Question

“Her grades are fine; I’m not worried about that, but she just doesn’t seem to love learning any more.” Alice’s mum said.

She’s absolutely right. I’d noticed the same thing about her daughter over the previous two or three years when I’d been Alice’s middle school English, Latin, and writing teacher, and I have an answer, right there on the tip of my tongue, for what has gone wrong. Yet I’m torn between my responsibility to help Alice, and the knowledge that what I have to say is a truth I’m not sure this mother is ready to hear.

The truth—for this parent and so many others—is this: Her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar(圣坛) of achievement, and it’s our fault. Alice’s parents, her teachers, society at large—we are all supposed to be blamed in this crime against learning. From her first day of school, we pointed her toward that altar and trained her to measure her progress by means of points, scores, and awards. We taught Alice that her potential is tied to her intellect(智力) ,and that her intellect is more important than her character. We taught her to come home proudly bearing grades As, championship prizes, and college acceptances, and not on purpose, we taught her that we don’t really care how she obtains them. We taught her to protect her academic and extracurricular perfection at all costs and that it’s better to quit when things get challenging rather than risk losing that perfect record. Above all else, we taught her fear failure. That fear is what has destroyed her love of learning.

1.Both the mother and the teacher have noticed that ________.

A. Alice hates to tell them truth

B. Alice’s test scores are not so good

C. Alice chooses several subjects to learn

D. Alice doesn’t enjoy studying any more

2.What does the underlined word “torn” mean in the passage?

A. pained to choose    B. guilty to quit    C. tired to manage    D. certain to decide

3.What does the teacher think of the girl?

A. Her academic perfection resulted from her character.

B. She is a gifted girl with spirits of challenging.

C. She is perfect in her character development.

D. Her academic performance is great.

4.What leads to the girl’s change?

A. A few failure experiences.    B. Fear of failing getting good grades.

C. Her mother’s over-protection.    D. Her not being accepted by colleges.

Answer

1.D

2.A

3.D

4.B

【解析】本文是一篇记叙文。文章作者是一名老师，介绍了自己的一个学生，成绩很好，但是却不爱学习，然后分析了原因，是老师，家长，社会用所谓圣坛的成就抹杀了孩子的热情，好奇心，最终导致孩子不爱学习。

1.D细节理解题。根据第一段I’m not worried about that, but she just doesn’t seem to love learning any more.” Alice’s mum said.可知，妈妈是这样认为的。然后第二段She’s absolutely right. I’d noticed the same thing about her daughter over the previous two or three years when I’d been Alice’s middle school English, Latin, and writing teacher可知，老师也是这种感觉。故答案为D。

2.A词义猜测题。根据此句后面between my responsibility to help Alice, and the knowledge that what I have to say is a truth I’m not sure this mother is ready to hear.可知，我是陷入了两难的境地，不知道怎么选择，故此处torn表示“难以抉择”，答案为A。

3.D推理判断题。根据最后一段作者的反省可知，这个小女孩的学习学业表现还是非常值得肯定的，故答案为D。

4.B推理判断题。根据最后一段中最后一句话Above all else, we taught her fear failure. That fear is what has destroyed her love of learning.可知，是我们教会了她害怕失败，正是这种害怕摧毁了她对学习的热爱，故选B。

【名师点睛】

猜词悟义。我们要学会“顺藤摸瓜”，通过构词，语法，定义，同位，对比，因果，常识，上下文等线索确定词义。任何一篇文章中的句子在内容上都不是绝对孤立的，都跟句子所在的段落及整篇文章有关。利用上下文提供的情景和线索，进行合乎逻辑的综合分析进而推测词义，是阅读过程中的一大关键。最常见的就是利用上下文语境、常识和语法关系推断词义。

①抓住所需推断词汇前后的“mean”或系动词或破折号等直接定义该词的部分。

②抓住文章主旨与该段所表达的中心。特别对于议论文要牢记论点与论据的相互支撑关系。

第二小题是根据被猜测的词torn后的语境推测词义。关键词是：between...and...和not sure，由这两个因素，可以推知，是“难以做出选择”的意思。

考点：考查夹叙夹议类文章阅读