乐闻携尔Learn And Share Education 专注于托福、SAT等出国考试培训与留学申请 www.lasedu.com O fail O attempt
12. The passage mentions “developmental psychologist David Elkind” in order to
O give an example of an expert who has designed an effective early childhood education program O introduce an alternative view about the value of early childhood education
O explain why early childhood education programs are less effective in the United States than in other countries
O refute the claim that academic success is dependent on factors outside parents’ control
13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. According to Elkind, not only does this cause the child emotional distress, it also fails to bring the intended cognitive gains.
Where would the sentence best fit?
14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
Preschool programs provide opportunities for young children to develop socially, emotionally, and cognitively. ● ● ●
Answer Choices
O In addition to stressing academic development, preschools should be enjoyable, since studies show that children benefit from programs they find fun.
O Preschool programs such as Head Start have been shown to help prepare children for school and may also have long-term benefits in helping children become effective adults.
O Studies have shown that preschool programs are most effective when they focus on only one area of development rather than trying to serve the “whole”
O The primary purpose of preschool programs varies by country, with some stressing the importance of group experience, and others self-reliance or getting a good academic start.
O Critics of preschool programs arguer that these programs put undue pressure on children and may not be effective if children are not developmentally ready for academic work.
O David Elkind is a critic of public funded preschool programs, arguing that the parent cannot control their children’s emotional development.
13
乐闻携尔Learn And Share Education 专注于托福、SAT等出国考试培训与留学申请 www.lasedu.com
参考答案
1.○4 2.○1 3.○3 4.○1 5.○2 6.○1 7.○3 8.○2 9.○3 10.○4 11.○4 12.○2 13.○2
14. Preschool programs such as Head Start… The primary purpose of preschool… Critics of preschool programs arguer…
14
乐闻携尔Learn And Share Education 专注于托福、SAT等出国考试培训与留学申请 www.lasedu.com
参考译文：学前教育
根据不同社会对学前教育所持观点不同，不同国家的学前教育—针对5岁前小孩子的教育课程—差别很大。例如，一份关于中国、日本和美国学前教育的横向对比表面这些国家的家长对儿童学前教育的目的持截然不同的看法。中国家长认为学前教育主要可以为儿童提供一个学术启蒙的机会，而日本家长认为学前教育主要可以提供作为群体中的一员的机会。相比较而言，美国家长则认为学前教育的首要目的是有助于儿童更加独立，尽管他们进行学术启蒙和群体经验也很重要。
尽管很多教育课程的设计首先关注社交和感情的因素，其它一些课程则主要为了促进认知能力，并为他们即将进行的幼儿园正规教育作准备。在美国，最著名的以促进未来学术能力的教育课程是Head Start。自二十世纪六十年代当美国决定向贫穷宣战时设立以来，该项目已经服务了1300万儿童及其家人。该项目注重家长的参与，并致力于培养“全才儿童”，即包括儿童的身体健康，自信心，社会责任和社交和情商发展。
Head Start是否成功取决于人们看待的角度。例如，如果这个课程是为了提高孩子长期的IQ（智商），那么它并不怎么样。尽管Head Start的毕业生往往表现出短期的IQ提高，但长期并非如此。另外，Head Start达到了帮助儿童为学校教育做好准备的目标。参加了Head Start课程的儿童比没有参加的儿童更能适应未来的学校教育。而且，Head Start毕业生在未来的学校中分数更高。最终一些研究表明Head Start毕业生在高中结束的时候的成绩稍微高一点，尽管只是一点点。
另外，其它学前准备课程的研究表明参加学前准备课程并毕业的儿童在读书期间更少留级，也更可能完成学校教育。纳税人每向学前课程花费1美元，则在孩子27岁前他们要节约7美元。
最近关于早期介入课程的综合研究表明，整体上看，学前课程意义重大，并且投资给早期教育的政府资金可以最终减少未来的成本。例如，相对于没有参加早期介入课程的儿童，那些参加课程的儿童表现出情感和认知上的进步，教育结果也更好，经济自足水平高，但不是每个孩子的受益程度都相同。而且，一些研究者认为较便宜的课程和较昂贵的课程，如Head Start，起到的效果相同。较便宜的课程的评价结果依然很好，早期介入有很重要的好处。
不是每个人都认为追求提高学术能力的学前课程是一件好事。事实上，根据发展心理学家David Elkind的观点，美国社会让孩子的发展速度太快以至于他们在很小的年纪就感觉到了压力。Elkind认为学术成功很大程度上取决于父母不能控制的因素，如遗传的能力和孩子成熟速度。因此，特定年龄段的孩子就很难掌握不考虑他们目前认知水平的发展而制定的教育材料。简而言之，孩子需要发展合适的教育实践，即根据一般孩子的发展水平和每个孩子的个性而制定的教育。
15
乐闻携尔Learn And Share Education 专注于托福、SAT等出国考试培训与留学申请 www.lasedu.com
Savanna Formation
