Passage Thirty-three (Importance of a Computer)
As citizens of advanced but vulnerable economies, we must either relentlessly increase the quality of our skills or see our standard of living erode. For the future, competition between nations will be increasingly based on technological skill. Oil and natural resources will still be important, but they no longer will determine a nations economic strength. This will now be a matter of the way people organize them selves and the nature and quality of their work. Japan and the new Japans of East Asia are demonstrating this point in ways that are becoming painfully obvious to the older industrial countries.
There is simply no way to rest on our past achievements. Todays competition renders obsolete huge chunks of what we know and what forces us to innovate. For each individual. Several careers will be customary, and continuing education and retraining will be inescapable. To attain this extraordinary level of education, government, business, schools, and even individuals will turn to technology for the answer.
In industry, processing the information and designing the changes necessary to keep up with the market has meant the growing use of computers. The schools are now following close behind. Already some colleges in the United States are requiting a computer for each student. It is estimated that 500,000 computers are already in use in American high schools and elementary schools. Although there is an abysmal lack of educational software, the number of computers in schools expands rapidly.
The computer is the Proteus of machines, as it takes on a thousand forms and serves a thousand functions. But its truly revolutionary character can be seen in its interactive potential. With advanced computers, learning can be individualized and self-paced. Teachers can become more productive and the entire learning environment enriched.
It is striking how much current teaching is a product of pencil and paper technology. With the computers capacity for simulation and diverse kinds of feedback, all sorts of new possibilities open up for the redesign of curriculums. Seymour Papert, the inventor of the computer language LOGO, believes that concepts in physics and advanced mathematics can be taught in the early grades with the use of computers. On every-day level, word-processing significantly improves the capacity for written expression. In terms of drill and practice, self-paced computer-assisted instruction enables the student to advance rapidlywithout being limited by the conflicting needs of the entire class. In short, once we learn to use this new brain outside the brain, education will never be the same.
Industry, faced with the pressures of a rapidly shifting market, is already designing new methods to retrain its workers, In the United States, a technological university has been set up to teach engineering courses by satellite. And the advances in telecommunications and computational power will dramatically expand the opportunities for national and international efforts in education and training.
Without romanticizing the machine, it is clear that computers uniquely change the potential for equipping todays citizens for unprecedented tasks of the future. Particularly in Europe and the United States, innovation will be the basis for continued prosperity. New competitors are emerging to challenge the old economic arrangements. How successfully we respond will depend on how much we invest in people and how wisely we employ the learning tools of the new technology.
What is the decisive factor in future competition between nations?
[A]. Oil.
[B]. Technological skill.
[C]. Natural resources
[D] Education
2. The main idea of this passage is
[A]. Knowledge of a Computer.
[B]. Importance of a Computer.
[C]. Function of Knowledge.
[C]. Function of Technology.
3. Why does further study become indispensable?
[A]. People want to so more jobs.
[B]. People want to attain this extraordinary level of education.
[C]. People would not rest on the past achievements.
[D]. What we know becomes obsolete.
4. The word Proteus is closest in meaning to
[A]. flexibility.
[B]. diversity.
[C]. variety.
[D]. multiplicity.
Vocabulary
relentlessly 始终不懈的 obsolete 过时的,大量的,绝大部分的 chunk 大块,大量的,绝大部分 abysmal 无底的,极端的 Proteus 希腊神话中海神,能随意变化。这里指flexible, 灵活多变
6. take on 显现,显示
7. LOGO=logotyre 标识语,作为标志的语言
8. rapidly shifting 瞬息万变的
9. romanticizing 使浪漫化,使幻想化
2019-2020云南省石林一中高二英语上学期期末试卷
2018河南三门峡市外国语中学初二上第二次月考英语考试
2019-2020云南省石林一中高二英语上学期期末试卷答案
2018浙江义乌市绣湖中学初二上12月月考英语试卷
2019-2020天津市滨海新区高二英语上学期期末试卷
安徽省2017-2018学年初二下第一次月考英语试题
2018四川富顺第二中学校初二上12月月考英语试题
浙江温州2018八上第一次月考英语题答案
山东省莒县2018-2019英语上第二次月考()
山东莒第三协作区2018上第三次月考八英语
2018山东滕州市北辛中学初二第二次月考英语试题
2019-2020宁夏银川长庆中学高二英语上学期期末试卷
2018河南辉县市南寨镇学校初二上第四次月考英语试题
辽宁大连格致中2018八年级上11月月考英语
2018年第一学期外研版八上月考英语试题
2018四川成都市玉林中学初二上9月月考英语试题
福建省龙岩市第二中2018八上第一次月考
2018河南新乡市第七中学初二下第一次月考英语试题
2018山东临淄区外国语实验学校初二月考英语试题
2018山东枣庄市第二十九中学初二上12月月考英语试题
2018山西太原市实验中学初二上12月月考英语试题
2018云南民大附中初二上10月月考英语试题
2019-2020河南省新乡一中高二英语上学期期末试卷答案
2018江苏南京市二十九中初二上10月月考英语试卷
2019-2020天津市滨海新区高二英语上学期期末试卷答案
2018湖南长沙湘郡未来实验中八上第一次月考
2018河北石家庄市复兴中学初二上第二次月考英语试题
2018四川石室天府中学初二上10月月考英语试题
天津市自立中2018第一学期八英语10月月考
2018秋河南省夏邑县郭庄中八年级第一次月考
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |