下载文档原格式
An Integrated English Course IVUnit 11Text 1 Mountain Lion’s Attack!Key to ExercisesText comprehension (pp. 170-171)I. Decide which of the following best states the author's purpose of writing.AII. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.1. T. Refer to Paragraph2.2. T. Refer to Paragraph 4.3. F. Refer to Paragraph 15. The narrator watched this happen not because he was too frightened to move but because the wild animal acted so quickly that he had no time to understand what was happening, to say nothing of preventing it.4. F. Refer to Paragraph 17. The man was angry with the mountain lion, who was endangering the life of one of the kids, not with the other counselors, though they were of little help. Actually, in the fight against the animal, he had no time to be angry with them at all.5. F. Refer to Paragraph 17. The narrator's attack caught some attention from the animal although it failed to force it to give up the boy. The man's booting and punching enraged the animal and it growled and twisted its body as a result.6. T. Refer to Paragraph 20.III. Answer the following questions.1. Because he loved the outdoors as a life ~out and he loved kids. Moreover, he did not anticipate the difficulty in the job.2. They did not take his words seriously because they didn't think they would really run across a mountain lion and doubted whether the strategy introduced by the narrator would really work if they did run across one.3. It was a repeated voice from inside that made him take over the rear in the midway up the mountain.4. In the rear the narrator found that some kids were uninterested and slow in climbing up, so he bucked them up by telling them there were better things ahead.5. No, he didn't. Refer to Paragraph 17. The sentence "Fear for the boy wiped out my own terror and I found myself charging at the animal" tells us that he feared for the safety of the little boy and immediately took measures to fight the animal.6. When the lion backed about 8 feet and crouched for an attack, the scout did not step back and run away; instead he plucked up his courage and charged at it. This action drove the lion away. IV. Explain in your own words the following sentences taken from the text.1. As a life scout I had earned most credits for becoming an eagle scout.2. I dismissed the thought.3 .... the trees looking threatening on both sides of us.4. The kids screamed all of a sudden ...Structural analysis of the text (p171)The text can be divided into the following three parts:Part I: Paragraph 1; Part Il: Paragraphs 2-20; and Part m: Paragraph 21.The topical sentences are:Part I: It was my idea of the perfect summer job: working as a camp counselor in the Rocky Mountains.Part II: I realized working with the kids could also be a real pain.Part III: It means being prepared to really listen when somebody's giving me divine directions.Rhetorical features of the text (p172)To describe what he did in his attempt to fight the mountain lion, the author of the text uses two kinds of verbs, i.e. verbs expressing verbal actions and those indicating material actions.For the first kind, we can find: screaming(Paragraph 16); yelling at the top of my lungs (Paragraph 17); roared, yelling (Paragraph 18). And for the second kind, we can find: spun around to the others (Paragraph 16); ran towards the lion, charging at the animal, kicking its muscular side as hard as I could, kicked again and again, even punched it with all my might (Paragraph 17); and slammed my foot into the cougar's whiskered face, pulled back to boot it again, charged at it (Paragraph 18). The use of these verbs shows effectively that the author did everything he could in his fight against the fierce animal and his attempt to protect the child.Vocabulary exercises (pp172-173)I. Explain the underlined parts in the sentences below.1. becoming a senior scout2. reckoned3. annoying4. becoming unnaturally large5. turned round6. gave honour to me/praised meII. Choose a word that best completes each of the following sentences.1. B2. D3. B4. C5. C6. AIII. Fill in the blank in each sentence with a phrase taken from the box in its appropriate form.1. buck up2. at the top of their lungs3. was ... wiped out4. in a fit of rage5. charged at6. shrug off7. spun around 8. took overIV. Explain the meaning of the underlined word or phrase in each sentence.1. testee2. serves3. actually4. again5. applauded/clapped excitedly6. causeGrammar exercises (pp173-175)I. Insert to, if necessary, in the following sentences.1. to2. /3. /4. to5. /6. /7. to8. to, toII. Combine the two