英语六级考试阅读理解技巧训练：教育、文化类

2016年英语六级考试阅读理解技巧训练：教育、文化类

　　教育、文化类

　　Passage 1

　　I came away from my years of teaching on the college and university level with a conviction that enactment (扮演角色), performance, dramatization are the most successful forms of teaching. Students must be incorporated, made, so far as possible, an integral part of the learning process. The notion that learning should have in it an element of inspired play would seem to the greater part of the academic establishment merely silly, but that is nonetheless the case. Of Ezekiel Cheever, the most famous schoolmaster of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, his onetime student Cotton Mather wrote that he so planned his lessons that his pupils "came to work as though they came to play," and Alfred North Whitehead, almost three hundred years later, noted that a teacher should make his/her students "glad they were there."

　　Since, we are told, 80 to 90 percent of all instruction in the typical university is by the lecture method, we should give close attention to this form of education. There is, I think, much truth in Patricia Nelson Limerick's observation that "lecturing is an unnatural act, an act for which God did not design humans. It is perfectly all right, now and then, for a human to be possessed by the urge to speak, and to speak while others remain silent. But to do this regularly, one hour and 15 minutes at a time ... for one person to drag on while others sit in silence? ... I do not believe that this is what the Creator ... designed humans to do."

　　The strange, almost incomprehensible fact is that many professors, just as they feel obliged to write dully, believe that they should lecture dully. To show enthusiasm is to risk appearing unscientific, unobjective; it is to appeal to the students' emotions rather than their intellect. Thus the ideal lecture is one filled with facts and read in an unchanged monotone.作文

　　The cult (推崇) of lecturing dully, like the cult of writing dully, goes back, of course, some years. Edward Shils, professor of sociology, recalls the professors he encountered at the University of Pennsylvania in his youth. They seemed "a priesthood, rather uneven in their merits but uniform in their bearing; they never referred to anything personal. Some read from old lecture notes and then haltingly explained the thumb-worn last lines. Others lectured from cards that had served for years, to judge by the worn edges .... The teachers began on time, ended on time, and left the room without saying a word more to their students, very seldom being detained by questioners .... The classes were not large, yet there was no discussion. No questions were raised in class, and there were no office hours."

　　1. The author believes that a successful teacher should be able to __ ___.

　　A)make dramatization an important aspect of students’ learning

　　B)make inspired play an integral part of the learning process

　　C)improve students' learning performance

　　D)make study just as easy as play

　　2. The majority of university professors prefer the traditional way of lecturing in the belief that ____ __.

　　A)it draws the close attention of the students

　　B)it conforms in a way to the design of the Creator

　　C)it presents course content in a scientific and objective manner

　　D)it helps students to comprehend abstract theories more easily

　　3. What the author recommends in this passage is that _______.

　　A)college education should be improved through radical measures

　　B)more freedom of choice should be given to students in their studies

　　C)traditional college lectures should be replaced by dramatized performances

　　D)interaction should be encouraged in the process of teaching

　　4. By saying "They seemed 'a priesthood, rather uneven in their merits but uniform in their bearing...'" (Para. 4), the author means that ___ __.

　　A)professors are a group of professionals that differ in their academic ability but behave in the same way

　　B)professors are like priests wearing the same kind of black gown but having different roles to play

　　C)there is no fundamental difference between professors and priests though they differ in their merits

　　D)professors at the University of Pennsylvania used to wear black suits which made them look like priests

　　5. Whose teaching method is particularly commended by the author?

　　A)Ezekiel Cheever's. B)Cotton Mather's.

　　C)Alfred North Whitehead's. D)Patricia Nelson Limerick's.

　　Passage 2

　　Take the case of public education alone. The principal difficulty faced by the schools has been the tremendous increase in the number of pupils. This has been caused by the advance of the legal age for going into industry and the impossibility of finding a job even when the legal age has been reached. In view of the technological improvements in the last few years, business will require in the future proportionately fewer workers than ever before. The result will be still further raising of the legal age for going into employment, and still further difficulty in finding employment when hat age has been attained. If we cannot put our children to work, we must put them in school.

