Boys’schools are the perfect place to teach young men to express their emotions and involve them in activities such as art, dance and music.
Far from the traditional image of a culture of aggressive masculinity(男子气概),the absence of girls gives boys the chance to develop without pressure to be consistent to a stereotype(传统观念),a US study says.
Boys at single-sex schools were said to be more likely to get involved in cultural and artistic activities that helped develop their abilities to express their emotions,rather than feeling they had to obey the “boy code” of hiding their emotions to be a “real man”.
The findings of the study are against the received wisdom that boys do better when taught alongside girls.
Tony Little,headmaster of Eton,warned that boys were being ignored by the British education system because it had become too focused on girls.He criticized teachers for failing to recognize that boys are actually more emotional than girls.
The research argued that boys often perform badly in mixed schools because they become discouraged when their female peers do better earlier in speaking and reading skills.
But in single-sex schools teachers can adjust lessons to boys’ learning style,letting them move around the classroom and getting them to compete in teams to prevent boredom, wrote the study’s author, Abigail James of the University of Virginia.
Teachers could encourage boys to enjoy reading and writing with “boy-focused” approaches such as themes and characters that appeal to them.Because boys generally have sharper vision,learn best through touch, and are physically more active, they need to be given “hands-on” lessons where they are allowed to walk around.” Boys in mixed schools view classical music as feminine(女性的)and prefer the modern type in which violence and sexism are major themes.” James wrote.
Single-sex education also made it less likely that boys would feel they had to give in to a stereotype that men should be “masterful and in charge” in relationships.“In mixed schools boys feel pressed to act like men before they understand themselves well enough to know what that means.” the study reported.
The author believes that a single-sex school would .
A.force boys to hide their emotions to be “real men” |
B.help to form masculine aggressiveness in boys |
C.encourage boys to express their emotions more freely |
D.naturally place emphasis on the traditional image of a man to boys |
It is commonly believed that in a mixed school boys .
A.perform relatively better |
B.grow up more healthily |
C.behave more responsibly |
D.receive a better education |
What does Tony Little say about the British education system?
A.It fails more boys than girls academically. |
B.It focuses more on mixed school education. |
C.It fails to give boys the attention they need. |
D.It places more pressure on boys than on girls. |
According to Abigail James,one of the advantages of single-sex schools is .
A.teaching can be designed to promote boys’ team spirit |
B.boys can focus on their lessons without being absent-minded |
C.boys can choose to learn whatever they are interested in |
D.teaching can be adapted to suit the characteristics of boys |
Have you ever seen any students whose trousers hang so low that you can see their underwear? What do you think of that? Fashionable? Some of today’s teenagers are big fans of such a look. But recently this trend has been at the center of an argument in Italian middle schools. The headmaster of a school in central Italy has asked students to stop wearing low-rise jeans that expose underwear and parts of the body. His request came after a class trip, when he saw one boy's baggy trousers slide to his feet. He pointed out that this way of dressing is not suitable for school. But in Italy, a nation that takes fashion very seriously, the suggestion caused a debate among parents, teachers and students. The issue is whether the headmaster's request will limit students' freedom— or whether dress in Italian schools is too casual. A parents' group praised the move in favor of good taste, while others advised schools to stop worrying about fashion and fix up old school buildings. “We do not want to kick fashion out,” the headmaster explained, “but extremes of fashion like this are not right in school.” Many other schools have now requested that their students also stop wearing such trousers. Most students have simply ignored the request. Ludovica Gaudio, 14, wore extremely low trousers exposing orange underwear in class. It was cold, so she wore a matching orange scarf. Another 14-year-old said she would probably respect the request, simply for practical reasons. “I don't really feel comfortable in those sort of jeans,” said Sarah Lattanzi, “in winter, when dressed like that, it's quite cold and I am afraid my stomach will ache.”What led to the argument in Italian middle schools?______
A.Students' craze for fashions. | B.Clothes that are too exposing. |
C.Students' ignoring dress codes.(规则) | D.Students' underwear. |
Which of the following supports the headmaster's request?___
A.Fashion should be taken seriously. |
B.Fashion should not be followed in school. |
C.Students should have their freedom in choosing what they wear. |
D.Students should be encouraged to have good taste in clothes. |
The argument against the headmaster's request is that ______.
