1 . On Mondays, two of my children get ready for school in an unusual way. Each packs plenty of food and water, a pair of rubber boots and sometimes a cup of hot chocolate. Then, I drop them off at a nearby park where they spend the entire day outside at a certified forest school.
When I first signed them up for forest school program, I loved the idea, but as a mum, I was concerned about a few things: Would they be comfortable outside for that long? Would they stay engaged for that many hours? Then I asked them if time ever seemed to move slowly, they stared at me in confusion. They didn’t understand my question, which fittingly removed it.
In this program, kids direct their own play, climbing tall trees or testing ice on the frozen lake. They are never told their play is too high or too sharp, but are rather trusted to self- adjust. Something else my sons appreciate about forest school is not being told to move on to the next activity, but being left to stay in a particular spot for as long as their curiosity allows. :
“What about all the things they’re missing in real school?” concerned parents have asked me. Neither of their classroom teachers thinks it’s a problem, but most significantly, my kids are learning new and different skills that a classroom cannot teach. They are learning to sit silently and observe nature up close-a skill that’s virtually impossible to develop in a noisy and overcrowded classroom setting. They are making social connections across a broader range of age groups. They cooperate together, using their different sizes and strengths to fulfill various roles within their games.
I appreciate it that forest school is shaping my boys’ relationship with the outdoors. They’re learning how to spend extended periods of time in nature, what to do to pass the time, and developing knowledge that will get them much closer to nature in the coming decades.
1. What is special about the forest school program?| A．Teachers engage in kids’ play. | B．Kids play and learn outdoors. |
| C．It focuses on nature protection. | D．It offers various food and drinks. |
| A．Awkward. | B．Concerned. | C．Relieved. | D．Proud. |
| A．The concerns caused by the program. |
| B．The benefits gained from role plays. |
| C．The skills acquired by children. |
| D．The games loved by teachers. |
| A．Nature: a wonderland for the young |
| B．Forest school program proves a hit |
| C．Parks are replacing traditional schools |
| D．Forest school: a fine place for my kids |
2 . Should Elizabeth II be the last queen? And should police officers be banned from using guns? Pupils at Redden Court School, a state high school in London’s eastern suburb, compete with interesting topics when they give up their lunch breaks for debate club.
The school is one of many public ones to have taken up debating in recent years. Last year the English- Speaking Union (ESU), Britain’s main debating organization, began to provide free help to 100 schools with lots of poor pupils. It hopes to change the view that debating is for rich kids.
Advocates propose a range of benefits. Duncan Partridge of the ESU argues that the confidence and fluency debating inspires will help children in future university applications and job interviews. Teachers at Redden Court say it has improved pupils’ ability to set out their arguments logically, in writing and in class, and they believe debating can be of wider use still.
Yet, despite these organisations’ best efforts, success in debating competitions is not just becoming more concentrated in private schools, but in a few of them that take it most seriously. Some hire international debating superstars to tutor their pupils. In 2015 Eton College, one of Britain’s grandest schools, opened a debating club that cost £18 million. In the past decade just two state schools have won the ESU’s annual debating competition in England.
Joseph Spence, master of another top private school, says another problem is that “there is something quite white, middle class and male about the debating form.” Some worry that school debating promotes skillful rhetoric (虚华辞藻) but not critical thinking.
To respond to such criticism, the ESU is designing a new debating format that encourages teams to shift their position in response to their opponent’s arguments. It has also introduced a policy that from this year, at least 30% of its competition members must come from state schools. However, is affirmative (积极的) action a just response to continuing inequality?
1. Why did ESU aid 100 schools free of charge?| A．To involve students in debating clubs. | B．To promote debating for rich students. |
| C．To introduce debating to poor students. | D．To change a popular opinion on debating. |
| A．Eton College doesn’t lay much emphasis on debating. |
| B．Private schools take the lead in debating competitions. |
| C．Some debating experts are invited to be the judges of the competitions. |
| D．The debating organizations only value the performance of private schools. |
| A．Student ability. | B．Political influence. |
| C．School preference. | D．Economic inequality. |
| A．Critical. | B．Favorable. | C．Hopeful. | D．Unconcerned. |
Museums inspire dreams-to become an astronaut, an
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Students thrive in the program. To date, over 1,000 students
4 . Everyone has “down days”. Maybe it’s because of the bad weather, or the disappointing grades on a difficult test, and some days teenagers just act uninterested in life or school. But these symptoms(症状) often pass quickly, as teens move on to new school subjects, or meet with friends to prevent themselves from thinking what troubles them at the moment. But if a teenager displays symptoms of sadness for more than two lasting weeks, it might point to something serious.
