Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea of the passage and how it is illustrated. Use your own words as far as possible.
e-learning: Hazy past—better future?
How much of an effect does technology have on students’ learning? A significant one, it seems, according to experts. Currently available technologies, the most important of which are computers and the Internet, apparently provide a learning environment in which problem-solving and intellectual enquiry can flourish. The process of learning in the classroom may become significantly more effective as students can deal with information on the computer. Or so the theory goes. My own viewpoint is rather different, I’m afraid.
Computers have been around for two decades as part of school equipment. There are, of course, obstacles like costs to overcome, but it’s just a matter of time and effort. This is because schools have done what every organisation does when it sees an innovation—it applies the innovation to its existing model, which adds cost but doesn’t transform the standard classroom. We have, during that period, spent over $60 billion on them, but in my view they seem to have had little or no effect on learning in schools. Content is king and the mode of delivery is irrelevant. If a teacher makes the subject matter interesting, it does not matter what, if any, equipment is used.
However, change is on the horizon. I think student-centred learning will become the norm and transform education. Computers will pave the way for far more independent learning. Students who currently don’t have access to schools or teachers are now able to get online. They can study from home thanks to the fact that more learning programmes are being written for learners who are forced by their circumstances to be self-sufficient. This would prove especially beneficial in those areas of the world where quality education is limited or extremely expensive. Therefore, in a few years’ time we could have a completely different conversation about technology and its impact on learning.
高三英语概要写作中等难度题
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea of the passage and how it is illustrated. Use your own words as far as possible.
Since the dawn of civilization, crop diversity has always been holding an important position as the foundation of agriculture. Food plants have been domesticated, selected, exchanged, and improved by farmers in traditional ways, within traditional production systems. This process has been hugely accelerated and focused by scientific crop improvement, leading to the steady rise in yields since the 1960s. Half of the increase in food production globally can be attributed to genetic improvement.
But experts say the number of crops has decreased sharply during the past century. One of the world’s largest seed conservation projects has predicted further losses. The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is warning that up to one hundred thousand plant species could permanently disappear. The rich collection of genes that decide their qualities would disappear with them.
Many experts blame climate change for damaging plant life. Rising temperatures, changing seasonal patterns and increasing frequency of extreme weather events are the invisible hand behind the great reduction. Others say human activities and poorly planned, overly heavy use of land also are responsible. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says modern business farming is responsible for loss of farmers’ traditional crop varieties. Though the use of modern commercial farming methods saved millions of people from starvation, some traditional crops were lost during the process.
More recently, the UN Sustainable Development Goals have called for global efforts to highlight the protection and revival of crop diversity as an important means to ensure that crop diversity is conserved and made available for food and nutritional security to feed the increasing population of our planet. On top of the agenda is to maintain the genetic diversity of seeds and cultivated plants through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels. Equally important, more government funds be channeled into rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in less developed countries.
高三英语概要写作困难题查看答案及解析
Directions : Read the following passage. Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage. Use your own words as far as possible.
Textbooks. Lecture hails. Over the next decade, technology may sweep away some of the most basic aspects of a university education and lead in a flood of innovations and changes. Look for online classes that let students learn at their own pace, drawing on materials from schools across the country - not just a single professor and one textbook.
All those changes probably won’t make a university education cheaper - alas --but they will likely change our perceptions about how we value it. Traditionally, schools have been judged by how many prospective students they turn away，not by how many competent graduates they put out.
“ Those are status rankings，driven by exclusivity and preservation of an old model, says Michael Crow, the president of Arizona State University. But as new technologies come into the classroom, it will be easier to measure what students actually learn. That will 4<make universities more accountable for what they produce, “ Dr. Crow says.
In the near future, instead of classrooms, professors will run their courses over digital platforms capable of collecting data on each students progress. These platforms were initially developed for massive open online courses, or MOOCs. However, universities are now folding these platforms back into their traditional classes because they make it easier to share content, host discussions and keep track of student work. A professor might still “teach” class, but most of the interaction will happen online. If professors and students do meet in a physical classroom, it will be to review material, work through problems or work on discussion topics. Scenes like John Houseman lecturing to a classroom full of students will be a thing of the past.
