VOA标准英语2010年-No Girls Allowed: Public School Tries

In public high schools across America, large classes containing a mix of both boys and girls are the norm. However, in a move that's drawing high marks from students, one public school in Maryland has decided¹ to buck² that tradition.
Class experimentAt Boonsboro High School in the small, rural town of the same name, an experiment in education is under way.
Although most classes have a mix of boys and girls at varied³ academic levels, high-achieving students in 9th and 10th grades are placed in single sex classes for their core subjects of English, math, science and social studies.
"What we really want to do is take that top group of kids and take them to the very highest level they can achieve here so that they're prepared for college," says Rebecca Brown, a student achievement specialist at Boonsboro High. She selects the students who participate in what the school calls the Academy. "By keeping them together in the single gender⁴ classes, they eliminate some of the distractions⁵, if you will, that occur in a typical high school."Incoming middle school students with high grades and test scores, strong teacher recommendations, and involvement in extracurricular activities are invited to join. But participation⁶ in the Academy program is optional, with parents having the final say.
"This is something we don't have to push. This is something people are interested in," says Peggy Pugh, principal of Boonsboro High. "We invite them. We'll have people call and ask questions and they have the right to say 'No, I don't think that's right for my child' or 'That's not an experience I want,' and there are other people who say 'Okay, that sounds like an interesting opportunity for my student.'" VOA - M. SanerFor his 9th grade same-sex English class, teacher Michael Bair selects reading material that deals with the male experience.
Tailored teachingSome 347 students have taken advantage of that opportunity since the Academy began in 2004. The program is run by Michael Bair, who's been at Boonsboro for 20 years and has taught single sex classes of both genders⁷. His 9th grade English class for boys revolves⁸ around five books?he believes will appeal to boys.
"The novels they're reading now, for lack of a better phrase, they're very manly⁹ novels," says Bair. "They're novels that deal with the arrogance¹⁰ of man and the pride of man which is ultimately man's downfall."Boys in the class work together in small study groups. Vincent and Logan are drawing pictures that relate to the book "The Call of The Wild" by Jack¹¹ London, the classic story of a dog stolen from his home and sold as a sled dog in the Klondike Gold Rush in northwestern Canada.
"Part of the story, the main character, Buck, he gets abducted¹² and they send him off to the Yukon in a train," says Vincent. "So I'm drawing part of the story where he's in the train. It gets you to visualize¹³ the setting of the story and gets you to think more about what's going on in the story, the important events of the story."Logan agrees. "Instead of just doing work sheets about it, this is a lot more fun."Close by, two of their classmates are writing an essay?together.
"We're each writing a sentence," explains one. "We're taking turns writing sentences for a paragraph to say the strengths and weaknesses of the stories." VOA - M. SanerSeniors Sarah Hull¹⁴ and Cody James are back in mixed classes after having completed the Academy single-sex class program.
Fewer distractionsSenior Morgan Van Fleet's Academy experience is behind her. She preferred the single sex approach because she finds coed classes too distracting.
"People [boys and girls] just act differently when they're put together," says Morgan. "To me, it almost seems like it's hindering your chances at developing yourself because you're more focused on 'Oh I wish they'd shut up, oh what do they think of me' - instead of focusing on what's the homework or what's going on in this class, what's the lesson."Her classmate, Sarah Hull, also liked the Academy program, and feels there's a difference in the learning styles of girls and boys.
"Boys are more hierarchal - like to talk out and show what they know," says Sarah. "But girls are more quiet and like to take things in before they actually voice their opinions."Cody James, who took the all-boy classes, thinks a more diverse group of kids should be invited into the Academy program. "Maybe instead of just putting the top percentile in there, you should probably focus more on who you're putting in, because it just ends up such as in government with just one huge argument the whole class."Academy students aren't completely segregated¹⁵. Aside from taking non-core classes together, some also meet when the school day is over - to tutor students struggling with English, math or other subjects.

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

3 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

4 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

5 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

7 genders   

n.性某些语言的（阳性、阴性和中性，不同的性有不同的词尾等）( gender的名词复数 )；性别；某些语言的（名词、代词和形容词）性的区分

参考例句：

• There are three genders in German: masculine, feminine and neuter. 德语中有叁性：阳性、阴性和中性。 来自辞典例句
• Japan was fourth among the genders of foreign students. 日本在二十个留美学生输送地中列第四位。 来自互联网

8 revolves   

v.（使）旋转( revolve的第三人称单数 )；细想

参考例句：

• The earth revolves both round the sun and on its own axis. 地球既公转又自转。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Thus a wheel revolves on its axle. 于是，轮子在轴上旋转。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 manly   

adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地

参考例句：

• The boy walked with a confident manly stride.这男孩以自信的男人步伐行走。
• He set himself manly tasks and expected others to follow his example.他给自己定下了男子汉的任务，并希望别人效之。

10 arrogance   

n.傲慢，自大

参考例句：

• His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
• Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。

11 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

12 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

13 visualize   

vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想

参考例句：

• I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人，但他的样子我想不起来了。
• She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。

14 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。

15 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。