4 . School is still out for the summer, but at Eastern Senior High School in Washington, D.C., students are hard at work outdoors. In a garden filled with flowers and beds bursting with vegetables and herbs, nearly a dozen teenagers are harvesting vegetables for the weekend’s farmers market.

Roshawn Little is going into her junior year at Eastern, and has been working in this garden for three years now. During the summer, Little gets paid to work Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a. m. until 2 p.m. with City Blossoms, a nonprofit that brings community gardens to schools in urban areas. She believes that working in the garden has taught her to try all sorts of new things, like eating different kinds of vegetables more often. And she’s taken those healthy behaviors home with her and her eating habits have encouraged her family to buy more fruits and vegetables.

City Blossoms is one of many groups across the country teaming up with local communities to build school gardens, like the one at Eastern. It works with schools to create learning gardens and trains teachers on how to use them to get students engaged and boost academics. These gardens are really outdoor classrooms. For example, the gardens can be used for math lessons, like calculating the area of a plant bed or learning the science of how plants grow.

For the students, the experience can be a nutritional eye-opener, which has totally changed their perceptions of where food comes from, and what it takes to produce food. Partner schools have also seen a 12 to 15 percent increase in the number of students passing standardized tests and 94 percent of teachers reported seeing increased engagement from their students, according to an independent evaluation conducted by PEER Associates.

1. What does Roshawn Little think of the summer outdoor activity?

A．It is a good way to earn pocket money.

B．It has improved her family relationship.

C．It contributes to her healthy eating habit.

D．It is helpful to her academic performance.

2. What is the purpose of the school gardens?

A．To provide a creative way of learning.

B．To-promote teachers1 teaching skills.

C．To get students interested in science.

D．To invite students to care for plants.

3. What does the last paragraph focus on about the project of City Blossoms?

A．Its strategies.

B．Its outcomes.

C．Its operations.

D．Its participants.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．City Blossoms: Team up with Local Community Teachers

B．Happy Holiday, Sweet memory: How Kids Enjoy the Harvest

C．Outdoor Classrooms: Get out for the Weekend’s Farmers Market

D．Healthy Eaters, Strong Minds: What School Gardens Teach Kids

5 . I’d like to talk about my first teaching experience. It was in the fall of 2010—I had to teach integral calculus (积分学). I had taught before but it was always 2-3 students at a time. I had no experience of classroom teaching. So I had butterflies in my stomach.

Anyway, the appointed hour came and I had no choice but to go on. I introduced myself, asked each one of them to do a brief introduction and got down to business. Fortunately, it was a worksheet session, so I didn’t have to do much. The students were well prepared—most of them had done AP calculus. The first day was a success.

As the quarter went by, I found the work more and more easygoing. So I was lax and stopped preparing the homework problems beforehand. How wrong I was!

One day we were doing surfaces of revolution. I used to do them in a more different way than it was taught in the text. I tried to do the first problem but it wasn’t just a piece of cake—I had to step back and think for five minutes before the solution came to me. To the credit of my students, no one showed any sign of impatience in the meantime. I was feeling doubly uncomfortable because it was a day of observation by the school leaders.

The next class I tried to give some additional resources on advanced materials, especially to students who would stay after the class or come to my office hours.

My evaluations were mixed. Two major complaints were about my accent and my handwriting on the board.

I learned a lot about teaching after this course. In my view, teaching is like a performing art. No amount of reading or attending workshops will prepare you for the challenge. You only get better with practice.

1. What made the author feel uneasy at first?

A．Teaching a difficult subject.	B．Lack of teaching experience.
C．Missing the appointed hour.	D．Failure of choosing a topic.

2. What does the underlined word “lax” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Careless.

B．Tense.

C．Annoyed.

D．Amused.

3. Why did the author feel slightly embarrassed?

A．Because he delayed doing surfaces of revolution.

B．Because the students showed no sign of interaction.

C．Because he was stuck in his class watched by leaders.

D．Because the leaders blamed him for his performance.

4. What does the passage imply?

A．Do as the Romans do.	B．Well begun is half done.
C．It never rains, but it pours.	D．Practice holds the key to progress.

6 . British education provides a reliable pathway to the best universities in the world, but what really defines British education?

