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An invisible border divides those arguing for computers in the classroom on the behalf of students' career prospects and those arguing for computers in the classroom for broader reasons of radical educational reform. Very few writers on the subject have explored this distinction—indeed, contradiction—which goes to the heart of what is wrong with the campaign to put computers in the classroom.
An education that aims at getting a student a certain kind of job is a technical education, justified for reasons radically different from why education is universally required by law. It is not simply to raise everyone's job prospects that all children are legally required to attend school into their teens. Rather, we have a certain conception of the American citizen, a character who is incomplete if he cannot competently assess how his livelihood and happiness are affected by things outside of himself. But this was not always the case; before it was legally required for all children to attend school until a certain age, it was widely accepted that some were just not equipped by nature to pursue this kind of education. With optimism characteristic of all industrialized countries, we came to accept that everyone is fit to be educated. Computer-education advocates forsake this optimistic notion for a pessimism that betrays their otherwise cheery outlook. Banking on the confusion between educational and vocational reasons for bringing computers into schools, computered advocates often emphasize the job prospects of graduates over their educational achievement.
There are some good arguments for a technical education given the right kind of student. Many European schools introduce the concept of professional training early on in order to make sure children are properly equipped for the professions they want to join. It is, however, presumptuous to insist that there will only be so many jobs for so many scientists, so many businessmen, so many accountants. Besides, this is unlikely to produce the needed number of every kind of professional in a country as large as ours and where the economy is spread over so many states and involves so many international corporations.
But, for a small group of students, professional training might be the way to go since well-developed skills, all other factors being equal, can be the difference between having a job and not. Of course, the basics of using any computer these days are very simple. It does not take a lifelong acquaintance to pick up various software programs. If one wanted to become a computer engineer, that is, of course, an entirely different story. Basic computer skills take—at the very longest—a couple of months to learn. In any case, basic computer skills are only complementary to the host of real skills that are necessary to becoming any kind of professional. It should be observed, of course, that no school, vocational or not, is helped by a confusion over its purpose.
1. The author thinks the present rush to put computers in the classroom is __________.
A. far-reaching
B. dubiously oriented
C. self-contradictory
D. radically reformatory
2. Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 2?
A. Technical education justified the education universally required by law.
B. All children are legally required to attend school to raise job prospects.
C. A complete American citizen should know the real meaning of happiness.
D. Some children are not equipped by nature to pursue education.
3. The belief that education is indispensable to all children __________.
A. is indicative of a pessimism in disguise
B. came into being along with the arrival of computers
C. is deeply rooted in the minds of computered advocates
D. originated from the optimistic attitude of industrialized countries
4. It could be inferred from the passage that in the author's country the European model of professional training is __________.
A. dependent upon the starting age of candidates
B. worth trying in various social sections
C. of little practical value
D. attractive to every kind of professional
5. According to the author, basic computer skills should be __________.
A. included as an auxiliary course in school
B. highlighted in acquisition of professional qualifications
C. mastered through a life-long course
D. equally emphasized by any school, vocational or otherwise
Rising global carbon dioxide levels tied to global warming may not be as crucial in determining the composition of plant communities as other, localized climate shifts, such as droughts or temperature changes, an international team of scientists reports this week.
“Nobody really knows what the increases in carbon dioxide are going to entail in terms of future changes in vegetation types,” said study co-author Mark Brenner, a University of Florida assistant professor of paleolimnology, the study of ancient lakes. Brenner investigates climate change and human impacts on lakes and regional watersheds. “It looks like climate changes in different areas may be more important than carbon dioxide, at least carbon dioxide by itself,” he said.
Brenner's research team, composed of six geologists and geographers, based their conclusions on an analysis of sediment from two lake bottoms, one in northern Mexico and one in northern Guatemala. The researchers used new techniques that allowed them to analyze only the remains of land plants, specifically their leaf waxes. “The technology has come on line to allow us to do studies that we couldn't do at the time we collected these samples,” Brenner said. By measuring the isotope composition of the leaf waxes, the researchers were able to distinguish two broad categories of plants living in these areas—so-called C3 and C4 plants, which have different photosynthetic processes. Many C4 plants are tropical grasses, while most tropical trees are C3 plants. The researchers analyzed sediments deposited over the last 27,000 years, from the last ice age to the current geological period. Over this period, there was a worldwide, relatively uniform increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.
