第二卷(必考2)

第四部分：写作(共三节, 满分40分)

第一节 阅读填空(共10小题; 每小题1分，满分10分)

阅读短文，根据所读内容, 在下表中的空格处填上适当的单词和短语，每空不超过3个单词。

American public education has changed in recent years. One change is that increasing numbers of American parents and teachers are starting independent public schools called charter schools.

In 1991, there were no charter schools in the Unite States. Today, more than 2300 charter schools operate in 34 states and the District of Columbia. 575000 students attend these schools. The students are from 5 years of age through 18 or older.

A charter school is created by groups of parents, teachers and community members. It is similar in some ways to a traditional public school. It receives tax money to operate a number of students. The charter school must prove to local or state governments that its students are learning. These governments provide the school with the agreement, or charter that permits it to operate.

Unlike a traditional public school, however, the charter school does not have to obey most laws governing public schools. Local, state or federal governments cannot tell it what to teach.

Each school can choose its own goals and decide the ways it wants to reach those goals. Class sizes are usually smaller than in many traditional public schools. Many students and parents say teachers in charter schools can be more creative.

However, state education agencies, local education-governing committees and unions often oppose charter schools. They say these schools may receive money badly needed by traditional public schools. Experts say some charter schools are doing well while others are struggling.

Congress provided 200 million dollars for establishing charter schools in the 2006 federal budget. But, often the schools say they lack enough money for programs. Many also lack needed space. District officials say they have provided 14 former school buildings for charter education. Yet charter school supporters say officials should try harder to find more space.

Title: 76. __

第二节 简答题(共4小题; 10分)

阅读短文，根据所要求的字数回答问题。

Almost everybody in America will spend a part of his or her life behind a shopping cart (购物手推车). They will, in a lifetime, push the chrome-plated contraptions many miles. But few will know—or even think to ask—who it was that invented them.

Sylvan N. Goldman invented the shopping cart in 1937. At that time he was in the supermarket business. Every day he would see shoppers lugging (吃力地携带) groceries around in baskets they had to carry.

One day Goldman suddenly had the idea of putting baskets on wheels. The wheeled baskets would make shopping much easier for his customers, and would help to attract more business.

On June 4, 1937, Goldman’s first carts were ready for use in his market. He was terribly excited on the morning of that day as customers began arriving. He couldn’t wait to see them using his invention.

But Goldman was disappointed. Most shoppers gave the carts a long look, but hardly anybody would give them a try.

After a while, Goldman decided to ask customers why they weren’t using his carts. “Don’t you think this arm is strong enough to carry a shopping basket?” one shopper replied.

But Goldman wasn’t beaten yet. He knew his carts would be a great success if only he could persuade people to give them a try. To this end, Goldman hired a group of people to push carts around his market and pretend they were shopping! Seeing this, the real customers gradually began copying the phony (假冒的) customers. {ks5u007}

As Goldman had hoped, the carts were soon attracting larger and larger numbers of customers to his market. But not only did more people come—those who came bought more. With larger, easier-to-handle baskets, customers unconsciously bought a greater number of items than before.

Today’s shopping carts are five times larger than Goldman’s original model. Perhaps that’s one reason Americans today spend more than five times as much money on food each year as they did before 1937—before the coming of the shopping cart.