These platforms are constantly improving. Soon, they will be able to monitor which students are spending 15 minutes on a maths problem and which ones work hard for an hour. This can raise red flags for professors (and their teaching assistants) about who might need extra help. As Rovy Brannon, associate dean at the University of Wisconsin-Extension, says, “The course platform will get to know you far better than your professor does today.
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高三英语概要写作中等难度题查看答案及解析
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage. Use your own words as far as possible.
They like using the Internet. They have lots of pocket money to spend. And they spend a higher proportion of it online than the rest of us. Teenagers are just the sort of people an online seller is interested in, and the things they want to buy — games, CDs and clothing — are easily sold on the Web.
But paying online is a tricky business for consumers who are too young to own credit cards. Most have to use a parents card. They want a facility that allows them to spend money.
That may come sooner than they think: new ways to take pocket money into cyber space are coming out rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic. If successful, these products could stimulate online sales.
In general, teenagers spend huge amounts: $153 bn (billion) in the US last year and £20 bn annually in the UK. Most teenagers have access to the Internet at home or at school — 88 percent in the US, 69 percent in the UK. According to Jupiter Research, one in eight of those with Internet access has bought something online — mainly CDs and books.
In most cases, parents pay for these purchases with credit cards, an arrangement that is often unsatisfactory for them and their children. Pressing parents to spend online is less productive than pressing on the high street. They’re more likely to ask “Why” if you ask to spend some money online.
One way to help teenagers change notes and coins into cybercash is through prepaid cards such as IntenetCash in the US and Smart cards in the UK, Similar to those for pay-as-you-go mobile telephones, they are sold in amounts such as £20 or $50 with a concealed 14-digit number that can be used to load the cash into an online account.
高三英语概要写作中等难度题查看答案及解析
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage. Use your own words as far as possible.
Right Colors for Restaurant Walls?
Have you ever noticed that many restaurants have red or orange walls? This fashion comes from the widely held belief that these two colors stimulate the appetite. Restauranteurs hope that by stimulating the appetites of their customers in this way, they can encourage them to order more food.
A large fast - food chain recently decided to test the belief that the color of the decoration affects how much food their customers order. This company has restaurants in major cities across the US and serves customers of all ages, including small children. The traditional decoration of this restaurant chain includes beige（米色的）paint on the walls. For this test, the company painted the walls in half of its restaurants orange, leaving the other half of its restaurants with their original beige walls. In order to make up for the possible influence of cultural differences between cities, the company made sure that in every city where its restaurants are located, there were both restaurants with orange walls and restaurants with beige walls.
The restaurant chain kept track of exactly what foods were ordered in each restaurant for one year before the walls were painted, and then again for one year after the walls had been painted. They found no difference. On average, customers in each restaurant, whether is had beige or of the company said. “We have proven it.”
The wall s of all the restaurants in the chain have been restored to their original beige color. The company president explained that this color is part of the company’s image. Now that the study is over, people might be confused if they walked into a restaurant expecting beige walls and got orange instead, so the company president explained.
高三英语概要写作困难题查看答案及解析
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea of the passage and how it is illustrated. Use your own words as far as possible.
In spite of all of the years spent in school preparing to enter the workplace, many recent graduates say that they struggle with the transition from classroom to career world and have difficulty adjusting to life on the job.
Writer and editor Joseph Lewis suggests one reason why this is the case. Lewis believes that most of our school experiences — from childhood through university -are fairly predictable, while life in the working world is far more ambiguous. In school, for example, the pattern stays more or less the same from year to year. In the workplace, however, constant change is the norm, and one has to adapt quickly. A project you are working on this month might suddenly change next month or next week, and it’s often hard to anticipate what you’ll be doing six to twelve months from now.
Another problem that graduates entering the workforce encounter is that they are unprepared to think analytically. In school, many students including those in college, spend a lot of time memorizing facts and repeating what they “learned” on tests. But in the workplace employees are often expected to think critically and make decisions about their work, not just follow a supervisor’s instructions.
