Question

To most of us, school means classes, teachers, schedules, grades and tests. But for the children at Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts, school is very different.

Firstly, there are no lessons. All the children, aged between 4 and 19, do whatever they want. There are no teachers, only “staff members”. The idea behind this is that you do not need to make children learn, because children want to learn anyway. “You do not need to say to a three-year-old, ‘Go explore your environment.’ You can’t stop them!”says Daniel Greenberg, a founder of the school. “But if you make children do what you want all day… they will lose all taste of learning.” At Sudbury Valley School, you will find children talking, reading, painting, cooking, working on computers, studying French, playing the piano, climbing trees, or just running around. Two boys spent three years just fishing!

The other way that Sudbury Valley School is different is that the children can decide the rules. Every week, there is a school meeting where both children and staff have one vote (投票)each—even the four-year-olds. They decide the school rules, how to spend the school money, and even which staff they want and do not want anymore.

When the school first opened in 1968, people said it would never work. But today, the school has 200 students, and 80% of its students go on to college. Even the two boys who went fishing all the time have successful careers today. One of them is a musician and the other is a computer scientist.

1.What's special about the school?

A. There is nobody but students there.

B. All the students are of the same age.

C. There are no classes for the students.

D. There are no rules in the school.

2.What do the students do in the school?

A. They learn everything there from the staff members.

B. They grow up there without learning anything.

C. They spend all the time with their parents.

D. They do whatever they are interested in.

3.The school seems to believe that children________.

A. learn best when they are doing what they want

B. are too young to learn anything by themselves

C. can look after themselves without any help

D. can't go to college without any hard work

4.The last paragraph wants to tell us that_          .

A. the writer doesn't like the idea of the school

B. the school is quite successful in its work

C. most of the parents don't believe in the school

D. younger students learn better there than older ones

5.The underlined word career in the last paragraph most probably means_.

A. family   B. money    C. lifestyle    d. job

Answer

1.C

2.D

3.A

4.B

5.D

【解析】【主旨大意】本文主要讲述了美国第一家提倡“自主学习”的学校，此类型学校基本理念为民主式管理和自由式教育，教学特点为弱化班级概念，混合年龄，以及学生、教员完全平等的民主式管理。学校认为学生学习无需定式，学习完全可以在任何的日常活动中进行，学生应自主决定学习方式和人生方向。

1.主旨理解题。由于瑟谷学校教学特点为弱化班级概念，混合年龄，以及学生、教员完全平等的民主式管理。故选C。

2.细节理解题。由第二段第一句“Firstly, there are no lessons. All the children, aged between 4 and 19, do whatever they want”可知学生在学校做他们感兴趣的事情。

3.细节理解题。由第二段最后一句可知，学校倡导学生“自主学习”。故选A。

4.细节推理题。由最后一段可知，80%的学生能上大学，甚至每天钓鱼的两个学生，一个成了音乐家，另一个科学家。说明了瑟谷学校的“自主学习”模式是成功的。故选B。

5.细节理解题。由第四段最后一句“一个成了音乐家，另一个科学家”可知，career表示“职业”，在四外选项中，只有job具有职业的意思，故选D。