sentences in each pair into one, using one nonfinite clause.1. I found myself charging at the animal, kicking its muscular side as hard as I could.2. He wailed, tears pouring down his cheeks.3. I was relieved to find out that I had passed the exam.4. John Alcock was the first man to succeed in flying non-stop across the Atlantic.5. I heard someone knocking.6. Left to the care of his grandmother, Ted grew to be a well-behaved boy.III. Correct the errors in the following sentences.1. While I was waiting for a bus, a brick fell on my head.2. Since I believed that I was the only person who knew about this beach, the sight of someone else on it annoyed me very much.3. When I read in bed, my hands often get very cold.4. Climbing down the tree, he broke his leg.5. We saw the first star shining in the sky.6. When planting these trees, one must take care not to damage the roots.IV. Explain the italicized parts in the following sentences.1. who were sleeping2. that are not declared3. that should be made4. When she realized5. If/When it is heated6. in order to haveV. Make sentences of your own after the sentences given below, keeping the underlined structures in your sentences.1. Flying a plane is dangerous.2. Success means working very, very hard.3. The old man was fast asleep, holding a book in his hand.4. A small boy ran past, his satchel trailing behind him.Translation exercises (p175)I. Translate the following sentences into English, using the words or phrases given in the brackets.1. John's friends said he was mistaken, but he stood his ground.2. The wounded elephant charged at the tree with terrific violence.3. He shrugged off our questions; he would not tell us what had happened.4. The detective discovered among them his long-sought prey.5. A good holiday will buck you up.6. He saluted, spun round and bounced out.7. He took out a gun and shot his opponent in a fit of rage.8. He jumped at any chance of getting a promotion.II. Translate the following passage into Chinese.机会不常来，只是偶尔有之。
大学高级英语第一册第11课译文及课后答案1）谐趣园是仿照无锡的一座花园建造的。
The Garden of Harmonious Interest was modeled on a garden in Wuxi.2）他号召孩子们以 ___英雄为榜样。
He called on the children to model themselves on the PLA heroes.3）这本书应归入哲学类。
This work may be related to philosophy.4）本杰明·富兰克林不仅是政治家，而且还是科学家、发明家。
Benjamin Franklin was as much a scientist and an inventor as a statesman.5）他把每次试验的结果都记在本子上。
He set down all the findings of every experiment in his notebook.6）你能用简明的语言概括这首古诗的中心思想吗？Can you sum up the central idea of this ancient poem in plain terms?7）我们应不断地使自己的思想适应变化的情况。
We should constantly adapt our thinking to the changing conditions.8）年轻的士兵冻死在雪地里，手里还紧握着枪。
The young soldier was frozen to death in the snow, his hands still hanging on to a gun.9）该公司将为他们提供住宿和交通工具。
The said pany will furnishthem with lodging and transportation.10）车速限制在每小时55公里之内。
1. If your friend is in a new dress or buys a new mobile phone which you dislike intensely, and asks for your opinion about it, what will you say? Why do you think people lie?2. If somebody lies to you for your own good, how would you feel?At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, psychology professor Bella DePaulo got 77 students and 70 townspeople to volunteer for an unusual project. All kept diaries for a week, recording the numbers and details of the lies they told.One student and six Charlottesville residents professed to have told no falsehoods. The other 140 participants told 1535.The lies were most often not what most of us would call earth-shattering. Someone would pretend to be more positive or supportive of a spouse or friend than he or she really was, or feign agreement with a relative's opinion. According to DePaulo, women in their interactions with other women lied mostly to spare the other's feelings. Men lied to other men generally for self-promoting reasons.Most strikingly, these tellers-of-a-thousand-lies reported that their deceptions caused them "little preoccupation or regret." Might that, too, be a lie? Perhaps. But there is evidence that this attitude towards casual use of prevarication is common.For example, 20,000 middle-and high-schoolers were surveyed by the Josephson Institute of Ethics — anonprofit organization in Marina del Rey, California, devoted to character education. Ninety-two per cent of the teenagers admitted having lied to their parents in the previous year, and 73 per cent characterized themselves as "serial liars," meaning they told lies weekly. Despite these admissions, 91 per cent of all respondents said they were "satisfied with my own ethics and character."Think how