1 . A campaign (活动) is being launched to encourage children to surrender 30 minutes of screen time a day to head for the great outdoors.
The newly formed Wild Network—a collaboration of nearly 400 organizations—is attempting to attract youngsters away from television and computer screen and to fields, woods and parks. Members of the network include the National Trust, RSPB, Play England and the NHS. Organizers say it is the UK’s biggest ever campaign to reconnect children with nature and outdoor play, and claim it could help improve fitness, mental alertness (机敏) and general wellbeing.
A documentary film, Project Wild Thing, will forecast the launch at more than 50 cinemas across the UK from Friday. It looks at the increasing link between children and nature.
Andy Simpson, chairman of the Wild Network, said, “The tragic truth is that kids have lost touch with nature and the outdoors in just one generation. Time spent outdoors is down, roaming (漫步) ranges have fallen largely, activity levels are declining and the ability to identify common species has been lost.”
Suggestions of how to get more time in nature include collecting conkers (七叶树果), camping or snail racing, and observing autumn colour on trees.
From January, the network will aim to make suggestions to politicians on how government can do more to get children muddy and bright-eyed.
This is not the first time the message of less screen, more play has been brought up. Children in the 1980s were requested to do the same by the BBC TV series Why Don’t You, which somewhat confusingly called on its viewers to “switch off your TV set and go to do something less boring instead”.
1. What does the underlined word “surrender” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Give up | B．Get around |
| C．Take up | D．Run away |
| A．To make children read more books. |
| B．To help children distinguish (辨别) the natural world. |
| C．To encourage children to participate in outdoor activities. |
| D．To get children out of too much homework from school. |
| A．The outdoors can be beneficial to children’s wellbeing. |
| B．The Network advocates (提倡) keeping children’s distance from TV. |
| C．It is the first time for less screen, more play to be brought up. |
| D．The government should do more to get children to go outdoors. |
| A．Government took measures to get children muddy and bright-eyed. |
| B．A BBC TV series called on its viewers to shut off their TV sets. |
| C．More children went out to keep in touch with nature. |
| D．Wild Network launched a campaign to encourage children to go outdoors. |
2 . Philosophy of Education is a label applied to the study of the purpose, process, nature and ideals of education. It can be considered a branch of both philosophy and education. Education can be defined as the teaching and learning of specific skills, and the imparting of knowledge, judgment and wisdom, and is something broader than the societal institution of education we often speak of.
Many educationalists consider it a weak and imprecise field, too far removed from the practical applications of the real world to be useful. But philosophers dating back to Plato and the Ancient Greeks have given the area much thought and emphasis, and there is little doubt that their work has helped shape the practice of education over the millennia.
Plato is the earliest important educational thinker, and education is an essential element in “The Republic” (his most important work on philosophy and political theory, written around 360 B.C.). In it, he advocates some rather extreme methods: removing children from their mothers’ care and raising them as wards of the state, and differentiating children suitable to the various castes(社会等级), the highest receiving the most education, so that they could act as guardians of the city and care for the less able. He believed that education should be holistic(全面的), including facts, skills, physical discipline, music and art. Plato believed that talent and intelligence is not distributed genetically and thus is to be found in children born to all classes, although his proposed system of selective public education for an educated minority of the population does not really follow a democratic model.
Aristotle considered human nature, habit and reason to be equally important forces to be cultivated in education, the ultimate aim of which should be to produce good and virtuous citizens. He proposed that teachers lead their students systematically, and that repetition be used as a key tool to develop good habits, unlike Socrates’ emphasis on questioning his listeners to bring out their own ideas. He emphasized the balancing of the theoretical and practical aspects of subjects taught, among which he clearly mentions reading, writing, mathematics, music, physical education, literature, history, and a wide range of sciences, as well as play, which he also considered important.
