1 . Turning soil, pulling weeds, and harvesting cabbage sound like tough work for middle and high school kids. And at first it is, says Abby Jaramillo, who with another teacher started Urban Sprouts, a school garden program at four low-income schools. The program aims to help students develop science skills, environmental awareness, and healthy lifestyles.

Jaramillo’s students live in neighborhoods where fresh food and green space are not easy to find and fast food restaurants outnumber grocery stores. “The kids literally come to school with bags of snacks and large bottles of soft drinks,” she says. “They come to us thinking vegetables are awful, dirt is awful, insects are awful.” Though some are initially scared of the insects and turned off by the dirt, most are eager to try something new.

Urban Sprouts’ classes, at two middle schools and two high schools, include hands-on experiments such as soil testing, flower-and-seed dissection, tastings of fresh or dried produce, and work in the garden. Several times a year, students cook the vegetables they grow, and they occasionally make salads for their entire schools.

Program evaluations show that kids eat more vegetables as a result of the classes. “We have students who say they went home and talked to their parents and now they’re eating differently,” Jaramillo says.

She adds that the program’s benefits go beyond nutrition. Some students get so interested in gardening that they bring home seeds to start their own vegetable gardens. Besides, working in the garden seems to have a calming effect on Jaramillo’s special education students, many of whom have emotional control issues. “They get outside,” she says, “and they feel successful.”

1. What do we know about Abby Jaramillo?

A．She used to be a health worker.	B．She grew up in a low-income family.
C．She owns a fast food restaurant.	D．She is an initiator of Urban Sprouts.

2. What was a problem facing Jaramillo at the start of the program?

A．The kids’ parents distrusted her.	B．Students had little time for her classes.
C．Some kids disliked garden work.	D．There was no space for school gardens.

3. Which of the following best describes the impact of the program?

A．Far-reaching.	B．Predictable.
C．Short-lived.	D．Unidentifiable.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Rescuing School Gardens	B．Experiencing Country Life
C．Growing Vegetable Lovers	D．Changing Local Landscape

2 . The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in educational technology (EdTech) has brought incomparable convenience and efficiency to classrooms worldwide. However, despite these advancements, it is crucial to recognize the challenges these AI-driven tools pose to the autonomy and professional judgment of instructors.

One of its primary concerns is the depersonalization of instruction. These tools often rely on pre-packaged digital content and standardized solutions, leaving insufficient room for instructors to tailor their teaching methods. Each student possesses unique characteristics. Instructors, armed with their wealth of experience and knowledge, are best positioned to tailor their approaches to these individual needs. However, AI-driven tools restrict their ability to do so effectively, resulting in a one-size-fits-all approach that fails to inspire students to reach their maximum potential.

EdTech companies offer step-by-step solutions to textbook problems. These are intended to act as study aids. However, some students employ this feature as a means to merely copy solutions without comprehending concepts. Consequently, instances of cheating on assignments and exams become widespread. While these tools may offer convenience, students may use external resources or cooperate with others during quizzes, affecting the honesty of their learning outcomes.

The implications of this depersonalization and the increase in academic dishonesty are far-reaching. By decreasing the role of instructors as facilitators of meaningful educational interactions, we run the risk of preventing the growth of critical thinking and problem-solving skills among students. Education should not only focus on knowledge acquisition, but should also develop the ability to analyze, evaluate, and apply that knowledge in real-world contexts. It should help one’s mind grow, not simply memorize information. Through dynamic classroom discussions, cooperative projects, and hands-on activities, instructors play a crucial role in developing these essential skills.

While AI-driven EdTech tools undeniably have their virtues, we must not lose sight of the importance of preserving instructor autonomy and educational experience. Instead of relying only on pre-packaged content and standardized solutions, these tools should be designed to empower instructors to adapt and customize their approaches while taking full advantage of the benefits of technology.

1. What do the underlined words “the depersonalization of instruction” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Tailored methods for individuals.	B．Instructors’ dependence on Al.
C．Insufficient resources of Al-driven tools.	D．The one-size-fits-all approach.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．A possible solution.

B．A further problem.

C．A well-meant intention.

D．A suggested application

3. In what aspect do students suffer most with AI-driven EdTech education?

A．Thinking skills.	B．Teamwork building.
C．Interest development.	D．Knowledge acquisition.

4. What is conveyed about Al-driven EdTech tools in the last paragraph?

A．They should be used widely.

B．Their benefits deserve our attention.

C．Their resources need enriching.

D．They should support instructor autonomy.