A.dress in Italian schools is too casual |
B.fashion should not be followed in school |
C.schools should pay attention to things more important than students' clothes |
D.low-rise jeans can do harm to youngster's health |
The purpose of this story is to ________
A.show Chinese students that wearing very fashionable clothes in school is under attack in other countries, too. |
B.show that dress code is necessary even in a country like Italy |
C.let us see that Italian students react differently to schools' requests. |
D.tell us that a debate started in Italian middle schools over the way students dress in School |
A relationship is defined as a state of connectedness between people. Although in today’s society with its crazy rhythm of everyday life, when people tend to live in thickly populated cities, spending most of their time in the office and hardly knowing their neighbor’s name, we still find ourselves in some kinds of relationships-with friends, family, or colleagues.
Family relationships are the first relationships people enter. Parents and relatives influence our emotional development by creating a model that we are sometimes bound to follow all our lives, often subconsciously (潜意识地). In day-care, at school, then in the office we spend a lot of time among fellow students and co-workers. We learn to keep business relationships, to work in a team environment, then form smaller groups of like-minded people and finally select some of them as our friends.
What is a true friendship? How does it start? Are we destined to become friends with certain people or can we actually plan whom to be friends with?
“Everybody‘s friend is nobody’s.” said Arthur Schopenhauer. Unlike a companionship based on belonging to the same team or group, friendship is a very personal and selective type of relationship. It calls for trust, sincerity, and emotional bonds.
Sociologists believe that most people are looking for similarities in views, social status, and interests when choosing friends. No wonder that our friends are often people of the same age, sex, and education. Another important factor is joint activity and solidarity. This is the reason why many of us befriend our colleagues and other people who work in the same field.
Most people would agree that a friend is someone who always listens and understands. Understanding in this context implies a lot of meanings-compassion, sympathy, and emotional closeness. It’s a process in which your friend reads your emotional state, shares your feelings, identifies himself or herself with you.What is the best title of this passage?_______
A.Family and Relationships |
B.How to Make Friends with Colleagues |
C.What is a True Friendship |
D.People and Relationship |
According to the passage, which of the following affects us most when choosing friends?
A.Kindergarten. | B.Family. | C.School. | D.Office. |
Why are our friends usually of the same age,sex,and education?
A.Because they are clever and well-behaved. |
B.Because most of us are looking for similarities in views,social status, and interests when choosing friends. |
C.Because they help us with our work and share our happiness and sorrow. |
D.Because they cooperate with us well. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A.A companionship is based on belonging to the same team or group. |
B.Friendship needs trust, sincerity, and emotional bonds. |
C.Relationships are friendships between people. |
D.Understanding is a process in which the friend reads our emotional state, shares our feelings, identifies himself / herself with us. |
The bus driver and his passengers were being hailed (拥戴) as heroes last night after rescuing a woman from her burning car following a crash on the Bluff Highway. The 60-year-old woman was taken by ambulance to Southland Hospital after firefighters battled for 30 minutes to cut her from her car.
Acting Senior Sergeant Brock Davis of Invercargill, said emergency services were called to the scene of the crash at the crossroads of Motorimu Rd and State Highway I shortly before 5:00 p.m. yesterday.
Mr. Davis said a Mitsubishi car driven by a 30-year-old man traveling north on the highway and the woman’s southbound (南行的) Suzuki Alto collided (碰撞). The man suffered slight injuries in the crash, he said.
Invercargill Passenger Transport Ltd driver Bill McDermott and his passengers—New Zealand Aluminum Smelters Ltd workers were first on the scene and alerted emergency services. The scene at the spot was disordered, Mr. McDermott said.
“There was a car on its side and a guy wandering around who was quite excited,” he said. “We stopped, got out and found a lady trapped in her car …… then we noticed flames in the engine bay and the smell of petrol.” Mr. McDermott took a fire extinguisher(灭火器) from the bus, doused (泼洒) the flames, and several other workers controlled traffic.
However, he said his actions were “no big deal”. He was not willing to take any credit for helping the woman.
