TuesdayOctober2311:00amWorldTr-优题课

Pushy parents and teachers who “hothouse” the under-5s risk causing damage to the children’s long term development, a leading education expert said.
Lilian Katz, Professor of Education at the University of Illinois, said that four-year-olds engaged in reading and writing went on to perform worse academically than those engaged in imaginative learning. They scored higher in tests at the age of 5, but children whose first year at school was stimulating outstripped them four years later.
The findings suggest that the government's structured approach to early years' learning could be storing up problems for children. They also raise serious questions about the plan for all children to be able to read by the age of 6.
In many countries formal teaching does not start until children are 6 or 7 and have improved their social and manual skills. Children start learning to read and write at 6 in the United States, France and Germany, and at 7 in Finland and Sweden.
Professor Katz said that in many schools the courses were "boring children to tears". Much academic teaching required children to learn by memorizing pieces of information out of context, she said. Teaching in reception class should instead allow children to develop their intellect by exploring their environments and asking questions.
"Research suggests the benefits of formal academic instruction for four- and five-year-olds seem to be promising when they are tested early, but considerably less so in the long term. When these children are followed over a period of three or more years, those who had early experience in more intellectually engaging curricula were more likely to do well in school than their peers, who had received early academic instruction." She advocates teaching children through first-hand experience and play, in mixed-aged classes. This can include puppet shows, drawing or running a pretend shop in the classroom.
According to the passage, those who “hothouse” the under-5s would probably _________.

A．prefer a lot of interaction and stimulation while teaching

B．teach in a lively way to motivate kids’ interest

C．push the kids to memorize pieces of information

D．care about the kids’ physical development

What does the underlined word “ outstripped” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．did better than	B．looked down upon
C．caught up with	D．performed worse than

According to Lilian Katz, the government’s structured approach to early-years learning __.

A．is necessary for improving children’s reading and writing ability

B．needs to be improved to develop children’s academic ability

C．will cause problems to children in their future learning

D．has more advantages than disadvantages

The message the author wants to deliver through the passage is that formal teaching _____.

A．can start at different times in different countries.	B．should not be started too early
C．is best carried out in Finland and Sweden
D．should include teaching children social and manual skills

Which of the following is NOT the opinion of Lilian Katz?

A．Children should be taught through first-hand experience.

B．Learning in a mixed-age class is good for children.

C．Running a shop can help children get good marks.

D．Puppet shows and drawing are useful in teaching children.

The 47-year-old singer talks about the new album Symphony（交响乐） that came out of a “very dark time”, including her decision to give up trying to have children. “People have suggested I could adopt,” Brightman says. “But work is central to my life now. And so I am going to put it to one side. After a while not having children becomes the norm and perhaps that might sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything different. I’m not hurt by not having children. My life and career are incredibly rich.”
Talking about growing up in a large family in Berkhamsted (father a property developer who later committed suicide), she says: “I was gifted as a child, and very musical. I seemed to be good at anything to do with the arts. At 5，I understood the music I was dancing to and had an eye for costume.” She first appeared in a West End musical at 11 and hated boarding school.
Brightman led the saucy dance troupe（辣妹三人舞） Hot Gossip and had her first hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper in 1978. At 18 she married a music manager called Andrew Graham Stewart. “I was probably in love but I can’t remember. Girls change such a lot between 18 and 22. It didn’t really work out.” In 1981 she was spotted by Lloyd Webber. She became his leading lady in Song and Dance, Requiem and Phantom of the Opera. They married in 1984.
Brightman says she felt hostility(敌意) “from the beginning. I haven’t tried to understand it. I’ve done very well everywhere else, especially the US, where I now live, I just accept it for what it is. The more you are away from Britain, the more you appreciate it. But I don’t miss it, although I miss my family. Our profession can be uncomfortable but I enjoy what I do. I get on with it.”
The first paragraph tells us that _____.

A．Brightman is very popular around the world except in America

B．Brightman’s musical style is a mixture of opera, pop and jazz

C．the British people don’t like her for her style of music

D．Brightman is much older than Andrew Lloyd Webber

Brightman decided to give up having children because _____.