Brenner said that if carbon dioxide played the major role in determining plant composition, one would assume that analysis of the sediments would reveal very similar changes in relative abundance of C3 and C4 plants in the two places over the study period. But, in fact, the researchers found that trends in the two types of plants were different at the two locations. The changes were related not with carbon dioxide levels, but with shifts in rainfall. Over the past 27,000 years, the climate shifted from wet to dry in Mexico and dry to wet in Guatemala, with corresponding shifts in the plant communities. At Lake Alta Babicora in Mexico, abundant trees and shrubs shifted to grasses. At Lake Quexil in Guatemala, the abundance of trees and shrubs increased. “The result appears to be that climate factors, especially moisture availability, determine whether C4 or C3 plants dominate in an area, not carbon dioxide,” Brenner said. Researchers have found pollen, sediment and isotopic data at Lake Quexil indicating a much drier and much cooler climate 20,000 years ago. The vegetation was a sparse dry temperate shrub and grassland of a type that now grows above 5,000 feet.
Many scientists believe global warming will cause major variation in local climates worldwide, with some wet areas becoming dry and dry areas becoming wet. If that happens, it could have more impact on relative C3 versus C4 plant distribution than the rising carbon dioxide levels.
1. About plant communities, what can we infer from the first two paragraphs?
A. Climate changes have stronger influence on them than rising carbon dioxide.
B. Climate changes are not as crucial as carbon dioxide in affecting their composition.
C. Human impacts play an important role in their composition.
D. Their composition will affect the levels of carbon dioxide.
2. What is Mark Brenner?
A. He studies co-author's opinion.
B. He is assisting the University of Florida.
C. He is an expert in the field of ancient lakes.
D. His team consisted of six geologists and geographers.
3. According to the third paragraph, which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Tropical grasses are usually C4 plants.
B. C3 and C4 plants used to live in northern Mexico and Guatemala.
C. C3 and C4 plants don't have the same photosynthetic processes.
D. Tropical trees are all C3 plants.
4. What was the reason for the different growth trends of C3 and C4 plants in the two places?
A. The soil composition greatly changed.
B. The bottom of one lake was elevated.
C. The moisture availability was different.
D. The carbon dioxide levels were different.
5. What's the main idea of the text?
A. Global warming will cause major variation of vegetation distribution.
B. Climates factors determine the composition of plant communities.
C. How Brenner's research team proved a truth.
D. C3 and C4 plants can decide the composition of plant communities.
The world is going through the biggest wave of mergers and acquisitions ever witnessed. The process sweeps from hyperactive America to Europe and reaches the emerging countries with unsurpassed might. Many in these countries are looking at this process and worrying: “Won't the wave of business concentration turn into an uncontrollable anti-competitive force?”
There's no question that the big are getting bigger and more powerful. Multinational corporations accounted for less than 20% of international trade in 1982. Today the figure is more than 25% and growing rapidly. International affiliates account for a fast-growing segment of production in economies that open up and welcome foreign investment. In Argentina, for instance, after the reforms of the early 1990s, multinationals went from 43% to almost 70% of the industrial production of the 200 largest firms. This phenomenon has created serious concerns over the role of smaller economic firms, of national businessmen and over the ultimate stability of the world economy.
I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M ＆ A wave are the same that underlie the globalization process: falling transportation and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers and enlarged markets that require enlarged operations capable of meeting customer's demands. All these are beneficial, not detrimental, to consumers. As productivity grows, the world's wealth increases.
Examples of benefits or costs of the current concentration wave are scanty. Yet it is hard to imagine that the merger of a few oil firms today could recreate the same threats to competition that were feared nearly a century ago in the U.S., when the Standard Oil trust was broken up. The mergers of telecom companies, such as WorldCom, hardly seem to bring higher prices for consumers or a reduction in the pace of technical progress. On the contrary, the price of communications is coming down fast. In cars, too, concentration is increasing—witness Daimler and Chrysler, Renault and Nissan—but it does not appear that consumers are being hurt.
