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Unit 1
1. What were the author
and his wife doing in Nanjing in the
spring of 1987
？
They were studying arts education in
Chinese kindergartens and
elementary
schools in Nanjing.
2. What
was their son Benjamin fond of doing during their
stay at the Jinling Hotel?
Their 18-month-old son Benjamin was
fond of trying to place the
key into
the slot of the key box during their stay at the
Jinling Hotel.
3. How would
Chinese staff members of the hotel respond to
Benjamin's attempt to place the key
into the slot?
They would come over to
watch Benjami, and then try to teach him
how to do it properly.
4. Why did the author decide to work
the key-slot anecdote
into his
discussions with Chinese educators?
Because he realized that this anecdote
was directly relevant to their
assigned
tasks in China: to investigate early childhood
education and to
throw light on Chinese
attitudes toward creativity.
5. What did his Chinese colleagues
think of the key-slot
incident?
Most of them displayed the same
attitude as the staff at the Jinling
Hotel.
6. What
did the author emphasize in presenting his views
about the incident?
He
emphasized that the most important thing is to
teach the child
that one can solve a
problem effectively by oneself.
7. What does the author mean by saying
this incident was
key in more than one
sense?
He means that this incident
pointed to important differences in
educational and artistic practices
between China and the USA.
8. In what way does the author
associate the key-slot
incident with
The manner in which the Chinese staff
saw the need to teach the
child by
guiding his hand is characteristic of a broader
attitude to
education, one that stands
in contrast to the Western preference for
leaving the child to explore and learn
unaided.
9. What examples
does the author give to illustrate
childhood education in the arts in
China?
One example is of children at the age
of 5 or 6 painting flowers, fish
and
animals skillfully and confidently; in a second
example, calligraphers
9 and t 0 years
old are producing excellent works; and in a third,
young
artists work on perfecting their:
craft for several hours a day.
10. How do Americans and Chinese differ
in their attitudes
to creativity?
Americans think that unless
creativity has been acquired early, it
may never emerge, and skills can be
picked up later. Chinese think that if
skills are not acquired early, they may
never be acquired, and there is no
hurry to promote creativity.
11. What makes them take
different positions on the
question of
creativity?
This is mainly
due to the difference in their way of thinking.
12. What
suggestion does the author make about seeking a
better approach to fostering skills and
creativity?
The author
makes the suggestion that we should strike a
better
balance between the poles of
creativity and basic skills.
Unit2
1. What is the
Salvation Army? What does a Salvation Army
bell ringer do?
The
Salvation
Army
is
a
religious
charitable
organization.
A
Salvation Army bell ringer
is a volunteer who helps it collect donations.
2.
What
did
the
boy
ask
the
writer?
What
do
you
think
made
him raise such a question?
The boy
asked him: Are you poor? He did it simply out of
confusion
and curiosity. Obviously he
knew nothing about the Salvation Army bell
ringer.
3.
How
did
the
writer
answer?
What
does
the
writer's
answer to the boy's
question mean?
He said,
This
means that he was neither poor nor rich.
4. Why did the boy's mother
scold him?
The
boy's
mother
scolded
him
because
the
question
was
socially
inappropriate,
especially to a person who looked poor.
5. Is the writer poor or
not in terms of material possessions?
Give facts to support your conclusion.
H's, economically he is poor. He lives
in a small basement apartment.
He
doesn't even have a color TV
. He falls
into the lowest income category
And so
on.
6. Does the writer feel
poor? Why or why not?
No, the writer does not
feel poor. This is because he has enjoyed good
health
and
creativity
which
he
thinks
are
much
more
important
than
material goods.
7. In what situation does the writer
feel out of place?
He
feels
out
of
place
among
people
who
ate
primarily
interested
in
material things.
8. What did the girl tell him before
her visit to his basement
apartment?
And what happened after?
She told him that she was
interested in what's on the inside. But after
he
Wok
her
to
his
poorly
furnished
apartment,
she
changed
her
mind
completely.
9. How ought one to
understand such
change in her
priorities
It only shows that to her the
most important thing was still material
goods rather than what she had claimed
before.
10. Can we infer
from the essay what role commercials can
play in society?
Commercials can put people under
pressure to purchase more than
is
really necessary.
11. Why
does the writer say
feel
wealthiest
Because
December
is
the
time
for
him
to
work
for
the
Salvation
Army as a bell ringer, which gives him
a genuine sense of belonging and
brings
him happiness in helping others.
12. How has the boy's question affected
the writer?
The
boy's
question
has
helped
the
writer
realize
that,
despite
his
lack of expensive possessions, he is
rich in many other ways and should
be
thankful for that.
Unit4
1. What did the author do three years
ago and what is she
doing now?
She was a television producer three
years ago and now she works as a
telecommuter.
2.
How does the author work nowadays?
She
submits articles and edits them via emails and
communicates with
colleagues on
Internet mailing lists.
3.
How does the author manage her daily life?
She could almost do anything on the
net: she can order food, and manage
her
money, love and work.
4.
What are the symptoms shared by people who live a
virtual life?
They are
separated from the real world and don’t like to
communicate
with people face to face.
5. What is the Net critics’
worst nightmare?
The
situation in which people who are hooked on the
net find themselves
feeling an aversion
to outside forms of socializing.