As teenagers develop, they push new boundaries(边界), complain about rules and look for more free rights from their parents. According to the online Health Guide on Adolescent Development, parents must be lasting figures in their teenagers’ life, providing safe boundaries for teens to grow, even if the teenagers act like these boundaries are unwanted.
Parents need to provide rules, while also remaining flexible(灵活的) and respectful of the growing teens’ need for freedom. For example, teenagers will often feel frustrated, embarrassed, and even angry that thought they want freedom, they still need to ask their parents for an agreement to go to a friend’s house, or need their mothers to take them to school.
The US Department of Education says that parents should respect and support their teen’s choices as long as those choices won’t have long-term harmful effects. For example, even if a parent doesn’t enjoy the music his or her teen listens to, it’s unlikely that the choice of music will prevent that teen from entering a good college, or lead to health problems. However, if that teen is drinking alcohol and driving, parents must get through strict punishments to teach that there are bad results for poor choices that come with increased freedom.
1. Why do teen’s feelings of bad days usually disappear quickly?| A．Their teachers help them. |
| B．They take some medicine. |
| C．Their parents talk with them. |
| D．They change their attention. |
| A．Freedom must be given at anytime. |
| B．Teens are mad at being controlled. |
| C．Teens need both freedom and proper rules. |
| D．Rules must be absolutely strict for teens. |
| A．Support their helpful hobbies. | B．Tell them which college to attend. |
| C．Cancel their after-school activities. | D．Get them away from singing pop songs. |
| A．How to Be With Growing Teens |
| B．Causes of Teens’ Sadness |
| C．Teens’ Worries About Strict Rules |
| D．The Importance of Making Friends With Teens |
5 . A star athlete at the college where I work recently stopped by my office. After committing a few unforced errors during a weekend match, she was torn apart by self-criticism. “I can’t stop beating myself up.” she told me. “I’m at peak fitness, and I practice hard. How is this happening?”
Many students I teach, like this athlete, believe that all-nighters in the library and hours on the field should get them exactly where they need to go. When they fall short of what they imagine they should accomplish, they are crushed by self-blame.
We talk often about young adults struggling with failure because their parents have protected them from discomfort. But there is something else at play among the most privileged in particular: a false promise that they can achieve anything if they are willing to work for it.
Psychologists have sourced this phenomenon to a misapplication of “mind-set” research, which has found that praising children for effort will increase academic performance. But a 2018 analysis found that while praising effort over ability may benefit high-risk or economically disadvantaged students, it does not necessarily help everyone.
The cruel, messy reality is that you can do everything in your power and still fail. Instead of allowing our kids to beat themselves up when things don’t go their way, we should all question a culture that has taught them that feeling anything less than overwhelmed means they’re lazy, and that where they go to college matters more than the kind of person they are. It’s suggested that parents and teachers spend time helping students find purpose, or goals they genuinely love to pursue and that make an impact on the world, which may help them gain greater life satisfaction and become more psychologically mature.
The point is not to give our kids a pass on working hard. But we would be wise to remind our kids that life has a way of sucker-punching (出其不意地击打) us when we least expect it. It’s often the people who learn to say “stuff happens” who gets up the fastest.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 4?| A．Praising effort over ability will surely be beneficial to all kids. |
| B．Parents should lay more emphasis on their kids’ academic performance. |
| C．The result of the “mind-set” research doesn’t apply to all cases. |
| D．Whether praising kids’ effort over ability does good to kids depends. |
| A．By encouraging them to stick to a worthy cause that they truly love. |
| B．By discouraging them from working hard. |
| C．By choosing where to go to college for them. |
| D．By pushing them to fight against the cruel reality. |
| A．Students don’t care about failure at all. |
| B．Students with positive attitudes can move on more easily. |
| C．Students should bear all the failures on their own. |
| D．Students are sure to succeed if they try their best. |
6 . The well-known Spanish painter Pablo Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he/ she grows up.”
