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intelligently mobile individuals, individuals who can land on their feet when their jobs become technologically outdated, and individuals who can deal with the unexpected.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 |
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【推荐1】Medical artificial intelligence(AI) can perform with expert-level accuracy and deliver cost-effective care. IBM’s Watson diagnoses heart disease better than doctors do. Chatbots give better medical advice to patients in place of nurses. Smartphone apps can now detect skin cancer. Some forecast that medical AI will enter most hospitals and replace what quite a few doctors currently do. Yet, as recent researches suggest, patients show a strong reluctance to medical AI—a big challenge the health care system will really face.
The reason is not the belief that Al provides inferior care. Nor is it that patients think that AI is more costly, less convenient, or less informative. Rather, it seems that AI does not take into account one’s specific characteristics and circumstances. People view themselves as unique. By contrast, they see AI medical care as inflexible and standardized-suited to treat an average patient but not enough to deal with unique individual circumstances. It is no wonder that medical AI providers are given a cold welcome.
There are a number of steps that care providers can take to overcome patients’ resistance to medical AI. For example, they can remove the concerns about being treated as an average patient by giving their recommendations specifically and uniquely. If so, patients in doubt would be as likely to follow the treatment recommendations of the AI provider as they would be to follow those of a human physician. In addition, health care providers could also deliver individualized health care by explaining how the algorithms(算法) work and sharing patients’ reviews of the service with the media. Having a physician(医生) confirm the recommendation of an AI provider should make people more receptive to Al-based care. People are comfortable using medical AI if a physician remains in charge of the final decision.
AI-based health care technologies are being developed and employed at an impressive rate, providing better medical services for the patients. But utilizing the full potential of them will require that we first overcome patients’ skepticism.
1. How does the author explain the uses of medical AI in paragraph one?| A．By listing data. | B．By doing experiments. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By making comparison. |
| A．Its high cost. | B．Its misdiagnosis. |
| C．Its inconvenience. | D．Its inflexibility. |
| A．Treating patients to be average. |
| B．Offering personalized cure plans. |
| C．Updating the algorithms in time. |
| D．Keeping away from the physician. |
| A．Distrust. | B．Mystery. | C．Fantasy. | D．Criticism. |
【推荐2】Pressing the power button to turn off your computer can save time—but can it also damage your machine? Raise your hand if losing your computer would be a serious hindrance to your career, or if, at the very least, you’d lose a whole lot of important information. Yeah, us too. And yet we tend not to treat our computers with the care about this advantage; many of us are probably guilty of these things you’re doing that shorten your laptop’s life.
One of the directives you’ll commonly hear when it comes to computer upkeep (保养) is that you should shut down your computer properly by clicking the “Shut Down” button onscreen, rather than pressing and holding the “Power” button, so that it shuts down immediately. But when you click “Shut Down,” every program needs to close, and that can be time-consuming. How bad, really, is shutting your computer down with the power button?
“Shutting down a system properly is known as a ‘graceful shutdown’, which sends a signal to the respective operating system so that it can save its state before turning the hardware off,” a tech expert Damien Mason says. However, Mason adds that this forced shutdown can even be beneficial, in certain situations. “Hard shutdowns can be a saving grace when a system crashes or as a safety way to prevent hackers,” he says. But you still shouldn’t make a habit of doing it. Mason says that graceful shutdowns are still a preferred method, which avoids interrupting tasks conducted by the operating system and allows programs to properly save.
You should press the “Power” button carefully, but it’s not a death knell for your machine. There are plenty of other things you may be doing that are most likely worse. For instance, not shutting down your computer at all—or even only doing it rarely—can be far more damaging to it than a forced shutdown.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．Computers do not need protection. |
| B．Computers have only one advantage. |
| C．Computers can be used for a long time. |
| D．Computers play an important role in work. |
| A．No need to shut down. |
| B．Press and hold the “Power”. |
| C．Pull out the power line wires. |
| D．Click the “Shut Down” onscreen. |
| A．The situations of no pressing and holding the “Power”. |
| B．The problem about choosing the “Shut Down” onscreen. |
| C．The advantages of clicking the “Shut Down” onscreen. |
| D．The advice on developing a habit of pressing the “Power”. |
| A．Bad behaviors may damage the computer. |
| B．Computer upkeep is actually very difficult. |
| C．Forced shutdown will destroy the computer. |
| D．Think carefully before turning off the computer. |
【推荐3】An NPC deputy (人大代表) during this year’s two sessions suggested dividing the winter and summer vacations into four shorter vacations. Though it seems helpful, the proposal is out of the realities.
