1 . Every school has students who stand out for their abilities and their eagerness to learn. In Mexico, a school created a program to work with them. In 2019, both teachers Lotta Andersson and John Rennie got the idea to provide learning opportunities for students with a hunger for knowledge. They are English coordinators(协调员) in the school. “We want to have a program to inspire students who really have the abilities and the interests to learn more and continue accepting challenges,” Andersson said during a recent interview.
Students in the program, which was called Learning Challenges, met with the teachers about once a month. Andersson and Rennie would help us choose research topics. We then worked with the teachers to find books, interview subjects and Internet sources. While in Learning Challenges, I gave presentations on European culture and the fashion industry.
When asked what skills students had formed in the program, which ended in June 2020 because of the limits of a common disease. Andersson said, “They had learned to ask questions, be more open-minded and see things from different angles(角度). Also, they mastered the skills — reflecting more, acting actively, and learning not to put limits on themselves.”
A student, Yihane Abed, conducted research on the sun, the moon, stars, planets, etc, while in Learning Challenges. “The skills I developed were teamwork and the ways to do research and give a good presentation,” she said.
Andersson and Rennie continue to help students pursue their love of learning. “The program doesn’t exist formally, but as an important part of the culture at school, it is still needed,” Andersson said. “There is much more difference, not only for students who need extra help, but also for those who are higher achievers.”
1. What’s the purpose of creating Learning Challenges?A.To help some students learn more. |
B.To guide students to work out successfully. |
C.To raise students’ interest in visiting Europe. |
D.To encourage English students to help others. |
A.Ways that students used in the program. |
B.Abilities that students got from the program. |
C.Difficulties that students met in the program. |
D.Topics that students chose from the program. |
A.Teamwork. | B.Travelling. | C.The universe. | D.The fashion industry. |
A.Hard. | B.Formal. | C.Necessary. | D.Traditional. |
2 . Cheating can happen in a lot of different ways. When people cheat, it’s not fair to other people, like the kids who studied for the test or who were the true winners of a game.
Many people like the action of cheating. It makes difficult things seem easy, like getting all the right answers on the test. But it doesn’t solve the problem of not knowing the material and it won’t help on the next test — unless the person cheats again.
Some people lose respect for cheaters and think less of them. The cheaters themselves may feel bad because they know they are not really earning that good grade. And, if they get caught cheating, they will be in trouble at school, and maybe at home, too.
Some kids cheat because they’re busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending the time studying. Other kids might feel like they can’t pass the test without cheating. Even when there seems to be a “good reason” for cheating, cheating isn’t a good idea.
If you were sick or upset about something the night before and couldn’t study, it would be better to talk with the teacher about this. And if you don’t have enough time to study for a test because of swim practice, you need to talk with your parents about how to balance swimming and school.
A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions together. Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.
1. The author thinks that when kids cheat in class, ______ .A.it is unfair to other people |
B.it does harm to their health |
C.teachers should punish them |
D.teachers shouldn’t stop them at once |
A.cheating isn’t a good idea |
B.why kids cheat in the test |
C.some kids can’t pass the test without cheating |
D.some kids don’t spend the time studying |
A.cheaters are often thought highly of |
B.people show no respect for those who cheat |
C.parents whose kids cheat are often in trouble |
D.kids cheat in the test because of swim practice |
A.spend more time on school than on sports |
B.find good solutions instead of cheating |
C.try hard to be intelligent rather than lazy |
D.ask their classmates for good methods of study |
3 . As countless unmade beds and unfinished homework assignments prove, kids need rules. Yet how parents make demands can powerfully influence a child’s social skills, psychologists at the University of Virginia recently found after the conclusion on a study investigating the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Initially 184 13-year-olds filled out multiple surveys, including one to assess how often their parents employed psychologically controlling strategies, such as threatening to withdraw affection. The kids rated, for example how typical it would be for Dad to suggest that “if I really cared for him, I would not do things that caused him to worry” or for Mom to become “less friendly when I did not see things her way.”
The researchers followed up with the subjects at ages 18 and 21, asking the young adults to bring along a close friend. These pairs were asked to answer questions that were purposefully written to cause a difference of opinion. “We wanted to see whether they could handle a disagreement in a healthy way,” says study leader Barbara Oudekerk, now at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Statistics.
In the October issue of Child Development, Oudekerk and her colleagues report that the 13-year-olds who had highly controlling parents floundered in friendly disagreements at age 18. They had difficulty stating their opinions in a confident, reasoned manner in comparison to the kids without controlling parents. And when they did speak up, they often failed to express themselves in warm and productive ways.
The researchers suspect that controlling parents affect their child’s ability to learn how to argue his or her own viewpoint in other relationships. Although parents do need to set boundaries, dominating strategies imply that any disagreement will damage the bond itself. Separate findings suggest that parents who explain the reasons behind their rules and turn disagreements into conversations leave youngsters better prepared for future disagreements.
