1、专业英语八级（作文）模拟试卷 66及答案与解析 一、 PART V WRITING 1 The following article is about the “parent trigger“ laws in the US. The basic concept of the policy is that parents have the ability to intervene in their childs school if it is performing poorly. With enough signatures from parents, any number of actions
2、can be taken against the low performing school. These can include converting it to a charter school, replacing some of the schools administration and faculty, and closing the school altogether. From the following article you may find there are both assent and disapproval. Write an article of NO LESS
3、 THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize the development of the parent trigger law, and then 2. express your opinion towards the law, especially whether this kind of law can really benefit students and schools. Parent-Trigger Efforts: At a Crossroads? A Standstill? A Dead End? Seven U.S. s
4、tates have passed “parent trigger“ laws, which give parents the ability to petition for changes at their childrens low-performing public schools. If more than half of the parents at a school sign the petition, the school district must comply with the changes. These can include hiring a new staff, hi
5、ring a public charter school operator to take over reforms, or closing the school altogether and sending students to better performing neighboring schools. Across the nation, the debate rages on among policymakers, teachers and education advocates: Do parent-trigger-type laws have the potential to t
6、urn around underperforming schools when bureaucrats fail to act? Or should they be dismissed as a flawed tool that can do more harm than good in already struggling school communities? Parent Revolution claims that support is building for parent triggers at local levels in several states, including T
7、ennessee and New York. Memphis Council PTA Vice President Helen Collins said shes ramping up efforts to build support for a stronger parent-trigger law among 53 schools in Memphis and Shelby County. “We really hope that the teachers and the administrators know that our goal is not to put them out of
8、 a job; if anything our goal is to make sure that they understand were there to help,“ she said. In New York, a loose coalition of Buffalo parents has been backing parent-trigger legislation sponsored by Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes. Tom Casey, campaign manager for We The Parents Buffalo, a
9、group of parents, community members and faith-based leaders, said he does have some doubts about the parent trigger, including the difficulty of getting parents to reach consensus on the changes they want to see at a particular school. But he said he supports any tools that give parents more choices
10、 of schools, including charters, and believes too often teacher contracts get in the way of overhauling low-achieving ones. “You cannot change a school when you have tenured teachers and tenured principals,“ Casey said. “The only way to fix it is to totally restructure it.“ Critics argue the law is
11、a corporate-backed privatization tool under the guise of parent empowerment; they are particularly concerned about using parent trigger to force charter school conversions, which could strip away from some schools the leadership of elected school boards. Opponents have further charged that parents h
12、ave been bullied into signing petitions, though trigger advocates have also accused teachers unions and other opponents of similarly aggressive tactics. Opponents insisted that there are mechanisms already in place to intervene in low performing schools. They point to school accountability committee
13、s and local school boards as the existing means for parents to be involved in the operation of their childs school. They also worry that parents may not be aware of the changes low performing schools have already made such as hiring new administration and teachers. 2 Nearly every country in the deve
14、loped world, and more and more in the developing world, provide free primary and secondary education. In the case of university education, however, there is a great deal of disparity between countries education policies. The following are excerpts of opinions. Read them carefully and write your resp
15、onse in about 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the opinions; 2. give your comment. Adam Swift, author of “How to Reap the Benefits of College“ It is a fundamental right of individuals to experience university and to have access to the knowledge it affords. University serves as an
16、 extremely valuable forum for different views, which everyone has a right to experience should they wish. The state has a duty to facilitate this development. A state can only truly be considered legitimate when an educated electorate approves it. Without a proper education, individuals cannot be ef
17、fective citizens. A university education in the modern world is essential to the development of such informed citizens. For this reason, free university is a great benefit to a citizen as an exploration for his own development on a personal level, and with his relation to society as a whole. Thomas
18、Kane, author of “The Price of Admission: Rethinking How Americans Pay for College“ There is no right to the university experience. University life is a mess-up. Students rarely take their time in university as seriously as some would suggest. Self-knowledge and genuine wisdom come from study and ref
19、lection. This can be done anywhere, not just in a university. There is no fundamental right of individuals to be allowed to take four years free of charge to learn new skills that will benefit them or teach them how to be better citizens. The states duty is to provide a baseline of care, which in th
20、e case of education secondary school more than provides. If individuals want more they should pay for it themselves. Christine Hill, author of “Still Paying off that Student Loan“ A university-educated populace is of great value to any state, and provides two main benefits. The first benefit is that
21、 it provides extensive economic boons to society. By facilitating higher education, through state funding of university study, countries increase the likelihood and quantity of investment in their economies by both domestic and foreign firms, as a highly educated and skilled workforce is a country t
22、rait many businesses consider highly desirable when making investment decisions. The second benefit is the development of leaders in society. States function best when the best and brightest have the opportunity to rise to the top. The barrier to entry created by fees and other costs of university w
23、ill prevent some potentially high-worth individuals from ever reaching levels of success. Free university education allows all individuals to attend university, guaranteeing that the leaders of tomorrow have the chance to show their worth. Walter Allen, author of “College in Black and White“ A highl
24、y educated populace does not provide the great economic bounties the supporters of free university education propound. Countries need educated people, including a certain amount of university graduates, but the idea that everyone having a degree would benefit society economically is unfounded. There
25、 is no economic benefit when people with degrees are doing jobs that do not require university education, and represents a substantial misallocation of resources on the part of the state. As to developing future leaders, those who are gifted or particularly driven can still rise to the top, even if
