1 . Working out exactly what students and taxpayers get for the money they spend on universities is a tricky business. Now the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD), a Paris-based think-tank for rich countries, is planning to make the task a bit easier, by producing the first international comparison of how successfully universities teach.
“Rather than assuming that because a university spends more it must be better, or using other proxy measures for quality, we will look at learning outcomes,” explains Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s head of education research. Just as the OECD assesses primary and secondary education by testing randomly chosen groups of youngsters from each country in reading and mathematics, it will sample university students to see what they have learned. Once enough universities are taking part, it may publish league tables showing where each country stands, just as it now does for compulsory education. That may produce a fairer assessment than the two established rankings, though the British one does try to broaden its inquiry by taking opinions from academics and employers.
There is much to be said for the OECD’s approach. Of course a Nobel laureate’s view on where to study may be worth hearing, but those professors may be so busy writing and researching that they spend little or no time teaching—a big weakness at America’s famous universities. And changes in methodology can bring surprising shifts. The high-flying London School of Economics, for example, tumbled(暴跌)from 17th to 59th in the British rankings published last week, primarily because it got less credit than in previous years for the impressive number of foreign students it had managed to attract.
The OECD plan awaits approval from an education ministers’ meeting in January. The first rankings are planned by 2021. They will be of interest not just as a guide for shoppers in the global market, but also as indicators of performance in domestic markets. They will help academics wondering whether to stay put or switch jobs, students choosing where to spend their time and money, and ambitious university bosses who want a sharper competitive edge for their institution.
The task the OECD has set itself is formidable. In many subjects, such as literature and history, the syllabus varies hugely from one country, and even one campus, to another. But OECD researchers think that problem can be overcome by concentrating on the transferable skills that employers value, such as critical thinking and analysis, and testing subject knowledge only in fields like economics and engineering, with a big common core.
Moreover, says Mr Schleicher, it is a job worth doing. Today’s rankings, he believes, do not help governments assess whether they get a return on the money they give universities to teach their undergraduates. Students overlook second-rank institutions in favour of big names, even though the less grand may be better at teaching. Worst of all, ranking by reputation allows famous places to coast along, while making life hard for feisty upstarts. “We will not be reflecting a university’s history,” says Mr Schleicher, “but asking: what is a global employer looking for?” A fair question, even if not every single student’s destiny is to work for a multinational firm.
1. The project by OECD is aimed to__________.| A．assess primary and secondary education of each school that subscribe to the service |
| B．appraise the learning outcomes of university students as part of their academic performance |
| C．establish a new evaluation system for universities |
| D．set up a new ranking for compulsory education |
| A．that its inquiry is broader as to include all the students and staff |
| B．that its samples are chosen randomly based on statistical analysis of method |
| C．that it attaches more importance to the learning efficiency |
| D．that it takes opinions from the students to see what they have learnt |
| A．the OECD’s approach is very fair |
| B．the Nobel laureate’s opinion is not worth hearing |
| C．the British rankings pay more attention to the foreign students |
| D．different assessment methods may lead to different ranking results |
| A．parents who pay for the children’s secondary education |
| B．the famous colleges |
| C．those ambitious second-rank institutions |
| D．shoppers in the global market |
In the 1970s, when I was a new teacher at a school in Detroit, I was arranged to teach a particularly talented class. The students included a little girl named Mary Kay, who had spent only one year at our school — the year that I had her in my third-grade class.
Her father was Billy Kim, a quite famous man. He was from South Korea. His daughter Mary Kay could speak beautiful English, and loved smiling. She had great respect for learning and never made trouble in class.
In one class, I asked Mary Kay to read an article in our book out loud. To my surprise, although Mary Kay could speak beautiful, flowing English, she was poor in reading. She even mispronounced many words. Immediately, the kids in the class laughed at her.
Then I said to Mary Kay, “Why don’t you go and write some words in your native language on the blackboard for everyone?” Mary Kay’s eyes suddenly brightened, and she walked with a smile to the board, full of new-found confidence.
The other children watched as she wrote word after word along with her name in her native language. The whole class immediately watched with a bit of respect and amazement, not pity. Then one of the students said, “Write my name Mary Kay.” And she did. Then more students asked. Soon, the whole class had their names on the board, and Mary Kay became a heroine. She could do something the others could not. She went from feeling inadequate (能力不足的) to feeling proud. In the following days, I still often encouraged Mary Kay.
