About PISA
The Program for International Student Assessment（PISA）is a triennial（每三年一次的）international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students.To date，students representing more than 70 economies have participated in the assessment.
What makes PISA different
PISA is unique because it develops tests which are not directly linked to the school curriculum.The tests are designed to assess to what extent students at the end of compulsory education can apply their knowledge to real life situations and be equipped for full participation in society.The information collected through background questionnaires also provides context which can help analysts interpret the results.
What the assessment involves
Since the year 2000，every three years，fifteen-year-old students from randomly selected schools worldwide take tests in the key subjects：reading.mathematics and sciences with a focus on one subject in each year of assessment.The students take a test that lasts 2 hours.The tests are a mixture of open-ended and multiple-choice questions that are organized in groups based on a passage setting out a real-life situation. A total of about 390 minutes of test items are covered. Students take different combinations of different tests.
Additional PISA initiatives
PlSA-based Test for Schools（PTS）
As interest in PISA has grown，School and local educators have been wanting to know how their individual schools compare with students and schools in education systems worldwide. To address this need，the OECD（The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development）has developed the PISA-based test for schools.It is currently available in the United States and the OECD is in discussions with governments to make the test available in other countries such as England and Spain.
1. PISA is different from other programs because ________ .| A．its test is closely related to the school curriculum |
| B．its test aims to assess whether students can solve real-life problems |
| C．its test can equip students for full participation in school |
| D．test scores directly determine the analysis of the test |
| A．Test-takers are carefully selected. |
| B．Test-takers answer the same questions. |
| C．Test-takers are tested on three key subjects. |
| D．Test-takers spend about 390minutes on the test. |
| A．Students of all ages will be able to take PTS in the future. |
| B．More countries are likely to have PTS in the future. |
| C．School and local educators show little interest in PISA at present. |
| D．PISA provides evaluation of the education system within a certain country. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Buying gifts for friends and family can be one of the most difficult parts of the holiday season. But don’t worry! We can help! Here are some gift ideas to suit all pockets.
E-Skateboard
For a friend who used to skateboard as a teen but has got a bit out-of-shape over the years, how about an electric skateboard? Control your speed with the remote control and let the wind blow through your hair as you race down the street. Though it is not cheap, it might be worth trying.
Pillow Speakers
With these speakers, you can fall asleep to the sound of waves, your favorite broadcast, or a relaxing song. With earphones, the cable (耳机线) can be uncomfortable to sleep on. But this little flat speaker is placed under the pillow, and the sound can only be heard by the person resting on the pillow.
Key Finder
This is the perfect gift for people who're always looking for their keys.
Attach the key finder to your key chain, and by using your phone you can make the finder ring to let you know where it is. It can also warn you if your keys are too far away from you. If you drop your keys, the key finder app keeps track of the last place your keys were and displays the location on the map.
TV Back Lights
Leaving the lights on when watching a movie is too bright, but if you switch them off, it tires your eyes. These LED strips solve that problem and make your movie experience even more enjoyable. You can change the color of the lights to suit your mood using a remote control. And it’s under ten dollars, so if you’re saving money, this might be something to consider.
1. What is special about pillow speakers?| A．They won’t disturb others. | B．They improve your sleep. |
| C．They can change songs to suit your mood. | D．They protect your ears from noise. |
| A．make your phone ring | B．bring back your memory |
| C．show you their last position | D．send a message to your phone |
| A．They are all cheap gifts. | B．They are suitable for people of all ages. |
| C．They are all good for health. | D．They are all tech gifts. |
【推荐2】If you are looking for culturally and globally unique experiences, here are four fascinating festivals that you can try from different corners of the world.
Holi Festival in India
Holi Festival in India is a colorful celebration of the arrival of spring. This festival, which falls in February or March, is celebrated with much enthusiasm and excitement all across the country. During Holi, people smear (涂抹) each other’s faces with brightly colored powders and spray colored water using water guns called pichkaris.
Carnival of Venice in Italy
This is a festival when you can see the streets of Venice flooded with colorful masks and carefully prepared costumes. Participants engage in a series of events ranging from parades and costume contests to masquerade balls (化装舞会). There is a popular event at the carnival, in which a girl in a traditional costume descends a rope from a tower to the square below.
Carnaval de Oruro in Bolivia
This carnival is a visual performance that takes place every year. The carnival features colorful and intricate (复杂精细的) costumes worn by tens of thousands of dancers and musicians who parade through the streets of Oruro over several days. The carnival is devoted to the Virgin of Candelaria, resulting in a fascinating and unique display of cultural heritage and artistic expression.