Finally, many recent graduates say that one of the biggest difficulties they face is adapting to teamwork on the job. In some ways, school does prepare one for collaborative nature of the workplace. Learners sit classes every day with many other students. They must listen to others’ opinions, participate at times in group discussions, and learn how to get along outside the classroom. Nevertheless, in school, a student normally works independently to complete most tasks and receives a grade according to how well he or she has done. In the workplace, however, employees must regularly interact with others and are often dependent on their co-workers for their success.
高三英语概要写作中等难度题查看答案及解析
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.
The New Dinner and a Movie
Dinner and a movie was a two-part affair. But increasingly, the two have blended into a single experience, allowing moviegoers to get fries and a beer while they watch the latest superhero blockbuster. Full-service theaters have become a Friday-night pastime as Americans are going to the movies.
Dine-in cinemas are not altogether new. In the late 1980s, brothers Mike and Brian Mc Menamin opened one in Portland, Ore. A decade later, inspired by the Mc Menamins, Tim and Karrie League began pairing trendy beer with hits like The Craft at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin. But in recent years, the trend has expanded from marginal to mainstream. There are now 29 Alamo locations nationwide, from Omaha to El Paso.
Full-service theaters appeal to a broader, more regionally diverse customer base. At Movie Tavern in Roswel, Ga., for instance, you can order popcorn seafood and a “Jumbo Jar” cocktail while watching Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. AMC, the biggest U.S. movie-theater company, launched Dine-In, where meals can be ordered with the push of a button.
The rise in full-service moviegoing coincides with declining ticket sales across the industry more broadly. North American movie attendance in 2017 dropped to what appears to be a 27-year low. The downward tendency is the continuation of a 15-year trend. As younger audiences choose to consume content on their smartphones and the popularity of streaming rises dramatically, it’s no wonder that theater owners are seeking creative ways to stimulate customers off their couches. It’s working: despite a 2% decline in movie attendance over four years, AMC Dine-In achieved 4% growth in just two.
Full-service theaters are not without complaints. Despite servers’ attempts to quiet down, many find them distracting when serving food. Besides, prices tend to get steeper once varieties of food enter the mix.
But for those with the funds, the full-service theater offers reason enough to quit online movies.
高三英语概要写作中等难度题查看答案及解析
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.
Where are the bees?
Bees are essential to the production of food we eat. Bees make honey, but they also pollinate large areas of crops, such as straw berries, apples and onions. About a third of the food we eat is a result of pollination of the bees. Unfortunately, bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate.
In 2006, bee keepers started reporting about something called Colony Collapse Disaster (CCD).The main sign of CCD is the loss of adult honey bees from a hive. In October of 2006, some beekeepers reported that they had lost between 30 and 90 percent of their hives.
There were many theories for the disappearance of the bees. But the most convincing one has to do with pesticides and lifestyles of bees today. Nowadays, beekeeper get most of their income not from producing honey but from renting bees to pollinate plants. This means that the life of the typical bee now consists of travelling all around the country to pollinate crops as the seasons change. That means a lot of traveling on trucks, which is very stressful to bees. It is not unusual for up to 30% of the hive to die during transport due to stress. In addition, bees that spend most of their time locked up on trucks are not exposed to what they usually live on. Instead, they live on a sweet liquid from corn, usually polluted with pesticides.
The exact reason for the disappearance of bees is not sure, but losing bees is very costly to the economy. The bee pollination services are worth over $8 billion a year. With no bees, pollination will have to be done by hand, which would have effects on the quality of food and increased food priced. We hear a lot about big environmental disasters almost every day. But one of the biggest may just be the less of that tiny flying insect.
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高三英语概要写作中等难度题查看答案及解析
Directions：Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.
Small businesses hold the key to employed happiness. As the calendar flips to another year, many employees will consider starting the new year on the hunt for a new job.
In today’s changing workforce, it is more important than ever for companies to realize that a salary alone is no longer enough to attract or retain strong employees.
