四六级考试题库_网考网(Netkao.com)

HighSchoolSportsAren’tKillingAcademicsA)
High School SportsAren’t KillingAcademicsA、In this month’sAtlantic cover article, “TheCaseAgainst High-School Sports,”Amanda Ripley argues that school-sponsored sports programs should be seriously cut. She writes that, unlike most countries that outperform the United States on international assessments,American schools put too much of an emphasis on athletics, “ Sports are embedded inAmerican schools in a way they are not almost anywhere else,” she writes, “Yet this difference hardly ever comes up in domestic debates aboutAmerica’s international mediocrity(平庸)in education.”B、American student-athletes reap many benefits from participating in sports, but the costs to the schools could outweigh their benefits, she argues, In particular, Ripley contends that sports crowd out the academic missions of schools:America should learn from South Korea and Finland and every other country at the top level of international test scores, all of whom emphasize athletics far less in school. ”Even in eighth grade,American kids spend more than twice the time Korean kids spend playing sports,” she writes, citing a 2010 study published in the Journal ofAdvancedAcademics.C、It might well be true that sports are far more rooted inAmerican high schools than in other countries.But our reading of international test scores finds no support for the argument against school athletics. Indeed, our own research and that of others lead us to make the opposite case. School-sponsored sports appear to provide benefits that seem to increase, not detract(减少)from, academic success.D、Ripley indulges a popular obsession(痴迷)with international test score comparisons, which show wide and frightening gaps between the United States and other countries. She ignores, however, the fact that states vary at least as much in test scores as do developed countries.
A、2011 report from Harvard University shows that Massachusetts produces math scores comparable to South Korea and Finland, while Mississippi scores are closer to Trinidad and Tobago. Ripley’s thesis about sports falls apart in light of this fact. Schools in Massachusetts provide sports programs while schools in Finland do not. Schools in Mississippi may love football while in Tobago interscholastic sports are nowhere near as prominent. Sports cannot explain these similarities in performance. They can’t explain international differences either.E、If it is true that sports undermine the academic mission ofAmerican schools, we would expect to see a negative relationship between the commitment to athletics and academic achievement. However, the University ofArkansas’sDanielBowen and Jay Greene actually find the opposite. They examine this relationship by analyzing schools’ sports winning percentages as well as student-athletic participation rates compared to graduation rates and standardized test score achievement over a five-year period for all public high schools in Ohio.Controlling for student poverty levels, demographics(人口统计状况), and district financial resources, both measures of a school’s commitment to athletics are significantly and positively related to lower dropout rates as well as higher test scores.　　F)On-the-field success and high participation in sports is not random-it requires focus and dedication to athletics. One might think this would lead schools obsessed with winning to deemphasize academics.Bowen and Greene’s results contradict that argument.
A、likely explanation for this seemingly counterintuitive(与直觉相反的)result is that success in sports programs actually facilitates or reflects greater social capital within a school’s community.　　G)Ripley cites the writings of renowned sociologist JamesColeman, whose research in education was groundbreaking.Coleman in his early work held athletics in contempt, arguing that they crowded out schools’ academic missions. Ripley quotes his 1961 study, TheAdolescent Society, whereColeman writes, “Altogether, the trophy(奖品)case
Weenjoyedtheholiday______theexpense.A．ex
We enjoyed the holiday ______ the expense.A．except
B．except for
C．besides
D．in addition to
ManandNatureThebalanceofnatureisadelicat
Man and Nature The balance of nature is a delicate system of checks and counter-checks. Nature has its own way of checking the life and distribution of the different organisms and helping their growth.An epidemic may be considered nature’’ s way of checking population growth. Man in his attempt to conquer nature and to utilize it to his advantage has interfered with the balance of nature, thereby creating problems of a complex nature. Nature’’ s ways of maintaining the balance are intricate and not easily understood and man’’ s application of his scientific knowledge and techniques has upset this balance so much that today, being aware of the disastrous consequences, he takes measures against them. No animal or plant can live in isolation ,for different organisms are parts of a vast dynamic complex of living things.As no man or community is self-sufficient, no organism can live by itself. When man interferes with the interdependence and interrelationships of the different organisms, he is, in effect, upsetting their balanced relationships and his action can have a chain reaction. If we prevent fish eggs from being deposited in a pond, we are allowing an unchecked growth of weeds. The waterfowl which feeds on tadpoles will look for alternatives, thereby tending to upset these balanced relationships. It is important that for the preservation of beauty in nature the balance of nature is maintaineD、 Man for his own survival has to make his peace with plant and animal life, the size and distribution of which he has interfered with. It is to be noted that in every plant and animal community there is a trend towards a balance between the different species. When each successive species is of the right number to maintain a constant population, a balance between the different species is maintained and this state is referred to as the climax stage. Man is forever upsetting the balance of the climax stage. He has added to the numbers of animals and plants that are useful to him. In the process he has unwittingly helped the increase in the number of insects and vermin and as a result he has to wage a relentless war against them. If man continues to interfere with the balance of nature, it is possible that some animals and birds may soon become extinct. The indiscriminate hunting of whales has reduced the number of some species almost to the verge of extinction and international laws have been drawn up to protect them. The balance of nature is to be maintained in order to prevent soil deterioration. Human intervention has altered the established relationship between the plants of an area and the soil of that are
