1 . We talk continuously about how to make children tougher and stronger, but whatever we’re doing, it’s not working. Rates of anxiety disorders and depression are rising rapidly among teenagers. What are we doing wrong?
Nassim Taleb invented the word “antifragile” and used it to describe a small but very important class of systems that gain from shocks, challenges, and disorder. The immune (免疫的) system is one of them: it requires exposure to certain kinds of bacteria and potential allergens (过敏原) in childhood in order to develop to its full ability.
Children’s social and emotional abilities are as antifragile as their immune systems. If we overprotect kids and keep them “safe” from unpleasant social situations and negative emotions, we deprive (剥夺) them of the challenges and opportunities for skill-building they need to grow strong. Such children are likely to suffer more when exposed later to other unpleasant but ordinary life events, such as teasing and social rejection.
In the UK, as in the US, parents became much more fearful in the 1980s and 1990s to those rare occurrences of crimes and accidents that now occur less and less. Outdoor play and independent mobility went down; screen time and adult-monitored activities went up.
Yet free play in which kids work out their own rules of engagement, take small risks, and learn to master small dangers turns out to be vital for the development of adult social and even physical competence. Depriving them of free play prevents their social-emotional growth.
What can we do to change this situation? How can we raise kids strong enough to handle the ordinary and extraordinary challenges of life? We can’t guarantee that giving primary school children more independence today will bring down the rate of teenage suicide tomorrow. The links between childhood overprotection and teenage mental illness are suggestive but not clear-cut. Yet there are good reasons to suspect that by depriving our naturally antifragile kids of the wide range of experiences they need to become strong, we are systematically preventing their growth. We should let go — and let them grow.
1. Why does the author mention the immune system in Paragraph 2?| A．To stress its importance. | B．To help understand a new word. |
| C．To question the latest discovery. | D．To analyze the types of anxiety. |
| A．Because their children are not independent enough. |
| B．Because they want to keep their children from being teased. |
| C．Because parent-monitored activities are a must. |
| D．Because they are concerned about their children’s safety. |
| A．It can reduce children’s risky behavior. | B．It can strengthen children’s friendship. |
| C．It can promote children’s toughness. | D．It can develop children’s leadership skills. |
| A．Parents should stop trying to protect their children. |
| B．Parents should try their best to raise their children on their own. |
| C．Parents should try to teach their children all about life. |
| D．Parents should prepare the children for the road, not the road for the children. |
2 . Imagine a school where students are taught by the best teachers in every subject, regardless of locations. Imagine a school where children can go on safe field trips to the Amazon rainforest or Everest base camp. Well, such schools are already being built: in virtual reality(VR).
Last month, Optima Academy Online (OAO) was launched in Florida and started to deliver courses for elementary, middle and high schools and 170 full-time students from all over the state signed up. They used VR headsets for about three hours a day for formal lessons and then do course work independently with digital check-ins.
It is worth watching how such educational experiments develop. Used properly, the VR technology can help students to access learning resources and be connected with fellow students and teachers all over the world. But if employed poorly, it will have the opposite effect and turn a digital inequality into an educational one.
There is growing evidence to suggest that it is happening. In Mexico, according to a survey, only 24% of 15-year-old students in poor schools have access to home computers for schoolwork compared with 87% in rich ones. As reported in another study, some students in northern England have been forced to travel around on the Greater Manchester train network or camp out around McDonald’s to access free WiFi because they cannot do their schoolwork at home.
“VR technologies will be widely used in education. The only questions are: for what purpose and at what speed?” says Beeban Kidron, a member of the UK’s Digital Futures Commission. “The trouble is that they are too often seen as a shiny new toy that will solve all problems and save money rather than being viewed as a means to enrich learning.”
The inescapable truth is that there is nothing that can replace teachers educating students in safe schools—ideally, with access to well-designed technological platforms. Leaving children in their bedrooms with just VR headsets and no physical social interaction with other kids will fill-many of them—and their parents—with horror.
1. What does the author intend to do in paragraph 1?| A．Lead in the subject for discussion. |
| B．Provide some advice for the readers. |
| C．Show the advantages of VR headsets. |
| D．Introduce an unsuccessful online school. |
| A．To relax themselves. | B．To enrich their learning. |
| C．To make their study fun | D．To get free WiFi service. |
| A．will replace traditional learning | B．are the future of education |
| C．will become a very helpful tool | D．are a means to save money |
| A．Supportive | B．Disapproving. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
3 . “From one day to the next, our profession was wiped out. We woke up and discovered our skills were unnecessary.” This is what two successful graphic designers told me about the impact of AI. The old promise—creative workers would be better protected than others from mechanization (机械化) —ruined overnight. If visual artists can be replaced by machines, who is safe?
