Passage 7Let children learn to judge their own work.A child learn
to talk does not learn by being corrected all time:if corrected too much,he will stop
talking.He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and
the lanhuage those around him use.Bit by bit,he makes the necessary changes to make his
language like other people's.In the same way,when children learn to do all the other
things they learn to do without being taught--to work,run,climb,whistle,ride a
bicycle--compare those performances with those of more skilled people,and slowly make the
needed changes.But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his own mistakes
for himself,let alone correct them. We do it all for him.We act as if we thought that he
would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was
made to.soon he becomes dependent on the teacher. Let him do it himself.Let him work
out,with the help of other children if he wants it,what this word says,what answer is to
that problem,whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not.
If it is a matter of right answers,as it may be in mathematics or
science,give him the answer book.Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers
waste time on such routine work?Our job should be to help the child when tells us that he
can't find a way to get the right answer.Let's end this nonsense of grades,exams,marks.
Let us throw them all out,and let the children learn what all educated persons must some
day learn,how to measure their own understanding,how to know what they know or do not
know.
Let them get on with this job in the way that seems most sensible
to them,with our help as school teachers if they ask for it.The idea that there is a body
of knowledge to be learnt at school and used for the rest of one's life is nonsense in a
world as complicated and rapidly changing as ours.Anxious parents and teachers say,
"But suppose they fail to learn something essential,something they will need to get
in the world?don't worry!if it is essential,they will go out into the world and learn
it."
- What does the author think is the best way for children to learn things?[ANSWER]
A)by copying what other people do
B)by making mistakes and having them corrected
C)by listening to explanations from skilled people
D)by asking a great many questions
- what does the author think teachers do which they should not do?[ANSWER]
A)They give children correct answers.
B)They point out children's mistakes to them.
C)They allow children to make their own work.
D)They encourage children to copy from one another.
- The passage suggests that learning to speak and learning to ride a bicycle are _____.[ANSWER]
A)not really important skills.
B)more important than other skills.
C)basically different from learning adult skills.
D)basically the same as learning other skills.
- Exams,grades,and marks should be abolished because children's progress should only be
estimated by _____.[ANSWER]
A)educated persons.
B)the children themselves.
C)teachers.
D)parents.
- THe author fears that children will grow up inti adults who are _____.[ANSWER]
A)too independent of others.
B)too critical fo themselves.
C)unable to think for themselves.
D)unable to use basic skills.
Passage 8When most people think of Melvil Dewey,they think of
the classification system for cataloguing and arranging the bokks and panphlets(小册子)
in libraries that he devised in the second half of the nineteenth century.This system
classifies books and other publicaitons into ten major categories,each category being
further subdivided by number. Dewey was fortunate enough to see the Dewey Decimal System
adopted by the libraries throughout the world and by 90 percent of the public and 89
percent of the college libraries in the United States, but his work did not end with this
success.Dewey also helped found the American Library Association, established the first
library school in America,set up the Lake Placid Club,and worked out his own orthography(拼写法).
Dewey considered the spelling system of English a nuisance and a great waste of
time,called for the simplification of the language,and insisted that once spelling was
freed from complexities and absurdities(不合情理的事情) inherited from the past and
made uniform,three years could be saved in a child's education.His zeal was such that he
not only used his simplified spelling exclusively,he even would correct the spelling in
his mail as he read it through.
- Dewey's major claim to fame rests on _____.[ANSWER]
A)his founding of the American Library Association.
B)his founding of the Lake Placid Club.
C)his library classification system.
D)his simplified spelling system.
- From the passage it can be inferred that the Dewey Decimal System was adopted by _____.[ANSWER]
A)most public libraries throughout the world.
B)most college libraries throughout the world.
C)all but 4 percent of college libraries in the United States.
D)a higher proportion of public libraries than college libraries in the United States.
- Dewey's objections to traditional English spelling were based on _____.[ANSWER]
A)its simplicity.
B)its uniform nature.
C)its inconsistency.
D)its nuisance value.
- Which of the following can NOT be inferred from the passage?[ANSWER]
A)Dewey's correspondents did not always use his writing system.
B)Dewey's writing system was adopted in Americam schools.
C)Dewey always used his writing system once he had invented it.
D)Dewey's activities were not confined to inventing a new writing system.
