2．A new college guide in the United States compares educational requirements in seven subjects．These include math，science，writing and United States history or government．The other subjects are economics，foreign language and literature．
The free online guide is from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni．The council is a nonprofit group that supports liberal arts education．
Its president，Anne Neal，says these areas of knowledge are needed to succeed in a twenty-first century society and an increasingly connected world．Yet she told VOA's Faiza Elmasry it was surprising how many students can graduate with，in her words，a"thin education．"
Forty-two of the one hundred colleges and universities surveyed received the lowest marks．This meant they required two or fewer of the seven subjects．Five schools received a top grade for requiring six subjects．These were Brooklyn College in New York City，Texas A&M，the University of Texas-Austin，West Point and the University of Arkansas．
Robert Costrell is a professor of education reform and economics at the University of Arkansas．He says many，if not all，of the top American colleges once had a core curriculum-a set of courses required for all students．
But over the years，many have dropped these requirements．Or they have watered them down，Professor Costrell says，into what became known as distribution requirements．This system lets a student choose from a number of different courses to satisfy a requirement．
ROBERT COSTRELL："And in many cases these courses went too far，I would say，towards the fluffy treatment of serious material，and students could satisfy their requirement by taking such courses．"
Professor Costrell says schools should not only re-examine what they teach．They should also measure what students have learned-for example，through some form of examinations or papers．
A new report this week from the College Board showed that college prices continue to rise．But Anne Neal from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni says higher prices do not guarantee a better general education．In fact，the group found that the higher the tuition，the more likely that students have to develop their own general education．
The college guide is on the Web at whatwilltheylearn．com．Anne Neal says her group is surveying more colleges．The hope，she says，is to discover what college graduates have really learned，and how ready they are to compete in the global marketplace．

67．Where does the passage probably come from？B
A．A scientific fiction．      B．A research newspaper．
C．A fashion magazine．        D．An entertainment newspaper．
68．The American Council of Trustees and Alumni does all the following EXCEPTD．
A．support liberal arts education
B．concern itself with education in America
C．devote time to helping improve college education
D．make money by helping with college education
69．The words"watered them down"underlined in Paragraph 6most likely mean"A．"
A．reduced required courses                   B．improved required courses
C．increased required courses                 D．developed required courses
70．In this passage，the new college guide mainly tells its readers that American colleges  shouldA．
A．meet the requirements of the new century
B．reduce the number of required courses
C．have different standards on required courses
D．cut down on their tuitions．

1．Our brains work in complex and strange ways．There are some people who can calculate the day of the week for any given date in 40，000 years，but who cannot add two plus two．Others can perform complex classical piano pieces after hearing them once，but they cannot read or write．
         Dr．J．Langdon Down first described this condition in 1887．He called these people idiot savants．An idiot savant is a person who has significant mental impairment （損傷），such as in autism or retardation．At the same time，the person also exhibits some extraordinary skills，which are unusual for most people．The skills of the savant may vary from being exceptionally gifted in music or in mathematics，or having a photographic memory．
         One of the first descriptions of a human who could calculate quickly was written in 1789 by Dr．Benjamin Rush，an American doctor．His patient，Thomas Fuller，was brought to Virginia as a slave in 1724．It took Thomas only 90 seconds to work out that a man who has lived 70 years，17 days，and 12 hours has lived 2，210，500，800 seconds．Despite this ability，he died in 1790 without ever learning to read or write．
         Another idiot savant slave became famous as a pianist in the 1860s．Blind Tom had a vocabulary of only 100 words，but he played 5，000 musical pieces beautifully．
         In the excellent movie Rain Man，made in 1988 and available on video cassette，Dustin Hoffman plays an idiot savant who amazes his brother played by Tom Cruise，with his ability to perform complex calculations very rapidly．
         Today we more clearly recognize that the idiot savant is special because of brain impairment．Yet not all brain impairment leads to savant skills．Some studies have shown that people who have purposeful interruption of the left side of the brain can develop idiot savant skills．However few people wish to participate in such experiments．There are many excellent reasons for not undergoing unnecessary experimentation on one's brain．The term idiot savant is outdated and inappropriate．Virtually all savants have a high degree of intelligence and are thus not idiots．
63．What does the passage mainly talk about？A
A．Idiot savants have areas of outstanding abilities．
B．Human Beings have complicated thinking process．
C．The brains of the idiot savants are partly impaired．
D．The reasons why people have wonderful skills vary．
64．Which of the following can be done by Rain Man？D
A．He can play wonderful pieces of classical music．
B．He can guess out exactly the length of a man's life．
C．He can memorize the contents of the pictures fast．
D．He can count matches dropped on the floor quickly．
65．What can you infer from the passage？C
A．Idiot savants have real talents for art and math．
B．Dr．Down is the first person who found idiot savants．
C．Few people wish to risk becoming savants by brain operations．
D．Intentional left brain impairments will surely lead to idiot savants．
66．Which of the following shows the structure of the passage？B

