A new study finds that the average performanc...

A new study finds that the average performance of students from the lowest income families in the US lags(滞后) about three to four years behind that of the highest income students-an achievement gap that has remained constant for decades. An analysis of standardized tests given to more than 2. 7 million middle and high school students over 40 years suggests that federal education programs aimed at closing the gap are falling short.

Researchers looked at results from four different programs conducted nationwide at various intervals from 1971 to 2015 to test teenagers in math, reading and science. A total of 98 exams were used in the programs, testing students aged 13-15 as well as 17-year-olds. Test scores for 17-year-old students in the bottom 10th income percentile(百分位) were far lower than those in the top 10th percentile.

Meanwhile, the overall test scores didn't shift for 17-year-olds during the study period. They did improve slightly for 13-to 15-year-olds, which suggests that federal programs for younger students have been helpful. But the lowest income students still score much lower than the highest income students. “Programs for older students are badly needed,” says study coauthor Eric Hanushek, an education economist at Stanford University. “Lower achievement in high school leads to lower earning potential throughout adulthood. The next generation is going to look a lot like this generation. Kids from poor families will become poor themselves.”

Whether the problem is worsening, however, is up for debate. A 2011 study, conducted by Stanford education sociologist Sean Reardon, looked at 12 exams administered from 1960 to 2007, and found that the gap in test scores between the poorest and the wealthiest students grew by 40 percent. It shows the poorest students lag about three to six years behind their wealthier peers in learning. Reardon suggested parents of means were increasingly investing in their children's education, sharpening the divide.

The different results between the new study and that conducted in 2011 come down to the fact that the researchers analyzed results from different tests and how they categorized(分类) family income level, says education sociologist Anna Chmielewski. Hanushek and Reardon agree that the income-related achievement gap is alarming.

1.What does the result of the new study indicate?

A.The poorest students' lagging behind exists in specific age groups.

B.A better standard for category should be adopted in the study.

C.The federal education programs turned out unsuccessful generally.

D.A better school performance necessarily leads to higher income.

2.How does the author present the serious issue?

A.By showing the discussion result. B.By clarifying some points.

C.By doing a questionnaire. D.By making a comparison.

3.What may cause the different results of the two studies?

A.The different countries. B.The analytical methods.

C.The income assessments. D.The different ranges of age.

4.Why does the income-related achievement gap concern people?

A.It will disappear eventually.

B.It will further widen the social gap.

C.It results in the students' blind competitions.

D.It makes Americans smarter and richer.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Studying abroad costs so much money that it is________the reach of those with average income．

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

A new study finds that young females in one group of African chimps(黑猩猩) use sticks as dolls more than their male peers (同龄) do, often treating pieces of wood like a mother chimp caring for a baby. In human cultures around the world, girls play with dolls and pretend that the toys are babies far more than boys do.

Chimp observations, collected over 14 years of field work with the Kanyawara chimp community in Kibale National Park in Ugandan, provide the first evidence of a nonhuman animal in the wild that exhibits sex differences in how it plays. This finding supports an argument that biology as well as society underlies boys’ and girls’ different toy preferences.

Stick play occurred most commonly between ages 3 and 9. Females spent a lot more time carrying sticks than males did. Young male chimps occasionally used sticks to mimic(模仿) childcare. “Far more often, they fought with sticks, an infrequent behavior among females,” say Sonya Kahlenberg of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and Richard Wrangham of Harvard University.

“Biological differences between the sexes make female chimps more receptive to stick-mothering than males,” says Wrangham.

Consistent with reported cultural traditions among adult chimps, Kanyawara youngsters learned from each other to play with sticks as if caring for babies. Stick play among young chimps showed no evidence of being directly influenced by older chimps. Child-bearing females never played with sticks and thus didn’t model such behavior for younger chimps.

Young females carried sticks for anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. They often rested in nests with their sticks, sometimes playing with them much as chimp mothers play with their babies though they didn’t get any form of teaching from the adults.

1.What does a stick seem like to a young female chimp who plays with it?

A. A doll.　　 B. A mother.　　 C. A baby.　　 D. A toy.

2.We can see from the text that young female chimps ________.

