河北考生们，2021年专四专八考试准考证打印情况都了解吗？

Ask an American schoolchild what he or she is learning in school these days and you might even get a reply, provided you ask it in Spanish. But don't bother, here's the answer: Americans nowadays are not learning any of the things that we learned in our day, like reading and writing. Apparently these are considered fusty old subjects, invented by white males to oppress women and minorities.

What are they learning? In a Vermont college town I found the answer sitting in a toy store book rack, next to typical kids' books like Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy Is Dysfunctional. It's a teacher's guide called Happy To Be Me, subtitled Building Self Esteem.

Self-esteem, as it turns out, is a big subject in American classrooms. Many American schools see building it as important as teaching reading and writing. They call it "whole language" teaching, borrowing terminology from the granola people to compete in the education marketplace.

No one ever spent a moment building my self-esteem when I was in school. In fact, from the day I first stepped inside a classroom my self-esteem was one big demolition site. All that mattered was "the subject", be it geography, history, or mathematics. I was praised when I remembered that "near", "fit", "friendly", "pleasing", "like" and their opposites took the dative case in Latin. I was reviled when I forgot what a cosine was good for. Generally I lived my school years beneath a torrent of castigation so consistent I eventually ceased to hear it, as people who live near the sea eventually stop hearing the waves.

Schools have changed. Reviling is out, for one thing. More important, subjects have changed. Whereas I learned English, modern kids learn something called "language skills." Whereas I learned writing, modern kids learn something called "communication". Communication, the book tells us, is seven per cent words, 23 per cent facial expression, 20 per cent tone of voice, and 50 per cent body language. So this column, with its carefully chosen words, would earn me at most a grade of seven per cent. That is, if the school even gave out something as oppressive and demanding as grades.

The result is that, in place of English classes, American children are getting a course in How to Win Friends and Influence People. Consider the new attitude toward journal writing: I remember one high school English class when we were required to keep a journal. The idea was to emulate those great writers who confided in diaries, searching their souls and honing their critical thinking on paper.

"Happy To Be Me" states that journals are a great way for students to get in touch with their feelings. Tell students they can write one sentence or a whole page. Reassure them that no one, not even you, will read what they write. After the unit, hopefully all students will be feeling good about themselves and will want to share some of their entries with the class.

There was a time when no self-respecting book for English teachers would use "great" or "hopefully" that way. Moreover, back then the purpose of English courses (an antique term for "Unit") was not to help students "feel good about themselves." Which is good, because all that reviling didn't make me feel particularly good about anything.

Which of the following is the author implying in paragraph 5?

A．Self-criticism has gone too far.

B．Communication is a more comprehensive category than language skills.

C．Evaluating criteria are inappropriate nowadays.

D．This column does not meet the demanding evaluation criteria of today.

The author's intention is to get us to ______.

A．rethink educational strategies

B．approve of current trends

C．think about what constitutes communication

D．reassure parents

SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST

Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. At the end of each news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the questions.

听力原文： The cancellation of the 16-day flight means that the crew and scientists on the ground are pursuing only their most important experiments in the few remaining hours left before the shuttle laboratory is closed. The US sapce agency NASA decided Sunday to bring the orbiter home 12 days early because of fears of weakened power generator could explode. The generator has been turned off, leaving the shuttle with only two thirds of its normal power supply. To conserve electricity for the experiments the crew is working in dimmer lighting than normal and has turned off all unessential equipment. NASA says the two remaining generators are sufficient for Tuesday's landing, but had nevertheless ordered the astronauts to study emergency procedures in case another fails. The shuttle team has expressed its disappointment at the curtailment of the science mission, and says enough data have already been collected in the materials, combustion and biological experiments to push science further ahead. The scientist' goal is to complete the experiments on a later shuttle flight. David Batlery, VOA news, Washington.

Why did NASA decide to bring the shuttle home earlier?

A．The laboratory was closed.

B．The generator was turned off.

C．The power generator might explode.

D．Electricity was going to run out.

【M10】