Day of the Dead in Guatemala
The Day of the Dead is a gift to the loved ones who are dead. The festival is a mixture of traditional Mayan culture and Catholic traditions. It takes place on November 1st and involves flowers, candles, and food offerings for the loved ones who are dead.
1. What is special about the Holi Festival in India?| A．Costume contests and masquerade balls. |
| B．Beautiful flowers and good food offerings. |
| C．Colorful and intricate costumes of dancers. |
| D．Brightly colored powders on people’s faces. |
| A．They feature carefully prepared costumes. |
| B．They just cost a little money. |
| C．They are celebrated for the rich. |
| D．They are in memory of famous musicians. |
| A．It is a weekly celebrated festival. |
| B．It is an event with some parades. |
| C．It is a festival for the dead people love. |
| D．It is a mixture of six different traditions. |
【推荐3】Things to Do in Atlanta This Weekend
Start the year off by experiencing something new this weekend! Here are our favorite events picked for this weekend.
The Glenn Miller Orchestra at Spivey Hall, Saturday
The music of Glenn Miller has an unusual sound. Combine that with the perfect sound affects at Spivey Hall, and you get a concert that is sure to have your toes tapping. And really, who doesn’t love Challanooga Choo Choo?
Garden Lights at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Saturday
This is the last night for this annual light show at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. It is particularly unusual that the magical sound of frogs in the conservatory (温室) is not from a recording. That magic is coming from the real frogs that live there. If it’s not too crowded, stop along the way, close your eyes and just listen.
Children’s Workshop: Egyptian Hieroglyphs (象形文字), Saturday
Does your child dream of becoming a historian when he grows up? If you answer “yes”, you will want to take him to the Michael C. Carlos Museum. Participants will learn how to read and write ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs from Egyptologist Annie Shanley. Children will have an opportunity to discover the meaning of hieroglyphs on tomb reliefs and statues.
Colin Mochrie at Dad’s Garage Theatre, Saturday and Sunday
Set the tone for a great 2018 with laughter. Colin Mochrie comes to Dad’s Garage Theatre and brings his lightning-quick creativity and humor.
If you want to look at all the events happening this weekend, check out our full events calendar.
1. Where can people enjoy Glenn Miller’s works?| A．At Dad’s Garage Theatre. | B．At Spivey Hall. |
| C．At the Atlanta Botanical Garden. | D．At the Michael C. Carlos Museum. |
| A．The perfect light effects. | B．The magical sound from a recording. |
| C．The specially designed conservatory. | D．The sound from real frogs. |
| A．Learn to read and write ancient Egyptian writing. |
| B．Meet some singers face to face. |
| C．Interview Annie Shanley. |
| D．Carve hieroglyphs on tomb reliefs and statues. |
| A．Challenging. | B．Educational. |
| C．Amusing. | D．Historic. |
【推荐1】Companies like Google, Apple and Intel offer some of California’s most cutting-edge-and highest-paying-jobs. Last year, those three companies alone brought in more than 10,000 people from other countries to take those jobs.
Surely it’d be simpler for them to hire closer to home. Among the key reasons they don’t is that too few Californians have the skills-in particular, the deep understanding of mathematics to qualify. It’s something the state’s new proposed math framework seeks to change.
The current system of mathematics teaching in the U. S. invites few students into the richness of thought and of learning. We blunt our children’s possibilities nearly from the start, telling far too many of them at a very early age that math isn’t for them. Sometimes those communications are clear and direct; they’re planted in decisions, by schools or districts, to put students on different tracks as early as third or fourth grade and teach them that math often limits how far they can go.
My first assignment as a mathematics teacher was to teach 13-year-olds who had been assigned to the lower-level tracks. One girl understood the message of that ability grouping all too well. She caught me up short with the question, “Why should I bother?”
The question became our shared challenge. I gave her more difficult work so she could do well on the national mathematics exam. She passed that exam, which allowed her to train to become a sound engineer.
She had been told she was not good enough for mathematics-and it was not true. Too many students in California are given the same message-and it is one of the reasons the U. S. has relatively few students who are proficient in math. That’s why California’s new mathematics framework has been introduced.
1. What does the author intend to show by mentioning some companies?| A．Their competing advantage. | B．Their hire in foreign countries. |
| C．Their benefits from high tech. | D．Their demand for staff qualification. |
| A．Reduce. | B．Explore. | C．Test. | D．Accept. |
| A．Amused. | B．Anxious. | C．Helpless. | D．Puzzled. |
| A．Need for framework change. | B．Contents of the new framework. |
| C．Comments on the existing framework. | D．Challenges from the framework making |
【推荐2】Learn With Homer
Price: Free
Grade level: Pre-K, K
Skill: Comprehension, Phonics (拼读法)
Device: iPad
It’s a learn-to-read app for kids aged 3 to 6 that includes drawing, voice recording, stories, songs, and more, along with more traditional phonics exercises.
