Question

D. R. Gaul Middle School is in Union, Maine, a blueberry-farming town where the summer fair finds kids competing in pig scrambles(爭奪) and pie-eating contests.

Gaul, with about 170 seventh- and eighth-graders, has its own history of lower level academic achievement. One likely reason: Education beyond the basic requirements hasn't always been a top priority(優先) for families who've worked the same land for generations. Here, few adults have college degrees, and outsiders(局外人) (teachers included) are often kept at a respectful distance.

Since 2002, Gaul's students have been divided into four classes, each of them taught almost every subject by two teachers. The goal: To find common threads across disciplines to help students create a big picture that gives fresh meaning and context to their class work -- and sparks(激發) motivation for learning.

Working within state guidelines, each team makes its individual schedules and lesson plans, incorporating non-textbook literature, hands-on lab work and field trips. If students are covering the Civil War in social studies, they're reading The Red Badge of Courage or some other period literature in English class. In science, they study the viruses and bacteria that caused many deaths in the war.

Team teaching isn't unusual. About 77 percent of middle schools now employ some form of it, says John Lounsbury, consulting editor for the National Middle School Association. But most schools use four- or five-person teams, which Gaul tried before considering two-person teams more effective. Gaul supports the team concept by "looping" classes (跟班) so that the same two teachers stick with the same teens through seventh and eighth grades. Combining teams and looping creates an extremely strong bond between teacher and student. It also, says teacher Beth Ahlholm, "allows us to build an excellent relationship with parents."

Ahlholm and teammate Madelon Kelly are fully aware how many glazed looks they see in the classroom, but they know 72 percent of their eighth-graders met Maine's reading standard last year -- double the statewide average. Only 31 percent met the math standard, still better than the state average (21 percent). Their students also beat the state average in writing and science. And in2006, Gaul was one of 47 schools in the state to see testing gains of at least 20 percent in four of the previous five years, coinciding roughly with team teaching's arrival.

 

A Classroom With Context
1.      of the school	◆Being a farming town, Gaul achieved little in 2.        before. ◆Further education is considered less important there. ◆The community is relatively 3.         rather than open to the outsiders.
Ways of solving the problems	●dividing the students into different classes and creating ways to make the students well 4.         to learn. ●conducting5.       and lesson plans for each team ●establishing a strong 6.        between teacher and students through combining teams and looping
7.       of success	■72 percent of the eighth-graders8.       Maine's reading standard ■the school beating the state average in 9.         ■students’ math average being 10.       higher than the state average ■four of the previous five years  witnessing at least 20 percent test gains

 

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.Problems

2.education/academic achievement

3.closed

4.motivated

5.individual schedules

6.tie/connection/bond/ relationship

7.Signs/ Examples

8.reaching/meeting

9.writing and science

10.10 percent

【解析】

試題分析：全文敘述了在緬因州的藍莓種植小鎮上的D. R. Gaul中學里，人們不重視教育。一個很可能的原因是：在這個祖祖輩輩在土地上耕作的人們，接受基礎教育以上的教育不是家庭的最好選擇。在這里沒有幾個成年人有大學學歷，而局外人（也包括老師）經常被敬而遠之。后來學校改變了教學方法，把學生分成四個班，每個班有兩個老師講課以激發學生學習的動力。每個學生都要有個人計劃和課程計劃，老師和家長相互建立良好的關系等等。通過努力使該校學生的成績有了很多的進步。

1.根據第二段講到問題所在：Problems of the school。

2.根據第二段第一句話：Gaul, with about 170 seventh- and eighth-graders, has its own history of lower level academic achievement. （Gaul中學有170名其年級和八年級的學生，都有著較低的學術成就。）選擇 academic 或者education。

3.社區對外界是相對封閉而不是開放的，對老師也是敬而遠之。closed

4.第三段講到問題的解決：教學改革。學生被分成四個班。每個班有兩個老師教課，找到不同學科共同的教學思路，來激發學生學習的動力。motivated

5.根據第四段的Working within state guidelines, each team makes its individual schedules and lesson plans,（在州的指導方針指引下每個人創造了個人計劃 和小組計劃。）判斷填individual schedules。

6. 根據第五段的It also, says teacher Beth Ahlholm, "allows us to build an excellent relationship with parents."（Beth老師說，它還允許我們和家長建立很好的關系。）判斷是tie/connection/bond/ relationship。

7.根據最后一段講述改革的成功案例判斷填：Signs/ Examples

8. 根據最后一段第一句話后半部分：but they know 72 percent of their eighth-graders met Maine's reading standard last year（但是他們知道72%的八年級的學生去年達到緬因州的閱讀標準。）判斷填reaching/meeting 。

9.根據最后一段：Their students also beat the state average in writing and science. （他們的學生在寫作和自然學科中擊敗州平均分。）判斷選擇：writing and science

10.  Only 31 percent met the math standard, still better than the state average (21 percent)（僅僅31%的達到數學的標準，比數學的州平均分還高。

考點：任務型閱讀。