While there’s plenty of talk about how education might change, little has been done to equip students for a world whose conditions shift so fast. It’s not just at work that young people will confront sudden changes of state. They are also likely to witness more environmental breakdown and the collapse of certain human-made systems.
Why are we so unprepared? Why do we manage our lives so badly? Why are we so expert at material innovation, but so unskilled at creating a society in which everyone can succeed? Why do obvious lies spread like wildfire? What is lacking in our education that leaves such gap s in our lives?
The word education partly comes from Latin, meaning “to lead out”. Too often it leads us in: into old ways of thinking, into dying professions. Too seldom does it lead us out of our cognitive and emotional circles, out of a political and economic system that’s killing us.
I don’t claim to have definitive answers. But I believe the extreme demands, throughout our schooling, of tests and exams reduce the range of our thinking. The exam system creates artificial borders. The intense combined demands of the testing system leave almost no time to respond to opportunities and events, or for children to develop their own interests.
Education should be joyful and delightful, not only because joy and delight are essential to our health and happiness, but also because we are more likely to survive major changes. Schooling alone will not be enough to lead us out of the many crises and disasters we now face. But it should at least lend us a torch.
1. Why does the author quote the two graphic designers?| A．To stress the issue of unemployment. | B．To show the wide application of AI. |
| C．To indicate the creativity of artists. | D．To set the tone for further discussion. |
| A．Object to. | B．Bring about. | C．Meet with. | D．Call for. |
| A．The numerous social problems to solve. |
| B．The complex features of current society. |
| C．The disadvantages of the current education system. |
| D．The success of everyone in material matters. |
| A．Critical. | B．Tolerant. | C．Approving. | D．Ambiguous. |
4 . Educational authorities have asked schools to make sure students have 10-minute breaks between classes after hearing complaints that some school students are not allowed to leave classrooms during breaks-unless they need to go to the toilet-- to ensure their safety.
Some students said teachers often overrun by a few minutes, and that some start their classes a few minutes before the breaks are scheduled to end. In these cases students do not even have time to go to the toilet.
A mother of a primary school student in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province said her child’s school does not allow students to leave the classroom building during breaks. They are also forbidden to jump, run around or speak loudly.
The issue has caused a heated discussion on social media platforms.
“Teachers do not want to supervise students during class breaks. However, if students have accidents, some parents will still hold schools accountable,” said one netizen in a comment that received more than 10,000 likes. Another said, “Teachers are also tired, but the school makes such a requirement, and they have to follow.”
An official from the Ministry of Education said that it is important for schools to ensure students have time to rest during class breaks, which can help students relax, be healthy and avoid myopia (近视).
The ministry attaches great importance to class breaks, the official said. Apart from breaks between classes, schools should also make sure students have a 30-minute break each day for exercise. The ministry will urge local authorities and schools to implement the policies and prevent the practice of restricting class breaks in the name of “ensuring students safety”, the official said.
1. According to some parents, who is to blame if students have accidents during class breaks?| A．The children. | B．The schools. |
| C．Educational authorities. | D．The parents. |
| A．Because they have a lot of homework to do. |
| B．Because the teachers often end the classes late than scheduled. |
| C．Because schools want to ensure the students’ safety. |
| D．Because the students are told to do so by their parents. |
| A．relaxation for students. | B．avoid being short-sighted. |
| C．wellness of the students. | D．playing happily. |
| A．Schools will be urged to ensure students to have moderate class breaks. |
| B．Although tired, teachers are willing to supervise students during class breaks. |
| C．Students do not have time to go to the toilet because teachers often overrun by a few minutes. |
| D．Parents are in favor of not allowing the students to leave classrooms. |
5 . Two and a half millennia ago, Socrates complained that writing would harm students. With a way to store ideas permanently and externally, they would no longer need to memorize. However, studies today have found that writing on paper can improve everything from recalling a random series of words to better understanding complex concepts.
For learning material by repetition, the benefits of using a pen or pencil lie in how the motor and sensory memory of putting words on paper reinforces that material. The scribbling (涂鸦) on a page feeds into visual memory: people might remember a word they wrote down in French class as being at the bottom-left on a page.
One of the best-demonstrated advantages of writing by hand seems to be in note-taking. Students typing on computers wrote down almost twice as many words directly from lectures, suggesting they were not understanding so much as rapidly copying the material. However, handwriting forces note-takers to process and organize ideas into their own words. This aids conceptual understanding at the moment of writing, resulting in better performance on tests.
Many studies have confirmed handwriting’s benefits, and policymakers have taken note. Though America’s curriculum from 2010 does not require handwriting instruction past first grade (roughly age six), about half the states since then have required more teaching of it. In Sweden there is a push for more handwriting and printed books and fewer devices. England’s national curriculum already includes the teaching of basic cursive writing (连写体) skills by age seven.