3 . On Mondays, two of my children get ready for school in an unusual way. Each packs plenty of food and water, a pair of rubber boots and sometimes a cup of hot chocolate. Then, I drop them off at a nearby park where they spend the entire day outside at a certified forest school.

When I first signed them up for forest school program, I loved the idea, but as a mum, I was concerned about a few things: Would they be comfortable outside for that long? Would they stay engaged for that many hours? Then I asked them if time ever seemed to move slowly, they stared at me in confusion. They didn’t understand my question, which fittingly removed it.

In this program, kids direct their own play, climbing tall trees or testing ice on the frozen lake. They are never told their play is too high or too sharp, but are rather trusted to self- adjust. Something else my sons appreciate about forest school is not being told to move on to the next activity, but being left to stay in a particular spot for as long as their curiosity allows. :

“What about all the things they’re missing in real school?” concerned parents have asked me. Neither of their classroom teachers thinks it’s a problem, but most significantly, my kids are learning new and different skills that a classroom cannot teach. They are learning to sit silently and observe nature up close-a skill that’s virtually impossible to develop in a noisy and overcrowded classroom setting. They are making social connections across a broader range of age groups. They cooperate together, using their different sizes and strengths to fulfill various roles within their games.

I appreciate it that forest school is shaping my boys’ relationship with the outdoors. They’re learning how to spend extended periods of time in nature, what to do to pass the time, and developing knowledge that will get them much closer to nature in the coming decades.

1. What is special about the forest school program?

A．Teachers engage in kids’ play.	B．Kids play and learn outdoors.
C．It focuses on nature protection.	D．It offers various food and drinks.

2. How did the author feel about kids’ reaction to her questions?

A．Awkward.

B．Concerned.

C．Relieved.

D．Proud.

3. What does Paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A．The concerns caused by the program.

B．The benefits gained from role plays.

C．The skills acquired by children.

D．The games loved by teachers.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Nature: a wonderland for the young

B．Forest school program proves a hit

C．Parks are replacing traditional schools

D．Forest school: a fine place for my kids

5 . Two and a half millennia ago, Socrates complained that writing would harm students. With a way to store ideas permanently and externally, they would no longer need to memorize. However, studies today have found that writing on paper can improve everything from recalling a random series of words to better understanding complex concepts.

For learning material by repetition, the benefits of using a pen or pencil lie in how the motor and sensory memory of putting words on paper reinforces that material. The scribbling (涂鸦) on a page feeds into visual memory: people might remember a word they wrote down in French class as being at the bottom-left on a page.

One of the best-demonstrated advantages of writing by hand seems to be in note-taking. Students typing on computers wrote down almost twice as many words directly from lectures, suggesting they were not understanding so much as rapidly copying the material. However, handwriting forces note-takers to process and organize ideas into their own words. This aids conceptual understanding at the moment of writing, resulting in better performance on tests.

Many studies have confirmed handwriting’s benefits, and policymakers have taken note. Though America’s curriculum from 2010 does not require handwriting instruction past first grade (roughly age six), about half the states since then have required more teaching of it. In Sweden there is a push for more handwriting and printed books and fewer devices. England’s national curriculum already includes the teaching of basic cursive writing (连写体) skills by age seven.

However, several school systems in America have gone so far as to ban most laptops. This is too extreme. Some students have disabilities that make handwriting especially hard. Nearly all will eventually need typing skills. Virginia Berninger, professor of psychology at the University of Washington, is a longtime advocate of handwriting. But she is not a purist; she says there are research tested benefits for “manuscript” print-style writing but also for typing.

Socrates may or may not have had a point about the downsides of writing. But no one would remember, much less care, if his student Plato had not noted it down for the benefit of future generations.

1. According to the text, why does writing on paper have benefits for learning?

A．It provides visual enjoyment in class.

B．It improves the effect of memorization.

C．It promotes the motor and sensory ability.

D．It helps to remember the information forever.

2. How does the author show the emphasis on handwriting instruction at school?

A．By giving examples.	B．By providing statistics.
C．By making comparisons.	D．By making classification.

3. What is paragraph 5 mainly about?

A．Difficulties faced by the disabled.

B．Unreasonableness of forbidding typing.

C．The research-tested benefits of typing.

D．The longtime advocacy for handwriting.

4. Why does the writer mention Socrates and Plato in the last paragraph?

A．To thank Plato for his efforts.

B．To defend Socrates’ point of view.

C．To show people’s indifference to typing.

D．To confirm the importance of handwriting.

6 . Education in 2080 is distinctive from education in the 2020s. Until about 2035, the main function of education systems was to supply the economy with the next generation of workers. In 2080, the purpose of education is the well-being of society and all its members. To make this a bit more tangible for you, I would like to give an example of what a child’s education looks like in 2080. Her name is Shemsy. Shemsy is 13, and she is confident and loves learning.

