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The practice of students endlessly copying letters and sentences from a blackboard is a thing of the past. With the coming of new technologies like computers and smart phones, writing by hand has become something of a nostalgic(怀旧的) skill. However, while today’s educators are using more and more technology in their teaching, many believe basic handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful—both in school and in life.
Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says it’s important to continue teaching handwriting and help children acquire the skill of writing by hand.
Berninger and her colleagues conducted a study that looked at the ability of students to complete various writing tasks－both on a computer and by hand. The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, participants wrote longer essays and more complete sentences and had a faster word production rate.
In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student’s writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to how well they can write. “Spelling makes some of the thinking parts of the brain active, which helps us understand our vocabulary, word meaning and concepts. It is allowing our written language to connect with ideas.” Berninger said.
Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe (转换) “those words in the mind into written symbols on paper or keyboard and screen,” the study said. Seeing the words in the “mind’s eye” helps children not only to turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to spot spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct them over time.
“In our computer age, some people believe that we don’t have to teach spelling because we have spell checks，” she said. “But until a child has a functional spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, they won’t have the knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the choices given by the computer.”
1.What makes writing by hand a thing of the past?
A．The absence of blackboards in classrooms.
B．The use of new technologies in teaching.
C．The lack of practice in handwriting.
D．The popular use of smart phones.
2.Berninger’s study published in 2009 ________.
A．focused on the difference between writing by hand and on a computer
B．indicated that students prefer to write with a pen and paper
C．found that good essays are made up of long sentences
D．discussed the importance of writing speed
3.Which of the following best shows the role of spelling?
A．Spelling improves one’s memory of words.
B．Spelling ability is closely related to writing ability.
C．Spelling benefits the translation from words into ideas.
D．Spelling slows down finding exact words to express ideas.
4.What does “mind’s eye” in Paragraph 5 mean?
A．Window B．Soul C．Picture D．Imagination
5.What conclusion could be drawn from the passage?
A．Computers can help people with their choice of words.
B．Spell checks can take the place of spelling teaching.
C．Handwriting still has a place in today’s classrooms.
D．Functional spelling ability develops fast in the fifth grade.
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What makes a gift special? Is it the price you see on the gift receipt？Or is it the look on the recipient's face when they receive it that determines the true value? What gift is worth the most?
This Christmas I was debating what to give my father. My dad is a hard person to buy for because he never wants anything. I pulled out my phone to read a text message from my mom saying that we were leaving for Christmas shopping for him when I came across a message on my phone that I had locked. The message was from my father. My eyes fell on a photo of a flower taken in Wyoming, and underneath a poem by William Blake. The flower, a lone dandelion (蒲公英) standing against the bright blue sky, inspired me. My dad had been reciting those words to me since I was a kid. That may even be the reason why I love writing. I decided that those words would be my gift to my father.
I called back. I told my mom to go without me and that I already created my gift. I sent the photo of the cream-colored flower to my computer and typed the poem on top of it. As I was arranging the details another poem came to mind. The poem was written by Edgar Allan Poe；my dad recited it as much as he did the other. I typed that out as well and searched online for a background to the words of it. The poem was focused around dreaming, and after searching I found the perfect picture. The image was painted with blues and greens and purples, twisting together to create the theme and wonder of a dream. As I watched both poems passing through the printer, the white paper coloring with words that shaped my childhood, I felt that this was a gift that my father would truly appreciate. Christmas soon arrived. The minute I saw the look on my dad’s face as he unwrapped those black letters carefully placed in a cheap frame, I knew I had given the perfect gift.
1.The idea for a special gift began to form when the author was _________.
A．doing shopping B．having a debate
C．reading a message D．leaving for Wyoming
2.The author's inspiration for the gift came from _________.
A．a photo of a flower B．a story about a kid
C．a call from the mother D．a text about Christmas
3.The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refers to a poem by _________.
A．the father B．the author C．William Blake D．Edgar Allan Poe
4.The author made the gift by ________.
A．searching for the poems online
B．drawing the background by hand
C．painting the letters in three colors
D．matching the words with pictures
5.What is the main purpose of the passage?
A．To show how to design images for gifts
B．To suggest making gifts from one’s heart
C．To explain how computers help create gifts
D．To describe the gifts the author has received
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From the health point of view we are living in a marvelous age. We are immunized (免疫) from birth against many of the most dangerous diseases. A large number of once deadly illnesses can now be cured by modern drugs and medical treatment. It is almost certain that one day cures will be found for the most stubborn remaining diseases. The expectation of life has increased enormously. But though the possibility of living a long and happy life is greater than ever before, every day we witness the unbelievable slaughter (屠杀) of men, women and children on the roads. Man vs the motor-car! It is a never-ending battle which man is losing. Thousands of people the world over are killed or horribly killed each year and we are quietly sitting back and letting it happen.
It has been rightly said that when a man is sitting behind a steering wheel (方向盘), his car becomes the extension of his personality. There is no doubt that the motor-car often brings out a man’s very worst qualities. People who are normally quiet and pleasant may become unrecognizable when they are behind a steering-wheel. They are ill-mannered and aggressive, willful as two-year-olds and absolutely selfish. All their hidden disappointments and regrets seem to be brought by the act of driving.
