阅读理解 Teaching children to read well from the start is the most important task of elementary schools. But relying on educators to approach this task correctly can be a great mistake. Many schools continue to employ instructional methods that have been proven ineffective. The staying power of the "look-say" or "whole-word" method of teaching beginning reading is perhaps the most flagrant example of this failure to instruct effectively.
The whole-word approach to reading stresses the meaning of words over the meaning of letters, thinking over decoding, developing a sight vocabulary of familiar words over developing the ability to unlock the pronunciation of unfamiliar words. It fits in with the self-directed, "learning how to learn" activities recommended by advocates of "open" classrooms and with the concept that children have to be developmentally ready to begin reading. Before 1963, no major publisher put out anything but these "Run-Spot-Run" readers.
However, in 1955, Rudolf Flesch touched off what has been called "the great debate" in beginning reading. In his best-seller Why Johnny Can't Read, Flesch indicted the nation's public schools for miseducating students by using the look-say method. He said—and more scholarly studies by Jeane Chall and Rovert Dykstra later confirmed—that another approach to beginning reading, founded on phonics, is far superior.
Systematic phonics first teaches children to associate letters and letter combinations with sounds; it then teaches them how to blend these sounds together to make words. Rather than building up a relatively limited vocabulary of memorized words, it imparts a code by which the pronunciations of the vast majority of the most common words in the English language can be learned. Phonics does not devalue the importance of thinking about the meaning of words and sentences; it simply recognizes that decoding is the logical and necessary first step.

单选题 The author feels that counting on educators to teach reading correctly is______.

单选题 The author indicts the look-say reading approach because______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】细节题。第一段的最后一句指出“边看边说”(look-say method)或“全词法”(whole-word method)的阅读教学方法是失败的，接着第二段分析了这种方法失败的原因为“stresses the meaning of words over the meaning of letters，thinking over decoding…”，即过多地强调了词的含义。故本题选A。

单选题 One major difference between the "look-say" method of learning reading and the phonics method is______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】细节题。最后一段分析了系统拼读法(systematic phonics)的好处，由该段中的“Rather than building up a relatively limited vocabulary of memorized words，it imparts a code by which the pronunciations of the vast majority of the most common words in the English language can be learned．”可知这种方法能使学习者获得更大的词汇量。故本题选D。

单选题 The phrase "touch off" (Para. 3) most probably means______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】含义题。根据第二段中的“Before 1963，no major publisher put out anything but these ‘Run-Spot-Run’readers．”可知在1963年以前，教授阅读使用“全词法”，紧接着第三段用了转折词However，指出在1955年，Rudolf Flesch“touched off”一场争论，因此可推断此处的touch off意为“引起”。故本题选B。