This is both encouraging and discouraging. The fact that we were all born to be artists is surely exciting. But the reality has proven that remaining to be an artist is a task that many of us have failed. Fortunately, some people have seen the problem and want to solve it. Western educators have suggested that we introduce the concept of “STEAM” instead of “STEM”—traditional “core majors including science, technology, engineering and math—since the “A”, which stands for “art”, is just important as well. And so did the China’s Ministry of Education. It required colleges and universities to provide more art-related courses for students. They need to earn a certain number of art credits (学分) in order to graduate.
These efforts came after many scientific studies had found that art education helps students develop self-confidence and teamwork skills, as well as habits of mind such as problem solving and critical thinking.
It’s true that none of these skills is directly connected with jobs. But as former US ballet dancer Damian Woetzel told The Atlantic, the purpose of art is “to give kids the tools to become adults who are creative, adaptable and expressive— capable of having their eyes and ears and senses alive. And we can now see how we lost track of our born “artist self” on our way to growing up: we failed to keep our capabilities to see, hear and feel, and became blind, deaf and insensitive adults.
Hopefully, art education can help turn things around.
1. What’s the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To introduce a famous painter. | B．To summarize the whole passage. |
| C．To inspire us to be artists. | D．To lead in the topic. |
| A．Art is as equally important as “core majors”. |
| B．Western education is more useful. |
| C．Traditional “core majors” are out of date. |
| D．All of us should learn art in college. |
| A．every child is an artist. | B．bringing art to life is essential. |
| C．life is full of art. | D．artists are talented |
7 . School diversity inclusion and representation is significant in education. There are many educational benefits from introducing new thoughts on cultural differences in a classroom. Ethnicity, cultural differences, racial differences, and more are all important to talk about as part of a student’s education.
There are many specific reasons why diversity is key in the classroom and schools, including: Diversity brings new perspectives (角度) into a classroom. Students of different genders, races, backgrounds, etc. bring various thoughts into a classroom. This encourages a classroom discussion and learning opportunities. It can add well-rounded views and enables students to learn more from each other. It will allow students to see things in a new light. From elementary to high school, new perspectives are important to learn at any age.
Research shows that diverse classrooms improve learning results for every student. Schools that are more diverse see no difference in test scores from schools that are less diverse. However, there is also research that shows diverse groups are better able to solve problems and work more effectively. Diverse schools also see students who are more empathetic (富有同情心的), allowing everyone to feel more safe and confident in their learning environment. No matter what age, elementary or high school, introduction to culture and racial differences can have great positive impacts on students.
More classroom diversity prepares students for their future. The world around us is increasingly culturally diverse. It’s extremely likely that students will be working in a field that is incredibly diverse, and classroom diversity can help prepare students for that future. It increases their cultural awareness in a classroom setting, helping set them up for success in their future. Having respect and kindness for culturally unique individuals will help them succeed in a career where it is likely they will interact with those of different races and culture.
1. What mainly accounts for the key role of school diversity according to paragraph 2?| A．It provides chances of cooperation between different genders. |
| B．It enables students to view things from new perspectives. |
| C．It offers opportunities of learning about various cultures. |
| D．It allows students to make more friends at school. |
| A．put themselves in others’ position |
| B．achieve higher test scores in subjects |
| C．feel proud of their learning achievements |
| D．perform poorly in settling a tough problem |
| A．It increases their awareness of success in a career. |
| B．It inspires them to interact with those of different cultures. |
| C．It helps them adapt to a world of growing cultural diversity. |
| D．It enriches their working experience in a field of diverse culture. |
| A．The Possible Reasons for Success in a Career |
| B．A Recent Research on Learning Environment |
| C．A Worldwide Phenomenon of School Diversity |
| D．The Educational Benefits from School Diversity |
8 . How to educate young people and attract them into theaters has long been a question discussed by experts of the stage arts around the world. At the ongoing World Class Theater for Chinese Audiences meeting on Thursday, the dialogue Theatre and Youth: Theater Practice for Youth dealt with this issue.
