1 . For many students, maths and science have always been boring subjects, too bogged down (陷入困境) with technical details to ever be fun or exciting. Teachers have long tried a variety of strategies to get students excited about STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and maths.     1    

The use of robotics is on the rise in today’s world, and allowing students to play with robots and learn how they work can have huge benefits for them. Not only does it give them a head start in subjects like computer programming, maths and science, it can also develop an interest in careers students may have never considered before.

Robots Teach More Than Tech Skills

Robots are most often associated with technology and other STEM-related fields. However, playing with robots has educational benefits beyond simply learning to build and program the robots themselves. Robots can be used to develop problem-solving skills, get students working cooperatively and more.

One of the most popular uses for robots is in problem-based learning. In this learning model, students are presented with a problem they must solve.     2     This inspires creativity, critical thinking and cooperation which are important 21s-century skills.

Robots Help Students with Disabilities

Robots aren’t just for students who need a challenge.     3     Students with autism (自闭症), in particular, can react quickly to robots.

Students with autism who may shy away from interaction with a human being are more likely to open up to a robot, and the risk of failure or embarrassment in front of the robot is much lower.     4     Research into this possibility has already begun.

Robots are only going to become a bigger part of everyday life in the future. Using robots in the classroom is a proven way to get kids excited and increase learning.

A．It turns out, one of the best ways to get kids interested in STEM is through the use of robots.

B．STEM is an education curriculum that focuses heavily on the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

C．Instead of following a teacher’s directions, students work out their own solutions to the problem.

D．Here’s how applying modern technology can benefit students in PE class and enhance cross-curricular engagement.

E．Robots can provide a way for students with autism to practice social skills without the pressure of interacting with a real person.

F．Playing with robots can have additional benefits for students with disabilities.

2 . Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, a Vietnamese kid, would watch his parents play chess for hours on end. Before he was three years old, he asked them if he could join in. Expecting the pieces to end up on the floor, they let him play. Not for one minute had they imagined what would happen next. The boy not only set up the pieces correctly, but also began playing according to the rules. Within weeks he was _________ his parents. Within months he was playing in national games against _________ twice his age and twice his size. He became world under-10 champion in 2000 and was a grandmaster at 14.

For Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son’s parents, it was nothing short of a(n) _________. They were teachers who took home less than $100 a month combined. They had not trained their boy to be a chess prodigy (天才). _________, they hadn’t even taught him the rules of the game. For Nguyen, it just came naturally. No sooner had he started playing than he was able to _________ complex strategies.

How do child prodigies become what they are? The subject has been a constant source of mystery to both the public and scientists. These _________ children have been labeled as overly demanding, treated as money-making machines, and studied like lab rats. Rarely have they been understood.

Perhaps the key question is whether they are born or _________. Numerous studies have looked at inheritability of intelligence. Overall, they confirm that it can be _________through the generations of a family, but the studies do not confirm the link between intelligence and particular traits of prodigies. Prodigies are not smart in any general kind of way; they are able to master highly specific activities and skills. ‘I just see things on the board and know what to do.’ he said.

There is one thing that the experts are beginning to agree on, however: the importance of _________. Educator Wu Wutien says, ‘Prodigies are half born, half made.’ Only if they are in a(n) __________ home environment will their natural talents develop. When parents have a house full of books and interesting objects, read to their child from an early age, or take them to museums and places of natural beauty, these all stimulate the child.

1.

A．winning

B．conquering

C．failing

D．beating

2.

A．candidates

B．opponents

C．friends

D．inspectors

3.

A．lesson

B．investment

C．miracle

D．prediction

4.

A．In fact

B．To sum up

C．On average

D．As a result

5.

A．introduce

B．adopt

C．avoid

D．adapt

6.

A．troublesome

B．mysterious

C．well-known

D．gifted

7.

A．made

B．based

C．brought

D．settled

8.

A．taken over

B．handed down

C．put off

D．turned out

9.

A．upbringing

B．wealth

C．communication

D．personality

10.

A．actual

B．secure

C．stimulating

D．restricted

4 . Isn’t it strange that in most places the only humans you are leg ally allowed to hit are children? As of March 21, all forms of physical punishment against children, such as slacking, hitting, slapping and shaking is illegal in walks. The law change is hailed as “historic” by the Welsh government and a number of child protection champions, who call for England to follow suit. The law will apply to everybody in walks, including visitors.

“Today is a historic moment for children and their rights in walks as we make physically punishing children a thing of the past,” said Julie organ, the deputy minister for social services, who has campaigned for the law change for more than two decades.

According to Welsh Government surveys, parents of young children in walks have shown a significant shift in attitude over the past decade. For example, in 2019, 70 % of parents and guardians of young children in walks disagreed that it is sometimes necessary to shack a child, compared with 39 % in a similar survey in 2018.

