1、大学英语六级改革适用（阅读）模拟试卷 92及答案与解析 Section C 0 That experiences influence subsequent behaviour is evidence of an obvious but nevertheless remarkable activity called remembering. Learning could not occur without the function popularly named memory. Constant practice has such an effect on memory as to lead t
2、o skilful performance on the piano, to recitation of a poem, and even to reading and understanding these words. So-called intelligent behaviour demands memory, remembering being a primary requirement for reasoning. The ability to solve any problem or even to recognize that a problem exists depends o
3、n memory. Typically, the decision to cross a street is based on remembering many earlier experiences . Practice(or review)tends to build and maintain memory for a task or for any learned material. Over a period of no practice, what has been learned tends to be forgotten; and the adaptive consequence
4、s may not seem obvious. Yet, dramatic instances of sudden forgetting can seem to be adaptive. In this sense, the ability to forget can be interpreted to have survived through a process of natural selection in animals. Indeed, when ones memory of an emotionally painful experience lead to serious anxi
5、ety, forgetting may produce relief. Nevertheless, an evolutionary interpretation might make it difficult to understand how the commonly gradual process of forgetting survived natural selection. In thinking about the evolution of memory together with all its possible aspects, it is helpful to conside
6、r what would happen if memories failed to fade. Forgetting clearly aids orientation in time, since old memories weaken and the new tend to stand out, providing clues for inferring duration. Without forgetting, adaptive ability would suffer, for example, learned behaviour that might have been correct
7、ed a decade ago may no longer be. Cases are recorded of people who(by ordinary standards)forgot so little that their everyday activities were full of confusion. This forgetting seems to serve that survival of the individual and the species. Another line of thought assumes a memory storage system of
8、limited capacity that provides adaptive flexibility specifically through forgetting. In this view, continual adjustments are made between learning or memory storage(input)and forgetting(output). Indeed, there is an evidence that the rate at which individuals forget is directly related to how much th
9、ey have learned. Such data offers gross support of contemporary models of memory that assume an input-output balance. 1 The word “recitation“ in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to_. （ A） repetition （ B） reputation （ C） memorization （ D） recreation 2 What should we do in order to remain remembering
10、? （ A） Keep healthy. （ B） Stay young at heart. （ C） Practice and review. （ D） Keep learning. 3 Which one of the following is not an advantage of forgetting? （ A） Forgetting is able to relieve ourselves. （ B） Forgetting could enhance our adaptive ability. （ C） Forgetting is a response to learning. （
11、D） Forgetting makes us grateful for what we have now. 4 What can we infer from the last paragraph? （ A） The relationship of forgetfulness and learning is not static and fixed. （ B） Memory is a compensation for forgetting. （ C） The capacity of a memory storage system is limited. （ D） There is little
12、relation between forgetting and learning. 5 What is the proper title for this passage? （ A） The Advantages of Adaption （ B） The Function of Forgetfulness （ C） The Side Effect of Learning （ D） The More You Experience, the More You Will Forget 5 Americans today dont place a very high value on intellec
13、t. Our heroes are athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs, not scholars. Even our schools are where we send our children to get a practical education not to pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Symptoms of pervasive anti-intellectualism in our schools arent difficult to find. “Schools have
14、always been in a society where practice is more important than intellect“, says education writer Diane Ravitch. “Schools could be a counterbalance“. Ravitch s latest book, Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms, traces the roots of anti-intellectualism in our schools, concluding they are anyt
15、hing but a counterbalance to the American distaste for intellectual pursuits. But they could and should be. Encouraging kids to reject the life of the mind leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and control. Without the ability to think critically, to defend their ideas and understand the ideas of o
16、thers, they cannot fully participate in our democracy. Continuing along this path, says writer Earl Shorris, “We will become a second-rate country. We will have a less civil society“. “Intellect is resented as a form, of power or privilege“, writes historian and Professor Richard Hofstadter in Anti-
