If you wanted to know what it’s like to walk on the moon, you’d interview an astronaut. If you wanted insights(深刻的见解) on playing Hamlet, you’d study the performance of a Shakespearean actor. And if you wanted to know what the first year of teaching school is like, well... you’d ask teachers who just completed their first year on the job. We wanted to know and we asked.
This book attempts to capture the fascinating and inspiring answers we received. It is based largely on a series of discussions held among winners of the First Class Teacher Award sponsored(赞助) every year by Sallie Mae, a corporation devoted to education. As in the past years, first-year teachers who won the award came to Washington, DC in the fall for a weekend of awards and related events.
One activity that grew out of the awards is a series of focus group discussions. These discussions allow us to ask first-year teachers some key questions: What was it like the first year What were your hardest challenges and your greatest rewards? Did you get the right preparation? Do you have any insights you could offer new teachers?
The teachers talked in frank terms about what it’s like to feel rebuffed by experienced teachers, to struggle with budget cutbacks, to see children in pain. But the difficulties they related are only half the story. They also told us how they dealt with challenges, what they would want new teachers to know, and why being a teacher is so important to their sense of self. All together, their words paint a picture of an inspired and inspiring group of up-and-coming leaders in their profession. We believe their reflections will prove helpful to principals, administrators, university professors in education departments, and particularly, new teachers who are speeding up to face the first day of school. This book is built on the words and recollections(回忆) of award-winning, first-year teachers. We have used direct quotations(引用语) from teachers (with their permission), both from the focus group discussions and from a set of essays they wrote. We felt their voices needed to be heard as directly as possible. Our job was to present their insights in a way that would be useful for readers. What follows is our effort to do so.
Thank you for your interest, and we welcome your response.
Sincerely,
Sharon A. Bobbitt, Ph.D.
Director, Knowledge Applications Division
U.S. Department of Education
65.Sharon A. Bobbitt writes the passage mainly to ________.
A. inspire would-be teachers B. praise the award winners
C. share his teaching experience D. introduce a valuable book
66.What purpose does Paragraph 1 serve in the passage?
A. To provide background information of the topic.
B. To attract readers’ attention to the topic.
C. To use the examples to support the topic.
D. To offer basic knowledge of the topic.
67.Which of the following is TRUE about the First Class Teacher Award?
A. It is sponsored by Sallie Mae every year.
B. It is held sometimes in Washington, DC.
C. It focuses on discussions and contests.
D. The participants are invited to write books.
68.What does the underlined word “rebuffed” in the Paragraph 4 probably mean?
A. Impressed deeply. B. Taught sincerely.
C. Refused rudely. D. Helped warm-heartedly.
第三部分:阅读理解(第一节20小题,第二节5小题;每小题2分,共50分)
第一节:阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卷上将该项标号涂黑。
Concern with money, and then more money, in order to buy the conveniences and luxuries of modern life, has brought great changes to the lives of most Frenchmen. More people are working harder than ever before in France. In the cities the traditional leisurely midday meal is disappearing. Offices, shops, and factories are discovering the great efficiency of a short lunch hour in company lunch rooms. In almost all lines of work emphasis now falls on ever increasing output. Thus the "typical" Frenchman produces more, earns more, and buys more consumer goods than his counterpart of only a generation ago. He gains in creature comfort and ease of life. What he loses to some extent is his sense of personal uniqueness, or individuality.
Some say that France has been Americanized. This is because the United States is a world symbol of the technological society and its consumer products. The so-called Americanization of France has its critics(批评家). They fear that “assembly line(装配线)life” will lead to the disappearance of the pleasures of the more graceful and leisurely (but less productive) old French style. What will happen, they ask, to taste, elegance(优雅), and the cultivation of the good things in life to joy in the smell of a freshly picked apple, a walk by the river, or just happy hours of conversation in a local café?
Since the late 1950s life in France has indeed taken on qualities of rush, tension, and the pursuit of material gain. Some of the strongest critics of the new way of life are the young, especially university students. They are concerned with the future, and they fear that France is threatened by the achievements of this competitive, goods-oriented culture. At times, they have reacted against the trend with considerable violence.
In spite of the critics, however, countless Frenchmen are committed to keeping France in the forefront of the modern economic world. They find that the present life brings more rewards, conveniences, and pleasures than that of the past. They believe that a modern, industrial France is preferable to the old.
1.Which of the following is not given as a feature(特色) of the old French way of life?
A. Leisure. B. Taste. C. Elegance D. Efficiency.
2. The passage suggests that _________.
A. the smell of freshly picked apples is no more popular with the French
B. it’s now unlikely to see a Frenchman enjoying a walk by the river
C. in pursuing material gains the French are suffering losses elsewhere
D. student critics are great in number than the people enjoying the new lifestyle
3. Which of the following is NOT true about Frenchmen?
A. Many of them prefer the modern life style.
B. They actually enjoy working at the assembly line.
C. They are more concerned with money than before.
D. They are more competitive than the old generation.
4.Which of the following best states the main idea of the passage?
A. Great changes have occurred in the French way of Life.
B. The new life style in France is facing serious criticism.
C. France has been pushed in the forefront of the world economy.
D. Frenchmen used to be lazy and only enjoy life conveniences.
第二节完型填空(共20小题;每小题1分,满分20分)
阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从第21—40各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卷上将该项涂黑。
A group of class friends, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon 41 into complaints about pressure in work and life.
While the guests were talking, the professor went to the 42 and prepared coffee. Then he 43 with a large pot of coffee and a variety of cups — porcelain (瓷) , plastic, glass, crystal, some 44 looking, some expensive, some delicate (精致) — telling them to 45 themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee 46 hand, the professor said, “If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, 47 behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is 48 for you to choose the best for yourselves, that is the 49 of your problems and pressure. Be assured that the cup itself 50 no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. Though 51 all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, you 52 the best cups directly. And then you began 53 each other’s cups.”
The professor paused and then went on, “Now consider this: Life is the coffee and the jobs, money and 54 in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and 55 life and they do not change the 56 of life. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we 57 to enjoy the coffee God has 58 for us. God brews the coffee, not the cup…Enjoy your coffee!
The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just 59 the best use of everything.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the 60 to God.
41. A. stopped B. looked C. became D. turned
42. A. kitchen B. bedroom C. study D. living-room
43. A. went B. got C. returned D. turned
44. A. plain B. clean C. ugly D. fine
45. A. enjoy B. help C. offer D. devote
46. A. for B. by C. in D. with
47. A. falling B. leaving C. hiding D. keeping
48. A. natural B. formal C. necessary D. important
49. A. answer B. cause C. result D. reason
50. A. adapts B. puts C. applies D. adds
51. A. as B. that C. what D. which
52. A. cared for B. called for C. looked for D. went for
53. A. facing B. eyeing C. smelling D. tasting
54. A. condition B. attitude C. position D. situation
55. A. contain B. include C. control D. experience
56. A. quality B. color C. cost D. style
57. A. manage B. start C. hope D. fail
58. A. shown B. taken C. sent D. provided
59. A. keep B. make C. take D. hold
60. A. complex B. remains C. rest D. complaints
The survey shows that urban students spend about twice ___ money the ones from rural areas do.
A.the amount of |
B.more than |
C.as more as |
D.as much as |
We had planned to arrive at the park at 9 in the morning, but the car _____ halfway.
A.broke away |
B.broke down |
C.broke up |
D.broke into |
._____ you arrive in Ireland, you will quickly find yourself on the beautiful country roads.
A.Since |
B.While |
C.Once |
D.Until |