Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension（40 minutes）

Section A

Directions：In this section，there is a passage with ten blanks.You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage.Read the passage through carefully before making your choices.Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter.Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.

The Englishman suspects all theories，philosophical（哲学的）or other.He suspects everything new and is reluctant to accept it at the very beginning，unless he is 26 by the force of circumstances to see that this new thing has advantages over the old.They do not consult historical 27 in order to decide what to do：They first learn the facts as they are；then they depend upon their own common sense，not at all upon their university learning or upon philosophical theories.

It is difficult to get praise from the Englishman.A new idea，a noble action，and an 28 painting—any of these things will be admired and praised by every other people in Europe long before you can get Englishmen to praise.The Englishman all this time is trying to find fault.Why should he try to find fault？He has 29 the terrible caution of his ancestors in regard to mistakes.Unless it 30 him he is away from mistakes，he will not accept the new thing.He has learned 31 his ancestors taught him.

The judgment of the Englishman by all other European peoples is that he is the most 32 ，the most unreceptive（不愿意倾听的），and the most unfriendly among other peoples.Another typical character of English people is that they are the most 33 of all western peoples.If you ask a Frenchman，an Italian，a German，even an American，what he thinks about Englishmen，every one of them will have a common answer—Englishmen are so proud of themselves that it is difficult for them to accept things beyond their present conditions.

But you would find upon the other hand that nearly all nations would speak 34 of certain other English qualities—energy，courage，honour.The friendship of an Englishman once gained is more strong and true than any other.It must be acknowledged that the English character is especially well fitted for the struggle.It is neither a lovable nor an agreeable character；it is not even kindly，for kindness is an emotional 35，and the Englishman never likes to do things on the spur of the moment.But with all this，the character is a grand one，and its success has been the best proof of its value.

A）arrogant I）importance

B）caution J）impulse

C）compelled K）inherited

D）complied L）invariably

E）ensures M）precedents

F）exquisite N）resembles

G）grace O）suspicious

H）highly

Section B

Directions：In this section，you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it.Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs.Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived.You may choose a paragraph more than once.Each paragraph is marked with a letter.Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.

The Serious Need for Play

A）Stuart Brown，a Texas’s psychiatrist，interviewed 26 convicted murderers and discovered that most of the killers shared two things in common：they were from abusive families，and they never played as kids.

B）Brown did not know which factor was more important.But for years，he has interviewed some 6，000 people about their childhoods，and his data suggest that a lack of opportunities for unstructured play，which is critical for coping with stress and building cognitive skills such as problem solving，can keep children from growing into happy，well-adjusted adults.Research into animal behaviour confirms play’s benefits and its evolutionary importance：play may provide animals（including humans）with skills that will help them survive and reproduce.

C）A handful of studies support Brown’s conviction that a play-deprived childhood disrupts normal social emotional and cognitive development in humans and animals.Brown and other psychologists worry that limiting free play in kids may result in a generation of anxious，unhappy and socially inadaptable adults.But it is never too late to start：play also promotes the continued mental and physical well-being of adults.

D）But kids play soccer and Scrabble（一种拼字游戏）—why are experts concerned that these games and more structured activities are eating into free play？“Certainly games with rules are fun and sources of learning experiences—they may foster group cohesion，for instance，”says Anthony D.Pellegrini，an educational psychologist at the University of Minnesota.But，Pellegrini explains，“games have priori（先验的）rules—set up in advance and followed.Play，on the other hand，does not have priori rules，so it affords more creative responses.”

E）Creativity is key because it challenges the developing brain more than following predetermined rules does.The child initiates and creates free play.In free play，kids use their imagination and try out new activities and roles.It might involve fantasies—such as pretending to be doctors or princesses or playing house—or it might include mock fighting，as when kids（primarily boys）wrestle and tumble with one another for fun，switching roles periodically.And free play is most similar to play seen in the animal kingdom suggesting that it has important evolutionary roots.

F）How do these seemingly pointless activities benefit kids？Perhaps most crucially，play appears to help us develop strong social skills.Children learn to be fair and take turns—they cannot always demand to be the fairy queen，or soon they have no playmates.Because kids enjoy the activity，they do not give up as easily in the face of frustration as they might on，say，a maths problem—which helps them develop persistence and negotiating abilities.

G）Keeping things friendly requires a fair bit of communication—arguably the most valuable social skill of all.Playing with peers is the most important in this regard.Studies show that children use more sophisticated language when playing with other children than when playing with adults.

H）Does play help children become socialised？Studies suggest that it does.According to a 1997 study of children living in poverty and at high risk of school failure，published by the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation，kids who enroled in play-oriented preschools are more socially adjusted later in life than are kids who attended play-free preschools where they were constantly instructed by teachers.By age 23，more than one third of kids who had attended instruction-oriented preschools had been arrested for a serious crime as compared with fewer than one tenth of the kids who had been in play-oriented preschools.And as adults，fewer than 7%of the play-oriented preschool attendees had ever been suspended from work but more than a quarter of the directly instructed kids had.