20．Would you eat a ready meal from the fridge rather than cook by yourself？Have you been doing Internet shopping rather than going to the stores？What can't you be bothered to do？
A study into how lazy British people are has found more than half of adults prefer to catch the lift rather than climb two flights of stairs．
Just over 2000people were quizzed by independent researchers at Nuffield Health，Britain's largest health charity．The results were very astonishing．
About one in six people surveyed （調(diào)查） said if their remote control was broken，they would continue watching the same channel rather than get up．
More than one third of those questioned said they would not run to catch a bus．Worryingly，of the 654respondents with children，64% said they were often too tired to play with them．
This led the report to conclude that it's no wonder that one in six children in the UK are classified as obese （肥胖） before they start school．
Dr Sarah Dauncey，medical director of Nuffield Health，said；"People need to get fitter，not only for themselves but also for their families，friends and evidently their pets．If we don't start to take control of this problem，a whole generation will become too unfit to perform even the most basics of tasks．"
And Scotland's largest city，Glasgow，was ashamed as the most lazy city in the UK，with 75% surveyed admitting they do not get enough exercise，followed closely by Birmingham and Southampton，both with 67%．
The results cause serious challenges for the National Health Service，where obesity-related illnesses such as heart disease and cancer have been on a steady increase for the past 40years and are costing billions of pounds every year．

68．From the passage we can learn thatA．
A．Birmingham is second to Glasgow in laziness
B．half of the parents don't care enough for children
C．one in six people in the UK don't take exercise
D．British people are more lazy than those in other countries
69．The report suggests that some pre-school children in the UK are obese becauseD
A．they have a big appetite
B．they have a sweet tooth
C．their parents often work too hard
D．their parents seldom play with them
70．According to the passage，overweight mightA．
A．contribute to heart disease
B．result from some heart attack
C．be common in developed areas
D．not be controlled in a short time．

19．Wuhan，the capital city of Hubei province，has issued smog warnings for three days since Monday because of serious air pollution．
The lingering smog forced construction sites to stop work and primary and middle schools to suspend outdoor activities．From Monday through Wednesday，the city's air quality index reading remained high，with the highest reading at 323，with PM2.5，or particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns，as the main pollutant，according to the city's meteorological bureau．Any reading over 300 is considered"seriously polluted"．
The city experienced at least eight heavily polluted days in the first two weeks of December，with the air quality index reading reaching a high of 440，China News Service reported．
Among those affected was a square dancing team in Jiang'an district，which had to stop daily practices after several members fell ill．Square dancing is a common open-air fitness practice across China，with most of the participants middle-aged or elderly women．
Media reported the leader of one dancing team had to go to a hospital after she had an asthma attack on Dec 11．
Identified only as Fang，65，the dance team leader said she decided to suspend the practices after she learned her illness was caused by smog，and after several other members also fell ill，the report said．
The city plans to invest 28 billion yuan （$4.61 billion） in air pollution control by 2017．The plan says the city will boost the development of clean energy vehicles for public transportation and remove all of the current 140，000 heavy-polluting vehicles from Wuhan's roads by the end of 2016．
67．What's the main idea of the passage？B
A．Wuhan decided to remove most construction sites．
B．Wuhan issued smog warnings for three days because of smog．
C．The city is reportedly unfit for physical training．
D．Outdoor exercise can decrease the influence of smog．
68．The air quality index reading of the city once reached to an extreme ofC．
A.300        B.323          C.440     D.140，000
69．The city authorities will firstly developAin the future．
A．green transportation             
B．environmentally friendly energy
C．heavy vehicles                
D．transport network
70．"suspend"in the second paragraph from the bottom meansA  
A．put off       B．take off         C．put up     D．take up．

