1 . Parents everywhere praise their kids. Jenn Berman, author of The A to Z Guide to Raising Happy and Confident Kids, says, “We’ve gone to the opposite extreme of a few decades ago when parents tended to be more strict.” By giving kids a lot of praise, parents think they’re building their children’s confidence, when, in fact, it may be just the opposite. Too much praise can backfire and, when given in a way that’s insincere, make kids afraid to try new things or take a risk for fear of not being able to stay on top where their parents’ praise has put them.
Still, don’t go too far in the other direction. Not giving enough praise can be just as damaging as giving too much. Kids will feel like they’re not good enough or that you don’t care and, as a result, may see no point in trying hard for their accomplishments.
So what is the right amount of praise? Experts say that the quality of praise is more important than the quantity. If praise is sincere and focused on the effort not the outcome, you can give it as often as your child does something that deserves a verbal reward. “We should especially recognize our children’s efforts to put themselves and work hard to achieve a goal,” says Donahue, author of Parenting Without Fear: Letting Go of Worry and Focusing on What Really Matters. “One thing to remember is that it’s the process not the end product that matters.”
Your son may not be the best basketball player on his team. But if he’s out there every day and playing hard, you should praise his effort regardless of whether his team wins or loses. Praising the effort and not the outcome can also mean recognizing your child when she has worked hard to clean the yard, cook dinner, or finish a book report. But whatever it is, praise should be given on a case-by-case basis and be proportionate (相称的) to the amount of effort your child has put into it.
1. What can be implied from Jenn Berman’s remarks?| A．Parents praise their kids too much. |
| B．Going to the extremes is common for parents. |
| C．Parents should understand their kids better. |
| D．Confidence is significant for kids’ well being. |
| A．Give support. | B．Get undesired effect. |
| C．Put a fire under control. | D．Become powerful. |
| A．Praise your children as often as possible. |
| B．Never expect much of your children. |
| C．All children deserves a verbal reward. |
| D．Children’s effort outweighs the result. |
| A．By answering a question. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By quoting. | D．By making comparison. |
2 . “Have a dream. Don’t be afraid to want something.” That’s the advice from Florence Bergeron, associate director of knowledge mobilization (动员) for the Students Commission of Canada. The group organized the country’s annual “Take Our Kids to Work Day” initiative on November 1.
Across Canada, ninth-grade students had the chance to visit the workplace of a parent, relative or friend. Bergeron said over 450,000 people participated this year.
The initiative began in 1994. “The principle was to bring their own children into the workplace so they could see what their parents were doing and prepare for taking on that same role,” Bergeron explained. The purpose of the day has changed over the years, as many kids now follow careers different from their parents’.
According to Dorota Peacock, who is the district coordinator for career education in the Surrey School District in British Columbia, the event is beneficial in various ways. “It’s valuable for exposing students to what people do in the adult workforce that they normally wouldn’t see,” Peacock said. “They get to ask questions and decide what’s interesting.”
Peacock added that students also learned what they were loath to do, which was just as valuable. That was the case for three ninth graders from Ecole Salish Secondary School in Surrey. Mia Kim, Rithi Murugaselvam, and Eljie Salimbagat said that they enjoyed visiting their parents’ workplaces, but realized that they, themselves, would likely follow different paths. Rithi,14, who visited a day care center where her mother worked, said that “much patience is required for working with kids.”
All three students agreed that learning to socialize is essential, no matter what career path you follow. “I learned that for a lot of jobs, you needed to learn how to communicate with others to be successful,” said Mia, 13.
Peacock hoped that the event inspired Canada’s ninth graders to have a deeper appreciation for their parents. “They are smart, productive people, and not just people who come home and help with homework and make meals,” Peacock said. “They’re an actual person in the world doing really cool things.”
1. What was the purpose of the initiative?| A．To expose children to the busy life. | B．To prepare students for their career options. |
| C．To improve parent-child relationships. | D．To educate children on possible changes. |
| A．Unwilling. | B．Nervous. | C．Ready. | D．Eager. |
| A．The ability to adapt. | B．The adventurous spirit. |
| C．The sense of success. | D．The communication skill. |
| A．Family count above all else. | B．Parents’ work is much more meaningful. |
| C．Children should admire their parents. | D．Children lack appreciation for housework. |
| A．The ever-rising childcare prices. | B．The balance between work and family. |
| C．The budget of family expenses. | D．The selection of a good daycare center. |
| A．The prices of childcare vary greatly from state to state. |
| B．Increased childcare prices have not led to better service. |
| C．Childcare workers’ pay has not increased with the rising childcare costs. |
| D．There is a severe shortage of childcare professionals in a number of states. |
| A．Caregivers should receive regular professional training. |
| B．Less strict rules about childcare might lower the costs. |
| C．It is crucial to strike a balance between quality and costs. |
| D．It is better for different states to learn from each other. |
4 . Many significant international projects have considered how schooling might change to better match the changes that have taken place in the 21st century.
