專限時訓練(二十六)　[文化教育型閱讀理解(二)]

　　(限時：25分鐘)

　　(一)

　　Elizabeth and I are 18 now, and about to graduate.I think about our elementary-school friendship, but some memories have blurred. What happened that day in fifth grade when Beth suddenly stopped speaking to me? Does she know that I’ve been thinking about her for seven years? If only we could go back, discover what ended our relationship.

　　I have to speak with Beth.I see her sometimes, and find out school is “fine”. It’s not the same.It never will be.Someone says that she’s Liz now.What happened to Beth?

　　I can’t call her.Should I write? What if she doesn’t answer me? How will I know what she’s thinking? Yes, I’ll write her a letter.These things are easier to express in writing.“Dear Be-，” no, “Dear Li-，” no, “Dear Elizabeth，” I begin.The words flow freely, as seven-year old memories are reborn.I ask her all the questions that have been left unanswered in my mind, and pray she will answer.I seal my thoughts in the perfect white envelope, and imagine Beth peering into her mailbox.Will she know why I’m writing? Maybe she once thought of writing the same letter.

　　As the mailman takes my envelope from me forever, I wonder if I’ve made the right decision.Do I have the right to force myself into Beth’s life again? Am I simply part of the past? I have taken the first step.Beth_has_control_of_the_situation_now.

　　One day has passed.Are my words lying on the bottom of the post office floor?

　　Two days are gone.I’m lost in thought and don’t even hear the phone ring.

　　“Hello? It’s Elizabeth.”

　　()1.How old were they when they didn’t speak to each other?

　　A．18.B．12.

　　C．13.

　　D．11.

　　()2.Why does the auther decide to write a letter in- stead of calling?

　　A．She is sure that Beth will not answer.

　　B．She’s afraid that they’ll quarrel on the phone.

　　C．She doesn’t know Beth’s telephone number.

　　D．It is easier to express her feelings in writing.

　　()3.What is the meaning of the underlined sentence “Beth has control of the situation now.”？

　　A．Beth doesn’t want to forgive the writer.

　　B．Beth is under the control of the writer.

　　C．The writer is under the control of Beth.

　　D．Whether their friendship heals is up to Beth.

　　()4.What can we know from the last sentence?

　　A．Beth is making a phone to the writer.

　　B．Beth is phoning others.

　　C．The writer imagines Beth calling her.

　　D．The writer is calling Beth.

　　()5.Which of the following the author might NOT mention in her letter?

　　A．Their elementary-school friendship.

　　B．Her future plan after graduation.

　　C．Her expectations for Beth’s reply.

　　D．The questions about the endings of their friendship.

　　(二)

　　One period of our lives when better results are demanded of us is, strangely enough, childhood.Despite being young we are expected to achieve good grades, stay out of trouble, make friends at school, do well on tests, perform chores at home and so on.It’s not easy.

　　The good news is that being likeable can help a child perform better.Likeable children enjoy many advantages, including the ability to cope more easily with stresses of growing up.

　　In her book Understanding Child Stress, Dr.Carolyn Leonard states that children who are likeable and optimistic are able to gain support from others.This leads to focus and resilience, the ability to recover from or adjust early to life stress. A child who has adequate emotional_armor can continue down the path to success.Much research shows that resilience has enabled children to succeed in school, avoid drug abuse, and develop a healthy self-awareness.

　　()1.The writer implies in the first paragraph that ________.

　　A．children are expected much than we usually think

　　B．life is not easy for every one of us

　　C．better education results in smarter children

　　D．to be a likeable child is almost impossible

　　()2.According to Dr.Leonard, likeable children ________.

　　A．can cope more easily with stress independently

　　B．know how to avoid trouble and unpleasant events

　　C．are always optimistic and ready to help those in need

　　D．can achieve more and understand themselves better

　　()3.The term “emotional armor” in Paragraph 3 means ________.

　　A．mental support from friends

　　B．mental support from adults

　　C．failures in life

　　D．ability to handle life stress

　　()4.The main purpose of the studies done by Michael Delucchi is to find ________.

　　A．if a likeable teacher has a positive personality

　　B．if a likeable teacher draws more attention

　　C．how a teacher’s likability gains popularity

　　D．how a likeable teacher’s teaching style is formed

　　()5.The passage aims at proving that ________.