A. often carry sticks with males

B. always carry sticks with males

C. never use sticks in fighting

D. seldom use sticks in fighting

3.From whom do the young chimps pick up the stick play behavior?

A. From each other.　　 B. From older chimps.

C. From their mothers.　　 D. From male chimps.

4.What does the text mainly tell us about young chimps’ stick play?

A. The types of stick play and social influence.

B. The sex differences and social influence.

C. The sex differences and age differences.

D. The ways of stick play and age differences.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

This new model of car is so expensive that it is ________ the reach of those with average incomes.

A. over                   B. within                C. beyond              D. below

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

The saying that children don’t like reading any more has been proved untrue. A new study finds that 75 percent of kids between five and 17 say that although they love technology, they still want to read books．

The Kids & Family Reading Report also says that 62 percent of kids prefer reading printed books rather than those on a computer．At the same time, those who search an author’s website or use the Internet to find books by a particular author, are more likely to read books for fun every day．

The study also once again proves that the time kids spend reading books for fun decreases after the age of eight and continues to drop through the teen years．The report is a follow-up to a 2006 study．But this time the focus is on the role of technology and when kids’ interest in reading starts to drop．

“Despite the fact that after the age of eight more children go online daily than read for fun daily, high frequency Internet users are more likely to read books for fun every day,” says Heather Carter, a writer of the report．

One in four kids between five and 17 say they read books for fun every day and more than half of kids say they read books for fun at least two to three times a week．One of the key reasons kids say they don’t read more often is that they have trouble finding books they like - a requirement that parents underestimate(低估)．

The study also finds that parents have a strong influence on kids’ reading, but only about half of all parents begin reading to their kids before their first birthday．The percent of children who are read to every day drops from 38 percent among five-to eight-year-olds to 23 percent among nine-to 11-year-olds - exactly the same time that kids’ daily reading for fun starts to drop．

“Parents’ engagement in their child’s reading from birth all the way through the teen years can have a great influence on how often their children read and how much they enjoy reading,” adds Carter．

1.What can we learn from the text?

A．Children don’t like reading any more after the age of 8.

B．Most children like reading as well as going online.

C．All kids like reading e – books instead of printed ones.

D．Most children like going online instead of reading.

2.It can be inferred from the passage that        .

A．the study of kids’ reading has been made before

B．most parents begin reading to their kids from their birth

C．all kids like to get information using the Internet

D．nowadays all children still like to read books

3.Which of the following is true according to the text?

A．The kids who often go online don’t like reading books.

B．Parents should teach their kids reading from an early age.

C．Sometimes it is difficult for kids to get the books they like.

D．When kids get older, parents spend more time with them.

4.According to the text,        contributes a lot to children’s interest in reading.

A．the Internet             B．parents’ engagement

C．short supply of books      D．new technology

5.What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Do kids still like reading?       B．Kids’ interest in reading drops

C．New technology on kids’ reading    D．Parents’ influence on kids’ reading

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A new study, a project of the researchers from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, finds the fitness tracker probably does not help with weight loss.

The devices are designed to record your physical activity. They are usually worn around the wrist, where they measure a person’s heart rate. The research team looked at two groups of individuals. The first wore a fitness tracker and took part in health counseling (咨询) with experts to consider the best weight-loss plan. The researchers compared this group with people who only got health counseling.

The study found that those only speaking with the health experts lost nearly 6 kilograms, but those using a fitness tracker lost only 3.5 kilograms. John Jakicic, the lead researcher, questioned the use of electronic devices for weight control in place of “effective behavioral counseling for physical activity and diet. ”

The study involved 470 subjects aged between 18 and 35. Some of them were overweight, while others were considered obese (肥胖的). Over three fourths of the subjects were women. All the subjects were told to increase physical activity and start on a low-calorie diet. They had their weight measured once every six months. After six months, researchers divided the group into two parts: one continued with monthly counseling, while members of the other group were given a fitness tracker. Eighteen months later, both groups “showed significant improvements in fitness, physical activity, and diet,” with no major difference between groups. However, when it came to losing weight, the people who only spoke with experts lost nearly twice as much weight.

