Education today really isn’t that much different from what it was a hundred years ago. It’s still classrooms full of students all learning the same thing at the same pace from teachers who spend thirty years teaching more or less the same thing.
However, the world that the next generation will grow up in will be different from anything we have seen. It will be a world filled with artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, automation, virtual reality, personalized medicine, self-driving cars, and people on Mars; a world where people might not even have jobs and where society itself may be arranged in fundamentally different ways. How are we supposed to know how to prepare them to succeed in a world that we cannot predict?
It starts by rethinking what a school is. The role of school should no longer be to fill heads with information, rather it should be a place that inspires students to be curious about the world they live in. Don’t hold back that curiosity by making them spend their childhoods preparing for one test after another.
The ability to adapt and learn something new should be valued above all else. Gone are the days when you pick a profession and just do that one thing for the rest of your life. People will need to know how to learn something new multiple times over in their lives because our knowledge of the world and who we are is progressing incredibly quickly. If the last time you learned anything new was when you were in school then you will be missing out on the new ways of understanding the world.
In addition, education should give people an understanding that the world is not divided up into different subjects. All fields of knowledge bleed into each other and none can be fully understood in isolation (孤立).
Much of this may seem idealistic or unrealistic, but change is needed if we are going to figure out how to live in the future.
1. What’s the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To present the complexity of education. |
| B．To stress the importance of education. |
| C．To describe what education used to be like. |
| D．To suggest education is far behind the times. |
| A．To inspire students’ curiosity. |
| B．To guarantee happy childhood. |
| C．To provide sufficient information. |
| D．To prepare students for a lifelong profession. |
| A．One should learn as much as he can at school. |
| B．Schools should teach new ways to change the world. |
| C．Students’ ability to adapt should be the priority of education. |
| D．School subjects reflect how the world is divided into different fields. |
| A．Standards Tests Remove Students’ Curiosity |
| B．Gone Are the Days of Traditional School Education |
| C．It’s Time to Change How We Educate Our Children |
| D．Change in Education Is Too Idealistic and Unrealistic |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Social media is often a collection of highlights of people’s lives rather than a true reflection of reality. Although it can be a great tool to keep up with the lives of our friends, families and celebrities, it can also be pretty damaging as we judge our lives in comparison to those we see online.
One woman shared her experience which showed exactly why we shouldn’t believe everything we see on social media. After heading to the pool, Jen watched as a young mum and her daughter entered, dressed in swimming suits. The mum took a few selfies (自拍) with her child. Jen said the young girl then asked if they could get into the pool but was told to wait while her parent took a photo of her in front of the pool.
“Mama glanced over at her but never got off the phone,” Jen wrote. “After 10 minutes mama ended her call, and then they left the pool. I sat there thinking about what I’d witnessed for a while afterwards. I imagined the photos she took being perfectly edited and posted so social media with a caption like ‘Pool time with my girl!’ ”
Jen then thought about another mum at home, in a messy house, tired because she’s spent her day cooking, caring, cleaning and playing with her children. “She’s going to look at that photo and she is going to compare herself to the ‘perfect mama’ at the pool. She’s going to feel like a failure. She’ll never know that how she spent her time that day was so much better in her children’s eyes than that ‘perfect mama’ at the pool.” Jen wrote.
What we see on social media isn’t always real. Sometimes, and often, it’s a complete set-up. Jen later added that she in no way intended to judge the mum for her actions or her reasons for doing it, but simply wanted to say that the edited photos we see on social media “are not a full depiction of real life”.