The term “knowledge age” or “knowledge economy” refers to a reorganization away from an Industrial Age economy, where exploitation (开采) of natural resources, primary production and mass production were the standard models for economic development.
Although some of these principles are understood by many teachers, our education systems and practices are often set up in ways that do not support these principles to operate in practice. Teachers and school leaders are attempting paradigm (范式) shifts.
| A．There needs to be wider public support for them. |
| B．There are two important ideas that support this work. |
| C．This does not mean that knowledge no longer matters. |
| D．Good learning requires active engagement in the “whole game”. |
| E．We are required to prepare young people for the knowledge age. |
| F．This is possible only when active learning approaches are applied. |
| G．In the knowledge age, the ability to generate value is put in the first place. |
5 . Both my parents were educators, and for the past 40 years, I’ve done the same thing. For years, I have watched people teach. And one of the things that are not often noticed is the importance of relationships. Someone says that no important learning can happen without an important relationship. That’s true. Kids may not even learn from people they don’t like.
How do I build relationships with kids and look after kids? I once gave a test — 20 questions. A student missed 18. I put a “+2” on his paper and a big smiling face. I said to him, “You got two right. You didn’t miss them all. And when we review this, won’t you do better?” He said, “Yes, I can do better.” You see, “-18” may be a blow to his pride, but “+2” said, “I am not all bad.”
And for years, I watched my mother take the time at recess (课间休息) to review, go on home visits in the afternoon, and buy small gifts for kids. After she retired (退休), some of her kids came and said to her, “You know, Ms. Walker, you made a difference in my life. You made me feel like I was somebody.” When my mama died, there were so many students at her funeral (葬礼). It brought tears to my eyes, not because she was gone, but because she left a treasure of relationships that could never disappear. Can we have more relationships? Of course, yes. And we teach anyway, no matter what kinds of kids we have.
Teaching and learning should bring joy. How influential our world would be if we had kids who were not afraid to take risks, Who were not afraid to think, and who had a champion (拥护者)! Every child should have a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, and who understands the influence of connection and believes that they can become the best.
1. What is the author’s purpose in writing the first paragraph?| A．To show the key to people’s success. |
| B．To show the importance of education. |
| C．To tell us the value of relationship in teaching. |
| D．To introduce his parents’ teaching experience. |
| A．To draw his attention. |
| B．To tell him grades didn’t matter. |
| C．To show the two sides of the same coin. |
| D．To make him feel better and encourage him. |
| A．Her students were full of thanks to her. |
| B．She was strict with her students. |
| C．Many of her students were successful. |
| D．Her death made the author hopeless. |
| A．What a teacher does |
| B．Every child needs a champion |
| C．How students learn from their teachers |
| D．Relationship influences kids’ school life |
6 . Each year, more than 27 million American and Canadian kids get to school by bus. Most of those buses run on diesel (柴油) fuel, which give out pollution that riders can take in. Pollution levels can be several times higher inside a diesel school bus than outside it. Why? Pollution can leak in from the floor or blow in through windows.
An American government program started in 2012 offered schools money spent on cleaner school buses, but not all schools could get it. Five years later, emissions from buses in the winning districts fell. And a year after getting new buses, student attendance had improved in those districts. For an average district of 10,000 students, about six more students attended school each day in the winning districts, compared to the losing districts. Winning schools with higher rates of bus-riding kids had an average of 14 more students in class each day. And winning districts that replaced the oldest school buses? They had an average of 45 more students at school each day.
Those numbers may sound small, but they add up. And school attendance matters for students’ achievements. Almost 3 million American kids ride school buses more than 20 years old. If American school districts had replaced all of those older buses, there would have been 1.3 million fewer student absences each year.
There might be other reasons for better attendance. For example, maybe kids preferred new buses. However, the most likely reason for fewer student absences was better health. A study done on adults showed that a brief exposure to diesel emissions reduced “network connectivity” in the brain. In other studies, such network-connectivity changes have been linked to worsened memory and mental tasks. A Washington State program upgraded pollution controls in old diesel buses. Afterward, fewer kids were hospitalized in those districts than in the schools without bus upgrades.
Almost all American school districts can apply for the program. But schools in low-income, tribal and rural areas will get priority. Kids in these areas tend to face the most health risks from older buses.
1. What can we infer about diesel school buses from the first paragraph?| A．They operate cost-effectively. |
| B．They have a short service life. |
| C．They accommodate few passengers. |
| D．They do much harm to school children. |
| A．It is a winning condition. | B．It is a measuring standard. |
| C．It is a long accumulation. | D．It is a student’s achievement. |
| A．By reducing the network connectivity. |
| B．By bettering the health state of students. |
| C．By meeting students’ demand for school drivers. |
| D．By improving students’ satisfaction with schools. |
| A．It tends to fail in some areas. |
| B．It is at risk of being interrupted. |
| C．It will start from underdeveloped areas. |
| D．It has been carried out in all American schools. |
7 . In Sweden, many teachers have been putting emphasis (强调) on printed books, quiet reading time and handwriting practice, and devoting less time to tablets, independent online research and keyboarding skills.
