Up to 90％ of school leavers in major Asian cities are suffering from short-sightedness, a study suggests.Researchers say the “extraordinary rise’’ in the problem is being caused by students working very hard in school and missing out on outdoor light．

    According to Professor Ian Morgan, who led this study and is from the Australian National University. 20-30％was once the average among people in South East Asia as well．“What we’ve done is write a review of all the evidence which suggests that something extraordinary has happened in east Asia in the last two generations，”he told BBC News．

    Eye experts say that you are short-sighted if your vision is blurred（使模糊不清） beyond 2m．It is often caused by an elongation（伸长）of the eyeball that happens when people are young．According to the research，the problem is being caused by a combination of factors——a commitment to education and lack of outdoor light．

    Professor Morgan argues that many children in South East Asia spend long hours studying at school and doing their homework．This in itself puts pressure on the eyes, but exposure to between two and three hours of daylight acts as a counterbalance（抗衡)and helps maintain healthy eyes．

Cultural factors also seem to play a part．Across many parts of South East Asia，children often have a lunchtime nap.According to Professor Morgan ，they are missing out on prime light to prevent short-sightedness．

“Children suffer from a double whammy（致命的打击）in South East Asia，”says Professor Morgan. As a result of massive educational pressures and the construction of a child’s day，the amount of time they spend outside in bright light is limited．”

A big concern is the numbers of students suffering from“high”short-sightedness．According to Professor Morgan，this affects between 1 0％and 20％of students in Asian cities．It can lead to vision loss，visual impairment and even blindness．

“These people are at considerable risk---sometimes people are not told about it and are just given more powerful glasses---they need to be warned about the risk and given some self-testing  measures so they can get to an ophthalmologist（眼科医生） and get some help．”

For decades, researchers believed there was a strong genetic component to the condition. It was believed that people from China，Japan，South Korea and other countries were particularly likely to develop short-sightedness．But this study strongly suggests an alternative view．

72. From the text, we can know that_______.

A .this study suggests that gene(基因)is closely linked with short-sightedness.

B. short-sightedness can lead to blindness.

C. those who suffer from “high” short-sightedness can recover their eyesight if they are given more powerful glasses.

D. China has the largest number of short-sighted people in the world.

73. What is implied in the text?

A . Pro. Morgan approves of what most short-sighted people do with their short-sightedness.

B. If you are short-sighted, you can’t see things clearly beyond 2m.

C. According to Professor Morgan, staying in the sunshine instead of taking a lunchtime nap is good for preventing short-sightedness

D. The reasons for Asian children’s short-sightedness are commitment to education and lack of outdoor light.

74. What’s the author’s attitude towards the study result?

A. Objective      B. Subjective     C. Negative      D. Positive

75. What would be the best title for the text?

A. The research result of Asian children’s short-sightedness.

B. The phenomenon of Asian children’s short-sightedness.

C. The reasons for Asian children’s short-sightedness.

D. The ways to get rid of short-sightedness.

E
We might be surprised at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person’s knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to design anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For the claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack(窍门) of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person’s true ability and attitude.
As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the marks of success or failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don’t count: the exam goes on. No one can give his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of various competitions where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of ‘drop-outs’: young people who are written off as failures before they have even started a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?
A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus(教学大纲), so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive(剥夺) the teacher of all freedoms. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under pressure.
The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark piles of hastily scrawled (潦草的)
scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person’s true abilities.
56.The main idea of this passage is _______.
A. examinations produce a harmful influence on education
B. examinations are ineffective
C. examinations are important to students’ development
D. examinations are a burden on students
57.The author’s attitude toward examinations is _______.
A. supportive       B. neutral          C. critical         D. indifferent
58.The fate of students is decided by _______.
A. education        B. examiners       C. examinations    D. students themselves
59.According to the author, the most important of a good education is _______.
A. to encourage students to read widely        B. to train students to think on their own
C. to teach students how to deal with exams        D. to master his fate
60.What does the author mean by saying “After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s”(Para 4, Line 6) ?
A. Judges are not important.
B. The examiner has the final say concerning the result of the examination.
C. Prisoners are more powerful than students.
D. The court decisions are often inaccurate.

We might be surprised at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person’s knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to design anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For the claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack(窍门高☆考♂资♀源?网) of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person’s true ability and attitude.