During the period of Middle Age, the idea of Perennialism was first formulated by St. Thomas Aquinas in his work “De Magistro”. Perennialism holds that one should teach those things deemed to be of everlasting importance to all people everywhere, namely principles and reasoning, not just facts (which are apt to change over time), and that one should teach first about people, not machines or techniques. It was originally religious in nature, and it was only much later that a theory of worldly Perennialism developed.
During the Renaissance(文艺复兴), the French doubter Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592) was one of the first to critically look at education. Unusually for his time, Montaigne was willing to question the conventional wisdom of the period, calling into question the whole structure of the educational system, and the assumption that university-educated philosophers were necessarily wiser than uneducated farm workers, for example.
1. Why do many educationists consider philosophy a ‘weak and imprecise field’?| A．It is the practical applications of the real world. |
| B．Its theoretical concepts are easily understood. |
| C．It is irrelevant for education. |
| D．It is not practically applicable. |
| A．Aristotle felt the need for repetition to develop good habits in students; Socrates felt that students need to be constantly questioned. |
| B．Aristotle felt the need for rote-learning; Socrates emphasized on dialogic learning. |
| C．There was no difference. |
| D．Aristotle emphasized on the importance of paying attention to human nature; Socrates emphasized upon science. |
| A．that is unnecessary. | B．that is of ceaseless importance. |
| C．that is abstract and theoretical. | D．that exists no more. |
| A．Facts are not important. |
| B．Facts do not lead to holistic education. |
| C．Facts change with the changing times. |
| D．Facts are frozen in time. |
3 . Sandra Boynton, a children’s author, has in more recent years branched out into kids music. Her most recent album Hog Wild!, for example, features Samuel L. Jackson as a Tyrannosaurus Rex. She talked in an interview about how to tap into kids' imaginations and how to make scary things less threatening for them.
In your years of writing and illustrating children’s books, have you noticed anything that really sparks a child’s imagination?
I think maybe there’s no basic difference between what fascinates a child and what fascinates the rest of us. We’re all drawn to things that wake us up, things that grab our attention through our hearing or our sight or our sense of touch. We’re curious about the world as it is, and we’re curious about what could be. Imagination follows curiosity pretty naturally.
It doesn’t feel to me like it’s been a long time that I’ve been drawing and writing things. It doesn’t feel like a short time, either. It just feels like what I do. I make things. I’m a permanent Kindergartner, I guess.
You often take a threatening figure like a Tyrannosaurus Rex or a monster and make him cute. Do you have any suggestions for how to make children less afraid of things?
Actually, I think kids kind of like being afraid of things, as long as someone calm is right there with reassurance. Hugging helps.
What have you learned about childhood from writing kids’ books?
Accessing childhood has actually never been that hard. It’s adulthood that’s still perplexing. I would guess that most children’s book writers are that way. I’m really writing books and making music for my own child-self. But I’m certainly delighted and grateful that my books work for people other than just me. It keeps me from having to find an actual job.
A lot of authors are worried that children spend too much time on digital devices rather than with books, but you seem to have embraced it. Why?
When the interactive book app universe was new, I was, as a creator of things, curious. My background is theater, and I thought it could be interesting to try to figure out how to create content that’s both theater-like and book-like. I found a superb partner in this, the insanely ingenious Loud Crow Interactive in Vancouver. We worked intensively together for a couple of years and made five very cool apps. I’m proud of them. But now, having too often seen very young kids sitting idly, staring at screens, I have my doubts.
1. What does Sandra Boynton think about imagination?| A．It fascinates both adults and children. |
| B．It can be waken up by attention to senses. |
| C．It can be naturally aroused out of curiosity. |
| D．It lasts for long in a permanent kindergartner. |
| A．finds herself confused about remembering childhood |
| B．agrees with other book writers that writing is hard |
| C．puts herself in a child’s place and thinks like a child |
| D．is delighted that she doesn’t need to find another job |
| A．new ways to increase interactions between users |
| B．interactive by combining theatre and book |
| C．beneficial with the content both theatre-like and book-like |
| D．created by an insanely ingenious expert and friend |
| A．Sandra is good at making a threatening figure cute |
| B．kids are always calm instead of being afraid of things |
| C．digital devices have been embraced by most of the authors |
| D．there were no interactive book apps before Sandra’s apps |
4 . Educators across the US are calling for major changes to the admissions process in higher education. The Harvard school of Greduate Education, along with 80 other schools and organizations, released a report called “Turning the Tide Making Caring Common” in January, 2016. The report argues that the process schools use to choose students causes major problems.
