1 . Devote yourself to the work you do, not the prize you might get. Hao Jingfang, a Tsinghua University graduate, is pursuing her passion for writing and education.
In 2016, she won the admired Hugo Award with her novella, Folding Beijing, which made her the first female writer in China to bring home this prize. Later on, the author turned to education. She set up Tongxing Academy for public welfare education and WePlanets to promote children’s creativity after school.
In this interview with Easy Talk, Hao discusses her life experience-not only as a writer and educator, but also a parent.
“The major task for society is to help people get better education, to elevate their skill set in line with future technological advancements, and to broaden their horizons,” Hao said.
Since founding her company, Hao has been carrying out voluntary teaching programs in rural areas. “We really want these kids to have better education resources like kids from the cities,” she said. “We hope that the children from rural China, if one day they manage to live in the cities, can do more than car maintenance, for example. They will have the skills to take on other jobs.”
Different from the typical Chinese parents so ambitious for their children, Hao suggests giving kids more space for trial and error. “I do believe the best mentality for parents is to stand behind your children,” Hao said. “Let the child cope with the reality and decide for themselves. If they struggle with obstacles, you can offer them some guidance or encouragement.”
“I’ve had a wide variety of interests since childhood. I’ve got used to doing different things,” says the 35-year-old.
Being an economic researcher, a writer and businessperson herself, she encourages all women to discover their passions. “We live in a big, big world with boundless possibilities, various trades and different vocations. Don’t be too afraid to try something new. When you find the one thing that you want to commit to, you will become fearless to follow your dream.”
1. What does the underlined word “elevate” in paragraph 4 mean?| A．research | B．improve |
| C．recognize | D．evaluate |
| A．let their children go freely. |
| B．be ambitious for their children. |
| C．give their children a hand only if necessary. |
| D．remove their children’s obstacles ahead of time. |
| A．Helpful and committed. | B．Creative and stubborn. |
| C．Narrow-minded and responsible. | D．Imaginative and demanding. |
| A．How to discover a person’s passions. |
| B．The effective ways to achieve your dream. |
| C．Great achievements made by Hao Jingfang. |
| D．Hao Jingfang’s views on writing, education and parenting. |
2 . Generations of people in the United States have seen higher education as the best path towards a well-paying and satisfying job. But the cost of attending colleges and universities in the country has increased greatly over the last 30 years. And there is no guarantee that earning a degree will lead to a job that pays a person enough to support a family.
So, some people turn to other forms of education and training. These include programs that lead to credentials(证书) that prove a person's abilities in a given field, from construction to healthcare. These kinds of programs often cost less than traditional degree programs. And they usually take less time to complete.
New research, however, suggests that these programs are not helping women as much as they are helping men. It is found that about 27 percent of adults in the country hold at least one of these credentials. Adults who had one of these non-degree credentials made more money and were more likely to be employed than those who did not.
Yet the public policy research group New America found some troubling information within that data. Experts there found that men and women earn these credentials at about the same rate. But men who have the same credentials as women are more likely to be employed. They also make more money.
For example, 74 percent of men with a certificate but no four-year college degree were employed. By comparison, 67 percent of women with a certificate but no four-year degree were employed.
In terms of pay, 46 percent of women with a credential but no four-year degree made less than $30,000 a year. The same was true for 25 percent of men. Seventeen percent of men with only a non-degree credential earned more than$75,000. Just five percent of women with similar credentials earned that much.
1. What is the advantage of nontraditional degree programs?| A．Free of charge. | B．Less expensive. |
| C．Interesting to attend. | D．Popular with employers. |
| A．Women lost interest in non-degree programs. | B．Men looked down upon women. |
| C．Men and women are not equal. | D．Women are unwilling to work. |
| A．46%, | B．25%. |
| C．17%. | D．5%. |
| A．Non-degree Programs Benefit Men and Women Unequally |
| B．Non-Degree Programs Replace the Traditional Universities |
| C．It's Unfair That Men and Women Get Paid Differently |
| D．College Costs Are Becoming Higher and Higher |
3 . Two years ago, my wife Carol and I decided that children's education would not be complete without some grounding in modern computers. To this end, we
As you can imagine, I was
After few days of
| A．carried | B．took | C．bought | D．borrowed |
| A．using | B．designing | C．playing | D．spending |
| A．such as | B．as a result | C．in search of | D．except for |
| A．disappointed | B．pleased | C．moved | D．depressed |
| A．never | B．even | C．seldom | D．most |
| A．If | B．When | C．Unless | D．Though |
| A．satisfied | B．relaxed | C．concerned | D．relieved |
| A．cheer up | B．calm down | C．watch out | D．give in |
| A．as | B．like | C．for | D．of |
| A．dining | B．washing | C．living | D．reading |
| A．embarrassed | B．amazed | C．thrilled | D．excited |
| A．notice | B．miss | C．inspect | D．monitor |
| A．differences | B．jokes | C．stories | D．truths |
| A．investigation | B．track | C．consideration | D．hesitation |
| A．invention | B．excuse | C．evidence | D．wonder |
| A．slightly | B．truly | C．partly | D．possibly |
| A．brave | B．honest | C．diligent | D．careful |
| A．forbid | B．prevent | C．encourage | D．advise |
| A．left | B．filled | C．equipped | D．loaded |
| A．thankful | B．responsible | C．hopeful | D．anxious |
4 . Smartphones, tablets and smart watches are banned at school for all children under 15 in France. Under the ban students are not able to use their phones at all during school hours, including meal breaks.