“In walks, as in more than 60 countries around the world, we will no longer tolerate physical violence against children,” said via Laing, the policy and public affairs manager at NSPCC Cymru walks. “Until now, children were the only group in our society who it was acceptable to strike in certain circumstanced. We don't allow the physical punishment of adults or animals, so it is absurd that we have for so long with children.”

Anyone who physically punishes a child risks being arrested or charged with assault and may get a criminal record. However, the government says the police and Crown Prose cut ion Service will apply two tests before implementing (实施) the law change: is there evidence to charge and is it in the public interest to do so. They will also consider what is in the best interests of the child.

1. What is the direct result of the law change?

A．Visitors’ rights will be valued in walks.

B．Parents needn’t accompany their children.

C．Physical punishment on children will not be allowed.

D．The government will be responsible for children’s safety.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．Parents insist on never punishing children.

B．More parents are against punishing children.

C．Parents’ attitude changes slightly in punishing children.

D．Some parents are still punishing children in daily life.

3. What is via Laing’s attitude towards the law change?

A．Doubtful.

B．Favorable.

C．Unclear.

D．Negative.

4. What does the government say about the implementation of the law change?

A．It’s easy to handle.	B．It will meet strong opposition.
C．It needs more research.	D．It’s fully acceptable.

5 . Wang Jiapeng, 41, is an inspirational figure who keeps encouraging people to be the architect of their own life.

In 1993, as a result of an air crash, he was paralyzed from the waist down and he had to undergo five years of rehabilitation(康复). But Wang never ceased exploring the possibilities of his body.

The winter of 1998 saw the 17-year-old regain something that he thought he had lost forever——the exhilaration of skiing on a snow-covered slope, about two kilometers long with a drop of hundreds of meters.

After two weeks of intense training, in March 1999, Wang participated in the Ridderrennet, or the Knight’s Race ——an annual cross-country ski race for the visually and physically challenged——held in Norway. He won two gold medals.

Dreaming of going back to school, Wang taught himself at the rehabilitation center, despite his demanding physical schedule. To improve his memory, which was also damaged by a brain injury caused by the accident, he recited English words repeatedly until he could remember them by heart. With extraordinary perseverance and solid faith in himself, he passed the exam and went to Norway to attend UWC Red Cross Nordic, a life-changing experience as he put it, before completing his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in economics at the University of Oslo.

There, he developed another dream, that of setting up a UWC school on the Chinese mainland to introduce an inclusive, intercultural learning environment and promote mutual understanding between youngsters from various cultures.

So far, the school has welcomed more than 1,700 students and graduates from 124 countries and regions. It had provided a total scholarship of 280 million yuan ($44 million) for around 700 students by 2021, including those with physical challenges or from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Love and education are two powerful forces in this world. To me, they can remove the physical and psychological barriers in life,” Wang says.

1. What does the underlined word “exhilaration” in paragraph 3 mean？

A．Excitement.

B．Fear.

C．Satisfaction.

D．Boredom.

2. What happened when Wang Jiapeng was 12 years old?

A．He began to practice skiing again.	B．He completed postgraduate studies.
C．He participated in the Ridderrennet.	D．He met with an air crash.

3. What can we know about the UWC school Wang Jiapeng set up?

A．It was set up when he was at university.

B．It promotes understanding between youth from Norway.

C．It attracts students from almost all around the world.

D．It only welcomes those with physical challenges.

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Where there is a will, there is a way.	B．Education is the key to success.
C．Rose presented, smell remains.	D．Ups and downs make one strong.

7 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．To inform parents and schools.	B．To pick out good students.
C．To compare teachers.	D．To expose poor school.

2.

A．They have no trust in doctors.

B．They cannot afford the medical fee.

C．They fear things like injections.

D．They doubt the medical treatment.

3.

A．Teachers’ difficult life.

B．Harm of divorce to families.

C．Ways to become lovable kids.

D．Kids’ attention-seeking behavior.

9 . The “reading wars,” one of the most confusing and disabling conflicts in the history of education, went on heatedly in the 1980s and then peace came. Advocates of phonics (learning by being taught the sound of each letter group) seemed to defeat advocates of whole language (learning by using cues like context and being exposed to much good literature).

Recent events suggest the conflict of complicated concepts is far from over. Teachers, parents and experts appear to agree that phonics is crucial, but what is going on in classrooms is not in agreement with what research studies say is required, which has aroused a national debate over the meaning of the word “phonics.”

Lucy M. Calkins, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College and a much-respected expert on how to teach reading, has drawn attention with an eight-page essay. Here is part of her argument: “The important thing is to teach kids that they needn’t freeze when they come to a hard word, nor skip past it. The important thing is to teach them that they have resources to draw upon, and to use those resources to develop endurance.”

To Calkins’s critics, it is cruel and wasteful to encourage 6-year-olds to look for clues if they don’t immediately know the correct sounds. They should work on decoding — knowing the pronunciation of every letter group — until they master it, say the critics, backed by much research.

