男生是老师的宠儿
47 Gender Differences
Sample 2
To answer this question, we designed a questionnaire and gave it out to 30 students. We then analyzed the results of our survey, which are shown in the following table:
Who Are Teachers’ Pets? Boys Girls Neither It depends.
In primary school 6 20 2 2
In junior middle school 10 11 3 6
In senior middle school 15 6 5 4
In college 4 4 16 6
According to the results of the survey, we can see that in primary school girls are generally regarded as teachers’ pets. When they are very young, boys are naughtier than girls, and girls are generally very well-behaved.
As they get older, boys are more likely to become teachers’ pets. In middle school, boys are likely to perform better in subjects like math and physics and are thought to be cleverer than girls. As teenagers, both girls and boys are well-behaved. So it is easier for boys to become teachers’ pets.
Most students feel that neither boys nor girls are teachers’ pets in college. Teachers don’t know their students as well as they do in junior or senior middle school, so generally they favor neither of the genders or any particular students.
Basedontheresultsofoursurvey,wefindthatwhetherboysorgirlsareteachers’pets,toacertain
extent, depends on their age.
49 Creativity
Useful Information
Creativity usually implies originality and imagination. Although one normally associates creativeness with artists and poets, people of all ages and from all walks of life can demonstrate creativity in a wide variety of ways. A child can create an imaginary village from an odd assortment of sticks and stones.
A factory worker can solve a complex mechanical problem in an inventive fashion. An advertising agent can think up inexpensive and humorous ways to reach a new clientele (顾客).
Creativity does not necessarily require sophisticated skills or great intelligence. The creative process often involves intuitive perception, “lateral thinking (横向思维)”, and experimentation by trial and error. In other words, a creative person might guess at a possible solution, pull in comparisons from totally unrelated fields, and accept mistakes as a normal part of problem-solving.
Are there situations or attitudes that inhibit or prevent creativity? Teachers who regard energetic and inquisitive children as “naughty” probably discourage creativity. A boss who feels threatened by employees questioning old ways and who calls suggestions a “nuisance (麻烦事)” is not favoring creativity in the workplace. Parents who expect their children to draw or paint like great masters will not tolerate “messy” or “ugly” artwork, which actually may be creative. An educational system that fosters creativity presupposes the positive value of individualism. Cultures that stress collectivism and group solidarity may not place great importance on individual expressions of creativity. Societies or institutions based on a hierarchical distribution of power may regard individual creativity as irrelevant and destabilizing.
In the United States, Canada and Australia increasing efforts have been made to integrate strategies into the educational system that help children to learn “by doing”, by “hands-on” classwork and by special “projects”. All of these student-centered activities are designed to teach children to draw conclusions from their own observations, or from those of their group, and especially to learn how to research a topic on their own. Science fairs and Science Olympics encourage schoolchildren to invent all kinds of things. Children are also expected to ask questions and work independently at a very young age. Creative writing classes allow children to write short stories and novels. The quality may be not so good, but the aim is to give students total freedom to experiment.
Creativity
Unit 4
50 Unit 4
PART 1 Preparation
1 What’s My Line?
1 ACTRESS 2 WAITER 3 ARTIST 4 BUTCHER 5 BANKER 6 ACTOR
2 Optical Illusion and Imagination
Sample
Looking inside: a room, a door, a window, a basket, a part of a corridor, a passage, a chimney Looking forward: a platform, a key of a keyboard, the back side of the TV, the roof of a building, a
piece of chocolate, a pyramid
Looking flat: a handkerchief with plain shapes, a screen hanging on the wall Looking from the upper side: a box, a cube
3 Creative Designs
Sample
• Among the different kinds of cell phones, the touch-screen cell phone is outstanding. It is very thin, comfortable to hold, and very easy to use. The creative design, including its multi-touch high-resolution (高分辨率) display, provides the user with amazing new applications.
• Last winter vacation I went to a seaside resort in the southern part of China with my parents.
I found the street lights there were powered by both wind and solar energy. The wind blades that kept revolving looked not only beautiful but also alive. And the solar panels made quite a scene—lying quiet like a group of dark mirrors. We appreciated their designs and were aware of their contributions (green energy) to a cleaner world.
PART 2 Reading-Centered Activities
In-Class Reading
Pre-Reading
Sample
1 • No. When I was very young, my parents usually made the decisions and I obeyed. If I did not obey, I would be punished. They meant well and wanted to teach me the right moral values andwaysofbehaviorsothatIwouldn’tmakemistakes.Butsometimes,Ithinktheyshould
have let me explore the world and discover things by myself. I think children are clever enough tothinkforthemselvesandshouldbeencouragedtomaketheirowndecisions.Bydoingso,
they wouldn’t feel uneasy or at a loss when their parents are not around.
51 Creativity
• Yes. My parents, especially my father, favor a democratic style of parenting. They seldom impose their opinions on me and most of the time they let me make decisions for myself.
Sometimes I even make important decisions. For instance, I once discussed with them which university I should enter and which major I should choose. I knew they’d like me to stay in my hometown, but they never told me that when they learned I had decided to enter a university far away from home. That’s why I’m here, in the university of my own choice.
2 • Yes. I could talk freely with the guests of our family, especially when the visitors were our relatives or close friends of my parents. It doesn’t mean I joined them all the time. I talked with them only about topics I knew about or I was interested in. If I had not been allowed to speak to them, I would have felt like a small child or an outsider even though I was not really young, and I would not have felt like part of the family. Thanks to my parents it didn’t take me long to adjust to the new environment when I entered the university two years ago.
• No, they never did. They thought what adults were talking about was none of a child’s business.
And they also believed it was impolite for a child to interfere with adults’ business. To them, children and adults were not of the same rank. So I was never allowed to be involved in their conversation. I felt I was neglected. In order to capture their attention, I deliberately became mischievous. As you can imagine, this kind of behavior brought about even worse situations.
Passage Reading
Words, Phrases and Grammatical Points
1 Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a characteristic of high intelligence. (Lines 1-3, Para. 5)
句中nor后面的句子是倒装句。当某些表示否定意义的词或短语位于句首时（否定词修饰主语时除外），
句子应倒装。
e.g. I) Neither at this meeting nor at the previous one did anyone raise the problem.
II) She will not leave, nor will she allow him to continue treating her badly.
III) Never have I seen such a nice movie.
IV) I’m not able to see the difference, nor is my husband.
V) Not until many years later did the whole truth become known.
2 be up to (Line 20, Para. 7)
除了文中提到的用法外，be up to还可以表示be left to sb. to decide about sth.的意义。
e.g. I) “Shall we go out?” “It’s up to you.”
II) Whether he took it or not was up to him.
3 nature (Line 4, Para. 9)
The word has the following meanings:
1 typical qualities and characteristics of a person or an animal
e.g. I) It’s human nature that parents should be fond of their children.
II) Apes are curious by nature.
52 Unit 4
2 the physical world including all living things as well as the land and the seas e.g. I) Man is engaged in a constant struggle with nature.
II) We grew up in the countryside, surrounded by the beauties of nature.
3 the qualities or features that sth. has
e.g. I) What is the nature of Jim’s business?
II) He examined the nature of the relationship between the two communities.