Question

Boys are not so good at English when there are girls in their class, a research student said. This finding disagrees with the widely held belief that girls always have a good influence on boys in school.

Boys do best with as few girls as possible in English lessons at primary and secondary schools, Steven Proud, a research student at Bristol University, told the Royal Economic Society’s conference.

But when it comes to math and science, both boys and girls at primary schools achieve up to a tenth of a grade higher when there is a greater percentage of girls in the class, Proud found.

Proud kept a record of boys’ and girls’ test results at the ages of 7, 11, and 16 in 16,000 schools in England. He studied the test scores to see whether the percentage of girls made a difference to the results of both boys and girls in math, science and English.

Boys always perform worse when the number of girls they study English with increases, which is especially the case at primary schools. Proud also found that girls are unaffected by the number of boys in their English class.

Proud said boys may do worse in English when there is high proportion(比例) of girls in their class because they think that the girls are better than them. It could also be that teachers use teaching styles more appropriate(适合) to girls when there are more girls than boys in the class.

Proud argues that his results show boys should be taught English in single-sex classes.

However, Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, said, “Boys may be discouraged by how well girls are doing in English, but you can’t say that it means boys and girls should be separated. It has very little practical importance to schools.”

Theme	Boys may do _1.__ in English in a class with a higher percentage of girls.
Widely held ____2._____	Girls always have a good influence on boys in school.
Proud’s ___3.___	When there are more girls	both boys and girls at primary schools perform better in math and ___4.____.
When the number of girls _5.____.	boys perform worse in English
When the number of boys changes	girls aren’t __6.___ in an English class.
Possible ____7.___.	Boys think that the girls are better than them. Teachers use ___8.___ styles more appropriate to girls.
Proud’s suggestion	Boys and girls should be taught English in _9.___ classes.
Alan’s opinion	Don’t ___10.____ the boys and girls.

Answer

1.worse

2.belief

3.findings

4.science

5.increases

6.affected

7.causes/reasons

8.teaching

9.single-sex

10.separate

【解析】

试题分析：文章讲述的是一项研究发现。研究人员发现，班里的女生越多，男生的英语成绩就会越差。这可能是由男生的错误认知或老师的教学风格引起的。

1.根据“Boys are not so good at English when there are girls in their class”可知，当班级里有女孩时，男孩子的英语成绩不如她们的好，由此可知，女生比例越高，男生的英语成绩越差，故填worse。

2.根据“This finding disagrees with the widely held belief that...”可知，这里应该填belief，指人们普遍认为......，故填belief。

3.根据第三段“when there is a greater percentage of girls in the class, Proud found.”和第五段“Proud also found that girls are unaffected by the number of boys in their English class.”可知，这里讲的是Proud的研究成果，故填findings。

4.根据第三段“But when it comes to math and science, both boys and girls at primary schools achieve up to a tenth of a grade higher...”可知，当班里女生占较大比例时，在数学和科学方面，男孩和女孩都会取得更好的成绩，故填science。

5.根据第五段“Boys always perform worse when the number of girls they study English with increases”可知，当与男生一起学英语的女生数量增加时，男生的英语成绩会下降，故填increases。

6.根据第五段“girls are unaffected by the number of boys in their English class”可知，班里男孩的数量不会影响女生的成绩，故填affected。

7.根据第六段“because they think that the girls are better than them. It could also be that teachers use teaching styles more appropriate(适合) to girls when there are more girls than boys in the class.”可知，这里讲的是男生英语成绩受女生人数的影响这一现象的原因，故填causes/reasons。

8.根据第六段“teachers use teaching styles more appropriate(适合) to girls”可知，教师所使用的教学风格可能更适合女生，故填teaching。

9.根据倒数第二段“Proud argues that his results show boys should be taught English in single-sex classes.”可知，Proud认为男生和女生应该分开上英语课，故填single-sex。

10.you can’t say that it means boys and girls should be separated”可知，Alan不赞成男生和女生分开上课，故填separate。

考点：教育类短文阅读