1. What can we learn about the young mum at the pool?| A．She was very familiar with Jen. |
| B．She didn’t swim in the pool at all. |
| C．She liked editing the photos of her daughter. |
| D．She was accompanying her daughter attentively. |
| A．She does a good job as a mum. |
| B．She dislikes photos on social media. |
| C．She loves exploring the true story of a photo. |
| D．She is not so good as the “perfect mama”. |
| A．Description. | B．Comparison. |
| C．Imagination. | D．Qualification. |
| A．Real life depends on social media. |
| B．Be yourself when using social media. |
| C．Social media is affecting our real life. |
| D．What we see on social media doesn’t reflect real life. |
【推荐2】There is a phenomenon education experts call “summer melt”. High school students graduate with the best of intentions to go to college, even committing to a school, but then life happens: jobs, family, and fear all get in the way.
Over the pandemic (疫情), the register at four-year colleges remained stable for Lancaster students, opposite to national trends. But the register at two-year colleges fell by nearly half, suggesting that students who would otherwise pursue community college were rethinking their plans. Community colleges were slower than universities to return to in-person instruction. Financial insecurity over the course of the pandemic also likely played a role in the phenomenon, as families struggled with their ability to pay for college. This summer a new factor is likely to be on the table for low-income students: the attraction of high-paying jobs.
Brahmin Ntege, who graduated from McCaskey in the spring, was working in a factory this summer producing battery wires and cables full-time. The son of an immigrant from central Africa, he was accepted to several colleges, including Pennsylvania State and Temple universities, and plans to attend Millersville University, a public college just outside Lancaster. Some of his friends, Ntege said, have different plans. They want to go to college, but have decided to work for now to save up money — something he said wouldn’t sway him and he would go to college, earn a degree and start making more money so that he wouldn’t have to do the 9-to-5 job which might kill his body.
For colleges and universities, it’s in their best interest to try to prevent “summer melt”. That’s especially important as the register has declined by nearly 10 percent over the course of the pandemic, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Every student, no matter whether they intend to go to college or not, needs to have access to quality advising to help them sort through possible plans, preferably from someone who already knows them. If all the students had that kind of support, they’ll be better off, whether they choose to go to college or not.
1. What is “summer melt” according to the text?| A．Universities decrease their admissions. |
| B．Fewer students work during the holidays. |
| C．High school graduates can’t go to college. |
| D．The number of community colleges is declining. |
| A．Students can’t afford their college fees. |
| B．College graduates are hard to get a good job. |
| C．Community colleges only offer online teaching. |
| D．The pandemic makes community colleges shut down. |
| A．Offering every student education loans. |
| B．Supporting students with free education. |
| C．Providing consulting services to students. |
| D．Helping students work to cover their expense. |
| A．The pandemic’s influences on colleges |
| B．The difficulty colleges face in registration |
| C．The new choices for high school graduates |
| D．The best interest of colleges and universities |
【推荐3】Each year, more than 27 million American and Canadian kids get to school by bus. Most of those buses run on diesel (柴油) fuel, which give out pollution that riders can take in. Pollution levels can be several times higher inside a diesel school bus than outside it. Why? Pollution can leak in from the floor or blow in through windows.
An American government program started in 2012 offered schools money spent on cleaner school buses, but not all schools could get it. Five years later, emissions from buses in the winning districts fell. And a year after getting new buses, student attendance had improved in those districts. For an average district of 10,000 students, about six more students attended school each day in the winning districts, compared to the losing districts. Winning schools with higher rates of bus-riding kids had an average of 14 more students in class each day. And winning districts that replaced the oldest school buses? They had an average of 45 more students at school each day.
Those numbers may sound small, but they add up. And school attendance matters for students’ achievements. Almost 3 million American kids ride school buses more than 20 years old. If American school districts had replaced all of those older buses, there would have been 1.3 million fewer student absences each year.
There might be other reasons for better attendance. For example, maybe kids preferred new buses. However, the most likely reason for fewer student absences was better health. A study done on adults showed that a brief exposure to diesel emissions reduced “network connectivity” in the brain. In other studies, such network-connectivity changes have been linked to worsened memory and mental tasks. A Washington State program upgraded pollution controls in old diesel buses. Afterward, fewer kids were hospitalized in those districts than in the schools without bus upgrades.
