Educators in schools and universities teach students about the effects of air pollution.

请阅读Passage l。完成第小题。

Teaching children to read well from the start is the most important task of elementary schools. But relying on educators to approach this task correctly can be a great mistake. Many schools continue to employ instructional methods that have been proven ineffective. The staying power of the "look-say" or "whole-word" method of teaching beginning reading is perhaps the most flagrant example of this failure to instruct effectively.

The whole-word approach to reading stresses the meaning of words over the meaning of letters， thinking over decoding， developing a sight vocabulary of familiar words over developing the ability to unlock the pronunciation of unfamiliar words. It fits in with the self-directed，"learning how to learn" activities recommended by advocates of "open" classrooms and with the concept that children have to be developmentally ready to begin reading. Before 1963， no major publisher put out anything but these "Run-Spot-Run" readers.

However， in 1955， Rudolf Flesch touched off what has been called "the great debate" in beginning reading. In his best-seller Why Johnny Can"t Read， Flesch indicted the nation"s public schools for miseducating students by using the look-say method. He said——and more scholarly studies by Jeane Chall and Rovert Dykstra later confirmed——that another approach to beginning reading， founded on phonics， is far superior.

Systematic phonics first teaches children to associate letters and letter combinations with

sounds; it then teaches them how to blend these sounds together to make words. Rather than building up a relatively limited vocabulary of memorized words， it imparts a code by which the pronunciations of the vast majority of the most common words in the English language can be learned. Phonics does not devalue the importance of thinking about the meaning of words and sentences; it simply recognizes that decoding is the logical and necessary first step.

The author feels that counting on educators to teach reading correctly is_________. 查看材料

A. only logical and natural

B. the expected position

C. probably a mistake

D. merely effective instruction

Text 4

As the twentieth century began, the importance of formal education in the United States increased. The frontier had mostly disappeared and by 1910 most Americans lived in towns and cities. Industrialization and the bureaucratization of economic life combined with a new emphasis upon credentials and expertise to make schooling increasingly important for economic and social mobility. Increasingly, too, schools were viewed as the most important means of integrating immigrants in to American society.

The arrival of a great wave of southern and eastern European immigrants at the turn of the century coincided with and contributed to an enormous expansion of formal schooling. By 1920 schooling to age fourteen or beyond was compulsory in most states, and the school year was greatly lengthened. Kindergartens, vacation schools, extracurricular activities, and vocational education and counseling extended the influence of public schools over the lives of students, many of whom in the larger industrial cities were the children of immigrants. Classes for adult immigrants were sponsored by public schools, corporations, Unions, churches, and other agencies.

Reformers early in the twentieth century suggested that education programs should suit the needs of specific populations. Immigrant women were one such population. Schools tried to educate young women so they could occupy productive places in the urban industrial economy, and one place many educators considered appropriate for women was the home.

Although looking after the house and family was familiar to immigrant women. American education gave homemaking a new definition. In preindustrial economies, homemaking had meant the production as well as the consumption of goods, and it commonly included income-producing activities both inside and outside the home, in the highly industrialized early twentieth-century, United States. However, overproduction rather than scarcity was becoming a problem. Thus, the ideal American homemaker was viewed as a consumer rather than a producer. Schools trained women to be consumer homemakers cooking, shopping, decorating, and caring for children "efficiently" in their own homes, or if economic necessity demanded, as employees in the homes of others. Subsequent reforms have made these notions seem quite out-of-date.

36. It can be inferred from Paragraph 1 that one important factor in the increasing importance of education in the United States was ______.

A) the growing number of schools in frontier communities

B) an increase in the number of trained teachers

C) the expanding economic problems of schools

D) the increased urbanization of the entire country

ctory reports about the state of the public schools. One sat of experts asserts that the schools are better than they have been for years. Others say that the schools are in terrible shape and are responsible for every national problem from urban poverty to the trade deficit. One group of experts looks primarily at such indicators as test scores, and they cheer what they see: all the indicators—reading scores, minimum competency test results, the Scholastic Aptitude Test scores—are up, some by substantial margins. Students are required to take more academic courses—more mathematics and science, along with greater stress on basic skills, including knowledge of computers. More than 40 state legislatures have mandated such changes.

But in the eyes of another set of school reformers such changes are at best superficial and at worst counterproductive. These experts say that merely toughening requirements, without either improving the quality of instruction or, even more important, changing the way schools are organized and children are taught makes the schools worse rather than better. They challenge the nature of the test, mostly multiple choice or true or false, by which children's progress is measured; they charge that raising the test scores by drilling pupils to come up with the right answers does not improve knowledge, understanding and the capacity to think logically and independently. In addition, these critics fear that the get-tough approach to school reform. will cause more of the youngsters at the bottom to give up and drop out. This, they say, may improve national scores but drain even further the nation's pool of educated people.