Firstly, the deputy believed that shorter vacations could alleviate (缓解) parents’ burden of caring for their children at home and offer families more opportunities to travel together. However, the general consensus (共识) is that most parents are often so busy trying to make enough money to provide for their children’s education and household costs that they don’t even have enough time to keep their kids company, let alone to be able to take their kids on vacation.
Secondly, each of the breaks will only last for about three weeks. Even though this is generally a long enough time for students to go to tutoring centers (培训机构) if their parents pay extra attention to their children’s studies, they may end up finding themselves continuously having to shift between a busy school term and a more relaxed period of time off. While this may help to prevent children from playing with their mobile phones or video games, is it really necessary to create new term system (体系) to do so? As the saying goes, “Penny wise and pound foolish.”
Moreover, as some netizens have mentioned, the main purpose of winter and summer vacations is to give students more time to celebrate the Spring Festival and to escape the summer heat. Not only do longer vacations spare many students the efforts of travelling from home to school, but they also offer chances for them to do things with long-lasting positive effects, such as volunteering in the community or joining in overseas exchanges.
In a word, there is still a long way to go to improve the vacation system before a better option turns up. So what we students need to do for now is just make the best of our vacation time and prepare ourselves for the future terms.
1. Why did the deputy make the new proposal?| A．To pay more attention to children’s learning. |
| B．To encourage children to relax themselves. |
| C．To increase parents-children caring and love. |
| D．To greatly reduce children’s learning burden. |
| A．have more time to learn their school subjects |
| B．find their study and rest both poorly affected |
| C．feel more relaxed and will do better in new terms |
| D．not be interested in phones or computer games |
| A．I tried to spare Tom the trouble of coming late for school. |
| B．Whenever our guests come, we have some free rooms to spare. |
| C．I have decided that I will spare no effort to improve my English. |
| D．It’s good and wonderful of you to spare time to come to see me. |
| A．valuable | B．charming | C．unpractical | D．challenging |
【推荐1】Until the 1980s, the American homeless population comprised mainly older males. Today, homelessness strikes much younger part of society. In fact, a 25-city survey by the US Conference of Mayors in 1987 found that families with children make up the fastest growing part of the homeless population. Many homeless children gather in inner cities; this transient (变化无常的) and frequently frightened student population creates additional problems — both legal and educational—for already overburdened urban school administrators and teachers.
Estimates of the number of homeless Americans range from 350,000 to three million. Likewise, estimates of the number of homeless school children vary radically. A US Department of Education report, based on state estimates, states that there are 220,000 homeless school-age children, about a third of whom do not attend school on a regular basis, but the National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that there are at least two times as many homeless children, and that less than half of them attend school regularly.
One part of the homeless population that is particularly difficult to count consists of the “throwaway” youths who have been cast out of their homes. The Elementary School Center in New York City estimates that there are 1.5 million of them, many of whom are not counted as children because they do not stay in family shelters and tend to live by themselves on the streets.
Federal law, the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, includes a section that addresses the educational needs of homeless children. The educational provisions of the McKinney Act are based on the belief that all homeless children have the right to a free, appropriate education.
