This was no ordinary class. The students who came together were all science or engineering professors at Cornell University. They had interrupted their research to accept an invitation to take part in an unusual experiment: “an interesting week of poetry”. This class was part of a study to answer the questions: Why is science difficult for many non-science students?
The students in the poetry class listened to lectures and took notes. They had reading tasks and had to write three short papers. All students noticed one thing—the importance of spoken words. In science and engineering classes, the instructors put tables and drawings on the blackboard. But in this poetry class, the instructors just talked. They didn’t write anything on the board.
The scientists and engineers noticed one similarity between science and poetry. In both subjects, students need to find layers of meaning. Some layers are simple, clear, and on the surface; other layers are deeper and more difficult. This search for different levels of meaning doesn’t happen much in undergraduate science classes, but it is important later, in graduate school. And it is always important in humanities(人文科学).
Both the poetry instructors and their students learned something about teaching from this experience. One poetry instructor, for example, now sees the importance of using informational charts as he teaches. Most of the scientists agreed on several points. First, humanities classes might help science students to see patterns and decide which information is important. Second, the poetry class was fun. One engineer decided, “We need to change the way we teach engineering to make it an enjoyable experience for students.” But perhaps the most important result of the experience was this: All of the professors began to think about how they teach and how they can teach better.
（Note： Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TWELVE
WORDS.）
81. Why was this class very unusual?
82. The experiment was designed to help teachers find out ________.
83. The poetry class was different from science and engineering classes in that __________. 84. What influence did the experiment had on those professors?
Key：
81. The students were (science or engineering) professors from a university. 82. why many non-science /humanities students find science hard to learn 83. the instructors just talked and they didn’t write anything on the board 84. All of the professors began to reflect on their way of teaching.
2
We all know that the normal human daily cycle of activity is of some 7—8 hours’ sleep alternation with some 16—17 hours’ wakefulness and that, broadly speaking, the sleep normally coincides with (与一致) the hours of darkness. Our present concern is with how easily and to what extent this cycle can be modified.
The question is no more an academic one. The ease, for example, with which people can change from working in the day to working at night is a question of growing importance in industry where automation calls for round-the-clock working of machines. It normally, takes from
five days to one week for a person to adapt to a reversed routine of sleep and wakefulness, sleeping during the day and working at night. Unfortunately, it is often the case in industry that shifts are changed every week; a person may work from 12 midnight to 8 a.m. one week, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. the next, and 4 p.m. to 12 midnight the third and so on. This means that no sooner has he got used to one routine than he has to change to another, so that much of his time is spent neither working nor sleeping very efficiently.
The only real solution appears to be to hand over the night shift to a number of permanent night workers. An interesting study of the domestic life and health of night-shift workers was carried out by Brown in 1957. She found a high incidence (发生率) of disturbed sleep and other disorders among those on alternating day and night shifts, but no abnormal occurrence of theses phenomena among those on permanent night work.
This latter system then appears to be the best long-term policy , but meanwhile something may be done to relieve the strains of alternative day and night work by selecting those people who can adapt most likely to the change of routine. One way of knowing when a person has adopted is by measuring his body temperature. People engaged in normal daytime work will have a high temperature during the hours of wakefulness and a low one at night; when they change to night work the pattern will only gradually go back to match the new routine and the speed with which it does so parallels, broadly speaking, the adaptation of the body as a whole, particularly in terms of performance. Therefore, by taking body temperature at intervals of two hours throughout the period of wakefulness it can be seen how quickly a person can adapt to a reversed routine, and this could be used as a basis for selection. So far, however, such a form of selection does not seem to have been applied in practice.
Body temperature may act as an indication of a worker’s performance.
1. What negative effect will be caused if night shifts are changed every other day? 2. What appears to be the long-term solution?
3. Who are likely to be chosen to unload the burden of changeable night shift? 4. What may act as an indication of a worker’s performance?
Keys:
1. Disturbed sleep and other disorders
2. Handing over the night shift to a number of permanent night workers. 3. Those people who can adapt most likely to the change of routine. 4. Body temperature.
3
In the United States, friendships can be close, constant, intense, generous, and real, yet fade away in a short time if circumstances change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while --- then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship where it left off and are delighted.
In the States, you can feel free to visit people's homes, share their holidays, enjoy their children and their lives without fear that you are taking on a lasting obligation. Do not hesitate to accept hospitality because you cannot give it in return. No one will expect you to do so for they
know you are far from home. Americans will enjoy welcoming you and be pleased if you accept their hospitality easily.
Once you arrive there, the welcome will be full and warm and real. Most visitors find themselves readily invited into many homes there. In some countries it is considered inhospitable to entertain at home, offering what is felt as \"merely\" home cooked food, not \"doing something\" for your guest. It is felt that restaurant entertaining shows more respect and welcome. Or for various other reasons, such as crowded space, language difficulties, or family custom, outsiders are not invited into homes.
In the United States, both methods are used, but it is often considered more friendly to invite a person to one's home than to go to a public place, except in purely business relationships. So, if your host or hostess brings you home, do not feel that you are being shown inferior treatment.
Don't feel neglected if you do not find flowers awaiting you in your hotel room either. Flowers are very expensive there, hotel delivery is uncertain, arrival times are delayed, changed, or canceled --- so flowers are not customarily sent as a welcoming touch. Please do not feel unwanted! Outward signs vary in different lands; the inward welcome is what matters, and this will be real.
(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN FIVE WORDS.)
1. In the United States, it’s unnecessary to decline hospitality because the hospitality can’t be given in return. 2. What will the welcome to an American family be like ? It’s full, warm and real.
3. In the United States, inviting a guest to eat outside is considered (to be ) less friendly than at home.
4. Why aren’t flowers customarily sent to your hotel room? Because flowers are very expensive.
4
Exceptional children are different in some significant ways from others of the same age. For these children to develop to their full adult potential, their education must be adapted to those differences.
Although we focus on the needs of exceptional children, we find ourselves describing their environment as well. While the leading actor on the stage captures our attention, we are aware of the importance of the supporting players and the scenery of the play itself. Both the family and the society in which exceptional children live are often the key to their growth and development. And it is in the public schools that we find the full expression of society’s understanding — the knowledge, hopes, and fears that are passed on to the next generation.
Education in any society is a mirror of that society. In that mirror we can see the strengths, the weaknesses, the hopes, the prejudices, and the central values of the culture itself. The great interest in exceptional children shown in public education over the past three decades indicates the strong feeling in our society that all citizens, whatever their special conditions, deserve the opportunity to fully develop their capabilities.
“All men are created equal,” we heard it many times, but it still has important meaning for education in a democratic society. Although the phrase was used by this country’s founders to indicate equality before the law, it has also been interpreted to mean equality of opportunity. That
concept implies educational opportunity for all children — the right of each child to receive help in learning to the limits of his or her capability, whether that capability is small or great. Recent court decisions have confirmed the right of all children — disabled or not — to an appropriate education, and have ordered that public schools take the necessary steps to provide that education. In response, schools are modifying their programs, adapting instruction to children who are exceptional, to those who cannot profit substantially from regular programs.
（Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TWELVE WORDS.）
1. This passage is concerned primarily with the necessity of adapting ________________. 2. What affects the growth of exceptional children according to the author?
3. People have shown great interest in the education of exceptional children over the last three decades because they believe that ________________________________________.
4. According to the passage, what does “All men are created equal” mean to the country’s founders?
Keys:
1. education to exceptional children 2. Their family and the society.
3. all citizens deserve the opportunity to fully develop their capabilities 4. It means/indicates everyone/anyone is equal before the law.
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