Shemsy does not go to school in the morning because schools as you know them no longer exist. The institution was abolished as it was widely thought of as more like a prison or a factory than a creative learning environment. Schools have been replaced with “Learning Hubs” that are not restricted to certain ages. They are where intergenerational learning happens, in line with the belief that learning is a lifelong pursuit.

Every year, Shemsy designs her learning journey for the year with a highly attentive “teacher-citizen”. Shemsy is actively engaged in designing her education and has to propose projects she would like to be involved in to contribute to and serve her community. She also spends lots of time playing as the role of play in learning has finally been recognized as essential and core to our humanity. Shemsy works a lot collaboratively. Access to education is universal, and higher education institutions no longer differentiate themselves by how many people they reject yearly. Variability between students is expected and leveraged (利用) as young people teach one another and use their differences as a source of strength. Shemsy naturally explores what she is curious about at a pace she sets. She still has some classes to take that are mandatory for children globally: Being Human and the History of Humanity.

We invite you to think about your vision for education in the year 2080, what does it look like, who does it serve,and how does it transform our societies?

1. What does paragraph 1 mainly tell us?

A．There are different types of education.

B．The present education needs improvements.

C．Education and economy are closely associated.

D．The goal of future education is fundamentally different.

2. What do we know about the Learning Hub that Shemsy goes to?

A．It accepts students of all ages.	B．It promotes competition.
C．It discourages individualized learning.	D．It is all about play-based learning.

3. What does the underlined word “mandatory” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Tough.

B．Satisfactory.

C．Optional.

D．Required.

4. What is the suitable title for the text?

A．An Example to All	B．A Vision for Education
C．A Challenge for Education	D．A Journey into the Future

7 . STEM vs. STEAM

STEM is short for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The term was coined by Judith Ramaley while a director at National Science Foundation in 2001. Since then, STEM-focused education has been extended to many countries beyond the United States. However, education is a constantly evolving game.     1     One of the latest philosophies gaining steam is adding an arts component to the STEM educational focus, thus, creating the STEM vs. STEAM debate.

The believers in STEM education want the focus to remain on the core STEM principles.     2     Tasks involving product design encourage students to draw and create. Adding arts will take away from the original intention of focusing on the STEM disciplines.

    3     They argue that adding arts to STEM is a way to develop strong STEM students who think creatively. Several studies have shown that engaging students’ arts strength increases their motivation when it comes to STEM activities.     4     Furthermore, for kids who might be turned off from STEM subjects due to a dislike of numbers, highlighting the artistic component of lessons can reach out and draw them in.

While they seem to be opposed, both sides of this argument may have the right idea.     5     Consider the growing field of computer animation, where you must have both artistic abilities and strong technology fields. Also, the most basic of all children’s toys, wooden blocks, are an incredible example of STEAM exploration. They bring design, geometry, and engineering concepts to our youngest learners, setting them up for a lifetime of creative thinking.

A．The STEAMers disagree.

B．Actually, science and arts are inseparable.

C．It consistently introduces new theories and practices.

D．Their idea is that there are already enough arts in their approach.

E．Thus, good teachers are always learning to keep pace with updated knowledge.

F．It also improves the probability of success in complicated tasks and challenges.

G．They believe adding art makes the STEM courses accessible to more students.

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Primary schools now attach great importance to labor education, advocating students to do activities such as cooking, making handicrafts     1     decorating houses.

Xue Youmei, a Grade 3 student, spent the winter holiday in Guangxi. Everything about village life was novel to Xue who was used     2     urban life. Xue joined her family to work at a farm field planted with Chinese water chestnuts. Xue,     3     (wear) a pair of gloves, helped her father pick up water chestnuts at the field.

For Yang Liqiao, a Grade 6 student, the past winter holiday gave her     4     new identity-garbage sorting guide. Yang wore a volunteer’s vest and recorded the situation of the garbage sorting work at her residential community.     5     (additional), Yang also invited her classmates to walk around the park nearby to pick up garbage on the ground. Yang’s father observed labor activities offered students a chance     6     (acquire) knowledge, which was not taught at class.

At the same time, some schools in China also assigned specialized homework during the winter vacation to let students enjoy play-based learning. Some students     7    (ask) to cooperate with parents to decorate their homes with New Year     8    (painting). The task aimed to develop students’     9    (innovation) thinking. And some were required to collect physics-related Chinese poems, make an     10    (analyse) and draw a conclusion.