26、university is not free, as scholarships tend to be mostly aimed at such individuals. Surely, society does not benefit at all from university being free. 3 Traditionally, teachers in kindergartens are dominantly female, but now male teachers are exceptionally popular in China. The following two excer
27、pts provide opinions on male teachers in kindergartens, in the US and China respectively. Read them carefully and write your response in NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly both excerpts, and then 2. give your comment on whether it is a good idea to hire more male teach
28、ers in a kindergarten. Excerpt 1 In recent years, education experts have converged on one big idea: Teachers matter. Studies show that years of good teaching can set a student on a good path, while years of bad teaching can do the opposite. Yet only a fraction of our teachers are the best and the br
29、ightest of their generation. Heres a simple idea that could dramatically improve the teaching quality: Hire a few good men. Teaching now remains a female-dominated profession. This is especially true for younger children. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 2% of kindergarten teachers
30、are men. Why should this concern us? First, men represent an underutilized talent pool. If we could attract more males to teaching, school districts would have an easier time hiring outstanding individuals. The point is not that men are better teachers, but that highly qualified men are far less lik
31、ely to apply for teaching jobs. Second, boys in particular benefit from the presence of male role models in the classroom. If we want to do something about boys often sluggish classroom performance, more male teachers could be a useful step. Our children deserve the very best teachers we can find, w
32、hether men or women. We need to be more creative in letting young men know that they should consider teaching as a profession. Excerpt 2 One year ago, Hai Jun was hogging media attention for being the first male kindergarten teacher in Shenyang, but he quit earlier this month. Many suspect that his
33、departure was caused by traditional bias against male pre-school teachers, which has forced many of Hais male colleagues to leave. “It seems that few of these young graduates can withstand the bias no matter how enthusiastic they were in the beginning,“ says Wang Ying, deputy head of a Shenyang-base
34、d nursery school. But even as male teachers find the going tough, there is a clamour for them in many places, such as South Chinas Guangdong Province. Some kindergartens in the province, convinced that a male presence would be healthy, beg fathers to volunteer in their schools. According to statisti
35、cs released by the Guangzhou education department, only 14 out of 28,422 kindergarten teachers in the city were men at the end of last year. It is generally agreed that having a male teacher is conducive to developing a childs character and balance women-dominated kindergartens. Not a few parents co
36、mplain that their boys behave like sissies since they imitate their teachers. A male kindergarten teacher surnamed Ma says that the kids love him and that he has won much acclaim from both parents and female colleagues. “Male teachers play an important role in cultivating childrens boldness and help
37、 develop a strong will,“ says Wang, referring to the growing demand for male teachers. However, that is one area where males fear to tread in China. Traditionally men were considered careless, clumsy and not suited to take care of children. “Fundamentally, its the traditional concept that has forced
38、 these men to give up,“ says Sun Hongyan, deputy director of the Beijing-based Research Institute for Children. 4 Some parents are sending their preschool age children to take foreign language courses, with a view to developing their kids foreign language skills the earlier the better. The following
39、 are excerpts about this trend. Read it carefully and write your response in NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly both articles; 2. give your comment. Excerpt 1 In the first week of school, Schools Superintendent Anthony Bivona went back to kindergarten and first grade.
40、And he learned a couple new words in Spanish. For the first year, Center Elementarys 500 or so kindergarten and first-graders are learning a foreign language. Brookfield is one of the few traditional public school districts in the Western Connecticut region to expand world languages to the kindergar
41、ten level. It is one of 10 in the state. Sienna Katz, the youngest daughter of multilingual school board member Victor Katz, came home from her first day at Center able to speak seven different words, including her name. On the second day, she came home singing a song in Spanish. “At that age, they
42、absorb it like a sponge,“ said Katz, who works as a software engineer for an international company, where he is called upon to speak a variety of languages. An outspoken advocate for expanding the districts foreign language program, Katz said the benefit is unquestionable, with many studies showing
43、proof that academic performance of children is advanced by early language learning. The National Network of Early Language Learning says acquiring those early literacy and cognitive skills helps youngsters with standardized tests, teaches them positive attitudes toward different cultures and makes i
44、t easier to acquire broader language skills later in life. Excerpt 2 Parents in South Korea who put their pre-school-age children into English language classes are wasting their money and could be slowing their educational development. This is the message delivered by an education pressure group, Wo
45、rld Without Worries About Private Education. It has distributed 200,000 copies of booklet, assessing 12 common misconceptions about the value of starting English learning early with contributions from education experts, commentators and parents. The main message in the booklet is that very young chi
46、ldren make little progress in English when they are put into special English-medium kindergartens by their parents. Kim Seung-hyun, policy director of World Without Worries, says that children starting English classes at eight or nine years can learn in six months what a child starting at five has l
47、earned in two years. World Without Worries recommends that children start learning English from age 10, by which time they are confident in their first language, have well-developed cognitive skills and are motivated to learn. Kim also claims that research comparing the development of children at En
48、glish-medium kindergartens with their counterparts at pre-schools who eschew foreign languages supports this case. “The results showed that children who go to normal kindergartens scored higher in language ability and creativeness. The amount of time and energy children devote to English is harmful
49、to the development of essential skills.“ 专业英语八级（作文）模拟试卷 66答案与解析 一、 PART V WRITING 1 【正确答案】 Parent Trigger Law Need Be Properly Implemented Parent trigger law, as a new legal means to enable parents to involve in school education, has been advocated by several U.S. states, which leads to a nationwide debate among people from all walks of life. Many people show increasing support for this law, hoping to provide better education for students by changing schools. By contrast, opponents maintain that the parties that sponsor the establishment of parent trigger law
