新视野大学英语 读写教程第一册 unit1-c

Section C

Teaching¹ Children at Home

Record numbers of children are being taken out of school and taught by their parents at home. Up to 100 children a month are leaving the classroom because parents are not satisfied with schools. Around 15,000 families now teach their children at home, a rise of 50 per cent from last year, according to the latest figures.
This present rise in home schooling² is blamed on the nature of examinations³, not getting children into the school of choice, and dissatisfaction with teaching methods. Some parents prefer keeping children home because of attacks by other students and a lack of discipline in schools. Researchers say, however, many families prefer teaching at home because they feel the idea of public schooling is not modern. They believe schools will be things of the past in 20 years as media technology, like the Internet, teaches children. 1. ______
Under the law, parents must teach their children, whether at school or at home. Community officials are charged with protecting their schooling. Professor Meighan of Nottingham University says parents were fed up with the requirements of existing schools. For him, schools are an out-of-date concept⁴ from the days of the town crier（市政传令员）, when it was difficult to get information and a central person was needed to communicate knowledge. He also thinks parents are recognizing education is moving on and don't want their children to be held back by out-of-date methods. 2. ______
Meighan suggests children will be taught at home using the Internet, computers, and video（录像片）. He thinks future schools will be small groups of children, sharing equipment in their homes. The teachers may become advisers⁵ who sort through the information. 3. ______
Future schooling was questioned by Sir Christopher Ball of the Royal（皇家的）Society of Arts. He thinks learning⁶ in the future will include an international curriculum⁷ and international standards. He sees some present models of schooling — community schools and home schooling, for example — becoming more central and other models, not yet existing, may develop. 4. ______

How Personal Choice Brings O-Level Success at 13

Leslie Barson is already running the type of school that researchers think will teach children in the future. Based partly at a community centre and partly in family homes, the Otherwise Club includes some 35 families around north London. Professional teachers are brought in to help with special subjects, but mostly parents and children work together on units like studying the Greeks or the American Civil War, reading about events, making costumes（戏装）, and learning how people used to live. 5.______ 6. ______
Parents choosing home schooling say the freedom of home learning allows some children to sit one or two GCEs by the age of 13. Ms. Barson's own children, Luis, age 12, and 7-year-old Lilly, have never attended school. She pays around 2,000 pounds a year for private teachers to help in special areas. She set up the Otherwise Club six years ago with just a few students. She thinks the purpose of teaching children is to develop their self-worth. Her son agrees. Luis, now teaching himself math, said, "I like the freedom to learn things that interest me, especially music. I don't feel I am missing⁸ out on anything by not being at school because I am a member of various clubs and have friends who attend normal school." 7. ______ 8. ______

The “Danger” of Separating Students

Home schooling could change children's relations with their peers¹⁰ and older people because of long periods spent with their parents. Most professors agree future learning will be more centred around the home, and fear children could become isolated¹¹ and shy. Professor Michael Barber¹² of London University said pupils could spend half their time at school, half at home as a way to solve this problem. He believes very strongly that children need the experience of school to ensure the quality of being taught the basics and being examined. He thinks children must spend time with peers to learn the rules of work in a democratic（民主的）society and to learn how to deal with relations with more people than just their parents. Margaret Rudland, head teacher in Hammersmith, also thinks children must experience actual peer⁹ relations. 9. ______ 10. ______

Words: 700

1 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

2 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

3 examinations   

n.检查( examination的名词复数 )；考试；考查；试题

参考例句：

• He had been forced to incriminate himself in cross-examinations. 他在盘问中被迫受到牵连。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Examinations are hanging over her head—that's why she can't sleep at nights. 她大脑里想的都是考试，所以晚上无法入睡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 concept   

n.概念，观念，思想

参考例句：

• A small baby has no concept of right and wrong.婴儿没有是非概念。
• He was asked to define his concept of cool.他被要求说明自己关于“酷”的定义。

5 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

6 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

7 curriculum   

n.课程，（学校等的）全部课程

参考例句：

• Is German on your school's curriculum?你们学校有德语课吗？
• The English curriculum should stress both composition and reading.英语课程对作文和阅读应同样重视。

8 missing   

adj.遗失的，缺少的，失踪的

参考例句：

• Check the tools and see if anything is missing.检点一下工具，看有无丢失。
• All the others are here;he's the only one missing.别人都来了，就短他一个。

9 peer   

n.同辈，同等地位的人，伙伴，贵族；vi.仔细看，费力地看

参考例句：

• Children are easily influenced by their peer.孩子很容易受同辈影响。
• He is a peer.他是一个贵族。

10 peers   

n.同等的人，贵族vi.凝视，窥视vt.与…同等，封为贵族v.凝视( peer的第三人称单数 )；盯着看；同等；比得上

参考例句：

• She enjoys the respect of her peers. 她受到同侪的尊敬。
• She peers into my eyes. 她盯着我的眼睛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

12 barber   

n.理发员，美容师

参考例句：

• She asked the barber to crop her hair short.她叫理发师把她的头发剪短了。
• My Mum took me to the barber's.我妈带我理发去了。