Nick Santonastasso has one arm equipped with one finger. He has no legs. He also has no limitations(局限).
“ I know anything’s possible ,” the 12-year-old told TODAY ’s Ann Curry.
He can play baseball and football, play the keyboard and drums, and play video games with his brothers.
When Nick was born, he suffered a disease only found in 11 other people. The Santonastassos had three other children, and they decided to treat Nick the same as others, with love but without excuse
“ We’re supposed to be heroes to our children, but Nick is a hero to us,” his father Michael said. But heroes have heroes, too, and Nick’s is Tiki Barber, the former football superstar who retired last year and became a reporter for TODAY. Curry told Nick that for his birthday, the show wanted to give him a new skateboard. The person who presented it to him was Barber.
“ You’re an inspiration,” Barber said. “ There are a lot of kids who might be at a disadvantage.
You give them strength.”
Curry observed that most parents try to protect their kids from failure, but the Santonastassos didn’t do that with Nick.
“Absolutely not, “Nick’s mother Stacey said. “ If you do have a small failure, it just makes you stronger to succeed at the next stop.”
“ It builds self-confidence in yourself to try it again,” Nick added.
Recently, Nick entered a drawing in a statewide contest in New Jersey. His drawing was a tree with a spreading canopy (樹冠) and deep toots. Above the tree were the words, “The roots of a family are…” Below the ground, the roots spelled out the final word for the message: “ Love.”
It won the contest. The judges didn’t know Nick’ physical condition. He won on merit (成績), the same way he does everything else in life.
【小題1】How did the Santonastassos treat Nick?

Nick Santonastasso has one arm equipped with one finger. He has no legs. He also has no limitations(局限).

“ I know anything’s possible ,” the 12-year-old told TODAY ’s Ann Curry.

He can play baseball and football, play the keyboard and drums, and play video games with his brothers.

When Nick was born, he suffered a disease only found in 11 other people. The Santonastassos had three other children, and they decided to treat Nick the same as others, with love but without excuse

“ We’re supposed to be heroes to our children, but Nick is a hero to us,” his father Michael said. But heroes have heroes, too, and Nick’s is Tiki Barber, the former football superstar who retired last year and became a reporter for TODAY. Curry told Nick that for his birthday, the show wanted to give him a new skateboard. The person who presented it to him was Barber.

“ You’re an inspiration,” Barber said. “ There are a lot of kids who might be at a disadvantage.

You give them strength.”

Curry observed that most parents try to protect their kids from failure, but the Santonastassos didn’t do that with Nick.

“Absolutely not, “Nick’s mother Stacey said. “ If you do have a small failure, it just makes you stronger to succeed at the next stop.”

“ It builds self-confidence in yourself to try it again,” Nick added.

Recently, Nick entered a drawing in a statewide contest in New Jersey. His drawing was a tree with a spreading canopy (樹冠) and deep toots. Above the tree were the words, “The roots of a family are…” Below the ground, the roots spelled out the final word for the message: “ Love.”

It won the contest. The judges didn’t know Nick’ physical condition. He won on merit (成績), the same way he does everything else in life.

1.How did the Santonastassos treat Nick?

2.In the opinion of Barber, Nick__________.

3.What message did Nick’s drawing express?

4.According to the passage, ______ other people have the same disease as Nick’s.

5. What might be the most suitable title for the passage?

E
We might be surprised at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person’s knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to design anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For the claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack(竅門) of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person’s true ability and attitude.
As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the marks of success or failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don’t count: the exam goes on. No one can give his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of various competitions where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of ‘drop-outs’: young people who are written off as failures before they have even started a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?
A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus(教學(xué)大綱), so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive(剝奪) the teacher of all freedoms. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under pressure.
The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark piles of hastily scrawled (潦草的)
scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person’s true abilities.
56.The main idea of this passage is _______.
A. examinations produce a harmful influence on education
B. examinations are ineffective
C. examinations are important to students’ development
D. examinations are a burden on students
57.The author’s attitude toward examinations is _______.
A. supportive       B. neutral          C. critical         D. indifferent
58.The fate of students is decided by _______.
A. education        B. examiners       C. examinations    D. students themselves
59.According to the author, the most important of a good education is _______.
A. to encourage students to read widely        B. to train students to think on their own
C. to teach students how to deal with exams        D. to master his fate
60.What does the author mean by saying “After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s”(Para 4, Line 6) ?
A. Judges are not important.
B. The examiner has the final say concerning the result of the examination.
C. Prisoners are more powerful than students.
D. The court decisions are often inaccurate.

E

We might be surprised at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person’s knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to design anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For the claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack(竅門 ) of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person’s true ability and attitude.

As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the marks of success or failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don’t count: the exam goes on. No one can give his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of various competitions where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of ‘drop-outs’: young people who are written off as failures before they have even started a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?

A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus(教學(xué)大綱), so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive(剝奪) the teacher of all freedoms. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under pressure.

The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark piles of hastily scrawled (潦草的)

scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person’s true abilities.

56.The main idea of this passage is _______.

A. examinations produce a harmful influence on education

B. examinations are ineffective

C. examinations are important to students’ development

D. examinations are a burden on students

57.The author’s attitude toward examinations is _______.

A. supportive       B. neutral          C. critical         D. indifferent

58.The fate of students is decided by _______.

A. education        B. examiners       C. examinations    D. students themselves

59.According to the author, the most important of a good education is _______.

A. to encourage students to read widely        B. to train students to think on their own

C. to teach students how to deal with exams        D. to master his fate

60.What does the author mean by saying “After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s”(Para 4, Line 6) ?

A. Judges are not important.

B. The examiner has the final say concerning the result of the examination.

C. Prisoners are more powerful than students.

D. The court decisions are often inaccurate.

We might be surprised at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person’s knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to design anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For the claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack(竅門高☆考♂資♀源?網(wǎng)) of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person’s true ability and attitude.

As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the marks of success or failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don’t count: the exam goes on. No one can give his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of various competitions where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of ‘drop-outs’: young people who are written off as failures before they have even started a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?

A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus(教學(xué)大綱), so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive(剝奪) the teacher of all freedoms. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under pressure.

The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark piles of hastily scrawled (潦草的) scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person’s true abilities.

56. The main idea of this passage is _______.

A. examinations produce a harmful influence on education

B. examinations are ineffective

C. examinations are important to students’ development

D. examinations are a burden on students

57. The author’s attitude toward examinations is _______.

A. supportive       B. neutral          C. critical         D. indifferent

58. The fate of students is decided by _______.

A. education        B. examiners       C. examinations    D. students themselves

59. According to the author, the most important of a good education is _______.

A. to encourage students to read widely        B. to train students to think on their own

C. to teach students how to deal with exams                   D. to master his fate

60. What does the author mean by saying “After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s”(Para 4, Line 6) ?

A. Judges are not important.

B. The examiner has the final say concerning the result of the examination.

C. Prisoners are more powerful than students.

D. The court decisions are often inaccurate.