第二节：英国卫报就教育问题在其网站上组织了一次讨论，其中Jesica、Bernal、Stevens、Carlos与lnersoll的观点颇具代表性。第61—65题是他们各自的观点。阅读下面发表在the Guardians网站上的6段留言（A、B、C、D、E和F），选择与其观点一致的表述，并在答题纸上将该项标号涂黑。选项中有一项是多余选项。

61．Stevens blames the modern methods of teaching for the deafening noise in primary schools.

62．Jessica holds the view that it’s shameful that the investment in education has not achieved the expected results.

63．Ingersoll believes that education should be assessed from the students’ aspect and that how much they enjoy is what counts most.

64．Carlos thinks that in terms of education, students’ own willingness to learn really matters.

65．Bernal thinks the standard of education has made significant progress though we may not see plenty of obvious sings of it.

A

I think it’s a great shame that people don’t learn anything today. I mean, good heavens, when you think of all the millions of pounds the Government have spent on education—new schools, more teachers, new equipment. And yet still you find people who can’t read properly, can’t even write their names and don’t know what two and two is without a calculator. I think it’s downright disgraceful. I remember when I was young you went to school to learn. You did as you were told and respected your teachers. Nowadays you get long-haired kids who aren’t interested in anything. No wonder they don’t learn anything.

B

I can’t praise our educational system too much. Our universities provide internationally recognized qualifications and the teaching standards in our country are among the best in the world. The education system in our country is different from that in many other countries, and it greatly appeals to the foreign students. It has a long history of welcoming international students to study in its universities and colleges. Now over 300,000 international students from 180 different courtiers are currently studying in Britain. I think the government should invest more money into this field to maintain the competitiveness of the system and ensure the high quality of the education in the 21st century.

C

Well, there are a log of different views on this, but I think it is probably wrong to imagine that there was some golden age in the past when everything was perfect. It all depends, of course, on what you measure and how you measure it. It may surprise some people that there ha snot been an obvious and dramatic increase in the standard of educating, given the vast amounts of money spent in this area by successive governments in recent years. But of course you can’t expect to see a child grow into an adult overnight.

D

Well, if you asked me, it’s all these modern methods that is the problem. In the old days you sat in rows at desks and you did as you were told. You knew what you had to do and you did it—and you kept quiet. Nowadays, my god, the noise in most schools is deafening especially primary schools. The children wander around—do more or less what they want to as far as I can see. The teacher just sits there or wanders around with them, talking to them. Informal teaching they call it. discovery methods sounds more like a recipe for discovering disaster to me.

E

Many people talk about how to improve education and a lot suggest raising the salaries of teachers and professors. Of course, this is very important to education. Of course, this is very important to education. However, increasing the salary of teachers is just one way to improve education. It will not work without the cooperation of the other determining factors, such as students’ love of knowledge and reading. Even if the teachers are devoted, it will make no sense if the students are not willing to learn.

F

The criticism that what students learn today is not adapted to present-day society is completely wrong because education can never be seen only in terms of how useful the subjects are when students leave school. We ought to assess education in terms of how much the students enjoy those subjects and how much they mean to those students. Instead of being trained to be utilitarian, students should be encouraged to do things for their own sake, and study what they are interested in.

第二节 完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）

请认真阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

What is it about maths, anyway? Why is it that a ___36___ who would rather die than ___37___ they found reading difficult at school will happily say he is brain-dead when it ___38___ to numbers?

“I was ___39___ at maths at school,” they say. “still am. Can’t ___40___ up to save my life. My little girl takes after____41___. Thinks take-aways are something to do with fish and chips. Ha-ha!” Oh, how we all laugh.

But how many of us remember it being ___42___ at the time? How many of us remember the blind panic of the Monday morning maths test when the ___43___ we could hope for was a miracle(奇迹) to make the numbers we ___44___ without thinking as answers somehow ___45___ the questions?

On the face of it, today’s children can ___46___ be considered happier and more satisfied. They have a daily numeracy lesson ___47___ to improving their maths skills. But if that sounds like hell to you, you may ___48__ find that your child surprises you by actually quite ___49__ it.

One of the __50___ is that over the last ten years or so, there has been a ___51___ in the way maths is taught. And many of those who teach it feel it’s been a ___52__ for the better. There’s generally much more emphasis now on __53___ arithmetic, getting children used to doing calculations without forever having a pen in one hand and a calculator in the other. Often the first question a teacher will ask is: can you do this in your___54___? And if they can, they do.

The whole approach is more___55___, the goal to get children understanding numbers, not just putting them through the uninteresting process of learning something by repeating it until they remember it.

