I’ve been writing for most of my life. The book Writing Without Teachers introduced me to one distinction(区别)and one practice that has helped my writing processes tremendously. The distinction is between the creative mind and the critical mind. While you need to employ both to get to a finished result, they cannot work in parallel no matter how much we might like to think so.
Trying to criticize writing on the fly is possibly the single greatest barrier to writing that most of us encounter. If you are listening to that 5th grade English teacher correct your grammar while you are trying to capture a fleeting (稍纵即逝的) thought, the thought will die. If you capture the fleeting thought and simply share it with the world in raw form, no one is likely to understand. You must learn to create first and then criticize if you want to make writing the tool for thinking that it is.
The practice that can help you past your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls “free writing.” In free writing, the objective is to get words down on paper non-stop, usually for 15-20 minutes. No stopping, no going back, no criticizing. The goal is to get the words flowing. As the words begin to flow, the ideas will come from the shadows and let themselves be captured on your notepad or your screen.
Now you have raw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that you’ve persuaded to sit on the side and watch quietly. Most likely, you will believe that this will take more time than you actually have and you will end up staring blankly at the pages as the deadline draws near.
Instead of staring at a blank start filling it with words no matter how bad. Halfway through your available time, stop and rework your raw writing into something closer to finished product. Move back and forth until you run out of time and the final result will most likely be far better than your current practices.When the author says the creative mind and the critical mind “cannot work in parallel” in the writing process, he means .
| A．one cannot use them at the same time | B．they cannot be regarded as equally important |
| C．they are in constant conflict with each other | D．no one can be both creative and critical |
What prevents people from writing on is .
| A．putting their ideas in raw form | B．ignoring grammatical soundness |
| C．attempting to edit as they write | D．trying to capture fleeting thoughts |
What is the chief objective of the first stage of writing?
| A．To organize one’s thoughts logically. | B．To get one’s ideas down. |
| C．To choose an appropriate topic. | D．To collect raw materials. |
One common concern of writers about “free writing” is that .
| A．it overstresses the role of the creative mind | B．it does not help them to think clearly |
| C．it may bring about too much criticism | D．it takes too much time to edit afterwards |
In what way does the critical mind help the writer in the writing process?
| A．It allows him to sit on the side and observe. | B．It helps him to come up with new ideas. |
| C．It saves the writing time available to him. | D．It improves his writing into better shape. |
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Health researchers have noticed that some groups of people are more consistently healthy than others, and wondered… Is it race? Income? Where you live? In the United States, these disagreements in health outcomes have been the focus of intense research for the past several decades.
Harvard University health policy researcher Ellen Meara says scholars have found some clues as to why some groups of people have more or less disease than others. She says one important factor in people’s health is the amount of education they have.
In her most recent paper, Meara looked at data from the United states census. These counts of people occur every 10 years. Meara and her colleagues examined data from several decades.
“We looked at life expectancy(预测寿命) at age 25,” Meara says.
“How many additional years can you expect to live if you arrive at age 25 and your education has stopped at high school, or sooner? Versus how many years, can you expect to live if you’ve reached aged 25 and you’ve gone on to at least some college…”
Meara says they found that in 1990, a 25-year-old who only had some secondary school could expect to live for a total of 75 years. In 2000, a 25-year-old with some secondary education could also expect to live to the age of 75.
In contrast, for a better educated 25-year-old, they could expect to live to the age of 80 in 1990. Someone with a similar education level in the year 2000, could expect to live to be more than 81 years, 81.6 years to be exact.
Meara says, not only do better-educated people live longer to begin with, but in the past ten years, more educated people have made gains in the length of their lives. Meanwhile, the life expectancy hasn’t changed for less educated people.
Some of these gains can be explained. Meara says researchers know that people who are more educated are more likely to quit smoking cigarettes, or not start at all, compared to people with less education.
“I think it’s a reminder not to be satisfactory,” Meara says. “Just because a population overall appears to be getting healthier, it doesn’t always mean that those advantages and successes that many people have enjoyed really extend into all parts of the population. And I think that’s something to really pay attention to regardless of whether you live in the US or elsewhere.”
Meara points out that education can often determine income---people with more education frequently make more money. This makes them aware of health care, and purchase other resources and services that can keep them healthier. But the data on income do NOT show that people who make more money are automatically healthier.
