【答案】2011年12月英語四級考試答案

　　【真題】2011年12月英語四級考試真題

　　【點評】名師點評12月英語四級真題視頻

　　【下載】2011年12月英語四級真題及答案下載

　　【估分】2011年12月英語四級真題在線估分

　　Passage One

　　57.Boys' schools are the perfect place to teach young men to express their emotions and are more likely to get involved in activities such as art, dance and music, according to research released today.

　　Far from the traditional image of a culture of aggressive masculinity in which students either sink or swim, the absence of girls gives boys the chance to develop without pressure to conform to a stereo*type, the US study says.

　　57.Boys at single sex schools were said to be more likely to get involved in cultural and artistic activities that helped develop their emotional expressiveness, rather than feeling they had to conform to the "boy code" of hiding their emotions to be a "real man".

　　The report, presented at a conference of the International Boys' Schools Coalition in London attended by the heads of private and state schools, goes against 58.received wisdom that boys do better when taught alongside girls.

　　The headmaster of Eton, Tony Little, warned that boys were being failed by the British education system because 59.it had become too focused on girls. He criticised teachers for failing to recognise that boys are actually more emotional than girls, despite the fact that girls "turn on the waterworks".

　　The research argued that boys often perform badly in mixed schools because they become demoralised when their female counterparts do better earlier in verbal skills and reading, because the left side of the brain develops faster in girls. They also felt they had to be "cool" rather than studious.

　　60.But in single sex schools teachers are able to tailor lessons to boys' learning style, letting them move around the classroom and getting them to compete in teams to prevent boredom, wrote the study's author, education expert Abigail James, of the University of Virginia.

　　Teachers could encourage boys to enjoy reading and writing with specifically "boy-focused" approaches such as themes and characters that appeal to them. Boys in boys' schools "loved" to pen verse because they enjoyed the "inherent structure in poems", James said. Because, the researchers say, boys generally have better spatial skills, more acute vision, learn best through touch, are more impulsive and more physically active, they need to be given "hands-on" lessons where they are allowed to walk around, with this natural impulse not seen as disruptive. "Boys in mixed schools view classical music as feminine and prefer the modern genre in which violence and sexism are major themes," James wrote.

　　61.Single sex education also made it less likely that boys would feel they had to conform to a stereotype gained from the media by girls that men should be "masterful and in charge" in relationships. "In the present sexualised atmosphere prevalent in mixed schools, boys feel coerced into acting like men before they understand themselves well enough to know what that means," the report said.

　　解析：

　　57、選擇 encourage boys to express their emotions more freely

　　題目問男生學校可以怎樣，原文前三段基本都在敘述男校對男生藝術情操方面的發展有著更好的促進作用。

　　58、選擇 perform relatively better

　　本題較難，題干問通常大家都認為在男女同校的學校中男生都怎樣。

　　原文四段末句中received wisdom表示常識或者被多數人所接受的觀點，于是后面的部分是本題的出題點。

　　59、選擇 it fails to give boys the attention they need

　　原文紅字處說這些體制都更關心女生，取反之后意為這些體制都沒那么關心男生，于是與此選項對應。

　　60、選擇 teaching can be tailored to suit the characteristics of boys

　　原文紅字說在男校里，老師可以"根據男生的學習風格量身定制(tailor)課程"

　　61、選擇 they conform to stereotype

　　文章最后兩段都是在總結人們對男生的一般印象以及男校如何避免一些問題的出現，James的實驗提及許多男生都正遵循著老套的路線發展，即本選項的同義改寫;其余選項均是例舉中的具體內容，包含于此答案。