1. It is implied in the first paragraph that____________.| A．the writer himself is homeless, even in his eighties |
| B．many older homeless residents are going on strike in 25 cities |
| C．there is a serious shortage of academic facilities |
| D．homeless children are denied the opportunity of receiving free education |
| A．350,000 | B．1,500,000 | C．440,000 | D．110,000 |
| A．the legal problems of the homeless children |
| B．the educational problems of homeless children |
| C．the social status of older males |
| D．estimates on the homeless population |
【推荐2】It is not only praise or punishment that determines a child’s level of confidence. There are some other important ways we shape our kids — particularly by giving instructions and commands in a negative or positive choice of words. For example, we can say to a child “Don’t run into traffic!” or “Stay on the footpath close to me.” In using the latter, you will be helping your kids to think and act positively, and to feel competent in a wide range of situations, because they know what to do, and aren’t scaring themselves about what not to do.
Why does such a small thing make a difference? It is all in the way the human mind works. When we think, we automatically rehearse. For example, if someone offered you a million dollars not to think of a blue monkey for two minutes, you wouldn’t be able to do it. When a child is told “Don’t fall off the tree,” he will think of two things: “don’t” and “fall off the tree”. That is, he will automatically create the picture of falling off the tree in his mind. A child who is vividly imagining falling off the tree is much more likely to fall off. So it is far better to use “Hold on to the tree carefully.”
Clear, positive instructions help kids to understand the right way to do things. Kids do not always know how to be safe, or how to react to the warning of the danger in negative words. So parents should make their commands positive. “Sam, hold on firm to the side of the boat” is much more useful than “Don’t you dare to fall out of the boat?” or worse still “How do you think I’ll feel if you drown?” The changes are small but difference is obvious.
Children learn how to guide and organize themselves from the way we guide them with our words, so it pays to be positive.
1. Positive choice of words helps kids to____________.| A．do things carefully | B．build up their confidence |
| C．improve their imagination | D．learn in different situation |
| A．A child will act on what is instructed. |
| B．One can’t help imagining what is heard. |
| C．A child will fall off the tree when told not to. |
| D．One won’t think of a blue monkey when given money. |
| A．Fasten your seat belt. |
| B．Don’t play by the lake. |
| C．How do you think I’ll feel if you get hurt? |
| D．Don’t you dare to walk through the red light. |
| A．praise makes kids confident |
| B．right instructions keep kids safe |
| C．clear commands make kids different |
| D．choice of words can make a difference |
【推荐3】Dartford Grammar. a secondary school in Kent, declines to enter their graduates for A-levels. Instead. pupils follow courses set by International Baccalaureate, an exam board based in Switzerland. They study six subjects, and these must include maths, English and a foreign language. “We’re not just preparing students for university,” says Julian Metcalf, the headmaster, “but for another 60 years of life beyond that.”
Every few years England’s A-level system comes in for a kicking. Britain’s prime minister is the latest person who warned that England was unusual in letting youngsters drop maths and their native language at 16. He proposed switching the current system for a new “British Baccalaureate” that would require pupils to keep up both of those subjects until they are 18.
Even critics agree that A-levels are demanding qualifications, and that they enjoy great reputation abroad. Britain’s universities have traditionally been pickier than those in many other countries. Ambitious students have generally been grateful that they are allowed to sweat only the subjects they need for admission. Yet A-levels may not be handing English teenagers the breadth (广度) of skills they need. Their performance in English and math tests falls behind other countries after they turn 16. One-third of 16-to 19-year-olds in England have low basic skills according to a survey.
There is enough time in the school day to offer extra maths and English classes without greatly affecting other studies. But it would cost money. Without any apparent justification, England’s schools get less funding for pupils aged 16-19 than they do for younger children. Broadening studies would also require more staff. However, the number of people who began training to be a secondary-school teacher this September was about one-third lower than hoped.
1. What drove Dartford to make the decision in the first paragraph?| A．A-levels’ various courses. | B．Pupils’ heavy study burden. |
| C．Prime minister’s latest proposal. | D．Students’ long-term development. |
| A．They prefer foreign languages. | B．They have to study six subjects. |
| C．They can choose to drop maths. | D．They are picky about universities. |
| A．Strict admission rules. | B．Insufficient skill training. |
| C．Low international recognition. | D．Demanding subject requirements. |
| A．Overpaid staff. | B．Long school-time. |
| C．Unqualified teachers. | D．Imbalanced investment. |
