江苏省2014届高三英语一轮复习 阅读理解攻略训练（3）
C
On a wet Wednesday evening in Seoul, six government employees gathered at the office to prepare for a late-night patrol(巡逻). The mission is to find children who are studying after 10 p.m. and stop them.
In South Korea, it has come to this. To reduce the country's addiction to private, after-hours tutoring academies (called hagwons), the authorities have begun enforcing a curfew (宵禁令)— even rewarding citizens for turning in violators.
But cramming(临时死记硬背) is deeply anchored in Asia, where top grades have long been prized as essential for professional success. Before toothbrushes or printing presses, there were civil service exams that could make or break you. Chinese families have been hiring test preparation tutors since the 7th century. Nowadays South Korea has taken this competition to new extremes. In 2010, 74% of all students engaged in some kind of private after-school instruction, sometimes called shadow education, at an average cost of $2,600 per student for the year. There are more private instructors in South Korea than schoolteachers, and the most popular of them make millions of dollars a year from online and in-person classes. When Singapore’s Education Minister was asked last year about his nation’s reliance on private tutoring, he found one reason for hope: “We are not as bad as the Koreas.”
In Seoul, legions of students who failed to get into top universities spend the entire year after high school attending hagwons to improve their scores on university admissions tests. And they must compete even to do this. At the prestigious Daesung Institute, admission is based on students’ test scores. Only 14% of applicants are accepted. After a year of 14-hour days, about 70% gain entry to one of the nation’s top three universities.
South Koreans are not alone in their discontent. Across Asia, reformers are pushing to make schools more “American”—even as some U.S. reformers make their own schools more “Asian”. In China, universities have begun fashioning new entry tests to target students with talents beyond book learning. And Taiwanese officials recently announced that kids will no longer have to take high-stress exams to get into high school. In South Korea, the apogee of extreme education, gets its reforms right, it could be a model for other societies.
The problem is not that South Korea kids aren’t learning enough or working hard enough, but that they aren’t working smart. When I visited some schools, I saw classrooms in which a third of the students slept while the teacher continued lecturing, seemingly undisturbed.
The government has repeatedly tried to humanize the education system, but after each attempt, the hagwons come back stronger. But this time, its reforms are targeting not just the dysfunctional symptom but also the causes. It is working to improve normal public schools by putting teachers and principals through rigorous(严格的) evaluations—which include opinion surveys by students, parents and peer teachers—and requiring additional training for low-scoring teachers. At the same time, the government hopes to reduce the pressure on students. Admissions tests for high schools have been abolished . Middle schoolers are now judged on the basis of their regular grades and an interview. And 500 admissions officers have been appointed to the country’s universities, to judge applicants not only on their test scores and grades but also other abilities.
10. The six government employees were asked to _____.
A. arrest the students who work late at night
B. reward citizens who turn in violators
C. conduct a survey among students
D. prevent students from studying too late
11. In Paragraph 3 toothbrushes and printing presses are mentioned in order to____.
A. tell us that they were invented in Asia
B. show that hagwons play an important role in people’s daily life
C. show that private tutoring has a long history
D. tell us that civil service exams are of equal importance as them
12. What can be concluded from the passage?
A. Hagwons are the source of South Korea’s educational problem.
B. Students in South Korea don’t learn efficiently.
C. It is the teachers and headmasters who are to blame for the educational problem.
D. Private tutoring is not common in Singapore.
13. The main point of the last paragraph is that _____.
A. it is very difficult to get rid of hagwons
B. the causes of hagwons have been found
C. teachers will have a hard time because of the reforms
D. the government is determined to reform the present education system
D
Taking a walk in the park could help those suffering from depression, researchers have found out. They studied whether a nature walk could improve the mood of people with clinical depression. The research also tested theories developed in a cognitive(认知的)science field known as Attention Restoration Theory, which presents that people concentrate better after spending time in nature or looking at natural scenes.
According to ART, those in peaceful settings are not stricken with external distractions(外部干扰)，which affect their working memory and attention systems. As a result, the brain can relax and enter a state of contemplation(沉思),which helps restore cognitive ability.
For the latest study,20 people with clinical depression took part in an experiment that involved walking in a quiet natural setting and in a noisy urban setting. Before their walks, the participants completed a test to determine their cognitive and mood state, and were asked to think about an unsolved , painful memory. They were then told to go for an hour-long walk in a woodland park, or walk along a busy street. The routes were mapped out and the participants wore a GPS watch to make sure they went to the right place. After their walks were completed, they took part in a series of mental tests to measure their attention, and short-term and working memory. A week later, the participants repeated the study but went for a walk in a location they did not visit in the first experiment.
As depression sufferers are characterized by high levels of contemplation and negative thinking , researchers doubted whether a lonely walk in the park would provide any benefit. But the mood was improved to a significant degree by both types of walks, the study found. The results also showed suffers had a 116 percent increase in attention and working memory after the nature walk compared with the urban walk.
Writing for Journal of Affective Disorders, Dr Marc Berman, of the Rotman Research Institute, Canada, who led the research, said, “Walking in nature may act to supplement(补充) or improve existing treatments for clinical depression.”
In 2008, another study by Dr Berman showed that adults, who had not been diagnosed with any illness, received a mental increase after an hour –long walk in a woodland park. Their performance on memory and attention tests was improved by 20 percent compared with after an hour- long walk in a noisy urban environment.
14. Why did the participants wear a special watch?
A. Because it could lead them to the destination.
B. Because it could test their mood state.
C. Because it could test their cognitive ability.
D. Because it could remind them of a painful memory.
15. Which is the right order according to the passage?
a. The participants took part in a series of mental tests.
b. The participants were asked to think about an unsolved , painful memory.
c. The participants walked again in another location.
d. The participants took a walk.
e. The participants were tested to determine their cognitive and mood state
A. b-a-d-c-e
B. e-b-d-a-c
C. d-e-b-a-c
D. e-d-a-b-c
16. What’s the main idea of the passage?
A. Walks help fight depression.
B. Walks improve memory.
C. How to take a proper walk.
D. Go back to nature