Question

【题目】We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively. We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning.

We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else. Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers.

Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay (传闻) and rumor.

Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn’t show it to anyone. Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person. Thai person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game. The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it. Then the two written statements arc compared. Typically, the original message has changed.

That’s what happens in daily life. The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story. Then, too, most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping it with their own personal style. Yet those who hear it think they know.

This process is also found among scholars and authors: A statement of opinion by one writer may be restated as fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.

【1】According to the passage, active learning may occur in .

A. doing a chemical experiment

B. listening to the teacher in class

C. watching news program on TV

D. reading scientific journals

【2】The game Rumor is mentioned in Paragraph 4 in order to tell readers that .

A. playing games can make people more active

B. people tend to like telling lies when playing games

C. people may have problems with their sense of hearing

D. a message may be changed when being passed on

【3】What can be inferred from the text?

A. Scholars and authors can’t be trusted.

B. People like spreading rumors in daily life.

C. Passive learning may not be reliable.

D. Active learning is more important than passive learning.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】D

【3】C

【解析】文章主要介绍了被动获得只是所存在的一个严重的问题——被告知的可能是谣言。并用现实生活中简单的事例加以说明。

【1】推理判断题。根据文章第二段“Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive.” 大多数发生在课堂上的学习和我们看电视或读报或杂志时发生的事情都是被动的。可知选项B、C、D属于被动学习。故选A。

【2】细节理解题。根据文章第四段“Then the two written statements arc compared. Typically, the original message has changed.”然后比较两个书面陈述，通常，原始消息已经更改。故选D。

【3】推理判断题。根据“passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay (传闻) and rumor.” 被动学习有一个严重的问题。他使我们倾向于接受被告知的事情，即使它可能更多一点是传闻和谣言。以及“Typically, the original message has changed.” 通常情况下，原来的信息已经改变。可推知被动的学习可能不可靠。故选C。