17、intellectualism in American Life, a Pulitzer Prize winning book on the roots of anti-intellectualism in U.S. politics, religion, and education. From the beginning of our history, says Hofstadter, our democratic and populist urges have driven us to reject anything that smells of elitism. Practicality
18、, common sense, and native intelligence have been considered more noble qualities than anything you could learn from a book. Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalist philosophers thought schooling and rigorous book learning put unnatural restraints on children, “We are shut up in schools and
19、college recitation rooms for 10 or 15 years and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing“. Mark Twains Huckleberry Finn exemplified American anti-intellectualism. Its hero avoids being civilized going to school and learning to read, so he can preserve his innate goodness. In
20、tellect, according to Hofstadter, is different from native intelligence, a quality we reluctantly admire. Intellect is the critical, creative, and contemplative side of the mind. Intelligence seeks to grasp, manipulate, re-order, and adjust, while intellect examines, ponders, wonders, theorizes, cri
21、ticizes and imagines. School remains a place where intellect is mistrusted. Hofstadter says our country s educational system is in the grips of people who “joyfully and militantly proclaim their hostility to intellect and their eagerness to identify with children who show the least intellectual prom
22、ise“. 6 What do American parents expect their children to learn in school? （ A） To be spiritually independent. （ B） To acquire higher intelligence. （ C） To seek knowledge for practice. （ D） To train emotional intelligence. 7 What contributes to the citizens active participation in democracy? （ A） Se
23、lf-evaluation. （ B） Critical thinking. （ C） Social environment. （ D） Law enforcement. 8 The opinions held by Ravitch and Mark Twain on school education are_. （ A） identical （ B） complementary （ C） same （ D） opposite 9 According to the passage, Emerson is likely to be_. （ A） an opponent of environmen
24、t protection （ B） a pioneer of classical learning （ C） an advocator of anti-intellectualism （ D） a scholar at college 10 The word “hostility“ in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to_. （ A） awareness （ B） opposition （ C） willingness （ D） tolerance 10 Competition for admission to the countrys t
25、op private schools has always been tough, but this year Elisabeth Krents realized it had reached a new level. Her wake-up call came when a man called the Dalton School in Manhattan, where Krents is admission director, and inquired about the age cut off for their kindergarten program. After providing
26、 the information(they dont use an age cut off), she asked about the age of his child. The man paused for an uncomfortably long time before answering. “Well, we dont have a child yet,“ he told Krents. “Were trying to figure out when to conceive a child so the birthday is not a problem.“ School obsess
27、ion is spreading from Manhattan to the rest of the country. Precise current data on private schools are unavailable, but interviews with representatives of independent and religious schools all told the same story: a glut of applicants, higher rejection rates. “We have people calling us for spots tw
28、o years down the road,“ said Marilyn Collins of the Seven Hills School in Cincinnati. “We have grandparents calling for pregnant daughters.“ Public-opinion poll after poll indicates that Americans No. 1 concern is education. Now that the long economic boom has given parents more disposable income, m
29、any are turning to private schools, even at price tags of well over $10,000 a year. “We re getting applicants from a broader area, geographically, than we ever have in the past,“ said Betsy Haugh of the Latin School of Chicago, which experienced a 20 percent increase in applications this year. The p
30、roblem for the applicants is that while demand has increased, supply has not. “Every year, there are a few children who do not find places, but this year, for the first time that I know, there are a significant number of children who dont have places,“ said Krents, who also heads a private-school ad
31、mission group in New York. So what can parents do to give their 4-year-old an edge? Schools know there is no foolproof way to pick a class when children are so young. Many schools give preference to siblings or alumni children. Some use lotteries. But most rely on a mix of subjective and objective m
32、easures: tests that at best identify developmental maturity and cognitive potential, interviews with parents and observation of applicants in classroom settings. They also want a diverse mix. Children may end up on a waiting list simply because their birthdays fall at the wrong time of year, or beca
33、use too many applicants were boys. The worst thing a parent can do is to pressure preschoolers to perform for example, by pushing them to read or do math exercises before theyre ready. Instead, the experts say, parents should take a breath and look for alternatives. Another year in preschool may be