A、Animals introduced by man, sheep and goats for example, have led to widespread soil deterioration.By cutting down trees or by practising unsuitable systems of agriculture, man destroys the crumb structure of soil, thereby making it susceptible to erosion. Soil erosion results in loss of soil fertility and maintaining soil fertility is considered the biggest problem facing mankind apart from the prevention of war. The increase in world population and the growth of civilization have been the two major factors that have led man to cut down forests on an unprecedented scale and the erosion caused by the cutting down of huge areas of forests has resulted in floods on a scale hitherto unknown. Soil erosion can whittle away soil fertility and if adequate and effective measures are not taken it can become a menacing specter tearing at the prosperity of many countries. Pollution, in its different forms, interferes with the balance of nature. Water pollution affects nature’’s balance in oceans, lakes and rivers. Man - made pollution of water is due to municipal sewage, dumping by factories and the depositing of pesticides. Solid wastes can permeate the soil and pollute lakes and rivers. Man has to adopt the philosophy of thrift by conserving natural resources and not destroying them by interfering with the bala
{{B}}PassageTwo{{/B}}AproposedRussianban
{{B}}Passage Two{{/B}}
A、proposed Russian ban onEuropean Union meat exports could jeopardize Russia’s aspirations to join the World Trade Organization next year, theEU trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, warned Friday. He warned that several of the 25EU member states were growing weary of Russia’s trade tactics and could move to block its WTO biD、
He emphasized that theEuropean Union supported Russia’s WTO accession in principle and that he did not want to link the Russian meat ban to Russia’s WTO prospects, thoughEU states could do so. In order to join the organization, Russia must reach agreement with each of the 149 WTO members.
"Issues like this will affect the attitude of member states toward signing off on accession," Mandelson saiD、"This is not the only trade irritant between us and Russia — there are at least half a dozen— and this latest ban is bound to affect the attitude of member states," toward Russia’s aim of joining the WTO. "We can’t have so many of these trade irritants hanging over us."
Mandelson said he would work to get Russia to back off from its current plans to ban allEU animal products as of Jan. 1, which would affect 1.7 billion, or $2.2 billion, in exports to RussiA、
Moscow has justified the ban on the grounds thatBulgaria and Romania, which will join theEuropean Union on that day, do not have adequate food safety measures.
But Mandelson warned that if Moscow refused to hack down, it could sour overall trade relations with theEuropean Union, which is already concerned about fair access to Moscow’s energy resources. "Russia is acting in a disproportionate way," he saiD、
President Vladimir Putin has made WTO membership one of his key economic objectives. He is keen to improve access to world markets for Russian exports and to provide a lift to the country’s neglected agricultural sector.European resistance would add to reservations by trade negotiators in Washington who want Russia to make more progress on reducing tariffs on U.S. meat imports and protecting intellectual property before joining the world trade body.
Trade disputes east a shadow over the summit meeting, which was supposed to mark the start of talks on a partnership agreement between theEuropean Union and Russia covering energy, trade and human rights.But Poland — in a separate dispute with Moscow over a Russian ban on Polish farm exports — used its veto to stop the talks on Friday.
Putin defended the Russian ban after earlier complaining that theEuropeanCommission had failed to consult him before agreeing to admitBulgaria and Romania, whose food safety practices he called into question.
EU officials said privately that Putin’s stance suggested he was suffering from aCold War hangover because the former Soviet satellites will soon becomeELI members.
What is the author’s attitude towards RussiaA．Suggestive.
B．SympathetiC、
C．Prejudicial.
D．Objective.
A．Stayandnegotiateormove.B．Moveclosertot

A、Stay and negotiate or move.
B．Move closer to the University or near the subway.
C．Fight for a small increases or accepts an in crease offer.
D．There is no choice.
ScientistsWorryMachinesMayOutsmartManAro
Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man
A、robot that can open doors and find electrical outlets to recharge itself.Computer viruses that no one can stop. "Predator" fighters, which, though still controlled remotely by humans, come close to a machine that can kill autonomously.
Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists is debating whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of society’s workload, from waging war to chatting with customers on the phone.
Their concern is that further advances could create profound social disruptions and even have dangerous consequences.
As examples, the scientists pointed to a number of technologies as diverse as experimental medical systems that interact with patients to simulate sympathy, and computer worms and viruses that defy extermination (消灭) and could thus be said to have reached a "cockroach" stage of ma chine intelligence.
While the computer scientists agreed that we are a long way from Hal, the computer that took over the spaceship in "2001:A、Space Odyssey," they said there was legitimate concern that technological progress would transform the work force by destroying a widening range of jobs, as well as force humans to learn to live with machines that increasingly copy human behaviors.