David Hawkins is the Executive Director for Educational Content and Policy at the National Association for College Admissions Counseling. Hawkins told Voice of America that most colleges and universities require many things from students when they apply. Schools usually ask for an essay describing a student's interests or why they want to study at that school. The schools also ask for letters from teachers or other responsible adults describing why a student is a good candidate. But, Hawkins says, the area that schools are most concerned about is a student’s high school grades and standardized test results.
The report suggests that paying attention to academic success over other qualities works well for some students but hurts others. In addition, academic success is not the most important quality a student should have. More attention should be paid to showing whether or not a student wants to do well in the world, according to the report.
The report goes on to state that the best way to change the admissions process is by changing college applications. It suggests that schools should ask for evidence that students care about other people. But the report does have its critics. Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, said that every few years, someone makes the same argument for changes, but no real change has happed yet. Even many of the schools that agree with the report still make no changes.
Lloyd Thacker, Executive Director of the Education Conservancy, said that until a majority of schools agree to make the changes, there will still be problems. However, he said, the admissions process was better in the past. If bad changes can affect the process, so can good ones.
1. What is the problems of the admissions process according to the report?| A．The schools ask too many things from the applying students. |
| B．The schools attach too much importance to students’ academic records. |
| C．The number of students getting admitted is too small. |
| D．Admissions officers consider too many unimportant factors. |
| A．The reasons to attend the school. |
| B．A description of interests. |
| C．Recommendation letters from adults. |
| D．Evidence that students care about others. |
| A．not all changes are good |
| B．the largest schools are expected to make changes first |
| C．no schools currently agree with the report |
| D．some schools don’t make changes even if they agree |
| A．Confident. | B．Negative. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
5 . Daniel Anderson, a famous psychologist, believes it’s important to distinguish television’s influences on children from those of the family. We tend to blame TV, he says, for problems it doesn’t really cause, overlooking our own roles in shaping children’s minds.
One traditional belief about television is that it reduces a child’s ability to think and to understand the world. While watching TV, children do not merely absorb words and images (影像). Instead, they learn both explicit and hidden meanings from what they see. Actually, children learn early the psychology of characters in TV shows. Furthermore, as many teachers agree, children understand far more when parents watch TV with them, explaining new words and ideas. Yet, most parents use an educational program as a chance to park their kids in front of the set and do something in another room.
Another argument against television is that it replaces reading as a form of entertainment. But according to Anderson, the amount of time spent watching television is not related to reading ability. TV doesn’t take the place of reading for most children; it takes the place of similar sorts of recreation, such as listening to the radio and playing sports. Things like parents’ educational background have a stronger influence on a child’s reading. “A child’s reading ability is best predicted by how much a parent reads,” Anderson says.
Traditional wisdom also has it that heavy televisionwatching lowers IQ (智商) scores and affects school performance. But here, too, Anderson notes that no studies have proved it. In fact, research suggests that it’s the other way around. “If you’re smart young, you’ll watch less TV when you’re older,” Anderson says. Yet, people of lower IQ tend to be lifelong television viewers.
For years researchers have attempted to show that television is dangerous to children. However, by showing that television promotes none of the dangerous effects as conventionally believed, Anderson suggests that television cannot be condemned without considering other influences.
