A year after graduation, I was offered a position teaching a writing class. Teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered, though several of my stories had been published. I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr. Davis. My father went by the same name, and I liked to imagine people getting the two of us confused. “Wait a minute,” someone might say, “are talking about Mr. Davis the retired man, or Mr. Davis the respectable scholar?”
The position was offered at the last minute, and I was given two week to prepare, a period I spent searching for a briefcase and standing before my full-length mirror, repeating the words, “Hello, class, I’m Mr. Davis.” Sometimes I would give myself an aggressive voice. Sometimes I would sound experienced. But when the day eventually came, my nerves kicked in and the true Mr. Davis was there. I sounded not like a thoughtful professor, but rather a 12-year-old boy.
I arrived in the classroom with paper cards designed in the shape of maple leaves. I had cut them myself out of orange construction paper. I saw nine students along a long table. I handed out the cards, and the students wrote down their names and fastened them to their breast pockets as I required.
“All right then,” I said. “Okay, here we go.” Then I opened my briefcase and realized that I had never thought beyond this moment. I had been thinking that the students would be the first to talk, offering their thoughts and opinions on the events of the day. I had imagined that I would sit on the edge of the desk, overlooking a forest of raised hands. Every student would shout to be heard, and I would knock on something in order to silence them. I would yell, “Calm down, you’ll all get your turn. One at a time, one at a time!”
A terrible silence ruled the room, and seeing no other opinions, I instructed the students to pull out their notebooks and write a brief essay related to the theme of deep disappointment.
1.The author took the job to teach writing because______________.
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A．he wanted to be respected |
B．he had written some stories |
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C．he wanted to please his father |
D．he had dreamed of being a teacher |
2.What can we learn about the author from Paragraph 2?
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A．He would be aggressive in his first class. |
B．He was well-prepared for his first class. |
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C．He got nervous upon the arrival of his first class. |
D．He waited long for the arrival of his first class. |
3.Before he started his class, the author asked the students to_______.
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A．write down their suggestions on the paper cards |
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B．cut maple leaves out of the construction paper |
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C．cut some cards out the construction paper |
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D．write down their names on the paper cards |
4. What did the students do when the author started his class?
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A．They began to talk. |
B．They stayed silent. |
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C．They raised their hands. |
D．They shouted to be heard. |
5.The author chose the composition topic probably because________.
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A．he got disappointed with his first class |
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B．he had prepared the topic before class. |
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C．he wanted to calm down the students |
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D．he thought it was an easy topic |
Of all the areas of learning the most important is the development of attitudes. Emotional reactions as well as logical thought processes affect the behavior of most people.
“The burnt child fears the fire” is one instance; another is the rise of figures like Hitler. Both these examples point up the fact that attitudes come from experience. In the one case the experience was direct and impressive; in the other it was indirect and gradual.
The classroom teacher in the elementary school is in strategic position to influence attitudes. This is true partly because children acquire attitudes from those adults whose word they respect.
Another reason it is true is that pupils often search somewhat deeply into a subject in school that has only been touched upon at home or has possibly never occurred to them before. To a child who has previously acquire little knowledge of Mexico, his teacher’s method of handling such a unit would greatly affect his attitude toward Mexicans.
The teacher can develop proper attitudes through social studies, science matters, the very atmosphere of the classroom, etc. However, when children come to school with undesirable attitudes, it is unwise to attempt to change their feelings by criticizing them. The teacher can achieve the proper effect by helping them obtain constructive experience.
To illustrate, first-grade pupils, afraid of policemen will probably change their attitudes after a classroom talk with the neighborhood officer in which he explains how he protects them. In the same way, a class of older children can develop attitudes through discussion, research, outside reading and all-day trips.
Finally, a teacher must constantly evaluate her own attitudes, because her influence can be harmful she has personal prejudices. This is especially true in respect to controversial issues and questions of which children should be encouraged to reach their own decisions as result of objective analysis of all the facts.