　　We may also be quite confident that the present trend toward a shorter day and a shorter week will be maintained. We have developed and shall continue to have a new leisure class. Already the public agencies for adult education are swamped by the tide that has swept over them since depression began. They will be little better off when it is over. Their support must come from the taxpayer.

　　It is surely too much to hope that these increases in the cost of public education can be borne by the local communities. They cannot care for the present restricted and inadequate system. The local communities have failed in their efforts to cope with unemployment. They cannot expect to cope with public education on the scale on which we must attempt it. The answer to the problem of unemployment has been Federal relief. The answer to the problem of public education may have to be much the same, and properly so.

　　If there is one thing in which the citizens of all parts of the country have an interest, it is in the decent education of the citizens of all parts of the country. Our income tax now goes in part to keep our neighbors alive. It may have to go in part as well to make our neighbors intelligent. We are now attempting to preserve the present generation through Federal relief of the destitute (贫民). Only a people determined to ruin the next generation will refuse such Federal funds as public education may require.

　　1. What is the passage mainly about?

　　A)How to persuade local communities to provide more funds.

　　B)How to cope with the shortage of funds for public education.

　　C)How to solve the rising unemployment problem.

　　D)How to improve the public education system.

　　2. What is the reason for the increase in the number of students?

　　A)The requirement of educated workers by business.

　　B)Raising of the legal age for going to work.

　　C)The trend toward a shorter workday.

　　D)People's concern for the future of the next generation.

　　3. The public agencies for adult education will be little better off because _____.

　　A)the unemployed are too poor to continue their education

　　B)a new leisure class has developed

　　C)they are still suffering from the depression

　　D)an increase in taxes could be a problem

　　4. According to the author, the answer to the problem of public education is that the Federal government _____.

　　A)should allocate Federal funds for public education

　　B)should demand that local communities provide support

　　C)should raise taxes to meet the needs of public education

　　D)should first of all solve the problem of unemployment

　　5. Why does the author say "Only a people determined to ruin the next generation will refuse such Federal funds as public education may require" (Lines 10-11, Para. 3)?

　　A)Only by appropriating adequate Federal funds for education can the next generation have a bright future.

　　B)Citizens of all parts of the country agree that the best way to support education is to use Federal funds.

　　C)People all over the country should make contributions to education in the interest of the next generation.

　　D)Educated people are determined to use part of the Federal funds to help the poor.

　　Passage 3

　　About the time that schools and others quite reasonably became interested in seeing to it that all children, whatever their background, were fairly treated, intelligence testing became unpopular.

　　Some thought it was unfair to minority children. Through the past few decades such testing has gone out of fashion and many communities have indeed forbidden it.

　　However, paradoxically, just recently a group of black parents filed a lawsuit (诉讼) in California claiming that the state's ban on IQ testing discriminates against their children by denying them the opportunity to take the test. (They believed, correctly, that IQ tests are a valid method of evaluating children for special education classes.) The judge, therefore, reversed, at least partially his original decision.

　　And so the argument goes on and on. Does it benefit or harm children from minority groups to have their intelligence tested? We have always been on the side of permitting, even facilitating, such testing. If a child of any color or group is doing poorly in school it seems to us very important to know whether it is because he or she is of low intelligence, or whether some other factor is the cause.

　　What school and family can do to improve poor performance is influenced by its cause. It is not discriminative to evaluate either a child's physical condition or his intellectual level.

　　Unfortunately, intellectual level seems to be a sensitive subject, and what the law allows us to do varies from time to time. The same fluctuation back and forth occurs in areas other than intelligence. Thirty years or so ago, for instance, white families were encouraged to adopt black children. It was considered discriminative not to do so.

　　And then the style changed and this cross-racial adopting became generally unpopular, and social agencies felt that black children should go to black families only. It is hard to say what are the best procedures. But surely good will on the part of all of us is needed.