Almost all American school districts can apply for the program. But schools in low-income, tribal and rural areas will get priority. Kids in these areas tend to face the most health risks from older buses.
1. What can we infer about diesel school buses from the first paragraph?| A．They operate cost-effectively. |
| B．They have a short service life. |
| C．They accommodate few passengers. |
| D．They do much harm to school children. |
| A．It is a winning condition. | B．It is a measuring standard. |
| C．It is a long accumulation. | D．It is a student’s achievement. |
| A．By reducing the network connectivity. |
| B．By bettering the health state of students. |
| C．By meeting students’ demand for school drivers. |
| D．By improving students’ satisfaction with schools. |
| A．It tends to fail in some areas. |
| B．It is at risk of being interrupted. |
| C．It will start from underdeveloped areas. |
| D．It has been carried out in all American schools. |
【推荐1】Though many of us may have been away somewhere nice last summer , few would say that we’ve “summered”. “Summer” is clearly a noun - a verbed noun.
In our childhood, we all learned the difference between a noun and a verb. With such a clear definition, it was easy to notice the difference. Not so in adulthood, when we are expected to “foot” the bill and “chair” meetings. Chances are that you didn’t feel uncomfortable about those verbed nouns.
“The verbing of nouns is as old as the English language,” says Patricia, a former editor at The New York Times Book Review. Experts found that 20% of all English verbs were originally nouns. And it seems to be snowballing. Since 1900, about 40% of new verbs have come from nouns.
Even though the conversion (转化)is quite common, plenty of language experts disagree with it. William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White have this to say, “Many nouns lately have been pressed into service as verbs. Not all are bad, but some are in doubt. ”The Chicago Manual of Style takes a similar standpoint, advising writers to use verbs with great care.
“Sometimes people dislike a new verb because they refuse to accept what is unfamiliar to them,” says Patricia. That’s why we’re comfortable “ hosting” a party, but we might feel upset by the thought of “medaling” in sports. So are there any rules for verbing? Benjamin Dreyer, copy chief at Random House, doesn’t offer a rule, but suggests that people think twice about “verbifying”(使动词化)a noun if it’s easily replaced by an already existing popular verb. Make sure it’s descriptive but not silly-sounding, he says.
In the end, however, style is subjective (主观的).The easy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English grammar for centuries. It is one of the processes that make English “ English”. Not every new word passes into general use, but as for trying to end verbing altogether, forget it.
1. What can we learn about the verbing of nouns?| A．It has come into use since a long time ago. |
| B．It has been supported by many language experts. |
| C．It is easily replaced by existing verbs in practice. |
| D．It is more commonly accepted by children than adults. |
| A．Cold. | B．Careful. | C．Unclear. | D．Positive. |
| A．It is impossible to end the verbing of nouns. |
| B．New verbs will stay in the English language forever. |
| C．Most people are against using new verbs from nouns. |
| D．There is an obvious rule for changing verbs to nouns. |
| A．Are all new verbs from nouns? |
| B．Are there any rules for verbing? |
| C．Are you comfortable about a new verb? |
| D．Are “summering” and “medaling” annoying? |
【推荐2】Some of the greatest problems we face today are the destruction (破坏)of our environment.Brown clouds, polluted water, endangered wild animals..., these problems seem so huge.
So my family does what we can. We take cloth bags to stores instead of using plastic bags. We walk where we don’t have to drive.
But does it do any good? When I am the only one in line at the market with cloth bags, am I doing any good? Does my walking to stores make any real difference to the world?
I recently learned something about flamingos(火烈鸟)which like to get together in groups of a thousand or more Every year when the time comes for migration (迁徙), a few of them first take off from the lake. But none of the others seem to notice, so the small group returns. However, the next day they try again. This time a few more fly along with them, but most of them still pay no attention, so they return again. They try for several times. Every time a few more birds join in but ,since the thousands of others still take no notice, the great migration plan is once more stopped.