Jakicic said, “the study’s findings are important because effective long-term treatments are needed to address America’s obesity. ” More information is needed, he added, to learn how to best use these devices to change “physical activity and diet behaviors” in adults who want to lose weight.

1.All the subjects in the study were asked to ________.

A. start on a high-calorie diet　　 B. wear a fitness tracker

C. increase physical activities　　 D. record their heart rates

2.Why does Jakicic think the findings are important?

A. Wearing fitness trackers hardly helps people lose weight.

B. Physical activity and diet have no effect on weight loss.

C. Handling obesity requires effective long-term treatments.

D. There are great differences in fitness between both groups.

3.What can we infer about the study mentioned in the text?

A. The study went on for about two years.

B. More than 120 men took part in the study.

C. Health counseling helps lose almost 6 kilograms.

D. Wearing a fitness tracker is useful for keeping slim.

4.The purpose of the text is to ________.

A. describe how the researchers were conducting the study

B. indicate regular counseling for weight control is necessary

C. convince readers to wear fitness trackers for weight control

D. warn women are more likely to suffer from weight problems

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Students who want to study in the United States may find that their chances for financial aid are limited. They often have to pay for their education with their own savings or their family's money.

A recent report from the Institute of International Education in New York looked at 2008-2009 school year.

Colleges and universities in the United States had more than half a million foreign students. 63% of them paid for school mostly by themselves or with family help. 26% percent were supported by the school they attended.

There are other sources of financial aid for international students. These include a student's home government or university, or the United States government. Private sponsors, international organizations and employers may also provide support. Yet during the last school year, not many students were able to depend on any of these other sources. Current employers provided the most help. Still, they represented the main support for just four percent of international students.

Those at the graduate level, however, are more likely than undergraduates to receive financial aid in the United States. More than 80% percent of foreign undergraduates depended mostly on personal and family money to pay for school last year. The same was true of less than half of graduate students. Most of the others received financial aid from their college or university in the United States.

A list of American schools that offer financial aid to foreign students can be found at a useful Web site. The address is edupass.org. This site also provides information about scholarship programs. But it warns foreign students not to pay if there is any charge for scholarship application forms. You could be cheated out of your money.

1.Most foreign students depend on _______ to pay for their education.

2.How many sources of financial aid are mentioned in the text?

3.Which of the following statements is true according to the text?

4.The text mainly talks about ________.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

A new study finds that our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the music makes us feel. Mozart’s “Flute Concerto No.1 in G Major” is most often associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his “Requiem in D Minor” is linked to bluish gray, the findings revealed.

US researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, enlisted nearly 100 subjects for a study on music and color. With 37 colors, the UC Berkeley study found that people tend to pair faster-paced music in a major key with lighter, more vivid, yellow colors, whereas slower-paced music in a minor key is more likely to be teamed up with darker, grayer, bluer colors.

“Surprisingly, we can predict with 95 percent accuracy how happy or sad the colors people pick will be based on how happy or sad the music is that they are listening to,” said lead author and UC Berkeley vision scientist Stephen Palmer.

In three experiments, the subjects listened to 18 classical music pieces that varied in pace (slow, medium, fast) and in major VS minor keys. In the first experiment, participants were asked to pick five of the 37 colors that best matched the music to which they were listening. Separately, they rated each piece of music on a scale of happy to sad, strong to weak, lively to dull, and calm to angry.

Next, the research team plans to study particiapants in Turkey where traditional music employs a wider range of scales than just major and minor. “We know that in Mexico and the US the responses are very similar,” Palmer said. “But we don’t yet know about China or Turkey.”

1.What can we know about Mozart’s “Flute Concerto No. 1 G Major”?

A. It is fast in pace.

B. It is slow in pace.

C. It makes us feel upset.

D. It makes us feel optimistic.

2.What did the US researchers find from the result of the new study?

A. There are colors that do not match any music.

B. People tend to connect happy colors to slow-paced music

C. There is a one-to-one connection between music and color.

D. People nearly do the same in picking colors for different music.

3.How did the researchers do the research?

