May the first is an important date in the college admission process in the United States．This is the last day for high school seniors to accept or reject offers of admission in the fall．But according to a recent report, there is a great change. Acceptance rates at the top colleges this year were lower than ever.   

These days, college applicants are applying to more colleges because online and common applications make the process easier.     On the other hand, deciding students for top colleges to accept can be difficult because it takes much time. Students may not like being put on waiting lists. Also, common colleges work more to get the students they accept to accept them. Some colleges hold visiting days that offer a chance to attend classes and stay overnight. Some universities send gifts.    

For many families, the most important thing colleges can do is show them the money, especially this year; the weak economy makes parents nervous.     The recent problems that spread from the housing market to credit markets have even affected student’s loans. So lately, top schools have to spare lots of money to increase their financial aid for students.

   The Education Department expects the number of high school graduates to start to go down. This will happen as the last of the children of the baby boom generation finishes high school. The number is not expected to start rising again until 2015.

A. Besides, top colleges are facing changes in the population.

B. What contributes to it?

C. But a mistake can be costly if it happens.

D. But top colleges ignore them.

E. They have international students who know English.

F. It can mean several acceptances to choose from.

G. They cannot afford college as planned.

There is famous story about British poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge．He was writing a poem when he was interrupted by a knock at the door．

This was an age before telephones．Someone was delivering a message．When Colcridge got back to his poem, he had lost his inspiration．His poetic mood had been broken by the knock on his

door．His unfinished poem, which could otherwise have been a masterpiece, would now never be more than a fragment(碎片,片段)．

This story tells how unexpected communication can destroy an important thought, which brings us to the cell phone．

The most common complaint about cell phones is that people talk on them to the annoyance of people around them．But marc damaging may be the cell phone’s disruption of our thoughts．

We have already entered a golden age of little white lies about our call phones, and this is by and large a healthy, productive development．" I didn't hear it ring" or " I didn't realize my cell phone had shut off" arc among the lies we tell to give ourselves space where we’re beyond reach．

The notion or idea of being unreachable is not a new concept-we havoc "Do Not Disturb" signs on the doors of hotel rooms． So why must we feel guilty when it comes to cell phones? Why must we apologize if we decide to shut off the phone for a while?

The problem is that we come from a long-established tradition of difficulty with distance communication．Until the recent mass deployment of cell phones, it was easy to communicate with someone next to us or a few feet away, but difficult with someone across town, the country or the

globe．We came to take it for granted．

But cell phones make long-distance communication common, and endanger our time by ourselves．Now time alone, or conversation with someone next to us which cannot be interrupted by a phone, is something to be cherished．Even cell phone devotees, myself usually included, can't help at times wanting to throw their cell phone away, or curse the day they were invented．

But we don't and won't, and there really is no need．All that's required to take back our private time is a general social recognition that we have the right to it．

In other words, we have to develop a healthy contempt for the rings of our phones．Given the case of making and receiving cell phone calls, if we don-t talk to the caller right now, we surely will shortly later．

A cell phone call deserves no greater priority than a random word from a person next to us．Though the call on my cell phone may be the one-in-a-million from Steven Spielberg-who has  finally read my novel and wants to make it his next movie．But most likely it is not, and I'm better

off thinking about the idea I just had for a new story, or the pizza I’ll eat for lunch．

What's the point of the anecdote about poet Coleridge in the first three paragraphs?

       A．To direct readers' attention to the main topic．

       B．To show how important inspiration is to a poet．

       C．To emphasize the disadvantage of not having a cell phone．

       D．To encourage readers to read the works of this poet．

What does the writer thinks about people telling "white lies" about their cell phones?

       A．It is a way of signaling that you don-t like the caller．

       B．It is natural to tell lies about small things．

       C．It is basically a good way to protect one's privacy．

       D．We should feel guilty when we can't tell the truth．

According to the author, what is the most annoying problem caused by cell phones?

A．People get so bothered by the cell phone rings that they fail to notice anything else.