Then one day something changes. The same small group of birds once again starts flying and a small number more join in just as before, then more. Finally, they all take flight and the migration really begins. What a spectacular sight it must be--thousands of flamingos taking off into the sky at once!
A few can make a difference. Even if you’re the one to take the first step, and continue trying,others will someday take notice and together we will solve even our greatest problems.
1. Where would you most probably read this passage?| A．A guidebook. | B．A movie poster. |
| C．An animal magazine. | D．A personal blog |
| A．There are only cloth bags in stores. |
| B．All the people use cloth bags in stores. |
| C．He thinks plastic bags are more expensive. |
| D．He wants to do some good to the environment. |
| A．Disappointing. | B．Fantastic. |
| C．Terrible | D．Surprising |
| A．To show that the writer loves to see the migration of flamingos. |
| B．To tell readers to continue trying and it can make a difference. |
| C．To introduce a special kind of flamingo to readers. |
| D．To show that there' re many problems in the world. |
【推荐3】Chat GPT is a new AI system that sounds so human in conversations that it could host its own radio programs. Reading between its instantly generated, perfectly grammatical lines, people see different visions of the future. Without doubt, Chat GPT is impressive.
Some compare the emergence of Chat GPT with the impact of the iPhone, but that doesn’t do it justice. Chat GPT, as well as the generative AI that will follow and outsmart it, is more disruptive. And yet, that doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the world is upon us. On the contrary, Chat GPT, I would argue, might serve to make us more aware of our irreplaceable human qualities.
Take the creative act, writing in particular, as an example,the AI-powered chatbot always produces something because it has the whole world of online data to draw from. But unlike us, it lacks the consciousness. Thinking is hard, critical thinking even harder, and Chat GPT isn’t good at either. It just restates what has already been said; it is one big recycling machine.
There is another obvious limitation of Chat GPT. Philosopher Harry Frankfurt once claimed: the difference between a bullshitter and a liar is that the liar knows what the truth is,but decides to take the opposite direction; a bullshitter, however, has no regard for the truth at all. The AI scholar Gary Marcus applies this distinction to Chat GPT. He believes that we have reached a critical point where “the price of bullshit reaches zero and people who want to spread misinformation, either politically or just to make a profit, start doing that plentifully”. Unfortunately, Chat GPT will reproduce misinformation from any of its input sources — it is not an intelligent system that tries to balance or weigh different perspectives. In this sense, everything that Chat GPT writes is bullshit.
This is why the so-called AIQ is critical. It is actually an extension and a measurement of our human IQ: our overall knowledge of AI tools, our mastery of clues, and our ethical awareness. Chat GPT is going to change everything and nothing.
Creativity, imagination and ethics — these will all remain unique human domains. It is the AI’s very limitations that will make us appreciate our own.
1. What can we learn about Chat GPT?| A．It helps generate an artificial voice. | B．It provides instructions on writing skills. |
| C．It generates natural language responses. | D．It offers a service for language learning. |
| A．Evil. | B．Reliable. | C．Profitable. | D．Revolutionary. |
| A．To show the differences between humans and AI. |
| B．To describe the limitations of human consciousness. |
| C．To explain why Chat GPT isn’t a big recycling machine. |
| D．To prove Chat GPT make humans aware of their irreplaceable human qualities. |
| A．It makes up lies constantly. | B．It can’t tell right from wrong. |
| C．It often makes unfair judgement. | D．It always takes a neutral standpoint. |
【推荐1】A student had to get his long hair cut off in a middle school in GuangDong Province. It was talked a lot among teachers and students.
In fact, all schools have their own rules. In most schools, boy students are not allowed to have long hair while girls are not allowed to dye their hair. And most school rules say that students should wear their school uniforms at school. And students must obey these rules so that they can get healthy development at school.
But some students have disagreements. They think that boy students having long hair doesn't mean that they are not good students. They want to show their own personality. They think that they would look cool too if they had long hair and the hairstyles like their favorite stars.
