How do you feel when you teacher asks you to work on a group project with other student? Do you like to work together with others or work alone?
The Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, carried out a survey of student's ability to work together in groups. They found that students who do well on tests by themselves are also likely to be better at working with other people. This finding was true for many countries. Students in Japan, South Korea, Finland and Canada, where test scores are high, also did well in working together to solve problems.
But this was not the case for every country. Chinese students, who have high scores as well, displayed just average collaborative （合作的）skills. "One reason might be that Chinese parents and teachers focus too much on grades," said Zhao Zhongxin, former vice president of the Chinese Family Education Association. "Students have a lot of exam pressure and they see schools as places for competition." "However, collaborative skills are very important for preparing students for today's society." he added. "Luckily, more Chinese parents and teachers are realizing the importance of this and are thinking of ways to help students improve this skill."
Another interesting finding from the PISA survey was that girls can be better than boys at working together. They said girls show more positive attitudes （态度）to wards relationships, which means they are more willing to listen to other' opinions.
PISA also found that the classroom environment can influence how well students collaborate. In classes where there are a lot of activities that require communication such as class debates, students might have better attitudes towards collaborating.
1.The PISA did the survey to find out the students' ability to____________.
A.work with other people B.get high scores on tests
C.solve difficult problems D.make plans for projects
2.What can we know from the findings of the survey?
A.Boys are better at working with others than girls.
B.Students who do well on tests are worse at working with others.
C.Collaborative skills are less important than scores for students' futures.
D.The classroom environment can influence students' ability to work together.
3.What do Chinese teachers and parents think of working together now?
A.They like it a lot.
B.They can't stand it.
C.They think it's important.
D.They think it's unnecessary
4.What can be done to improve students' ability to work together according to the passage?
A.Giving students high scores on every test.
B.Helping students to get used to exam pressure.
C.Making girls work with girls rather than boys.
D.Arranging more communicative activities in class.
5.What's the passage mainly about?
A.The popularity of PISA across the world.
B.Chinese students' ability to work with others.
C.The findings of a survey about working together.
D.The difference between boys and girls in working together.
As an English person, I can speak three languages English, German and French, so do you think the British people are very good language learners? The fact is that they aren't.
Some statistics （数据） from the survey done by the European Commission （欧盟委员会） showed that 62% of the British people only speak English. 38% speak at least one foreign language and 18% speak two or more Compared with the British people, 56% of the people in other European countries speak at least one foreign language and 28% speak two or more. From this you can see that the British people are famous for not speaking foreign languages and that they are not good language learners in Europe.
And the survey also showed that English is the most widely-spoken foreign language. Many European people can have a conversation in English. That's why many people don't think it is necessary to learn a foreign language.
In Britain, students aren't required to learn a foreign language. That means learning a foreign language is only a choice at school. In British schools it's common for children to start learning a foreign language at 11 and many of them give it up at 14. So why don't students continue learning foreign languages at school? Because they think it's more difficult to get good marks in languages than in other subjects such as science or history.
To solve this situation, the British government is looking for different ways to improve language learning at school. One way is to start learning it at a much younger age. Another one is to give school children more choices.
1.What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?
A.The people in England are good at learning languages.
B.Most of British people only speak English.
C.British people are known for speaking foreign languages.
D.Most of British people want to learn more than one language.
2.How many ways will the British government use to improve language learning?
A.One. B.Two. C.Three. D.Four.
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.People in other European countries speak English as much as British people.
B.One British student can't give up learning a foreign language until 14.
C.Students in Britain prefer to learn science or history rather than learn a foreign language.
D.It's unusual for British students not to learn a foreign language.
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A.7 B.6. C.5. D.4.
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A young painter completed a painting. To get people's opinions about his painting sills, he put his painting at a crossing on a street and put up a board that read, "Gentlemen, I have painted this work. Since I'm new, I might have made some mistakes. Please put a cross wherever you see a mistake."
When he came back in the evening, he was shocked （震惊的） to see that the whole painting was filled with crosses He ran to his teacher and said, useless. The teacher said, "I'll let you know that you are a great artist Just paint the same painting again and give it to me."
Then they went to the same street the next morning and put the same painting at the same place. The teacher took out another board which read, "Gentlemen, I have painted this work 1 might have made some mistakes. I have put a box with colors and brushes just below. If you see a mistake, pick up the brush and correct it." Two days later, they came back to the place. The young painter was surprised to see that there was not a single correction.
If you want to help people improve their behavior （行为），you'd better learn how to help people change their behavior. Always remember not to judge （批评） yourself by someone else's criticism （批评），because you are the best judge to judge yourself.
1.Why did the young painter put his painting on a busy street?
A.To let others know he has the ability to paint.
B.To make money by selling his painting.
C.To get others' ideas about his painting skills.
D.To let his teacher know he was a good student.
2.How might the young painter feel when he saw the crosses on the painting?
A.Proud. B.Excited. C.Sad. D.Moved.
3.How did the teacher help his student know he was a great painter?
A.By teaching the student more painting skills.
B.By asking people not to put any crosses on the painting.
C.By panting a different painting himself and putting it on the street.
D.By putting up a board with different words beside the same painting.
Our school's science festival just ended a few days ago. What _______________me most was the time we spent making a car. It was made out of corrugated cardboard （瓦楞纸板），but can still hold a person, as well as move.
We were ______________ about this idea, but we found it hard to make the car. It seemed ______________ for a cardboard car to carry someone. Our physics teacher showed us a video where there was some corrugated cardboard shaped like a "V" or "W" .It is stronger and can hold more _______________ This gave us the idea to make the car _______________getting the proper materials. Because there was not much time left for us, we had to finish it as ______________ as possible. We______________ how the car should be made and how to do experiments with it. I was glad that we were able to work closely with each other. Everyone saw the work as an interesting way to relax. Indeed, enjoying the process helped us feel ______________ stressed. When the car was finally finished, we all wore a smile on our faces and found that all our hard work had been worth it, even after spending whole afternoons working on it.
We joined the competition after we finished the car.______________ we didn't win any prizes, we found something more meaningful than success. We learned new things about physics and learned how to ______________ with each other.
1.A.took B.impressed C.troubled D.cost
2.A.tired B.excited C.surprised D.interested
3.A.easy B.great C.wonderful D.impossible
4.A.paper B.weight C.people D.cars
5.A.before B.by C.after D.for
6.A.finally B.quickly C.carefully D.happily
7.A.talked about B.talked to C.talked with D.talked back
8.A.more B.less C.much D.even
9.A.But B.So C.As D.Though
10.A.come up B.get along C.catch up D.go on
All of us are proud that we can live peacefully and happily in China _______ the umbrella of our powerful country.
A.from B.with C.under D.to