18．While many probably remember using their childhood imaginations to turn the Moon's dark markings into a picture of a rabbit on the Moon，just recently China put a different sort of rabbit on the Moon：a lunar probe dubbed"Jade Rabbit．"Now，they have followed up by releasing pictures of the probe in action．
Last weekend，China's National Space Administration made China the first nation to make a soft landing on the Moon since 37 years ago．The Soviet Union's probe，Luna 2，was the first on September 14，1959，followed by the United States，who eventually caught up with and surpassed the Soviet Union by putting the first human on the Moon，Neil Armstrong，on July 20，1969．
Jade Rabbit was launched on December 1 with the mission of exploring the Moon's surface in an attempt to locate natural resources．It will be deployed on this mission for a period of three months．
The probe reportedly shut down its explorations on December 16 due to high temperatures with plans to leave it inactive until December 23，but it was started up again on December 20 in order to gain more research time．
The country has aspirations of putting a human on the Moon by 2025，an area which has up until now been dominated by the United States，who last landed a man on the Moon in 1972 with astronaut Eugene Cernan．
China's recent attention to the Moon appears to have once again stirred up American interest in space exploration．In the December issue of New Space magazine，Christopher McKay makes an argument that the U．S．should consider setting up a lunar research base，citing among his reasons the fact that it is important to maintain U．S．influence on the Moon．
63．When did the humans make a soft landing on the moon next to China's？A
A.1976．B.1972．C.1969．D.1959．
64．The mission of the lunar probe will endB？
A．a(chǎn)fter 37 years exploration
B．a(chǎn)fter three months research．
C．till 2025
D．till 2017．
65．Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE？B
A．China will put a human on the Moon twelve years later．
B．Two countries have put humans on the moon-The USA and the former USSR．
C．Christopher McKay stated that the USA is interested in returning to the moon．
D．The probe shut down its explorations because it is extremely hot on the moon．
66．What does the underlined word mean in the first paragraph？B
A．Launched
B．Named
C．Made
D．Explored．

