基础综合英语听力材料邱东林.docx

1、基础综合英语听力材料邱东林Unit one Education*Part one Problems with us Education*Listening Script one When I was in college I had an English major and for a while I considered going into teaching. While I was exploring the possibility of becoming a teacher, I did a lot of thinking about the way that the educatio

2、n system in the United States is run. And I disagree with a lot of the ways that things seem to happen and have happened for a long time in our educational system.Uh . people dont seem to recognize various kinds of intelligence; they seem to just want to give standardized tests and peg you for what

3、you are capable of very early on your education. Ive always felt that a lot of classes that youre forced to take in high school are not really geared towards what you are going to be doing. Theres very little emphasis on your own special interests. Uh . everybodys sort of treated like theyre the sam

4、e person. Everything is very generalized. Theres a lot of uh . theres a lot of pressure on students to be as well-rounded as possible. I think being well-rounded isnt really possible because it becomes impossible to develop any one part of yourself, um . to any great degree. And as a result people c

5、ant get into good colleges if they, yaknow, havent, yaknow, scored the . the right thing on the math section of SAT, even if they are brilliant writers, and vice versa. You know, um. people just really are not given a chance, I think, in a lot of cases.Another thing that really disturbs me is the wa

6、y that students are separated from each other. I got involved with vocational education, uh . which means that the kids go out to a technical or trade school for part of the week, and then they come back to the home school for the other part of the week and they take their academic classes. However,

7、 those kids are kept separate from the rest of the school almost as if theyre below them. Theres a lot of stratification. Um . at any rate I feel that the kids are very aware of the way that theyre perceived by the educators, by their teachers and, yaknow, by their peers. And I think that it . it ca

8、uses them to act in a way that. is . not really optimal. And thats pretty sad to me. I actually had kids tell me when I was teaching them, “yaknow, were the just bad class; we. yaknow, its not that we have a problem with you personally; yaknow, we are just bad. We are bad kids” because pretty much t

9、hat was what they felt they were. And yaknow, their classes were very limiting, uh the teachers never try to do anything creative with those classes. I think that many of the kids in that class were intelligent, but never actually realized their potential because of the way they were tracked very ea

10、rly on their education.Listening Script twoMargaret Warner: Mr. Unz. Why do you believe that bilingual education should be scrapped?Ron Unz: Well, the overwhelming practical evidence is that bilingual education has failed on every large scale case thats been tried in the United States, in particular

11、 in California. The origins of this initiative was the case last year of a lot of immigrant Latino parents in downtown LA, who had to begin a public boycott of their local elementary school to try to force the school to give their children the right to be taught English, which the school was denying

12、. And I think that really opened my eyes to the current state of the program in California, where the statistics are dreadful.Margaret Warner: Mr. Lyons.Janies Lyons: It is not the case that bilingual education is failing children. There are poor bilingual education programs, just as there are poor

13、programs of every type in our schools today. But bilingual education has made it possible for children to have continuous development in their native language, while theyre in the process of learning English, something that doesnt hap pen overnight, and its made it possible for children to learn mat

14、h and science at a rate equal to English-speaking children while theyre in the process of acquiring English.Margaret Warner: Mr. Unz, what about that point for these children who dont speak English well they will fall behind in the basic subjects if they cant be taught those in Spanish, or whatever

15、language? I shouldnt say just Spanish, but whatever their familys language is.Ron Unz: Thats a very reasonable point. And to the extent that were talking about older children. 14 or 15 year olds who come to the United States, dont know any English and are put in the public schools I think a very rea

16、sonable case can be made for bilingual education. I dont know if its correct, but at least you can make a case for it. But most of the children were talking about enter California or America public schools when theyre five or six or seven. At the age of five years old, the only academic subjects a c

17、hild is really doing is drawing with crayons or cutting and, you know, with paper and that type of thing. And at that age children can learn another language so quickly and easily that the only reasonable thing to do is to put them in a program where theyre taught English as rapidly as possible and

18、then put into the mainstream classes with the other children so they can move forward academically.Margaret Warner: There is something to that point, isnt there, Mr. Lyons, that very young children do absorb languages very quickly?James Lyons: They absorb certain facets of language very quickly. The

19、y learn to speak in an unaccented form like a native English speaker. But the research shows that actually adults are much more efficient and quicker language learners than children because theyre working from a broader linguistic base, a greater conceptual base. I really take objection to what Mr.

20、Unz is saying that children at the age of five, six, and seven are only coloring and cutting out paper. That isnt going to lead to the high standards.*Part two Arts Education *Listing script oneInterviewer: Professor Gardner, what did you find in your studies to be the biggest difference between art

21、s education in the United States and arts education in China? What struck you most, then?Gardner: I was so struck by the differences between arts education in the United States and arts education in China. US youngsters love to explore and think that they explore very well; and yet, without the requ

22、isite discipline, their products are typically of little interest except perhaps to their doting parents. Education in all of the arts in China is very precisely prescribed. Teachers and parents know exactly what they want children to be able to do and they know how to get the desired behaviour and

23、performance in almost perfect fashion. On the other hand, there is little free exploration.But I must add another surprise. When young children in China were given a novel task in the arts, they performed very well. Before visiting China, I had thought that young people must always begin with a peri

24、od of free exploration, before they begin to acquire discipline and skills. After visiting China and thinking about what I had seen, I came to a different conclusion. It is not important that one explore first; what is important is that one has a significant period for exploration, either before, du

25、ring, or after one has acquired some discipline.Interviewer: As you might have noticed, these days after-school classes in music, dance, painting and calligraphy are very popular in China, although many of the young emperors might not be so willing to learn all these extra skills. Whats your opinion

26、 on this?Gardner: The fewer children you have, and the more resources at your disposal, the more likely you are to give your children every form of enrichment. China has thousands of years of history of encouraging talent development, so it is not at all a surprise that many kids are taking after-sc

27、hool arts classes. But what children do when their parents push them, is very different than what they do when they grow up, and their parents are no longer in control of the rewards and punishment. By and large, those grown up students who continue their area of talent are those who use the talent

28、professionally and those who gain intrinsic pleasure from the activity.Interviewer: In recent years, art museums and community arts centres have been mushrooming in China as the country experiences rapid modernization and internationalization. How do you balance arts education in schools and arts ed

29、ucation beyond school Walls?Gardner: It is entirely to the good that students now have opportunities to learn about the arts outside of class in museums, in childrens palaces, through the electronic media, community centres, and outdoor installations. Very often children learn much more comfortably

30、and personally in what we call “informal educational settings.” Optimally, there should be a division of labour between schools and informal settings. As just one example: Schools could focus more on providing history and cultural background whereas museums might provide the opportunity to learn abo

31、ut special topics, or probe into a topic more deeply.Listening Script twoAnn: Do you find theres much opportunity. to do other things, besides studying, during term- time? I mean, if you have a, a very academic course, you say the social life is good, but you might not always have time to, er, enjoy

32、 it, if you . have a lot.Ian: Not being a very academic course, I wouldnt know.Ann: How about you, Tony?Tony: I suppose . a business course isnt particularly academic, if you like, but, er, I certainly find quite enough time to do newspapers and . all I want to do on the social side. Yes Go to dances and so, on.Ian: But then you work till five in the morning, dont you? LaughterTony: Lets not bring personalities into this!Ann: Dyou think that