36     A.     teacher    B.     parent      C.     pupil          D.     teenager

37     A.     understand      B.     admit        C.     observe    D.     pretend

38     A.     add  B.     relate       C.     comes      D.     reject

39     A.     good         B.     expert      C.     special      D.     rubbish

40     A.     add  B.     make        C.     look  D.     pick

41     A.     stranger  B.     me   C.     herself      D.     somebody

42     A.     funny        B.     easy C.     attractive         D.     remote

43     A.     worst        B.     prize         C.     best D.     surprising

44     A.     missed     B.     lost  C.     found        D.     chose

45     A.     get   B.     foresee    C.     fit     D.     evaluate

46     A.     however  B.     frequently         C.     mostly      D.     hardly

47     A.     suggested        B.     devoted   C.     intended  D.     adapted

48     A.     well  B.     sometimes       C.     seldom     D.     extremely

49     A.     enjoying   B.     hating       C.     objecting D.     mastering

50     A.     consequences B.     reasons    C.     findings    D.     incidents

51     A.     mistake    B.     program  C.     policy        D.     revolution

52     A.     preparation      B.     reputation        C.     requirement    D.     change

53     A.     difficult     B.     general    C.     mental     D.     basic

54     A.     class         B.     head         C.     textbook  D.     own

55     A.     logical       B.     unbelievable    C.     direct        D.     conservative

Three blondes (金发碧眼的女人) were being trained to become detectives by a policeman. To test their skills in recognizing a suspect (嫌疑犯), the policeman showed the first blonde a picture for five seconds and then asked how she could recognize him. She thought it easy, for the suspect had only one eye. The policeman felt disappointed at this funny answer. He showed the second lady the picture for five seconds and asked her how she would recognize him. The second blonde giggled, flipped her hair, and said, "Ha! It’s easy to find the one-eared person!" Her answer also made the policeman angry. Turning to the third lady, he asked, "This is your suspect, and how would you recognize him?" He added quickly, "Think hard before giving a stupid answer." The third blonde looked at the picture carefully for a moment and said, "HMMMM ... the suspect is wearing contact lenses (隐形眼镜)." The policeman was surprised and speechless, because he really didn't know himself if the suspect wore contacts or not. "Well, that is a good answer. Wait here for a few minutes while I check his file." He left the room and went to his office, checked the suspect's file in his computer and returned with a beaming smile. "Wow! I can't believe it ... it's TRUE! The suspect does in fact wear contact lenses. Good work! How were you able to make such a wise observation?" "That's easy," the blonde replied, "he can't wear glasses because he only has one eye and one ear!"

56. Which of the following cannot conclude from the passage that detectives should have?

   A. They must be charming.

   B. Their observation must be keen.

   C. They must be humorous.

   D. They must be good at thinking.

57. According to the passage we can infer that ________.

  A. the suspect was easy to be recognized

  B. the picture was just a side of the suspect

  C. the suspect must be a disabled person

  D. the suspect was caught by the policeman

58. What will probably happen to the three blondes after this test?

  A. The first blonde may be accepted as a detective at once.

  B. The second blonde may be accepted as a detective at once.

  C. The third blonde is good at thinking and needn’t any training.

  D. All of them may be given more training courses or fired.

Do you want to live a happier, less stressful (有压力的) life?
Try laughing for no reason at all. That’s how thousands of people start their day at Laughter Clubs around the world – and many doctors now think that having a good laugh might be one of the best ways to stay healthy.
The first Laughter Club was started in Mumbai, India, in 1995 by Dr Madan Kataria. “Young children laugh about 300 times a day. Adults laugh between 7 and 15 times a day,” says Dr Kataria. “Everyone’s naturally good at laughing – it’s the universal language. We want people to feel happy with their lives.” There are now more than 500 Laughter Clubs in India and over 1,300 worldwide.
Many doctors are also interested in the effects (效果) of laughter on our health. According to a 5 – year study in the body. Laughter improves our health against illness by about 40%.
So, what happens at a Laughter Club? I went along to my nearest club in South London to find out. I was quite nervous at the beginning of the class, to be honest – I wasn’t interested in laughing with a group of strangers, and I was worried about looking stupid. Our laughter teacher told us to clap our hands and say “ho ho ho, ha ha ha,” while looking at each other. However, our bodies can’t tell the difference between fake laughter and real laughter, so they still produce the same healthy effects.
Surprisingly, it works! After ten minutes everybody in the room was laughing for real – and some people just couldn’t stop! At the end of the class I was surprised by how relaxed and comfortable I felt. So if you’re under stress, then start laughing. You might be very pleased with the results!
【小题1】In which country was the first Laughter Club started?

根据对话内容，从对话后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。（每小题1分）

A：____ I went to work early today, and everyone laughed at me.

B：____ It was me. Can’t you take a joke?

A：____ But watch out, because I’ll be sure to pull a prank on you next time.

B：It had better not be a practical joke like last year, when you painted my face red while I was sleeping.

A：____ Let’s go and see if any of our friends made a fool on anyone today.

B：OK! ____

E. Ha ha, that was a good one.           F. What did you do that for?

G. Who set my alarm one hour early?