“I think it’s a good thing. School is not about being on your phone,” Paris mum Marie-Caroline Madeleine told AFP. “It’s hard with kids. You can’t control what they see and that’s one of the things that worries me as a parent.”
There is no law like this in Australia, but some Australian schools have banned phones. McKinnon Secondary School in Victoria introduced a total ban in February and Principal Pitsa Binnion said this has been a success. McKinnon students still have a Chromebook to use in every class for day-to-day learning but they're not allowed to use social media. Ms. Binnion said at first “teachers cheered and students moaned (抱怨),” but now they’re seeing the positives (优势). “They come to school and they’re not allowed to use phones at all during the school day, including lunch breaks,” she said.
“It’s been wonderful as for students communicating with each other at lunchtime and not looking at their screen,” Ms. Binnion said. She also leads by example and doesn’t use her mobile phone in school. “I think anyone can do it if we’ve done it.”
Not everyone agrees with the bans. Western Sydney University technology researcher Dr. Joanne Orlando wrote in online magazine The Conversation earlier this year that Australia should not ban phones in schools because it’s important to educate kids to live in the age they are raised in. “A good education for students today is knowing how to use technology to learn, communicate and work with ideas,” she wrote. “Banning students from using smartphones is a 1950s response to a 2020 state-of-play.”
1. Why did Madeleine welcome the ban?| A．Teachers find it hard to control kids. |
| B．Kids behave badly nowadays. |
| C．School is for studying. |
| D．Her kids depend too much on phones. |
| A．Students can now see the good of the ban. |
| B．Some teachers were against it at first. |
| C．Students can use their phones at lunch breaks. |
| D．Teachers have stopped using phones at school as well. |
| A．It will disconnect parents and kids. |
| B．It will cause kids to communicate less. |
| C．It will make education go back 60 years. |
| D．It will prevent kids being tech-minded. |
5 . The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)—a study of the test scores of 15-year-olds across 79 countries—showed that students in England performed significantly better in maths than 2015. PISA is conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) every three years, and assesses the performance of 15-year-olds mainly in reading, maths and science.
In England, the Government has prioritized（优先）climbing up the league tables in recent years. The latest tests were carried out last year, and showed that England was ranked 17 in the table for maths, up from 26 in 2015. Pupils in England also outperformed the OECD average in reading and science. On student well-being, 53 percent of 15-year-olds across the UK reported that they are satisfied with their lives—well below the 67 percent average across the OECD.
Taking the UK as a whole, while there was only a statistically significant improvement in maths, the country still improved its position relative to other countries across all three of the subjects tested by PISA. In reading, the UK was 14th, up from 22nd three years ago. In science the UK was 14th, up from 15th, and in maths the UK rose to 18th from 27th.
Across the rest of the league tables, East Asian countries like China and Singapore continued to be far superior. Today’s results also showed that Estonia outperformed all the major European economies.
However, Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, cautioned against concluding too much from the findings. There are many educational and non-educational factors which affect performance and it is not easy to find how these have impacted on young people’s attainment in a set of tests. What is worrying, however, is that this analysis shows that fewer students in the UK are satisfied with their lives than the OECD average. It is clear that many young people feel under great pressure in a society in which the risks often seem very high to them in terms of achieving their goals.
