【小閱讀^大腦袋】0324 NO.342

When Andrea Peterson landed her first teaching job, she faced the daunting task of creating a music program with almost no money for equipment or supplies in a climate where standards-based learning was the focus and music just provided a break for students and teachers.

For her drive and creativity in overcoming those challenges, she’s been named national teacher of the year.

Principal Waynes Kettler said he’s worked with many outstanding teachers in his 22 years as an educator, but Peterson is “just that one step above anybody I’ve ever worked with before.”

Kettler and others at Monte Cristo Elementary School talk about the ways she has introduced the learning from other classrooms into her music program and her creativity in working around things such as the lack of money for new music.

When students were reading S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders in their regular classroom, Peterson helped them write a 30-minute play with scenes from the book. Then they chose three Broadway tunes that focused on race, equality and social justice, the themes of the book. Peterson composed two other songs herself after classroom discussions about the play and the book.

The honor means a lot to residents of Granite Foils. It’s inspiring to know that people from small towns own even win national honors.

As national teacher of the year, Peterson will spend the more year outside the classroom, as a national and international spokeswoman for education. Not surprisingly, she is a big believer in the value of arts education. She said it’s essential for schools to offer classes such as art or music and physical education because for some kids one of those subjects is the only thing that motivates them to come back to school day after day.

ABA

答案解析：

1．The underlined word “daunting” in Paragraph 1 most probably means __________.

A．discouraging

B．interesting

C．creative

D．unbearable

解析：A正确

第一段中劃線的單詞是什麼意思？

将選項逐個帶入原文體會上下文意思，從後面的條件可以看出這件任務很困難的，因為缺乏很多必需的條件，是以可以說這件任務是令人沮喪的。B,C兩個詞是積極的，與後文沖突。D，難以忍受的，說任務難以忍受這樣的搭配不符合表達習慣

2．What is the most important reason that Peterson won the award?

A．She concerned herself with current social problems.

B．She motivated students to learn music with her creativity.

C．She has taught music at the elementary school for 22 years.

D．She makes great efforts to amuse students’ interest in literature.

解析：B正确

Peterson獲獎的最重要的理由是什麼？

文中不斷強調了她音樂教學的創造性，這就是關鍵詞。而其他選項與原文不符

3．In Peterson’s opinion, ____________.

A．art music and PE classes are all important

B．more subjects should be offered to students

C．students should be motivated to attend art classes

D．arts education is more important than other subjects

解析：A正确

Peterson認為什麼？

可以從文章最後一段她的話中總結出來。

參考譯文：

當Andrea Peterson得到她的第一份教師工作時, 她面對的是一件讓人望而卻步的工作——在沒有任何資金來購買器材的情況下, 在一個以正常教育為重點而音樂隻是作為師生的閑暇之用的環境裡, 建立一個音樂教學計劃。

她積極而富有創造力地克服這些困難, 使她被提名為國家年度最佳教師。

校長Waynes Kettler說,在他從事教育工作的22年中同許多優秀教師工作過, 但Peterson “就是要比其他任何我與之工作過的老師更高明一點。"

Kettler和其他Monte Cristo國小的同僚談論着她是怎樣将其他課程的學習引入她的音樂教學中和她的創造力怎樣幫助了她解決其他的難題,比如購買新音樂的資金短缺問題。

當學生們在他們日常的課堂上閱讀蘇西•辛頓的小說《局外人》, Peterson幫助着他們用小說中的情節改寫成了一段30分鐘的劇本. 然後他們選了三段表現了小說主題中的種族, 平等, 和社會公正等内容的現代歌劇音樂。 Peterson在與學生們進行了關于劇本和小說内容的課外讨論之後, 親自譜寫了另外兩首歌曲。

這份榮譽對Granite Foil的居民有很大的意義。 一個小鎮老師可以赢得國家級榮譽是一件振奮人心的事。

作為全國年度最佳教師, Peterson将因為她國家級和國際級的教育代言人的身份再離開她的教室一年時間. 并不意外的是, 她堅信藝術教育的價值。她說, 學校要為學生們提供諸如藝術,音樂和體育等科目，這是十分重要的, 因為對于一些孩子來說, 這些科目當中的一門是唯一促使他們每天到學校來的動力。

詞彙及短語：

daunting: 使人畏縮的

name: vt. 決定; 任命; 提名

compose: 創作(樂曲、詩歌等); 為…譜曲

inspiring: 鼓舞人的,激勵的,啟發靈感的;使人感興趣的

essential: 必不可少的, 絕對必要的; 非常重要的

Notes:

《局外人》是一部極其著名并轟動一時的青少年成長小說。它極其尖銳地給我們展示了龐尼和他的夥伴們在成長的過程中所面臨的嚴重的社會問題——貧富不同階層之間的沖突，暴力和歧視。在作品的主人公龐尼的世界裡有他的兩個哥哥，三個好夥伴和他們的共同的敵人——生活在西城的富有的男孩兒們。本文論述了龐尼經過了一個傷人、逃亡和救人的經曆後，對周圍人的觀點的改變，而這一改變正是龐尼成長的曆程。

About Author:

The Outsiders. Hinton's first novel, begun when she was a high school sophomore, deals with teenage gang violence and has been described as "one of the most successful, and the most emulated, young adult books of all time." Credited with revolutionizing the young adult novel genre by portraying teenagers realistically, Hinton would follow her first success with novels such as That Was Then, This Is Now (1971), Rumble Fish (1975), Tex (1979), and Taming the Star Runner (1988).

蘇西•辛頓是美國最受青少年歡迎的小說家，她的經典之作《鬥魚》曾獲得美國圖書協會（American Library Association，簡稱ALA）第一屆馬格瑞特•A•愛德華獎（Margaret A. Edwards Award）。《局外人》是她創作的第一部作品。