The return to more traditional ways of learning is a response to experts questioning whether Sweden’s comprehensive (全面的) digitalised approach to education had led to a fall in basic skills.
Sweden’s minister for schools, Lotta Edholm, is one of the biggest critics (批评者) of the comprehensive acceptance of technology. “Sweden’s students need more textbooks,” he said, “Physical books are important for student learning.”
Although Sweden’s students score above the European average for reading ability, an international assessment of fourth-grade reading levels, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), showed a drop among Sweden’s children between 2016 and 2021. In 2021, Swedish fourth graders averaged 544 points, a drop from the 555 average in 2016.
This may suggest a growing number of immigrant (移民) students who don’t speak Swedish as their first language, but overuse of screens during school lessons may cause youngsters to fall behind in subjects, education experts say.
The rapid adoption (采用) of digital learning tools also has drawn concern from UNESCO. In a report published in August, UNESCO issued a call for proper use of technology in education. The report calls countries to speed up Internet connections at schools, but at the same time warns that technology in education should be used in a way that never takes the place of in-person, teacher-led instruction.
In the Swedish capital, Stockholm, Liveon Palmer, a third grader at Djurgardsskolan elementary school, agreed with the idea of spending more school hours offline. “I like writing more in school, like on paper, because it just feels better,” he said.
1. According to many teachers in Sweden, how should technology be used?| A．It should be used less in education. |
| B．Digital devices should be better used. |
| C．Teaching equipment should be updated or replaced. |
| D．More importance of it should be attached to education. |
| A．It’s higher than in the past. |
| B．It’s above the world average. |
| C．It tends to fall in recent years. |
| D．It scores the highest in Europe. |
| A．Avoid online safety risks. |
| B．Improve school networking. |
| C．Focus on face-to-face communication. |
| D．Carry on teacher-centered instruction. |
| A．They demand to spend more time offline independently. |
| B．They would use physical books rather than digital tools. |
| C．They would like to study offline when they are at home. |
| D．They prefer to stay offline to maintain healthy relationships. |
| A. addressed B. boast C. approach D. sense E. wealthy F. glimpse G. revealed H. pushy I. statistics J. peers K. motivation |
College Rankings Are Something, but Not Everything
I am always confused when reading statements like “Princeton University is the number one college in the United States.” Are those who attend Princeton inherently brighter than their
High-ranking colleges in global education leagues attract greater talent in staff and students, and
I didn’t care about college rankings for years until I recently saw something different. This past October, Shanghai Ranking Consultancy
In my opinion, college rankings can serve as a reference, offering a
I once taught a three-month program to prepare university students for overseas exchange programs in England. But some of them displayed low
9 . Fooling their parents about school was so simple; Robert and Anthony Duran made it a habit.
The twins played hooky from their high school—spending their days playing basketball and listening to music—for two entire years, skipping their freshman and sophomore years. But their truancy (旷课) was discovered when the boys’ father called their high school earlier this month to request the report cards that his sons had repeatedly “forgotten”. “Believe me, I was very upset with them—with myself mostly,” Armando Duran told a local newspaper after school officials alerted him to his sons’ absenteeism.
District policy considers students who are absent more than 50 days to be dropouts. So how to help teenagers facing the problem? Here is the solution. They can enroll in an accelerated career academy to make up their missed credits and plan to graduate a year behind their classmates. Imagine learning maths by calculating how much bears eat each day or by studying the habits of birds in an aviary (鸟舍).
About 100 students will have such opportunities when the school district—in collaboration with the local park service—opens a middle school at the zoo in the city’s 430-acre park. A school building near a park entrance will be used as a central meeting place, but the park grounds are intended to be the real classroom, school officials said. Students can wear zoo uniforms and perform certain tasks during the day, such as feeding the animals.
“The idea is to use the park campus as the school, where kids are likely to get more interested in learning and tend to develop their comprehensive and practical skills beyond textbooks.” said Arthur, the person in charge of the 23,000-student school district. Mr. Zarrella, a teacher in the community, said he is expecting science classes in the park’s greenhouses and history lessons in the park’s museum. “It’s a beautiful place,” he said. “I’ve always felt it has the potential for being an exciting place for kids to learn.”
1. What do the underlined words “played hooky” in paragraph 2mean?| A．Fooled parents. | B．Skipped classes. |
| C．Listened to music. | D．Played hide and seek. |
| A．By cleaning up the local park. | B．By calculating the number of bears. |
| C．By earning credit s after graduation. | D．By accomplishing some tasks at the zoo. |
| A．No school building can be seen there. | B．Students attended class mainly indoors. |
| C．Half of the local students have access to it. | D．It runs jointly by the school and the local park. |
| A．No Absenteeism, Full Credits. | B．Park Campus beyond the Classroom. |
| C．Zoo Learning, Disciplined Kids. | D．Science Class in the Zoo |
注意：
1. 词数不少于80；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：住校board in the school
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