After Mary Kay finished her third grade, I had never met her and lost contact with her. About 30 years later, I happened to meet with her father in a local church. And I decided to ask him about Mary Kay, so I introduced myself first.
Paragraph 1: I said, “Hello, Mr. Kim. I’m Sophia brown.”
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Paragraph 2: She told me how much my class had influenced her life.
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3 . Our culture is the system we use to build our identity. All living things are part of a culture. Even animals have a culture! So what is culture? It’s the way we behave in a group. It begins with each individual family. Within our families we do things to build relationships with each other. This can include routines like daily housework and weekly shopping. It also includes traditions. Traditions are activities that are repeated on a regular basis.
Culture is not limited to individual family groups. The real strength of culture is in larger community groups. These larger groups are called societies. Every society makes rules for itself. It decides how people should act in different situations. Some of these rules are written down. Some are just things that are naturally expected of all members of that society.
Often, cultures can be recognized by what the people believe. Cultures are also known by what they choose to include in their art. Sometimes a society forms around people who speak the same language. Cultures may also be known for their customs, including the foods they make and the things they do.
Our cultures help us understand who we are and what we believe. There are very strong feelings connecting us to our own society. Two different cultures may disagree on something, especially if they both feel strongly about it. When that happens, war is a common result.
People are learning better ways to communicate with each other. The more we learn, the more we appreciate the differences in cultures.
1. The underlined word “routines” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______.| A．personal hobbies | B．personal behaviors |
| C．family activities | D．daily activities |
| A．In arts. | B．In societies. | C．In families. | D．In languages. |
| A．Culture doesn’t exist in animals. |
| B．Culture is the way we behave. |
| C．Culture may not agree with each other. |
| D．Culture help us understand ourselves. |
| A．By building a wall. | B．By preparing to fight. |
| C．By communicating. | D．By making friends. |
In bringing up children, every parent watches eagerly the child’s acquisition of each new skill-the first spoken words, the first independent steps, or the beginning of reading and writing.It is often tempting to hurry the child
Parents vary greatly in their degree of strictness towards their children. Some may be especially strict in money matters,
As regards the development of moral standards in the growing child, consistency is very important in parental teaching. To forbid a thing one day and excuse it
A sudden awareness of a marked difference between their parents’ principles and their morals can be a dangerous disappointment.
| A. struggling B.suit C. produce D. extension E. treat F. performance G. suggests H. recover I. force J. reset K. flowing |
Walking through any high school during the first class in the morning, you may find that many students are
Don’t blame yourself; blame the clock in your brain. Two decades of research
Scientists in the US led research to try to
Some schools have reset their school time from 7:25 to 8:30 a.m. to
6 . Turning soil, pulling weeds, and harvesting cabbage sound like tough work for middle and high school kids. And at first it is, says Abby Jaramillo, who with another teacher started Urban Sprouts, a school garden program at four low-income schools. The program aims to help students develop science skills, environmental awareness, and healthy lifestyles.
Jaramillo’s students live in neighborhoods where fresh food and green space are not easy to find and fast food restaurants outnumber grocery stores. “The kids literally come to school with bags of snacks and large bottles of soft drinks,” she says. “They come to us thinking vegetables are awful, dirt is awful, insects are awful.” Though some are initially scared of the insects and turned off by the dirt, most are eager to try something new.
Urban Sprouts’ classes, at two middle schools and two high schools, include hands-on experiments such as soil testing, flower-and-seed dissection, tastings of fresh or dried produce, and work in the garden. Several times a year, students cook the vegetables they grow, and they occasionally make salads for their entire schools.
Program evaluations show that kids eat more vegetables as a result of the classes. “We have students who say they went home and talked to their parents and now they’re eating differently,” Jaramillo says.
She adds that the program’s benefits go beyond nutrition. Some students get so interested in gardening that they bring home seeds to start their own vegetable gardens. Besides, working in the garden seems to have a calming effect on Jaramillo’s special education students, many of whom have emotional control issues. “They get outside,” she says, “and they feel successful.”
