单选题
Let children learn to judge their own work. A child
learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time: if corrected
too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the
differences between the language he uses and the language those around him use.
Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other
people's. In the same way, children learning to do all the other things they
learn to do without being taught -- to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle
-- compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly
make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find
out his mistakes for himself, let alone correct them We do it all for him. We
act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed
out to him, or correct it unless he was made to. Soon he becomes dependent on
the teacher. Let him do it himself. Let him work out, with the help of other
children if he wants it, what this word says, what the answer to that problem
is, whether or not this is a good way of saying or doing this or not.
If it is a matter of right answers, as it may be in mathematics or
science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we
teachers waste time on such routine work? Our job should be to help the child
when he tells us that he can't find the way to get the right answer. Let's end
all this nonsense of grades, exams, and marks. Let us throw them all out, let
the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn and how to
measure their own understanding, and how to know what they know or do not know.
Let them get on with this job in the way that seems most sensible to them, with
our help as school teachers if they ask for it. The idea that there is a body of
knowledge to be learned at school and used for the rest of one's life is
nonsense in a world as complicated and rapidly changing as ours. Anxious parents
and teachers say, "But suppose they fail to learn something essential, something
they will need to get on in the world?" Don't worry! If it is essential, they
will go out into the world and learn it.
单选题
What does the author think is the best way for children to learn
things?
A. By copying what other people do.
B. By making mistakes and having them corrected.
C. By listening to explanations from skilled people.
单选题
What does the author think teachers do what they should not do?
A. They give children correct answers.
B. They point out children's mistakes to them.
C. They allow children to mark their own work.
D. They encourage children to copy from one another.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】第一段第六、七句指出，在学校里老师没有给孩子自己发现和改正错误的机会，而是do it all for him，也就是说老师做了本该由孩子自己完成的发现、纠正错误这一工作，因此答案是[B] 。
单选题
The passage suggests that learning to speak and learning to ride a
bicycle are ______.
A. not really important skills
B. more important than other skills
C. basically different from learning adult skills
D. basically the same as learning other skills
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】细节题。第一段第五句指出孩子学习其他事物的方法与学习走、跑、爬、吹口哨和骑自行车的方法一样，都不需要人教，learning to speak显然属于the other things之一，所以答案就是[D] 。
单选题
Exams, grades and marks should be abolished because children's progress
should be estimated only by ______.
A. educated persons
B. the children themselves
C. teachers
D. parents
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】细节题。第二段第六句指出：Let us throw them all out…to measure their own understanding…，其意就是让孩子自己评价自己的学业，因此选[B] 。
单选题
The author fears that children will grow up into adults who are ______.
A. too independent
B. too critical of themselves
C. unable to think for themselves
D. unable to use basic skills
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】分析推理题。文章第一段倒数第二句指出；Soon he becomes dependent on the teacher(孩子很快变得依赖于老师)。而在该段和第二段中作者一直在批评老师为孩子包办一切、不让孩子自己发现和改正错误的做法，当然就是担心孩子长大后会依赖于别人，不会独立思考，所以本题答案就是[C] 。