often we hear the expressions "I'll call you" or "The check is in the mail" or "I'm sorry, but he stepped out." And then there are professions —lawyers, pundits, public relations consultants —whose members seem to specialize in shaping or spinning the truth to suit clients' needs.Little white lies have become ubiquitous, and the reasons we give each other for telling fibs are familiar. Consider, for example, a corporate executive whom I'll call Tom. He goes with his wife and son to his mother-in-law's home for a holiday dinner every year. Tom dislikes her "special" pumpkin pie intensely. Invariably he tells her how wonderful it is, to avoid hurting her feelings."What's wrong with that?" Tom asked Michael Josephson, president of the Josephson Institute. It's a question we might all ask.Josephson replied by asking Tom to consider the lie from his mother-in-law's point of view. Suppose that one day Tom's child blurts out the truth, and she discovers the deceit. Will she tell her son-in-law, "Thank you for caring so much"? Or is she more likelyto feel hurt and say, "How could you have misled me all these years? And what else have you lied to me about?"And what might Tom's mother-in-law now suspect about her own daughter? And will Tom's boy lie to his parents and yet be satisfied with his own character?How often do we compliment people on how well they look, or express our appreciation for gifts, when we don't really mean it? Surely, these "nice lies" are harmless and well-intended, a necessary social lubricant. But, like Tom, we should remember the words of English novelist Sir Walter Scott, who wrote, "What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."Even seemingly harmless falsehoods can have unforeseen consequences. Philosopher Sissela Bok warns us that they can put us on a slippery slope. "After the first lies, others can come more easily," she wrote in her book Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life. "Psychological barriers wear down; the ability to make more distinctions can coarsen; the liar's perception of his chances of being caught may warp."Take the pumpkin-pie lies. In the first place, it wasn't just that he wanted his mother-in-law to feel good. Whether he realized it or not, he really wanted her to think highly of him. And after the initial deceit he needed to tell more lies to cover up the first one.Who believes it anymore when they're told that the person they want to reach by phone is "in a meeting"? By itself, that kind of lie is of no great consequence.Still, the endless proliferation of these little prevarications does matter.Once they've become common enough, even the small untruths that are not meant to hurt encourage a certain cynicism and loss of trust. "When [trust] is damaged," warns Bok, "the community as a whole suffers; and when it is destroyed, societies falter and collapse."Are all white lies to be avoided at all costs? Not necessarily. The most understandable and forgivable lies are an exchange of what ethicists refer to as the principle of trust for the principle of caring, "like telling children about the tooth fairy, or deceiving someone to set them up for a surprise party," Josephson says. "Still, we must ask ourselves if we are willing to give our friends and associates the authority to lie to us whenever they think it is for our own good."Josephson suggests a simple test. If someone you lie to finds out the truth, will he thank you for caring? Or will he feel his long-term trust in you has been undermined?And if you're not sure, Mark Twain has given us a good rule of thumb. "When in doubt, tell the truth. It will confound your enemies and astound your friends."New words:volunteerv. to give or offer (one's help, a suggestion, etc.) willingly or without being paidprofessv. to make a claimfeignv. to pretend to have or bepreoccupationn. the state of constantly thinking or worrying about somethingprevaricationn. the state of avoiding giving a direct answer or making a firm decisionseriala. of, in or forming a number of things, events, etc. of a similar kind, especially placed or occurring one after anotherethicsn. moral correctness; moral principlespunditn. a person who is an authority on a particular subject; an expertconsultantn. a person who gives specialist professional advice to othersfibn. a small unimportant liedeceitn. dishonest act or statementlubricantn. a substance such as oil which cause a machine to operate more easilytanglev. to make or become a mass of disordered and twisted threadswear downto reduce or become weaker until uselessperceptionn. the