2015年12月英语四级阅读真题试题(2)

　　Section B

　　Directions： In this section， you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it.Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph fromwhich the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph ismarked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.

　　Joy：A Subject Schools Lack

　　Becoming educated should not require giving up pleasure.

　　A) When Jonathan Swift proposed， in 1729， that the people of Ireland eat their children， heinsisted it would solve three problems at once： feed the hungry masses， reduce the populationduring a severe depression， and stimulate the restaurant business. Even as a satire (讽刺)，it seems disgusting and shocking in America with its child-centered culture. But actually， the countryis closer to his proposal than you might think.

　　B) If you spend much time with educators and policy makers， you'll hear a lot of the followingwords： "standards，" "results," "skills，" "self-control，" "accountability" and so on. I have visitedsome of the newer supposedly "effective" schools， where children shout slogans in order to leanself-control or must stand behind their desk when they can't sit still.

　　C) A look at what goes in in most classrooms these days makes it abundantly clear that whenpeople think about education， they are not thinking about what it feels like to be a child， or whatmakes childhood an important and valuable stage of life in its own right.

　　D) I'm a mother of three， a teacher， and a developmental psychologist. So I've watched a lotof children-talking， playing， arguing， eating， studying， and being young. Here's what I've cometo understand. The thing that sets children apart from adults is not their ignorance， nor their lackof skills. It's their enormous capacity for joy. Think of a 3-year-old lost in the pleasures of findingout what he can and cannot sink in the bathtub， a 5-year-old beside herself with the thrill ofputting together strings of nonsensical words with her best friends， or an 11-year-old completelyabsorbed in a fascinating comic strip. A child's ability to become deeply absorbed in something，and derive intense pleasure from that absorption， is something adults spend the rest of theirlives trying to return to.

　　E) A friend told me the following story. One day， when he went to get his 7-year-old son fromsoccer practice， his kid greeted him with a downcast face and a sad voice. The coach hadcriticized him for not focusing on his soccer drills. The little boy walked out of the school with hishead and shoulders hanging down. He seemed wrapped in sadness. But just before he reached thecar door， he suddenly stopped， crouching (蹲伏) down to peer at something on the sidewalk.His face went down lower and lower， and then， with complete joy he called out， “Dad. Comehere. This is the strangest bug I've ever seen. It has， like， a million legs. Look at this. It'samazing.” He looked up at his father， his features overflowing with all those legs. This is the coolestever.”

　　F) The traditional view of such moments is that they constitute a charming but irrelevantbyproduct of youth——something to be pushed aside to make room for more important qualities，like perseverance (坚持不懈)， obligation， and practicality. Yet moments like this one are justthe kind of intense absorption and pleasure adults spend the rest of their lives seeking. Humanlives are governed by the desire to experience joy. Becoming educated should not require giving upjoy but rather lead to finding joy in new kinds of things： reading novels instead of playing with smallfigures， conducting experiments instead of sinking cups in the bathtub， and debating serious issuesrather than stringing together nonsense words， for example. In some cases， schools should helpchildren find new， more grown-up ways of doing the same things that are constant sources ofjoy： making art， making friends， making decisions.

　　G) Building on a child's ability to feel joy， rather than pushing it aside， wouldn't be that hard. Itwould just require a shift in the education world's mindset (思维模式). Instead of trying to getchildren to work hard， why not focus on getting them to take pleasure in meaningful， productiveactivity， like marking things， working with others， exploring ideas， and solving problems? Thesefocuses are not so different from the things in which they delight.

　　H) Before you brush this argument aside as rubbish， or think of joy as an unaffordable luxury ina nation where there is awful poverty， low academic achievement， and high dropout rates，think again. The more horrible the school circumstances， the more important pleasure is toachieving any educational success.

　　I) Many of the assignments and rules teachers come up with， often because they are pressuredby their administrators， treat pleasure and joy as the enemies of competence and responsibility.The assumption is that children shouldn't chat in the classroom because it hinders hard work;instead， they should learn to delay gratification (快乐) so that they can pursue abstractgoals， like going to college.

　　J) Not only is this a boring and awful way to treat children， it makes no sense educationally.Decades of research have shown that in order to acquire skills and real knowledge in school， kidsneed to want to learn. You can force a child to stay in his or her seat， fill out a worksheet， orpractice division. But you can't force the child to think carefully， enjoy books， digest complexinformation， or develop a taste for learning. To make that happen， you have to help the child findpleasure in learning——to see school as a source of joy.

　　K) Adults tend to talk about learning as if it were medicine; unpleasant， but necessary andgood for you. Why not instead think of learning as if it were food——something so valuable tohumans that they have evolved to experience it as a pleasure?

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答.

　　46. It will not be difficult to make learning a source of joy if educators change their way of thinking.

　　47. What distinguishes children from adults is their strong ability to derive joy from what they aredoing.

　　48. Children in America are being treated with shocking cruelty.

　　49. It is human nature to seek joy in life.

　　50. Grown-ups are likely to think that learning to children is what medicine is to patients.

　　51. Bad school conditions make it all the more important to turn learning into a joyful experience.

　　52. Adults do not consider children's feeling when it comes to education.

　　53. Administrators seem to believe that only hard work will lead children to their educational goals.

　　54. In the so-called "effective" schools， children are taught self-control under a set of strict rules.

　　55. To make learning effective， educators have to ensure that children want to learn.