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[2010
四级
]
12
月四级强化备考：阅读练习
Unit Twenty
Passage 1
Computer Use in School Education
Accompanying the developments in
computing as a subject for study there has been
a corresponding growth in the use of
the computer as an aid to teaching across the
curriculum. The government offer of
half-price computers led to the installation
of
a
large
number
of
school
microcomputer
systems
at
a
time
when
there
was
very
little
educational
software.
At
the
same
time
there
was
an
explosive
demand
for
introductory
courses, at
first for
secondary teachers
and
later, when the
offer
was
extended to
primary
schools, for primary teachers. It would be
impossible, and inappropriate,
to make
every teacher into a computer programming expert.
What the teacher needs to know is how
to connect up a system. And how to load and
run programs. Once these skills have
been acquired the much more important topic
of the evaluation of. computer-based
teaching materials can be addressed.
The Unintelligent Machine Over the past
20 years the amount of computing power
available for a given sum of money has
approximately doubled every two years, and
it
looks
as
if
this
trend
will
continue
in
the
foreseeable
future.
On
the
other
hand,
the
fundamental logical design of computers is much
the same as at the beginning
of this
period. The revolution has been one of scale and
cost rather than a change
in the kinds
of things which computers can do. One might have
expected therefore
that by now we would
know the best way in which computers can be used
to help with
the educational process.
In
the
early
sixties,
programmed
learning
was
looked
on
as
the
pathway
to
mechanize
the learning
process. But teaching machines of the time were
inflexible and
unresponsive.
It
was
soon
recognized
that
computers
provide
a
much
higher
level
of
interaction with the student. Responses
need not be restricted to multiple-choice
button
pushing,
but can
involve the
recognition
of words or
numbers related to the
context of the
subject.
In order to present
information and questions to the student and to
provide for
appropriate
branching,
depending
on
the
responses,
some
form
of
programming
language
is
required.
COURSEWRITER
and
later
PILOT
are
author
languages
which
allow
someone
without
technical
knowledge
of
computing
to
prepare
programs
of
this
kind.
Text
and
graphics
can be displayed, responses analyzed, and
appropriate action taken.
A
tool
such
as
this
might
seem
to
put
considerable
power
in
the
hands
of
the
teacher
and yet such systems are hardly used at
all in our schools. One reason is that the
preparation
of
course
material
using
an
author
language
is,
like
that
for
videodisc
systems,
a
very
time-
consuming
business.
A
figure
of
20
to
100
hours
of
preparation
is
quoted
for
each
hour
of
student
time
at
the
computer.
Such
an
investment
is
only
worthwhile
if
the
material
can
be
used
by
a
large
number
of
students,
and
that
assumes
that
the necessary resources in time and hardware are
actually available.
There
is
a
more
fundamental
reason
for
lack
of
progress
in
computer-based
tutorial
systems and this relates to the
fundamental lack of
the computer. It is
easy to generate drill and practice exercises
which test a
student's
ability
to
produce
response.
It
is
quite
another
matter
to
provide
useful
advice
if
the
response
is
wrong.
The
human
teacher
has
a
mental
model
of
the
student
and
can
make
a
reasonable
estimate
of
why
a
particular
wrong
answer
has
been
produced.
The longer the
teacher has been in contact with that student the
better he or she
is
able
to
offer
constructive
advice.
The
kind
of
system
discussed
above
has
no
such
model
of
the
student
on
which
to
make
decisions,
nor
does
it
have
access
to
the
large
body
of
subject
knowledge
which
is
held
by
the
human
teacher.
Its
responses
therefore
must be stereotyped and unintelligent.
Further
evidence
of
the
lack
of
machine
intelligence
is
the
failure
to
make
computer
understand
natural
language.
We
talk
about
programming
languages
for
computers,
but these are not
languages in the ordinary sense. They are just
systems of coding
which
provide
a
highly
stylized
way
of
writing
down
the
solutions
to
particular
sorts
of problems. The tact that programs in
these languages, although made up largely
of English words and some well-known
mathematical symbols, are unintelligible to
the layC^f-ff W) reader indicates the
gulf which still exists between the kind of
verbal
instructions
which
can
be
given
to
another
human,
and
the
coded
instructions
required by the computer. One expert
has argued that the construction of an
intelligent
machine
is
a
logical
impossibility.
Many
researchers
in
this
area
would
dispute such a claim, but so far they
cannot provide the essential demonstration
to the contrary.