A girl student thought that she would look much more beautiful if she had brown hair. So she had her dark hair dyed brown one day. When she went back to school the next day, the teacher was very angry with her. She said that she worked hard at her lessons and did well in every subject. She just didn't know why the teacher didn't allow her to dye her hair while women teachers can.
It is not wrong for teenagers to love stars' hairstyles or wear their favorite clothes. However, a school has its own rules for all the students to obey so that the school can be in good order. Students should not break the rules at school.
1. What aren't boy students allowed to do in most middle schools according to this passage?| A．To have long hair. | B．To wear uniforms. |
| C．To like famous stars. | D．To show their own personalities. |
| A．The students should be against them. |
| B．They are bad for students. |
| C．They can make schools in good order. |
| D．They can't make students grow healthily. |
| A．Hair styles and clothes. | B．Schoolboys and schoolgirls. |
| C．Students and famous stars. | D．School rules. |
【推荐2】Do you remember what it is like to be a kid?
One strategy widely recommended by children’s health professionals is to engage your child in “special time”. For at least 5 minutes a day, join your child in activities like playing with dolls-anything that doesn’t have a right or wrong way to play. Don’t ask questions or give commands.
Research has shown that this kind of playtime can be helpful in treating disruptive (捣乱的) conduct in children. According to a 2017 review of literature, special time has long been regarded as an “effective prevention for many emotional and behavioral difficulties” since it was developed in the 1970s.
If you’re ready to try special time with your child, keep these in your mind. Repeat back some of what they say. If they say “and it crashes,” you’re going to say “and it crashes.” The repetition shows your child you understand them and that you’re listening.
| A．This is your child’s time to be in charge. |
| B．So much of the day is directed by adults. |
| C．Show enthusiasm while playing with your child. |
| D．The practice often feels awkward for adults at first. |
| E．Give your child specific praise as you play together. |
| F．It increases the closeness between your child and you. |
| G．It’s also been shown to boost concentration and social skills in children. |
【推荐3】For decades the message to students in the United Slates has been nearly the same: You need to go to college. Students have heard this message loud and clear, ever since their childhood. However, while encouraging students to further their education after high school is a noble and well-intentioned action, the current system in the United States has created some damaging side effects.
The largest and most well-known consequence is the student debt. Tuition and fees at our-year universities have risen by around 54% since 1999. Total student debt in the U.S. is estimated at around $1.6 trillion, so much that even the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos would have to increase his wealth by nearly nine times to pay off all of it.
Although the price of acquiring a bachelor’s degree has gone up, the relative value of having the actual degree has been watered down by the fact that holding a degree is now an expectation, not a bonus. The poor return on investment is also evidenced by the massive waves of students earning degrees in fields where there simply are not enough jobs for the number of graduates, leaving young adults in debt and out of work.
The push for students to go to college has also prevented them from considering careers in important fields that don’t necessarily require a four-year degree, such as construction and manufacturing. Despite the good pay and benefits in these industries, the lack of new blood has lded to growing shortages of both workers and skills，causing delays and higher costs in project like road repairs and infrastructure (基础设施) improvements.
Colleges and universities remain critical to our nation. But as a society, it would benefit us greatly to acknowledge that college isn’t the only form of higher education and career preparation. Students and young adults have more options than they think and informing them of those opportunities can go a long way toward making higher education as a whole more effective, efficient and affordable.
1. How does the writer support his argument in paragraph 2?| A．By providing examples. | B．By giving numbers. |
| C．By explaining the logic. | D．By showing the effects. |
| A．Reduced. | B．Increased. | C．Reflected. | D．ignored. |
| A．Low salaries and benefits. | B．High degree requirements. |
| C．The trend of going to college. | D．The lack of job opportunities. |
| A．How College Graduates End up in Debt | B．What A College Degree Really Brings |
| C．Who Is to Blame for The Worker Shortages | D．Why We Should Rethink Going to College |