A．she could adopt one

B．her life and career were unbelievably rich without children

C．she felt it normal not to have children

D．she was too busy

The following statements are true except ______.

A．Brightman first appeared in a West End musical at 5

B．Brightman disliked life on the campus

C．Brightman was very gifted when she was young

D．The saucy dance troupe made Brightman famous

The underlined word in the fourth paragraph probably means _____.

A．located

B．admired

C．followed

D．found

What does the author try to say in the last paragraph by quoting Brightman’s words?

A．Brightman has to accept the fact that she is not liked in Britain

B．Brightman lives in America but she loves her own country

C．The British coldness towards Brightman led to her hatred to her homeland

D．Brightman was at a loss why she was not welcome in Britain

阅读下面的短文，并根据短文后的要求答题（请注意问题后的字数要求）。
[1] I was walking in the park with a friend recently, and his cell phone rang, interrupting our conversation. There we were, walking and talking on a beautiful sunny day. But I became invisible, absent from the conversation.
[2] The telephone used to connect you to the absent. Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent. Recently I was in a car with three friends. The driver told us to be quiet because he could not hear the person on the other end of his cell phone. There we were, four friends going down the highway, unable to talk to one another because of a tool designed to make communication easier.
[3]Why is it that the more connected we get, ________________________ ? Every advance in communications technology is a hurt to the closeness of human interaction (互动). With e-mail and instant messaging over the Internet, we can now communicate without seeing or talking to one another. With voice mail, you can conduct entire conversations without ever reaching anyone.
[4] More and more, l find myself hiding behind e-mail to do a job meant for conversation. Or being relieved that voice mail picked up because I didn’t really have time to talk. The industry devoted to helping me keep in touch is making me lonelier.
[5] So I've put myself on technology restriction: no instant messaging with people who live near me, no cell-phoning in the presence of friends, no letting the voice mail pick up when I' m home.
What does the author say about communications technology according to the first two paragraphs? (within 15 words)
_________________________________________________________________________
Which sentences in the text is the closest in meaning to the following one?
However, I felt left out as if we were not conducting the conversation.
_________________________________________________________________________
Fill in the blanks in Paragraph 3 with proper words. (within 10 words)
_________________________________________________________________________
Does the author restrict (约束) his own activity to improving the situation? Give an example. How？(within 15 words)
_________________________________________________________________________
Translate the underlined sentences in Paragraph 4 into Chinese.
________________________________________________________________________

When six the very best students from different cities in Guandong province all together chose universities in Hong Kong; when the very best student of Beijing picked up HK University while giving up the nearby Peking or Tsinghua University; when the highest enrollment （录取）rate of Hong Kong Science and Industry University reached 48:1, it’s the high time to ask where the real education heaven for students in China is.
Years ago, the answer certainly would be “Peking or Tsinghua University”. But now no one could give the exact reaction without hesitation. The only sure thing is that HK universities have gradually showed an unusual attraction to a great many mainland students.
It’s no doubt to call this HK craze（狂热）,which is even out of the expectation of those HK universities themselves.
How can HK universities shake the steady foundations of Peking and Tsinghua and attract so many mainland students?
First, Hong Kong universities offer large-amount scholarship, especially for the top students who can receive the sum scholarship as much as 400,000 HK dollars. Since higher education has become a kind of heavy burden of many families, it’s easy to understand why the reaction to the generous offering of HK universities is great.
Second, most HK universities receive professors and students from all over the world and carry out bilingual（双语）education. This kind of excellent language atmosphere is another attraction for mainland students.
Further more, university students in Hong Kong have a better chance to study abroad as exchange students.
Can mainland top universities like Peking or Tsinghua University calm as before when facing the unexpected competition from HK? Will they take relevant measures to win back the top students who once help them set the worldwide reputation? Time will explain it.
The fierce competition brought by HK universities can be a good thing for an entire improvement of education in China. After the awakening and action taking of mainland universities, they can perform better together with HK universities.
At least, it reminded the mainland universities the tuition fees（学费）are among students’ top concern when they are choosing universities. It’s time to move.
What is the passage mainly talking about?