The
development of
the basis of human
experience which is fed into them, is one step in
the direction
of
machine
intelligence.
However,
such
systems
are
limited
to
knowledge
in
a
tightly
defined
domain,
and
cannot
operate
outside
this
area.
Nevertheless,
there
may
well
be something here for education. The
Computer in the Classroom
Where
does
this
leave
the
computer
as
a
tool
for
the
teacher?
Clearly
teachers
must
exploit its strengths
rather than complain about its weakness. However
dull much
drill and practice material
may seem, children will often work at it for a
considerable
time
without
losing
concentration.
Rote
learning
(
硬记硬背
)
is
rightly
out of
favor in most educational contexts, but there are
certain things which it
is
convenient
to
be
able
to
recall
instantly,
and
the
computer
can
help
us
to
remember
them. The school
pupil soon learns that the computer
never gets tired, never loses
its
temper, will always respond almost instantaneously
to any input, and does not
display the
pupil's ignorance to other people, and these
factors help to provide
a micro-
environment within which the pupil is stable and
secure.
The introduction of computers
into primary schools has concentrated the minds of
educators
on
the
use
of
the
machine
as
an
aid
to
the
teacher,
without
the
distraction
of
computer
studies
as
a
subject
in
its
own
right.
The
computer
is
very
good
at
storing
and rearranging information, and the
introduction of simple database manipulation
packages has allowed teachers to
present pupils with the opportunity to collect
information
which
is
of
interest
to
them,
to
structure
it
appropriately,
and
to
store
it on
the computer. From the files thus produced various
reports
can be
generated.
These
packages
can
be
used
in
a
variety
of
areas
of
study,
from
history
to
science,
and an introduction
to them is now an important part of teacher
education in the
use of computers.
Computers can also simulate
(|
模拟
) various dynamic
situations,
and a number
of
packages exploit this ability. Even the
adventure games, which are
sold for amusement to home computer
users, can be turned to advantage if the
problem-solving aspects are emphasized
and the pupils' activity is appropriately
structured.
1. A computer
has its limitations in the use as an aid to
teaching.
2.
It
is
likely
that
computers
will
take
the
place
of
human
teachers
in
the
future.
3. With the use of many computers in
schools, the computer courses were in great
demand.
4. Computers are
more reliable than human teachers in many
respects.
5.
If
focusing
on
problem-solving,
pupils
can
get
more
amusement
from
the
computer
games.
6. There is an
argument
over the possibility
of
making
computers as intelligent as
human teachers.
7. The more
fundamental factor that affects computer aided
teaching is that it is
time-consuming
to prepare course materials.
8.
Coursewriter and Pilot are______.
9.
For constructive advice, students will have to
rely on______.
10.
The
advantage
of
computer's
capability
of
storing
information
has
been
displayed
by
the use of______.
Passage 2
Growth of trade will depend greatly on
availability of energy sources. There may
still
be
a
trillion
barrels
of
recoverable
oil
in
the
Middle
East.
But
the
oil
crisis
of
1974
has
11
to
renewed
interest
in
coal
and
to
a
search
for
12
sources
of
energy.
Solar, geothermal,
and nuclear energy will play a large role in the
years to come.
Solar
energy
is
available
in
13
forms.
Buildings
can
be
heated
and
cooled
by
direct
use of
solar radiation, crops and trees, which are the
most efficient converters
of
sunlight
into
energy,
can
be
grown
for
their
energy
potential,
wastes
can
be
burned
as 14 , sunlight can
be converted into DC (direct current) electricity,
electric
power can be 15 from the sun-
warmed surface waters of the ocean, and lastly,
solar
radiation can be converted into
heat that will drive electric power generators.
Serious problems still remain as to 16
and storage of solar energy.
Geothermal
energy is the energy contained within the earth.
Heat is abundantly
available
deep
in
the
earth's
core
and
is
constantly
being
produced.
However,
this
heat
is
usually
located
at
too
deep
a
level
for
17
exploitation.
In
short,
very
little
is known on the use
of geothermal energy, and it has 18 been
exploited.
Nuclear
energy
is
produced
in
nuclear
power
plants.
At
these
plants
atoms
of
uranium
are split, thus 19
masses of energy.
Another source of
energy under development is
the nuclear
fusion of certain atoms of hydrogen. This could
eventually 20 natural
gas as a source
of energy.
A. e
E. y
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