This app can be helpful for kids who have speech production problems and language organization problems.
Inspiration Maps
Price: $ 9.99
Grade level: 4th and above
Skill: Comprehension, Writing
Device: iPad
Inspiration Maps is a mind-mapping tool that helps kids visually (视觉上) organize ideas. They can create maps, organizers, brainstorms, and text outlines. Outlines can be changed to maps, and maps can be changed to outlines. Users can share creations by emailing, printing, or saving to iTunes, Dropbox, Photos, or the app (as PDF or PNG files) . The Lite version (简化版本),which is free, lets kids create up to five mind maps with no sharing choices.
Aesop’s Quest
Price: $ 0.99
Skill: Comprehension
Grade level: 2nd, 3rd, 4th
Device: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
Aesop’s Quest, based on Aesop’s Fables, is a learning game where the student must remember parts of a story to complete a level. At the end of each story level, the student is rewarded with tests. After solving the tests, the story is complete and the child can continue to the next story.
Developed together with the Virginia Department of Education.
Light Sail
Grade level: Pre-K, K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and above
Price: Free
Skill: Comprehension
Device: iPad
Light Sail is an e-reading platform that helps teachers support their students’ independent reading. Students can use Light Sail to check out text from their schools’ online libraries and read the books directly on their iPad. As students progress through a book, questions appear to check their comprehension. As students complete these assessments (评定), they earn prizes.
1. What do the four apps have in common?| A．They try to improve kids’ comprehension ability. |
| B．They are developed for high-school students. |
| C．They can be downloaded onto iPhone. |
| D．They are free of charge. |
| A．Learn With Homer | B．Aesop’s Quest | C．Light Sail | D．Inspiration Maps |
| A．It is developed only for teachers. |
| B．It is a platform to support students’ independent reading. |
| C．It helps users to finish their homework. |
| D．It develops users’ comprehension through games. |
【推荐3】Everyone has their own way of taking notes. But beyond just noting down key points when you hear them, you can take advantage of a few different methods to improve information recording and learning experience.
The Charting Method
The Outline Method
Place the most important points farthest to the left of your paper so the more to the right a point is, the less important it is.
Write every new thought with a new sentence. Although similar to the outline method, this method is easier to use when the material is difficult. It is best to immediately review these sentences after class and rank what information is most important and least important.
The Mapping Method
Find out the main topic and underline it at the top or middle of your paper.
The Note-taking Method for You
If you’re unsure which method fits your learning style best, start from the top and try each one. Keep in mind that one method might work well for one type but not necessarily for all of your types.
| A．The sentence method |
| B．The connecting method |
| C．But your teacher may have a better method |
| D．So don’t be afraid to try and you will make it |
| E．Separate your paper into columns headed by types |
| F．Identify the sub-topics or supporting main ideas and put them around it |
| G．It’s important to note that once you start a new topic, begin the left once more |
【推荐1】Who would have thought that there was any connection between a cup of coffee and a bird, butterfly, or even a bat? Such seems to be the case, however, as methods for growing coffee plants have gradually changed over time.
Coffee plants were first discovered growing in Africa hundreds of years ago. The plants grew under a wide cover of forests, which protected the coffee plants’ leaves from the burning sun. As coffee was introduced to other countries, farmers would naturally try to grow the plants in the shade of tall trees. These trees provided more than shade for coffee plants; they were also home for many species of birds, insects, and other plants.
Over the past 30 to 40 years, people developed a new kind of coffee plant, one which grows well in open sunlight. Sun-grown coffee produced two times more coffee than shade-grown coffee in the same amount of time and space. As a result, the growing need for coffee makes the sun-grown method appear to be the best way to grow coffee.
However, this newer method has some unexpected results. First, the lack of tree cover leaves the land open to heavy rainfall, which can wash away the soil’s nutrients (营养物质). This necessitates an increased use of fertilizers and additives, which is likely to create health risks. Second, as forests are taken down to make way for sun-grown coffee plants, native and migratory birds no longer have a home. This is threatening many species, and the effect is now being examined and recorded by ornithologists, who are discovering sharp falls in some species that travel to the northern United States each year. Finally, more pesticides (农药) are used in the sun-grown method, all of which have a bad influence on both the environment and the long-term health of the coffee plants themselves.