16．MELBOURNE，Australia-A kangaroo frightened by a man walking his dog attacked the pair，throwing the pet underwater and hitting the owner in the stomach with its back legs．The Australian，Chris Rickard，was in stable condition Monday after the attack，which ended when the 49-year-old struck the kangaroo in the throat．
Rickard said he was walking his blue dog，Rocky，on Sunday morning when they surprised a sleeping kangaroo in Arthur's Creek northeast of Melbourne．The dog chased the animal into a pond，when the kangaroo turned and knocked the pet underwater．
When Rickard tried to pull his dog free，the kangaroo turned on him，attacking with its back legs and tearing a deep cut into his stomach and across his face．
"I thought I might take action to drag the dog out from under his grasp，but I didn't expect him to actually attack me，"Rickard，49，told The Herald Sun newspaper．"It was a shock at the start because it was a kangaroo，about 5 feet high，they don't go around killing people．"
"I was stuck having to hold on to the dog with both hands because it was half drowned and I couldn't really see anything because the kangaroo just attacked me．"
He added，"All I could do was just keep pushing for the bank and he was trying to push me under the water，so at that point I struck him in the throat and that made him back off a little bit．
"I don't think I'll ever be able to watch kangaroo programs quite the same as I used to-it might bring back a couple of bad memories．"
Kangaroos rarely attack people but will fight if they feel threatened．
Dogs often chase kangaroos，which have been known to lead the pets into water and defend themselves there．
Rickard said he ended the attack by hitting the kangaroo in the throat adding Rocky was"half-drowned"when he pulled him from the water．
59．Rickard and his pet dog were attacked whenC．
A．swimming in the pond                    
B．he was teasing a kangaroo
C．he was walking his dog                   
D．dragging his dog out from water
60．In Australia，kangaroosA．
A．get along rather peacefully with people       
B．a(chǎn)re only seen in zoos
C．frequently attack people and pets            
D．can be found swimming in ponds
61．The kangaroo attacked the man and his dog probably becauseD．
A．the man struck it in the throat               
B．it wanted to drown the dog
C．the man wanted to drown it                
D．the dog chased it
62．As a result of the attack，B．
A．the kangaroo was killed                    
B．Rickard was left a deep impression
C．kangaroos should be under stricter protection   
D．the dog was drowned dead．

15．A wood fire can be handy when you're camping．You can roast marshmallows or stay warm，for example．Forest fires that rage out of control，however，are a big problem．
Wildfires cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage every year．And the amount of destruction has grown over the last 2 decades，especially in the western United States．
To understand better why the northern Rocky Mountains region has been hit especially hard by wildfires，scientists from the University of Arizona in Tucson looked at weather，snow，and fire records from 1970 to 2003．^
Their study showed that，between 1987 and 2003，fires burned an area 6.5 times larger than the area burned between 1970 and 1986．The fire season also started earlier-，and its average length increased by 78 days．
Warmer spring and summer temperatures appear to be part of the explanation for this change．The average temperature in the study's more recent period was 0.871 higher than it was in the earlier period．And this trend is likely to continue．Experts predict that average summer temperatures may rise between 2¾and 5¾by the year 2050 in western North America．‘
Hie timing of snowmelt appears to be another cause of the fire boom．When snow melts early in the season，forests become drier through the summer and catch fire and burn more easily．Western snow packs now typically melt a week to a month earlier than they did 50 years ago，according to recent studies．
Some people have blamed the growing fire risk on policies that allow bush and branches to build up on forest floors．But clearing bush by itself won't help much if changes in climate are largely responsible for increasingly severe forest fires．
43．The main purpose of studying the records from 1970 to 2003 was toD．
A．find out solutions to forest fires
B．prevent wildfires from happening frequently-
C．know more about the climate changes in the past decades
D．find out the causes of wildfires in the northern Rocky Mountains region
44．Scientists fix＞m the University of Arizona found out the following EXCEPTD
A．western snow packs melt earlier than they did 50 years ago
B．fires burned larger area between 1987．a(chǎn)nd 2003 than between 1970 and 1986
C．the fire season between 1987 and 2003 was longer than that between 1970 and 1986
D．the average summer temperature will be I⁹C and 5¾higher by 2050 than it is now
45．Which of the following statements will Scientists from the University of Arizona agree to？C
A．More wildfires lead to the trend of global warming．
B．Hot summers have nothing to do with the increasing wildfires．
C．The earlier snow melts，the more probably forest fires will happen．
46．Clearing bush will help control the increasingly severe forest fires．What is the main idea the author aims to express in the passage？C
A．The damages caused by wildfires．
B．The results of a study on wild fires．
C．The causes of fires in the United States．
D．The changes in climate in the western United States．