The way to cut through the confusion is to understand the different yardsticks used by different observers.

Compared with what schools used to be like "in the good old days", with lots of drill and uniform. requirements, and the expectation that many youngsters who could not make it would drop out and find their way into unskilled jobs—by those yardsticks the schools have measurably improved in recent years.

But by the yardsticks of those experts who believe that the old school was deficient in teaching the skills needed in the modern world, today's schools have not become better. These educators believe that rigid new mandates may actually have made the schools worse.

The assertion of the experts who think schools axe doing better is based on the______.

A．qualification of the teachers

B．test scores

C．reading ability of the children

D．basic skills of the children

you protect a child form. a large fast-food ad painted on her school locker(小柜)？ Or a toy ad on the side of his school bus？

As school budgets get smaller, a growing number of schools in the US are selling advertising space on lockers and buses and in gyms and cafeterias. It is an easy way for schools to make money. And ads may provides relief for parents exhausted by making each donations to support schools.

While parents can always turn off the television or the computer, they can’t keep advertising out of schools. This isn’t the first time the issue has come up. For example, a news program for teens has been criticized for including ads in its 12-month classroom broadcasts.

Parents groups successfully fought a plan by a company called Bus Radio to put music and ads into school buses.

But now things are different. Just last month, Los Angeles approved a plan to allow companies to advertise in the district’s schools. Officials say the plan could provide as much as $ 18 million for the school.

In St. Francis, Minn, school recently agreed to cover 10% to 15% of their lockers with ads. Edward Saxton, a teacher in the school, say, “So far, parents are accepting this as a way to bring in needed money. The money pays for programs like arts, sports, and music. Parents don’t like to see programs getting cut. Neither do I.. Besides, schools are thinking about the effects on kids all the time.”

However, Susan Linn, an educational experts, says, “Kids have already seen enough ads on TV, in magazines and on products they use daily. School is no place for advertisements at all.”

Reader, what about you？ Would you rather help run yet another school fundraiser, or expose your child to ads on lockers and buses？ Is keeping ads out of schools worth raising taxes, or increasing your own cash support for schools through donations？

47. Why do schools allow ads into schools？

A. To reduce parents’ burdens.

B. To solve their finanical problems.

C. To offer kids a wide choice of goods.

D. To improve their students’ living conditions.

48. Edward Saxon thinks that _____.

A. schools choose ads carefully

B. ads in schools should not be too much

C. shcools should be a place free from ads

D. in-schools do no harm to young kids.

49. What is this passage mainly about？

A. The negative efect of ads on kids.

B. Efforts to stop in-school advertising.

C. Whether ads should be allowed in schools.

D. Whether Parents should run fundraisers for schools.

50. Who are intended readers of the text？

A. Parents B. Teachers C. Educators D. Businessmen

reign language—English—in primary schools.This would represent a change【C1】______Zurichs elementary school kids now study English and French.Voters will decide whether French will be【C2】______. Some educators believe that two foreign languages are too much for kids.Supporters of one foreign language believe that kids fail to reach strong【C3】______in German, the mother tongue for schoolchildren in Zurich. In fact, Zurich kids speak Swiss German, which is【C4】______an oral language.In school they have to learn standard German, which in some ways is a foreign language.【C5】______you add them all together Zurich kids are learning four languages. All of Switzerland will watch what Zurich voters decide because Zurich is an influential canton and others may【C6】______.Yet some German-speaking cantons have already decided to reject plans to reduce the number of foreign languages. Regardless of what happens, Swiss kids will be fluent in more than one language which is a definite asset in todays【C7】______economy.It is also a definite asset in learning other subjects.Studies【C8】______in American universities have found that kids who study in dual-language schools outperform. their【C9】______who are taught in English only.Apparently, kids educated in two languages develop a mental agility that monolingual kids lack.Perhaps four languages are too many in elementary school,but two is not【C10】______at all.

【C1】

A．which

B．since

C．even if

D．now that

king about the role of public education was the effect of the baby boom of the 1950's and 1960's on the schools. In the 1920's, but especially in the Depression conditions of the 1930's, the United States experienced a declining birth rate-- every thousand women aged fifteen to forty-four gave birth to about 118 live children in 1920, 89. 2 in 1930, 75. 8 in 1936, and 80 in 1940.

