A new reading tool was put on the market this week for the two-to five-year-old set. It is sold for at least $389, an expensive purchase for a kid – and that doesn’t even include a $99 annual subscription (订阅) fee for games, e-books, and age-appropriate software.
That might be fine for parents willing and able to pay thousands for private nursery schools, but will the tool actually help kids learn language and reading skills more effectively than traditional books?
Probably not, said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center for Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston. “There is a sensory components (感官因素) to books that isn’t there with e-books,” he explained. “You can smell it, turn the pages, and taste it, as young kids are likely to do.”
That might help little ones become more familiar with the books, helping them learn from them, but far more important is whether a person is actually sitting with them while they’re looking at the pages.
Researchers have shown time and again that kids learn better when they’re having interaction (互动) with real people, rather than electronic voices reading to them from a computer or speaking to them from the TV.
A Georgetown University study found that kids who learned to put on gloves from watching a video took six times as long to learn the process as those who watched it shown by an adult standing in front of them.
“I’m a big believer in teaching kids to live in the digital society and use what the rest of the family uses, but they do need to be supervised,” said Dr. Gwenn O’Keeffe, a Boston-based children’s doctor and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “We don’t recommend that young kids use any type of technology for very long since they have the attention span (注意力持续时间) of a butterfly.”
【小题1】According to the text, the new tool        .

A new reading tool was put on the market this week for the two-to five-year-old set. It is sold for at least $389, an expensive purchase for a kid – and that doesn’t even include a $99 annual subscription (订阅) fee for games, e-books, and age-appropriate software.

That might be fine for parents willing and able to pay thousands for private nursery schools, but will the tool actually help kids learn language and reading skills more effectively than traditional books?

Probably not, said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center for Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston. “There is a sensory components (感官因素) to books that isn’t there with e-books,” he explained. “You can smell it, turn the pages, and taste it, as young kids are likely to do.”

That might help little ones become more familiar with the books, helping them learn from them, but far more important is whether a person is actually sitting with them while they’re looking at the pages.

Researchers have shown time and again that kids learn better when they’re having interaction (互动) with real people, rather than electronic voices reading to them from a computer or speaking to them from the TV.

A Georgetown University study found that kids who learned to put on gloves from watching a video took six times as long to learn the process as those who watched it shown by an adult standing in front of them.

“I’m a big believer in teaching kids to live in the digital society and use what the rest of the family uses, but they do need to be supervised,” said Dr. Gwenn O’Keeffe, a Boston-based children’s doctor and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “We don’t recommend that young kids use any type of technology for very long since they have the attention span (注意力持续时间) of a butterfly.”

1.According to the text, the new tool        .

2.Why is Dr. Michael Rich against the new tool?

3.The study mentioned in Paragraph 6 aims to        .

4.The underlined word “supervised” in the last paragraph can be replaced by “     ”.

5.What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在正确选项上划勾。

　　Last week I took my five-year-old son, Robert, to the Science Museum. He had always enjoyed going to museums, particularly those where you can press buttons to make things work. He did not much like the sort where there are bones and bits of pots in glass cases; but I told him the Science Museum was not like this.

　　When I mentioned to him that we were going to the Science Museum, he looked puzzled. He asked me what there was to see there, and when I replied that there was a collection of cars, trains and aero-planes, and an imitation coalmine that you could walk into, he looked even more puzzled. But there was nothing he liked better than climbing on old railway engines, so he smiled and said he would come. I told him that we would see models of all the world's most famous ships, and of all the most useful machines that men had invented over the years; I told him that there was a part of a space ship that you could go into, and imagine that you were far away from the Earth; and I said that we would probably see a film showing the development of science from earliest times to the present day.

　　But there was one thing I hadn't prepared my son for. Every afternoon at four o'clock, a man switched on a very powerful electric current and makes it jump between two terminals, like a flash of lightning. There were notices making it clear that there would be a bright flash and a loud bangbut I had no idea just how loud it would be.

　　When four o'clock came, we stood with a large crowd of people near to where this event would take place. I lifted Robert up onto my shoulders so that he would be able to see the flash more clearlyand we waited. We had not waited more than a minute or so, when a very bright flash jumped across the terminals, and at the same time, a very loud bang made everyone in the audience jump. I could feel Robert shaking with the sudden shock of the noise. I lifted him back down onto the floor, and we left the museum.

　　He said nothing until we were outside in the street. Then he looked up at me and said, “Why do they call it the Science Museum? It seems a very funny name to me.”

1．The sort of museum that Robert liked was one where ________.

[　　]

A．he could climb on things to make them work

B．there were lots of bones and pots in glass cases

C．there were glass cases full of things that had once worked

D．he could press buttons so as to make things work

2．I told him that the Science Museum contained ________.

[　　]

A．transport of all sorts and a life-size model of a coalmine

B．a real coalmine and lots of different types of transport

C．old railway engines that worked at the touch of a button

D．a coalmine in which you feel you are far away from the Earth

3．I said that there would be models of ________.