1. Which aspect of England is under the average of the OECD?| A．Reading. | B．Science. |
| C．Well-being. | D．Maths. |
| A．The UK did worse than before. |
| B．The UK progressed a little in PISA. |
| C．The UK hasn’t made any improvement. |
| D．The UK pulled well ahead of the rest countries. |
| A．China. | B．Estonia. | C．The UK. | D．England. |
| A．The PISA results are unbelievable for educators. |
| B．Students in the UK are in need of more practice. |
| C．Education quality can’t be fully reflected only by PISA. |
| D．Young people take more risks of achieving their goals. |
6 . Education affects all aspects and stages of human life. From the moment we are young children, education is a part of our daily life. Monday through Friday we sit in classrooms learning and studying various topics until we graduate from high school.
While graduation is an exciting time in a person's life, there is also a negative side which some graduates seem to experience post-college.
As symptoms are not always so obvious or miserable, some graduates don't realize they are in a state of depression. But they may feel tired, or restless, lose interest in life and become unable to enjoy anything, find it hard to make decisions, and even have difficulty in sleeping
With college graduation approaching, many students have idealistic hopes about life after the diploma.
| A．hor many it is on to university. |
| B．Some college graduates suffer from depression. |
| C．They are always preparing for finals and graduation. |
| D．During university years, students feel powerful and important. |
| E．They expect to get hired into a top position at their dream company. |
| F．If you think you are suffering from depression, talking to a psychologist. |
| G．Avoiding people and losing self- confidence are also some of depression's symptoms. |
1、网络教育的现状；
2、你的看法。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节, 以使行文连贯。
Dear Amy,
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
LiHua
8 . Children should spend at least one hour playing and spending time in nature each day, according to the Wildlife Trusts (野生生物基金会). The UK organization speaks for 46 groups and 2,300 nature protection areas.
The calling comes from a study by University College London. Its 451 students in the study were 8 or 9 years of age.
However, parents on their own aren’t giving kids that time.
| A．Parents care much about their kids’ nature time. |
| B．And the time has been reducing greatly in recent years. |
| C．The children showed a great increase in personal health. |
| D．They were interviewed before and after nature activities. |
| E．81 percent said they had better relationships with their teachers. |
| F．The students are asked to study in University College London for one day. |
| G．It is now calling on the government to include nature time into daily school life. |
9 . Mothers who angrily tell off their children when they step out of line may be making behavior problems worse, according to a study. The study by the London School of Economics (LSE) found that too much shouting and giving severe punishments were producing an opposite result. Ignoring naughty children also appeared to lead to a decrease in discipline standards.
Researchers said that “reasoning with children” was more likely to have a positive impact on their behavior at a young age. But the study warned that it was difficult to determine a direct link between one parenting style and its outcomes because of the effect of other causes.
The latest study was based on an analysis of almost 19, 000 children. Data was collected from parents just before their children’s first birthdays, and then when they turned three, five and seven. The study, led by Dr Laure De Preux, assessed the impact of various parenting styles on children.
Researchers said,“Particularly excessive (过度的) shouting, punishing or ignoring a naughty child increases his behavior problems, and only reasoning doesn’t negatively impact the child’s behavior.”
But the study also showed that a large number of other things such as economic conditions also impacted on children’s development. The result suggested that wealthier families were able to create a whole environment that clearly benefited the child beyond simple effect of parenting. It said children in poor households in particular were affected by their mother’s parenting styles.
“In this group, behavior problems are reduced when mothers read to the naughty children, and increased when mothers shout at them, take treats away, or ignore them,” it said.
It is the latest in a line of recent studies to assess the link between parenting and children’s behavior.
Two years ago, a report commissioned (委托) by the Department for Education found that severe and inconsistent discipline in the home was bringing up a generation of young children with anger management problems, poor attention and low levels of learning ability.
1. The underlined part “ step out of line” in Paragraph 1 probably means _____.| A．lose confidence | B．behave badly |
| C．become excited | D．achieve success |
| A．Punishing them lightly. | B．Talking with them reasonably. |
| C．Ignoring them once in a while. | D．Exercising strict discipline over them. |
| A．How mothers looked at their parenting role. |
| B．Why many children had behavior problems. |
| C．How parenting styles affected children's development. |
| D．Why parents gave their children severe punishments. |
| A．Its findings go against those of the LSE’s study. |
| B．Its subject is similar to that of the LSE’s study. |
| C．It shows the benefits of strict discipline. |
| D．It has discovered new problems of children |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
As the Internet becomes the more and more popular, some students can’t help play online games or chatting. It was not only a problem of wasting time, but also a seriously problem which does harm to their health. Which teachers should do first is to find out what makes them addicting to computer games. Lack of love from his parents? Poor test scores? Parents can have a heart-to-heart talk with them. Secondly, teacher should help them build up their confidence but make them interested in studies. Thirdly, find something else for them to do instead playing computer games.