With the growing prosperity brought on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it, young people married and established households earlier and began to raise large families than had their predecessors during the Depression. Birth rate rose to 102 per thousand in 1946, 106.2 in 1950, and 118 in 1955. Although economics was probably the most important factor, it is not the only explanation for the baby boom. The increased value placed on the idea of the family also helps to explain this rise in birth rates. The baby boomers began streaming into the first grade by the mid-1940's and became a flood by 1950. The public school system suddenly found itself overtaxed. While the number of school children rose because of wartime and postwar conditions, these same conditions made the schools even less prepared to cope with the flood. The wartime economy meant that few new schools were built between 1940 and 1945. Moreover, during the war and in the boom times that followed, large numbers of teachers left their profession for better- paying jobs elsewhere in the economy.

Therefore, in the 1950'S and 1960's, the baby boom hit an old- fashioned and inadequate school system. Consequently, it was impossible to keep youths aged sixteen and older in school as in 1930's and early 1940's. Schools were to find space and staff to teach younger children aged from five to sixteen. With the baby boom, the focus of educators and of laymen interested in education inevitably turned toward the lower grade and back to basic academic skills and discipline. The system no longer had much interest in offering nontraditional, new, and extra services to older youths.

What is the passage mainly concerned with？

A．The impact of the baby boom on public education.

B．Birth rates in the United States in the 1930's and 1940's.

C．The teaching profession during the baby boom.

D．The role of the family in the 1950's and 1960's.

ld buy a typewriter, a globe or an encyclopedia set.Now those ____1____ seem hopelessly old-fashioned: this Christmas, there were a lot of ____2____ computers under the tree.____3____ that computers are the key to success, parents insist that children ____4____ taught to use them in school as early as possible.

The problem for schools is that when it ____5____ computers, parents do not always know best and are eagerly urging the schools to offer computer courses as soon as possible.Many schools are ____6 ____ parental impatience and are purchasing hardware hastily ____7____ good educational planning, saying “Ok, we’ve moved into the computer age.” Teachers ____8____ themselves caught in the middle of the problem between parental pressure and ____9____ educational decisions.

Educators do not even agree ____10____ how computers should be used.A lot of money is going for computerized educational materials ____11____ can be taught ____12____ with pencil and paper.Even those who believe that all children should ____13____ to computer warn that there are potential ____14____ to the very young.The temptation of the computer is so strong that young children who quickly ____15____ themselves to it are never aware how much time they have ____16____ on it.

There are some other problems.____17____ every school can afford to go into computing, and there is a division ____18____ the haves and have-nots.Very few parents ask ____19____ computer instruction in poor school districts, ____20____ there may be barely enough money to pay the reading teacher.

(1).A.items B.toys C.sets D.series

(2).A.private B.children C.school D.personal

(3).A.Giving B.Providing C.Convinced D.Believed

(4).A.was B.be C.are being D.were

(5).A.talks about B.comes to C.turns to D.mentions to

(6).A.ignoring B.blaming

C.yielding to D.turning a deaf ear to

(7).A.without B.with C.through D.for

(8).A.rely on B.relax C.free D.find

(9).A.wise B.clever C.slow D.enough

(10).A.on B.with C.to D.about

(11).A.however B.where C.what D.which

(12).A.equally B.in the same way C.just as well D.not as well

(13).A.be open B.have access C.look D.turn

(14).A.approaches B.exposures C.problems D.means

(15).A.adopt B.keep C.adapt D.devote

(16).A.cost B.spent C.taken D.paid

(17).A.Nor B.Not C.No D.Any

(18).A.among B.amid C.amidst D.between

(19).A.for B.against C.to buy D.to use

(20).A.due to that B.in any case C.although D.where

t, the U. S. Department of Education estimated that, in 1999, around 850,000 children were being homeschooled. Some educational experts say the real figure is about double this estimate, and the ranks of homeschooled children appear to grow at a rate about 11 percent annually.

At one time, there was a stigma associated with homeschooling. It was traditionally used for students who could not attend school because of behavioral or learning difficulties. Today, however, more parents are taking on the responsibility of educating their children at home due to dissatisfaction with the educational system. Many parents are unhappy about class size, as well as problems inside the classroom. Teacher shortages and lack of funding mean that, in many schools, one teacher is responsible for thirty or forty pupils. The result is often that children are deprived of the attention they need. Escalating classroom violence has also motivated some parents to remove their children from school.