1.The author uses the phrase “the burnt child fears the fire” in order to __________.
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A．stress the importance of keeping child from the fire |
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B．exemplify（例证） the opinion that attitudes come from experience |
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C．illustrate the important role of attitudes towards study in the early childhood |
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D．none of the above |
2.According to the author, teachers may have great influence on children’s attitudes because___________.
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A．they can use marks to judge students |
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B．they can control students’ behavior |
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C．they may judge a student from their own likes and dislikes |
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D．their words are usually respected by the children |
3.Through which of the following factor a teacher CANNOT develop proper attitudes of students?
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A．Social studies |
B．Science matters |
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C．The very atmosphere of the classroom |
D．Criticism of children’s behavior |
4.In the author’s opinion, a teacher must constantly evaluate her own attitudes because_______.
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A．her personal attitudes may affect her students if she is prejudiced |
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B．she need to improve herself too |
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C．she is also often influenced by her students |
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D．she may not have a constant attitude towards some controversial sues（控诉） |
5.The main readers of this passage may be ___________.
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A．psychologists conducting complicated experiments |
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B．parents who have children in school |
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C．school teachers |
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D．students in primary school |
There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, vastly different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority（优先）it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is, how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities（复杂）of spelling.
If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher’s interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to “play safe”. He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurous language. That’s why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.
I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: “ This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling errors and your writing is illegible（难以辨认的）.” It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil’s technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had omitted to read the essay, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child’s deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the errors, but if his priorities had centered on the child’s ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation（动力）to seek improvement.
1.Teachers are different in their opinions about ___________.
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A．the difficulties in teaching spelling |
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B．the role of spelling in general language development |
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C．the complexities of the basic writing skills |
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D．the necessity of teaching spelling |
2. The expression “play safe” probably means ____________.
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A．to write carefully |
B．to do as the teachers say |
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C．to use dictionaries frequently |
D．to avoid using words one is not sure of |
3. Teachers encourage the use of dictionaries so that___________.
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A．students will be able to express their ideas more freely |
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B．students will have more confidence in writing |
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C．teachers will have less trouble in correcting mistakes |
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D．students will learn to be independent of teachers |
4. The writer seems to think that the teacher’s judgment on that sensitive piece of writing is____________.
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A．unfair |
B．reasonable |
C．foolish |
D．careless |
5.The major point discussed in the passage is_____________.
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A．the importance of developing writing skills |
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B．the complexities of spelling |
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C．the correct way of marking compositions |
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D．the relationship between spelling and the content of a composition |
完型填空（共20小题；每小题1。5分，满分30分）
Every human being, 36 what he is doing, gives off body heat. The usual problem is 37 dispose of it. But the designers of the Johnstown campus of the University of Pittsburgh set themselves the 38 problem — how to collect body heat. They have designed a collection system which utilizes 39 body heat, but the heat given off by such objects 40 light bulbs and refrigerators as well. The system works so well 41 no conventional fuel is needed 42 the campus’ six buildings comfortable.
Some parts of most modern buildings — theatres and offices 43 classrooms — are more than amply heated by people and lights and sometimes must be air-conditioned 44 in winter. The technique of 45 heat and redistributing it is 46 “heat recover”. A few modern buildings recover 47 , but the university’s system is the first to recover heat 48 some buildings and re-use it in 49 . Along the way, Pitt has learned a great deal about some of its heat producers. The 50 a student studies, the more heat his body 51 . Male students emit more heat than 52 students, and the larger a student, the more heat he 53 . It is tempting to 54 that the hottest prospect for the Johnstown campus would be a 55 , over-weight male genius.
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20.A. easy-going . fun-making C.hard-working D. good-for-nothing
After hours of repair, the driver tried to start the machine but it _________ work.
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A．won’t |
B．shouldn’t |
C．wouldn’t |
D．couldn’t |
This is an adventurous spot, _________ courage matters more than strength.
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A．which |
B．/ whose |
C．/ that |
D．/ where |
