Parents who help their children with homework may actually be bringing down their school grades. Other forms of parental involvement, including volunteering at school and observing a child's class, also fail to help, according to the most recent study on the topic.
The findings challenge a key principle of modern parenting where schools expect them to act as partners in their children's education. Previous generations concentrated on getting children to school on time, fed, dressed and ready to learn.
Kaith Robinson, the author of the study, said, “I really don't know if the public is ready for this but there are some ways parents can be involved in their kids' education that leads to declines in their academic performance. One of the things that was consistently negative was parents' help with homework.” Robinson suggested that may be because parents themselves struggle to understand the task. “They may either not remember the material their kids are studying now, or in some cases never learnt it themselves, but they're still offering advice.”
Robinson assessed parental involvement performance and found one of the most damaging things a parent could do was to punish their children for poor marks. In general, about 20% of parental involvement was positive, about 45% negative and the rest statistically insignificant.
Common sense suggests it was a good thing for parents to get involved because “children with good academic success do have involved parents”, admitted Robinson. But he argued that this did not prove parental involvement was the root cause of that success. “A big surprise was that Asian-American parents whose kids are doing so well in school hardly involved. They took a more reasonable approach, conveying to their children how success at school could improve their lives.”
1.The underlined expression “parental involvement” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.
A. parents' participation in children's education
B. parents' expectation on children's health
C. parents' control over children's life
D. parents' plan for children's future
2.What is the major finding of Robinson's study?
A. Modern parents raise children in a more scientific way.
B. Punishing kids for bad marks is mentally damaging.
C. Parents are not able to help with children’s homework.
D. Parental involvement is not so beneficial as expected.
3.The example of Asian-American parents implies that parents should ________.
A. spend more time improving their own lives
B. set a specific life goal for their children
C. help children realize the importance of schooling
D. take a more active part in school management
A recent documentary produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation has caused a stir in China and in the UK.
The documentary, titled Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School revolves (以……为主题) around five Chinese teachers who are sent to teach 50 UK teens at a school in Hampshire.
The teachers instruct the students for a month. The pupils are then tested, and the results are compared to the ones of those who have continued in the regular UK education system. The idea is to see if the Chinese method improves academic performance.
The Chinese teachers use their own teaching methods but receive strong resistance from the students. A clip from the documentary online shows some problems, with Chinese teachers calling their students lazy and lacking in discipline(纪律), while the students say the high pressure and harsh teachers are driving them crazy.
This has aroused a new debate in both China and the UK, with some arguing the teenagers need more regulation and discipline. Others say Chinese methods encourage note learning instead of independent thinking. For instance, Chinese language teachers should do more than pass on knowledge about words and characters. They should inspire students, helping them feel the sentiment from Chinese literature. This is a higher level of teaching.
Yang Dongping, dean of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, says, “The Chinese teaching methods are designed to strictly train the majority. Foreign teaching methods, however, are more natural and relaxing, and designed to inspire students' interest in learning. Education methods are based on culture. That is why a successful education method in one place may not work that well when simply 'transplanted' into another place.”
Yang Dongping says, “The documentary does reflect some problems rooted in traditional Chinese teaching methods. Nobel Prize winner, Yang Zhenning, gave a very fair comment on this issue. He said the Chinese-style education method works for most ordinary qualified students effectively, helping them reach high standards. However, it may compromise the training for high-potential outstanding students.”
1.What is the purpose of 50 UK teens' being instructed by five Chinese teachers?
A. To test the effectiveness of Chinese teaching method.
B. To help the school improve their teaching efficiency.
C. To do some practical research into the UK education system.
D. To test the intelligence of the UK teens.
2.What's the meaning of the underlined work "harsh" in the fourth paragraph?
A. Very attractive. B. Quite friendly.
C. Rather cold. D. Extremely strict.
3.According to the report, Chinese teaching methods should focus more on ________.
A. passing on knowledge B. encouraging independent thinking
C. regulation and discipline D. training the majority strictly
4.Yang Zhenning's comment implies that traditional Chinese teaching methods are ________.
A. good for Chinese students of all levels
B. helpful to students of high standards
C. good for most ordinary qualified students
D. helpful to high-potential outstanding students
When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard, but was always very kind.
When Doctor Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees. He had some interesting theories about planting trees. He believed in the principle: "No pain, no gain". He hardly watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants spoiled them because it made them grow weaker. He said you had to make things tough for the trees so that only the strongest could survive. He talked about how watering trees made them develop shallow roots and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow deep roots in search of water. So, instead of watering his trees every morning, he'd beat them with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention.
Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I'd watched him plant some twenty five years ago. They were all tall and strong.
I planted a couple of trees myself a few years ago. Two years of attending these trees meant they grew up weak. Whenever a cold wind blew, their branches trembled. Adversity(逆境) seemed to benefit Doctor Gibb's trees in ways comfort and ease never could.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to meet with hardship. There's always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won't be torn apart.
1.With the trees planted, Doctor Gibbs often ________.
A. kept watering them every morning
B. beat them to make them grow deep roots
C. talked to them to get their attention
D. paid little attention to them
2.Which prayer does the author wish for his sons?
A. Have an easy life, without too much to worry about.
B. Be able to stand the rain and wind in their lives.
C. Have good luck, encountering less hardship in their life.
D. Meet people like Dr Gibbs in the future.
3.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A. Prayers for my sons B. Doctor Gibbs and his trees
C. Growing roots D. Watering trees
假设你是李华，请根据下面的提示写一封信给一家艺术博物馆的委员，建议建一个艺术馆，在信中提出你的理由并请求许可。
注意：词数120左右
art gallery 艺术馆 artists 艺术家
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You often fi
nd somebody who works around you complaining(抱怨) all the time, don't you? 1. About 70% of Americans say being around nonstop complainers sometimes has a bad influence on them. Luckily, here are 4 tips to help form positive patterns.
1．Selfawareness
When a negative(消极的) thought pops into your mind, immediately correct it. Instead of telling yourself “That's a nice shirt, but I can't afford it，” change the message to “That will look great with my black pants when I can afford it.” 2.
Of course everyone complains sometimes. But the less frequently you complain, the better you will feel.
2．Distance yourself
3. Excuse yourself and go somewhere quiet, somewhere outdoors in the fresh air. Think of something pleasant before returning. You have to take this seriously because negative people can and will pull you into the quicksand.
3．Don't try to change complainers
If you find yourself trapped in a group of complainers in a meeting or at a social event, simply choose silence. Let their words bounce off you while you think of something else. Attempting to stop the complaining can make you a target. 4. If someone says, “I hate Mondays; weekends are too short，” try to think, “I'm glad I rested up over the weekend, so I'm ready to make some improvement on that big project.”
4.5.
When someone is shouting at you angrily, throw the responsibility back at them by asking, “So what do you intend to do about it？” In most cases, complainers don't really want a solution(解决方法). They just want to speak them out. If you make them aware that they themselves have to find the solutions, they will leave you alone and find someone else to complain to. If so, you will be happy.
A．Find solutions
B．Change responsibility
C．You have got a lot of company.
D．By doing this, it will lead to positive behaviors.
E．But you can redirect the discussion in your own mind.
F．Whenever possible, escape from negative conversations.
G．You will never know what they are going to talk about.
Everyone needs friends. We all like to feel close to someone. It is nice to have a friend to talk, laugh and do things with. Surely, there are times when we need to be alone. We don't always want people around. But we would feel lonely if we never had a friend.
No two people are the same. Sometimes friends don't get along well, which doesn't mean that they no longer like each other. Most of the time they will go on being friends. Sometimes friends move away, then we feel very sad. We miss them much, but we can call them and write to them. Maybe we would never see them again, and we can make new friends. It is surprising to find out how much we like new people when we get to know them. Families sometimes name their children after a close friend. Many places are named after men and women, if they are friendly to people in a town. Some libraries are named this way. So are some schools. We think of these people when we go to these places.
There's more good news for people, if they have friends. These people live longer than those people if those don't have friends. Why? It could be that they are happier. Being happy helps you stay well. Or it could be just knowing that someone cares, if someone cares about you, you take better care of yourself.
1.The first paragraph tells us __________.
A. none needs friends
B. we always need friends around us
C. making friends is the need in people's life
D. we need to be alone
2.Which of the following is what the writer doesn't say in the passage?
A. People are happy when their friends leav
e them.
B. People may never see their friends after their friends move away.
C. People can know their friends in different ways.
D. People like their friends very much if they get to know them.
3.Which of the following is the most probable place people name after friendly people?
A. A house. B. A room.
C. A library. D. A village.
4.If people have friends, they would live longer, because __________.
A. they feel happier and healthier B. they get a lot of help from their friends
C. they take better care of themselves D. both A and C