Critics of homeschooling say that children who are not in the classroom miss out on learning important social skills because they have little interaction with their peers. Several studies, though, have shown that the home-educated appear to do just as well in terms of social and emotional development as other students, having spent more time in the comfort and security of their home, with guidance from parents who care about their welfare. In spite of this, many critics of homeschooling have raised concerns about the ability of parents to teach their kids effectively. Many parents whose homeschool have no teacher training and are not competent educators of all the subjects taught in schools. In terms of academic achievement, however, homeschooled children do just as well as those who have been in the classroom and many walk the campuses of Harvard and Stanford alongside the conventionally-educated.

With an increasing number of disgruntled parents taking their children out of class, schools are receiving less money in per pupil funding. Some see this as a threat to the system, and argue that schools will never be able to improve their situation and restore parents' confidence in the educational system. Many schools have opened their doors to homeschoolers on a part-time basis, allowing these children to attend classes once or twice a week, or take part in extra-curricular activities such as playing football or taking ballet lessons. While parents will not completely put their confidence back into the system, many of them have reached a compromise that allows their children the extra benefits of peer interaction and access to a wider choice of activities.

Whatever the arguments for or against it, homeschooling in the U.S. has become a multimillion dollar industry, and it is growing. There are now websites, support groups, and conventions that help parents assert their rights and enable them to learn more about educating their children. Though once the last resort for troubled children, homeschooling today is an accepted alternative to an educational system that some believe is failing.

What is the reason that more parents are taking on the responsibility of educating their children at home？

A．Teacher shortages and lack of funding.

B．Escalating classroom violence.

C．Large class and problems inside the classroom.

D．Dissatisfaction with the educational system.

Homeschooling

Just in last year, more than one million children in the United States chose homeschooling but not traditional school education.This surprising figure was published by the National Center for Education Statistics.Homeschooling is a recent development in education.Not very long ago, it was still considered to be too radical by many education experts.Today, it has been accepted n almost every state.Thousands or even millions of children have tried homeschooling and many more parents are seriously considering it.The interesting thing was what led to such a change.There have been many recent surveys to show that parents are getting impatient and fed up with our public schooling system because it doesn't teach children any practical or real-life skills.

Parents are also concerned about the negative news from schools.For example, some students take drugs in schools, fight with schoolmates and even bring guns and knives to school.Parents are deeply worried about how the behavior. of these students would affect their children's healthy growth.

Homeschooling, on the other hand, allows parents to bring up their children in a natural and loving environment.It is especially important in the early years of the children's development (between three and twelve years old) because this is the period when they are easily affected by negative influences and peer pressure.And during this time most of them cannot tell what is right and what is wrong.Obviously, homeschooling can keep them from some of these bad influences.

Homeschooling has some other benefits, Since parents and children spend more time together, a nice relationship or a stronger bond can be formed between them.This bond can connect with them closer than they have ever thought before.If parents choose homeschooling, they can easily pass their moral values and beliefs on to their children since they stay together longer or maybe they are even the teachers themselves.

So what major factors are stopping parents from adopting homeschooling？ One important thing is that homeschooling costs a lot of time and money.For most families, both parents have to work full-time to support the family.Many homeschooling families depend on one parent for the income, while the other parent has to spend all the time on teaching the child.Therefore in some cases, it is not possible to adopt homeschooling if the family doesn't have stable income.

To help and guide homeschooling families, more and more homeschooling support groups are appearing in the neighborhood.Some have even gone online.If parents do decide to choose homeschooling, they can always get advice from a homeschooling support group.

Read this passage carefully and choose the best answer to each of the following questions

21.What did many American education experts think of the new trend of homeschooling______

A.They thought it to be a too much revolutionary idea

B.They believed that this trend would develop very fast

C.They encouraged parents to support the new idea of education

D.They hoped that governments would provide more support

22.A growing number of American parents have been accepting and choosing homeschooling as They ______.

A.realized that homeschooling is the only best way to develop their children

B.have found more and more weak points in the public education system

C.thought that public schools can spoil talents more than train them

D.began to realize that public school educators are not worth trusting

23.What do parents try to avoid in educating the kids in their early years______

A.Giving their children less knowledge from books

B.The negative effect from some bad news at school

C.Hiring non-professional educators to teach their children

D.The natural environment for their children to grow in

24.All the following except______are the main advantages brought forth by homeschooling

A.Students got more actively involved in social or community activities

B.Parents invest more time and energy in developing their children

C.Children benefit more from homeschooling than from public schools

D.The environment for learning is much better for children's healthy growth

25.When parents decide to choose homeschooling, they have to consider carefully the following major factors except the______.

A.time and energy parents have to invest

B.environment for children to learn and interact

C.Stable Income to afford the cost for children's learning

D.relationship between their children and other students