A. By making predictions.　　　　 B. By researching journals.

C. By conducting experiments.　　 D. By studying famous musicians.

4.According to the text, the research mainly deals with __________

A. how colors or music influence our emotions

B. how emotions affect music-color connections

C. why we have different feelings towards music

D. why we have different feelings towards colors

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A new study finds that our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the music makes us feel. Mozart’s “Flute Concerto No.1 in G Major” is most often associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his “Requiem in D Minor” is linked to bluish gray, the findings revealed.

US researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, enlisted nearly 100 subjects for a study on music and color. With 37 colors, the UC Berkeley study found that people tend to pair faster-paced music in a major key with lighter, more vivid, yellow colors, whereas slower-paced music in a minor key is more likely to be teamed up with darker, grayer, bluer colors.

“Surprisingly, we can predict with 95 percent accuracy how happy or sad the colors people pick will be based on how happy or sad the music is that they are listening to,” said lead author and UC Berkeley vision scientist Stephen Palmer.

In three experiments, the subjects listened to 18 classical music pieces that varied in pace (slow, medium, fast) and in major VS minor keys. In the first experiment, participants were asked to pick five of the 37 colors that best matched the music to which they were listening. Separately, they rated each piece of music on a scale of happy to sad, strong to weak, lively to dull, and calm to angry.

Next, the research team plans to study particiapants in Turkey where traditional music employs a wider range of scales than just major and minor. “We know that in Mexico and the US the responses are very similar,” Palmer said. “But we don’t yet know about China or Turkey.”

1.What can we know about Mozart’s “Flute Concerto No. 1 G Major”?

A. It is fast in pace.

B. It is slow in pace.

C. It makes us feel upset.

D. It makes us feel optimistic.

2.What did the US researchers find from the result of the new study?

A. There are colors that do not match any music.

B. People tend to connect happy colors to slow-paced music

C. There is a one-to-one connection between music and color.

D. People nearly do the same in picking colors for different music.

3. How did the researchers do the research?

A. By making predictions.

B. By researching journals.

C. By conducting experiments.

D. By studying famous musicians.

4.According to the text, the research mainly deals with __________

A. how colors or music influence our emotions

B. how emotions affect music-color connections

C. why we have different feelings towards music

D. why we have different feelings towards colors

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A new study shows students who write notes by hand during lectures perform better on exams than those who use laptops(笔记本电脑).

Students are increasingly using laptops for note-taking because of speed and legibility(清晰度). But the research has found laptop users are less able to remember and apply the concepts they have been taught.

Researchers performed experiments that aimed to find out whether using a laptop increased the tendency to make notes "mindlessly" by taking down word for word what the professors said.

In the first experiment, students were given either a laptop or pen and paper. They listened to the same lectures and were told to use their usual note-taking skills. Thirty minutes after the talk, they were examined on their ability to remember facts and on how well they understood concepts.

The researchers found that laptop users took twice as many notes as those who wrote by hand. However, the typists performed worse at remembering and applying the concepts. Both groups scored similarly when it came to memorizing facts.

The researchers' report said, "While more notes are beneficial, if the notes are taken mindlessly, as is more likely the case on a laptop, the benefit disappears."

In another experiment aimed at testing long-term memory, students took notes as before but were tested a week after the lecture. This time, the students who wrote notes by hand performed significantly better on the exam.

These two experiments suggest that handwritten notes are not only better for immediate learning and understanding, but that they also lead to superior revision in the future.

1.More and more students favor laptops for note-taking because they can　　　　 .

A. write more notes　　　 B. digest concepts better

C. get higher scores　　 D. understand lectures better

2.While taking notes, laptop users tend to be　　　　 .

A. mindless　　　　 B. skillful

C. thoughtful　　 D. tireless

3.The author of the passage aims to 　　　　 .

A. examine the importance of long-term memory

B. promote the use of laptops

C. explain the process of taking notes

D. stress the benefit of taking notes by hand

4.The passage is likely to appear in 　　　　 .

A. a newspaper advertisement　　 B. a computer textbook

C. a science magazine　　　　　　　 D. a finance report

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析