Question

When it comes to preschool education, there are two lines of thought. One says that preschoolers need to be taught early academic skills in order to get a leg up on future school achievement. Another says the focus should be on social and emotional development. But, new research from Penn State University says a high quality preschool program should do both.

Karen Bierman, Penn State Professor of Psychology, and her team studied 350 preschoolers. Half were taught the traditional curriculum(课程）. The other half were given the basic curriculum as well as social and emotional teaching.

The results show that the half students taught with a curriculum that includes social lesson, such as sharing, listening and self-control, score higher in both the social and academic areas of school readiness than the other half students.

The other finding is that when you work on both academic and social-emotional skills, you get stronger gains in both areas. “You get the combined power when you put both together, so neither area is weakened.” she says.

Clearly, knowing how to share, develop healthy friendships, and learn side-by-side with others is important to a child’s academic achievement in the classroom. But, Bierman says the importance of social and emotional education goes beyond that. Preschool is prime time for the development of self-regulation, which not only tells a child not to hit another child, but also tells a child how to set personal goals and focus himself enough to follow through with those goals. And the ability to regulate behavior is what helps children get motivated at school. “When they get upset, bored, or frustrated, it doesn’t defeat them.” she says.

Goal-oriented (面向目标的) and motivated learning is best taught in preschool, Biernam says, when the prefrontal part of the brain, which controls decision-making, is at the height of development. “First grade teachers can teach letter names, but preschool is when that behavior is peaking and language is just beginning to develop,” she says.

1.Karen Bierman and her team carried out the research by ________.

A. tracking 350 preschoolers for years

B. separating children into two equal groups

C. working out a high quality preschool program

D. analyzing the importance of social and emotional teaching

2.The underlined words “prime time” in the text probably refer to ________.

A．the best timeB．the only time

C．the earliest timeD．the suitable time

3.According to the text, self-regulation can help children ________.

A．be willing to studyB．become emotionless

C．memorize letter namesD．learn language quickly

4.What’s the best title for the text?

A. Preschool learning: more than ABCs and 123s

B. Karen Bierman: freeing kids from boring learning.

C. Learning self-regulation in preschool: why it matters?

D. Academic and social-emotional skills: which is more important?

Answer

1.B

2.A

3.A

4.A

【解析】

试题分析：本文是议论文。有人认为应该教授学前儿童基本的知识及学习技能以应对将来的学习生活，有人认为应该着重发展学前儿童的社交能力并让他们学会管理自己的情绪。Karen Bierman则认为这两者不应该相互排斥,一个好的学前教育应该包含这两方面的内容。

1. 细节理解题。根据第二段中的“Half were taught the traditional curriculum(课程).The other half were given the basic curriculum as well as social and emotional teachings.”可知，Karen Bierman和她的研究小组把研究对象平均分成两组，分别教授不同的课程。故选B。

2. 词义猜测题。根据最后两段内容,尤其是“Goal-oriented(面向目标的) and motivated learning is best taught in preschool...”可推测，教授包括面向目标的学习及有动机的学习在内的情绪管理的“最佳时间”是在孩子入学前。故选A。

3. 细节理解题。根据倒数第二段中的“And the ability to regulate behavior is what helps children get motivated at school.”可知，自我约束能帮助孩子们在学校获得动力，故答案为A项。

4. 主旨大意题。文章第一段是本文的主题段，讲述学前教育不应该仅仅教授基本知识，还应该包括社交能力和情绪管理方面的内容。A项符合本文主题。

【名师点睛】

找主题句的四个小窍门：

1.段落中出现表转折的词语(如however, but, in fact, actually, while, on the contrary, in contrast等)时，其后的句子很可能是主题句。

2.首段出现疑问句时，对该问题的回答很可能就是主题句。5.

3.作者有意识地反复强调的观点，通常是主旨;反复出现的词语，一般为体现文章主旨的关键词。

4.表示总结或结论的话常有therefore，thus， in short，conclude， conclusion等。

考点：考查议论文阅读