At its simplest, it can be seen as a curriculum (课程) that is common to most schools in England and Wales.    1     The National Curriculum leads to GCSE (at age 16) and A level examinations(at age 18). These are qualifications recognized by universities and employers around the world.

    2     Teachers in the UK tend to emphasize learning to think and to work things out for oneself over learning facts. Delivering interesting lessons is seen as an important part of the teacher’s role, based on the precondition that we learn much better when we feel motivated.

British education is also associated with activities that take place beyond the classroom. There’re various organized games, outdoor and extra course activities.    3    

Education in the UK is heavily infused (灌输) with liberal ideas and personal responsibility.    4     The curriculum references not only British culture but also many other cultures from around the world. Thoughtfulness and patience with others win high praise.

British education is forward-looking and in constant evolution.    5     New methods often come into practice while the out-dated and hard disciplines have fade into history, leaving behind softer traditions and customs.

A．The National Curriculum is reviewed frequently.

B．British education is widely recognized and admired.

C．British education can also be seen as a way of teaching.

D．Scotland, the third part of Great Britain, has its own curriculum.

E．The curriculum sets out specific learning objectives for every year group.

F．Students often reflect on how their behavior affects the world around them.

G．They are recognized to be valuable for learning life skills and building character.

7 . The world climbs in population every year, meaning new parents enter the workforce daily. A wide variety of ideas change and adapt over time as people try to figure out what the “best” take on parenting is. Sadly, some parenting techniques have disastrous effects.

A common technique that leads to a difficult adult life by lowering confidence in children is negative parenting. Negative parenting tactics, such as lecturing, complaining, and yes, insulting can have a serious effect on your child’s behavior and activities later on in life. Clearly, being insulted and lectured multiple times a day by an authority figure can greatly affect a child’s confidence going into adulthood. It’s not surprising he’s hardly apt to actively seek out the companionship of others. Instead, his negative feelings toward himself cultivate a feeling of unworthiness around other children.

While negative parenting can affect a child’s mental state, helicopter parenting results in ill-prepared children in an ever growing competitive world. A helicopter parent is overly involved in the life of his or her child. Children who cannot regulate their emotions and behavior effectively are more likely to have a harder time making friends and to struggle in school. Another problem children with helicopter parents may have in the future is managing their health. Taking all of this information into account, helicopter parenting doesn’t allow the child to be independent, so once the child has grown up he or she will not be able to make a decision by himself or herself.

On the other side of the spectrum, permissive parenting leaves a child undisciplined for life. This style of parenting has a very loose structure and few rules; the parents usually show a lot of affection and love for their children. Therefore, permissive parenting is a type of parenting style characterized by low demands with high responsiveness. Because parents have low expectations of their children, and want to be friends rather than parents, kids suffer because of a lack of achievement and motivation to do well in what they do. Therefore, children have worse self-control and cannot follow rules. These are fundamental concepts that should be taught at a young age to prepare for adulthood. If done a certain way, the effects left from parenting can hurt an adolescent into adult years.

Overall, parenting really does affect how children grow and adapt to their world. Some parenting techniques lead to major problems that show in adulthood. The new parents of the world ought to be careful with how they raise their children.

1. What might be the influence on a child by negative parenting?

A．Affecting child’s mental state.

B．Improving a child’s confidence.

C．Cultivating a child’s worthiness.

D．Looking for the companionship of others actively.

2. What do helicopter parents usually do?

A．Expect too much of their child.	B．Teach their child to manage health.
C．Make too many decisions for their child.	D．Allow their child to do whatever he wants.

3. What does the author think of self-control and self-discipline?

A．Punishing.

B．Suffering.

C．Permissive.

D．Essential.

4. What is the purpose of the author’s writing the passage?

A．To make comparison of parenting styles on children.

B．To highlight the importance of parenting styles on children.

C．To share the latest definitions of parenting styles on children.

D．To inform the readers of the new parenting styles on children.

8 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Students in the United States are assigned to classes for different goals. Those in the more advantaged tracks and programs not only encounter more curricular material; they are also typically asked to learn the material differently. They have opportunities to think, investigate, and create. They are challenged to explore. In Keeping Track, Jeannie Oakes describes the way in which teachers differently frame their work for students in different tracks.