ability to see, hear and understand; the quality of understandingwarpv. to (cause to) turn or twist out of shapeproliferationn. a rapid increase in the amount or number of somethingcynicismn. the belief that people always act selfishlyfalterv. to lose power or strength in an uneven way, thus no longer making much progressassociaten. a person who is connected to another person as a businesspartner, colleague, or companionunderminev. to gradually make somebody or something less strong or effectiveconfoundv. to confuse and greatly surprise people, causing them to be unable to explain or deal with a situationastoundv. to make somebody very surprised or shocked, especially with (news of) something completely unexpected。
LessonElevenTheEmotionalBankAccount-SecretsofHappyFamilies一、词汇WordListemotionaladj.感情�上�的�情绪�上�的bankaccountn.银行账户financialadj.金融的�财政的financialtools财政工具depositn.存款withdrawaln.提款actionn.行动�行为buildv.�逐渐�增加�增强withdrawaln.提款发音�decreasev.减少increase增加balancen.余额communicationn.交流�交际openadj.坦诚的cultivatev.培养�养成kindnessv.亲切awakeadj.(一般作表语)醒着的wakeup醒来过去式�woke/过去分词�wokenalive活着的daddyn.�=dad�(口语)爸爸unconditionaladj.无条件的�不受�条件�制约的impactn.影响�作用unexpectedadj.没有料到的�意外的briefcasen.公文包earnv.获得�挣得capacityn.能力�才能capable有能力的�能干的becapableofdoing有能力做某事initiatev.使……开始�开始�着手sweetheartn.�夫妻之间或对孩子等的爱称�亲爱的�宝贝儿incrediblyadv.难以置信地loyaladj.忠诚的loyaltyn.忠诚beloyalto对谁忠诚nexttoprep.次于�居于……之后unawareadj.未意识到的�未觉察到的weaknessn.弱点�缺点ratheradv.更确切地说positiveadj.正面的�积极的�肯定的negative否定的thepositiven.值得肯定的地方overhearn.无意中听到�偷听到annoyv.使恼怒�使烦恼principlen.原则inprinciple原则上类似�principal首要的shiftv.转移defendv.维护�保护recallv.回想起�回忆起cabn.�美�出租汽车dragv.�时间�缓慢地流逝influentialadj.有势力的�有影响力的词根�influencen.acquaintancen.熟人ultimateadj.最终的�最后的channeln.途径,频道�海峡cleansev.使纯净obstaclen.障碍�物�consciencen.良心�道德心justifyv.证明�言语、行为等�正当、合理或公正�为……辩护miraclen.奇迹bamboon.竹子shootn.竹笋�嫩芽reachv.达到�到达dramaticadj.戏剧性的�重大的�戏剧的词根�drama形容词�dramaticgrowthn.生长supportn.支撑�支持二、课文分析1Theemotionalbankaccountislikeafinancialbankaccountinoneway:youcan make"deposits"-actionsthatbuildtrust-oryoucanmake"withdrawals"thatdecreaseit.感情银行储蓄和金融银行储蓄在一个方面是相似的�那就是你既可"存款"即做增加信任的举动�也可以"取款"�即做消弱信任的举动。
现代⼤学英语精读第三册unit_11课后答案Unit 11 Silent SpringPre-class WorkWord-buildingGive the corresponding nouns of the following.(1)suppression (2) modification (3) contender (4) restraint (5) alteration (6) desertion(7) contamination (8) radiation (9) isolation (10) reservation (11) confinement (12)adaptation More Work on the Text II Vocabulary1.Translate1 ) From Chinese into English.(1) to mold youngster's thinking (11) to work miracles(2) to restrain one's impulse (12) to acquire power(3) to spread butter (13) to desert one's friends(4) to set the stage (14) to desert the city(5) to contaminate the environment (15) to settle the dispute(6) to undergo great sufferings (16) to settle the matter(7) to spray paint (17) to delight the eye(8) to still the noises (18) to invade that country(9) to modify the tone (19) to invade someone's privacy(10) to work unknown harm (20) to sink a well2) into Chinese.(1) 妖魔所施的魔法或所下的咒语(8) 品牌名(2) 焦黄枯萎的草⽊(9) 化学战(3) 严峻的现实(10) 事先的调查(4) 空⽓的污染( 11) ⽣死⽃争(5) 致命的武器(12) 外来的物种(6) ⼈⼯合成的材料(13) ⾃然保护区(7) 有创造⼒的头脑( 14) 农业的精耕细作2. Give synonyms(1) numerous，innumerable(2) large amount，great supply，plenty，more than enough(3) to shake，to shiver，to shudder(4) big，large，considerable，abundant(5) cruel，pitiless，ruthless，severe，hard(6) to shape，to form，to remodel(7) to change，to transform，to revise，to convert，to modify，to vary(8) to use(9) prepared，adjusted，or adapted for a particular purpose(10) exactly just(11) to experience，to go through，to endure(12) useless，vain，unsuccessful(13) artificial, man-made, unnatural(14) to rise, to appear, to surface, to come up, to come into view(15) contamination(16) deadly, fatal(17) attack(18) evil, wicked, threatening, frightening(19) to alter, to change, to adjust, to adapt3. Translate1) Building a house is no joking matter. You have to check carefully at every step.2) His troops successfully checked the advance of the enemy.3) I really wanted to refute his arguments, but I checked myself because I thought it was not the right occasion.4) Are you sure that we can trust him? I think we ought to check it up on him.5) Our original intention was to check into a hotel, but our friend insisted that we should stay at his p!ace.6) Rachel Carson devoted all her life to the cause of environmental protection.7) They are devoted to each other. Nothing can separate them.8) He devoted a whole chapter to this subject in his recently published book'9) This reservoir can hold two billion cubic meters of