1 . Carl Wieman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist at Standford University, excelled in the lab, where he created the Bose-Einstein condensate (玻色—爱因斯坦凝聚态). However, his mastery in the lab did not extend to the classroom. For years, he wrestled with what seemed to be a straightforward task: making undergraduates comprehend physics as he did. Laying it out for them — explaining, even demonstrating the core concepts of the discipline—was not working. Despite his clear explanations, his students’ capacity to solve the problems he posed to them remained inadequate.
It was in an unexpected place that he found the key to the problem: not in his classrooms but among the graduate students(研究生) who came to work in his lab. When his PH.D. candidates entered the lab, Wieman noticed, their habits of thought were no less narrow and rigid than the undergraduates. Within a year or two, however, these same graduate students transformed into the flexible thinkers he was trying so earnestly, and unsuccessfully, to cultivate. “Some kind of intellectual process must have been missing from the traditional education,” Wieman recounts.
A major factor in the graduate students’ transformation, Wieman concluded, was their experience of intense social engagement around a body of knowledge — the hours they spent advising, debating with, and recounting anecdotes to one another. In 2019, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences backed this idea. Tracking the intellectual advancement of several hundred graduate students in the sciences over the course of four years, its authors found that the development of crucial skills such as generating hypotheses (假设), designing experiments, and analyzing data was closely related to the students’ engagement with their peers in the lab, rather than the guidance they received from their faculty mentors (导师).
Wieman is one of a growing number of Stanford professors who are bringing this “active learning” approach to their courses. His aspiration is to move science education away from the lecture format, toward a model that is more active and more engaged.
1. What problem did Carl Wieman have with his undergraduates?| A．Making them excel in the lab. | B．Demonstrating lab experiments. |
| C．Facilitating their all-round development. | D．Enhancing their physics problem-solving. |
| A．Limited in thinking. | B．Resistant to new ideas. |
| C．Flexible and earnest. | D．Experienced and cooperative. |
| A．Intense lab work. | B．Peer pressure and evaluation. |
| C．Academic interaction with fellows. | D．Engagement with external society. |
| A．Transforming Graduates’ Habits | B．Carl Wieman’s Nobel Prize Journey |
| C．The Nobel-Prize Winner’s Struggles | D．Carl Wieman’s Education Innovation |
2 . My university has now topped the U.S. News &. World Report rankings for 11 years running. Given Princeton’s success, you might think I would be a fan of the list. Not so. Don’t get me wrong. I am proud of Princeton’s teaching, research and commitment to service. I like seeing our quality recognized. Rankings, however, are a misleading way to assess universities. Different schools have distinct strengths, structures and missions. The idea of picking one as “best”, as though educational programs competed like athletic teams, is strange.
However, the U.S. News rankings attract great attention and a huge customer base. Applicants and their families rely on the rankings and feel pressure to get into highly regarded institutions. As a result, many schools make intense efforts to move up in the rankings. This competition produces damaging consequences. For example. some universities avoid doing difficult but valuable things—such as admitting talented lower-income students who can succeed at university if given appropriate support.
Still, students and families need comparative information to choose universities. If rankings mislead, what is the alternative? For generations, buyers have turned to Consumer Reports for advice about almost everything except university education. When Consumer Reports evaluates a product, it assesses multiple factors so that potential buyers can make their own choices wisely, Similarly, university applicants need information about some basic variables. Graduation rates are crucial. A university that does not graduate its students is like a car with a bad maintenance (维修) record. It costs money without getting you anywhere. What applicants need is not the average graduation rate, but the rate for students with backgrounds like their own. For example, some places successfully graduate their wealthy students but do less well for lower income students. Applicants should also see some measures of post-graduation outcomes.
Here is a partial list of other factors that matter: cost of tuition (学费) and fees; high-quality teachers actively engaged in undergraduate instruction; and a learning culture composed of diverse students who study hard and educate one another. Judged by these criteria, many schools could be “Consumer Reports Best Buys”. Applicants should be excited to get into any of them; they should pick the one they find most appealing; and they should not waste time worrying about which is “the best”.
It would be great to have a Consumer Reports for universities. I hope that some national publication will have the courage to produce an annual, user-friendly Consumer Reports-style analysis of higher education institutions, even if it is not as attractive as a football-style set of rankings. In the meantime, those of us who understand the imperfection in the rankings must call them out—even when, indeed especially when, we finish at the top.