14．QINGDAO--Water and power supplies have been restoredin the East Chinese city of Qingdao，the site of an oil pipeline explosion on Friday，the local government said on Monday．
Crude oil began leaking（泄漏）from the pipeline at 3：00an Friday in Qingdao in Shandong province．The valves（閥門）of the Huangdao oil warehouse were shut about 15minutes later．
The oil spill（泄漏的石油）then flowed into the city's rainwater pipe network，which empties into Jiaozhou Bay．Explosions occurred at two locations around 10：30am Friday when workers were clearing the spill．
According to the local government，about 85percent of public heating and 90percent of the gas supply were also brought back to normal as of Monday．
Residents who have been taken to the temporary settlements are receiving bottled water and bread．
Many schools and kindergartens have reopened classes after Friday's oil pipeline explosion．No injures and deaths of students or teachers have been reported following the explosions at an underground pipeline operated by Sinopec．The school buildings of one middle school in the district were seriously damaged during the explosions．Education authorities have arranged psychological help for students and teaching staff．All other 18schools and kindergartens in the district reopened classes on Monday．
As of Monday noon，the death toll from the explosion had risen to 55，with 9people still missing and 136hospitalized．According to local police，49bodied have been identified so far，and 42of them were male victims．As of Monday morning，the blood supply in Qingdao was enough for the injured after more than 950people in the city donated more than 340，000ml of blood in the wake of the incident．

64．The underlined word"restored"in the first paragraph probable means"C"．
A．cut       B．destroyed       C．recovered        D．repaired
65．Explosions happened whenA．
A．workers were cleaning the spill
B．valves of the oil warehouse were shut
C．the oil spill flowed into the city's water network
D．crude oil began to leak from an underground pipeline
66．We can learn that by Monday noon the deaths in the explosion reached at
leastC．
A.64       B.49       C.55         D.42
67．We can learn from the passage thatD．
A．everything was brought back to normal right after the explosion
B．no measures were taken to help the suffering people out of trouble
C．no more dead body was found after Monday noon
D．a(chǎn)ll the 19schools in the district were affected by the explosion．

13．You're rushing to work and a man ahead of you falls down on the sidewalk．Do you stop to help？In a study of by-standers，it was found that some people keep on walking．
"There is a tendency to decide that no action is needed，"says a psychologist，"In order to take action，you have to work against them．"Here are some common thoughts that stop you from helping．
●Why should I be the one？I'm probably not the most able person in this crowd．You might think someone older or with more medical knowledge should offer assistance．
●What if he doesn't really need my help？The fear of embarrassment is powerful； no one wants to risk looking foolish in front of others．
●No one else looks concerned．We can follow the people around us，but most people tend to hold back their emotions in public．
"If you spot trouble and find yourself explaining inaction，force yourself to stop and evaluate the situation instead of walking on，"says the psychologist．"Then retry to involve other people； you don't have to take on the entire responsibility of being helpful．Sometimes it's just a matter of turning to the person next to you and saying，'It looks like we should do something．'Or asking someone if an ambulance has been called and，if not，to call for one．Once you take action，most people will follow you．"
66．According to a study of by-standers，what will some people do when a man ahead falls down on the sidewalk？C
A．They will call 110．
B．They will offer help．
C．They will go on walking．
D．They will laugh at him．
67．Which is NOT the common thought that stops you from helping others？B
A．I'm not the very capable person．
B．It looks like we should do something．
C．No one else is concerned．
D．He doesn't really need my help．
68．In order to offer your timely help，you need toD
A．go directly to the police station
B．get along well with the passers-by who spot the trouble
C．a(chǎn)sk others for help and call the police
D．work against the first thoughts that stop you from offering help
69．We learn from the last paragraph that if we spot trouble，C．
A．we should call the ambulance as soon as we can
B．we should turn away in no time
C．we should stop and try to make other people help together
D．we should take on the whole responsibility
70．The main purpose of the passage is to tell readers．A
A．to give others a hand                       
B．to be more able
C．to explain their inaction                   
D．to evaluate the situation．