B．People feel guilty when they are not able to answer their cell phones.

C．Cell phones interrupt people’s private time.

D．With cell phones it is no longer possible to be unreachable.

What does the underlined word “contempt” probably mean?

       A．Habit.      B．Disrespect.       C．Like. D．Value.

What does last paragraph suggest?

       A．A person who calls us from afar deserves more of our attention.

       B．Steven Spielberg once called the author to talk about the author’s novel.

       C．You should always finish your lunch before you answer a call on the cell phone.

       D．Never let cell phones interfere too much with your life.

Your children’s teacher will be providing extra time for test preparation. This school year’s test will be held on January 8 and 9. The test preparation time is open to all students, and we strongly encourage your children to attend.
This year we are changing the time for our test preparation: it will be on Thursday mornings from 8:10 to 8:50. This helps children who ride the bus and cannot stay for the after-school period. It also helps avoid conflicts with after-school activities.
Danielle and Marina will be working with the recent new test takers 6 days on the following Thursdays: 15^th, Nov; 29^th, Nov; 6^th, Dec; 13^th, Dec.; 20^th, Dec. and 3^rd, Jan.
Besides the test preparation lectures on these dates, teachers are already putting test preparation into their usual courses. We are finding that we can help our students to be both skillful and whole-hearted readers and test takers — after all, we all know that the best test preparation is good reading and writing training.
What can you do at home? Again, the best and most effective test preparation for the ELA test is reading and more reading. The research is quite clear — students who do well in the tests are those who are good readers. Reading not only builds reading ability, it also helps build confidence — important for successful test taking! But do discourage your children from spending too much time on books that are too hard or even a bit too hard. Children best develop comprehension skills when they are reading books just right for them (too easy doesn’t hurt here either).
Finally, on Friday, December 7, we will have a morning lecture on the ELA. Please pay attention!
【小題1】The text is mainly about ________.

A．how teachers will provide more time for test preparation

B．the reason why time for test preparation will be changed

C．how teachers have put test preparation into their usual courses

D．test preparation information that parents should know about

【小題2】The time for test preparation has been changed to _________.

A．make it more convenient for the students to attend

B．help the new test-takers have more time to read

C．a(chǎn)void disagreement in time between different years of students

D．a(chǎn)void conflicts between preparation time and the usual courses

【小題3】From the passage, we know that ________.

A．Danielle will help students prepare for different tests

B．the school year test will be on a Tuesday

C．a(chǎn)ll the children must take part in the test preparation

D．the students can learn how to write well in the test preparation

【小題4】 Parents should _____ at home.

A．prepare good meals for their children

B．read more books with their children

C．a(chǎn)sk their children not to spend too much time on reading

D．encourage their children to read more books fit for them

【小題5】Why did the school encourage all the students to take part in the test preparation?

A．Test preparation is what they always do.

B．The students will learn what will be included in the final exam.

C．Test preparation helps students to be more interested in reading and confident.

D．The test is a long way off and there are better things to do.

Who cares if money can’t buy you love? But it can still be your best friend forever．That’s one of the surprising findings in a new research paper, “The Power of Money”，published in me journal Psychological Science．
Like any best friend forever，money demonstrated to researchers its ability to soothe us，reduce our sense of social exclusion and even reduce life’s painful moments．
“I was surprised” says Katherine Vohs，one of the researchers and professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management．“The findings were surprising because no one had connected the meaning of money to pain．The money wasn’t buying the subjects more friends；it was only psychologically helpful.”
In the research ,students were told they would be participating in a test of finger dexterity(敏捷度)．One group was given some paper money to count，while the other group was given blank pieces of paper．Once the counting was complete, all the test subjects were asked to dip their fingers into bowls of water heated to 122 degrees—roughly the temperature of a very hot bath．
Result? Those who had been counting money reported less pain than those who had not．Subjects also were asked about their feelings．Those who handled actual money reported feeling stronger even 10 minutes after they put down the cash．
Combined with previous experiments，the findings confirmed what researchers have long doubted，that money acts as a general panacea(萬(wàn)能藥)in the brain，giving us social self-confidence and reducing physical pain without having to spend a dime on aspirin．
But can we get the same effect by using credit cards? “No，credit cards do not have the same effect，” Vohs says．“They are scary for most people，and they in fact represent debt m many ways．”The findings could have an interesting effect in the business world, where recent trends have been to issue non-monetary rewards and bonuses instead of what was thought of as “cold, hard cash”．
【小題1】The underlined word “soothe” in Paragraph 2 is the closest in meaning to“____________” .

