1 . Parents may fear that if their high school student isn’t motivated (有动力) to do well in classes, there’s nothing that will change that. But a new study found that students’ learning motivation often did change and usually for the better.
1,670 students from grades 9 to 11 took part in the study in two school years, during which they completed several surveys that assessed their motivation. After each survey, the students were placed into six different profiles (档案), from worst — those who were not motivated at all, to best — those who had an inner desire to learn.
The study found about 67 % students did change their profiles during the two years and there was an overall positive change in students’ motivation. For example, 8% of the students were in the best profile — autonomously motivated — in the first year, and that increased to 11.4% in the second year. The worst profile, the not motivated, described 2.8% of the students in the first year, dropping to 2.1% in the second year.
“The other good news in the study was that if we can find better ways to motivate students, if we can get them in a better profile, they tend to stay there,” said Kui Xie, lead author of the study and professor of educational studies at the Ohio State University.
Why did students move in a positive direction? One reason may be simply because they’re a year older and more mature (成熟).
But the study did find two factors that impacted how likely they were to become more motivated. One was the previous achievement. Students who had higher grade the first year were more likely to remain in better profiles in the second year of the study. The other factor was school belongingness, with students who felt they were more a part of their school in the first year being more likely to move to or stay in a better profile in the second year.
“This may be one area where we can help students become more motivated,” Xie said. “Belongingness is something schools can change. They can find ways to help students feel like they are part of the school community.”
1. What did Kui Xie’s study discover?A.Students’ willingness to study can be improved. |
B.Teenagers’ inner desire to learn can be assessed. |
C.Students from grades 9 to 11 are easy to be inspired. |
D.Teenagers’ learning motivation is parents’ most concern. |
A.The background of the study. |
B.The influence of the study. |
C.The purpose of the study. |
D.The process of the study. |
A.Their average ages. |
B.Their previous scores. |
C.Their personal profiles. |
D.Their motivated schoolmates. |
A.Schools should put students in better profiles. |
B.Students should have their own assessment plan. |
C.Schools should use motivation strategies to inspire students. |
D.Students should improve their communication with their parents. |
Belinda, like many of my students, had grown up "street smart", with very little use for schools and books. On the first day of school, she called Rory a very bad word, so I kept her in at break. I made her wash all the desks and pick up all the garbage lying around. "That'll teach her," I thought. Belinda, though, was smarter than me. "I like cleaning. Mr. Brassell," she said. "Can I do this every day?"
On the third day, I caught Belinda fighting with Jose. I walked over to their table and asked what the problem was. "She keeps calling me a bad word," Jose said. Belinda wrote standards after school while I gave her another lecture on behavior. The next day, I caught her fighting with Jose again. I shouted angrily across the room to ask why they were fighting. Again, Jose accused Belinda of calling him a bad word. Belinda had finally earned a home visit. I told her that I would walk her home after school and talk to her mother in person.
And for the first time all the week, Belinda became silent. For the rest of the day, she sat still in her chair, even with kids teasing her. "It's not going to work, young lady," I told her. "You already earned a walk home, and behaving now isn't going to change that."
When the final bell sounded, I took Belinda by the hand, and we began the two-block walk to her house. Belinda took me through the gate to her yard and she went inside to get her mother while I waited outside.
Where have you been, girl?" a voice screamed. Babies cried loudly inside.
"My teacher's here," Belinda said softly, and I still couldn't see inside through the front door.
"Hello," a deep voice barked. Then the door opened, and a rather skinny, short woman walked out.
"Uh, I'm Mr. Brassell, Belinda's teacher."
"What'd she done this time?"
注意:1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
I suddenly decided to try a different approach.
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The next day at school, Belinda gave my knees a big hug.
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Going to Mount Huangshan reminds me of the popular Beatles’ song “The Long and Winding Road”.
The hot spring at the foot of the mountain is something you must try after the climb. It will
What comes next is the endless series of steps. You can’t help wondering how hard it
As the song goes, this long and winding road “will never disappear”, and it will always stick in the visitor’s memory. It sure does in
4 . When almost everyone has a mobile phone, why are more than half of Australian homes still paying for a landline (座机)?
These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Australia over the age of 15 who doesn’t own a mobile phone. In fact plenty of younger kids have one in their pocket. Practically everyone can make and receive calls anywhere, anytime.
