全国2010年1月高等教育自学考试 英语阅读（二）
请将答案填在答题纸相应位置上，全部题目用英文作答(翻译题除外) Jim Trelease has devoted the past 16 years to promoting what he considers the best-kept secret in education today. “Most people don’t believe me when they first hear it,” he says. “They dismiss it for three reasons: One, it’s simple. Two, it’s free. Three, th
e child enjoys it. So how good can it be?”
His audience tonight, mostly young parents and teachers gathered in the St. Helena, Calif., elementary-school auditorium, giggles n ervously. “I know what you’re thinking,” Trelease says. “There are only 24 hours in a day. It’s true. But who ever told you that parenting was going to be a time-saving activity?” Trelease continues to persuade them that no matter how busy they are, the foremost
nurturing they can give a child, next to hugging him, is reading a loud to him.
He backs up his pitch with facts. Numerous studies, including re cent reports by the Center for the Study of Reading and the Nationa l Council of Teachers of English, confirm that reading to children builds vocabulary, stimulates imagination, stretches the attention span, nourishes emotional development, and introduces the textures and nuances of the English language. Reading aloud is, in essence, an advertisement for learning to read.
Trelease laments that elementary-school students are too often c onditioned to associate reading with work. “We have concentrated so hard on teaching children how to read that we have forgotten to t
each them to want to read,” he says.
His audience is surprised to hear that only 22 percent of eighth -graders read for fun daily, while 65 percent watch three hours or more of television each day. Research also indicates that average r eading proficiency drops when TV viewing reaches about three hours a day. Their parents’ habits are no better: a recent survey shows a decline in newspaper readership among U.S. adults.
Lest there be any doubt about the stakes involved, Trelease make s a bold claim. Reading, he says, is the single most important soci al factor in American life today. “The more you read, the smarter you grow. The longer you stay in school, the more money you earn. T
he more you earn, the better your children will do in school. So if you hook a child with reading, you influence not only his future b ut also that of the next generation.”
When his two children, Elizabeth and Jamie, were young, Trelease and his wife, Susan, fed them as many books as meals. “I read to my kids because my father had read to me,” he says. “I just wante d them to have the good feelings I had had.” 1. What does the word “dismiss” (paragraph 1) mean? A. send away B. ready to accept C. approve of D. refuse to consider
2. Trelease’s speech focuses on______.
A. how to teach reading B. the importance of reading C. why children read less D. the proper amount of reading 3. According to Trelease, what is missing in the practice of teaching
reading in today’s elementary schools?
A. Teaching reading skills. B. Cooperating with parents.
C. Making children want to read. D. Providing good reading material s.
4. The audience is surprised by Trelease’s talk in that ______. A. the majority of eighth-graders watch 3 hours TV daily B. reading proficiency is mainly influenced by TV viewing C. children tend to copy their parents’ bad habits D. few adults read any newspapers nowadays 5. What does Trelease think of reading?
A. It is difficult but very important. B. It can help improve othe r skills.
C. It is the key to success in society. D. It should be taught by p arents.
Questions arise after the vote of the environment committee of t he Spanish Parliament last month to grant limited rights to our clo sest biological relatives, the great apes - chimpanzees, gorillas a nd orangutans. The committee would bind Spain to the principles of the Great Ape Project, which points to apes’ human qualities, incl
全国2010年1月高等教育自学考试英语阅读(二)
