Bursting into the classroom from recess(學生的課間休息), 15 children take their seats and face the woman they know as Ms. Yang.
“What day is it today?”she asks, in Mandarin(普通話的舊稱) Chinese.
“Confucius’ birthday!”the fifth graders shout in Mandarin.
“Why do we celebrate Confucius’ birthday?”
“Because he’s the greatest teacher in the history of China!”exclaims a brown-haired girl. She too is speaking Mandarin.
English is rarely heard in Lisa Yang’s class at the Chinese American International School(CAIS), despite the fact that few students are native speakers of Mandarin.
The United States is actively trying to increase the group of students in“critical languages”such as Mandarin. The students at CAIS are way ahead in such a trend.
Mandarin explosion in America
Founded 25 years ago, this small private school in San Francisco, USA, does what few other American schools do: It produces fully fluent speakers of Mandarin Chinese, by far the most commonly spoken language in the world.
Mandarin Chinese is suddenly hot in American schools. As China becomes the world’s leading economy sometimes this century, schools in the U.S. are scrambling to add Mandarin to their roster of foreign languages or expand Chinese programs already in place.
“It really is almost unprecedented(無前例的). People are looking at China as a force to be reckoned with…And to ensure that the U.S. has the ability to conduct trade, and to work with the Chinese, certainly having an understanding of Chinese language and culture is an advantage,”said Marty Abbott of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages(ACTFL)(美國外語教學協會).
Cultural differences in teaching styles
To develop Chinese-language programs has not been smooth. A shortage of trained teachers has made it difficult for some schools to join the race. When schools do get teachers, they often hire them straight from China, and the teachers usually suffer culture shock when they come to the U.S.
Robert Liu remembers his first two years in an American classroom. It was not an easy adjustment. “In China, students respect their teachers,”he said. Liu found that American students, however, expect an active teaching style. He had to use games to engage them rather than lectures.
To avoid many of the problems with foreign teaching styles, the CAIS has been working with the Chinese government to improve training of teachers who are sent to the U.S.
【小題1】Which of the following is the best title?

Bursting into the classroom from recess(學生的課間休息), 15 children take their seats and face the woman they know as Ms. Yang.

“What day is it today?”she asks, in Mandarin(普通話的舊稱) Chinese.

“Confucius’ birthday!”the fifth graders shout in Mandarin.

“Why do we celebrate Confucius’ birthday?”

“Because he’s the greatest teacher in the history of China!”exclaims a brown-haired girl. She too is speaking Mandarin.

English is rarely heard in Lisa Yang’s class at the Chinese American International School(CAIS), despite the fact that few students are native speakers of Mandarin.

The United States is actively trying to increase the group of students in“critical languages”such as Mandarin. The students at CAIS are way ahead in such a trend.

Mandarin explosion in America

Founded 25 years ago, this small private school in San Francisco, USA, does what few other American schools do: It produces fully fluent speakers of Mandarin Chinese, by far the most commonly spoken language in the world.

Mandarin Chinese is suddenly hot in American schools. As China becomes the world’s leading economy sometimes this century, schools in the U.S. are scrambling to add Mandarin to their roster of foreign languages or expand Chinese programs already in place.

“It really is almost unprecedented(無前例的). People are looking at China as a force to be reckoned with…And to ensure that the U.S. has the ability to conduct trade, and to work with the Chinese, certainly having an understanding of Chinese language and culture is an advantage,”said Marty Abbott of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages(ACTFL)(美國外語教學協會).

Cultural differences in teaching styles

To develop Chinese-language programs has not been smooth. A shortage of trained teachers has made it difficult for some schools to join the race. When schools do get teachers, they often hire them straight from China, and the teachers usually suffer culture shock when they come to the U.S.

Robert Liu remembers his first two years in an American classroom. It was not an easy adjustment. “In China, students respect their teachers,”he said. Liu found that American students, however, expect an active teaching style. He had to use games to engage them rather than lectures.

To avoid many of the problems with foreign teaching styles, the CAIS has been working with the Chinese government to improve training of teachers who are sent to the U.S.

1.Which of the following is the best title?

2.What kind of problem is the most difficult to adjust in teaching Chinese in America?

3.The meaning of the underlined word“scrambling”is similar to      .

4.It can be inferred from the passage that       .

Bursting into the classroom from recess(學生的課間休息), 15 children take their seats and face the woman they know as Ms. Yang.
“What day is it today?”she asks, in Mandarin(普通話的舊稱) Chinese.
“Confucius’ birthday!”the fifth graders shout in Mandarin.
“Why do we celebrate Confucius’ birthday?”
“Because he’s the greatest teacher in the history of China!”exclaims a brown-haired girl. She too is speaking Mandarin.
English is rarely heard in Lisa Yang’s class at the Chinese American International School(CAIS), despite the fact that few students are native speakers of Mandarin.
The United States is actively trying to increase the group of students in“critical languages”such as Mandarin. The students at CAIS are way ahead in such a trend.
Mandarin explosion in America
Founded 25 years ago, this small private school in San Francisco, USA, does what few other American schools do: It produces fully fluent speakers of Mandarin Chinese, by far the most commonly spoken language in the world.
Mandarin Chinese is suddenly hot in American schools. As China becomes the world’s leading economy sometimes this century, schools in the U.S. are scrambling to add Mandarin to their roster of foreign languages or expand Chinese programs already in place.
“It really is almost unprecedented(無前例的). People are looking at China as a force to be reckoned with…And to ensure that the U.S. has the ability to conduct trade, and to work with the Chinese, certainly having an understanding of Chinese language and culture is an advantage,”said Marty Abbott of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages(ACTFL)(美國外語教學協會).
Cultural differences in teaching styles
To develop Chinese-language programs has not been smooth. A shortage of trained teachers has made it difficult for some schools to join the race. When schools do get teachers, they often hire them straight from China, and the teachers usually suffer culture shock when they come to the U.S.
Robert Liu remembers his first two years in an American classroom. It was not an easy adjustment. “In China, students respect their teachers,”he said. Liu found that American students, however, expect an active teaching style. He had to use games to engage them rather than lectures.
To avoid many of the problems with foreign teaching styles, the CAIS has been working with the Chinese government to improve training of teachers who are sent to the U.S.

1. 1.

   Which of the following is the best title?

   1. A.
      Mandarin speaks to a growing audience in America
   2. B.
      Chinese-language programs
   3. C.
      Mandarin Chinese
   4. D.
      The Chinese American International School(CAIS)
2. 2.

   What kind of problem is the most difficult to adjust in teaching Chinese in America?

   1. A.
      To adapt to the life there.
   2. B.
      To communicate with the American students.
   3. C.
      To get along well with the American students.
   4. D.
      To be fit for the cultural differences in teaching styles.
3. 3.

   The meaning of the underlined word“scrambling”is similar to      .

   1. A.
      climbing
   2. B.
      rushing
   3. C.
      changing
   4. D.
      beating
4. 4.

   It can be inferred from the passage that       .

   1. A.
      the students in Lisa Yang’s class usually speak Chinese
   2. B.
      there are few American students in Lisa Yang’s class
   3. C.
      we celebrate Confucius’ birthday because he’s the greatest teacher in the history of China
   4. D.
      in America the students don’t respect their teachers

It’s a nightmare for Huazhong University of Science and Technology （HUST）: within a week，two students committed suicide by jumping off dorm buildings．對于整個華中科技大學來說，這簡直就是場噩夢：一周之內，兩名學生在宿舍跳樓自殺。
Officials from the university are reluctant to give interviews．校方官員們不愿接受采訪。
“We had a hard time calming down students who were shocked at the suicides,” said Zhang Jingyuan，one official of HUST．
“Media coverage may arouse some students’ negative emotions again．Suicide can be contagious,” Zhang said．他說，“媒體的報道將會再次引發學生的消極情緒，自殺是會傳染的。”
The university reacted promptly to the first suicide on October 23．對于今年10月23號發生的第一起自殺事件，華中科技大學迅速做出應急措施。
Advisors and class leaders conducted dorm-to-dorm checks to find students suffering depression．Then psychologists offered one-on-one counseling to them．輔導員和班長們走訪了每個宿舍，找出遭遇抑郁的學生。然后，心理咨詢師會為這些學生提供一對一的心理咨詢。
Notice boards publicizing tips for identifying peers’ mental problems and offering help were set up in front of dorm buildings．Leaflets carrying similar information were handed out to each dorm．宿舍樓前豎起一些布告欄，為同學們普及關于如何發現身邊人遭遇心理問題并提供幫助的小貼士。印有類似內容的小冊子也被分發給每個寢室。
However，the second suicide came seven days later．然而，七天后，第二起自殺事件發生了。
Both students were described as men of few words．Their schoolmates didn’t see anything to indicate suicide．據周圍人描述，這兩名學生都很少言寡語。他們的同學都沒有覺察到任何自殺前的征兆。
Zhang revealed that the two students had been bothered by mental disorders．But the school didn’t know this until the students’ close friends outside school and their parents unveiled the truth after the suicides．章勁元透露，這兩名學生曾經飽受心理疾病的困擾。但是學校對此并不知情，他們校外的好友和家長也是在自殺事件發生后才說出實情。
According to Zhang，there are only three full-time counselors working in the university’s counseling center for its 60,000 students．He complained: “It’s unrealistic to rely only on counselors to detect students’ mental problems．”據章勁元說，全校共有六萬名學生，但學校的心理咨詢中心只有三位全職心理咨詢師。他抱怨說：“僅僅依靠心理咨詢師來察覺學生的心理問題，這是不現實的。”
Effective prevention comes from long-term education for life instead of temporary intervention to meet an emergency，said Hu Yi’an．Hu delivers a course of lectures on life and death at Guangzhou University．He worries that universities have paid little attention to education for life．有效的預防來自于長期的生命教育，而并非遭遇緊急狀況時的臨時干預，胡毅安（音譯）說。他在廣州大學教授以生命和死亡為主題的課程。他為各大高校給予生命教育的關注少之又少而擔憂。
“Education for life helps students respect and love life so they won’t resort to ending their lives when they have difficulties,” said Hu．“生命教育可以幫助學生尊重、熱愛生命，這樣一來，當他們遇到困難的時候就不會選擇結束生命了,” 胡毅安說。
According to Hu，the principles can be incorporated into everyday teaching．胡毅安還表示，這些觀念可以融入到日常教學中去。
Hu is also concerned that some universities are conveying discriminatory message that will hold back students from seeking help．胡老師也很擔心一些大學傳遞出帶有歧視性的信息會使得學生們不愿去尋求幫助。
When HUST conducted the dorm-to-dorm examination，students with poor academic performance were paid special attention．In March，Peking University also released a controversial policy，which required teachers to have a chat with students “with biased thinking”．當華中科技大學校方挨個宿舍進行走訪時，學習成績較差的學生也被給予了特別關照。三月份，北京大學也推行了一項備受爭議的政策，該新規要求教師們要找那些學生中的“激進分子”談話。
However，Hu suggested that students step out of their comfort zone to seek real-life communication．
【小題1】The underlined word “reluctant” in paragraph 2 probably means “       ”．

John Philips在青島博愛中學任教期間，工作相當出色，最近他獲該市“友誼”獎章。為此，China Daily準備刊登他的照片。請你就下表中所列的內容，寫一篇120個單詞左右的文字說明，簡要介紹他的情況。