Still, 55 percent of Australians have a landline phone at home and only just over a quarter (29%) rely only on their smartphones according to a survey (调查). Of those Australians who still have a landline, a third concede that it’s not really necessary and they’re keeping it as a security blanket — 19 percent say they never use it while a further 13 percent keep it in case of emergencies. I think my home falls into that category.
More than half of Australian homes are still choosing to stick with their home phone. Age is naturally a factor (因素)— only 58 percent of Generation Ys still use landlines now and then, compared to 84 percent of Baby Boomers who’ve perhaps had the same home number for 50 years. Age isn’t the only factor; I’d say it’s also to do with the makeup of your household.
Generation Xers with young families, like my wife and I, can still find it convenient to have a home phone rather than providing a mobile phone for every family member. That said, to be honest the only people who ever ring our home phone are our Baby Boomers parents, to the point where we play a game and guess who is calling before we pick up the phone (using Caller ID would take the fun out of it).
How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about mobile phones?A.Their target users. | B.Their wide popularity. |
C.Their major functions. | D.Their complex design. |
A.Admit. | B.Argue. |
C.Remember. | D.Remark. |
A.They like smartphone games. | B.They enjoy guessing callers’ identity. |
C.They keep using landline phones. | D.They are attached to their family. |
A.It remains a family necessity. |
B.It will fall out of use some day. |
C.It may increase daily expenses. |
D.It is as important as the gas light. |
5 . When I was a kid, my sister and I would fight all the time over nearly everything. But as we grew older, our bond strengthened by sharing secrets, offering advice and trading clothes. Having a sister by my side while growing up taught me many lessons about the unique bond.
And now, thanks to an 8-year long study that’s making the rounds on the Internet again, science is confirming what I know is true. In the study, researchers discovered that having an older or younger sister can help ease the anxiety for kids between the ages of 10 and 14 years. They also found that people with sisters can “learn how to make up and to have control over their emotions again, which are skills that undoubtedly serve children well.
The revival of this study actually comes on the heels of another newer study, which shows that it’s not just the older kids and parents who influence and shape children as they grow. It turns out that younger siblings(兄弟姐妹) do too, and what’s more, they may also give their older siblings a greater chance of developing empathy (同情).
The Canadian study followed 452 pairs of siblings, all between a year-and-a-half and 4 years old. The researchers found that having a younger sibling increased the older sibling's level of empathy.
This research confirms that sisters are pretty amazing in making the world a much lovely place. As the mom of two boys, I often wonder what kinds of lessons they will learn from their younger sister. Perhaps they will be the same lessons I learned from mine that cooler heads always win. This study gives me hope that all those endless arguments between my kids may actually be laying the groundwork for conflict-settlement skills.
1. What can we learn from the study?A.Children under four develop empathy fastest. |
B.It is normal for siblings to quarrel. |
C.Having siblings is not always a headache. |
D.Having sisters is helpful to mental health. |
A.Result | B.Beginning. |
C.Reappearance. | D.Significance. |
A.They love their mom very much. |
B.They have a higher level of empathy. |
C.They often quarrel with one another. |
D.They have learned the same lessons as the the author. |
A.Siblings have a unique bond. |
B.Siblings have something in common. |
C.Having siblings is good to children. |
D.Children having siblings are considerate. |
Basketball fans around the world are mourning the death of American superstar Kobe Bryant who
The basketball world and the Los Angeles community reacted to Bryant's death with a pouring of sadness, disbelief and support.
In a statement, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Bryant was one of the greatest stars in the game.
Michael Jordan said Bryant was “like a little brother”to him. Words can’t describe how
7 . Cindy Soule is a teacher in Portland, Maine, an area known to have extremely cold and snowy winters. But cold weather doesn't stop Soule and her students from continuing with outdoor learning during the COVID-19.
Earlier in the school year, students in Soule's fourth-grade class had outdoor lessons. Then, the snow came. Wearing warm clothes, the students took their school supplies outside in buckets. Then, they turned the buckets over, put them down in the snow, took a seat and went to work. The lesson that day centered on snow and the formation of snowflakes.
Schools across the U.S. have pushed for outdoor learning to keep students and teachers safe. Infectious disease experts worldwide have noted that the virus spreads less easily outdoors. Now, with temperatures dropping in much of the country, some schools have made plans to continue outdoor learning during the winter.
Anne Stires is an outdoor learning expert in Maine. She said "the outdoors is the healthiest, safest place for us to be right now. Anything that we can do to get kids outdoors for longer periods of time is vital," Stires added. "This is only where we need to be right now."
