The new school year has started and it looks much different for many teachers and students. With the COVID-19 pandemic still causing shutdowns, remote learning has become the new normal for schools around the country. Teachers already have the challenge to make lessons engaging for a classroom full of students. As kids are trying to learn from home, some teachers are getting extra creative to get students’ attention.
Bob Moss, a US history teacher at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, decided to make the most out of the unusual classroom environment and make his subject come to life for his students. He decided to set out on what he called his “Great American History Road Trip.” He not only held remote classes on location at historic sites, but also posted aspects of his adventure on social media. He created a 15-day travel schedule of major historic sites around the county and filmed instructional videos for his students to watch and enjoy, starting on Aug. 21.
“This is something I’d never be able to do in a normal school year,” Moss said. “I was just trying to figure out, how can I make this school year interesting and fun for kids? I mean, I don’t know how to do remote teaching. I wasn’t trained to be an online teacher … So I figured, what if I teach history from the places where it happened? Maybe that would at least make them want to log in to find out where their teacher is every day.”
The 26-year-old experienced teacher used his personal savings to fund the trip. He loaded up himself with a few personal belongings and a lot of equipment to make sure he could capture each of the locations where history happened.
In the end, though, it was not only a unique learning opportunity for his students but also a way for him to find his passion for teaching once again in a challenging time.
1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?| A．Students become more creative than usual at home. |
| B．Making students interested in learning is a challenge. |
| C．Students prefer to study at home rather than at school. |
| D．Most teachers refuse to teach in a classroom full of students. |
| A．To promote American history. | B．To get trained to be an online teacher. |
| C．To become well known during shutdowns. | D．To make lessons more attractive to students. |
| A．By using his own money he saved. |
| B．By receiving donations from his school. |
| C．By filming instructional videos to earn money. |
| D．By advertising the locations where history happened. |
| A．Education is the key to success. | B．Nothing is difficult to a willing heart. |
| C．A good beginning makes a good ending. | D．A man becomes learned by asking questions. |
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Phrases like “tiger mom” and ‘‘helicopter parent” have made their way into everyday language．Many of us find ourselves drawn to the idea that with just a bit more parental hard work and effort, we might turn out children with bright futures．But is there anything wrong with a kind of “overparenting style”?
Parental involvement has a long history of being studied．Many of the studies, conducted by Diana Baumrind, a famous psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that a good parent is the one who is involved and reacts to her child in a positive way, who sets high expectations but gives her child independence．These “authoritative parents” appear to hit the sweet spot of parental involvement and generally raise children who do better academically, psychologically and socially than children whose parents are not strict and less involved, or controlling and more involved．Why is this parenting style so successful?
Authoritative parents actually help improve motivation in their children．Carol Dweck, a social psychologist at Stanford University, has done research that indicates why authoritative parents raise more motivated children．In a typical experiment, Dr．Dweck takes young children into a room and asks them to solve a simple puzzle．Most do so with little difficulty．But then Dr．Dweck tells some, but not all, of the kids how clever they are．As it turns out, the children who are not told they’re smart are more motivated to solve increasingly difficult puzzles．They also show higher levels of confidence and show greater progress in puzzle-solving．
As the experiment suggests, praising children’s talents and abilities seems to shake their confidence．Dealing with more difficult puzzles carries the risk of losing one’s status as “smart”．Dr．Dweck’s work strongly supports that of Dr．Baumrind, who also found that reasonably supporting a child’s independence and limiting interference (干涉) causes better academic and emotional results．
The central task of growing up is to develop a sense of self that is independent and confident．If you treat your young child who is just learning to walk as if she can’t walk, you reduce her confidence．Allowing children to make mistakes is one of the greatest challenges of parenting．It is easier when they are young．The potential mistakes carry greater risks, and part of being a parent is reducing risk for our children．
1. According to the passage, a “tiger mom” ______．
| A．helps her children realize their dreams |
| B．speaks her children’s everyday language |
| C．places reasonable expectations on her children |
| D．pays close attention to her children’s experiences |
| A．face more challenges of children |
| B．foster independence in children |
| C．cause more problems in children |
| D．lead to children’s academic success |
| A．a good game plays a big role in training young minds |
| B．overpraising makes children less motivated and confident |
| C．puzzle-solving can give children the motivation they need |
| D．bright children usually show less confidence in difficult games |
| A．children should not be given much freedom |
| B．parents should not increase the risk of challenging |
| C．parents should allow their children to learn from mistakes |
| D．children should correct mistakes with the help of their parents |
【推荐2】This month, more than 4 million students across the Unites States will begin with their tenth grade, which is the make or break year for many 15-and 16-year-olds. They are likely to study in completely new schools, and have much more schoolwork and less free time. Even for those students who have done well in the ninth grade, going to high school can be a big challenge (挑战).
