US universities are among the best in the world. Since World War Ⅱ, American scientists --- mostly working in universties or colleges --- have won more than half of all Nobel Prizes in physics and medicine. Foreign students rush to the United States by the tens of thousands. Last year they earned more than one quarter of the doctoral degrees awarded in the country. Yet while American universities produce the great research and great graduate program, they sometimes pay little attention to the task that lies at their very core: the teaching of undergraduate students.
With the increase in fees, educators feel obliged to improve undergraduate teaching. In speeches and interviews the nation’s higher educators have rediscovered teaching. Robert Rosenzweig, president of the Association of American Universities, said, “Our organization was never very concerned about teaching. In the last 18 months, we have spent more time on undergraduate education than on any other subject.”
Despite such promising efforts, no one doubts that research still outranks teaching at some of the leading universities, not least because it is a surer and faster way to earn status. Some people don’t think it has to be that way. They argue that the reward system for college faculty can be changed, so that professors will be encouraged to devote more time and effort to teaching. They say that they are beginning to believe that the first ten years of the 21st century may come to be remembered as the decade of the undergraduate.
That would bring it full circle. For more than two centuries after the founding of Harvard College in 1636, the instruction of undergraduate students was an essential condition of American higher education.
小题1:According to the passage, at some of the leading American universities ________.| A．research is declining in importance | B．teaching now ranks above research | | C．teaching is a sure way to gain position | D．research still ranks above teaching |
小题2:It is implied in the passage that about 200 years ago undergraduate instruction ________.| A．began to change all of a sudden | | B．was already threatened by research work | | C．was the central part of higher education | | D．began to be neglected in most universities |
小题3:What would be the best title for the passage?| A．University education in the US | B．University education challenged | | C．Teaching and research in universities | D．Undergraduate teaching rediscovered |
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小题1:D
小题2:C
小题3:D |
试题分析：这篇文章介绍了美国的知名大学更重视研究而不是教学。现在更多的精力应该放在大学生的教育方面，因为这是高等教育的核心。
小题1:推理题：从第一段的句子：they sometimes pay little attention to the task that lies at their very core: the teaching of undergraduate students.可知美国的知名大学更重视研究而不是教学。选D
小题2:细节题：从最后一段的句子：For more than two centuries after the founding of Harvard College in 1636, the instruction of undergraduate students was an essential condition of American higher education.可知两百年前，大学生的教育问题是高等教育的核心问题，选C
小题3:主旨题：从文章的内容和第二段的句子：In speeches and interviews the nation’s higher educators have rediscovered teaching.可知答案是D
点评：这篇文章介绍了美国的知名大学更重视研究而不是教学。现在更多的精力应该放在大学生的教育方面，因为这是高等教育的核心。做这篇阅读理解的时候，可以通过略读主题句，我们可以分别在每个段落的开头位置找到每个段落的主题句，由此可以明确这篇文章的主旨，以及了解每个段落的段落大意，再做题就容易多了。 |
核心考点
试题【US universities are among the best in the world. Since World War Ⅱ, American sci】；主要考察你对
题材分类等知识点的理解。
[详细]举一反三
Still waiting for little green men to make contact? Don"t hold your breath.
A leading astronomer has concluded there probably aren"t any aliens out there – meaning we are absolutely alone in the universe.
Even though there may be tens of thousands of other distant planets similar in size to Earth, the conditions on them are likely to be too hard to support life-forms such as ET.
Dr Howard Smith, a senior astrophysicist at Harvard University, believes there is very little hope of discovering aliens and, even if we did, it would be almost impossible to make contact.
So far astronomers have discovered a total of 500 planets in distant solar systems – known as extrasolar systems – although they believe billions of others exist.
But Dr Smith points out that many of these planets are either too close to the sun or too far away, meaning their surface temperatures are so bad that they could not support life. Others have unusual orbits which cause vast temperature variations, making it impossible for water to exist – the most important thing for life.
Dr Smith said, "We have found that most other planets and solar systems are wildly different from our own. It means it is highly unlikely there are any planets with intelligent life close enough for us to make contact." But his suggestions contradict other leading scientists who have claimed aliens almost certainly exist.
Only last month Professor Stephen Hawking said the fact that there are billions of galaxies out there made it reasonable to think there were other life-forms in the universe.
Researchers from the University of London have recently suggested that aliens could be living on as many as 40,000 other planets. But Dr Smith said: "Any hope of contact has to be limited to a relatively tiny space around the Earth, reaching maybe 1,250 light years out from our planet, where aliens might be able to pick up our signals or send us their own. But communicating would still take decades or centuries."