The surprising thing is that society smiles so kindly on the motorist and seems to forgive his behavior. Everything is done for his convenience. Cities are allowed to become almost impossible to live in because of heavy tragic; towns are made ugly by huge car parks; the countryside is ruined by road networks; and the mass annual slaughter becomes nothing more than a statistic, to be conveniently forgotten.
It is high time a world system of laws were created to reduce this senseless waste of human life. As for driving, the laws of some countries are not strict and even the strictest are not strict enough. Here are a few examples of some the things that might be done. The driving test should be standardized and made far more difficult than it is; all the drivers should be made to take a test every three years or so; the age at which young people are allowed to drive any vehicle should be raised to at least 21; all vehicles should be put through strict annual tests for safety. Even the smallest amount of alcohol in the blood can affect a person’s driving ability. Present drinking and driving laws (where they exist) should be made much stricter. Maximum and minimum speed limits should be introduced on all roads. Governments should lay down safety specifications (规范) for manufacturers, as has been done in the USA. All advertising stressing power and performance should be banned. These measures may sound inordinately severe. But surely nothing should be considered as too severe if it results in reducing the annual toll of human life. After all, the world is for human beings, not motor-cars.
1.The main idea of this passage is _________.
A．Traffic accidents are mainly caused by motorists.
B．Thousands of people the world over are killed each year.
C．The laws of some countries about driving are not too strict.
D．Only stricter traffic laws can prevent accidents.
2.What does the author think of society toward motorists?
A．Society laughs at the motorists.
B．Huge car parks are built in the cities and towns.
C．Victims of accidents are nothing.
D．Society forgives their rude driving.
3.Why does the author say: “his car becomes the extension of his personality?”
A．Driving can show his real self.
B．Driving can show the other part of his personality.
C．Driving can bring out his character.
D．His car can express his temper.
4.Which of the followings is NOT mentioned as a way against traffic accidents?
A．Build more highways. B．Make stricter driving tests
C．Test drivers every three years. D．Raise age limit and lay down safety specifications.
5.The attitude of the author is _________.
A．ironical B．critical C．appealing D．favorable
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Franz Kafka wrote that “A book must be the ax(斧子)for the frozen sea inside us.” I once shared this sentence with a class of seventh graders, and it didn’t seem to require any explanation.
We’d just finished John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. When we read the end together out loud in class, my toughest boy, a star basketball player, wept a little, and so did I. “Are you crying?” one girl asked, as she got out of her chair to take a closer look. “I am,” I told her, “and the funny thing is I’ve read it many times.”
But they understood. When George shoots Lennie, the tragedy is that we realize it was always going to happen. In my 14 years of teaching in a New York City public middle school, I’ve taught kids with imprisoned parents, abusive parents, irresponsible parents; kids who are parents themselves; kids who are homeless; kids who grew up in violent neighborhoods. They understand, more than I ever will, the novel’s terrible logic—the giving way of dreams to fate (命运).
For the last seven years, I have worked as a reading enrichment teacher, reading classic works of literature(文学) with small groups of students from grades six to eight. I originally proposed this idea to my headmaster after learning that a former excellent student of mine had transferred out of a selective high school—one that often attracts the literary-minded (有文学头脑的) children of Manhattan’s upper classes—into a less competitive school. The daughter of immigrants (移民), with a father in prison, she perhaps felt uncomfortable with her new classmates. I thought additional “cultural capital” could help students like her develop better in high school, where they would unavoidably meet, perhaps for the first time, students who came from homes lined with bookshelves, whose parents had earned Ph.D.’s.
Along with Of Mice and Men, my groups read: Sounder, The Red Pony, Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. The students didn’t always read from the expected point of view. About The Red Pony, one student said, “it's about being a man, it’s about manliness (男子气概).” I had never before seen the parallels between Scarface and Macbeth, nor had I heard Lady Macbeth’s soliloquies (独白) read as raps, but both made sense; the interpretations were playful, but serious. Once introduced to Steinbeck’s writing, one boy went on to read The Grapes of Wrath and told me repeatedly how amazing it was that “all these people hate each other, and they’re all white.” His historical view was broadening, his sense of his own country deepening. Year after year, former students visited and told me how prepared they had felt in their first year in college as a result of the classes.
Year after year, however, we are increasing the number of practice tests. We are trying to teach students to read increasingly complex texts, not for emotional punch (碰撞) but for text complexity. Yet, we cannot enrich the minds of our students by testing them on texts that ignore their hearts. We are teaching them that words do not amaze but confuse. We may succeed in raising test scores, but we will fail to teach them that reading can be transformative and that it belongs to them.
1.The underlined words in Paragraph 1 probably mean that a book helps to________.
A．realize our dreams
B．give support to our life
C．smooth away difficulties
D．awake our emotions
2.Why were the students able to understand the novel Of Mice and Men?
A．Because they spent much time reading it.
B．Because they had read the novel before.
C．Because they came from a public school.
D．Because they had similar life experiences.
3.The girl left the selective high school possibly because ________.
A．she was a literary-minded girl
B．her parents were immigrants
C．she couldn’t fit in with her class
D．her father was then in prison
4.To the author’s surprise, the students read the novels ________.
A．creatively B．passively C．repeatedly D．carelessly
5.The author writes the passage mainly to ________.
A．introduce classic works of literature
B．advocate teaching literature to touch the heart
C．argue for equality among high school students
D．defend the current testing system
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