One topic is rarely mentioned in all the talk of improving standards in our schools: the almost complete
failure of the foreign-language teaching. As a French graduate who has taught for more than twenty-five
years, I believe I have some idea of why the failure is so total. 1 the faults already found out in the education
system as a whole-such as child-centred learning. The "discovery" method, and the low expectations by
teachers of pupils-there have been several serious 2 which have a direct effect on language teaching.
The first is the removal from the curriculum (课程) of the thorough teaching of English 3 . Pupils now
do not know a verb from a noun, the subject of a sentence from its object, or the difference between the past,
present, or future.
Another important error is mixed-ability teaching, or teaching in ability groups so 4 that the most able
pupils are 5 and are bored while the least able are lost and 6 bored. Strangely enough, few head teachers
seem to be in favour of mixed-ability school football teams.
Progress depends on memory, and pupils start to forget immediately they stop having 7 lessons. This is
why many people who attended French lessons at school, even those who got good grades, have forgotten it
a few years later. 8 they never need it, they do not practise it.
Most American schools have accepted what is inevitable and 9 modern languages, even Spanish, from
the curriculum. Perhaps it is time for Britain to do the same, and stop 10 resources on a subject which few
pupils want or need. |
( )1.A. Due to
( )2.A. errors
( )3.A. vocabulary
( )4.A. wide
( )5.A. kept out
( )6.A. surprisingly
( )7.A. extra
( )8.A. Although
( )9.A. restored
( )10.A. wasting | B. In addition to
B. situations
B. culture
B. similar
B. turned down
B. individually
B. traditional
B. Because
B. absorbed
B. focusing | C. Instead of
C. systems
C. grammar
C. separate
C. held back
C. equally
C. basic
C. Until
C. prohibited
C. exploiting | D. In spite of
D. methods
D. literature
D. unique
D. left behind
D. hardly
D. regular
D. Unless
D. withdrawn
D. sharing |
答案
| 1-5: B A C A C 6-10: C D B D A |
举一反三
| 阅读理解。 | This was no ordinary class. The students who came together were all science or engineering professors
at Cornell University. They had interrupted their research to accept an invitation to take part in an unusual
experiment:"an interesting week of poetry." This class was part of a study to answer the questions: Why is
science difficult for many nonscience students? What can teachers learn about teaching if they take a class
that is not in their field?
The students in the poetry class listened to lectures and took notes. They had reading tasks and had to
write three short papers. All students noticed one thing-the importance of spoken words. In science and
engineering classes, the instructors put tables and drawings on the blackboard. But in this poetry class, the
instructors just talked. They didn"t write anything on the board.
The scientists and engineers noticed one similarity between science and poetry. In both subjects, students
need to find layers (层次) of meaning. Some layers are simple, clean, and on the surface; other layers are
deeper and more difficult. This search for different levels of meaning doesn"t happen much in undergraduate
(本科) science classes, but it is important later, in graduate school. And it is always important in humanities (人文科学).
Both the poetry instructors and their students learned something about teaching from this experience.
One poetry instructor, for example, now sees the importance of using informative as he teaches. Most of the
scientists agreed on several points. First, humanities classes might help science students to see patterns and
decide which information is important. Second, the poetry class was fun. One engineer decided, "We need to
change the way we teach engineering to make it an enjoyable experience for students."
But perhaps the most important result of the experience was this; All of the professors began to think
about how they teach and how they cam teach better. | | 1. What do we know about this unusual class? | A. The teachers did lots of writing on the board.
B. The teacher were invited to attend several lectures.
C. The student were professors from a university.
D. The students were studying science and humanities. | | 2. The experiment was designed to find out _____. | A. how to teach the students in the science class.
B. whether poetry is difficult for science students.
C. what to be taught in the humanities class.
D. why many humanities students find science hard. | | 3. Finding levels of meaning is _____. | A. important for graduate students in humanities.
B. difficult for graduate students in humanities.
C. common for undergraduate students in science.
D. easy for undergraduate students in science. | | 4. What did the science professors learn after the experiment? | A. They should change the way they teach .
