Question

Do American children still learn handwriting in school? In the age of the keyboard，some people seem to think handwriting lessons are on the way out．90% of teachers say they are required to teach handwriting．But studies have yet to answer the question of how well they are teaching it．One study published this year found that about three out of every four teachers say they are not prepared to teach handwriting．Some teachers are teaching handwriting by providing instruction for 10 to 15 minutes a day，and then other teachers who basically teach it for 60 to 70 minutes a day — which really for handwriting is pretty much．

  Many adults remember learning that way — by copying letters over and over again．Today's thinking is that short periods of practice are better．Many experts also think handwriting should not be taught by itself．Instead，they say it should be used as a way to get students to express ideas．After all，that is why we write．

  Handwriting involves two skills．One is legibility，which means forming the letters so they can be read． The other is fluency — writing without having to think about it．Fluency continues to develop up until high school．

  But not everyone masters these skills．Teachers commonly report that about one fourth of their kids have poor handwriting．Some people might think handwriting is not important any more because of computers and voice recognition programs．

But Steve Graham at Vanderbilt says word processing is rarely done in elementary school，especially in the early years．American children traditionally first learn to print，and then to write in cursive，which connects the letters．But guess what we learned from a spokeswoman for the College Board，which administers the SAT college admission test．More than 75 percent of students choose to print their essay on the test rather than write in cursive．

1.From Paragraph 1 we can learn ________．

A． teaching handwriting is a basic requirement in teaching job

B． most teachers prefer to teach handwriting

C． teachers spend little time in teaching handwriting

D． a keyboard has taken the place of the handwriting entirely

2.The underlined word “legibility” in Paragraph 3 means ________．

A． being easy to read

B． being complex

C． being unexpected

D． being unreadable

3.The best title for the passage is ________．

A． How to improve handwriting in school

B． Right or wrong: the death of handwriting

C． Handwriting involves two skills

D． Handwriting lessons are on the way out

4.The author’s attitude towards whether still to learn handwriting in school is________．

A． negative

B． objective

C． critical

D． optimistic

Answer

1.A

2.A

3.B

4.B

【解析】本文是主要讨论在电子产品充斥各个角落的社会里，传统的书写应该怎样存在。是消亡还是保持？

1.A细节理解题。根据短文第一段描述，可知书写是教师职业的基础要求。选A。

2.A词义猜测题。根据下文which means forming the letters so they can be read． 的描述，可知这个单词的意思是容易阅读，故选A。

3.B主旨大意题。这篇短文主要讲述的是忽视书写教学究竟是对还是错的问题，故选B，忽视书写，是对还是错。

4.B观点态度题。通过阅读短文可见作者本身的观点只是客观反映了学校中存在的一些事实，并没有给出作者自己明确的态度。故选B。objective客观的，现实的。