I）Research suggests that play is also critical for emotional health，possibly because it helps kids work through anxiety and stress.In a 1984 study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry，researchers assessed the anxiety levels of 74 three-and four-year-old children on their first day of preschool as indicated by their behaviour—whether they pleaded，cried and begged their parents to stay—and how much their palms were sweating.Based on the researchers’observations，they labelled each child as either anxious or not anxious.They then randomly split the 74 kids into four groups.Half of the kids were escorted to rooms full of toys，where they played either alone or with peers for 15 minutes；the other half were told to sit at a small table either alone or with peers and listen to a teacher tell a story for 15 minutes.

J）Afterwards，the kids’levels of distress were assessed again.The anxiety levels of the anxious kids who had played had dropped by more than twice as much as compared with the anxious kids who had listened to the story.（The kids who were not anxious to begin with stayed about the same.）Interestingly，those who played alone calmed down more than the ones who played with peers.The researchers speculate that through imaginative play，which is most easily initiated alone，children build fantasies that help them cope with difficult situations.

K）Play fighting also improves problem solving.According to a paper published by Pellegrini in 1989，the more elementary school boys engaged in rough-housing（喧嚣的游戏或打闹），the better they scored on a test of social problem solving.During the test，researchers presented kids with five pictures of a child trying to get a toy from a peer and five pictures of a child trying to avoid being scolded by his mother.The subjects were then asked to come up with as many possible solutions to each social problem while their score was based on the variety of strategies they mentioned，and children who play-fought regularly tended to score much better.

L）Playing also appears to help with language development，according to a 2007 study in the Archives of Pediatrics&Adolescent Medicine.Researchers at the University of Washington gave a box of toy blocks to children from middle-and low-income families aged 18 months to two and a half years.Parents of these kids，as well as parents of a similar group of kids who had no blocks，kept track of how often the children played.After six months，the kids who had played with blocks scored significantly higher on language tests than the others did.The researchers are not sure，however，whether these improvements resulted from playing with blocks—because by playing with blocks，the youngsters were spending less time in unproductive activities（徒劳无益的活动）such as watching television—but the end result was good for them in any case.

M）If play is so crucial，what happens to children who are not playing enough？Ultimately，no one knows.Studies on rats indicates that play drive comes from the brain stem，a structure that precedes the evolution of mammals（哺乳动物）.

N）Of course，many parents today believe they are acting in their kids’best interests when they sacrifice free play for what they see as valuable learning activities.Some mothers and fathers may also hesitate to let their kids play outside unattended，and they may worry about the possibility of the scrapes and broken bones，says Sergio M.Pellis，a behavioural neuroscientist at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta.Although those instincts are natural，protecting kids“simply defrays（支付）those dear costs to later，when those same children will have difficulty in dealing with an unpredictable，complex world，”Pellis says.

O）Parents should let children be children—not just because it should be fun to be a child but because denying youth’s joys keeps kids from developing into inquisitive，creative creatures，Elkind warns.“Play has to be reframed and seen not as an opposite to work but rather as a complement，”he says.“Curiosity，imagination and creativity are like muscles：if you don’t use them，you lose them.”

36.For children who live in poverty and at high risk of school failure，the lack of unstructured play in childhood proves to hinder their socialisation.

37.According to Anthony D.Pellegrini，free play which must be initiated in a relaxed setting essentially has no clear goal.

38.Elkind holds that play and work fulfill complementary roles instead of contradicting each other.

39.Research into animal behaviour finds that play probably has evolved and persisted because it grants survival advantages.

40.Comparing with listening to stories，play can help the anxious children release pressure more effectively.

41.According to a paper by Pellegrini in 1989，rough play，in some sense，was conductive to problem solving.

42.Compared with free play，games which require predetermined rules tend to restrain one’s creativity.

43.Parents will defray dear costs for overprotecting their kids if the kids grow into socially inadaptable adults.

44.Brown’s study indicates that children are prone to grow into maladjusted adults if they are deprived in childhood of free play.

45.Studies on rats suggest that both humans and animals are born with the motivation for play.

Section C

Directions：There are 2 passages in this section.Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements.For each of them there are four choices marked A），B），C）and D）.You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

The popular dietary supplement ginseng（人参）is said to improve one’s mood and all-around vigor，but a new study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association suggests that ginseng has little of any effect on psychological health.The study，conducted by researchers at Oregon State University and Wayne State University，is one of the most extensive peer-reviewed studies of ginseng ever conducted.

“Ginseng is being marketed to relatively healthy young people as a way to feel even better—a kind of yuppie（雅皮士）supplement，”said Bradley J.Cardinal，an associate professor in the College of Health and Human Performance at Oregon State，“We found it had no real effect on mood at all.It certainly did not live to some of its over-enthusiastic marketing claims.”Among the claims，the authors say，were that ginseng enhances mood，leads to positive well-being，and generally makes you feel better.Marketing strategies used to push ginseng promoted its use by astronauts and professional athletes，and claimed it did everything from easing childbirth to working as an aphrodisiac（壮阳剂）.