Meara says education is key. People need to be educated in order to take advantage of opportunities for better health.
| Title |
The Amount of |
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| |
The less educated people |
The |
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| Comparisons |
In 1990 |
They could live for 75 years |
They could live to the age of 80 |
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| In 2000 |
Their life expectancy was the same as in 1990. |
They could live to the age of 81.6 |
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| In the past ten years |
Their life expectancy remained |
They’ve made gains in the length of their lives, partly due to their |
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| People are getting healthier, but it doesn’t mean that the advantages and successes extend into all parts of the |
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| Education |
People with more education make more money |
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| Getting more money helps to increase their |
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| Education is the key to better health. |
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BUKHANNON, West Virginia—Two rescue teams slowly moved along a two-mile path on Monday night to the site of a coal mine explosion that trapped 13 miners, who had not been heard from since the early morning accident．
Meanwhile, at a nearby church, more than 250 family members and friends gathered, waiting for updates（最新报道）on the rescuers’ progress．
The miners were trapped at about 6:30 and many families weren’t informed of the accident until about 10 a．m-more than three hours after it happened．“It’s very upsetting, but you’ve got to be patient, I guess,” said John Helms, whose brother, Terry, was trapped in the mine．
The trapped miners were about 260 feet underground and about 10,000 feet from the Sago Mine’s entrance, said Roger Nicholson, general counsel from International Coal Group．
At a late night news conference, Nicholson said one team had advanced about 4, 800 feet in the four hours since entering the mine just before 6 p．m．Another team entered the mine about 30 minutes later．
He said the crew was very experienced, with some members having worked underground for 30 to 35 years．The miners were equipped with about one hour of breathable oxygen each．The company has not released the names of the miners．
The teams test the air about every 500 feet, and have to disconnect （remove） the power to the phones they use to communicate with the surface before doing that．“ We don’t want to be energizing anything if it’s in an atmosphere with burnable gases,” Kips said．
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known．High levels of carbon monoxide were discovered shortly after the explosion, which delayed rescue efforts, but those levels have since subsided（减退）, authorities said．According to the passage, we can infer that ________．
| A．all the miners who were trapped underground were still alive |
| B．communication with the trapped miners was cut off |
| C．the two rescue teams entered the mine at the same time |
| D．the rescue started as soon as the accident happened |
If the first team advanced at an average speed, they could dig about _______ per hour．
| A．1,000 feet | B．2,400 feet | C．1,200feet | D．4,800feet |
Where can the passage be seen?
| A．In a magazine． | B．In a newspaper． |
| C．In a science book．． | D．On an advertisement． |
Which of the following shows the position where the miners were trapped?
For a 400-year-old art form, opera had a bad fame: overweight actresses singing the words which were hard to understand in one of those romance languages you were supposed to learn in high school. And with tickets costing as much as $145 a performance, opera goers also had a certain appearance in people's mind: rich, well-dressed and old.
But now opera companies around the country are loosening their ties and kicking off their shoes in an attempt to keep opera alive and take it to a younger and not so wealthy audience.
Opera producers have found that to attract this crowd, they need to make the opera closer to common people. Because young people don't or won't come to the opera, companies are bringing the opera to them, giving performances in such unusual places as parks, libraries and public schools.
The Houston Grand Opera's choice is the public library, where it performs “mobile operas” shortened versions(剧本) of child-friendly operas. This summer's production is Hansel ＆ Gretel. By performing smaller versions of large productions, producers are able to make people interested while keeping costs at a reasonable level. The San Francisco Opera, which will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is staging Cinderella free of charge, keeping costs down by employing students from its Young Artists' Training Program.Which is the main idea of this passage？
| A． Opera is famous for its long history. |
| B． Opera is only performed for rich people. |
| C． Opera companies are trying to keep opera alive. |
| D． Young people are not interested in opera. |
The underlined phrase in the second paragraph means ______.
| A． breaking up the old rules | B． changing the dresses |
| C． making the audience at ease | D．advertising themselves |
Opera companies prefer to perform short versions because ______ .
| A． they can be performed in public libraries |
| B． short versions are easy to perform |
| C． it is hard to find long versions |
| D． they can make more people come to opera |
The San Francisco Opera employs students in order to ______.
| A． celebrate its 75th anniversary | B． reduce the cost |
| C． attract young people | D． make Cinderella popular |
Where have all the boys gone？You may be able to find them in the gym, at work or hanging out, but there’s one important place where boys are underrepresented, and the problem seems to be getting worse. These days, at high school graduation ceremonies, there are a lot more girls than boys.
