A LAPTOP FOR EVERY KID

mslife

More schools are convinced they're worth the cost



Carmen Arace Middle School is situated in the pastoral town of Bloomfield, Conn., but four years ago it faced many of the same challenges as inner-city schools in nearby Hartford: low scores on standardized tests, dropping enrollment and high rates of detention. Then the school's hard-driving principal, Delores Bolton, persuaded her board to shake up the place by buying a laptop computer for each student and teacher to use, in school and at home. For good measure, the board provided wireless Internet access at school. Total cost: $2.5 million.



Now, an hour before classes start, every seat in the library is taken by students eager to get online. Fifth-grade teacher Jen Friday talks about sedimentary rocks as students view them at a colorful website. After school, students on buses pull laptops from backpacks to get started on homework. Since the computers arrived, enrollment is up 20%. Disciplinary suspensions are down 80%. Scores on state achievement tests are up 35%. Bolton, who is black, is proud to run \"a school with 90% black enrollment that is on the cutting edge.\"



Indeed, school systems in rural Maine and New York City are eager to follow Arace Middle School's example. Governor Angus King has proposed using $50 million from an unexpected budget surplus to buy a laptop for all of Maine's 17,000 seventh-graders--and for new seventh-graders each fall. The funds would create a permanent endowment whose interest would help buy the computers. The plan, scaled back to $30 million in a compromise with the legislature, is scheduled to be voted on this week.



In the same spirit, the New York City board of education voted unanimously on April 12 to create a school Internet portal, which would make money by selling ads and licensing e-commerce sites. The portal will also provide e-mail service for the city's 1.1 million public school students. Profits will be used to buy laptops for each of the school system's 87,000 fourth-graders. Within nine years, all students in grades 4 and higher will have their own computers.



Back in Bloomfield, the school board is seeking federal grant money to expand its laptop program to high school students. In the meantime, most of the kinks have been worked out. Some students were using their computers to goof off or visit unauthorized websites. But teachers have the ability to track where students have been on the Web and to restrict them. \"That is the worst when they disable you,\" says eighth-grade honors student Jamie Bassell. \"You go through laptop withdrawal.\" The habit is rubbing off on parents. \"I taught my mom to use e-mail,\" says another eighth-grader, Katherine Hypolite. \"And now she's taking computer classes. I'm so proud of her!\"

  

注（1）：本文选自Time；05/01/2000, p57；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象是1994年真题text4（1，2，3，4题）和text3第4题（第5题）；



1.     The example of Carmen Arace Middle School in the text is used to ___________.



[A] show the challenges schools are faced with today

[B] prove that a school with high black enrollment can do well

[C] emphasize the importance of computers and the Internet in modern education

[D] indicate that laptops can help improve students’ school performance



2.     According to the author, students in New York City’s public schools will ___________.



[A] all have their own laptops within nine years

[B] become more interested in their class activities with the application of laptop

[C] spend more time visiting unauthorized websites with the expansion of the laptop program

[D] enjoy e-mail service provided by the city’s school system in the near future.



3.     By introducing the laptop program, Delore Bolton has ______________.



[A] shaken the beliefs of both teachers’ and students’

[B] witnessed a remarkable improvement in enrollment and students’ test scores

[C] found herself followers all over the country

[D] revolutionized class-room teaching in public schools



4.     The word “kink” (line 2, paragraph 4) most probably means ______________.



[A] plan

[B] method

[C] problem

[D] process



5.     From the passage we learn that __________________.



[A] the laptop program also has a positive influence on parents

[B] the laptop program in public schools is sponsored mainly by endowment

[C] a school Internet portal is the key to a laptop program

[D] students generally like the idea of having their online activities tracked

DDBCA



篇章剖析：


本篇文章是一篇说明文，介绍了美国的一些学校给学校师生配置笔记本电脑，引入网络教学的情况。文章一开始就引用卡曼·阿雷斯中学在引入笔记本电脑和网络教学之后发生的积极变化，以此说明这种做法值得尝试。接下来在第三段和第四段介绍了缅因州和纽约市的类似做法。最后一段介绍了教师如何确保学生将这一资源用于学习，以及这一举措的衍生价值：对家长产生积极的影响。



词汇注释：



detention: [di5tenFEn] n. 阻止, 滞留

laptop: [5lAptCp] n. 便携式电脑

sedimentary: [sedI5mentErI] adj. 沉淀性的；冲积成的

backpack: [5bAkpAk] n. 背包，背囊

disciplinary:[5disiplinEri] adj. 纪律的，执行纪律的

suspension: [sEs5penFEn] n. 暂停, 中止

surplus: [5sE:plEs] n. 盈余；余款

endowment:[in5daumEnt] n. 资助，捐赠

scale:[skeil] v. （与up, down连用）按比例逐步增加； 按比例逐步减少

unanimously: [ju(5nAnimEsli] adv. 全体一致地,无异议地

portal: [5pC:tEl] n. （计）门户

license: [5laIsEns] v. 准许；发给执照；批准

e-commerce: 电子商务

kink: [kiNk] n. （计划，系统中的）小问题

goof off：打发时间

unauthorized: [5Qn5C:WEraizd] adj. 未被授权的, 未经认可的

rub off on: （感情，习惯或者某种特点）感染，影响他人



难句突破



Then the school's hard-driving principal, Delores Bolton, persuaded her board to shake up the place by buying a laptop computer for each student and teacher to use, in school and at home.