[　　]

A．science from earliest times to the present day

B．the Earth as seen from part of a spaceship

C．all sorts of machines and famous ships

D．machines that you could go into

4．I thought we might see a film about ________.

[　　]

A．the development of transport over the years

B．the history of space-flight from earliest times to the present

C．man's understanding and use of all sorts of machines

D．the history and growth of man's knowledge about the world

O．Henry was an American short-story writer, a master of surprising endings, who wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City．A twist of plot, which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance, is typical of O．Henry’s stories．

William Sydney Porter （O．Henry） was born in North Carolina．His father was a physician．When William was three, his mother died, and he was raised by his grandmother and aunt．At the age of fifteen he left school, and then worked in a drug store．He moved to Houston, where he had a number of jobs, including that of a bank clerk．After moving to Austin, Texas, in 1882, he married．

In 1884 he started a humorous weekly The Rolling Stone．When the weekly failed, he joined the Houston Post as a reporter and columnist．In 1897 he was convicted of embezzling money, although there has been much debate over his actual guilt．

While in prison O．Henry started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret．His first work, Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking （1899）, appeared in McClure’s Magazine．After doing three years of the five-year sentence, Porter emerged from the prison in 1901 and changed his name to O．Henry．

O．Henry moved to New York City in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World, also was published in other magazines．Henry’s first collection, Cabbages and Kings appeared in 1904．The second, The Four Million, was published two years later and included his well-known stories The Gift of the Magi and The Furnished Room．O．Henry published 10 collections and over 600 short stories during his lifetime．

O．Henry’s last years were shadowed by ill health and financial problems．He married Sara Lindsay Coleman in 1907, but the marriage was not happy, and they separated one year later．O．Henry died on June 5, 1910, in New York．

1．The following statements are the characteristics of O．Henry’s stories except ______．

       A．the stories often end with surprising endings

       B．there are a lot of coincidences in his stories

       C．the stories are mainly about common people

       D．his own experiences are main subjects in his stories

2．We can infer from the text that ______．

A．O．Henry’s mother’s death resulted in his leaving school
B．O．Henry earned much money by starting the Weekly

      C．some people believed O．Henry was put in prison for no good reason
D．his daughter asked O．Henry to write short stories

3．One of O．Henry’s most famous stories The Gift of the Magi came out in ______．

       A．1902                 B．1904                  C．1906                  D．1907

4．What do you think of O．Henry’s life?

       A．Rough．            B．Smooth．           C．Rich．              D．Happy．

A new reading tool was put on the market this week for the two-to five-year-old set. It is sold for at least $389, an expensive purchase for a kid – and that doesn’t even include a $99 annual subscription (订阅) fee for games, e-books, and age-appropriate software.
That might be fine for parents willing and able to pay thousands for private nursery schools, but will the tool actually help kids learn language and reading skills more effectively than traditional books?
Probably not, said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center for Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston. “There is a sensory components (感官因素) to books that isn’t there with e-books,” he explained. “You can smell it, turn the pages, and taste it, as young kids are likely to do.”
That might help little ones become more familiar with the books, helping them learn from them, but far more important is whether a person is actually sitting with them while they’re looking at the pages.
Researchers have shown time and again that kids learn better when they’re having interaction (互动) with real people, rather than electronic voices reading to them from a computer or speaking to them from the TV.
A Georgetown University study found that kids who learned to put on gloves from watching a video took six times as long to learn the process as those who watched it shown by an adult standing in front of them.
“I’m a big believer in teaching kids to live in the digital society and use what the rest of the family uses, but they do need to be supervised,” said Dr. Gwenn O’Keeffe, a Boston-based children’s doctor and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “We don’t recommend that young kids use any type of technology for very long since they have the attention span (注意力持续时间) of a butterfly.”

1. 1.

   According to the text, the new tool        .

   1. A.
      is mainly used to entertain kids
   2. B.
      can be accepted by most families
   3. C.
      is designed for preschool kids
   4. D.
      can download games for free
2. 2.

   Why is Dr. Michael Rich against the new tool?

   1. A.
      Because it doesn’t really involve many of the senses.
   2. B.
      Because it does great harm to kids’ eyesight.
   3. C.
      Because kids can’t communicate with it.
   4. D.
      Because traditional books are cheaper.
3. 3.

   The study mentioned in Paragraph 6 aims to        .

   1. A.
      show the disadvantage of kids’ watching videos
   2. B.
      prove the importance of interaction with people
   3. C.
      ask parents to teach their kids to learn
   4. D.
      prove using e-books saves much time
4. 4.

   The underlined word “supervised” in the last paragraph can be replaced by “     ”.

   1. A.
      punished
   2. B.
      watched
   3. C.
      encouraged
   4. D.
      understood
5. 5.

   What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

   1. A.
      To introduce a new electronic device.
   2. B.
      To teach kids how to live in a digital world.
   3. C.
      To show parents how to help kids gain knowledge.
   4. D.
      To throw new light on kids’ use of electronic tools.