2019年江苏省淮安市教师招聘（英语学科）笔考试真题答案解析

A

Across the world, studies have consistently found that girls perform significantly better than boys in reading. These studies show that girls typically read more frequently than boys, and have a more positive attitude toward reading.

There are several reasons that help explain these gender-based differences. Parents read more with their daughters. This sends a strong and early message that books are for girls, as well as equipping girls with a significant advantage. Recent research has found even though boys read less frequently than girls, girls still receive more encouragement to read from their parents.

So how can parents and educators help bridge this socially-engineered gap for boys’reading?

To improve boys’ reading performance, parents and educators may look for ways to connect boys with reading. This has led to discussion about the importance of promoting so-called “boy-friendly” books that boys supposedly “prefer”. These are typically assumed to be non-fiction works, as many people believed that boys prefer to read non-fiction.

But this belief is not supported by recent research, which in fact suggests boys are more likely to choose to read fiction than non-fiction. Encouraging all boys to read non-fiction under the mistaken belief that it is their preference may actually be harmful. Fiction readers read more frequently and demonstrate faster language learning and higher language ability.

Besides encouraging more fiction reading, there are a number of ways that we can help connect boys with books. Firstly, don’t assume that boys of the same age have the same interests or that their interests stay the same over time. To match boys with suitable reading material, have regular discussions about reading for pleasure in order to keep up with their interests.

Schools should also provide access to libraries during lessons throughout the years of schooling. Girls visit the library in their free time more than boys, and as students move to higher grades they often have less access to libraries during class. Access to books for boys is essential to promote reading.

In addition, we should keep paper books available because research shows that boys are less likely to choose to read on screens than girls. Finally we should promote reading as an enjoyable pastime by being a role model. Let your children or students see you read for pleasure.

B

Air pollution shortens human lives by more than a year, according to a new study from a team of leading environmental engineers and public health researchers. Better air quality could lead to a significant extension of lifespan around the world. 

It is the first time that data on air pollution and the lifespan has been studied together in order to check how air pollution affects overall life expectancy. 

The researchers looked at outdoor air pollution from particulate matter（PM）（颗粒物 ）smaller than 2.5 microns. These particulates can enter deep into the lungs，and breathing PM 2.5 is associated with the increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and cancer.PM 2.5 pollution comes from power plants, cars and trucks, fires, agriculture and industrial emissions（排放物）. 

Led by Joshua Apte, the team used data from the Global Burden of Disease Study to measure PM 2.5 air pollution exposure and its consequences in 185 countries. They then quantified the national impact on life expectancy for each individual country as well as on a global scale. 

“The fact that air pollution is a major global killer is already well-known,” said Apte. “And we all care about how long we can live. Here, we were able to systematically identify how air pollution shortens lives around the world. What we found is that air pollution has a very large effect on survival—on average about a year globally.” In the context of other significant phenomena negatively affecting human survival rates, Apte said this is a big number. 

“For example, it’s considerably larger than the benefit in survival we might see if we found cures for both lung and breast cancer combined,” he said. “In countries like India and China, the benefit for elderly people of improving air quality would be especially large. For much of Asia, if air pollution were removed as a risk for death, 60-year-olds would have a 15 percent to 20 percent higher chance of living to age 85 or older.”

C

Most dog owners are convinced that their four-legged friends know exactly what they mean when they use certain words like sit, stay or treat. However, researchers have always wondered whether dogs really understand human speech or if they rely on other information to get the meaning. For example, does the word “fetch” form a picture of a stick or ball in the dog’s mind, or does the dog bring back the object based on the owner’s voice or gesture? A new study by scientists at Atlanta’s Emory University seems to indicate that “man’s best friend” does indeed know what the owner is saying.

The researchers began by asking the owners of twelve dogs of various kinds to train their pets to identify two toys of different materials, such as a toy animal and a ball. Once the dogs had mastered the task, they took turns inside a special scanner. The owners then tested their dog’s language skill by first calling out the names of the toys they had been trained to recognize and then saying meaningless words such as “bobbu” and “bodmick” while holding up random objects the dogs hadn’t seen before. 

The scans suggested that the parts of the dogs’ brains responsible for processing of sounds showed different brain patterns when they heard words they were familiar with, compared with the ones they had never heard before. While that was not enough to prove that the dogs were picturing their toys when they heard the word, it did indicate some sort of recognition. The researchers believe this is an important step forward in understanding how dogs process language. 

Even more interesting was that the dog’s brains showed a higher level of neural （神经）activity at the sound of unknown words. This is the exact opposite of what happens in human brains, which get more active at the sound of familiar words. The researchers say the dogs may become cheerful at the sound of new words to try to understand them in the hope of delighting their masters. “Dogs want to please their owners, and perhaps also receive praise or food,” says Empty neuroscientist Gregory Burns, senior author of the study. 

However, though your pet may understand human speech, the scientists recommend using visual signals and smell for training. “When people want to teach their dog a trick, they often use spoken command because that’s what humans prefer,” Prichard says. “From the dog’s view, however, a visual command might be more effective,helping the dog learn the trick faster.”

缺

A local grocery store is remodeling. And none of the______（26） is good for shoppers there. The aisles（走道）have been rearranged and pushed closer, making it ______（27）to get through. All the items have been moved from their ______（28） spots. It seems to me that it is intended to ______（29） the shoppers down so they will make more heady ______（30） and give the store bigger profits.

However, the most ______（31） for me was in the check-out aisles. And I felt ______（32） to see that only a few cashiers（收银员）were left working, with huge sections being ______（33） into self-scanning check-outs. People were probably going to lose their ______（34） because of this. I got in a cashier aisle and patiently waited while I saw some other people struggling to  ______（35） how the self-scan machines worked. I ______（36） at that moment never to use one myself ______（37） I had to wait longer every time I shopped there.

When I ______（38）arrived at the front of the aisle, I saw the cashier was an acquaintance. I ______（39） and asked her how her family was doing. She smiled back with ______（40） and kindness. We chatted happily while she scanned and bagged up my ______（41） . I felt a friendship and a connection with her that warmed my heart. ______（42） , of course, can do a lot for us, but they can’t smile. They can’t love. They can’t ______（43） a heart.

Only we can do that. It is time we should realize that profits aren’t more ______（44） than us people, neither machines. It is time we should see that we are here not to ______（45） the world but to be a part of it.

Most of us are familiar with the “Silk Road”, a network of land trading routes which connected northwestern China to Europe since the Han dynasty. With its recent ______（46）(popular), you may have heard of the “Ancient Tea Horse Road” as well, another network of land trading routes that connected China to various ______（47）(part) of Asia and Europe before sailing became common. Historically, the “Ancient Tea Horse Road” is no less ______（48）(value) than the “Silk Road”. And because of their respective locations（位置）, sometimes the “Ancient Tea Horse Road” ______（49）(refer) to as the “Southern Silk Road”.

The “Ancient Tea Horse Koad” got its name as Chinese tea and horses were the main products ______（50）(buy) and sold along the route. Historians have traced the origins of the “Ancient Tea Horse Road” back to the Tang dynasty, ______（51）tea was being transported out of Yunnan to Beijing, Tibet, and other places. The “Ancient Tea Horse Road” was ______（52）(far) developed during the Song and Ming dynasties, and remained ______（53）busy trading route allyear round until the Qing dynasty.

The “Ancient Tea Horse Road” served ______（54）not only a trading route, but also a bridge connecting different races—such as Han and the Tibetan people. It is located near the “Roof of the World”, and is where many minority groups are located, ______（55）(make) it a spot of many attractions.