1. What do we know about Abby Jaramillo?| A．She used to be a health worker. | B．She grew up in a low-income family. |
| C．She owns a fast food restaurant. | D．She is an initiator of Urban Sprouts. |
| A．The kids’ parents distrusted her. | B．Students had little time for her classes. |
| C．Some kids disliked garden work. | D．There was no space for school gardens. |
| A．Far-reaching. | B．Predictable. |
| C．Short-lived. | D．Unidentifiable. |
| A．Rescuing School Gardens | B．Experiencing Country Life |
| C．Growing Vegetable Lovers | D．Changing Local Landscape |
7 . When Jason Arday was aged three he was diagnosed with
Arday has always wanted to help people. As a child he remembers
Supported by his college
When Arday told Sandri that he wanted to
Sandri was right, and now Arday is a
| A．symptom | B．phenomenon | C．autism | D．disease |
| A．affect | B．lead | C．reflect | D．change |
| A．paint | B．play | C．rest | D．read |
| A．oldest | B．smallest | C．youngest | D．biggest |
| A．linking | B．thinking | C．living | D．saying |
| A．then | B．soon | C．though | D．also |
| A．director | B．manager | C．president | D．tutor |
| A．master | B．degree | C．rank | D．position |
| A．worked | B．toured | C．visited | D．inspected |
| A．why | B．where | C．how | D．when |
| A．encouragement | B．movement | C．discouragement | D．engagement |
| A．abandon | B．interrupt | C．defend | D．continue |
| A．work on | B．depend on | C．take on | D．rely on |
| A．student | B．doctor | C．assistant | D．professor |
| A．taking | B．doing | C．giving | D．driving |
8 . Have your ever imagined a robot doing homework for you? This has become a reality due to the coming of ChatGPT. But teachers at UK universities have been asked to rethink about the way to assess (评价) their courses because students are already using a powerful new AI tool capable of producing high-quality essays (论文).
ChatGPT, the latest chat robot, has only been publicly available for weeks, but has already caused concerns about the possibility of academic (学术的) dishonesty and questions about the acceptability of the essay as a future form of assessment. Working groups have been set up in university departments to meet this challenge.
Experts admit feeling both excited and alarmed. Dr Thomas Lancaster, a computer scientist working at Imperial College London, best known for his research into academic honesty, said ChatGPT was in many ways a game changer. He explains, “It’s certainly a major turning point in education where universities have to make big changes. They have to adapt sooner rather than later.”
There are signs of Australian universities to have a return to greater use of in-person exams to try to protect the fairness of assessment. Lancaster said, however, a total return to exams was not the answer, suggesting instead the use of giving a formal talk to enable students to show their understanding of a subject.
Michael Webb, director of technology and analytics at Jisc, which provides network and IT services to higher education, agreed. He said, “The immediate reaction might be to avoid these tools in order to stop students cheating, but that’s not advisable. We should not simply regard them as spelling or grammar checkers, but technology that can make everyone’s life easier.”
“We don’t need to go back to in-person exams: This is a great opportunity for the schools to explore new assessment methods that measure learners on critical thinking, problem-solving and reasoning skills rather than essay-writing abilities.”
1. Why do the UK teachers have to rethink about the way of assessment?| A．Because their students fail in producing quality essays. |
| B．Because ChatGPT doesn’t do well in academic assessment. |
| C．Because essays will not be accepted as a future form of assessment. |
| D．Because ChatGPT increases the possibility of academic dishonesty. |
| A．Changing the way ChatGPT works. |
| B．Testing students with spoken reports. |
| C．Doing research on academic honesty. |
| D．Returning to previous in-person exams. |
| A．He is concerned about the way students use ChatGPT. |
| B．He advises students not to use ChatGPT in writing essays. |
| C．He is impressed with ChatGPT’s grammar checking function. |
| D．He expects schools to explore better ways to assess students fully. |
| A．A big advance in AI technology. |
| B．A problem facing college educators. |
| C．A challenge to academic assessment from ChatGPT. |
| D．ChatGPT as an effective tool for academic assessment. |
Liu Qing hasn’t slept well for months. Every day, the 13-year-old middle school student
Being sad or in a low mood is a normal part of life. For example, when people face challenging events in their lives — including financial hardship — it’s common to feel down. But in most cases, the negative emotions
Depression, however, is not the same thing.
According to a 2022 report about Chinese people’s mental health, students with great academic burdens, those dealing
Experts suggested high school students and freshmen at universities should undergo
1.活动目的和时间，
2.参观的内容；
3.感悟。
注意: 1: 写作词数应为80左右；
2: 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Experience in the Museum
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