1. By watching TV, children learn ________.| A．images through words |
| B．more than explicit meanings |
| C．more about images than words |
| D．little about people’s psychology |
| A．on his own | B．with other kids |
| C．with his parents | D．with his teachers |
| A．Radiolistening. |
| B．Televisionwatching. |
| C．Parents’ reading list. |
| D．Parents’ educational background. |
| A．To advise on the educational use of TV. |
| B．To describe TV’s harmful effects on children. |
| C．To explain traditional views on TV influences. |
| D．To present Anderson’s unconventional ideas. |
6 . The other day, BBC broadcast its documentary(纪录片) ＂Are Our Kids Tough Enough? — Chinese School＂， in which the British and Chinese teaching styles competed against each other, with both sides tested after four weeks to see who comes out on top.
In this unique experiment, five Chinese teachers took over a British classroom with 50 teenagers aged 13 and 14 in a British school for one month and taught them in a typical Chinese way: no talking, no questions and experiencing the severe classroom discipline within an extended school－hour from 7 a．m. to 7 p．m. In the meantime, another group of students were guided in the British teaching style: free talking, free questioning, thinking for themselves and relaxing learning atmosphere.
At the end of the documentary, all the pupils took part in the same exams in a few subjects. Next is the result.
Mathematics | Chinese | Science | |
Chinese style | 67.74 | 46.88 | 58.33 |
British style | 54.84 | 36.46 | 50 |
Faced with the result, many netizens in Britain made a strong suggestion to their Education Minister that Britain should learn from China and adopt China’s educational style.
【写作内容】
假设英国教育部长正在向中国学生征询对上述建议的看法，请你给他写封信表达你的看法。
1. 用约30个单词完成上文的概要。
2. 用约120个单词发表你的观点，你应该
(1) 阐述你对＂英国教育该不该采用中国方式＂的看法；
(2) 用2～3个理由或论据支撑你的观点。
【写作要求】
1. 写作时不能直接引用原文语句。
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
【评分标准】
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
Dear Minister，
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your sincerely，
A Chinese senior student
7 . 每个人都是社会一员，每个人与他人都紧密相连， 建立和谐社会需要每个人的努力，因此拥有一定的社会责任感至关重要，但每个人对此的理解却各不相同，请依据下面一项针对中学生社会责任感体现的调查图表写一篇150词左右的短文，要求如下：
[写作内容]
1. 用约30词概括你对社会责任的理解；
2. 依据你的理解阐述社会责任感的重要性；
3. 结合实际谈谈如何有效培养中学生的社会责任感。
[写作要求]
1. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
2. 不必写标题。
[评分标准]
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8 . One day, I received a call from a colleague. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physical problem, while the student claimed a perfect score. I was elected as their arbiter (仲裁人). I read the examination problem: “Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer (气压计).” The student had answered, “Take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to the street, and then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of it is the height of the building.”
The student had really answered the question completely, but the answer didn’t confirm his competence in physics. I suggested the student try again. I gave him six minutes to answer the question, warning that the answer should show some knowledge of physics. Five minutes later, he said he had many answers and dashed off one, which read “Take the barometer to the top of the building and lean over the edge of the roof. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, use the physical formula (公式) to calculate the height of the building.”
At this point, my colleague had to accept it, and then the student made almost full marks. I couldn’t help asking the student what the other answers were. He listed many others and then added, “Probably the best is to take the barometer to the administrator and said to him, ‘Sir, here is a fine barometer. If you tell me the height of the building, 1 will give it to you.”‘
Then, I asked the student if he really did not know the conventional answer to this question. He admitted that he did, but said that he was fed up with high school and college instructors trying to teach him how to think.
The name of the student was Bohr who later was famous all over the world. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922.
1. The student got a zero at the beginning because .| A．the teacher wasn’t satisfied with him. |
| B．his answer wasn’t complete or correct |
| C．his answer didn’t show his knowledge of physics |
| D．the teacher didn’t fully understand his answer |
| A．the administrator told Bohr the height |
| B．the student knew the expected answer |
| C．the author preferred Bohr’s last answer |
| D．the teacher was a very stubborn person |
| A．instructors can teach students how to think |
| B．arbiters can help students to get high scores |
| C．teachers should make students use physical formulas |
| D．students should be given more freedom in thinking |
| A．Critical | B．Optimistic |
| C．Objective | D．Ambiguous |
9 . Today, we are told , children don’t spend enough time in the fresh air. Many of them are addicted to a screen either on a computer or a TV—they seem to be living in a virtual world. They have lost touch with nature.