The consequences of tense or dominating relationships appear to worsen with time. This study also found that social difficulties at 18 predicted even poorer communication abilities at age 21. Psychologist Shmuel Shulman of Bar-llan University in Israel, who did not participate in the work, thinks these conclusions convincingly reveal how relationship patterns “carry forward” into new friendships.
1. What did the researchers from the University of Virginia do in their research?A.They asked kids about how they got along with their parents. |
B.They surveyed some parents about what rules kids needed. |
C.They inquired into what the kids’ friends thought of them. |
D.They traced their subjects for nearly eight years. |
A.struggled with | B.dealt with | C.looked over | D.took over |
A.Shmuel Shulman thinks more evidence is needed for the new research. |
B.Controlling parents’ influence on their kids gets stronger as time goes by. |
C.21-year-olds are more eager to be free of parents’ control than 18-year-olds. |
D.Kids can handle disagreement better if their parents get along well with each other. |
A.Pushy parents could harm their kids’ social skills. |
B.Kids should learn what friendly disagreements are. |
C.Parents; affection matters in terms of kids; personality. |
D.Few parents explain the reasons why they set boundaries. |
4 . Some time ago, in my class I was about to fail a student for his answer to a physics question when the student claimed he deserved a better score. The examination question sounded “safe”, “Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer (气压表).” The student had answered, “Take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower the barometer to the street, and then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the rope is the height of the building.”
I argued that a high grade should prove his competence in physics, but the answer did not confirm this. I suggested that the student have another try. Immediately, he worked out his answer: A second best way is to take the barometer to the top of the building. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, using the formula to calculate the height of the building.
I was shocked by his answer. His method gave me not only a broken barometer but a Uturn in my teaching philosophy. I gave him full marks.
On his leaving my office, I recalled that he suggested there could be a better answer. So I asked him what it was. “Oh, yes,” said the student. “There are many ways. Probably the best,” he said, “is to take the barometer to the basement and ask the superintendent (大楼的管理人). You speak to him as follows, ‘Mr. Superintendent, here I have a fine barometer. If you tell me the height of this building, I will give it to you.’”
At this point, I asked the student if he really did not know the conventional (常规的) answer to this question. He admitted that he did, but said that he was fed up with high school instructors’ trying to teach him how to think, and how to use the socalled “scientific method”. He just wanted to solve the problem in a practical manner, not just answer the question in an expected way. Hearing this, I really had nothing to do but give the boy a firm handshake, feeling thankful that I hadn’t failed him in the first place and even more thankful that neither had he.
1. Why did the author want to fail the student in the first place?A.The student challenged his authority. |
B.The student’s answer was not practical. |
C.The student didn’t show his academic ability. |
D.The student had a poor performance in physics class. |
A. | B. |
C. | D. |
A.Without love, there is no education. |
B.A man becomes learned by asking questions. |
C.Teaching is to make two ideas grow where only one grew before. |
D.You can lead your horse to the river, but you can’t make it drink. |
A.Lack of physicsrelated knowledge. |
B.Ignorance of the teacher’s expectation. |
C.Intention to deeply impress his teacher. |
D.Disapproval of existing teaching concepts. |
5 . There is a time when many Americans question whether a college degree is worth its cost. However, a recent study found Americans who completed college or university are more likely to have friends and are less lonely than those who only finished high school.
Daniel Cox, director of the Survey Center on American Life, said that in general Americans are experiencing a “friend recession”, meaning a decline in their number of friends. Cox noted, “Americans have fewer close friends today than we did in the early 1990s. But men and those without a college degree are particularly affected because they seem to have experienced a much more dramatic decline over that period.”
The Center questioned 5, 054 people this past summer. It found Americans with a college degree feel more socially connected and are more active in their communities than people who didn’t go to college. As a result, those who completed college report feeling less lonely.
Previous research showed that Americans who didn’t go to college are less likely to marry. A 2012 study found that college-educated women are much more likely to get married than women who dropped out of high school. A 2013 study of people born between 1957 and 1964 found that both men and women who didn’t finish high school are less likely to marry than those with more education.
Today, 65 percent of college-educated Americans over age 25 are married. About 50 percent of people with a high school diploma, or who dropped out of high school, are married. Those numbers were different in 1990, when marriage rates among the college graduates were at 69 percent, compared with 63 percent for those who did not go to college, says a Pew research report.
The American Community Life Survey found around 1 in 10 college graduates say they have no close social connections. That number rises among Americans without a degree, where almost 1 in 4 say they have no close friends.
