Chelsea is not alone. In a recent survey by Kids Health£.org, more than 70% of kids aged 9 to 13 said they worry about tests. It’s no wonder. Across the United States, public schools give more than 250 million standardized tests each year.
Why do kids have to take so many tests? The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law requires that students in grades 3 through 8 be tested each year. The law’s goal is for all students to be at grade level by 2014. Students must pass the tests and meet other requirements or their schools may be shut down.
The U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wants to change NCLB. But that doesn’t mean he favors getting rid of tests. Duncan believes tests should be used mainly to evaluate kids’ strengths and weaknesses. Tests, Duncan says, should not be used to punish kids or their schools for failure.“The goal is to focus on great teaching and learning,”Duncan said.
Under NCLB, each state sets its own standards for students to meet. The result, Duncan says, is that states are making the tests easier. To fix this problem, 48 states are now working together to create common standards. “I want to set a high bar for kids, ” Duncan says, “so they’ll be in great shape to achieve their dreams.”
Like them or not, tests are here to stay. So how can you handle test nerves? Schools are teaching students to relax through deep breathing and stretching (伸展运动) . In Oakland, California, Principal Zarina Ahmad of Piedmont Avenue Elementary leads her students in a cheer to get them excited about learning.
“Kids are under high pressure,”says Ahmad. “There has to be time for kids to be kids. Still, we need tests to help us assess what students have yet to learn.”
1. The underlined part “the butterflies in my stomach” can be replaced by .
| A．nervous | B．guilty | C．exciting | D．proud |
| A．is focusing on teaching methods in schools |
| B．is requiring schools to make the tests more difficult |
| C．is trying to make schools be responsible for students |
| D．aims to evaluate kids’ strengths and weaknesses by means of tests |
| A．it’s possible to get rid of tests |
| B．schools have no good way to deal with students' stress |
| C．tests help assess what students have to learn |
| D．schools are aware of students’ stress caused by tests |
| A．Why kids are more stressed than before? |
| B．Kids’ tips for test success |
| C．How to deal with test stress |
| D．Put kids to the standardized test |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】No one thought that the RMS Titanic would sink on its first time at sea. But in 1912, the ship hit an iceberg and sank during the night. No one knew exactly where it had sunk. Even if someone had known, it was 12,500 feet (3.8 km) underwater. To search for the Titanic so deep in the water seemed impossible. But, 73 years later, Dr. Robert Ballard thought he had found a way to go that deep.
In 1985, Ballard set out to find the Titanic. He would use an unmanned submarine（无人驾驶的潜水艇）called Argo. Ballard’s research team controlled it from a ship on the surface. Argo had video cameras and lights on it. This let Ballard see the ocean floor.
Argo searched for signs of the Titanic. For many days and nights, Ballard and his teammates found nothing but sand and sea life. Time was running out. Ballard had only four days left before he had to return his boat. He knew this would be his only chance. Then, Ballard was awakened by one of his men. It was just after one o'clock in the morning. He rushed to the control room. On a screen was the view of one of the Titanic's boilers. They had found it!
Argo took amazing pictures of the ship. Ballard and his teammates found that the huge ship was in pieces. The debris was spread across one square mile (2.6 km2) of the ocean floor. They saw teacups, bottles, shoes, and other belongings（所有物）of the passengers.
During his career, Ballard has made more than 100 trips underwater. He has done much to teach children about the oceans. But, he will always be thought of as the man who found the Titanic.
1. Why was it difficult to find the Titanic?| A．Its size was huge. | B．It was deep under the sea. |
| C．It had been broken into pieces. | D．The weather at sea was terrible. |
| A．The poor life at sea. | B．The difficulties in controlling Argo. |
| C．The causes of the Titanic’s sinking. | D．The experience of finding the Titanic. |
| A．Rocks and sand. | B．Dead passengers. |
| C．Pieces from the Titanic. | D．Personal belongings. |
| A．Ballard’s life | B．Finding the Titanic |
| C．Underwater trips | D．The sinking of the Titanic |
【推荐2】Do you get nervous thinking about a coming math test? If yes, you are far from alone. Math anxiety has become a common condition among students around the world. Students in countries with higher levels of math anxiety tend to achieve lower math grades, according to a study published by the National Academy of Sciences on Feb 15.