　　As to intelligence, in our opinion, the more we know about any child's intellectual level, the better for the child in question.

　　1. Why did the intelligence test become unpopular in the past few decades?

　　A)Its validity was challenged by many communities.

　　B)It was considered discriminative against minority children.

　　C)It met with strong opposition from the majority of black parents.

　　D)It deprived the black children of their rights to a good education.

　　2. The recent legal action taken by some black parents in California aimed to .

　　A)draw public attention to IQ testing

　　B)put an end to special education

　　C)remove the state's ban on intelligence tests

　　D)have their children enter white schools

　　3. The author believes that intelligence testing .

　　A)may ease racial confrontation in the United States

　　B)can encourage black children to keep up with white children

　　C)may seriously aggravate racial discrimination in the United States

　　D)can help black parents make decisions about their children's education

　　4. The author's opinion of child adoption seems to be that .

　　A)no rules whatsoever can be prescribed

　　B)white families should adopt black children

　　C)adoption should be based on IQ test results

　　D)cross-racial adoption is to be advocated

　　5. Child adoption is mentioned in the passage to show that .

　　A)good will may sometimes complicate racial problems

　　B)social surroundings are vital to the healthy growth of children

　　C)intelligence testing also applies to non-academic areas

　　D)American opinion can shift when it comes to sensitive issues

　　Passage 4

　　Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we use are understood by everyone. We do not realize that waving good-bye is the way to summon a person from the Philippines to one's side, or that in Italy and some Latin-American countries, curling the finger to oneself is a sign of farewell.

　　Those private citizens who sent packages to our troops occupying Germany after World War II and marked them GIFT to escape duty payments did not bother to find out that "Gift" means poison in German. Moreover, we like to think of ourselves as friendly, yet we prefer to be at least 3 feet or an arm's length away from others. Latins and Middle Easterners like to come closer and touch, which makes Americans uncomfortable.

　　Our linguistic (语言上的.) and cultural blindness and the casualness with which we take notice of the developed tastes, gestures, customs and languages of other countries, are losing us friends, business and respect in the world.

　　Even here in the United States, we make few concessions to the needs of foreign visitors. There are no information signs in four languages on our public buildings or monuments; we do not have multilingual (多语言的)guided tours. Very few restaurant menus have translations, and multilingual waiters, bank clerks and policemen are rare. Our transportation systems have maps in English only and often we ourselves have difficulty understanding them.

　　When we go abroad, we tend to cluster in hotels and restaurants where English is spoken. The attitudes and information we pick up are conditioned by those natives - usually the richer - who speak English. Our business dealings, as well as the nation's diplomacy, are conducted through interpreters.

　　For many years, America and Americans could get by with cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance. After all, America was the most powerful country of the free world, the distributor of needed funds and goods.

　　But all that is past. American dollars no longer buy all good things, and we are slowly beginning to realize that our proper role in the world is changing. A 1979 Harris poll reported that 55 percent of Americans want this country to play a more significant role in world affairs; we want to have a hand in the important decisions of the next century, even though it may not always be the upper hand.

　　1. It can be inferred that Americans being approached too closely by Middle Easterners would most probably .

　　A) stand still B) jump aside C) step forward D) draw back

　　2. The author gives many examples to criticize Americans for their .

　　A) cultural self-centeredness B) casual manners

　　C) indifference towards foreign visitors D) arrogance towards other cultures

　　3. In countries other than their own most Americans

　　A) are isolated by the local people

　　B) are not well informed due to the language barrier

　　C) tend to get along well with the natives

　　D) need interpreters in hotels and restaurants

　　4. According to the author, Americans' cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance will .

　　A) affect their image in the new era B) cut themselves off from the outside world

　　C) limit their role in world affairs D) weaken the position of the US dollar

　　5. The author's intention in writing this article is to make Americans realize that .

　　A) it is dangerous to ignore their foreign friends

　　B) it is important to maintain their leading role in world affairs

　　C) it is necessary to use several languages in public places

　　D) it is time to get acquainted with other cultures