As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the marks of success or failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don’t count: the exam goes on. No one can give his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of various competitions where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of ‘drop-outs’: young people who are written off as failures before they have even started a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?

A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus(教学大纲), so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive(剥夺) the teacher of all freedoms. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under pressure.

The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark piles of hastily scrawled (潦草的) scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person’s true abilities.

56. The main idea of this passage is _______.

A. examinations produce a harmful influence on education

B. examinations are ineffective

C. examinations are important to students’ development

D. examinations are a burden on students

57. The author’s attitude toward examinations is _______.

A. supportive       B. neutral          C. critical         D. indifferent

58. The fate of students is decided by _______.

A. education        B. examiners       C. examinations    D. students themselves

59. According to the author, the most important of a good education is _______.

A. to encourage students to read widely        B. to train students to think on their own

C. to teach students how to deal with exams                   D. to master his fate

60. What does the author mean by saying “After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s”(Para 4, Line 6) ?

A. Judges are not important.

B. The examiner has the final say concerning the result of the examination.

C. Prisoners are more powerful than students.

D. The court decisions are often inaccurate.

E

We might be surprised at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person’s knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to design anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For the claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack(窍门 ) of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person’s true ability and attitude.

As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the marks of success or failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don’t count: the exam goes on. No one can give his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of various competitions where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of ‘drop-outs’: young people who are written off as failures before they have even started a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?

A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus(教学大纲), so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive(剥夺) the teacher of all freedoms. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under pressure.

The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark piles of hastily scrawled (潦草的)

scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person’s true abilities.

56.The main idea of this passage is _______.

A. examinations produce a harmful influence on education

B. examinations are ineffective

C. examinations are important to students’ development

D. examinations are a burden on students

57.The author’s attitude toward examinations is _______.

A. supportive       B. neutral          C. critical         D. indifferent

58.The fate of students is decided by _______.

A. education        B. examiners       C. examinations    D. students themselves

59.According to the author, the most important of a good education is _______.

A. to encourage students to read widely        B. to train students to think on their own

C. to teach students how to deal with exams        D. to master his fate

60.What does the author mean by saying “After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s”(Para 4, Line 6) ?

A. Judges are not important.

B. The examiner has the final say concerning the result of the examination.

C. Prisoners are more powerful than students.

D. The court decisions are often inaccurate.

Combining families with kids can be tough and offers even more unexpected problems. You just don’t know how things will shake out until everyone is under one roof, trying on new roles with name that start with “step”. This is what happened to Sheila and Will, and Sheila’s 8-year-old daughter Ashley. After the couple got married, and Will became the member of the new family, things got worse than expected. How did they make it work? Read the full version of the story here.
Shelia’s Turn: When Shelia and Will were dating, he seemed like kids, especially Ashley. He’d bring her presents, play games with her. But after the wedding, things took a turn. Will suddenly became a super strict stepfather, scolding Ashley for watching too much cartoons, constantly picking fights and punishing her for offenses as small as spilling milk. Shelia’s thought about leaving Will, but soon after they married, they had a son, Billy. Will adores his well-behaved boy, but Ashley hates him. Shelia doesn’t know what to do--- her daughter is miserable, but leaving her husband might mean losing her son.
Will’s turn: Will was so excited to be a male role model in Ashley’s life. He didn’t just want to be a guy living in her house; he wanted to treat her like his own daughter, which, to Will, meant giving Ashley more rules and help her learn responsibility. He’d always felt that Shelia let Ashley loose on everything. But after the wedding, Will was surprised that Shelia didn’t want him to do that. If Will takes away Ashley’s TV privileges or tells her to clean up her room, Shelia just lets Ashley do what she likes and does it herself. Will was tired of this and he’d rather take his son and go.
The advisor’s turn: The counselor(顾问) quickly recognized their conflict as a classic case of unspoken, hidden expectations. Before the wedding, when it was just Shelia and Will, everything was easy. But now, everyone in their big family is competing for attention, and the couple never sat down and discussed the biggest issue---their child-upbringing philosophies(育儿经). The counselor suggested Shelia allow Will to give some rules on Ashley but Will’s punishments couldn’t be extreme. Once Ashley saw that her mom and stepdad had become a united front, she cooperated more.
【小题1】The text is most likely to be found in a book about______.