Passage 9At cape Churchill in northeastern Manitoba,where the
shore of Hudson Bay makes an abrupt 90-degree turn to the west,polar bears congregate(集合)in
the autumm,waiting for the ice that is their home. BY November,pack ice has formed beyond
the fast ice,and the bears are moving.To be at the very tip of hte Cape in November os to
be in the middle of a slow but steadily flowing river of bears,methodically(有条不紊地)picking
their way across the jumbled(搞乱了的) ice in a straight-push for their hunting
grounds.
The polar bears of Hudson Bay are a distinct population thriving
at the southern end of their range.Polar bears live on seals,and to hunt them the bears
must have ice to get to where the seal are.Yet in Hudson Bay the ice melts by July and the
bears have to comr ashore, there to spend four months eating very little,digging into sand
dunes(沙丘) and dirt so they can stay cool in the summer "heat",relaxing into
a physiological state like that of black bears in winter dens (兽穴).They are the polar
bear population most accessible to humans, and they are not only the best studied but the
most easily experienced by amateur naturalists,photographers,and just plain tourists.
- With what aspect of bears' lives is the passage mainly concerned?[ANSWER]
A)Their evolution
B)Their hunting skills
C)Their temperament
D)Their seasonal movements
- When the bears move out onto the ice, they look for their _____.[ANSWER]
A)dens.
B)young.
C)food.
D)males.
- Accoding to the passage,during which of the following periods of time _____.[ANSWER]
A)January through March
B)July through October
C)September through December
D)November through July
- Where in the passage does the author describe the bears' activities after the ice melts?[ANSWER]
A)1st sentence of 1st para.
B)2nd-3rd sentences of 1st para.
C)1st-2nd sentences of 2nd para.
D)3rd-4th sentences of 2nd para.
- It can be inferred from the passage that the polar bear population of Hudson Bay _____.[ANSWER]
A)is one of several polar bear populations.
B)is unfriendly toward humans.
C)consumes food voraciously (贪婪地) during the whole year.
D)is an endangered species.
Passage 10Thousands of years ago man used handy rocks for his
surgical operations.Later he used sharp bone or horn,metal knives and more recently,rubber
and plastic.And that was where we stuck,in surgical instrument terms,for many years.In the
1960s a new tool was developed, one which was,first of all,to be of great practical use to
the armed forces and industry,but which was also,in time,to revolutionize the art and
science of surgery.
The tool is the lser and it is being used by more and more
surgeons all over the world,for a very large number of different complains.The word laser
means:Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Light.As we all know,light is hot;any
source of light--from the sun itself down to a humble match burning--will give warmth.But
light is usually spread out over a wide area.The light in a laser beam,however, is
concentrated.This means that a light with no more power than that produced by an ordinary
electric light bulb becomes intensely strong as it is concentrated to a pinpoint-sized
beam.
Experiments with these pinpoint beams showed researchers that
different energy sources produce beams that have a particular effect on certain living
cells.It is now possible for eye surgeons to operate on the back of the human eye without
harming the front of the eye,simply by passing a laserr beam right through the eyeball.No
knives,no stitches(刀口缝合),no unwanted damage--a true surgical wonder.
Operations which once left patients exhausted and in need of long
periods of recovery time now leave them feeling relaxed and comfortable,So much more
difficult operations can now be tried.
The rapid development of laser techniques in the past ten years
has made it clear that the future is likely to be very exciting.Perhaps some cancers will
be treated with laser in a way that makes surgery not only safer but more
effective.Altogether,tomorrow may see more and more information coming to light on the
deseases which can be treated medically.
- It can be inferred that the rapid development of laser techniques has meant that _____ .[ANSWER]
A)we shall soon be able to cure cancer
B)surgery is likely to improve considerably
C)we shall be able to treat all our diseases
D)we are now able to treat most forms of cancer
- The laser is so strong because _____ .[ANSWER]
A)its heat is increased by the heat of the sun
B)it is composed of a concentrated beam of light
C)it can be plugged into an ordinary light fitting
D)it sands out heat in many different directions
- After the development of the laser in the 1960s.we find that _____ .[ANSWER]
A)medical help became available for industrial workers.
B)the study of art went through a complete revolution.
C)man's whole approach to surgery changed completely.
D)more and more surgeons began using surgical instruments.