But now 400 organizations in the UK, from playgroups to the National Health Service, are encouraging children to have some “wild time”. They want kids to swap at least 30 minutes of watching TV or playing computer games for time playing outside. Activities such as building dens, climbing trees, rummaging for conkers and playing hide and seek are just some of the things kids can do. Even if they live in a city, they can go on adventures in the garden or the park.
Children often need a helping hand from mom and dad. They need to be shown what to do and where to go. Andy Simpson from National Health Service says, “We want parents to see what this magical wonder product does for their kids’ development, independence and creativity., by giving wild time a go”.
So despite the complicated world that young people grow up in now, it seems that going back to basics and experiencing “nature’s playground” is what modern children need. David Bond from Project Wild Thing says, “We need to make more space for wild time in children’s daily routine, freeing this generation of kids to have the sort of experiences that many of us took for granted”.
This might sound a bit old fashioned to you or maybe, like me, it’s made you think about sticking on your boots, getting outdoors and relieving your childhood. There’s no age limit on enjoying yourself!
1. What’s the best title of the text?| A．Wild time for children |
| B．Benefits of wild time |
| C．More space for children |
| D．Adventures of children |
| A．building dens | B．climbing trees |
| C．playing hide and seek | D．watching TV |
| A．wild time is hard to design |
| B．wild time is beneficial for children |
| C．parents know the importance of wild time |
| D．parents like keeping their children indoors |
| A．Modern children need wild time. |
| B．Adults value outdoor activities. |
| C．The present world is complicated. |
| D．This generation of kids have no freedom. |
10 . I think adults are affected by media, songs, and the Internet, and that is hard enough. After looking in all of the magazines and at models, my friends and I agree that our least favorite day of the year is when we wear swimsuits! It affects your whole mood and self-image for the day. Think about how hard it is for young girls if they believe “how hot you look” is how valuable you are.
Here are some ways parents can be proactive in encouraging a healthy self-image in their children.
First, teach what real value is. I think kids sometimes are confused about values. How valuable you are is not measured by how pretty you are on the outside and success is not measured by how famous you are. We were watching the Oscars and my 6-year-old son said “She is so pretty,” and then quickly looked at me and said “You are prettier, Mom.” And I said, “It’s okay. There are many people prettier than me on the outside. I know that’s not why you love me.” It is important to teach children this from an early age.
Second, tell your kids about “the grass is always greener syndrome.” It is very easy for all of us to see the glamour (魅力), whether it be in a famous singer or the most popular girl in the school. Do not dehumanize and judge famous people. Talk about what problems they might have that are different from the problems your child has and maybe some of the same struggles, like maybe wanting acceptance from peers (同龄人).
At last, use your mouth. Don’t be afraid to have conversations with your child about how they’re feeling about ads, songs, etc... Boys too! You are the parent! Kids of all ages want and need boundaries whether they admit it or not. Take a stand and have confidence enough not to be followers and not to purchase clothing, music, or magazines that you don’t believe sends the right message to your children!
1. What does the underlined word “It” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Singing with friends. | B．Learning swimming skills. |
| C．Showing imperfect figures. | D．Reading fashion magazines. |
| A．to praise his mother | B．to comfort his mother |
| C．because he didn’t like stars | D．because he really thought so |
| A．Lots of people like judging others. |
| B．Kids want to be popular in school. |
| C．People tend to like famous singers. |
| D．People always think others’ life is better. |
| A．set limits for their kids |
| B．make friends with their kids |
| C．teach their kids how to be confident |
| D．encourage their kids to be themselves. |