water.10) At that time, we all held our breath. You could hear a needle drop.11) Diogenes held the view that the property people hold does not really being happiness.12) He did not intend his discovery to be used for war purposes.13) These colorful clothes are intended for the African market.14) Today there are so many cars in the streets. I'd rather walk than drive. It's quicker.15) He would rather die standing on his feet than live on his knees.16) You can use my bike , or rather my wife's bike.17) I hear that the movie is intended to be a hit. But I must confess I think it is rather silly.4.1) A. 4) D. 7) A. 10) D. 13) A.2) B. 5) C. 8) B. 11) A. 14) D.3) A. 6) B. 9) A. 12) B. 15)C.5.1) a piece of news 2) a piece of information3) a newspaper/paper 20) a jacket4) a slip/piece of paper 21) a suit (of clothes)5) a piece of advice/a proposal (suggestion) 22) a piece of land/a plot6) a song 23) a piece/bar of soap7) a piece of music 24) a piece of furniture8) a stone/a rock 25) a rope9) a piece of wood 26) a hair10) a tree 27) two fish11) a lump of sugar/a piece of candy 28) three sheep12) a piece of evidence 29) a lot of (lots of, much, a great deal of, a13) a loaf of bread large amount of, a large quantity of, large14) a piece/slice of bread quantities of) money15) a job 30) a lot of (lots of, many, a great number16) a means of, large numbers of) problems17) a fish 31) some (a little, a bit of) time18) a piece of cloth 32) some (a few, several) deer19) a piece of clothing/a garment (dress, coat)B1) a pair of (shoes, glasses, gloves etc) 9) a blade of (grass)2) a drop of (water, wine' oil etc) 10) a flock of (birds, sheep)3) a set of (teacups, books etc) 11) a pile of (books, stones, melons)4) a bunch of (keys, bananas, people .etc) 12) a roll of (film, toilet paper)5) a glass of (beer, wine, milk etc) 13) a swarm of (bees, flies)6) a cup of (tea, coffee etc) 14) a heap of (stones, money)7) a pack of (cigarettes, wolves etc) 15) a cluster of (flowers, students)8) a grain of (rice, salt, sand etc) 16) a herd of (cattle)6.1) (1) exchange (2) changed (3) exchanged, changed(4) an exchange, an exchange2) (1) except (2) Besides (3) beside (4) except3) (1) used to, is used to ( 2) am used to (3) used to4) (1) shaking (2) shivering (3) trembled/shook (4) trembled7.1) 你上⽉的电话费(bill账单)付了吗?2) 那个法案(bill法案)在国会⾥被否决了。
Unit 11Text comprehensionI. BII.TTFFFTIV.1.Except for some dwelling houses on its outskirts, San Francisco has almostcompletely disappeared from the world and only remains in people’s memories.’2.Nothing could stop the forceful advancement of the flames.3.The courageous and brave deeds in the firefighting would fill up a library if relatedin writing and exhaust the Carnegie medal fund if rewarded.4.Sometimes all members of a family fastened themselves with straps to a carriage ordelivery wagon that was heavily loaded with their possessions.5.Two Untied States soldiers sat astride on their horses and calmly watched theconflagration, their shapes contrasting sharply with the wall of flame behind them. VocabularyI.1. moved slowly back and forth2. ingenious devices and protective measures3. resisting4. fill with a supply5. polite or considerate in manner6. threatII1.was weighted down2.out of gear3.wipe out4.burdened with5.crumbled6.played out7.sweep down8. a flicker ofIII1.withdrawal2.adjust3.enumerate4.hysterically5.courteous6.devastation7.disruption8.vacancyIVCDADBACBV1.invention, creation, innovation2.enormous, immense, mammoth3.economically, thriftily, frugally, sparingly4.smooth, level, even5.plod, drudge, labor6.unsociable, discourteous, ill-mannered7.plot, patch8.edge, boundary, marginVI1.way2.controlled3.for example4.finished5.be able to deal with it6.makingGrammarI1.the earthquake/came2.the suck/was3.her people/were4.trunks/were5.picket lines of soldiers/were flung6.no fire/was7.two United States cavalrymen/were8.the tottering walls of the examiner building, the burned-our Call Building, thesmouldering ruins of Grand Hotel, and the gutted, devastated, dynamited Palace Hotel/stoodII1.Under no circumstances will we tolerate that.2.So absurd was his manner that everybody stared.3.Only with full agreement of everyone can we hope to succeed.4.Here is the book you want.5.Down sprang the cat.6.Sitting at the kitchen table was the misbehaving child.7.Hidden in the cellar were several barrels of wine.8.Never have I seen such a mess.IIIBABBAIV1.All our many2.The other ten3.the few next4.Few such5.all these five6.These next two7.all these last few8.His manyV1.much of---a lot of, many---much2.much---many, many---many of3. a lot of---much, much---a lot of4.much---a lot of, many of---a lot of5.much---many6. a lot of---many, a lot of---many/a large number of7.many of---many, a lot---much, a great deal ofTranslationI1.人类所有聪明的发明创造和保护措施，在地壳震动30秒钟后便完全失效了。
