All over the world, your chances of success in school and life depend more on your family circumstances than on any other factor. By age three, kids with professional parents are already a full year ahead of their poorer peers. They know twice as many words as many words and score 40 points higher on IQ tests. By age 10, the gap is three years. By then, some poor children have not mastered basic reading and math skills, and many never will: his is the age at which failure starts to become irreversible.
A few school systems seem to have figured out how to erase these gaps. Finland ensures that every child completes basic education and meets a rigorous standard. One Finnish district official, asked about the number of children who don’t complete school in her city, replied,” I can tell you their names if you want. “In the United States, KIPP charter schools enroll students from the poorest families and ensure that most almost every one of them graduates high school—80 percent make it to college. Singapore narrowed its achievement gap among ethnic minorities from 17 percent to 5 percent over 20 years.
These success stories offer lessons for the rest of us. First, get children into school early. High-quality pre-schooling does more for a child’s chances in school and life than any other educational intervention. One study, which began in the 1960s, tracked two groups of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some were given the opportunity to attend a high-quality pre-school; others were not. Thirty-five years later, the kids who went to pre-school earned more, had better jobs, and were less likely to have been in prison or divorced.
Second, recognize that the average kid spends about half his waking hours up until the age of 18 outside of school—don’t ignore that time. KIPP students spend 60 percent more time in school than the average American students. They arrive earlier, leave later, attend more regularly, and even go to school every other Saturday. Similarly, in 1996, Chile extended its school day to add the equivalent of more than two more years of schooling.
Third, pour lots of effort to train teachers. Studies in the United States have shown that kids with the most effective teachers learn three times as much as those with the least effective. Systems such as Singapore’s are choosy about recruiting; they invest in training and continuing education; they evaluate teachers regularly, and they award bonuses only to the top performers.
Finally, recognize the value of individualized attention. In Finland, kids who start to struggle receive one-to-one support from their teachers. Roughly one in three Finnish students also gets extra help from a tutor each year. If we can learn the lesson of what works, we can build on it.
1. What can we infer from the Finnish district official’s reply in Paragraph 2?
2. Why is it important for kids to attend a high-quality pre-school? Which of the following is NOT true?
3. The most important educational factor for a child to achieve success in school and life is to ______.
4. Why does Singapore lay so much emphasis on the role of teachers?
5. What does the passage mainly discuss?
问题1选项
A.She expresses a desire to show off her good memory.
B.She is willing to offer the information at any time.
C.Her job requires her to remember all the students’ names.
D.The basic education is paid much attention to in Finland.
问题2选项
A.Kids can learn better and more.
B.Kids tend to be psychologically healthy when they grow up.
C.Kids can have a brighter future.
D.When they grow up, the kids wish to earn more money.
问题3选项
A.receive a good and early pre-schooling
B.prolong his or her learning time in school
C.get instruction from more excellent teachers
D.get person-to-person help from the teachers
问题4选项
A.Kids like serious teachers.
B.Kids can have better chances to learn more and better.
C.Good teachers can create a happy and relaxed environment.
D.Kids want to keep a good relationship with teachers.
问题5选项
A.The importance of family economic conditions to kids’ success in study and life.
B.The achievement gap between children from wealthy families and poorer ones.
C.Some countries have achieved success in erasing the gap between children completely.
D.How to narrow the achievement gap between kids from different family backgrounds.
