B
A new college guide in the United States compares educational requirements in seven subjects. These include math, science, writing and United States history or government. The other subjects are economics, foreign language and literature.
The free online guide is from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. The council is a nonprofit group that supports liberal arts education.
Its president, Anne Neal, says these areas of knowledge are needed to succeed in a twenty-first century society and an increasingly connected world. Yet she told VOA’s Faiza Elmasry it was surprising how many students can graduate with, in her words, a “thin education.”
Forty-two of the one hundred colleges and universities surveyed received the lowest marks. This meant they required two or fewer of the seven subjects. Five schools received a top grade for requiring six subjects. These were Brooklyn College in New York City, Texas A&M, the University of Texas-Austin, West Point and the University of Arkansas.
Robert Costrell is a professor of education reform and economics at the University of Arkansas. He says many, if not all, of the top American colleges once had a core curriculum —a set of courses required for all students.
But over the years, many have dropped these requirements. Or they have watered them down, Professor Costrell says, into what became known as distribution requirements. This system lets a student choose from a number of different courses to satisfy a requirement.
ROBERT COSTRELL: “And in many cases these courses went too far, I would say, towards the fluffy treatment of serious material, and students could satisfy their requirement by taking such courses.”
Professor Costrell says schools should not only re-examine what they teach. They should also measure what students have learned — for example, through some form of examinations or papers.
A new report this week from the College Board showed that college prices continue to rise. But Anne Neal from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni says higher prices. do not guarantee a better general education. In fact, the group found that the higher the tuition, the more likely that students have to develop their own general education.
The college guide is on the Web at whatwilltheylearn.com. Anne Neal says her group is surveying more colleges. The hope, she says, is to discover what college graduates have really learned, and how ready they are to compete in the global marketplace.
61. Where does the passage probably come from?
A. A scientific fiction. B. A research newspaper.
C. A fashion magazine. D. An entertainment newspaper.
62. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni does all the following EXCEPT _________.
A. support liberal arts education
B. concern itself with education in America
C. devote time to helping improve college education
D. make money by helping with college education
63. The words “watered them down” underlined in Paragraph 6 most likely mean “_______.”
A. reduced required courses B. improved required courses
C. increased required courses D. developed required courses
64. In this passage, the new college guide mainly tells its readers that American colleges should _____.
A. meet the requirements of the new century B. reduce the number of required courses
C. have different standards on required courses D. cut down on their tuitions
科目:高中英语 来源: 题型:阅读理解
We hear with our ears, right? Yes, but scientists have known for years that we also hear with our eyes. In a study published in 1976, researchers found that people combined both auditory cues(听力提示) and visual ones,like mouth and face movements, when they heard speech.
A new study that looks at a different set of sensory cues adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests such combination is natural. In a paper, Bryan Gick and Donald Derrick report that people can hear with their skin.
The researchers had volunteers listen to spoken syllables. Meanwhile, they connected the volunteers to a device that would blow a tiny puff (气流) of air onto the skin of their hands or necks. The syllables included “ba” and “pa”, which produce brief puffs from the mouth when spoken, and “da” and “ta,” which do not produce puffs. They found that when listeners heard “da” or “ta” while a puff of air was blown onto their skin, they considered the sounds as “ba” or “pa”.
Dr. Gick said the findings were similar to those from the 1976 study, in which visual cues defeated auditory ones — volunteers listened to one syllable but thought it another because they were watching a video of mouth movements corresponding to the second syllable. In his study,he said,cues from sensory receivers on the skin defeated the ears as well. “Our skin is doing the hearing for us,” he said.
Dr. Gick noted that it would normally be rare that someone actually sensed a puff of air produced by another, although people might occasionally sense their own puffs. “What’s so persuasive about this particular effect,” he added. “is that people are picking up on this information that they don’t know they are using.” That supports the idea that combining different sensory cues is natural.
Dr. Gick said the finding also suggested that other sensory cues might be at work in speech perception(知觉) — that, as he put it, “we are these fantastic perception machines that take in all the information available to us and combine it faultlessly.”
“Da” or “ta” were considered as “ba” or “pa” when __________.
A. they were spoken quickly
B. puffs of air were blown onto the listener’s skin
C. they were pronounced using a special device
D. they were made with face movements
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Humans combine different sensory cues through experience.
B. Dr. Gick’s new study is more important than the one in 1976.
C. People sometimes can sense their own puffs when speaking
D. Only auditory and visual cues are at work in speech perception.
What is the best title of the text?
A. We Can Hear with Our Skin
B. Our Visual Cues Is Doing the Hearing for Us
C. Facial Expressions Are Important
D. We Are Fantastic Machines
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科目:高中英语 来源:辽宁省抚顺一中2009-2010学年度高一下学期3月月考 题型:阅读理解
B
A new computer treatment is being used to deal with obesity in children. Connected to a small dining set, consisting of (包括) scales and a plate, a mini computer teaches children how to eat and reminds them when to stop.