Unit 11LANGUAGE STRUCTURESPRACTICE IExample:A: What do you wish you were?B: I wish I were a deep sea diver.A: What would you do if you were one?B: I’d explore the secrets of the sea.PRACTICE IIExample:A: I wish I’d been a good swimmer.B: Aren’t you one? I thought you were.A: No, I’m not. If I’d been a good swimmer, I could have saved the boy from drowning. PRACTICE IIIExample:A: What do you think you’ll do when you graduate four years from now?B: I think I’ll be a competent interpreter.A: Would you be a competent interpreter if you graduated tomorrow?B: I’m afraid I wouldn’t.DIALOGUELearning Chinese as a Foreign LanguageA: Hi, Xiaohua!B: Hi, David, how’s everything?A: Good. So far so good , I mean.B: You’ve been in China for two months. How do you like your CFL programme in the Chinese Department?A: My interest in Chinese grows with each passing day. But then so does my difficulty in learning Chinese. It’s such a difficult language! It’s so different from European languages, such as English and French.B: As a learner of English as a foreign language, I’m going through a similar ordeal. I have difficulty with spelling, pronunciation and, believe it or not, with numbers and figures.A: But you speak English so much better than I do Chinese. I wish I were able to talk to native speakers in Chinese the way you are talking to me.B: You will. Only it takes time.A: I know. “Rome was not built in a day.”B: And“只要工夫深，铁杵磨成针”，as the Chinese saying goes.A: Which means ...?B: Which means “Dripping water wears away stone.”or “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”By the way, what do you find most difficult with learning Chinese?A: The grammatical structure of Chinese doesn’t seem to be as complex as I used to think. In many ways it is simpler than most European languages. No verb agreement, no irregular verbs and nouns, very few and simple tense markers, to name just a few.B: Those are exactly the causes of some of the major problems I have with my English learning.A: But the Chinese writing system is altogether new to me. Instead of neat rows of 26 simple alphabetic letters, there are tens of thousands of unique characters formed with a varied number of strokes . Many of these characters seem complex. Although the calligraphy of Chinese characters is artistically beautiful, I won’t be able to appreciate it until I can recognize and write at least 8, 888 Chinese characters. I’m just kidding.B: How does Chinese sound to you?A: I find putonghua rather melodious, a little like singing.B: Do you have any difficulty distinguishing the four tones?A: Yes, I do. The tonal system of Chinese really bothers me. It’s a major source of difficulty with my comprehension and pronunciation. It’s so upsetting that most of the time I don’t understand what I hear and am not understood by others.B: I suggest you take advantage of living in China and go to lectures, movies, and plays “8,888 times,”and dip yourself in the language environment as much as possible. Before I forget, I have two tickets for a newly-released feature film. Would you like to go with me and improve your listening for the tones?A: Certainly! Thank you so much.B: My pleasure.LISTENING IN & SPEAKING OUTAmerican EducationEducation is an enormous and expensive part of American life. Its size is matched by its variety.Differences in American schools compared with those found in the majority of other countries lie in the fact that education here has long been intended for everyone —not just for a privileged elite. Schools are expected to meet the needs of every child, regardless of ability, and also the needs of society itself. This means that public schools offer more than academic subjects. It surprises many people when they come here to find high schools offering such courses as typing, sewing, radio repair, computer programming, or driver training, along with traditional academic subjects such as mathematics, history, and languages. Students choose their curricula depending on their interests, future goals, and level of ability. The underlying goal of American education is to develop every child to the utmost of his or her own possibilities, and to give each one a sense of civic and community consciousness.The new universities greatly expanded in size and course offerings, breaking completely out of the old, constricted curriculum