1. When was the study carried out according to the passage?A.When psychological problems arose sharply. |
B.When the number of college graduates declined. |
C.When Americans experienced a friend recession. |
D.When concerns about college costs appeared. |
A.To provide evidence for the research. | B.To analyze the reasons for loneliness. |
C.To show the importance of marriage. | D.To compare differences in generations. |
A.Entertainment. | B.Education. | C.Technology. | D.Health. |
A.Social problems in the American society. |
B.Reasons for Americans’ low marriage rates. |
C.Links between education and social interaction. |
D.Discussions about whether to get a college degree. |
6 . Most of us assume those hyper-achievers who are always able to squeeze in their workout, eat healthy foods and pick their kids up on time must have superhuman self-control. But science points to a different answer:
The way you define the goal you hope to turn into a habit does matter. Goals like “meditate regularly” are too abstract, research has shown.
A plan like “I’ll study Spanish for 30 minutes every weekday” is OK. But a detailed, cue-based plan like “Every workday after my last meeting, I’ll spend 30 minutes studying Spanish in my office” is more likely to stick as a habit.
3.We’re strongly influenced by the behaviors of the people around us, evidence shows. Want to start running regularly? You’re probably better off joining an established running club than asking a few friends who aren’t yet in the habit of jogging to get in shape with you.
However, it’s important not to get too crazy - if you try to train with marathoners when you’re just hoping to work up to a 5K, it can be discouraging.
4.Make it fun to repeatResearch has shown you’ll persist longer and ultimately achieve more if you focus on finding ways to make goal pursuit fun. One excellent way is to try “temptation bundling”. Research shows that temptation bundling improves follow-through; it transforms goal pursuit into a source of pleasure, not pain.
A.Find the right kind of social support. |
B.Tell your friends and family about your goals. |
C.What we mistake for willpower is often a natural outcome of habit. |
D.You’ll benefit from being more specific about what exactly you aim to do and how often. |
E.Having a bite-size objective makes it less daunting to get started and easier to see your progress. |
F.Now you have established a specific goal, it’s time to think about what will cue you to follow through. |
G.For example, watch your favorite show while at the gym or enjoy a beloved podcast while cooking healthy meals. |
7 . Why is science education important in our schools? Science is everywhere.
Governmental guidelines and tests often focus on middle and high school level STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.
Kids usually form a basic opinion about the sciences shortly after beginning school. If this is a negative opinion, it can be hard to engage those students in science as they grow older.
A.Science education gives children more choices. |
B.Engage young students with interesting materials. |
C.The process of questioning is more direct in science. |
D.Science education is one of the most important subjects in school. |
E.We are surrounded by technology and the products of science every day. |
F.But many educators believe science education should begin much earlier. |
G.These skills are important to every aspect of a student’s education and life. |
8 . While the start of a new school year is always exciting, this year was even more so for some elementary school students in Auckland, New Zealand. They became the world’s first kids to be “taught” by a digital teacher, Will. Before you start imagining a human-like robot walking around the classroom, Will is just an avatar(化身, 虚拟人物)that turns up on the students’ desktop, tablet, or smartphone screen when called.
Thanks to a digital camera and microphone, the avatar not only responds to questions the kids may have, but also picks up non-verbal signals. For example, if a student smiles at Will, he responds by smiling back. This two-way communication not only helps draw the students’ attention, but also allows the program’s developers to monitor their involvement(参与)and make changes if needed.
Vector’s Chief Digital Officer, Nikhil Ravishankar, believes that Will—like avatars could be a new way to attract the attention of the next generation. He says, “Using a digital human is a very popular method to deliver new information to people, and I have a lot of hope in this technology as a means to deliver rich and educational experience in the future.” Greg Cross, the Chief Business Officer for Soul Machines, states that kids who have grown up in this digital time adapt to new technology quickly, and he hopes to develop the idea of digital humans in the area of educate further.
The program, in place since August 2018, has been a great success so far. However, no matter how popular it becomes, Will is unlikely to replace human educators any time soon. For one, the avatar’s knowledge base is severely limited. But more importantly, even the smartest digital avatars could never predict and react to all the unexpected situations that educators have to deal with on a daily basis. However, it could come in handy as a “personal teacher”, providing kids with one-on-one help on the subjects or even topics.
1. What can be inferred about the digital teacher from the last paragraph?A.It has entered many homes as kids’ private teacher. |
B.It will teach in class in place of human educators. |
C.It’s good at handling unexpected situations. |
D.It remains to be improved. |
A.He is a human-like robot teacher. |
B.He is the first robot teacher in the world. |
C.He is a digital teacher teaching in a school. |
D.He will walk across the classroom to you when called. |
A.By taking part in discussion. |
B.By changing teaching methods. |
C.By communicating with students. |
D.By monitoring students’ behavior. |
A.Supportive. | B.Doubtful. |
C.Uncaring. | D.Dissatisfied. |
注意:
1. 词数80左右;
2. 可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
参考词汇:futurologist 未来学家
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In Canada, high school grades
The important things that lead to
Although high school grades will be used to decide if a student is admitted into an academic (学业的,学术的) program, the student’s ability