The whole-word approach to reading stresses the meaning of words over the meaning of letters, thinking over decoding, developing a sight vocabulary of familiar words over developing the ability to unlock the pronunciation of unfamiliar words. It fits in with the self-directed, “learning how to learn” activities recommended by advocates (倡導者)of “open” classrooms and with the concept that children have to be developmentally ready to begin reading. Before 1963, no major publisher put out anything but these “Run-Spot-Run” readers.
However, in 1955, Rudolf Flesch touched off what has been called “the great debate” in beginning reading. In his best-seller Why Johnny Can’t Read, Flesch indicted(控訴)the nation’s public schools for miseducating students by using the look-say method. He said – and more scholarly studies by Jeane Chall and Rovert Dykstra later confirmed – that another approach to beginning reading, founded on phonics(語音學), is far superior.
Systematic phonics first teachers children to associate letters and letter combinations with sounds; it then teaches them how to blend these sounds together to make words. Rather than building up a relatively limited vocabulary of memorized words, it imparts a code by which the pronunciations of the vast majority of the most common words in the English language can be learned. Phonics does not devalue the importance of thinking about the meaning of words and sentences; it simply recognizes that decoding is the logical and necessary first step.
1. The author feels that counting on educators to teach reading correctly is _____________.
A) only logical and natural B) the expected position
C) probably a mistake D) merely effective instruction
2. The author indicts the look-say reading approach because _________________.
A) it overlooks decoding B) Rudolf Flesch agrees with him
C) he says it is boring D) many schools continue to use this method
3. One major difference between the look-say method of learning reading and the phonics method is _______________.
A) look-say is simpler B) Phonics takes longer to learn
C) look-say is easier to teach D) phonics gives readers access to far more words
4. The phrase “touch-off” (Para 3, Line 1) most probably means _____________.
A) talk about shortly B) start or cause
C) compare with D) oppose
5. According to the author, which of the following statements is true?
A) Phonics approach regards whole-word method as unimportant.
B) The whole-word approach emphasizes decoding.
C) In phonics approach, it is necessary and logical to employ decoding.
D) Phonics is superior because it stresses the meaning of words thus the vast majority of most common words can be learned.
【答案解析】
1. C)本題的線索是第一段的第二句話，其中的relying on educators與題干中的counting on educators 完全是同樣的意思。
2. A) 作者先在第一段的最后一句說“look-say”或“whole-word”的閱讀教學方法是失敗的，第二段分析了這種方法失敗的原因，是因為它“stresses the meaning of words over the meaning of letters, thinking over decoding…”
3. D) 文章在最后一段談到了phonics method的特點和好處，本題線索見該段的第二句話“Rather than building up a relatively limited vocabulary of memorized words, it imparts a code by which the pronunciations of the vast majority of the most common words in the English language can be learned”，可見這種方法能使學習者獲得更大的詞匯量。
4. B) 本題要求利用上下文猜測單詞的意思。根據(jù)第二段的最后一句，在1963年以前，出版的東西都是教授使用whole-word的方法的，緊接著用了轉(zhuǎn)折詞however，說在1955年，Rudolf Flesch“touched off”一場爭論，因此此處的touch off必然是“引起”的意思。
5. C) 本題要求有較好的綜合能力才能做得既快又準。從第二段中綜合出whole-word閱讀方法的特點：強調(diào)單詞的意思、沒有decoding;由此即可知B)、D)是錯的;在文章的最后一句話，作者指出Phonics does not devalue the importance of thinking about the meaning of words and sentences，所以A)也是不對的。