B. A poem could be explained in clear definitions.
C. A poetry class could be more informative.
D. Their teaching was an enjoyable experience. | | 阅读理解。 | Did you know that women"s brains are smaller than men"s? The average women"s brain weighs 10% less
than men"s. Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more
intelligent (聪明的) than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests,
despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it"s what"s
inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain consists of "grey matter" and "white matter". While
men have more of the latter, the amount of"thinking" brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes.
It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain
are better connected in women. This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can
understand sorts of information from different sources at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss
on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it"s women who come out
on top every time.
There are other important differences between two sexes. As white matter is the key to spatial (空间的)
tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. "A great footballer always knows where
he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go," says one researcher. That may explain one
of life"s great mysteries: why men refuse to ask for directions … and women often need to!
The differences begin when fetuses (胎儿) are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of
children as young as one. A boy would try to climb a barrier (障碍物) before him or push it down while a
girl would attract help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs
that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors (祖先),
among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt,
according to one research. If all this disappoints you, it shouldn"t. "The brain changes throughout our lives
according to what we do with it." says a biologist. | | 1. Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph? | A. Women"s brain is 10% less than men"s.
B. Grey matter plays the same role as white matter.
C. Grey matter controls thinking in the brain.
D. Both sexes have the same amount of white matter. | | 2. What can we infer from the second and third paragraphs? | A. Women prefer doing many things at a time.
B. Men do better dealing with one job at a time.
C. Women do not need to tell directions.
D. Men have weaker spatial abilities. | | 3. Which of the following do you agree with according to the fourth paragraph? | A. Young boys may be stronger than young girls.
B. More women take up jobs requiring speech skills.
C. Women may have stronger feelings than men.
D. Our ancestors needed more spatial skills. | | 4. What is the writer"s attitude in writing this passage? | A. Defensive.
B. Persuasive.
C. Supportive.
D. Objective. | | Cloze test. | People think children should play sports. Sports are fun, and playing with others. However, playing sports
can have 1 effects on children. It may produce feelings of poor self-respect or aggressive behavior in some
children. According to research on kids and sports, 40,000,000 kids play sports in the US. Of these, 18,000,000
say they have been 2 at or called names while playing sports. This leaves many children with a bad 3 of
sports. They think sports are just too aggressive.
Many researchers believe adults, especially parents and coaches, are the main 4 of too much aggression
ill children"s sports. They believe children 5 aggressive adult behavior. This behavior is then further
strengthened through both positive and negative feedback. Parents and coaches are powerful teachers because
children usually look up to them. Often these adults behave aggressively themselves, sending children the
message that 6 is everything. Many parents go to children"s sporting events and shout 7 at other players
or cheer when their child behaves 8 . As well, children arc even taught that hurting other players is 9 or
are pushed to continue playing even when they are injured 10 , the media makes violence seem exciting.
Children watch adult sports games and see violent behavior replayed over and over on television.
As a society, we really need to 11 this problem and do something about it. Parents and coaches 12 should
act as better examples for children. They also need to teach children better 13 . They should not just cheer
when children win or act aggressively. They should teach children to 14 , themselves whether they win or not.
Besides, children should not be allowed to continue to play when they are injured. If adults allow children to
play when injured, this gives the message that 15 is not as important as winning. | ( )1. A. restrictive
( )2. A. knocked
( )3. A. impression
( )4. A. resource
( )5. A. question
( )6. A. winning
( )7. A. praises
( )8. A. proudly
( )9. A. acceptable
( )10. A. By contrast
( )11. A. look up to
( )12. A. in particular
( )13. A. techniques
( )14. A. respect
( )15. A. body | B. negative
B. glanced
B. concept
B. cause
B. understand
B. practising
B. orders
B. ambitiously
B. impolite
B. In addition
B. face up to
B. in all
B. means
B. relax
B. fame | C. active
C. smiled
C. taste
C. course
C. copy
C. fun
C. remarks
C. aggressively
C. possible
C. As a result
C. make up for
C. in return
C. values
C. forgive
C. health | D. instructive
D. shouted
D. expectation
D. consequence
D. neglect
D. sport
D. insults
D. bravely
D. accessible
D. After all
D. come up with
D. in advance
D. directions
D. enjoy
D. spirit | | Reading comprehension. | A study involving 8, 500 teenagers from all social backgrounds found that most of them are ignorant
when it comes to money. The findings, the first in a series of reports from NatWest that has started a five-
year research project into teenagers and money, arc particularly worrying as this generation of young people
is likely to be burdened with greater debts man any before.