A study of Philadelphia high schools found that 57% (more than half!) of the students will experience the so-called "Tenth-grade shock" which means that many students will find big difficulties in their study. Some students deal with this shock by avoiding challenges. For example, some may drop difficult school work. Others may experience a hopelessness that results in failing their major classes, such as English, science and math.
This should matter a great deal for the teachers because students' smooth transition(过 渡)to tenth grade can have long-term consequences (后果) not only for the students themselves and their families but also for the society at large.
In the new economy, students who fail to finish high school with passing grades might have difficulty to get jobs. One study has found that the lifetime benefit to the local economy for one additional student who completes high school is half a million dollars or more. This is based on higher earnings and lower costs in health care, crime and other things.
We make these observations (观察) as researchers who have studied how schools and families can help young people to be successful. And we would like to make some suggestions on how to help our teenagers go through the "Tenth-grade shock”.
1. What is the so-called “Tenth-grade shock”?| A．The free time the tenth graders will enjoy. |
| B．The new teachers the tenth graders will meet. |
| C．The challenges the tenth graders will face. |
| D．The difficulties the tenth graders have gone through. |
| A．Researchers. | B．Parents. | C．Teachers. | D．Reporters. |
| A．An open letter. | B．A research paper. | C．A survey. | D．A guidebook. |
| A．The Best Advice for the Tenth Graders |
| B．The Importance of High School Education |
| C．The New and Hard Life for the Tenth Graders |
| D．The Possible Tenth-grade Shock and Its Consequences |
【推荐3】It is hard to say the first day of school in the United States because when the first day of school is and what happens on the first day of school usually are different by districts（地区）.
The first day of school for many school districts in different states is on the day after the first Monday in September. In some other school districts, school begins in mid-to-late August. For example, the Denver, Colorado schools go back in mid-August and schools in Cleveland, Ohio start back usually one week before the first Monday in September. The Boston, Chicago, New York City and San Diego schools start back on the Tuesday or Wednesday after the first Monday in September.
Schools in Cleveland, Ohio used to start the school year on the day after the first Monday in September, but in the 1976-1977 and 1977-1978 academic years, the school year was affected by several bad snowstorms, extreme cold. In the 1978-1979 school year, the Ohio Department of Education moved the start of the year to late August, one week before the first Monday in September. This went into effect in the 1980-1981 school year.
In most school districts in Utah, the school year starts between August 25 and August 30, and goes until the last week of May or the first week in June next year.
In American high schools, the freshmen class usually goes back one or two days before the rest of the school body for an orientation（迎新）period. An orientation period helps the freshmen get familiar with their new school, its rules, and surroundings.
In some schools, the freshmen classes have their photographs taken for identification purposes. Some high schools have tried to make the first week of school fun for incoming freshmen.
1. According to the passage, which schools start their school year the earliest?| A．Schools in Denver. |
| B．Schools in Cleveland. |
| C．Schools in New York City. |
| D．Schools in Boston. |
| A．Because of some political events. |
| B．Because of the entrance examinations. |
| C．Because of the increasing number of students. |
| D．Because of the extreme weather. |
| A．About seven months. |
| B．About eight months. |
| C．About nine months. |
| D．About ten months. |
| A．a book about one's life story |
| B．an official website of education |
| C．an advertisement in a newspaper |
| D．a sports magazine |
【推荐1】Edward O. Wilson, known as “ant man”, was born on June 10, 1929, in Birmingham, Alabama. His parents divorced when he was young, and he was moved frequently throughout his childhood. Wilson grew up exploring the forests and wildlife. One of these adventures left him partly blind, but they also set off his lifelong fascination with ants and their social structures.
Wilson earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Alabama. In 1955, he received his PhD. from Harvard and worked there until retirement.
Wilson’s early study of ants led to his first major discovery in 1959: how ants communicate through the release of chemical signals.
Later, in 1990, Wilson and German biologist Bert Hölldobler published their Pulitzer-winning The Ants. It detailed the insects’ social structure that was both valued by scholars and accessible to general readers.
Another of Wilson’s major works started in the early 1960s when he teamed up with Robert MacArthur. The pair published The Theory of Island Biogeography, where they sought to explain why different places have different numbers of species.
What many consider to be Wilson’s most important contributions to evolutionary biology came in 1975 when he published Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. The work explored the genetic roots of animal behavior and argued that genes shaped human behavior. Wilson faced accusations for these ideas but his work finally largely proved true. In 1978, his ideas on the role biology plays in human culture peaked in On Human Nature, which won him a Pulitzer in 1979.
Wilson published more than 400 scientific papers and 20 books. These achievements offered him a type of superstar status, but friends and colleagues say the polite Southerner remained down to earth. “Professor Wilson really listened and engaged with whomever he was interacting with,” said Corrie S. Moreau, who was one of Wilson’s final advisees.