第1题:D
第2题:D
第3题:A
第4题:B
第5题:A
1.【试题答案】D
【试题解析】细节事实题。根据题干,可以定位到文章第二段第二句Finland ensures that every child completes basic education and meets a rigorous standard.(芬兰确保每个孩子完成基础教育,并达到严格的标准)。D选项“芬兰非常重视基础教育”,根据文章内容,芬兰非常重视基础教育,未接受基础教育的孩子屈指可数,D选项正确。A选项“她想要炫耀她的好记性”, 文章并不是想要表明她的记性好,A选项可排除。B选项“她愿意随时提供信息”,文章没有提到此内容,B选项可排除。C选项“她的工作要求她记住所有学生的名字”,她的工作内容并不是要记住孩子的名字,C选项可排除。因此D选项正确。
2.【试题答案】D
【试题解析】推理判断题。根据题干我们可以定位到文章第三段。D选项“当他们长大了,孩子们希望赚更多的钱”,文章第三段提到the kids who went to pre-school earned more, had better jobs, and were less likely to have been in prison or divorced.(上过学前班的孩子收入更高,有更好的工作,入狱或离婚的可能性更小。),可推测上过学前班的孩子挣得更多,有更好的工作,但并不是他们希望能够挣到更多的钱,D选项符合题意,因此选择D。A选项“孩子们可以学得更好、更多”,可以定位到文章第三段High-quality pre-schooling does more for a child’s chances in school and life than any other educational intervention.(高质量的学前教育比任何其他教育干预都更有助于孩子在学校和生活中的机会)。A选项可排除。B选项“孩子们长大后心理往往是健康的”,可以定位到文章第三段and were less likely to have been in prison or divorced.(孩子们长大后入狱的机会小),因此可推测,接受学前教育的孩子们长大后心理更健康,B选项可排除。C选项“孩子们可以有一个更光明的未来”,文章第三段the kids who went to pre-school earned more, had better jobs(孩子们有更好的工作,更高的收入),因此推测,接受高质量学前教育的儿童,可能有一个更光明的未来,C选项可排除。因此D选项正确。
3.【试题答案】A
【试题解析】推理判断题。由题干可以定位到文中第三段第一、二句These success stories offer lessons for the rest of us. First, get children into school early. High-quality pre-schooling does more for a child’s chances in school and life than any other educational intervention.(这些成功的故事为我们其他人提供了教训。首先,让孩子们早点上学。高质量的学前教育比任何其他教育干预都更有助于孩子在学校和生活中的机会)。A选项“接受良好和早期的学前教育”,符合文章所说的内容,儿童接受早期教育越早,越有助于获得成功,A选项正确。B选项“延长在学校的学习时间”,文章第四段提到KIPP students spend 60 percent more time in school than the average American students.(KIPP学生在学校的时间比普通美国学生多),这不是孩子成功的主要原因,可排除B选项。C选项“得到更多优秀教师的指导”,文章倒数第二段提到pour lots of effort to train teachers.(只是培训教师),可排除C选项。D选项“从老师那里得到面对面的帮助”,文章最后一段提到kids who start to struggle receive one-to-one support from their teachers.(开始有困难的会获得老师一对一的支持),但这不是孩子获得成功的根本原因,可排除D选项。因此A选项正确。
4.【试题答案】B
【试题解析】细节事实题。由题干可以定位到文中第五段第二句Studies in the United States have shown that kids with the most effective teachers learn three times as much as those with the least effective(美国的研究表明,拥有最高效教师的孩子学到的东西是低效教师的三倍)。B选项“孩子们可以有更好的机会学到更多更好的东西”,符合文章内容,高效教师使孩子学得更多,B选项正确。A选项“孩子们喜欢严肃的老师”,文章没有提到此内容,排除A选项。C选项“好的老师可以创造一个快乐和轻松的环境”,文章没有提到此内容,可排除C选项。D选项“孩子们想要和老师保持良好的关系”,文章没有提到这个内容,可排除D选项。因此B选项正确。
5.【试题答案】A
【试题解析】主旨大意题。通读全文。A选项“家庭经济条件对孩子学习和生活成功的重要性”,文章第一段提到All over the world, your chances of success in school and life depend more on your family circumstances than on any other factor(在世界各地,你在学校和生活中取得成功的机会更多地取决于你的家庭环境,而不是其他任何因素),因此文章的主要内容,便是家庭环境对孩子成功的重要性,且围绕此观点展开,A选项正确。B选项“富裕家庭和贫困家庭孩子之间的成就差距”,文章只是部分内容提到这个观点,B选项可排除。C选项“一些国家在完全消除儿童之间的差距方面取得了成功”,文章只是说让孩子接受基础教育方面取得较大的进展,并不是完全消除差距,C选项可排除。D选项“如何缩小不同家庭背景的孩子之间的成绩差距”,文章没有提到这个内容,可排除D。因此A选项正确。