The study by Cardinal and Hermann J.Engels of Wayne State University focused only on the alleged psychological properties of ginseng.The researchers gave a regular，200mg daily dose of ginseng to one group of volunteers for eight weeks.A second group received a doubled dose of 400mg daily；the third group received a sugar pill.None of the individuals knew what they were taking.At the end of the eight-week period，the researchers measured the effects of the supplements on the volunteers’“total mood disturbance”using a 65-question“Profile of Mood States”inventory.To eliminate bias，the researchers evaluated the tests without initially knowing which subjects were taking ginseng and which were taking placebos.They compared the results with a baseline survey of the volunteers taken just prior to the study.They found no significant difference among the three groups.

“What these findings on psychological effect do is to extend earlier research from our lab that examined physiological outcomes of ginseng，”said Wayne State University’s Engels.“Our previous research found，using a controlled physical exercise stress test，that ginseng had no effects when given to normal，healthy adults.”

46.What is the main idea of the passage？

A）Ginseng is one of the most popular dietary supplements.

B）New study questions the role of ginseng as mood enhancer.

C）The study of ginseng is one of the most extensive peer-reviewed studies.

D）The study focused on the alleged psychological properties of ginseng.

47.It can be concluded that Cardinal’s attitude towards marketing claims about ginseng is____.

A）questioning B）neutral C）positive D）negative

48.The study conducted by Cardinal and Hermann J.Engels aims to____.

A）analyse the reason for the popularity of ginseng

B）demonstrate the unwanted side effects of ginseng

C）evaluate the alleged effect of ginseng on psychological health

D）eliminate bias by both the volunteers and the researchers themselves

49.“Placebos”（Line 7，Para.3）refer to____.

A）poor-qualified ginseng C）small tablets

B）high-qualified perfume D）sugar pills

50.We learn from the last paragraph that____.

A）all groups experienced increase in positive feeling during the eight weeks

B）ginseng didn’t seem to enhance the psychological well-being of normal，healthy adults

C）ginseng regarded as a popular dietary supplement had no effects at all

D）it was impossible that ginseng had an effect on certain individuals

Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.

Well-to-do parents are increasingly choosing to send their children to single-sex preparatory schools，reversing the trend of recent years.Last week，Michael Gove told us that we needed to promote a Dangerous Book for Boys culture so that boys could be boys again.At the beginning of this month，it（re-）emerged that there were far fewer male teachers in primary schools to act as role models.

Underlying this is anxiety about achievement；recent Department for Education figures show that nearly double the number of boys failed to reach expected standards at seven.The gender gap is more than 10 points in English at 11.Behaviour is a worry too.Boys are three and a half times more likely to be excluded，and the figure is worse still if you are a working-class or black boy.

Today’s answer to the problem seems to be single-sex schools.Yet debates about their value are both age-old and decidedly unresolved.Proponents（倡导者）argue that keeping boys together allows them to expel their“boyish”energy more freely—ensuring they are in line and on task.Girls are said to benefit too，with more support to build self-confidence.

But there is also evidence in the other direction.A report commissioned by the Headmasters and Headmistresses conference，which represents top private schools，shows that single-sex schools make little difference to outcomes.What’s more，arguing that Eton is a good school because it only admits boys is like saying Wayne Rooney is a good footballer because he wears a nice kit—one does not necessarily lead to the other.

In practice，the single-sex question is a distraction from what really matters.It sounds obvious，but boys（and girls）will do better if they are taught better by teachers who understand their individual needs.That means skilled practitioners（从业者）using the curriculum creatively to engage and excite every single child in front of them—regardless of their gender.And，incidentally，male and female teachers have equal capacity to get this right.

Of course this is hard，and I can say I fell short many times.But just by introducing a gender control on the group isn’t going to make it any easier.What about the girl who likes active learning or the boy who is shy？I am not sure they would get a fair deal if our teaching is framed by gender behaviours.In any case，we want kids to be able to perform better in response to all learning environments—not just the ones they are comfortable in.So let girls be boisterous（活跃的），and boys self-reflect.And let them learn together，taught by the best teachers we can find.

51.What’s the trend of recent years according to the passage？

A）More rich parents choose single-sex education for their kids.

B）Male teachers enjoy increasing popularity among parents.

C）Boys from working class start to catch up with girls in study.

D）Many people send their children to mixed-sex preparatory schools.

52.What’s supporters’argument for single-sex schools？

A）There exists no gender gap in these schools.C）Boys gain more confidence in boy schools.

B）They are beneficial to both boys and girls.D）They help girls achieve their full potential.

53.The example of Wayne Rooney is used to show that____.

A）single-sex education does not necessarily make boys successful

B）sports gear is extremely important in an athlete’s achievement

C）boys tend to make greater progress once they go to boy schools

D）good single-sex schools can solve boys’behavioural problems

54.According to the author，what really matters in children’s education？

A）The gender of teachers. C）Individualised teaching.

B）Teachers’character. D）The curriculum set by schools.

55.What does the author suggest parents do to girls who like active learning？

A）Send them to a class with stern teachers. C）Try to teach them how to behave themselves.

B）Separate them from active boys in school. D）Find them teachers that can meet their needs.