Passage 1
There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, vastly different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority it must be given over general language development and writing without holding him back with the complexities of spelling?
If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to “play safe”. He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurous language. That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.
I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: “This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling errors and your writing is terrible.” It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil's technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had omitted to read the essay, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the errors, but if his priorities had centered on the child's ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation to seek improvement.
Teachers differ in their opinions about ________.
文章第一段的第三句话说明教师们的分歧在于如何进行单词拼写教学，以及拼写教学与培养学 生全面的语言能力和写作能力上哪个更具优先考虑权。由此可见选项B“教师们的分歧在于拼写在全面培养 学生语言发展能力上的作用”为正确答案。故选B。
The expression “play safe” probably means“________”.
文章中“play safe”之后的“He will tend to write only words within his spelling range choosing to avoid adventurous language”是对该词组的进一步解释。这句话的意思是：他将只写他会拼写的单词，避免犯错。 故选D。
Teachers encourage the use of dictionaries so that ________.
文章第二段提到“That's why teachers...technical ability”，说明教师鼓励学生用字典是为了让他们 在表达自己的想法时不再受拼写的限制，因此A项“学生能够更加自由的表达他们的思想”是正确答案。故 选A。
The writer seems to think that the teacher's judgment on that sensitive piece of writing is ________.
从最后一段中“It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil's technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had omitted to read the essay, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings.”可知作者认为老师这么做是不公平的。故选B。
The major point discussed in the passage is ________.
整篇文章均围绕拼写和写作的关系展开。故选D。