主体句式：the school's … principal persuaded her board to …



结构分析：这一句是个简单句，容易造成理解困难的是hard-driving这个单词和shake up the place这个短语。hard-driving用于指人的作风“强硬”，shake up the place的意思是：“令这个地方震动”，说明这一措施非常大胆。



句子译文：后来该校作风强硬的校长德洛丽斯·博尔顿说服校董事会给每个学生和老师购置一台笔记本电脑供他们使用，这一举措在当地引起了不小的震动。



题目分析：



1. 答案为D，属推理判断题。从文中第二段引用的一系列数字可以看出，引入笔记本电脑和互联网以后，该校教育质量有了显著提高。所以该校的例子是为了说明笔记本电脑有助于提高学生的成绩。



2. 答案为D，属事实细节题。这可以从第四段“The portal will also provide e-mail service for the city's 1.1 million public school students.”里得知。



3. 答案为B，属事实细节题。第一段里的shake up the place指她的提议在当地引起了震动，第二段就以具体数字说明学生入学率增加和测试成绩提高的事实。



4. 答案为C，属推理判断题。联系上下文，work out the kink，work out的意思是“解决, 设计出, 作出, 计算出”等，最贴近的意义应该是“问题”。



5. 答案为A，属推理判断题。这可以从文章最后一段“The habit is rubbing off on parents”可知。sth. rubs off on sb.的意思是“感染，影响”。下文从一句学生谈及她母亲上电脑班的感受”I am so proud of her”可知这种影响是积极的影响。



参考译文



卡曼·阿雷斯中学位于辛辛那提州的宁静小镇布卢姆菲尔德，但四年前它面临着许多与附近哈特福德市市区学校同样的问题：标准化考试成绩较差，入学率连年下降，留级率居高不下。后来该校作风强硬的校长德洛丽斯·博尔顿说服校董事会给每个学生和老师购置一台笔记本电脑供他们使用，这一举措在当地引起了不小的震动。此外，校董事会还为学校提供了无线上网的便利条件。总耗资为250万美元。



现在，在上课前一小时，图书馆里就坐满了想要上网的学生。五年级教师詹在星期五的课上讨论沉积岩，与此同时学生们在一个内容丰富的网站上观看沉积岩。下课后，坐上公交车的学生就把笔记本电脑从背包里拿出来，开始做作业。自从有了电脑以后，学校的入学率上升了20%，留级率下降了80%。参加全州水平考试的成绩也提高了35%。博尔顿这位黑人校长对于能够管理一所“黑人入学率高达90%，教育质量领先的学校”感到自豪。



的确，缅因州和纽约市的农村地区的学校都很渴望采用卡曼·阿雷斯中学的做法。州长安格斯·金已经提议从意外增加的预算盈余中拨出500万美元给所有缅因州17000名七年级学生---以及每年秋季升入七年级的新生购置一台笔记本电脑。这些资金将会形成一种专门帮助购置电脑的永久资助。这一计划最终在和立法机关达成的妥协意见中被减少到300万美元，本周将对这一计划进行投票表决。



出于同样的想法，纽约市教育局在4月12日一致投票同意创建一个学校互联网门户，其收益将通过销售广告和特许电子商务网站的方式获得。这一门户还能为城里的110万公办中学的学生提供电子邮件服务。门户利润将被用来给该教育系统内87000名四年级学生每人购置一台笔记本电脑。在九年之内，所有四年级和更高年级的学生都将拥有他们自己的电脑。



在布卢姆菲尔德，校董事会正在寻求联邦津贴以使笔记本电脑项目也能覆盖到中学生。与此同时，操作指南的大部分内容也已经做出来了。一些学生曾经用电脑访问未授权网站来打发时间。不过教师可以跟踪学生的网上活动并对他们进行限制。“最糟糕的就是他们让你无法访问这些网站，”八年级优秀生杰米·巴塞尔说。“你经历的是笔记本电脑上的撤退。”这种习惯还能对家长产生影响。“我教妈妈使用电子邮件，”另一位八年级学生凯瑟琳·海珀莱特说道。“现在她正在学习电脑课程。我真为她骄傲！”