The researchers—leading computer scientists, artificial intelligence researchers and roboticists who met at theAsilomarConference Grounds on MontereyBay inCalifornia—generally dismissed the possibility of highly centralized superintelligences and the idea that intelligence might spring spontaneously from the Internet.But they agreed that robots that can kill autonomously are either already here or will be soon.
They focused particular attention on the specter that criminals could exploit artificial intelligence systems as soon as they were developeD、What could a criminal do with a speech synthesis system that could disguise as a human being What happens if artificial intelligence technology is used to mine personal information from smart phones
The researchers also discussed possible threats to human jobs, like self-driving cars, software based personal assistants and service robots in the home. Just last month, a service robot developed by Willow Garage in Silicon Valley proved it could navigate the real worlD、
A、report from the conference, which took place in private on FeB、25, is to be issued later this year. Some attendees discussed the meeting for the first time with other scientists this month and in interviews.
The conference was organized by theAssociation for theAdvancement ofArtificial IntelligenceA、A、A、I.), and in choosingAsilomar for the discussions, the group purposefully evoked a landmark event (里程碑式事件) in the history of science. In 1975, the world’s leading biologists also met atAsilomar to discuss the new ability to reshape life by swapping genetic material among organisms.Concerned about possible biohazards and ethical questions, scientists had halted certain experiments. The conference led to guidelines for recombinantDNA、research, enabling experimentation to continue.
The meeting on the future of artificial intelligence was organized byEric Horvitz, a Microsoft researcher who is now president of the association.
Dr. Horvitz said he believed computer scientists must respond to the notions of superintelligent machines and artificial intelligence systems run amok (横行).
The idea of an "intelligence explosion" in which smart machines would design even more intelligent machines was proposed by the mathematician I.J.Good in 1965. Later, in lectures and science fiction novels, the computer scientist Vernor Vinge popularized the notion of a moment when humans will create smarter-than-human machines,
A．Newideascomeupasyouwrite.B．Muchtimeiss

A、New ideas come up as you write.
B．Much time is spent on collecting dat
A、
C．
A、lot of effort is made in vain.
D．The writer’s point of view often changes.
Iwasabouttoleavemyhouse______hecame.A．wh
I was about to leave my house ______ he came.A．while
B．as
C．when
D．since
Letchildrenlearntojudgetheirownwork.Achi
Let children learn to judge their own work.
A、child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time. If corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use.Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like what other people say. In the same way, when children learn to do all the other things they learn to do without being taught—to work, run, climb, whistle, or ride a bicycle. They compare those performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes.
But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his own mistakes for himself, let alone correct them. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was made to. Soon he becomes dependent on the teacher. Let him do it himself. Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not. If it is a matter of right answers, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers.
Why should we teachers waste time on such routine work Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can’t find a way to get the right answer. Let’s end this nonsense of grades, exams and marks. Let us throw them all out, and let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, that is, how to measure their own understanding and how to know what they know or do not know. Let them get on with this job in the way that seems most sensible to them, with our help as school teachers if they ask for it.
The idea that there is a body of knowledge to be learnt at school and used for the rest of one’s life is nonsense in a world as complicated and rapidly changing as ours.Anxious parents and teachers say, "But suppose they fail to learn something essential, something they will need to get in the world "Don’t worry! If it is essential, they will go out into the world and learn it.
The author thinks that if children are always corrected, they will grow up to be ______.

A、fearful of making mistakes
B、too critical of themselves
C、unable to think for themselves D、unable to use basic skills
Sugarlessyoghurt(酸奶)couldhelpbeatbadbrea
Sugarless yoghurt (酸奶) could help beat bad breath, tooth decay and gum disease, say scientists. Japanese researchers found eating the yoghurt (62) levels of hydrogen sulphide (硫化氢) -- a major (63) of bad breath -- in 80% of volunteers. The (64) are active bacteria in yoghurt.
Details were (65) at a meeting of the InternationalAssociation forDental Research.A(n) (66) of 24 volunteers who participated in the study were given strict instructions (67) oral health, diet and medicine taking. They spent two weeks (68) yoghurts and similar foods, like cheese. Researchers then (39) bacteria levels and odor-causing compounds, (70) hydrogen-sulphide. The volunteers then ate 90 grams of yoghurt a day for six weeks.At the end of the study, researchers took (71) again. They found hydrogen sulphide levels (72) in 80% of participants.
Dr. NigelCarter, chief executive of theBritishDental Health Foundation, said, "The foundation has long been (73) people’s attention to sugar-free yoghurts as a healthy snack, so it is pleasing to hear that it may have oral health benefits we were previously (74) of."
"Although this research is still in the early stages there is no (75) that sugar-free yoghurts provide a much healthier (76) to sweets and chocolate, and we would encourage snackers to (77) them into their diet."
(78) ,Dr.Carter stressed that the best way to beat bad breath was by (79) a good oral health routine. This involves brushing twice-a-day with fluoride (氟化物) toothpaste, cutting (80) on the frequency of sugary snacks and drinks and visiting a dentist (81) .
A．grew
B．remained
C．decreased
D．risen