“The praise goes to all the guys that jumped off that bus.” Invercargill Senior Station officer Alan Goldsworthy, who was an officer in charge at the scene, said there was a possibility the car could have burst into flames if Mr. McDermott and the smelter workers had not helped. “They should acquire a good pat on the back.” he said.It can be known from the passage that the car accident happened _______.
A.at noon | B.in the afternoon | C.in the morning | D.at night |
Who should get the biggest praise according to the reporter?__
A.Brock Davis. | B.Bill McDermott. | C.Allan Goldsworthy. | D.The firefighters. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?______
A.The first witnesses of the accident were passers-by. |
B.The woman driver was driving north before the accident. |
C.The firefighters spent half an hour helping the woman out. |
D.With the bus driver and his passengers’ help, the woman’s car didn‘t burst into flames. |
The underlined sentence “They should acquire a good pat on the back” in the last paragraph really means ________.
A.the government should give each of the heroes a gold medal of honor |
B.the saved woman should offer as much money to the heroes as she can |
C.the good deeds of the heroes are well worthy of great appreciation |
D.everybody there should pat the heroes on the back gently and thankfully |
I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading(在...上面走) water, just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn’t think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.
I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.
It takes confidence to make a new start — here’s a dark period in-between where you’re neither one thing nor the other. You’re out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you’re too ashamed to say, “Well, I’m writing a novel, but I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get there.” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published, I put it aside.
Then I met an agent(代理商)who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.
The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal — that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.
It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck — of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there’s no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract(合同)of the publisher — to be a published writer — is unbelievably rewarding.The author decided to write a novel ______ .
A.to finish the writing course | B.to realize her own dream |
C.to satisfy readers’ wish | D.to earn more money |
How did the writer feel halfway with the novel?
A.Disturbed. | B.Ashamed. | C.Confident. | D.Uncertain. |
What does the author mainly want to tell readers in the last paragraph?
A.It pays off to stick to one’s goal. |
B.Hard work can lead to success. |
C.She feels like being unexpectedly lucky. |
D.There is no end in sight when starting to do something. |
How would you like to sleep with one half your brain asleep and the other half awake? Dolphins sleep this way. Recently, scientists at Indiana State University have discovered that ducks sleep this way too. They found that ducks sleep half awake so they can rest and watch for danger at the same time.
After putting their ducks in a row and videotaping them, some researchers found ducks on the end of each row spent more time asleep with one eye open, apparently looking for predators.
“The more the ducks felt threatened, the more they slept with one eye open,” said lead author Niels C. Rattenborg, a graduate student at Indiana State University, Terre Haute. “The unique aspect is not that they do it, but that they control it. When they sleep at the edge of a group, they tend to realize greater danger, so they spend more time sleeping with one half of their brain.” Ducks with one eye open were still awake enough to detect predators, said the authors of the study, which appears today in the journal Nature.
The researchers studied four groups of four ducks held in plastic boxes, which were arranged in a row. Ducks on the end were found to sleep with one eye open 31.8 per cent of the time, compared to 12.4 percent of the time for ducks in the central position.
Also, ducks in the central position did not open one eye more than the others, while ducks on each end kept the eye facing away from the group open 86.2 per cent of the time. Brain wave readings of the ducks showed that the half of the brain receiving signals from the closed eye indicated that half of the brain was sleeping. Signals from the half of the brain receiving signals from the open eye showed a state between fully awake and asleep.The under lined word “predator” is most likely to mean.
A.an animal that is likely to be friends with ducks |
B.a human being who looks after and feeds ducks |
C.a scientist who does research work on animals |
D.an animal that hunts, kills and eats other animals |
Ducks at the end of each row sleep with one eye open because.
A.they are looking for food |
B.they are watching out for danger |
C.they want to enjoy the scenery |
D.they are unique in their sleeping habit |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A.Ducks with one eye open at the edge can still enjoy a certain degree of sleep. |
B.Ducks with less sense of duty usually choose to stay in the center of a row. |
C.Ducks on the northern end of a row would keep their eye facing the south open. |
D.A video tape recorder was the only electronic device used in the experiment. |