Math anxiety — a negative emotional reaction to the core subject — causes fear, physical suffering and behavior problems among young pupils, according to a University of Cambridge study. Some people also experience physical symptoms such as sweaty palms or a racing heart. They may then try to avoid every situation involving numbers, meaning they are held back from pursuing careers related to this subject, such as technology or engineering, according to The Guardian.
Relief comes from the fact that those with math anxiety aren’t destined (注定的) to be bad at math. “If a child has math anxiety, don’t assume that they’re not good at math. They may have had a really bad experience with math and there are ways to improve math achievement,” Daniel Ansari, the senior author of the study told The London Free Press.
Also, there are ways to manage your stress related to math. If you’re feeling stressed before a math exam, it may help to spend a few minutes exploring those feelings before the exam begins. “It’s about making sure you’re interpreting your feelings correctly,” Sian Beilock, a cognitive (认知的) scientist told the BBC. “Just because you have a fast heartbeat and sweaty palms, that does not necessarily mean you will fail.”
Math doesn’t come easy, no matter how clever you are. Leonardo da Vinci, the famous Italian artist, was a huge fan of mathematics. But his notebooks show that Da Vinci couldn’t do fractions (分数). He could never grasp, for instance, that dividing a number by one-quarter is the same as multiplying by four, resulting in a higher number than the original.
1. What do we know about math anxiety?| A．People who are good at math don’t experience math anxiety. |
| B．It is most commonly seen among teenagers. |
| C．It can cause unpleasant symptoms both mentally and physically. |
| D．Math anxiety leads to people struggling in their career. |
| A．Math anxiety may contribute to better grades. |
| B．Students with math anxiety may have higher cognitive abilities. |
| C．Math anxiety does not reflect the ability to solve math problems. |
| D．Bad experience with math can cause cognitive disadvantages. |
| A．Practice more before you take math exams. |
| B．Learn to understand your feelings. |
| C．Ask cognitive experts for help. |
| D．Take all nervous energy as a challenge. |
| A．To show that math definitely isn’t easy. |
| B．To explain why math is a particularly difficult subject. |
| C．To show da Vinci’s math anxiety is very serious. |
| D．To suggest a way to solve math anxiety. |
【推荐3】Auguste Rodin spent the best part of four decades working on his masterpiece The Gates of Hell. The Mona Lisa, by contrast, took Leonardo da Vinci a mere 15 years or so. So we can only imagine what those masters would think of an up-and-coming artist who can knock out complex works in under two hours. Not least because she's a robot.
Meet Ai-Da, the world's first robot artist to stage an exhibition, and, according to her creator, every bit as good as many of the abstract human painters working today.
Named in honour of the pioneering female mathematician Ada Lovelace, the artificial intelligence（AI）machine can draw a portrait by sight, and compose an "extremely beautiful" painting rich with meaning.
The humanoid machine can walk, talk and hold a pencil or brush. But it is Ai-Da's ability to teach itself new and ever more complicated means of creative expression that has set the art world excited.
From a simple photograph, whether a bee or a tree, the robot has done abstract paintings warning of the fragility（脆弱性）of the environment that would look at home in a top modern gallery.
"We just can't predict what she will do, what she's going to produce, what the limit of her output is," said Aidan Meller, who is in charge of the Unsecured Futures exhibition which opens on June 12.
Meller is clear that his goal is not to replace human artists. Rather, he compares the rise of AI art to the coming of photography. "In the 1850 s everyone thought photography would replace art and artists, but actually it became a new style bringing many new jobs." he said.
