task. So Murray had to find volunteers from Britain, the United States, and the British colonies to search every newspaper, magazine, and book ever written in English. Hundreds of volunteers responded, including William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor was an American Surgeon who had served in the Civil War and was now living in England. He gave his address as “Broadmoor, Crowthorne, Berkshire”, 50 miles from Oxford.

Minor joined the army of volunteers sending words and quotations to Murray. Over the next years, he became one of the staff’s most valued contributors.

But he was also a mystery. In spite of many invitations, he would always decline to visit Oxford. So in 1897, Murray finally decided to travel to Crowthorne himself. When he arrived, he found Minor locked in a book-lined cell at the Broadmoor Asylum(精神病院) for the criminally insane.

Murray and Minor became friends, sharing their love of words. Minor continued contributing to the dictionary, sending in more than 10,000 submissions in 20 years. Murray continued to visit Minor regularly, sometimes taking walks with him around the asylum grounds.

In 1910, Minor left Broadmoor for an asylum in his native America. Murray was at the port to wave goodbye to his remarkable friend.

Minor died in 1920, seven years before the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. The 12 volumes defined 414,825 words, and thousands of them were contributions from a very scholarly and devoted asylum patient.

56. How did Dr. Minor contribute to the dictionary? (with 7 words)

_________________________________________________________________________________

57. Why did Dr. Minor refuse to visit Oxford? (within 7 words)

_________________________________________________________________________________

58. Why did Prof. Murray and Dr. Minor become friends? (within 8 words)

_________________________________________________________________________________

59. How do you describe Dr. Minor? (within 3 words)

_________________________________________________________________________________

60. What does the text mainly talk about? (within 10 words)

_________________________________________________________________________________

第二节 短文改错 (共10小题;每小题1.5分, 满分15分)

下面短文中有10处语言错误, 请在有错误的地方增加、删除或修改某个单词。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号(∧), 并在其下面写上该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线(﹨)划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线, 并在该词下面写上修改后的词。

Last month we bought our two-year-old daughter a little dog. There are not many children of her age there we live, and we thought a dog would make her feel less alone. We were right. They play together happily all days. Our daughter now smiles and laughs a lot more than she used. In a way it is like having two children in the house. All of them are very untidy, but they cry when they do not get what they want. The dog is easy to look after than my daughter. He always ate up all his food and we don’ t have piles of dirty clothes to wash. My wife is also happy because of I have given up smoke. The dog doesn’ t like the smell.

注意：文章开头部分已给出, 不计入总词数。

Nowadays, a lot of people are reportedly unwilling to help others. However, Liu Fang acted differently. _________________________________________________________________________________

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