1. What is the author’s attitude towards university rankings?| A．Supportive. | B．Disapproving. | C．Indifferent. | D．Neutral. |
| A．To emphasize the need of overall evaluation of universities. |
| B．To present the information of potential buyers. |
| C．To highlight the difficulty of choosing universities. |
| D．To reveal the multiplicity of consumers. |
| A．It is not likely to have a Consumer Reports for universities. |
| B．The top universities can see the imperfection in the rankings better. |
| C．The most suitable university for applicants may not rank the top. |
| D．The average graduation rate is crucial to lower-income applicants. |
| A．There is no such thing as a good or bad student. |
| B．Education equality is an ideal hard to be realized. |
| C．Discrimination against poor students brings loss of talents. |
| D．An alternative approach is needed to assess universities. |
3 . Aesthetic (审美) education aims to improve aesthetic awareness, experience aesthetic qualities, encourage aesthetic creativity, and promote aesthetic judgement.
In order for kids to be able to appreciate natural wonders, shapes and pictures, they must be able to first notice them. This is why the development of the ability to notice the beautiful is the primary task of aesthetic education.
Judging or evaluating aesthetic qualities demands formed evaluation criteria. In order for beauty to reveal its true value, we must be familiar with its particularities. Throughout the process of aesthetic education, various types of knowledge, abilities and evaluation criteria must be applied.
| A．This way, the child will develop the foundations for assessing the beautiful. |
| B．And it is these that the aesthetic experience is built upon. |
| C．The beautiful will be likely to be created. |
| D．Instead, it is about creativity in the creation of aesthetic values in everyday life. |
| E．Beauty can be found all around us. |
| F．In some way, this is the ability to perceive aesthetic qualities. |
| G．Aesthetic qualities have to be felt. |
4 . For many years we have talked about education in a changing society but have done little to educate for uncertainty. Perhaps the best insurance we can offer for this uncertainty is the presence of a good mind. To develop a good mind the student must learn how to learn and develop a taste for learning. The world of tomorrow needs flexible individuals, intelligently mobile individuals, individuals who can land on their feet when their jobs become technologically outdated, and individuals who can deal with the unexpected.
To educate for flexibility we must distinguish between training and education. To train is to emphasize immediate goals to neglect (忽视) the long-term growth. To educate, however, is to foster (培养) limitless growth to develop the good mind.
An inevitable element in education for flexibility is an attitude favorable to change. This is hard to develop. It requires faith in oneself and in the future. Then, what can the school and college do to build an attitude more favorable to change? Certainly they can and must develop the self-confidence of students, and build them up with repeated success instead of constant failure. Schools and colleges can help students admire what is admirable and provide continuing guidance in how to become a real person having faith in the future and having a good mind of his own.
To meet the striking social changes of the future, continuing education is a necessity. As Native Americans noted, you should keep on learning as long as you're ignorant. The flexibly educated person knows that today's fact may be tomorrow's misconception. So we should raise awareness of lifelong learning.
The test of a modern society capable of meeting change with accelerated (加速的) evolution instead of revolution does not lie in asking, “Is everybody learning?” To be learning is not only a condition for survival; it is also the basis for being richly alive.
1. What does the underlined words “land on their feet” mean in Paragraph 1? ________| A．Rise to their feet. | B．Keep the feet on the ground. |
| C．Stick to convention. | D．Get out of a difficult situation. |
| A．They can offer short-term training to students. |
| B．They can help students develop a good attitude to life. |
| C．They can build up students’ confidence with constant success. |
| D．They can stimulate the sense of pride of students and teachers. |
| A．Real education is aimed at long-term growth. |
| B．A flexible mind could turn misconception into truth. |
| C．Evolution speeds up the changes of the modern society. |
| D．Lifelong learning is the only guarantee of a bright future. |
| A．reference book | B．journal of education |
| C．traveling magazine | D．art book |
For me, education has three main o
American Education
Things about American high school students | American high school students are very different from Chinese high school students. American students care more about their |
| American students are very | |
| They are often | |
| They must learn how to schedule their time between work, school, friends sports and, of course, fun! This type of responsibility is |
| A．It’s less important. |
| B．It needs improvement. |
| C．It’s becoming more popular. |
8 . As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just now the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey.
Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non- graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries.
This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available.
Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors (前辈), even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of cancelling a degree requirement for certain roles.
Regardless, it is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfillment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory (轨道).
Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist”. Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.
1. The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect __________.| A．the deceasing value of a degree | B．Millennial’s opinions about work |
| C．the desired route of social mobility | D．public dissatisfaction with education |
| A．The employers’ preference for high school leavers. |
| B．A change in parents’ attitudes towards college education. |
| C．A wider variety of choices besides pursuing a degree. |
| D．More emphasis put on lecture hall rather than classroom. |
| A．They will have a limited choice of jobs. |
| B．Education will no longer be a core part in their life. |
| C．They will focus more on personal accomplishment. |
| D．Lifelong learning will determine what they are. |
How do learning habits influence learning results? It’s useful and necessary to discuss learning habits. There is a famous
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away” also
What’s
I believe that through my efforts, I can gain good learning results by having good habits.
| A．Pocket money. | B．The value of money. | C．Money saving. |