"We are looking forward to the conversation Ai-Da brings.in audiences," said Lucy Seal, researcher for the project. "A measure of her artistic potential and success will be the discussion she inspires. Engaging people so that we feel empowered to re-imagine our attitudes to organic life and our futures is a major aim of the project.
1. Why does the author mention Auguste Rodin and da Vinci?| A．To support an idea. | B．To make a prediction. | C．To make a contrast. | D．To analyze characters. |
| A．Look familiar. | B．Fit perfectly. | C．Make it at home. | D．Feel comfortable. |
| A．To improve painting skills. | B．To enrich contemporary art forms. |
| C．To measure the potential of art. | D．To inspire different views on human life. |
| A．A robot artist has achieved success. | B．An AI artist draws in pen and brush. |
| C．A robot artist will replace human artists. | D．An AI artist will take the art world by storm. |
【推荐1】The thing that sets children apart from adults is not their ignorance，nor their lack of skills．Rather，it's their enormous capability for joy．A friend told me a story．One day，when she went to get his 6-year-old son from soccer practice，her kid greeted her with a sad face．The teacher had criticized him for not focusing on his soccer drills．The little boy walked out of the school with his head and shoulders hanging down．He seemed wrapped in sadness．But before reaching the car door，he suddenly stopped，crouching(蹲伏)down to look at something on the sidewalk．“Mom，come here! This is the strangest bug I’ve ever seen．It has ，1ike， a million legs．It’s amazing!”The little face was overflowing with indescribable excitement．
Nowadays，however，when we walk into a classroom，especially in a high school，we’ll be choked by towering books and papers，and hiding behind them are a group of motionless creatures，pens in hand，minds dry，just as the hollow men portrayed by T．S．Eliot．Their pursuit of joy has given way to their hunger for grades．Laughter and happiness are a distant memory for them．
Although joy is an unaffordable luxury in today’s increasingly fierce competition，administrators and teachers need a mindset shift from crushing students with assignments to getting them to take pleasure in productive activities which develop their important qualities，like perseverance and obligation．The assumption that pleasure is the enemy of competence and responsibility makes no sense educationally．
Adults tend to talk about learning as if it were medicine：unpleasant，but necessary and good for you．Why not think of learning as if it were food—something so valuable to humans that they want to experience it as a pleasure?
1. How is Paragraph 1 mainly developed?| A．By describing a procedure． | B．By analyzing the process． |
| C．By giving an example． | D．By collecting data． |
| A．Summarize the previous paragraph． | B．Provide some advice for the readers． |
| C．Introduce the main topic for discussion． | D．Clarify some puzzling questions． |
| A．Stop giving students homework． |
| B．Involve students in meaningful activities． |
| C．Supply students with luxuries． |
| D．Arouse students’fond memories． |
| A．Joy is the spokesperson for learning． | B．Pleasure is the enemy of progress． |
| C．Education is the paradise for parents． | D．Exams are a never-ending war． |
【推荐2】On June 6th Columbia University announced that it will no longer co-operate with US News & World Report’s undergraduate rankings. It is the first top-notch institution to do so. Might its departure be the start of a mass departure?
Columbia’s decision follows a rankings scandal last year. In February 2022 one of Columbia’s own maths professors accused the college of fudging its data in several areas. The university later admitted to having used “outdated and/or incorrect methodologies”.
In the 1980s prospective students started to expand their college search beyond their local area, and it was hard to learn about universities and compare them. Hence, US News began ranking America’s top universities in 1983, and has released its findings annually since 1988.
Colleges have gone to great lengths to move up in the ratings. Richard Freeland, Northeastern University’s former president, capped class sizes and hired faculty to improve its spot; it moved from 127th in 2003 to 44th this year. Others went too far. A dean at Temple University’s business school was sentenced to prison and was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine after being found guilty of fraud in relation to artificially inflating his programme’s rankings.
