A
Five years ago，when I taught art at a school in Seattle, I used Tinkertoys as a test at the beginning of a term to find out something about my students.I put a small set of Tinkertoys in front of each student, and said：“Make something out of the Tinkertoys.You have 45 minutes today—and 45 minutes each day for the rest of the week.”
A few students hesitated to start.They waited to see what the rest of the class would do.Several others checked the instructions and made something according to one of the model plans provided.Another group built something out of their own imaginations.
Once I had a boy who worked experimentally with Tinkertoys in his free time.His constructions filled a shelf in the art classroom and a good part of his bedroom at home.I was delighted at the presence of such a student.Here was an exceptionally creative mind at work.His presence meant that I had an unexpected teaching assistant in class whose creativity would infect(感染) other students.
Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside.I ran the risk of losing those students who had a different style of thinking.Without fail one would declare, “But I'm just not creative.”
“Do you dream at night when you're asleep？”
“Oh, sure.”
“So tell me one of your most interesting dreams.”The student would tell something wildly imaginative.Flying in the sky or in a time machine or growing three heads.“That's pretty creative.Who does that for you？”
“Nobody.I do it.”
“Really—at night，when you're asleep？”
“Sure.”
“Try doing it in the daytime，in class，okay？”
【語(yǔ)篇解讀】 本文是一篇記敘文。作為一名教師，作者用一種玩具培養(yǎng)孩子們的創(chuàng)造性和動(dòng)手能力，其中一個(gè)孩子的創(chuàng)造性引起了作者的注意。
1．The teacher used Tinkertoys in class in order to .
A．know more about the students
B．make the lessons more exciting
C．raise the students' interest in art
D．teach the students about toy design
【解析】 細(xì)節(jié)理解題。從題干的in order to判斷，本題詢(xún)問(wèn)作者在課堂使用這種玩具的目的，第一段提到as a test...to find out something about my students，由此可知作者的目的是更多地了解自己的學(xué)生，因此選A項(xiàng)。B項(xiàng)“讓課程更激動(dòng)人心”，C項(xiàng)“提高學(xué)生們對(duì)藝術(shù)的興趣”，D項(xiàng)“教學(xué)生玩具設(shè)計(jì)”，均不是作者的目的。
【答案】 A
2．What do we know about the boy mentioned in Paragraph 3?
A．He liked to help his teacher.
B．He preferred to study alone.
C．He was active in class.
D．He was imaginative.
【解析】 推理判斷題。第三段作者描述這個(gè)學(xué)生，說(shuō)他特別有創(chuàng)造性(was an exceptionally creative mind at work)，因此選D項(xiàng)。imaginative有想象力的。作者在該段說(shuō)他的創(chuàng)造力能夠感染班上其他學(xué)生，這讓作者意外地有了一個(gè)教學(xué)幫手，沒(méi)有說(shuō)他喜歡幫助老師(A項(xiàng)錯(cuò))，文章沒(méi)有提到他更喜歡獨(dú)自一個(gè)人學(xué)習(xí)(B項(xiàng)錯(cuò))，也沒(méi)有提到他在課堂上非常活躍(C項(xiàng)錯(cuò))。
【答案】 D
3．What does the underlined word “downside” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
A．Mistake. B．Drawback.
C．Difficulty. D．Burden.
【解析】 詞義猜測(cè)題。前文提到作者很喜愛(ài)這個(gè)學(xué)生，說(shuō)這個(gè)學(xué)生的創(chuàng)造性能夠感染其他學(xué)生，下文說(shuō)“冒著失去那些有不同的思考風(fēng)格的學(xué)生的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)”，根據(jù)語(yǔ)境前后的對(duì)比判斷，downside的含義應(yīng)該是drawback“不利條件，缺點(diǎn)”，而不是mistake“錯(cuò)誤”，difficulty“困難”，burden“負(fù)擔(dān)”。
【答案】 B
4．Why did the teacher ask the students to talk about their dreams?
A．To help them to see their creativity.
B．To find out about their sleeping habits.
C．To help them to improve their memory.
D．To find out about their ways of thinking.
【解析】 推理判斷題。根據(jù)題干信息可知本題考查的是文章后半部分對(duì)話的信息。作者鼓勵(lì)學(xué)生講述他們最有趣的夢(mèng)，然后鼓勵(lì)學(xué)生說(shuō)，“白天在課堂上也試一試做夢(mèng)，好嗎？”由此推斷，作者讓學(xué)生講述他們的夢(mèng)，是為了幫助學(xué)生看到自己的創(chuàng)造性，因此選A項(xiàng)。B項(xiàng)“為了弄清楚他們的睡眠習(xí)慣”，C項(xiàng)“為了幫助他們提高記憶力”，D項(xiàng)“為了弄清楚他們的思維方式”，均不是作者的目的。
【答案】 A
