Question

About 18,000 refugees (难民) from Burma have come to the United States each year since 2007. Some have settled in Howard County, Maryland between Baltimore and Washington. A local school began teaching English to the children of the refugees. But while the children learned the language, their parents did not. That made communication with teachers arduous.

At present, almost fifty children from Burma attend Bollman Bridge Elementary School. Laurel Conran is a teacher there. She said, “The main idea is the global idea.” She teaches English to speakers of other languages. One of her students is Tha Neih Ciang. Another student is Tha Neih’s mother, Tin Iang. Ms. Conran practices English with Tin Iang at the mother’s workplace. Many refugees from Burma work at Coastal Sunbelt Produce, a supplier of fruits and vegetables to restaurants and other businesses.

Laurel Conran started classes at the company to help refugees from Burma learn English. Laurel Conran said, “The program is a six-week session. It’s once a week, on every Wednesday, from twelve to one o’clock. So every Wednesday I go to Coastal Sunbelt.” As the workers eat lunch, they also practice their new language skills.

Lisa Chertok has a child at Bollman Bridge. She is also a manager at Coastal Sunbelt. She helped Ms. Conran develop the lessons, which she says have really helped. Lisa Chertok said, “Well, when the Burmese employees got here, they were very, very shy. Now I find that they are more outspoken than before. They’re more communicative. As parents, they are also more involved in their children’s school.”

Jonathan Davis is the headmaster of Bollman Bridge Elementary School. Mr. Davis hopes the lessons will help these parents feel better about communicating with the school. He said, “Even as simple as making a phone call to say that their son or daughter is sick, even if that’s the amount of English that they have got from the program, that truly will help us.”

1.What does the underlined word “arduous” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A. Interesting.   B. Necessary.

C. Difficult.      D. Surprising.

2.When the refugees from Burma first arrived in Howard County,    .

A. neither the children nor the parents could speak English

B. the parents liked communicating with the teachers

C. the parents could help their children speak English

D. the children could speak very good English

3.What can we learn about Laurel Conran from the passage?

A. She mainly teaches English to the local children in a school.

B. She worked at Coastal Sunbelt Produce before being a teacher.

C. She teaches not only English but also other languages.

D. She often goes to the refugees’ company to teach them English.

4.Jonathan Davis hopes that the lessons will    .

A. totally change the difficult life of the refugees

B. help the parents communicate better with the school

C. help the parents get along better with their children

D. encourage more refugees to send their children to the school

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.B

【解析】

试题分析：难民问题成为当代社会热点之一，他们有语言障碍，为此相关机构就这一问题开设了专门辅导难民及其家长的项目。

1.C 考查推理判断。their parents did not. That made communication with teachers arduous.因为这些难民是从外国移民过来的，所以他们在语言沟通问题上有较大的障碍问题，所以选择C项。

2.A 考查细节理解。根据原文But while the children learned the language, their parents did not.（但是孩子学会了语言，而他们的父母却不会说）说明一开始到达美国的时候，父母和孩子都不会说当地的语言。

3.D 考查细节理解。根据原文的She teaches English to speakers of other languages.（她教授英语给那些说其它语言的人）所以答案选择D项。

4.

考点：考查纪实阅读。