　　A．likeable people do better in life generally

　　B．likeable people do better in their childhood

　　C．social creatures enjoy more advantages

　　D．likeable people give better advice

　　(三)

　　Is language, like food, a basic human need? Judging from the extreme experiment of FrederickⅡ in the 13th century, it may be.Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue, he told the nurses to keep silent.

　　All the babies died before the first year.But clearly there was more than language deprivation(剝奪，喪失)．What was missing was good mothering.Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the ability to survive is seriously affected.

　　Today no such extreme deprivation exists as that ordered by Frederick.Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking.Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to signals of the baby, whose brain is programmed to mop up language rapidly.There are critical times, and it seems when children learn more rapidly.If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again.

　　Linguists suggest that speech milestones are reached in a fixed order and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ.

　　Recent evidence suggests that a baby is born with the ability to speak.What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a teddy bear with the sound pattern “teddy bear”．

　　But speech has to be induced(引導), and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling(咿呀學語), clinging, grasping, crying, smiling, and responds to them.Insensitivity of the mother to these signals reduces the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals.Sensitivity to the child’s non-verbal(非語言的) signals is basic to the growth and development of language.

　　()1.Frederick Ⅱ’s experiment was extreme because ________.

　　A．he wanted to prove children are born with ability to speak

　　B．he wanted his nurses to say another language

　　C．he was unkind to the nurses

　　D．he ignored the importance of mothering to the babies

　　()2.The reason that some children are backward in speaking is most likely that ________.

　　A．they do not listen carefully to their mothers

　　B．their mothers do not respond to their attempts to speak

　　C．their brain has to absorb too much language at once

　　D．their mothers are not intelligent enough to help them

　　()3.In paragraph 3, by “critical times” the author means ________.

　　A．difficult periods in the child’s life

　　B．moments when the child becomes critical towards its mother

　　C．important stages in the child’s development

　　D．times when mothers often neglect their children

　　()4.If a child starts to speak later than others, he will ________ in future.

　　A．have a high IQ

　　B．be less intelligent

　　C．not necessarily be backward

　　D．be insensitive to verbal signals

　　()5.If the mother seldom responds to her child’s signals, ________.

　　A．the child will be able to speak properly

　　B．the child will continue to give out signals

　　C．the child will invent a language of own

　　D．the child will make little effort to speak

　　專限時訓練(二十六)　[文化教育型閱讀理解(二)]

　　(限時：25分鐘)

　　(一)

　　Elizabeth and I are 18 now, and about to graduate.I think about our elementary-school friendship, but some memories have blurred. What happened that day in fifth grade when Beth suddenly stopped speaking to me? Does she know that I’ve been thinking about her for seven years? If only we could go back, discover what ended our relationship.

　　I have to speak with Beth.I see her sometimes, and find out school is “fine”. It’s not the same.It never will be.Someone says that she’s Liz now.What happened to Beth?

　　I can’t call her.Should I write? What if she doesn’t answer me? How will I know what she’s thinking? Yes, I’ll write her a letter.These things are easier to express in writing.“Dear Be-，” no, “Dear Li-，” no, “Dear Elizabeth，” I begin.The words flow freely, as seven-year old memories are reborn.I ask her all the questions that have been left unanswered in my mind, and pray she will answer.I seal my thoughts in the perfect white envelope, and imagine Beth peering into her mailbox.Will she know why I’m writing? Maybe she once thought of writing the same letter.

　　As the mailman takes my envelope from me forever, I wonder if I’ve made the right decision.Do I have the right to force myself into Beth’s life again? Am I simply part of the past? I have taken the first step.Beth_has_control_of_the_situation_now.

　　One day has passed.Are my words lying on the bottom of the post office floor?

　　Two days are gone.I’m lost in thought and don’t even hear the phone ring.

　　“Hello? It’s Elizabeth.”

　　()1.How old were they when they didn’t speak to each other?

　　A．18.B．12.

　　C．13.

　　D．11.

　　()2.Why does the auther decide to write a letter in- stead of calling?

　　A．She is sure that Beth will not answer.

　　B．She’s afraid that they’ll quarrel on the phone.

　　C．She doesn’t know Beth’s telephone number.

　　D．It is easier to express her feelings in writing.

　　()3.What is the meaning of the underlined sentence “Beth has control of the situation now.”？

　　A．Beth doesn’t want to forgive the writer.

　　B．Beth is under the control of the writer.

　　C．The writer is under the control of Beth.

　　D．Whether their friendship heals is up to Beth.