Teachers of high-track classes describe their class goals in terms of higher-order thinking and independent learning, for example: “Logical thought process”; “Scientific reasoning and logic”. Students’ view of what they learned in class reflect these goals. High-track students said they learned: “To understand concepts and ideas and to experiment with them, and to work independently”; “How to express myself through writing and compose my thoughts in a logical manner and express my creativity.”

Conversely, in low-track classes, teachers described few academic goals for their students and none related to thinking logically, critically or independently. They often focused on low-level skills, for example: “Better use of time”; “Punctuality and self-discipline”; “Good work habits”. And low-track students said they had learned how to: “Behave in class”; “How to shut up”; “How to listen and follow the directions of the teacher.”

This phenomenon is widespread. In his research in New York City, Jonathan Kozol described how, within integrated schools, minority children were disproportionately assigned to special education class that occupy small corners and split classrooms, while gifted and talented classrooms occupied the most splendid spaces filled with books and computers, where they learned, in the children’s words, “logical thinking,” and “problem solving”. Students were recommended for these classes by their teachers and parents as well as by their test scores. Kozol wrote in his notes,“Six girls, four boys, nine white, one Chinese. I am glad they have this class. But what about the others? Aren’t there ten black children in the school who could enjoy this also?”   

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9 . At some point in our lives, most of us have attended a school or university lecture. These learning sessions give us some insightful and valuable knowledge or can be something we yawn through, trying to keep awake. Whatever our experience, lectures have been and still are the most common teaching method in education. But will they exist in the future?

With the growth of the Internet and so much information at our fingertips, you may think there is no need to gather together at a fixed location holding a handful of textbooks. BBC journalist Matt Pickles says, “Research has shown that students remember as little as 10 percent of their lectures just days afterwards.”

Professor Carl Wieman, who campaigns against the traditional lecture, felt talking at students and expecting them to absorb knowledge was not that effective so he introduced “active learning” that encourages problem solving in small groups. He listens to them and guides their discussions. The result has improved exam results. Other new alternatives to the lecture have included peer-to-peer learning and project-based learning that enable students to link up and work cooperatively on projects such as building a computer game.

But new learning methods can come at a high financial cost compared to the relatively cheap way of being taught face to face by an academic. The real issue according to Professor Dan Butin, founding dean of the school of education and social policy at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, is that “Academics put thousands of hours of work into their books and much less time into thinking about the effectiveness of their teaching style.” But he says, “The lecture has survived because research, not teaching, determines the success of a university and its academics.”

So if research quality is a measure of a university’s success and money is tight, then the lecture could be here for a little longer.

1. What may Matt Pickles agree with?

A．Students have a poor memory.

B．Students don’t work hard enough.

C．Lectures are not so effective as expected.

D．The Internet offers far more information than lectures.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．Teaching projects.	B．Learning strategies.
C．Alternatives to lectures.	D．Ways of communication.

3. Why will lectures still exist in the future according to Professor Dan Butin?

A．They promote active learning.	B．They call for the least memory work.
C．They determine the success of a university.	D．They contribute to academic achievements.

4. How does the author develop the passage?

A．By analyzing data.	B．By listing opinions.
C．By making comparison.	D．By concluding general rules.

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

When my son     1     (complete) a task, I can’t help but praise him. It’s only natural to give praise where praise is due, right? But is there such a thing as too much praise?

According to psychologist Katherine Phillip, children don’t benefit     2     constant praise as much as we’d like to think. “Parents often praise,     3     (believe) they are building their child’s self-confidence. However, over-praising can have a negative effect, “says Phillip. “When we use     4     same praise repeatedly, it may become empty and no longer     5     (value) by the child. It can also become an     6     (expect) that anything they do must be rewarded with praise. This may lead to the child avoiding taking     7     (risk) due to fear of disappointing their parents.

Does this mean doing away with all the praise? Phillip says no, “The key to     8     (health) praise is to focus on the process rather than the outcome. It is the process in which they     9     (achieve) something, or the recognition of a child’s attempt,     10     is essential, ” she says, “Parents should encourage their child to take the chance to learn and grow.”