阅读理解

阅读下面短文，从每题所给四个选项中选出最佳答案。

　　One－room schools are part of the United States, and the mention of them makes people feel a vague longing for “the way things were”. One－room schools are an endangered species, however. For more than a hundred years one－room schools have been systematically shut down and their students went away to centralized schools. As recently as 1930 there were 149, 000 one－room schools in the United States. By 1970 there were 1, 800. Today, of the nearly 800 remaining one－room schools, more than 350 are in Nebraska. The rest are scattered through a few other states that have on their road maps wide－spaces between towns.

　　Now that there are hardly any left, educators are beginning to think that maybe there is something yet to be learned from one－room schools, something that served the pioneers that might serve as well today. Progressive educators have come up with progressive－sounding names like “peer－group teaching” and “multiage grouping” for educational procedures that occur naturally in the one－room schools. In a one－room school the children teach each other because the teacher is busy part of the time teaching someone else. A fourth grader can work at a fifthgrade level in math and a third－grade level in English without the stigma associated with being left back or the pressures of being skipped ahead. A youngster with a learning disability can find his or her own level without being separated from the other pupils. In larger urban and suburban schools today, this is called “mainstreaming”. A few hours is a small school that has only one classroom and it becomes clear why so many parents feel that one of the advantages of living in Nebraska is that their children have to go to, a one－room school.

1．It is implied in the passage that many educators and parents today feel that one－room schools ________.

[　　]

A．need to be shut down

B．are the best in Nebraska

C．are a good example of the good old day

D．provide good education

2．Why are one－room schools in danger of disappearing?

[　　]

A．Because they all exist in one state.

B．Because they skip too many children ahead.

C．Because there is a trend towards centralization.

D．Because there is no fourth－grade level in any of them.

3．What is mentioned as a major characteristic of the one－room school in the second paragraph?

[　　]

A．Some children have to be left back.

B．Teachers are always busy.

C．Pupils have more freedom.

D．Learning is not limited to one grade level at a time.

4．Which of the following can best describe the author's attitude toward oneroom schools?

[　　]

5．It can be inferred from the last sentence that parents living in Nebraska

[　　]

A．don't like centralized schools

B．received education in one－room schools

C．prefer rural life to urban one

D．come from other states

I don’t ever want to talk about being a woman scientist again. There was a time in my life when people asked constantly for stories about what it’s like to work in a filed dominated(受控的) by men. I was never very good at telling those stories because truthfully I never found them interesting. What I do find interesting is the origin of the universe, the shape of space-time and the nature of black holes.

At 19, when I began studying astrophysics(天体物理学), it did not bother me in the least to

be the only woman in the classroom. But while earning my Ph.D. at MIT and then as a

post-doctor doing space research, the issue started to bother me. My every achievement－jobs, research papers, awards－was viewed through the lens of gender(性别) politics. So were my failures. Sometimes, when I was pushed into an argument on left brain versus(相对于) right brain, or nature versus nurture(培育), I would instantly fight fiercely on my behalf and all womankind.

Then one day a few years ago, out of my mouth came a sentence that would eventually become my reply to any and all provocations(挑衅): I don’t talk about that anymore. It took me 10 years to get back the confidence I had at 19 and to realize that I didn’t want to deal with gender issues. Why should curing sexism be yet another terrible burden on every female scientist? After all. I don’t study sociology or political theory.

Today I research and teach at Barnard, a women’s college in New York City. Recently, someone asked me how many of the 45 students in my class were women. You cannot imagine my satisfaction at being able to answer. 45. I know some of my students worry how they will manage their scientific research and a desire for children. And I don’t dismiss those concerns. Still, I don’t tell them “war” stories. Instead. I have given them this: the visual of their physics professor heavily pregnant doing physics experiments. And in turn they have given me the image of 45 women driven by a love of science. And that’s a sight worth talking about.

1．Why doesn’t the author want to talk about being a woman scientist again?

       A．She feels unhappy working in male-dominated fields.

       B．She is fed up with the issue of gender discrimination.

       C．She is not good at telling stories of the kind.

       D．She finds space research more important.

2．From Paragraph 2 we can infer that people would attribute(归结于) the author’s failures to

    ____________.

       A．the very fact that she is a woman

       B．her involvement in gender politics

       C．her over-confidence as a female astrophysicist

       D．the burden she bears in a male-dominated society

3．Why does the author feel great satisfaction when talking about her class?

       A．Female students no longer have to bother about gender issues.

       B．Her students’ performance has brought back her confidence.

       C．Her female students can do just as well as male students.

       D．More female students are pursuing science than before.

4．What does the image the author presents to her students suggest?

       A．Women students needn’t have the concerns of her generation.

       B．Women have more barriers on their way to academic success.

       C．Women can balance a career in science and having a family.

       D．Women now fewer problems pursuing a science career.