of mathematics, classics, rhetoric, and music. The president of Harvard pioneered the elective system, by which students were able to choose their own course of study. The notion of major fields of study emerged. The new goal was to make the university relevant to the real pursuits of the world.The approach to teaching may seem unfamiliar to many, not only because it is informal, but also because there is not much emphasis on learning facts. Instead, Americans try to teach their children to think for themselves and to develop their own intellectual and creative abilities.Students spend much time learning how to use resource materials, libraries, statistics and computers. Americans believe that if children are taught to reason well and to research well, theywill be able to find whatever facts they need throughout the rest of their lives. Knowing how to solve problems is considered more important than the accumulation of facts.This is America’s answer to the searching question that thoughtful parents all over the world are asking themselves in this fast-moving time: “How can one prepare today’s child for a tomorrow that one can neither predict nor understand?”READING IGirls and Boys Come Out to PlayThe football sailed over the fence at least half a dozen times every lunch hour, not due to any lack of skill: a “lost”ball provided a passport into the girls’school next door. Games of tennis, tag, handball and football were all crammed into the corner of the schoolyard beside our own Maginot line.On the other side, girls sunbathed and were regularly told to pull their socks up and not hitch up their skirts. “This is not Brighton beach, you know.”Apart from the daily mêlée in the bus queue, this was our only contact with the opposite sex at school.The excuses grew more sophisticated. Divinity club, drama, mixed hockey matches for charity and other worthy causes were all surprisingly well supported. Even so, we all resented this unnatural division.If school was preparing us for life, why was it so unlike the real world? It is ironic that I now find myself defending single sex education and that I now believe that its very artificiality is its main strength.Ideally, education should provide everyone with the opportunity to develop their talents to the full.But in reality this is more difficult than it seems. Boys are often more pushy than girls and demand more than their fair share of the teacher’s attention. If this is not forthcoming, they are likely to be disruptive.To keep the peace, teachers, often unintentionally, devote more of their time to the boys.The result is that in a mixed class girls can expect no more than a third of the teacher’s time. This becomes a habit and boys get used to being assertive and in control while girls learn to give way and to play a subordinate role. Having to contend with the complications of adolescence at the same time exacerbatesthe problem. Surely this is not a desirable preparation for life.If girls and boys are kept separate, domination by one sex is not possible. In my experience, stronger boys often pushed out the weaker, dismissing them as “cissies”. Perhaps we needed todominate someone and these were our substitute girls. But at least we didn’t get used to “shouting down”the girls or assuming that they would always give way.In a girls’school, pupils get the full attention of the teacher. They are free to develop the selfassurance which later on may help them to resist discrimination. Because they are used to having influence in the classroom, they expect to have influence in the world. If reality turns out differently, then at least they can tackle it without being hampered by the difficulties of adolescence as well.At school I always favoured the arts more than the sciences and happily progressed to specialization in English. Would I have done so in a mixed school? Perhaps not. The fact is that in coeducational schools, girls dominate the arts while boys dominate the sciences. This is because in the early teenage years girls excel in language-based subjects and, rather than be beaten, boys concentrate on the sciences. Single sex schools are free from such stereotyping.I don’t think that girls and boys should be separated because they distract one another. I can’t believe that flirtation or boyish bravado poses a serious threat to classroom order. There are stronger social and educational reasons than that. Perhaps a good compromise would be to have mixed schools but to teach boys and girls separately for at least part of the time. This at least would get rid of the Maginot lines that are as much a part of my school memories as semolina and chalk dust.READING IIStudents Who Push BurgersA college freshman squirms anxiously on a chair in my office, his eyes avoiding mine, those of his English professor, as he explains that he hasn’t finished his paper, which was due two days ago. “I just haven’t had the time,”he said.