A．encourage

B．remind

C．calm

D．trust

【小題2】What’s Katherine Vohs’s attitude towards the result of the study?

A．He found it totally unexpected．

B．He had no doubt about it．

C．He thought it needed further experiments．

D．He thought it was not convincing．

【小題3】What do we know about the students involved in the study?

A．They were divided into two groups according to their ages．

B．One group was given paper money while the other was given coins．

C．They were holding the money while dipping fingers into hot water．

D．Both groups were asked to dip fingers into hot water．

【小題4】We can 1earn from the passage that_________．

A．the effect of money can only last until we put it down

B．money is both psychologically and socially helpful to us

C．the result of the research hasn’t been confirmed（證實(shí)） by experts

D．credit cards have the same effect on us as money

【小題5】The last paragraph suggests that___________．

A．the recent trend in the business world is to give cash as rewards

B．employers should give non-monetary rewards to employees

C．cash is a better way to reward employees than credit cards

D．more and more employees prefer non-monetary rewards to cash

One of the world's richest men has taken a close interest in one of man's most basic functions: visiting the toilet．Bill Gates’ charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is looking for inventors to design the loo of the future, which, they hope, would improve sanitation for millions of people around the world．
So, what's wrong with the traditional flush toilet? Firstly, it wastes a huge amount of potential drinking water．Secondly, they are more likely to cause pollution．This is a real problem in many areas of the developing world, where, according to United Nations’ estimates, unsafe sanitation causes half of all hospitalizations．Younger people are particularly at risk．Illnesses which cause diarrhea are responsible for the deaths of about 1．5 million children a year．Finally, standard lavatories simply aren't practical in remote areas．
The challenge set by Bill Gates was to come up with a latrine which works without running water, electricity or aseptic tank．It also needed to operate for less than 5 cents．28 designs were displayed at the recent event of the Toilet Fair in Seattle, USA．Among them was one which turned human waste into electricity using microwaves, another which converted human waste into charcoal, and yet another which used urine for flushing．
But the winner was a solar-powered design which generated hydrogen gas and electricity．The team from the California Institute of Technology（CIT）picked up a prize of $ 100,000.
But clearly Bill Gates doesn't feel he's flushing money down the toilet．After the Seattle event he said, "We couldn't be happier with the response we've gotten," Gates has even promised $370 million more to the future toilet project．They hope to field test more prototypes over the next three years．
【小題1】Why is Bill Gates paying people to invent new toilets?

A．Because he wants to test people's sense of creativity．

B．Because he wants to improve sanitation for many people．

C．Because he thinks the traditional ones are out of fashion．

D．Because he can't design this kind of things himself．

【小題2】Which of the following is NOT a problem with the traditional flush toilet?

A．They waste too much water．	B．They might cause diseases．
C．They are not always practical．	D．They are too complicated to use.

【小題3】The underlined word "latrine" in the third paragraph might have similar meanings to the word "__   " in the text．

A．loo

B．sanitation

C．diarrhea

D．prototype

【小題4】The team from CIT won the prize because their design        .

A．can change human waste into electricity

B．can turn human waste into charcoal

C．can produce power with solar energy

D．can use urine for flushing

【小題5】If people "flush money down the toilet", they are       .

A．showing off their wealth	B．a(chǎn)ngry with their working conditions
C．wasting money for nothing	D．expressing their great determination