Today, as more people recognize the problems of coffee grown in the sun, perhaps they will be willing to pay the higher prices, encouraging coffee growers to return to the more natural method of producing this worldwide product.
1. Compared with shade-grown coffee, sun-grown coffee _____.| A．grows more slowly |
| B．tastes much better |
| C．is more productive |
| D．is more expensive |
| A．Protect forests. |
| B．Grow coffee. |
| C．Make pesticides. |
| D．Study birds. |
| A．Grow shade-grown coffee. | B．Improve coffee production. |
| C．Sell coffee at lower prices. | D．Plant a new kind of coffee. |
| A．coffee and forests |
| B．coffee production and the environment |
| C．coffee farmers and animals |
| D．coffee and sunlight |
【推荐2】Preparing for a medical emergency involving your pet is always best accomplished before the event takes place. This series is designed to help guide you through the important decisions about first aid, as well as how and when to transport your pet quickly and safely to a veterinary hospital or emergency access.
VeterinaryPartner.com has provided this complete reference book online for you to skim through, expanding your knowledge of the dog’s and cat’s first aid. However, we encourage you to buy the book to keep in your home or car as a quick reference during an emergency.
This book is an emergency preparedness ready reference for dogs and cats. Wise preventive measures, intelligent use of first aid principles, coupled with recognition of abnormal symptoms and treatment of disorders, diseases and problems lead to effective health care.
A working knowledge of this information will help you get rid of some potentially dangerous circumstances and help you prepare for emergency situations.
It includes information on what to do and what not to do in specific emergency situations. The authors encourage careful reading and occasional rereading. We have tried to make this book easy to understand, avoiding technical terms as often as possible, but defining them in context when they are necessary.
1. What’s the purpose of this passage?| A．To introduce a book, a reference about first aid for dogs and cats. |
| B．To introduce a website. |
| C．To introduce a working knowledge. |
| D．To encourage careful reading. |
| A．Because it’s very cheap. |
| B．Because it contains a working knowledge of information about dogs and cats. |
| C．Because it contains information on specific emergency situations. |
| D．Because you can keep it at hand and find knowledge of the dog’s or cat’s first aid in case of an emergency. |
| A．It can enlarge the readers’ knowledge of the dog’s and cat’s first aid. |
| B．It contains the knowledge of recognition of abnormal symptoms of dogs and cats. |
| C．Although it contains a lot of technical terms, it is easy to understand. |
| D．You can read it on VeterinaryPartner.com. |
| A．应急的 | B．兽医的 |
| C．紧急的 | D．资助的 |
【推荐3】When everything is going wrong, there's nothing like listening to a few bars of your favorite sad song. But why do we find pleasure in sad music? This puzzled two researchers at the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany who set out to explore our strong feeling for sad songs in a world where entire industries exist to help us remove sadness from our lives.
Their study — based on a survey of more than 770 people around the world and published this month in the journal, PLOS ONE — discovered sad music can create positive emotions, like peacefulness and kindness, and that choosing the tearful ballad on your music player offers three benefits.
The biggest turned out to be that sad songs allow you to feel sadness without any of its “real-life contexts.” In other words, you can safely explore what it's like to be a little blue without experiencing the great pain of losing a loved one, for example.
“Emotion control” was another important benefit. Many of those surveyed said that when they were in a bad mood (情绪), experiencing sadness through music made them feel better afterwards and provided an emotional improvement. That may be because the songs help them to express and let go of their emotions, researchers noted. “Sad music promotes and creates a space for reflection and reexamination of personal experiences, thoughts and feelings,” one of the researchers added
The benefit of “empathy” (同理心) made the listener feel good by allowing him to share the sadness of another human being through the song. When we're having social problems, like when we're feeling lonely, homesick or missing someone, the sad songs can offer comfort by showing someone else shares our state of mind, the study found.
So it turns out that Elton John was right: Sad songs do say so much.
1. What does the underlined word “This” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．When things go wrong. | B．What to explore in sad songs. |
| C．Why sad music brings us joy. | D．How to remove sadness from life. |
| A．Benefits of sad music. |
| B．Strong feelings in sad music. |
| C．Real-life contexts of sad music. |
| D．Empathetic comforts from sad music. |
| A．By freeing us from bad moods. | B．By bringing great pain to us. |
| C．By helping us reflect on exams. | D．By providing a space for us. |
| A．To prove Elton John was right. | B．To show Elton John wrote songs. |
| C．To make the readers think deeply. | D．To stress the point of the passage. |