小题1:By saying ＂don’t hold your breath＂, the author advised the reader not to _____.| A．keep silent | B．give up | C．expect so | D．be afraid |
小题2:Dr Smith concludes there probably aren’t any aliens because other planets _____.| A．are too far away from the earth | | B．are different from the Earth in size | | C．don’t have rich natural resources | | D．don’t have a suitable living environment |
小题3:Researchers from the University of London are mentioned to show that ______.| A．they have better explanations about aliens | | B．aliens certainly exist on many planets | | C．they disagree with Dr Smith’s suggestion | | D．aliens can pick up signals from the earth |
小题4:What’s the main idea of the text?| A．There must be other life forms in the universe. | | B．We can communicate with aliens in decades. | | C．The chances of finding aliens are slight. | | D．Many other planets are quite different from the Earth. |
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The rapid growth of cities worldwide over the next two decades will cause significant risks to people and the global environment, according to analysis.
Researches from Yale and Stanford predict that by 2030 urban areas will expand by 590,000 square miles—nearly the size of Mongolia—to meet the needs of 1.47 billion more people living in urban areas.
“It is likely that these cities are going to be developed in places that are the most biologically diverse,” said Karen Seto, a famous scientist at Yale University. “They are going to be growing and expanding into forests, biological hotspots, savannas(热带稀缺大草原), coastlines—sensitive and vulnerable places.”
Urban areas, they found, have been expanding more rapidly along coasts. “Of all the places for cities to grow, coasts are the most sensitive. People and buildings along the coast are at risk of flooding and other environmental disasters,” said Seto.
The study provides the first estimate of how fast urban areas globally are growing and how fast they may grow in the future. “We know a lot about global patterns of urban population growth, but we know significantly less about how urban areas are changing,” she said. “Changes in land cover associated with urbanization lead to many environmental changes, from habitats loss and agricultural land conversion(转化) to changes in local and regional climate.”
The researchers examined studies that used satellite data to map urban growth and found that from 1970 to 2000 the world’s urban footprint had grown by at least 22,400 square miles—half the size of Ohio.
“This number is numerous, but, in actuality, urban land expansion has been far greater than what our analysis shows because we only looked at the published studies that used satellite data,” said Seto. “We found that 48 of the most populated urban areas have been studied using satellite data, with findings in journals. This means that we’re not tracking the physical expansion of more than half of the world’s largest cities.”
Half of urban land expansion in China is driven by a rising middle class, whereas the size of cities in India and Africa is driven primarily by population growth. “Rising incomes translate into rising demand for bigger homes and more land for urban development, which has a great effect on biodiversity conservations, loss of carbon sinks and energy use.”
小题1:According to the passage, the most dangerous place for city expansion is the _____.| A．forest | B．desert | C．savannas | D．coastline |
小题2:The underlined word “vulnerable” (in Para. 3) probably means “____”.| A．diverse in plants | B．beautiful in scenery | | C．easily damaged | D．very productive |
小题3:From Para. 5, we can infer that ____.| A．urbanization is a good way to improve people’s standards of living | | B．cities develop very fast and more and more people come to live in cities | | C．more and more agricultural farmlands are used to make room for local animals | | D．in the past, researchers focused their attention on the expanding urban areas |
小题4:Cities in Africa become bigger and bigger mainly because of their ____.| A．growing population | B．rising middle class | | C．unique living patterns | D．economic development |
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Why should you go to college? One important answer to this question is more __16___. As opposed to generations of the past, high school graduates today are _17___ to get the number of high-paid jobs that were __18__ available. The U.S. has been changed from a manufacturing-based economy into an economy based on ___19_, and the importance of a college education today can be _20___ to that of a high school education forty years ago. It __21__ as the gateway to better choices and more opportunity.
There are __22_ reasons as to why it is important to go to college. When students _23__ a post-secondary education, they have the opportunity to read books and listen to the __24__ of top experts in their fields. It __25__ students to think, ask questions, and __26_ new ideas, which allows for additional growth and ___27_ and provides college graduates with an edge in the job market __28__ those who have not experienced a higher education.
The importance of a college education is also because of the opportunity to __29__ valuable resources. The more connections which are __30___ during your college career, the more _31___ you will have when you begin your job search. Once you have ended your job search and have started your career, ___32__, the importance of a college education has not been exhausted. Having a college degree often __33_ greater promotion opportunity.
So, why should you go to college? The reasoning does not begin and end with the _34___ aspect. A good education is __35__ from many different viewpoints, and while the importance of a college education is quite evident for many high school students, what is often not as clear is how they will pay for that education.