In the neighboring state of New Hampshire, fourth- and fifth-grade students are still learning outside at James Faulkner Elementary School in Stoddard. The school created an outdoor classroom by clearing some trees and building an area for warmth by fire. In the western state of Colorado, elementary school students in the Lake County school district study in usual classrooms for half the week. For the other half, they learn outdoors.
For educators, outdoor learning is yet another period of change. Last spring, it was distance learning. Then came mixed learning methods. Now, educators are trying to keep their students warm enough to learn outside.
1. What can we learn according to the second paragraph?A.Cindy Soule prefers outdoor classes with her students. |
B.The students had a good time when playing with snow. |
C.Cindy Soule is creative and flexible in her teaching. |
D.A bucket has more functions besides being a container. |
A.It is likely that the virus disappears easily outdoors. |
B.Dropping temperatures will bring the virus to an end. |
C.Being outdoors is the perfect choice at present. |
D.Getting kids in outdoor activities is very important. |
A.Skeptical. | B.Objective. | C.Negative. | D.Optimistic. |
A.Outdoor education continues in the cold weather. |
B.Maine has suffered much more due to the COVID-19. |
C.Cold weather stops the COVID-19 attacking students. |
D.Teachers are worried about the safety of their students. |
8 . My father was born in a small town in the US.He wasn't sure what he wanted from
It’s easy to feel lonely
Getting along well sometimes seemed
This is why road trips were like
A.move | B.life | C.experience | D.belief |
A.live up | B.struggle on | C.get out | D.walk around |
A.because | B.if | C.until | D.when |
A.wasted | B.worked | C.spent | D.chatted |
A.better | B.easier | C.safer | D.cleverer |
A.break down | B.cool off | C.clear up | D.turn over |
A.available | B.alternative | C.necessary | D.impossible |
A.arguments | B.fights | C.embarrassments | D.amusements |
A.settle | B.rest | C.sit | D.watch |
A.sharing | B.respect | C.communication | D.tolerance |
A.silence | B.doubt | C.return | D.disappointment |
A.unusual | B.common | C.free | D.mobile |
A.earned | B.expected | C.missed | D.valued |
A.on | B.by | C.like | D.beyond |
A.friend | B.service | C.route | D.chance |
9 . A group of second-year college students have discovered hidden writing on a page from a book from the 1500s, using a special camera system they built.
Surprisingly, finding hidden writing on very old documents isn’t all that unusual. In fact, there’s even a special name for documents like this: a palimpsest (再生羊皮纸卷).
Long ago, writing was done on parchment — thin, dried animal skins specially prepared for writing. But parchment wasn’t easy to make and wasn’t cheap. So it became common to erase the old writing off a parchment and then reuse it for another piece of writing. That’s what creates a palimpsest.
The writing erased off the parchment can’t be seen directly, but scientists have learned ways to use special lighting to reveal the original writing. But it’s unusual for young college students to discover palimpsests.
Last year, first-year students at the Rochester Institute of Technology took part in a class that brought together many students to take on a project as a group. The project was to build a special camera system that could take pictures using different kinds of light.
Over the summer, the students working on the imaging camera managed to finish it. When they were done, they borrowed several old parchments from the collection at the school’s Cary Graphic Arts Collection. When they put one of the pages under their camera system with UV light, the hidden writing suddenly appeared. Under the UV light, handwriting in French could easily be seen behind the fancy writing and decorations normally visible on the page.
Zoe, a student involved in the project, said, “This was amazing because this document has been in the Cary Collection for almost 10 years and no one noticed it.” The students are even more excited because even though the parchment is no longer part of a book, they know where 29 other pages from the same book are. The students, who are now working with others to locate the other parchments, hope these, too, will have hidden writing and that they can figure out what it means.
1. What was parchment designed for in ancient times?A.Writing. | B.Decorating. |
C.Imaging. ![]() | D.Collecting. |
A.Heat up. | B.Bring out. |
C.Adjust to. | D.Clear away. |
A.Make a handwriting-recognizing camera. |
B.Identify what the parchments are made of. |
C.Track the origin of the palimpsests in the Cary Collection. |
D.Discover hidden writing and its meaning on more parchments. |
A.To tell about a new discovery. | B.To recommend a special book. |
C.To explain a cultural phenomenon. | D.To introduce an old document. |
China is widely known for its ancient civilization
At the beginning, written Chinese was
Emperor Qinshihuang united the seven major states into one country where the Chinese writing system began to develop
Written Chinese has also become an important means by which China's present is connected with