　　()4.What can we know from the last sentence?

　　A．Beth is making a phone to the writer.

　　B．Beth is phoning others.

　　C．The writer imagines Beth calling her.

　　D．The writer is calling Beth.

　　()5.Which of the following the author might NOT mention in her letter?

　　A．Their elementary-school friendship.

　　B．Her future plan after graduation.

　　C．Her expectations for Beth’s reply.

　　D．The questions about the endings of their friendship.

　　(二)

　　One period of our lives when better results are demanded of us is, strangely enough, childhood.Despite being young we are expected to achieve good grades, stay out of trouble, make friends at school, do well on tests, perform chores at home and so on.It’s not easy.

　　The good news is that being likeable can help a child perform better.Likeable children enjoy many advantages, including the ability to cope more easily with stresses of growing up.

　　In her book Understanding Child Stress, Dr.Carolyn Leonard states that children who are likeable and optimistic are able to gain support from others.This leads to focus and resilience, the ability to recover from or adjust early to life stress. A child who has adequate emotional_armor can continue down the path to success.Much research shows that resilience has enabled children to succeed in school, avoid drug abuse, and develop a healthy self-awareness.

　　()1.The writer implies in the first paragraph that ________.

　　A．children are expected much than we usually think

　　B．life is not easy for every one of us

　　C．better education results in smarter children

　　D．to be a likeable child is almost impossible

　　()2.According to Dr.Leonard, likeable children ________.

　　A．can cope more easily with stress independently

　　B．know how to avoid trouble and unpleasant events

　　C．are always optimistic and ready to help those in need

　　D．can achieve more and understand themselves better

　　()3.The term “emotional armor” in Paragraph 3 means ________.

　　A．mental support from friends

　　B．mental support from adults

　　C．failures in life

　　D．ability to handle life stress

　　()4.The main purpose of the studies done by Michael Delucchi is to find ________.

　　A．if a likeable teacher has a positive personality

　　B．if a likeable teacher draws more attention

　　C．how a teacher’s likability gains popularity

　　D．how a likeable teacher’s teaching style is formed

　　()5.The passage aims at proving that ________.

　　A．likeable people do better in life generally

　　B．likeable people do better in their childhood

　　C．social creatures enjoy more advantages

　　D．likeable people give better advice

　　(三)

　　Is language, like food, a basic human need? Judging from the extreme experiment of FrederickⅡ in the 13th century, it may be.Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue, he told the nurses to keep silent.

　　All the babies died before the first year.But clearly there was more than language deprivation(剝奪，喪失)．What was missing was good mothering.Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the ability to survive is seriously affected.

　　Today no such extreme deprivation exists as that ordered by Frederick.Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking.Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to signals of the baby, whose brain is programmed to mop up language rapidly.There are critical times, and it seems when children learn more rapidly.If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again.

　　Linguists suggest that speech milestones are reached in a fixed order and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ.

　　Recent evidence suggests that a baby is born with the ability to speak.What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a teddy bear with the sound pattern “teddy bear”．

　　But speech has to be induced(引導), and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling(咿呀學語), clinging, grasping, crying, smiling, and responds to them.Insensitivity of the mother to these signals reduces the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals.Sensitivity to the child’s non-verbal(非語言的) signals is basic to the growth and development of language.

　　()1.Frederick Ⅱ’s experiment was extreme because ________.

　　A．he wanted to prove children are born with ability to speak

　　B．he wanted his nurses to say another language

　　C．he was unkind to the nurses

　　D．he ignored the importance of mothering to the babies

　　()2.The reason that some children are backward in speaking is most likely that ________.

　　A．they do not listen carefully to their mothers

　　B．their mothers do not respond to their attempts to speak

　　C．their brain has to absorb too much language at once

　　D．their mothers are not intelligent enough to help them

　　()3.In paragraph 3, by “critical times” the author means ________.

　　A．difficult periods in the child’s life

　　B．moments when the child becomes critical towards its mother

　　C．important stages in the child’s development

　　D．times when mothers often neglect their children

　　()4.If a child starts to speak later than others, he will ________ in future.

　　A．have a high IQ

　　B．be less intelligent

　　C．not necessarily be backward

　　D．be insensitive to verbal signals

　　()5.If the mother seldom responds to her child’s signals, ________.

　　A．the child will be able to speak properly

　　B．the child will continue to give out signals

　　C．the child will invent a language of own

　　D．the child will make little effort to speak