In fact, every year, 10 percent more girls graduate from high school than boys. “I think that there’s a tendency to focus on boys as problems at this point, rather than recognize that boys have problems,” says Joanne Max, PhD. Experts say the problems start in grade school, where there’s often an emphasis on sports instead of reading, for example. “I think that with boys there’s some idea that it’s not masculine(男子汉的)to read,” says Rob Jenkins, an English professor.
There’s also a shortage of male teachers as role models. “I think boys need role models, so if you’re a boy and you don’t have a dad in your home and then you have one male teacher and it’s your athletic coach then I don’t think you have a message that education is very important,” says Carol Carter, another expert. In addition, classrooms often have too little activity and too much passive listening, which is not conducive(有益的)to boys’ learning.
Experts say parents can fight back in many ways. Read to your sons early and often; show by your actions that you value their education. Ask them about their schoolwork, offer help, drop by their classroom and finally, appeal to their competitive spirit: challenge them to do better and help them understand that their future depends on it.The underlined part “one important place” in Paragraph 1 refers to “______”.
| A．classrooms | B．factories |
| C．high school graduation ceremonies | D．gyms |
According to the passage，boys have the problem that they think ______.
| A．reading is more important than sports |
| B．it is shameful for boys to read |
| C．boys should not work as a teacher |
| D．boys lack the gift for reading |
Carol Carter’s words implied that ______.
| A．parents play an important role in education |
| B．athletic coaches contribute a lot to education |
| C．lack of male teachers affects boys’ attitudes to school work |
| D．classrooms lack enough activities that are suitable for boys |
According to experts，parents should do the following except ______.
| A．often read to their sons when they are young |
| B．keep an eye on their sons’ studies at school |
| C．encourage their sons to compete with others |
| D．prevent their sons from taking part in sports |
So long as teachers fail to distinguish（区别, 辨认） between teaching and learning, they will continue to undertake to do for children that which only children can do for themselves. Teaching children to read is not passing reading on to them. It is certainly not endless hours spent in activities about reading．Douglas insists that “reading cannot be taught directly and schools should stop trying to do the impossible”.
Teaching and learning are two entirely different processes. They differ in kind and function. The function of teaching is to create the conditions and the climate that will make it possible for children to devise the most efficient system for teaching themselves to read. Teaching is also public activity. It can be seen and observed.
Learning to read involves all that each individual does to make sense of the world of printed language. Almost all of it is private, for learning is an occupation of the mind, and that process is not open to public observation.
If teacher and learner roles are not interchangeable, what then can be done through teaching that will aid the child in the quest（探索）for knowledge? Smith has one principal rule for all teaching instructions. “Make learning to read easy, which means making reading a meaningful, enjoyable and frequent experience for children.”
When the roles of teacher and learner are seen for what they are, and when both teacher and learner fulfill them properly, then much of the pressure and feeling of failure for both is eliminated(除去, 剔除). Learning to read is made easier when teachers create an environment where children are given the opportunity to solve the problem of leaning to read by reading. The problem with the reading course as mentioned in the first paragraph is that ______.
| A．it is one of the most difficult school courses |
| B．students spend endless hours in reading |
| C．reading tasks are assigned with little guidance |
| D．too much time is spent in teaching about reading |
The teaching of reading will be successful if ______.
| A．teachers can improve conditions at school for the students |
| B．teachers can enable students to develop their own way of reading |
| C．teachers can devise the most efficient system for reading |
| D．teachers can make their teaching activities observable |
According to the passage, learning to read will no longer be a difficult task when ______.
| A．children become highly motivated |
| B．teacher and learner roles are interchangeable |
| C．teaching helps children in the search for knowledge |
| D．reading enriches children’s experience |
The main idea of the passage is that ______.
| A．teachers should do as little as possible in helping students learn to read |
| B．teachers should encourage students to read as widely as possible |
| C．reading ability is something acquired rather than taught |
| D．reading is more complicated than generally believed |
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