一、单选题(共 25 道试题,共 100 分。)V
1. Young people should have the right to control and direct their own learning, that is, to decide what they want to learn, and when, where, how, how much, how fast, and with what help they want to learn it. To be still more specific, I want them to have the right to decide if, when, how much, and by whom they want to be taught and the right to decide whether they want to learn in a school and if so which one and for how much of the time. No human right, except the right to life itself, is more fundamental than this. A person's freedom of learning is part of his freedom of thought, even more basic than his freedom of speech. If we take from someone his right to decide what he will be curious about, we destroy his freedom of thought. We say, in effect, you must think not about what interests and concerns you, but about what interests and concerns us. This right of each of us to control our own learning is now in danger. When we put into our laws the highly authoritarian notion that someone should and could decide what all young people were to learn and beyond that, could do whatever might seem necessary (which now includes dosing them with drugs) to compel them to learn it, we took a long step down a very steep and dangerous path. The requirement that a child go to school, for about six hours a day, 180 days a year, for about ten years, whether or not he learns anything there, whether or not he already knows it or could learn it faster or better somewhere else, is such a gross violation of civil liberties that few adults would stand for it. But the child who resists is treated as a criminal. With this requirement we created an industry, an army of people whose whole work was to tell young people what they had to learn and to try to make them learn it. Some of these people, wanting to exercise even more power over others, or to be even more "helpful," are now beginning to say, "If compulsory education is good for children, why wouldn't it be good for everyone? If it is a good thing, how can there be too much of it?" They are beginning to talk, as one man did on a nationwide TV show, about "womb-to-tomb" schooling. If hours of homework every night are good for the young, why wouldn't they be good for us all—they would keep us away from the TV set and other frivolous pursuits. Some group of experts, somewhere, would be glad to decide what we all ought to know and then very so often check up on us to make sure we knew it—with, of course, appropriate penalties if we did not. Question:The phrase "womb-to-tomb" schooling probably means that _______.
A. learning is from young to old
B. learning is disastrous
C. learning is unnecessary
D. learning is not always helpful
满分:4 分
2. The children were surprised when the teacher had them ____ their books unexpectedly.
A. closed
B. to close
C. closing
D. close
满分:4 分
3. The trip will be ____ till next week because of the bad weather.
A. put out
B. put off
C. put on
D. put up
满分:4 分
4. You might have ____the accident if you had had your headlights on.
A. missed
B. avoided
C. escaped
D. dismissed
满分:4 分
5. Let's address the question of whether speed reading is even a desirable goal. I am an avid fiction reader. Consciously or unconsciously, readers of fiction appreciate the beauty in good writing. Occasionally I will read a passage or sentence over to be impressed by the opening sentences of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, The Dark, and Herman. If I was a determined speed reader, I would never have the time to appreciate these beautiful passages. And I'd never have the time to savor the development of a character like Rhett Butler, the Great Gatsby or Captain Ahab. Good writers must be read carefully and thoughtfully to be fully appreciated. To carry the question of the need for rapid reading a bit further, let's consider the technical or educational material most of us must read for our jobs. If you work in a technical field—and most business and professional people do—you'd better read slowly and carefully. Almost all businesses today are subject to federal regulations to some degree. If you must read the Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations, the OSHA Handbook or other technical materials related directly to your job, I'd urge you to take your time. A misreading could be costly or damaging to your firm. On the other hand, newspapers, news magazines and other publications should be read with some degree of speed. Here's where a general knowledge of speed reading techniques might be useful. Especially since that is the most common type of reading we do. Anyone can improve their reading efficiently. To do so, you must learn some basic techniques and then consciously apply them. Perhaps an expensive course would help you, but an inexpensive paperback and concentrated practice might provide as much long-term benefit. In any case, you lose nothing by trying the self-help approach. Question:From the passage we can know that the author is _________.
A. an enthusiastic reader of fiction