“Are you carrying a heavy course load?”“Fifteen hours,”he says — a normal load.“Are you working a lot?”“No, sir, not much. About 30 hours a week.”“That’s a lot. Do you have to work that much?”“Yeah, I have to pay for my car.”“Do you really need a car?”“Yeah, I need it to get to work.”This student isn’t unusual.Indeed, he probably typifies today’s college and high school students. Yet in all the lengthy analyses of what’s wrong with American education, I have not heard employment by students being blamed.But such employment is a major cause of educational decline. To argue my case, I will rely on memories of my own high school days and contrast them with what I see today. Though I do have some statistical evidence, my argument depends on what anyone over 40 can test through memory and direct observation.When I was in high school in the 1950s, students seldom held jobs. Some of us baby-sat, shoveled snow, mowed lawns, and delivered papers, and some of us got jobs in department stores around Christmas. But most of us had no regular source of income other than the generosity of our parents.The only kids who worked regularly were poor. They worked to help their families. If I remember correctly, only about five people in my class of 170 held jobs. That was in a workingclass town in New England. As for the rest of us, our parents believed that going to school and helping around the house were our work.In contrast, in 1986 my daughter was one of the few students among juniors and seniors who didn’t work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 40 percent of high school students were working in 1980, but sociologists Ellen Greenberger and Laurence Steinberg in “When Teenagers Work”came up with estimates of more than 70 percent working in 1986, though I suspect that the figure may be even higher now.My daughter, however, did not work; her parents wouldn’t let her. Interestingly, some of the students in her class implied that she had an unfair advantage over them in the classroom. They were probably right, for while she was home studying they were pushing burgers, waiting on tables, or selling dresses 20 hours a week. Working students have little time for homework.I attended a public high school, while she attended a Roman Catholic preparatory school whose students were mainly middle class. By the standards of my day, her classmates did not “have to”work. Yet many of them were working 20 to 30 hours a week. Why?They worked so that they could spend $60 to $100 a week on designer jeans, rock concerts, stereo and video systems, and, of course, cars. They were living lives of luxury, buying items on which their parents refused to throw hard-earned money away. Though the parent would not buy such tripe for their kids, the parents somehow convinced themselves that the kids were learning the value of money. Yet, according to Ms. Greenberger and Mr. Steinberg, only about a quarter of those students saved money for college or other long-term goals.How students spend their money is their business, not mine. But as a teacher, I have witnessed the effects of employment. I know that students who work all evening aren’t ready for studying when they get home from work. Moreover, because they work so hard and have ready cash, they feel that they deserve to have fun —instead of spending all their free time studying.Thus, by the time they get to college, most students look upon studies as a spare-time activity.A survey at Pennsylvania State University showed that most freshmen believed they could maintain aB average by studying about 20 hours a week. (I can remember when college guidebooks advised two to three hours of studying for every hour in class —30 to 45 hours a week.) Clearly individual students will pay the price for lack of adequate time studying, but the problem goes beyond the individual. It extends to schools and colleges that are finding it difficult to demand quantity or quality of work from students.Perhaps the reason American education has declined so markedly is because America has raised a generation of part-time students. And perhaps our economy will continue to decline as fulltime students from Japan and Europe continue to outperform our part-time students.。