Calkins’s approach “is a slow, unreliable way to read words and an inefficient way to develop word recognition skill,” Mark S. Seidenberg, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin, said in a blog post. “Dr. Calkins treats word recognition as a reasoning problem — like solving a puzzle. She is committed to the educational principle that children learn best by discovering how systems work rather than being told.”

Many others share his view. “Children should learn to decode — i.e., go from print on the page to words in the mind — not by clever guesswork and inference, but by learning to decode,” Daniel Willingham, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, told me. He said the inferences Calkins applauds are “cognitively (认知地) demanding, and readers don’t have much endurance for it. … It disturbs the flow of what you’re reading, and doing a lot of it gets frustrating.”

Yet a recent survey found that only 22 percent of 670 early-reading teachers are using the approach of phonics and what they mean by phonics is often no more than marking up a worksheet.

Both sides agree that children need to acquire the vocabulary and background information that gives meaning to words. But first, they have to pronounce them correctly to connect the words they have learned to speak.

Calkins said in her essay: “Much of what the phonics people are saying is praiseworthy,” but it would be a mistake to teach phonics “at the expense of reading and writing.”

The two sides appear to agree with her on that.

1. Critics of phonics hold the opinion that ________.

A．children should be taught to use context

B．teaching phonics is both boring and useless

C．kids acquire vocabulary in hearing letter groups

D．pronunciation has nothing to do with meaning of words

2. Which of the following statements is Mark S. Seidenberg most likely to agree with?

A．Tell me and I will forget; show me and I will remember.

B．Skilled reading is fast and automatic but not deliberative.

C．Word recognition skill should be developed in problem reasoning.

D．Learning to make reasonable inferences is also a way of decoding.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．phonics approach has been proved to be successful

B．children don’t shy away from difficulties in reading

C．the two reading approaches might integrate with each other

D．reading and writing are much more important than phonics

4. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．An everlasting reading war among critics

B．From print on the page to words in the mind

C．A battle restarts between phonics, whole language

D．Decoding and inferring confuse early-reading teachers

10 . Osley Cook, a music teacher, has worked in education for 27 years and he knows how to help his students learn. He used to _________ the emails for digital teaching tools that appeared in his inbox. However, the coronavirus pandemic _________ Cook to adapt, adopting some of those same digital tools in order to facilitate remote and hybrid learning (混合式学习). And even after _________ to in-person instruction, he’s welcoming new technology, like a smart classroom camera system.

“When I’m teaching a mixed class, if I walk over to percussion (打击乐), then the camera _________ me, meaning whoever is watching on the digital side can see the entire lesson going on.” Cook says. Actually when it comes to change, Cook isn’t _______. Education is changing in many ways.

Parents Are Becoming “Co-teachers”

_________ redefined traditional borders between school and home. Educators had to cooperate with parents like never before, creating a “co-teacher system.” Research shows that parents can have a positive influence on academic achievement by supporting learning at home, especially _________ low-income students. “This year, it felt more like a team. Parents were more _________ to listen to what you have to say. And several were much more vocal with helping me to help their child.” says Melissa, an elementary-school teacher.

Education Is Becoming More _________

Consisting of more than 14,000 school districts across 50 states, the American primary-education system is extensive, diverse, and decentralized. In normal times, all of that works against rapid __________. But the pandemic proved that educators can act quickly and creatively when __________ to do so.

At Rolling Hills Elementary School, principal Cherish Pip organized an event in which roughly 120 students and their families drove through the school’s parking lot to collect books and take-home activities. “Our high-school band came to play. We had our mascot (吉祥物) there. It was just __________” he says.

Educators now see an opportunity to release the “enormous __________ for innovation that is inactive in many education systems.” That means addressing the socioeconomic inequalities that __________ affect academic and social outcomes; repairing aging buildings and facilities; offering more services to students in need.

For many educators, education is changing. They can’t go back, for that’s just not a(n) __________.

1.

A．answer

B．ignore

C．receive

D．forward

2.

A．cautioned

B．forced

C．tempted

D．guided

3.

A．responding

B．opposing

C．returning

D．sticking

4.

A．freezes

B．transmits

C．removes

D．follows

5.

A．alone

B．apart

C．alike

D．away

6.

A．Exposures

B．Locations

C．Closures

D．Expansions

7.

A．in the light of

B．in the hope of

C．in the case of

D．in combination with

8.

A．careful

B．optimistic

C．reluctant

D．willing

9.

A．Temporary

B．Flexible

C．Compulsory

D．Predictable

10.

A．campaign

B．change

C．assembly

D．resistance

11.

A．authorized

B．reminded

C．forbidden

D．guaranteed

12.

A．festive

B．normal

C．noisy

D．dizzy

13.

A．appeal

B．demand

C．potential

D．evidence

14.

A．positively

B．mechanically

C．subjectively

D．negatively

15.

A．parallel

B．option

C．initiative

D．reference