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(倡导者)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(控诉)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(语音学), 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 recog nizes 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】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，是因为它“stresses the meaning of words overthe meaning of letters，thinking over decoding…”即过多地强调了词的含义。故选项A正确。

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】解析：细节题。文章在最后一段谈到了系统声学法(systematic phonics)，并分析了这种教学法的好处，由该段的第二句话“Rather than building up a relatively limited vocabulary ofmemorized words，it imparts a code bywhich the pronunciations of the vast majonty 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。故选项D正确。

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

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：含义题。本题要求利用上下文猜测单词的意思。根据第二段的最后一句，在1963年以前，出版的东西都是教授使用whole word的方法的，紧接着用了转折词However，说在1955年，Rudolf Flesch“touched off”一场争论，因此此处的touch off必然是“引起”的意思。故选项B正确。