PETS四级阅读经典练习a
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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)

Passage One :
  Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.

  I came away from my years of teaching on the college and university level with a conviction that enactment1 (扮演角色), performance, dramatization are the most successful forms of teaching. Students must be incorporated, made, so far as possible, an integral part of the learning process. The notion that learning should have in it an element of inspired play would seem to the greater part of the academic establishment merely silly, but that is nonetheless the case. Of Ezekiel Cheever, the most famous schoolmaster of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, his onetime student Cotton Mather wrote that he so planned his lessons that his pupils “came to work as though they came to play,” and Alfred North Whitehead, almost three hundred years later, noted2 that a teacher should make his/her students “glad they were there.”

  Since, we are told, 80 to 90 percent of all instruction in the typical university is by the lecture method, we should give close attention to this form of education. There is, I think, much truth in Patricia Nelson Limerick’s observation that “lecturing is an unnatural3 act, an act for which God did not design humans. It is perfectly4 all right, now and then, for a human to be possessed5 by the urge to speak, and to speak while others remain silent. But to do this regularly, one hour and 15 minutes at a time ... for one person to drag on while others sit in silence? ... I do not believe that this is what the Creator ... designed humans to do.”

  The strange, almost incomprehensible fact is that many professors, just as they feel obliged to write dully, believe that they should lecture dully. To show enthusiasm is to risk appearing unscientific, unobjective; it is to appeal to the students’ emotions rather than their intellect. Thus the ideal lecture is one filled with facts and read in an unchanged monotone.

  The cult6 (推崇) of lecturing dully, like the cult of writing dully, goes back, of course, some years. Edward Shils, professor of sociology, recalls the professors he encountered at the University of Pennsylvania in his youth. They seemed “a priesthood, rather uneven7 in their merits but uniform in their bearing; they never referred to anything personal. Some read from old lecture notes and then haltingly explained the thumb-worn last lines. Others lectured from cards that had served for years, to judge by the worn edges .... The teachers began on time, ended on time, and left the room without saying a word more to their students, very seldom being detained by questioners .... The classes were not large, yet there was no discussion. No questions were raised in class, and there were no office hours.”

  1. The author believes that a successful teacher should be able to _____.
  [A] make dramatization an important aspect of students’ learning
  [B] make inspired play an integral part of the learning process
  [C] improve students’ learning performance
  [D] make study just as easy as play

  2. The majority of university professors prefer the traditional way of lecturing in the belief that _______.
  [A] it draws the close attention of the students
  [B] it conforms in a way to the design of the Creator
  [C] it presents course content in a scientific and objective manner
  [D] it helps students to comprehend abstract theories more easily

  3. What the author recommends in this passage is that _______.
  [A] college education should be improved through radical8 measures
  [B] more freedom of choice should be given to students in their studies
  [C] traditional college lectures should be replaced by dramatized performances
  [D] interaction should be encouraged in the process of teaching

  4. By saying “They seemed ‘a priesthood, rather uneven in their merits but uniform in their bearing...” (Lines 3-4, Para. 4), the author means that _______.
  [A] professors are a group of professionals that differ in their academic ability but behave in the same way
  [B] professors are like priests wearing the same kind of black gown but having different roles to play
  [C] there is no fundamental difference between professors and priests though they differ in their merits
  [D] professors at the University of Pennsylvania used to wear black suits which made them look like priests

  5. Whose teaching method is particularly commended by the author?
  [A] Ezekiel Cheever’s.
  [B] Cotton Mather’s.
  [C] Alfred North Whitehead’s.
  [D] Patricia Nelson Limerick’s.
  Passage Two
  Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage.



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1 enactment Cp8x6     
n.演出,担任…角色;制订,通过
参考例句:
  • Enactment refers to action.演出指行为的表演。
  • We support the call for the enactment of a Bill of Rights.我们支持要求通过《权利法案》的呼声。
2 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
3 unnatural 5f2zAc     
adj.不自然的;反常的
参考例句:
  • Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗?
  • She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。
4 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
5 possessed xuyyQ     
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的
参考例句:
  • He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
  • He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。
6 cult 3nPzm     
n.异教,邪教;时尚,狂热的崇拜
参考例句:
  • Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书,但有一定的崇拜者。
  • The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。
7 uneven akwwb     
adj.不平坦的,不规则的,不均匀的
参考例句:
  • The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
  • The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。
8 radical hA8zu     
n.激进份子,原子团,根号;adj.根本的,激进的,彻底的
参考例句:
  • The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
  • She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。
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