Question

I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at a high school in New York, when one of my students, 15-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence from class the day before.

I had seen Mikey himself writing the note at his desk. Most parental-excuse notes I received were penned by my students. If I were to deal with them, I’d be busy 24 hours a day.

The forged excuse notes made a large pile(堆), with writing that ranged from imaginative to crazy. The writers of those notes didn’t realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull: “Peter was late because the alarm clock didn’t go off.”

Isn’t it remarkable, I thought, how the students complained and said it was hard to put 200 words together on any subject? But when they produced excuse notes, they were brilliant.

So one day I typed out a dozen excuse notes and gave them to my classes. I said, “They’re supposed to be written by parents, but actually they are not. True, Mikey?”  The students looked at me nervously.

“Now, this will be the first class to study the art of the excuse note—the first class, ever, to practice writing them. You’re so lucky to have a teacher like me who has taken your best writing and turned it into a subject worth studying.”

Everyone smiled as I went on, “You used your imaginations. So try more now. Today I’d like you to write ‘An Excuse Note from Adam to God’ or ‘An Excuse Note from Eve to God’. ” Heads went down. Pens raced across paper. For the first time ever I saw students so careful in their writing that they had to be asked to go to lunch by their friends.

The next day everyone had excuse notes. Heated discussions followed. The headmaster entered the classroom and walked up and down, looking at papers, and then said, “I’d like you to see me in my office.”

When I stepped into his office, he came to shake my hand and said, “I just want to tell you that that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you.”

1.What did the author do with the students found dishonest?

A. He reported them to the headmaster.

B. He lectured them hard on honesty.

C. He had them take notes before lunch.

D. He helped improve their writing skills.

2. The author had the students practice writing excuse notes so that the students could learn ______.

A. the importance of being honest

B. how to write excuse notes skillfully

C. the pleasure of creative writing

D. how to be creative in writing

3. The underlined word “forged” in the second paragraph means“______”.

A. dull        B. copied                   C. dishonest              D. parental

4. What did the headmaster think of the author’s way of teaching?

A. Excellent.                 B. Difficult.          C. Incorrect.          D. Reasonable.

Answer

1.D

2.D

3.C

4.A

【解析】

试题分析：当作者在纽约一所高中教授创意写作课时，收到了很多署名家长但实际上是学生自己写的 “请假条”。于是作者借一次机会，给学生布置了一次很有创意的写作任务，题目是“亚当或者夏娃写给上帝的请假条”，结果收到了意想不到的效果。

1.D细节理解题。根据文章内容可知作者在看到孩子们撒谎之后，没有当众揭穿他们，而是在一节课上表扬了他们写假条方面的丰富想象力，让他们写题目为Excuse Note from Adam to God’ or ‘An Excuse Note from Eve to God’.的假条，根据末段校长的评价“Those kids were writing on the college level.”可知孩子们这次的写作水平很高，所以D选项正确。

2.D推理判断题。根据文章首段I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at a high school in New York, 可知作者是教写作的老师，再根据文中 “You used your imaginations. So try more now.可以判断作者让学生练习写假条为的是培养他们在写作中运用想象力，培养创造性思维，所以D选项正确。

3.C词义猜测题。A呆板的；B仿写的；C不诚实的；D父母的。根据下文作者的讲述可知这些假条都是学生自己编的，不是家长写的，所以是假的，故判断C选项正确。

4.A细节理解题。根据文章末段校长的话“that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you.”可知作者的这种教学方法很有效，而且校长对此评价很高，所以答案选A。

考点：考查教育类短文阅读。