The ranking system used to seem unstoppable. Universities have tried to ditch it before, only to find that doing so can backfire badly. US News still ranks non-participating universities, using publicly available information, and the data often do not go in their favour. Reed College, a liberal-arts college, stopped taking part in 1995. It tumbled from the top quartile to the bottom. Columbia did not submit data for this year’s analysis, citing concerns about Dr Thaddeus’s claims, and its ranking fell from second in 2021-22 (tied with Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to 18th in 2022-23 (tied with the University of Notre Dame).
Recently the mood has begun to change, however, especially among graduate schools. In 2022, of the 15 highest-ranked law schools, only the University of Chicago submitted data. Some undergraduate schools have already opted out this year (Rhode Island School of Design, Colorado College, Stillman College), but none are as prestigious as Columbia.
In May US News announced changes to its ranking methodology. It is moving away from metrics that rely on reputation and towards student outcomes. One way or another, the rankings—and universities more broadly—are in a state of constant change.
1. What is true about the US News undergraduate rankings?| A．It faked the information for the ratings. | B．It filled an information gap at one time. |
| C．It promoted the quality of higher education. | D．It has been released every year for 40 years. |
| A．it will be ordered to pay a fine | B．it will be excluded from the list |
| C．its ranking will suffer consequently | D．its spot in the ranking won’t be affected |
| A．limited | B．increased | C．inflated | D．maintained |
| A．scores given by former students | B．donations from all walks of life |
| C．evaluations from other colleges | D．earnings for college graduates |
【推荐3】The world has changed greatly since Herman Fisher met Irving Price and Helen Schelle in 1930. The trio (三人组) founded Fisher-Price, maker of popular toy series such as Thomas & Friends, Power Wheels, and Little People. Companies like Fisher-Price are exploring how the world of toys and parenting will change with the development of technology. Fisher-Price recently cooperated with Continuum, a global innovation designer. Together, they created a short video called The Future of Parenting, along with a short essay explaining the thoughts behind the video.
One thought of the video explores how parenting will change when the teens of today raised with data-providing devices such as Fitbit and iPad begin raising kids of their own. Is this a generation that will desire data in all of their kids’ toys? The answer may be “yes” and perhaps the product appearing in the video will appeal to them.
If you interpret the video as a clear vision of the future of parenting, you won’t be blamed for fearing holograms (全息图) will take over your house as a mom or dad. The benefit of holograms in the video is their potential for giving traditional toys the ability to personalize responses, depending on the age and development of the child playing with the traditional toy.
Of course, you might ask yourself, “Do data-providing toys have an advantage over traditional toys in terms of their effects?” The answer may be negative. Lego, a traditional brick toy-maker, on all counts remains a successful company. And studies point out its toys’ benefits to children’s creativity. In addition, recent research demonstrates that toys containing data can potentially prevent language development, compared with traditional puzzles and bricks.
On the one hand, parents know that they should limit their kids’ screen time to keep them healthy, and the American Academy of Pediatrics offers guidance on daily screen time. On the other hand, technology can be wonderfully engaging and can provide excellent educational opportunities for children. Nothing is perfect and we should embrace every aspect of a new thing.
1. What are companies like Fisher-Price currently exploring?| A．The impact of technological advances on toys and parenting. |
| B．The way to be an outstanding global innovation designer. |
| C．New ideas of making short videos of creative toys. |
| D．Techniques used to produce popular toy series. |
| A．be fond of devoting themselves to improving technology |
| B．be afraid of the negative impact of electronic toys |
| C．pass their preference for such toys on to their kids |
| D．show great creativity and imagination |
| A．Advantages and disadvantages of modern technology. |
| B．Comparisons of the effects of two kinds of toys. |
| C．Suggestions on how to choose suitable toys. |
| D．Advances in technology used to make toys. |
| A．Love me, love my dog. |
| B．Actions speak louder than words. |
| C．Everything is a two-edged sword. |
| D．Hope for the best; prepare for the worst. |