University tuition fees (学费) are currently capped at ￡3,000 annually, but this will be reviewed next year
and the Government is under enormous pressure to raise the ceiling.
In the research, the teenagers were presented with die terms of four different loans but 76 per cent failed
to identify the cheapest. The young people also predicted that they would be earning on average ￡ 31.000 by
the age of 25, although the average salary for those aged 22 to 29 is just ￡ 17,815. The teenagers expected
to be in debt when they finished university or training, although half said that they assumed the debts would
be less than ￡ 10.000. Average debts for graduates are ￡ 12,363.
Stephen Moir, head of community investment at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group which owns NatWest,
said. "The more exposed young people are to financial issues, and the younger they become aware of them,
the more likely they arc to become responsible, forward-planning adults who manage their finances confidently
and effectively."
Ministers are deeply concerned about the financial pressures on teenagers and young people because of
student loans and rising housing costs. They have just introduced new lessons in how to manage debts. Nikki
Fair-weather, aged 15 from St Helens, said that she had benefited from lessons on personal finance, but
admitted that she still had a lot to learn about money. | | 1. Which of the following can be found from the five-year research project? | A. Students understand personal finances differently.
B. University tuition fees in England have been rising.
C. Teenagers tend to overestimate their future earnings.
D. The students" payback ability has become a major issue. | | 2. The phrase "to raise the ceiling" in paragraph 2 probably means "______". | A. to raise the student loans
B. to improve the school facilities
C. to increase the upper limit of the tuition
D. to lift the school building roofs | | 3. According to Stephen Moir, students ______. | A. are too young 10 be exposed 10 financial issues
B. should learn 10 manage their finances well
C. should maintain a positive attitude when facing loans
D. benefit a lot from lessons on personal finance | | 4. What can we learn from the passage? | A. Many British teenagers do not know money matters well.
B. Teenagers in Britain are heavily burdened with debts.
C. Financial planning is a required course at college.
D. Young people should become responsible adults. | | 阅读理解。 | We experience different forms of the Sun"s energy every day. We can see its light and feel its warmth.
The Sun is the major source of evaporation (蒸发) of water from the oceans and lakes. Sunlight also provides
the energy used by green plants to make their own food. These green plants then provide food for all
organisms (生物) on the Earth.
Much of the energy that comes from the Sun never reaches the Earth"s surface. It is either reflected or
absorbed by the gases in the upper atmosphere. Of the energy that reaches the lower atmosphere, 30% is
reflected by clouds or the Earth"s surface. The remaining 70% warms the surface of the planet, causes water
to evaporate, and provides energy for the water cycle and weather. Only a tiny part, approximately 0.023%,
is actually used by green plants to produce food.
Many gases found in the atmosphere actually reflect heat energy escaping from the Earth"s surface back
to the Earth. These gases act like the glass of a greenhouse in that they allow energy from the Sun to enter
but prevent energy from leaving. They are therefore called greenhouse gases.
When sunlight strikes an object, some of the energy is absorbed and some is reflected. The amount reflected
depends on the surface. For example, you"ve probably noticed how bright snow is when sunlight falls on it.
Snow reflects most of the energy from the Sun, so it contributes to the low temperatures of winter. Dark-
coloured surfaces, such as dark soil or forest, absorb more energy and help warm the surrounding air. | | 1. According to the passage, the root cause for weather changes on the Earth is ______. | A. the atmosphere surrounding the Earth
B. water from oceans and lakes
C. energy from the Sun
D. greenhouse gases in the sky | | 2. Only a small part of the Sun"s energy reaches the Earth"s surface because most of it ______. | A. absorbed by the clouds in the lower atmosphere
B. reflected by the gases in the upper atmosphere
C. lost in the upper and lower atmosphere
D. used to evaporate water from the oceans and lakes | | 3. We learn from the passage that ______. | A. all living things on the Earth depend on the Sun for their food
B. a forest looks dark in winter because it absorbs solar energy
C. only 0.023% of the energy from the Sun is made use of on the Earth
D. greenhouse gases allow heat energy to escape from the Earth"s surface | 最新试题
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