1. What contributed to Wilson’s passion for ants?| A．The discovery he made about ants. | B．His disability caused by adventures . |
| C．The school education he received. | D．His boyhood time spent in nature. |
| A．The social structure of ants. | B．The distribution of different species. |
| C．The links between biology and human culture. | D．The role of chemical signals in communication. |
| A．Imaginative. | B．Modest. | C．Open-minded. | D．Independent. |
| A．The Pioneering “Ant Man” | B．Discoveries in Evolutionary Biology |
| C．A Leading Figure in Popular Science | D．The Adventure of a Pulitzer Prize Winner |
【推荐2】Desperately ill and seeking a miracle, David Bennett Sr. took the last bet on Jan. 7. when be became the first human to be successfully transplanted with the heart of a pig. “It creates the beat; it creates the pressure; it is his heart,” declared Bartley Griffith, director of the surgical team that performed the operation at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Bennett, 57, held on through 60 tomorrows, far longer than any previous patient who’d received a heart from another species. His remarkable run offered new hope that such procedures, known as xenotransplantation (异种移植), could help relieve the shortage of replacement organs, saving thousands of lives each year.
The earliest attempts at xenotransplantation of organs, involving kidneys from rabbits, goats, and other animals, occurred in the early 20th century, decades before the first successful human-to-human transplants. Rejection, which occurs when the recipient’s body system recognizes the donor organ as a foreign object and attacks it, followed within hours or days. Results improved after some special drugs arrived in the 1960s, but most recipients still died after a few weeks. The record for a heart xenotransplant was set in 1983, when an infant named Baby Fae survived for 20 days with an organ from a baboon (狒狒).
In recent years, however, advances in gene editing have opened a new possibility: re-edit some genes in animals to provide user-friendly spare parts. Pigs could be ideal for this purpose, because they’re easy to raise and reach adult human size in months. Some biotech companies. including Revivicor, are investing heavily in the field. The donor pig was offered by Revivicor from a line of animals in which 10 genes had been re-edited to improve the heart’s condition. Beyond that, the pig was raised in isolation and tested regularly for viruses that could infect humans or damage the organ itself.
This medical breakthrough provided an alternative for the 20% of patients on the heart transplant waiting list who die while waiting or become too sick to be a good candidate.
1. What does the underlined word “run” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Donating his heart to a patient. |
| B．Performing the heart operation. |
| C．Living for 60 days after the operation. |
| D．Receiving a new heart from a pig. |
| A．Its history. | B．Its procedure. | C．Its consequence. | D．Its significance. |
| A．Their growth rate and health condition. |
| B．Their life pattern and resistance to viruses. |
| C．Their easiness of keeping and rapid growth. |
| D．Their investment value and natural qualities. |
| A．It introduced new medications to prevent organ rejection. |
| B．It proved the potential for using organs from various animals. |
| C．It guaranteed a sufficient supply of donor pigs for transplants. |
| D．It offered a prospect of replacement organs through gene editing. |
【推荐3】Last month, Justin Valdez, a college student, was shot in a subway station in San Francisco. The surveillance video(监控录像) showed that before Justin was killed, the killer pulled out his gun several times, and even wiped his nose with it. However, nobody noticed the killer. The surrounding passengers all focused on their cell phones.
We may see the same scene everywhere in our life: in subway stations, restaurants, elevators and so on, people are watching their cell phones. From a family reunion to a date with a friend, people couldn’t stop checking their twitter and facebook on the cell phones and ignoring the persons in front completely, Phubbing(低头症) not only involves young people, but also the elderly and kids.
“Phubbing” is a new term which comes from the words“phone” and “snub”(冷落). It describes the habit of snubbing someone in favor of a cell phone. The word “phubbing” was included in the Australian National Dictionary in 2012. Obviously, the indifference (冷漠) and rudeness of the information age are spreading globally.
A Stop Phubbing campaign website has been set up. You can find the slogan of the website as follows: “stop twittering, stop posting photos…enjoy your food, enjoy the music and respect others.”
Phubbing appears harmless. However, it does influence our life. Jimmy, an epicure(美食家), wrote in his blog: “I can no longer focus on what I am eating since I started twittering. My skill of food photography has improved very fast, while my interest in food drops as a result.” Let us put down our cell phones and re-enjoy the real taste of our food and the warmth of interpersonal communication.
1. The case of Justin Valdez is given in the first paragraph to show .| A．gun violence happens easily in the US |
| B．phubbing may lead to terrible disasters |
| C．the killer didn’t mean to kill him |
| D．the killer had made a careful plan |
| A．He will give you an immediate reply. |
| B．He will stop looking at his cell phone. |
| C．He will pay no attention to you. |
| D．He will be very angry with you. |
| A．phubbing is actually harmless |
| B．phubbing stops people enjoying their life |
| C．phubbing affects people’s eating habits the most |
| D．phubbing helps people improve their photographic skills |
| A．The phenomenon of phubbing. |
| B．The popular campaign of stop phubbing. |
| C．The meaning of the word “phubbing”. |
| D．The great harm of phubbing. |