Wang Keran, a producer from Chinese cultural company, stressed that the theater industry needs to carry out comprehensive (综合性的) education concerning the theater for the young, while Zhou Xing from China’s Ministry of Education said that theater education has a broader definition, which includes human thoughts, emotions and expression.
Overseas theater directors and actors including Jean Varela, Florence Mach and Oriol Broggi, also share their experiences and thoughts on this topic.
In the eyes of Varela, theater education is one of the most important means to raise people’s ability to appreciate the artform. “I was forced by my mum to at end these performance classes in the hope of helping me get rid of my shyness over my obesity (肥胖) when I was a kid. It turned out she was right,” he said. March, who focuses on arts education and research, said that his project Spring of School aims to help youngsters aged 14-16 with the goal of “helping them become better people”.
These guests also gave different advice to encourage more and more young people to walk into the theaters. Anais Martane came up with the idea of low-priced student tickets on days like Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, which she said will help kids turn the performing arts into a hobby. “In France, the price for kids can be very low, so that parents can take them to many plays. This is also an important part of theater education,” she said.
1. What is the experts’ common opinion about theater education?| A．It should be carried out by Chinese cultural companies. |
| B．It teaches the youth to share their experiences and thoughts. |
| C．It can raise the youth’s ability to perform arts at school. |
| D．It plays an important role in the education for the youth. |
| A．Parents are the first teachers in theater education. |
| B．Arts are of value in children’s education. |
| C．Children dislike arts performance classes. |
| D．Shyness prevents children from performing arts. |
| A．Starting a Spring of School project. |
| B．Offering students a discount on ticket prices. |
| C．Organizing students to perform arts in theaters. |
| D．Giving free tickets to parents. |
| A．Discover Youth’s Artistic Talent |
| B．Meet Arts Experts around the World |
| C．Appreciate Art Forms Worldwide |
| D．Perform Arts Education for Youth |
9 . A few years ago I had an “aha!” moment regarding handwriting.
I had in my hand a sheet of paper with handwritten instructions on it for some sort of editorial task. It occurred at first that I did not recognize the handwriting, and then I realized whose it must be. I finally became aware of the fact that I had been working with this colleague for at least a year, maybe two, and yet I did not recognize her handwriting at that point.
It was a very important event in the computerization of life-a sign that the informal, friendly communication of people working together in an office had changed from notes in pen to instant messages and emails. There was a time when our workdays were filled with little letters, and we recognized one another’s handwriting the way we knew voices or faces.
As a child visiting my father’s office, I was pleased to recognize, in little notes on the desks of his staff, the same handwriting I would see at home in the notes he would leave on the fridge-except that those notes were signed “dad” instead of “RFW”.
All this has been on my mind because of the talk about The Rise and Fall of Handwriting, a book by Florey. She shows in her book a deep concern about the fall of handwriting and the failure of schools to teach children to write well, but many others argue that people in a digital age can’t be expected to learn to hold a pen.
I don’t buy it. I don’t want to see anyone cut off from the expressive, personal associations that a pen still promotes better than a digital keyboard does. For many a biographer (传记记者), part of really getting to know their subjects is learning to read their handwriting.
What some people advocate is teaching one of the many attractive handwritings based on the handwriting of 16th century Italy. That may sound impossibly grand-as if they want kids to lean to draw by copying classical paintings. However, they have worked in many school systems.
1. Why was the author surprised at not recognizing his colleague’s handwriting?| A．He had worked with his colleague long enough. |
| B．His colleague’s handwriting was so beautiful. |
| C．His colleague hated to give written notes. |
| D．They used to write notes to each other in work. |
| A．should be used in class | B．attract more attention |
| C．are used mainly among family | D．carry more messages |
| A．does not agree with Florey |
| B．does not want to lose handwriting |
| C．puts the blame on the computer for people’s bad handwriting |
| D．thinks handwriting should be taught based on that of 16th century Italy |
A picture of 17-year- old Zhang Guimei has gone viral(走红) on China’s social media. Netizens are
Born in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province in 1957, Zhang
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