“In very fat people, hunger signals from the stomach to the brain stop functioning. But the new computer system teaches the children how to receive these messages again,” says Dr. Julian Hamilton-Shield, the Bristol University senior lecturer leading the treatment trials.(实验)。
The computer , called a Mandometer, records and stores the weight loss from the plate when children eat. As the food is leaving the plate , a curve( 曲线)is produced on the computer screen suggesting whether the child is eating too quickly.
“Children with weight problems often eat too quickly. We want them to eat steadily稳定地) and slowly and the system teaches them to slow down. It’s a bit like retraining, ” says Hamilton-Shield.
Obesity now represents (代表) one of the major threats to the future health of children. About one in five boys and one in four girls aged two to fifteen in England are overweight. But so far no treatments have proven effective in treating children.
The Mandometer was developed in Sweden, but at present is experiencing further development at the University of Bristol, with $ 224,400 in funds from BUPA-a global health and care organization. The system could be on the market in two years’ time. At first, it would be managed by medical clinics(诊所).
40. The text is mainly written to explain____________.
A. how a new computer treatment dealing with obesity works.
B. why child obesity becomes a topic of people
C. how to lose weight with the help of computers.
D. why a computer is effective(有效的) in dealing with child obesity.
41. The word” functioning” in paragraph 3 probably means________.
A. eating B. working C. lasting D. losing
42. Obesity threatens the health of children , which__________.
A. people have not cared about
B. is nothing compared with other diseases.
C . has led to many deaths
D. is very serious
43. What can we learn from the text?
A. The Mandometer will be put into market once it proves effective.
B. The Mandometer is cheap enough for every family to afford
C. The Mandometer is still not perfect
D. Slow eating is sure to make people lose weight.
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科目:高中英语 来源:天水市一中2008级2009—2010学年第二学期第一阶段考试兰天班英语 题型:阅读理解
We can offer you a place at one of the best universities in Britain. We’ll provide you with a choice of 150 first class courses developed especially to enable you to study in your own time, backed by the Open University’s own special study method.
—OU supported open learning.
We’ll give you the support of a personal teacher, and the chance to meet your fellow students. You can take one – off courses, diplomas, a degree or a postgraduate degree. Subjects available include: Computing, Business Management, Technology, Modern Languages, Social Science, Arts, Education and so on.
Whether you want to study to improve your jobs or for your own personal interest, there’s almost certainly a course for you. If you haven’t studied for a while, we’ll help you get started. No previous training or degrees are required, you just need a lively power of learning and a willingness to learn. It’s real value for money and you can pay by monthly payments.
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科目:高中英语 来源:2010年高考预测试题英语(二) 题型:阅读理解
B
A new study suggests that the more teenagers watch television , the more likely they are to develop depression (抑郁)as young adults. But the extent to which TV may or may not be to blame is a question that the study leaves unanswered.
The researchers used a national long-term survey of adolescent health to investigate the relationship between media use and depression . They based their findings on more than four thousand adolescents who were not depressed when the survey began in 1995.
As part of the survey, the young people were asked how many hours of television or videos they watched daily. They were also asked how often they played computer games and listened to the radio.
Media use totaled an average of five and one-half hours a day. More than two hours of that was spent watching TV.
Seven years later, in 2002, more than seven percent of the young people had signs of depression. Their average age at that time was twenty-one.
Brian Primack at the Universtiy of Pittsburgh Medical School was the leading author of the new study . He said every extra hour of television meant an eight percent increase in the chances of developing signs of depression.
The researchers say they did not find any such relationship with the use of other media such as movies, video games or radio. But the study did find that young men were more likely than young women to develop depression given the same amount of media use.
Doctor Primack says the study did not explore if watching TV causes depression . But one possibility, like sports and socializing. It might also interfere with sleep, he says, and that could have an influence.
The study was just published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. In December, the journal Social Indicators Research published a study of activities that help lead to happy lives. Sociologists from the University of Maryland found that people who describe themselves as happy spend less time watching television than unhappy people. The study found that happy people are more likely to be socially active, to read, to attend religious services and to vote.
60.The average age of the depressed young people should be_______when they began to receive the survey.
A.21 B.15 C.14 D.20
61.According to the passage, which of the following can possibly lead to depression?
A.Swimming B.Attending a party
C.Attending religious services D.Watching TV for a long time.
62.We can learn from the passage_______.
A.the survey lasted a short time
B.over 280 teenagers who received the survey became more or less depressed in 2002
C.men are more likely to become depressed than women
D.the study about the relationship between media use and depression was published in the journal Social Indicators Research
63.What is the best title for the passage?
A.Teens, television, depression
B.Depression—the common problem of teens
C.Problems of watching TV
D.Teens—a group enjoying watching TV
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