Located in tropical areas at low altitudes, savannas are stable ecosystems, some wet and some dry consisting of vast grasslands with scattered trees or shrubs. They occur on a wide range of soil types and in extremes of climate. There is no simple or single factor that determines if a given site will be a savanna, but some factors seem to play important roles in their formation.
Savannas typically experience a rather prolonged dry season. One theory behind savanna formation is that wet forest species are unable to withstand the dry season, and thus savanna, rather than rain forest, is favored on the site. Savannas experience an annual rainfall of between 1,000 and 2,000 millimeters, most of it falling in a five- to eight-month wet season. Though plenty of rain may fall on a savanna during the year, for at least part of the year little does, creating the drought stress ultimately favoring grasses. Such conditions prevail throughout much of northern South America and Cuba, but many Central American savannas as well as coastal areas of Brazil and the island of Trinidad do not fit this pattern. In these areas, rainfall per month exceeds that in the above definition, so other factors must contribute to savanna formation.
In many characteristics, savanna soils are similar to those of some rain forests, though more extreme. For example, savanna soils, like many rain forest soils, are typically oxisols (dominated by certain oxide minerals) and ultisols (soils containing no calcium carbonate), with a high acidity and notably low concentrations of such minerals as phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and potassium, while aluminum levels are high. Some savannas occur on wet, waterlogged soils; others on dry, sandy, well-drained soils. This may seem contradictory, but it only means that extreme soil conditions, either too wet or too dry for forests, are satisfactory for savannas. More moderate conditions support moist forests.
Waterlogged soils occur in areas that are flat or have poor drainage. These soils usually contain large amounts of clay and easily become water-saturated. Air cannot penetrate between the soil particles, making the soil oxygen-poor. By contrast, dry soils are sandy and porous, their coarse textures permitting water to drain rapidly. Sandy soils are prone to the leaching of nutrients and minerals and so tend to be nutritionally poor. Though most savannas are found on sites with poor soils (because of either moisture conditions or nutrient levels of both), poor soils can and do support lush rain forest.
Most savannas probably experience mild fires frequently and major burns every two years or so. Many savanna and dry-forest plant species are called pyrophytes, meaning they are adapted in various ways to withstand occasional burning. Frequent fire is a factor to which rain forest species seem unable to adapt, although ancient charcoal remains from Amazon forest soils dating prior to the arrival of humans suggest that moist forests also occasionally burn. Experiments suggest that if fire did not occur in savannas in the Americas, species composition would change significantly. When burning occurs, it prevents competition among plant species from progressing to the point where some species exclude others, reducing the overall diversity of the ecosystem. But in experimental areas protected from fire, a few perennial grass species eventually come to dominate, outcompeting all others. Evidence from other studies suggests that exclusion of fire results in markedly decreased plant-species richness, often with an increase in tree density. There is generally little doubt that fire is a significant factor in maintaining savanna, certainly in most regions.
16
相关推荐：
loading