Love to sink into your chairs and relax when you get to school? Then you will not be happy to hear that schools all over the world are seriously considering exchanging traditional desks for ones with no seats at all—Yes, that means you will be encouraged to stand through those already too long math and science lessons! Why would anyone even think of putting kids to such cruelty? Experts say it improves their health and helps fight obesity. While that may seem a little farfetched (牵强的) the officials at the few schools around the world seem to agree.
Among them are educators from the College Station Independent School District in Texas, who recently completed a weeklong experiment involving 480 students across three elementary schools. The 374 kids that agreed to participate in the study were provided a device that helped record step count and calorie consumption over the entire period.
All 25 teachers involved in the study reported that students appeared to be more alert and concentrate better, when allowed to stand. The one thing that did surprise the researchers was that younger kids were more willing to stay standing than kids in higher grades. They believe this may have something to do with the fact that after years of being asked to “sit still”, older kids have a harder time adjusting to this unexpected freedom.
American schools are not the only ones reporting success with standup desks. Four Catholic schools in Perth, Australia, which have been testing them since October 2013, have seen similar results. In May 2014, Grove House Primary School in Bradford, West Yorkshire, became Europe's first test one, with a sevenweek trial that involved the use of desks made by Ergotron in their fifthgrade classrooms. While official results are not out yet, early reactions from both teachers and students, have been extremely encouraging.
The findings of these studies and others done previously, all seem to mean that allowing kids to move around in classrooms is a winwin for students and teachers—it helps kids get healthier and provides educators with a more engaged audience.
篇章导读:本文是一篇新闻报道。文章介绍了一种让学生站着上课的新型课桌,它既能保持学生健康又能使学生集中注意力,从而提高课堂效率,很受师生欢迎。
13.According to the first paragraph, what may make the students at school unhappy is that ________.
A.they have to exchange desks with each other
B.they have to exchange traditional desks for ones with no seats on their own
C.there are no seats for them to sit in class
D.the officials show no sympathy to them at all
14.According to the teachers, older students may not like standup desks because________.
A.they are cleverer than younger students
B.they are easily tired of standing long
C.they have formed the habit of sitting
D.they do badly in class while standing
15.What is most likely to be the result of the sevenweek trial?
A.The standing desks can't be used at all.
B.It is good for students to use standup desks.
C.More tests should be done in other schools.
D.The students are different in personality.
16.Why do the teachers like the standing desks?
A.Because the educators can draw the students' attention.
B.Because the teachers can keep the students healthy.
C.Because the students can have a walk in the classroom.
D.Because the standing desks can keep the students concentrated.
13.C 细节理解题。由第一段第二句中的“schools all over the world are seriously considering exchanging traditional desks for ones with no seats at all—Yes, that means you will be encouraged to stand through those already too long math and science lessons”可知,教室没有座位,学生们要站着上课,这或许会让学生们感到不悦。
14.C 推理判断题。根据第三段尾句可知,年龄较大的孩子们由于多年习惯于坐着上课,所以不喜欢这种站着上课的课桌。
15.B 推理判断题。根据第一段倒数第二句、第三段首句、第四段首句和最后一段内容可知,使用这种桌子对学生有好处。
16.D 推理判断题。根据第三段首句和最后一段中的 “it helps kids get healthier and provides educators with a more engaged audience”可知,老师们喜欢这种桌子是因为这使学生们上课更专心、注意力更集中。
新闻报道类阅读的概念:
阅读理解的选材明显地呈现出关注实际生活的趋势,这种趋势与当前基础教育改革的目标是一致的,而中学生学习语言的根本目标与基础教育学会求知,学会做事,学会合作,学会做人的目标是一致的,真实新颖的选材对基础英语教学课程改革具有重要的反作用。
新闻报道类阅读理解技巧点拨:
新闻报道类类文章有一共同特点,即都是由标题(Headline)、导语(Lead)、主体(Mainbody)、背景(Background)和结尾(End)五部分构成。标题是新闻报道中心思想高度而又精辟的概括;导语位于新闻报道的首段,高度概括新闻事实;主体则对导语概括的新闻事实进行详细叙述;新闻背景是指新闻事实之外,对新闻事实或新闻事实的某个部分进行解释或补充的材料;结尾往往是新闻事件的结果或动态展望,也是中心思想的概括并常常与新闻导语相呼应。
新闻报道中的导语非常重要,它位于文章的第一段,通过它点出新闻的主题,五个W和一个H(When,Where,Who,What,Why和How)通常是构成一则完整消息不可缺少的要素。文章往往呈现出“倒金字塔”的特征,因此读懂首句或首段至关重要。
另外,从句的使用也是此类文章的一大语言特色,因为从句信息量大,适合新闻报道的要求。此外,大量的副词和插入语的使用也是此类文章的特点。为使文章更客观、更具信服力,常用The study said…, Scientists believe that…Experts said…, It's reported that…, According to the survey…等语言。同事在阅读过程中,我们要对材料所提供信息如when, where, who, how, why等进行提问,将信息迅速提炼出来。
新闻报道类阅读应试策略:
【命题趋势】
阅读理解的选材明显地呈现出关注实际生活的趋势,这种趋势与当前基础教育改革的目标是一致的,而中学生学习语言的根本目标与基础教育学会求知,学会做事,学会合作,学会做人的目标是一致的,真实新颖的选材对基础英语教学课程改革具有重要的反作用。时文报道就在文章中体现了这一要求。主要表现在以下几个方面:
1、反映海内外事件,文章结构严谨,内容贴近生活,用现代英语反映现代生活。
2、如果是新闻报道,都有比较固定的写作格式,如文首通常有报道的地点或时间,第一句话常常是文章的导语,有助于了解文章的大致内容和主题。
3、如果是新闻报道则是记叙文,有地点、时间、人物、事物等要素。
4、有许多大量反映当代社会变化的新词汇和表达方式。
5、命题既重细节,又重推理和主旨。
6、大背景中的小事件,大事件中的小插曲往往是选材的热点。
【应试对策】
1、在平时学习中,关注生活,阅读新闻报道和广告类文章、把阅读时事文章作为学习英语的重要途径。
2、了解新的词汇和表达方式。如:tsunami海啸,MP3players(MP3)播放器,well_offsociety小康社会等。
3、抓住文章主题,准确捕捉细节和内涵,进行合理的推理。
4、品味新闻的标题,联系平时所积累的知识,为了解材料大意作铺垫。
5、了解新闻报道的特殊规律,其内容和多含何人、何地、何事、何时等,阅读时要抓住新闻的这一主要特点去理解判断。
6、要注意文中以黑体、大写、下划线等方式加以提示的文字,因为这很有可能是材料的核心或至少是一部分内容的概括。
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