| 小题1: | | A．time | B．freedom | C．respect | D．opportunity |
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| 小题2: | | A．likely | B．unable | C．afraid | D．unwilling |
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| 小题3: | | A．once | B．just | C．never | D．also |
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| 小题4: | | A．nature | B．culture | C．knowledge | D．agriculture |
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| 小题5: | | A．referred | B．added | C．devoted | D．compared |
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| 小题6: | | A．follows | B．serves | C．unites | D．disappears |
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| 小题7: | | A．additional | B．secret | C．interesting | D．financial |
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| 小题8: | | A．discuss | B．ignore | C．experience | D．imagine |
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| 小题9: | | A．stories | B．requests | C．suggestion | D．lecture |
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| 小题10: | | A．helps | B．encourages | C．forbids | D．advises |
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| 小题11: | | A．design | B．explore | C．change | D．refuse |
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| 小题12: | | A．development | B．payment | C．agreement | D．experiment |
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| 小题14: | | A．admire | B．satisfy | C．gain | D．notice |
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| 小题15: | | A．removed | B．collected | C．explained | D．controlled |
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| 小题16: | | A．inventions | B．choices | C．worries | D．salaries |
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| 小题17: | | A．besides | B．therefore | C．however | D．otherwise |
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| 小题18: | | A．saves | B．includes | C．ensures | D．means |
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| 小题19: | | A．life | B．character | C．communication | D．job |
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| 小题20: | | A．free | B．rare | C．beneficial | D．absent |
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Teachers and parents usually call attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to pre-school children. But a new study suggests that calling attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers.
The two-year study compared children who were read in this way in class with children who were not. Those whose teachers most often discussed the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding. These results were found one year and even two years later.
Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, was an author of the study. She says most pre-school teachers would find this method manageable and would need only a small change in the way they teach. They already read story-books in class. The only difference would be increased attention to the printed text. “If you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling.” But she says research suggests that very few parents and teachers do this in a systematic way.
More than 300 children aged four and five were observed in classrooms. They came from poor families and were below average in their language skills. For thirty weeks, the children took part in a program called Project STAR--- Sit Together and Read. The project is based at Ohio State. It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to pre-school children in their classrooms.
There are different ways that adults can talk to children about print. They can point to a letter and discuss it, and even trace the shape with a finger. They can point out a word and discuss the meaning of the print or how the words tell the story. And they can talk about the organization of the print--- for instance, showing how words are written left to right in English.
小题1:What do we know about the ways pre-school children are usually taught?| A．More attention is paid to the pictures ,with words and letters being ignored. | | B．Preference is given to the shape of letters and the organization of the print. | | C．The focus of the teaching is on bringing them up to be good readers. | | D．Equal attention is paid to the texts and the pictures. |
小题2:What does Shayne Piasta suggest pre-school teachers should do in class?| A．Teach children how to draw pictures to get an idea of what they mean. | | B．Change the way they teach and pay more attention to words and letters. | | C．Adopt different methods according to the students’ difference in reading skills. | | D．Read storybooks to children rather than explain the meaning of the pictures. |
小题3:Which of the following is TRUE about the study on language skills of pre-school children?| A．Many teachers want to change their way of teaching pre-school children. | | B．Attention on the pictures has made the children uninterested in reading. | | C．Project STAR aims to research into the results of reading books to pre-school children in the classroom. | | D．Teachers are often prevented from taking different approaches to language teaching. |
小题4:Which section of a magazine does the passage probably come from?| A．Fashion. | B．Economy . | C．Entertainment. | D．Education. |
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There have been big changes in the attitudes of most parents over the last few years. Physical punishment is banned in schools in most countries, and in many countries, there are moves to ban all physical punishment of children even at home. However, many parents still believe that they have the right to use some physical punishments to deal with certain misbehavior at certain ages.
It’s easy to find reasons to allow some physical punishments. One issue is that many parents find it very difficult to abandon physical punishment completely. Parents argue that this was the way they were brought up and that it didn’t do any harm to them. They believe that for the child’s sake they have the right to discipline the child in any way they consider fit, including using some physical punishments. The other one is that physical punishment can be quick and effective. There is not much point reasoning with a screaming child in the supermarket.
However, there are several reasons why we should stop using physical punishment. One point is that most parents are not trained to deal with misbehaving children. They don’t have enough resources or choices to handle the situation. As a result, they immediately react by hitting the child even if there are other solutions to the problem. Another point is that unless people are challenged or forced to change their belief, they may keep following negative habits. An example is seat belt use —now most people wear seat belts without thinking, while years ago the idea of using seat belts was strange to most people. In the same way, banning physical punishment will force people to change their habits.
In conclusion, parents have to change some of their belief and ideas about how children should be raised. It is possible to avoid the use of physical force, and doing so will help us move closer to the dream of removing violence from our society.
小题1:According to the first paragraph, many parents think that ____________.| A．they are free to use physical punishment on their children | | B．most of the children behave badly in their daily life | | C．they have changed their attitudes towards their children | | D．physical punishment is effective to educate their children |
小题2:Many parents won’t give up physical punishment because _____________.| A．they are disappointed with their children | | B．they were brought up just in the same way | | C．they don’t want to hurt their children badly | | D．they don’t know what to do with their children |
小题3:The author gives the example of using seat belts in order to show ____________.| A．most people are used to wearing seat belts | | B．it’s not difficult to change some negative habits | | C．seat belts are really very necessary and useful | | D．people won’t change their old habits unless forced |
小题4:The main purpose of the author in writing this passage is to ____________.| A．talk about a ban on using physical punishment | | B．tell us we should educate our children in other ways | | C．advise parents to give up using physical punishment | | D．suggest physical punishment should be used at home |
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