- Surgeons can now carry out operations which _____ .[ANSWER]
A)cause very little damage to the patients themselves
B)can be performed successfully only on the human eye
C)cause long periods of recovery time for patients
D)are made much more complicated by using the laser beam
- Up until the 1960s the instrments used to perform surgical operations were _____.[ANSWER]
A)fashionable.
B)extraordinary.
C)special.
D)basic.
Passage 11One of the most authoritative voices speaking to us
today is, of course, the voice of the advertisers. Its shrilling clamour dominates our
lives. It shouts at us from the television screens and the radio loudspeakers; waves to us
from every page of the newspaper; plucks at our sleeves on the escalator; signals to us
from the road-side billboards all day and flashes messages to us in colouredlights at
night. It has forced on us a whole new conception of the successful man as a man no less
than 20% of whose mail consists of announcements of giant carpet sales.
Advising has been among England's biggest growth industries since
the war, in terms of the ratio of money earnings to demonstrate achievement. Why all this
fantistic expenditure?
Perhaps the answer is that advising saves the manufacturers from
having to think about the customer. At the stage of designing and developing a product,
there is quite enough to think about without worrying over whether anybody will want to
buy it. The designer is busy enough without adding customer-appeal to all his other
problems of man-hours and machine tolerances and stress factors. So they just go ahead and
make the thing and leave it to the advertiser to find eleven ways of making it appeal to
purchasers after they finished it, by pretending that it gives status, or attracts love,
or signifies manliness. If the advertising agency can do this authoritatively enough, the
manufacturer is in clover(养尊处优).
Other manufacturers find advertising saves them from changing
their product. And manufacturers hate change. The ideal product is or another, some
alteration seems called for -- how much better to change the image, the packet or the
pitch made by the product, rather than go to all the inconvenience of changing the product
itself.
- According to the passage modern advertising is "authoritative" because of the
way it _____ .[ANSWER]
A)influences our image of the kind of person we ought to be like
B)interferes with the privacy of home life
C)continually forces us into buying things
D)distracts us no matter where we travel
- The forms of advertising mentioned in paragraph 1 would have least impact _____ .[ANSWER]
A)in the rush hours
B)during working hours
C)befoer working hours
D)after working hours
- The form of advertising which has best succeeded in giving personal status on the
individual makes use of _____ .[ANSWER]
A)colored lights of all night
B)roadside billboards
C)the postal service
D)the wall space beside escalators
- Advertisers are appreciated by manufacturers because they _____ .[ANSWER]
A)advise them on ways of giving a product customer-appeal
B)accept responsibility for giving a product customer-appeal
C)advise them on the best time to go ahead with production
D)consult them during the design and development stages
- According to the passage customers are attracted to a product because it appears to
_____ .[ANSWER]
A)have a sufficiently attractive design
B)offer good value for money
C)fulfil the manufacturer's claims
D)satisfy their personal needs
Passage 12"Shrove Tuesday" is the day before the
beginning of Lent(大斋期), the 40-day period before Easter in the Christian year.It is
celebrated in many different ways all over the world, but in England it is traditionally
associated with the cooking and eating of pancakes(薄煎饼) --- so much so that it is
often called "Pancake Day".
At Olney, a small town in England, Shrove Tuesday is Pancake Race
Day. The race is said to have first been run where in 1445 and has continued more or less
ever since with occasional interruptions as, for example, during the Second World War.
It is a race for woman only. They must be housewives and live in
the area. They have to cook a pancake and run about 400 metres from the village square to
the church, tossing their pancake three times as they run. They have to wear aprons and
cover their heads with a hat or scarf. A bell rings twice for the women to start makeing
their pancakes and then again for them to assemble in the square, carrying their cooked
pancakes in a frying pan. There they wait for the bell to ring again and the race starts.
Sometimes one of the pancakes drops on the ground, but the runner is allowed to pick it up
and toss it again. The winner and the runner-up both get a prize from the vicar(牧师)
who is waiting at the church door. The verger(教堂的司事) who helps to look after the
church, gets a kiss from the winner --- and often has pancake as well. Then all the
runners take their frying pans with the pancakes into the church and a short service is
held.
The pancake race, with the women frying along, tossing and trying
to catch their pancakes, provides a great deal of entertainment and is frequently shown on
television. In 1950, a similar pancake racewas organized in Kansas, USA,and has continued
ever since. It takes place on the same day, at exactly the same time. Times are clocked on
both sides of the Atlantic and there is keen competition to see whether the British or
American housewives run fastest.