34、all that s needed. Parents, meanwhile, may need a more open mind about relatively unknown private schools or about magnet schools in the public system. There s no sign of the private-school boom letting up. Dalton s spring tours, for early birds interested in the 2001-2002 school year, are filled. T
35、he wait list? Forget it. Thats closed, too. 11 Why the author mentioned the example in paragraph 1? （ A） To claim the economic situation of Americans. （ B） To identify the increasing number of nuclear families. （ C） To introduce the popularity of private schools. （ D） To demonstrate the fierce compe
36、tition for preschoolers in current situation. 12 The word “obsession“ in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to_. （ A） obesity （ B） observation （ C） besetment （ D） administration 13 Which factor facilitates the popularity of private schools? （ A） Parents have earned more money from economic prosperity
37、. （ B） Parents have opened their mind and broadened their view. （ C） Children are more attracted by those private schools. （ D） The educational quality of public schools is decreasing. 14 Which one of the following is not an action taken by many schools? （ A） Children have to take tests. （ B） To cou
38、nt the award children have achieved. （ C） They communicate with parents as well. （ D） Schools are likely to observe those children. 15 Which one of the following should parents avoid to do according to the passage? （ A） To force children to learn. （ B） To search for other choices. （ C） To be relaxed
39、. （ D） To open minds. 15 Largely for “spiritual reasons,“ Nancy Manos started home-schooling her children five years ago and has studiously avoided public schools ever since. Yet last week, she was enthusiastically enrolling her 8-year-old daughter, Olivia, in sign language and modern dance classes
40、at Eagleridge Enrichment a program run by the Mesa, Ariz, public schools are taught by district teachers. Manos still wants to handle the basics, but likes that Eagleridge offers the extras, “things I couldnt teach.“ One doubt, though, lingers in her mind: why would the public school system want to
41、offer home-school families anything? A big part of the answer is economics. The number of home-schooled kids nationwide has risen to as many as 1.9 million from an estimated 345,000 in 1994, and school districts that get state and local dollars per child are beginning to suffer. In Maricopa County,
42、which includes Mesa, the number of home-schooled kids has more than doubled during that period to 7,526; at about $4,500 a child, thats nearly $34 million a year in lost revenue. Not everyones happy with these innovations. Some states have taken the opposite tack. Like about half of the states, West
43、 Virginia refuses to allow home-schooled kids to play public-school sports. And in Arizona, some complain that their tax dollars are being used to create programs for families who, essentially, eschew participation in public life. “That makes my teeth grit,“ says Daphne Atkeson, whose 10-year-old so
44、n attends public school in Paradise Valley. Even some committed home-schoolers question the new programs, given their central irony: they turn home-schoolers into public-school students, says Bob Parsons, president of the Alaska Private and Home Educators Association. “We ve lost about one third of
45、our members to those programs. Theyre so enticing.“ Mesa started Eagleridge four years ago, when it saw how much money it was losing from home-schoolers, and how unprepared some students were when they re-entered the schools. Since it began, the programs enrolment has nearly doubled to 397, and last
46、 year the district moved Eagleridge to a strip mall(between a pizza joint and a laser-tag arcade). Parents typically drop off their kids once a week; because most of the children qualify as quarter-time students, the district collects $911 per child. “Its like getting a taste of what real school is
47、like,“ says 10-year-old Chad Lucas, whos learning computer animation and creative writing. Other school districts are also experimenting with novel ways to court home schoolers. The town of Galena, Alaska,(pop. 600)has just 178 students. But in 1997, its school administrators figured they could reac
48、h beyond their borders. Under the program, the district gives home-schooling families free computers and Internet service for correspondence classes. In return, the district gets $3,100 per student enrolled in the program $9.6 million a year, which it has used partly for a new vocational school. Suc
49、h alternatives just might appeal to other districts. Ernest Felty, head of Hardin County schools in southern Illinois, has 10 home-schooled pupils. That may not sound like much except that he has a staff of 68, and at $4,500 a child, “thats probably a teachers salary,“ Felty says. With the right robotics or art class, though, he could take the home out of home schooling. 16 What changes will Olivia face in the future? （ A） She will face her mothers punishment. （ B） She will start to learn some knowledge in the public school.
