题目内容
Work hard at your lessons, and you’ll ____ your classmates.
A. catch B. catch up C. keep with D. keep up with
D
The speaker, a teacher from a community college, addressed a sympathetic(赞同的) audience. Heads nodded in agreement when he said, “High school English teachers are not doing their jobs.” He described the inadequacies of his students, all high school graduates who can use language only at a grade 9 level. I was unable to determine from his answers to my questions how this grade 9 level had been established.
My topic is not standards nor its decline(降低). What the speaker was really saying is that he is no longer young; he has been teaching for sixteen years, and is able to think and speak like a mature adult.
My point is that the frequent complaint of one generation about the one immediately following it is inevitable. It is also human nature to look for the reasons for our dissatisfaction. Before English became a school subject in the late nineteenth century, it was difficult to find the target of the blame for language deficiencies (缺陷). But since then, English teachers have been under constant attack.
The complainers think they have hit upon an original idea. As their own command of the language improves, they notice that young people do not have this same ability. Unaware that their own ability has developed through the years, they assume the new generation of young people must be hopeless in this respect. To the eyes and ears of sensitive adults the language of the young always seems inadequate.
Since this concern about the decline and fall of the English language is not perceived(察觉) as a generational phenomenon but rather as something new and peculiar(特有的) to today’s young people, it naturally follows that today’s English teachers cannot be doing their jobs. Otherwise, young people would not commit offenses against the language.
1. The speaker the author mentioned in the passage believed that _____.
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A．the language of the younger generation is usually inferior(差的) to that of the older generation |
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B．the students had a poor command of English because they didn’t work hard enough |
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C．he was an excellent language teacher because he had been teaching English for sixteen years |
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D．English teachers should be held responsible for the students’ poor command of English |
2. In the author’s opinion, the speaker ______.
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A．gave a correct judgment of the English level of the students |
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B．had exaggerated(夸大) the language problems of the students |
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C．was right in saying that English teachers were not doing their jobs |
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D．could think and speak intelligently |
3.The author’s attitude towards the speaker’s remarks is ______.
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A．neutral |
B．positive |
C．critical |
D．compromising |
4.It can be concluded from the passage that ______.
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A．it is justifiable(有理由的) to include English as a school subject |
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B．the author disagrees with the speaker over the standard of English at Grade 9 level |
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C．English language teaching is by no means an easy job |
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D．language improvement needs time and effort |
5.In the passage the author argues that ______.
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A．it is unfair to blame the English teachers for the language deficiencies of the students |
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B．young people would not commit offences against the language if the teachers did their jobs properly |
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C．to eliminate(消除) language deficiencies one must have sensitive eyes and ears |
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D．to improve the standard of English requires the effort of several generations |
Violin prodigies（神童）, I learned, have come in distinct waves from distinct regions. Most of the great performers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were born and brought up in Russia and Eastern Europe. I asked Isaac Stern, one of the world’s greatest violinists, the reason for this phenomenon. “It’s very clear, “he told me. “They were all Jews and Jews at the time were severely oppressed and ill-treated in that part of the world. They were not allowed into the professional fields, but they were allowed to achieve excellence on a concert stage.” As a result, every Jewish parent’s dream was to have a child in the music school because it was a passport to the West.
Another element in the emergence of prodigies, I found, is a society that values excellence in a certain field and is able to nurture (培育) talent. Nowadays the most nurturing societies seem to be in the Far East. “In Japan, a most competitive society with stronger discipline than ours,” says Isaac Stern, “children are ready to test their limits every day in many fields, including music. When Western music came to Japan after World War II, that music not only became part of their daily lives, but it became a discipline as well.” The Koreans and Chinese, as we know, are just as highly motivated as the Japanese.
That’s a good thing, because even prodigies must work hard. Next to hard work, biological inheritance plays an important role in the making of a prodigy. J. S. Bach, for example, was the top of several generations of musicians, and four of his sons had significant careers in music.
1.Jewish parents in Eastern Europe longed for their children to attend music school because ______.
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A．it would allow them access to a better life in the West |
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B．Jewish children are born with excellent musical talent |
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C．they wanted their children to enter into the professional fields |
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D．it would enable the family to get better treatment in their own country |
2. Nurturing societies as mentioned in the passage refer to societies that ______.
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A．enforce strong discipline on students who want to achieve excellence |
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B．treasure talent and provide opportunities for its full development |
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C．encourage people to compete with each other |
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D．promise talented children high positions |
3.Japan is described in the passage as a country that attaches importance to ______.
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A．all-rounded development |
B．the learning of Western music |
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C．strict training of children |
D．variety in academic studies |
4.Which of the following contributes to the emergence of musical prodigies according to the passage?
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A．A natural gift. |
B．Extensive knowledge of music. |
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C．Very early training. |
D．A prejudice-free society. |