According to a survey by Aflac, small business deserve a round of applause for their ability to keep employees happy. The report found that 85 percent of small-business employees are happy in their current job, and more than half（51 percent）agree that most of or all of their happiness in their current job is a result of working for a small business.
Nearly a quarter of participants（23 percent）stated that the feeling of importance was the best part of working for a small business. Small businesses have the unique ability to make employees feel appreciated, respected and valued on a personal and professional level.
In a small-business environment, there are typically fewer layers between newcomers and leadership. This tight-knit structure can create a family-like atmosphere that allows employees to feel that their opinions matter and that they play a significant role in the business’s mission.
Flexibility is also vital in creating employee happiness. According to the report, 30 percent of respondents noted that flexible scheduling was the best part of working for a small business. A workplace that promotes healthy work-life balance can create happier, less stressed employees and can also increase productivity.
Although small business excel at keeping employees happy, there is always room for improvement. In a small-business community, money does not seem to be the only motivator. In fact, 65 percent of small-business employees indicate that an improvement in their benefits offerings would make them happier.
By offering a great benefits plan that includes voluntary benefits, small business can ensure that their employees are able to find the right benefits to meet their individual needs.
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高三英语阅读表达中等难度题查看答案及解析
Directions:Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.
Even without ‘assigned’ seating, it is a little surprising how many people always choose the same seat in a classroom or auditorium. Or the same table in a restaurant. After close observation, psychologists believe they have figured out the reason for this behavior.
In one such study, Marco Costa, a psychologist at the University of Bologna in Italy selected two lecture halls for a sample of 47 and 31 students. Costa purposefully chose rooms where there were more seats than students so that they had more freedom to choose where to sit. He set up hidden cameras to record how the students chose their seats over a period of four weeks. As suspected, most students picked the same scat over and over. But why?
Costa calls this habit ''territoriality(领域感).M The word often makes us think of gangs protecting their territory or wolf packs(群) fighting off other packs to control a certain area. In other words, territoriality usually suggests aggression and defense. However, Costa as well as another psychologist, Professor Robert Gifford of the University of Victoria, believes that this seat-choosing behavior is designed to keep the peace. “Most of the time，most people claim a space and others quietly agree to it, ” Gifford explained.
The phenomenon of classroom seating selection perhaps shows an even deeper truth. Life can be messy and unpredictable. The reason students go to school is to study. Going to class and knowing where you will sit is just one less thing to distract a student from this greater purpose. In short, sitting in the same place sets students up for a psychologically more comfortable learning environment and makes it easier for them to concentrate on the lecture at hand.
高三英语概要写作困难题查看答案及解析
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main points of the passage in no more than 60 words, Use your own words as far as possible
Parents everywhere praise their kids when they do well in school, win a ball game, or build an impressive sandcastle, anything that seems to be something "remarkable". Jenn Berman, author of The A to Z Guide to Raising Happy and Confident Kids, says, "We've gone to the opposite extreme of a few decades ago when parents tended to be stricter." giving kids a lot of praise, parents think they're building their children's confidence
In fact they may he wrong. Too much praise can make kids afraid to try new, things or take a risk for fear of not being able to stay on top where their parents praise has put them. Still, not giving enough praise can be just as damaging as giving too much. Kids will feel like they're not good enough and, as a result, may see no point in trying hard for their accomplishments
So what is the right amount of praise? Experts say that the quality of praise is more important than the quantity. If praise is sincere and focused an the effort - mot the outcome, you can give it as often as your child does something that deserves a verbal reward. "We should especially recognize our children's efforts to put themselves and work hard to achieve a goal, says Donahue, author of parenting Without Fear, "Your son may not be the best basketball player on his team. But if he's out there every day and playing hard, you should praise his effort regardless of whether his team wins or loses."
Praising the effort can also mean you need to identify the part where your kids make special
efforts in a particular scenario(情景). Instead of saying, "you are such a good baseball player", say, "you hit the ball really hard. You are an excellent first baseman. "Being specific is much better and helps kids identify with their special skill, Donahue says
高三英语概要写作困难题查看答案及解析