Yet the fact remains that the merger movement must be watched. A few weeks ago, Some experts warned against the megamergers in the banking industry. Who is going to supervise, regulate and operate as lender of last resort with the gigantic banks that are being created? Won't multinationals shift production from one place to another when a nation gets too strict about infringements to fair competition? And should one country take upon itself the role of “defending competition” on issues that affect many other nations?
1. What is the typical trend of businesses today?
A. To take in more foreign funds.
B. To invest more abroad.
C. To combine and become bigger.
D. To trade with more countries.
2. According to the author, one of the driving forces behind M ＆ A wave is ________.
A. the greater customer demands
B. a surplus supply for the market
C. a growing productivity
D. the increase of the world's wealth
3. From Paragraph 4 we can infer that ________.
A. the increasing concentration is certain to hurt consumers
B. WorldCom serves as a good example of both benefits and costs
C. the costs of the globalization process are enormous
D. the Standard Oil trust might have threatened competition
4. The purpose of the example of megamergers in the banking industry is to ______.
A. show that they bring benefits to the banking industry
B. show that they will harm the interests of borrowers
C. prove that they have harmed the fair competition
D. prove that they should be closely monitored
5. Toward the new business wave, the writer's attitude can be said to be ________.
A. optimistic
B. objective
C. pessimistic
D. biased
Science has long had an uneasy relationship with other aspects of culture. Think of Gallileo's 17th-century trial for his rebelling belief before the Catholic Church or poet William Blake's harsh remarks against the mechanistic worldview of Isaac Newton. The schism between science and the humanities has, if anything, deepened in this century.
Until recently, the scientific community was so powerful that it could afford to ignore its critics—but no longer. As funding for science has declined, scientists have attacked “anti-science” in several books, notably Higher Superstition , by Paul R. Gross, a biologist at the University of Virginia, and Norman Levitt, a mathematician at Rutgers University; and The Demon-Haunted World , by Carl Sagan of Cornell University.
Defenders of science have also voiced their concerns at meetings such as “The Flight from Science and Reason,” held in New York City in 1995, and “Science in the Age of (Mis) information,” which assembled last June near Buffalo.
Anti-science clearly means different things to different people. Gross and Levitt find fault primarily with sociologists, philosophers and other academics who have questioned science's objectivity. Sagan is more concerned with those who believe in ghosts, creationism and other phenomena that contradict the scientific worldview.
A survey of news stories in 1996 reveals that the anti-science tag has been attached to many other groups as well, from authorities who advocated the elimination of the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus to Republicans who advocated decreased funding for basic research.
Some people scorn science and long for return to a pre-technological utopia. But surely that does not mean environmentalists concerned about uncontrolled industrial growth are anti-science, as an essay in US News ＆ World Report last May seemed to suggest.
The environmentalists, inevitably, respond to such critics. The true enemies of science, argues Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University, a pioneer of environmental studies, are those who question the evidence supporting global warming, the depletion of the ozone layer and other consequences of industrial growth.
Indeed, some observers fear that the anti-science epithet is in danger of becoming meaningless. “The term ‘anti-science’ can lump together too many, quite different things,” notes Harvard University philosopher Gerald Holton in his 1993 work Science and Anti-Science . “They have in common only one thing that they tend to annoy or threaten those who regard themselves as more enlightened.”
1. The word “schism” (Line 6, Para. 1) in the context probably means ________.
A. cooperation
B. dissatisfaction
C. separation
D. contempt
2. Paragraphs 2 and 3 are written to ________.
A. discuss the cause of the decline of science's power
B. show the author's sympathy with scientists
C. explain the way in which science develops
D. exemplify the division of science and the humanities
3. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Environmentalists were blamed for “anti-science” in an essay.
B. Politicians are not subject to the labeling of “anti-science”.
C. The “more enlightened” tend to tag others as “anti-science”.
D. Tagging environmentalists as “anti-science” is justifiable.
4. The author is in sympathy with environmentalists because _______.
A. they scorn science and long for return to a pre-technological society
B. they respond to critics of an essay in a reason-able way
C. they are not the true enemies of science
D. they ignore the evidence against global warming
5. The author's attitude toward the issue of “science vs. anti-science” is ________.
A. subjective
B. impartial
C. biased
D. puzzling