9 . Despite all the efforts students make to graduate with a science major, research has shown that most college science courses provide students with only a fragmented (碎片化的) understanding of fundamental scientific concepts. The teaching method improves memorization of separate facts, proceeding from one textbook chapter to the next without necessarily making connections between them, instead of learning how to use the information and connect those facts meaningfully.

With that in mind, we developed a series of cross-disciplinary (跨学科的) activities. In our most recent study, we investigated how well college students could use their chemistry knowledge to explain real-world biological phenomena. To begin with, we interviewed 28 first-year college students majoring in sciences or engineering. All had taken both introductory chemistry and biology courses. We asked them to identify connections between the content of these courses and what they believed to be the take-home messages from each course. The students responded with extensive lists of topics, concepts, and skills that they’d learned in class.

Following that, a set of cross-disciplinary activities were designed to guide students in the use of core chemistry ideas and knowledge to help explain real-world biological phenomena. One activity explored the impacts of ocean acidification on seashells. Here, the students were asked to use basic chemistry ideas to explain how the increasing level of carbon dioxide in sea water is affecting shell-building marine animals such as corals, clams and oysters.

Overall, the students felt confident of their chemistry knowledge. However, they had a harder time applying the same chemistry knowledge to explaining the biological phenomena. These findings highlight that a big gap remains between what students learn in their science courses and how well prepared they are to apply that information.

The students in our study also reported that these activities helped them see links between the two disciplines that they wouldn’t have perceived otherwise. The ability to make these connections is important beyond the classroom as well, because it’s the basis of science literacy (科学素养). So we also came away with evidence that our chemistry students at least would like to have the ability to have a deeper understanding of science and how to apply it.

1. What does the existing science education fail to do according to the research?

A．Extend students’ theoretical knowledge.

B．Engage students in more outdoor activities.

C．Encourage students to enjoy the learning process.

D．Teach students to make connections among different subjects.

2. What can we learn about the student interviewees?

A．They have rich academic knowledge.	B．They pay little attention to biology courses.
C．They hardly identify the core ideas of science.	D．They fully understand their major’s importance.

3. The activity about ocean acidification expects students to _______________.

A．analyse the exact composition of sea water.

B．study some unusual phenomena under the sea.

C．come up with practical methods to protect sea life.

D．explain the effects of carbon dioxide on sea creatures.

4. What does the author see from the result of the study?

A．The need to remove the unfairness in education.

B．The difficulties of cross-disciplinary study.

C．The potential to promote students’ science literacy.

D．The method of increasing students’ practical skills.

10 . During my freshman year at Brooklyn College, credit card companies were eager to earn the business of students. _______ by various rewards programs that only told part of the story, many students signed up for one or more cards without understanding the _______ of late payment.

_______ basic financial literacy (金融素养) meant many college students started off their adult lives with poor credit. _______, they faced challenges later in life when they needed to borrow money but couldn’t _______ a low-interest loan.

Poor credit _______ me past college and years into my teaching career. That has fueled my sense of _______ to teach the next generation of students about personal finance. It’s why I helped develop a personal finance course for teens and young adults.

To make the class as _______ as possible, we asked the students what _______ interested them. They were curious to know about buying homes and cars. Our course, intended for those aged between 14 and 21, has them ________ questions: How much do I need to save to make these purchases? Which purchases do I prioritize?

We, educators, can help young people ________ life after graduation, as there are many great ________ and developing our course was ________ than I had expected, which is why I hope more schools and youth organizations will offer financial education.

Financial literacy shouldn’t be optional because it puts those without it at a significant ________. And if my ________ as a student and an educator have taught me anything, it’s that no one should have to learn important financial lessons the hard way.

1.

A．Attracted

B．Sponsored

C．Required

D．Dominated

2.

A．conditions

B．benefits

C．consequences

D．processes

3.

A．Displaying

B．Maintaining

C．Abandoning

D．Lacking

4.

A．However

B．Therefore

C．Otherwise

D．Instead

5.

A．secure

B．guarantee

C．request

D．settle

6.

A．turned

B．guided

C．followed

D．tricked

7.

A．independence

B．responsibility

C．achievement

D．identity

8.

A．touching

B．surprising

C．engaging

D．inspiring

9.

A．words

B．titles

C．courses

D．topics

10.

A．posing

B．considering

C．examining

D．tackling

11.

A．search for

B．pay for

C．prepare for

D．care for

12.

A．questions

B．paths

C．examples

D．resources

13.

A．easier

B．cheaper

C．safer

D．stricter

14.

A．distance

B．disadvantage

C．point

D．corner

15.

A．duties

B．abilities

C．ambitions

D．experiences