A．Some thought brought by the enrollment of HK universities.

B．Higher education in Hong Kong.

C．The competition between HK University and Peking University.

D．The fall of mainland universities.

Top students from mainland apply for HK universities because .

A．many students now would love to study aboard to get a better experience.

B．they concern only about the tuition fees when choosing universities.

C．HK universities offer higher scholarship, better environment and more opportunities for their further study.

D．Peking university has lo

st its worldwide reputation.

What is the author’s attitude toward the competition brought by HK universities?

A．The government should take relevant measures to stop this unfair competition.

B．Mainland universities had better lower their tuition fees and win back the top students.

C．Universities both in mainland and in HK would get an entire improvement during the competition.

D．It may probably cause a complete loss both sides in the end.

From the passage we can see HK universities .

A．didn’t mean to enroll top students from mainland

B．didn’t expect their enrollment of mainland students would be so popular

C．have strict enrollment rules and only 1 out of 48 students can get the chance to study there

D．are proud of their teaching staff and facilities

What does the author mean by saying “It’s time to move” in the last paragraph?

A．Mainland universities should take measures as soon as possible to attract students.

B．The opportunities come for top students to study abroad.

C．Mainland universities should make full preparations to challenge mainland universities.

D．Top students should be offered further education free of charge.

This hotel in the trees is famous in the world. Peop1e who know very little about Kenya, know of Treetops. When King George VI died, Princess Elizabeth was staying on the Treetops, and when she came down from there, “She succeeded him as the queen of the country”. This hotel in the middle of the forest shows the pleasure of Africa. When you visit it, you will be sent into the heart of the forest by hotel buses, and then a guide, with a gun to protect you against big game, will go with you to the Treetops. Before and after dinner, for the whole night if you wish, you can sit on the corridor(走廊), watching animals come to the water pool. The earliest hotel Treetops was built round a large tree on the opposite side of the water, but that was destroyed by fire and the new hotel Treetops, which is built round several trees, is much bigger.
The dining room at Treetops is small, and the waiters cannot walk round to serve guests, a clever “railway service” has been invented. Guests take their food as it passes slowly in front of them, along a line in the center of the table.
There are many animals around the Treetops. When you visit them, you can see:
---Animals and their babies are waiting to greet the guests.
---Animals, enjoying the Treetops pool in the daylight.
---A long bodied, long ring tailed very active cat-like animal is a special one coming out at night. He hunts and eats anything he can overpower and is very destructive. He lives in the trees at Treetops .He comes for his food every evening. Do not get too near to him, as his teeth and claws（爪）can do you harm. These animals can be trained and become lovely pets.
---Some other animals who have a thick coating of fur to keep them warm in the cold forest nights.
---Many buffaloes（水牛）coming to the Treetops for water and salt during the day or night.
“She succeeded him as the queen of the country” In this sentence, “succeeded” means_______.

A．did what she was trying to do	B．gained her purpose
C．got a position on the death of the King	D．completed an easy task

According to the passage, “railway service” actually refers to __________.

A．the service provided at the railway station

B．the supply of food on the train

C．the service provided along the railway

D．the supply of food along a moving line

Which of the following statements about “the cat-like animal”, described in the passage, is NOT true?

A．It comes for food only at night.

B．It lives in the trees at Treetops.

C．Its teeth and claws can do people harm.

D．It can catch any other animal in the forest.

According to the passage. Treetops is famous in the world because ________.

A．it shows the pleasure of America

B．Princess Elizabeth got to the crown when coming down from there

C．it is built round several trees

D．there are many animals that can be trained and become lovely pets

We can learn from the passage, that the guests＿＿＿＿．

A．should not play games on the Treetops

B．could not sit on the corridor at night

C．could enjoy their dinner in the dining room

D．should keep off the cat-like animals

A．protecting animals	B．birthday celebration
C．alien legend	D．protecting trees

A．Wartz has many foolish ideas.	B．Wartz is not clever as others.
C．Wartz is curious and imaginative.	D．Wartz wins a relay race.