Task 6

* Arizona 亚利桑那州【美国州名】

In this passage, you'll hear how computers and the Internet are widely used in schools and colleges in the United States.

A. Answer the following questions.

1) What is one of the goals of American education officials?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

2) What does the web site of Fremont Union High School provide?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

3) What can students in Smoketree Elementary School learn by using computers?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

B. Fill in the blanks with what you hear on the tape.

1) Government studies show that in __________ only _____________ of American public schools were

    connected to the Internet. _______________, that number reached _______________.

2) Most major American _____________ and ___________ strongly __________ or __________ new students 

    to have a computer.

Task 7

* resemble (v.):  look like or be similar to sb. or sth.

This passage is about examination -- its history and modern forms.

A. Fill in the blanks in the following summary of the passage.

I. History of exams: In ancient times, the most important examinations were ________, not ________.

    A. In the schools of ancient Greece and Rome: testing usually consisted of _____________________ or 

        ______________________.

    B. In the European universities of the middle ages: Students who were working for _______________ 

        had to discuss questions in their _________________ with people who had made a special study of 

        the subject. This ____________ exists today as part of the process of testing _______________ for the 

        _________________.

II. Modern exams: Different from ancient ones, modern exams are _________.

    A. Possible starting time: ___________ century

    B. Reason for its appearance: Perhaps with ____________________________________________ and             

        __________________________________________________.

    C. Two types of modern exams:

        1. The first type is sometimes called an "__________" test. It is intended to deal with __________,

            not ___________________.

            Advantages: testing a student's ______________________________________; in a short time the 

            teacher can find out a great deal about the student's ________________________. What's more, 

            the objective test gives each student _____________________, and of course it is _________ and 

            ___________ to score.

            Disadvantages: testing some kinds of __________—a lucky student may guess the correct

            answer without really knowing the material.

        2. The second type is "__________" tests, which require students to write ___________________ to 

            _________________________.

            Advantages: It reduces ___________________________. Another advantage is that it shows the

            examiner more about the student's ability to _______________________________________________.

            Disadvantages: Some students are able to write rather good answers without ____________ 

            _____________________________________, while other students who actually know the material

            ____________________________________________________________. Besides, on an essay test the 

            student's score may depend upon the ______________________________________________________.

III. Suggested solution:

        Most teachers and students would probably agree that examinations are _______________.

When some objective questions are used _____________ some essay questions, however, a fairly

clear picture of the studentss knowledge can usually be obtained.

B. Choose the best answer to complete the following sentence.

    The speaker's attitude toward modern examinations is ________. 

        a) appreciation     b) dislike     c) satisfaction     d) hatred