However, several school systems in America have gone so far as to ban most laptops. This is too extreme. Some students have disabilities that make handwriting especially hard. Nearly all will eventually need typing skills. Virginia Berninger, professor of psychology at the University of Washington, is a longtime advocate of handwriting. But she is not a purist; she says there are research tested benefits for “manuscript” print-style writing but also for typing.
Socrates may or may not have had a point about the downsides of writing. But no one would remember, much less care, if his student Plato had not noted it down for the benefit of future generations.
1. According to the text, why does writing on paper have benefits for learning?| A．It provides visual enjoyment in class. |
| B．It improves the effect of memorization. |
| C．It promotes the motor and sensory ability. |
| D．It helps to remember the information forever. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By providing statistics. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By making classification. |
| A．Difficulties faced by the disabled. |
| B．Unreasonableness of forbidding typing. |
| C．The research-tested benefits of typing. |
| D．The longtime advocacy for handwriting. |
| A．To thank Plato for his efforts. |
| B．To defend Socrates’ point of view. |
| C．To show people’s indifference to typing. |
| D．To confirm the importance of handwriting. |
6 . On June 6th Columbia University announced that it will no longer co-operate with US News & World Report’s undergraduate rankings. It is the first top-notch institution to do so. Might its departure be the start of a mass departure?
Columbia’s decision follows a rankings scandal last year. In February 2022 one of Columbia’s own maths professors accused the college of fudging its data in several areas. The university later admitted to having used “outdated and/or incorrect methodologies”.
In the 1980s prospective students started to expand their college search beyond their local area, and it was hard to learn about universities and compare them. Hence, US News began ranking America’s top universities in 1983, and has released its findings annually since 1988.
Colleges have gone to great lengths to move up in the ratings. Richard Freeland, Northeastern University’s former president, capped class sizes and hired faculty to improve its spot; it moved from 127th in 2003 to 44th this year. Others went too far. A dean at Temple University’s business school was sentenced to prison and was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine after being found guilty of fraud in relation to artificially inflating his programme’s rankings.
The ranking system used to seem unstoppable. Universities have tried to ditch it before, only to find that doing so can backfire badly. US News still ranks non-participating universities, using publicly available information, and the data often do not go in their favour. Reed College, a liberal-arts college, stopped taking part in 1995. It tumbled from the top quartile to the bottom. Columbia did not submit data for this year’s analysis, citing concerns about Dr Thaddeus’s claims, and its ranking fell from second in 2021-22 (tied with Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to 18th in 2022-23 (tied with the University of Notre Dame).
Recently the mood has begun to change, however, especially among graduate schools. In 2022, of the 15 highest-ranked law schools, only the University of Chicago submitted data. Some undergraduate schools have already opted out this year (Rhode Island School of Design, Colorado College, Stillman College), but none are as prestigious as Columbia.
In May US News announced changes to its ranking methodology. It is moving away from metrics that rely on reputation and towards student outcomes. One way or another, the rankings—and universities more broadly—are in a state of constant change.
1. What is true about the US News undergraduate rankings?| A．It faked the information for the ratings. | B．It filled an information gap at one time. |
| C．It promoted the quality of higher education. | D．It has been released every year for 40 years. |
| A．it will be ordered to pay a fine | B．it will be excluded from the list |
| C．its ranking will suffer consequently | D．its spot in the ranking won’t be affected |
| A．limited | B．increased | C．inflated | D．maintained |
| A．scores given by former students | B．donations from all walks of life |
| C．evaluations from other colleges | D．earnings for college graduates |
7 . Around the world, girls do better than boys at school. These are the findings of a recent study that looked at the test results of 1.5 million 15-year-olds in 74 regions across the globe. The level of gender equality in those regions made no difference to the results. Other factors, such as the income level of the region also had little impact on the findings. In only three regions - Colombia, Costa Rica and the Indian state Hunches Pradesh- was the trend reversed with boys doing better.
So what are the causes of girls’ stronger performance? In the UK, girls outperform boys in exams that are taken at the age of 15 or 16, called GCSEs. According to education expert Ian Toone, this is down to the way girls and boys are brought up. “Boys are encouraged to be more active from an early age, while girls are encouraged to be quieter… Therefore, girls develop the skill of sitting still for longer periods of time, which is used for academic pursuits like studying for GCSEs.”
He goes on to say that boys often cluster together in larger groups than girls. Because of this they are more likely to be influenced by peer pressure and develop a gang mentality. He says that GCSEs require a lot of solo work and are not viewed as ‘cool’ in boys’ culture.
This is backed up by research in the UK that says girls are out-performing boys at the age of five. So, what is the answer: Should girls and boys be educated separately? Or do exams and school curricula need to be changed to better reflect boys’ skills? These are the questions facing educators in many countries.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．Girls outperform boys in exams in most cases. |
| B．Boys do better in school in poorer areas. |
| C．Girls do better if they are socially equal to boys. |
| D．Boys are not working hard enough in exams. |
| A．Different characters and personalities. |
| B．Different attitudes to learning. |
| C．Different ways of raising children. |
| D．Different methods in exams. |
| A．To provide answer to a difficult question. |
| B．To raise awareness in gender differences. |
| C．To advocate separating boys and girls. |
| D．To change school curricula to benefit boys. |
| A．Education reforms in some Countries. |
| B．Examples of boys’ achievement. |
| C．New systems of examinations. |
| D．Advertisement of some schools. |
Some Chinese parents like to set examples for their children, encouraging them to follow these examples. They like to compare their own children with
I dislike my parents comparing me with those who are better at something than me. They always look up to them and say that I’m worse than them.
Am I really worse than others? Of course
I know it’s not just me. Our culture is full of comparisons, and it’s very
9 . College rankings are misleading. So why do we still use them?
Many high school seniors have been opening emails over the past weeks that tell them whether they got into the colleges of their choice.
A math professor at Columbia University is challenging the data that the Ivy League school reported to U. S. News & World Report , which earned it the No. 2 ranking this year. A couple of weeks ago, in what must be the granddaddy of fake-data scandals, the fired dean of Temple University’s business school received a 14-month sentence after he was convicted in federal court of sending fake information to U. S. News & World Report to boost the school’s prestige. Claremont McKenna College, The George Washington University and many other schools have also tweaked data to boost rankings.
The second biggest factor is six-year graduation rates. But since low-income students are far less likely to graduate within that time period - or ever - than middle-class students, this is more an indication of student affluence than academic excellence.
U. S. News had made some positive changes in recent years. It dropped student acceptance rate as one of the criteria, which had led colleges to heavily market to students even if they had almost no chance of acceptance.
What most high school students and parents really need to know is whether a college offers a rich choice of courses with good instructors; whether graduates will leave with a load of debt; whether students will feel comfortable and engaged on campus; and whether they’ll be prepared for a fulfilling career.
| A．But the ultimate issue with the rankings doesn’t lie with the cheaters. |
| B．In fact, it can have the unacceptable effect of discouraging college from accepting more low-income students, lest it worsen their graduation rates. |
| C．For example, a much less expensive school might offer an equal or better education than a more highly ranked but costlier one. |
| D．But many other factors used in ranking the schools still have little meaning to a student’s experience. |
| E．The most selective schools - Princeton, MIT and so forth - don’t need rankings to boost their reputation or applicant pool. |
| F．Even as they do so, the criticisms of published college rankings that may have guided their preferences are increasing. |
10 . “Snowplow (扫雪机) parenting” is the newest parenting style that can include parents booking their adult children haircuts, calling their college kids to wake them up so that they don’t sleep through a test, and even calling their kids’ employers.
“‘Helicopter (直升机) parenting’ means monitoring their kids’ every activity, which is out of date.” Claire Cain Miller and Jonah Engel Bromwich wrote in The New York Times. “Some rich mothers and fathers now are more like snowplows: clearing any problems in their children’s path to success so that they don’t have to meet failure or lose opportunities.”
There is a mother who started a charity (慈善机构) in her son’s name to try to raise his chances of being accepted to the college. Another parents spent years helping their daughter avoid foods with sauce, which she didn’t like. Once she got to college, she had problems with the food in her school because it was all covered in sauce.
A survey says that three-quarters of parents of children between the ages of 18 and 28 ask for doctor visits or haircuts for their children, and 11% say they would call their kids’ bosses whether their children are having an issue at work.
As reported, wealthy parents try to get their children into top colleges by giving a large amount of money to a school, such as paying for a building. This parenting has become the most popular way to raise children, whatever the income, education, or race is.
Julie, a teacher at Stanford, told the Times that “snowplow parenting” is not a reasonable approach. “The parents should prepare the kid for the road, instead of preparing the road for the kid,” she said.
1. What do we know about “snowplow parenting”?| A．It is out of date. |
| B．Parents help kids deal with most problems. |
| C．It gets kids ready for school life. |
| D．Parents encourage kids to do their own things. |
| A．Parents make kids popular. |
| B．Parents provide little money for kids. |
| C．Parents ask kids to care for themselves. |
| D．Parents watch over kids’ every activity. |
| A．Do as wealthy parents do. |
| B．Do as little as possible. |
| C．Prepare kids for the future. |
| D．Clear the roads for kids. |
| A．Helicopter Parenting | B．The Similarity in Parenting |
| C．A Research on Parenting | D．A New Kind of Parenting |
