A
(2019·东北三省四市教研联合体高三模拟)“Her grades are fine; I’m not worried about that, but she just doesn’t seem to love learning any more，” Alice’s mum said.
She’s absolutely right. I’d noticed the same thing about her daughter over the previous two or three years when I’d been Alice’s middle school English, Latin, and writing teacher, and I have an answer, right there on the tip of my tongue, to what has gone wrong. Yet I’m torn between my responsibility to help Alice and the knowledge that what I have to say is a truth I’m not sure this mother is ready to hear.
The truth for this parent and so many others is this: Her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar(圣坛) of achievement, and it’s our fault. Alice’s parents, her teachers, society at large—we are all supposed to be blamed in this crime against learning. From her first day of school, we pointed her toward that altar and trained her to measure her progress by means of points, scores, and awards.We taught Alice that her potential is tied to her intellect(智力), and that her intellect is more important than her character. We taught her to come home proudly bearing grade As, championship prizes, and college acceptance, and not on purpose, we taught her that we don’t really care how she obtains them. We taught her to protect her academic and extracurricular perfection at all costs and that it’s better to quit when things get challenging rather than risk losing that perfect record. Above all else, we taught her to fear failure. That fear is what has destroyed her love of learning.
【解题导语】 本文通过Alice的例子说明了父母、老师和社会有时会扼杀孩子的好奇心和对学习的热爱。
1．Both the mother and the author have noticed that________．
A．Alice hates to tell them the truth
B．Alice’s test scores are not so good
C．Alice chooses several subjects to learn
D．Alice doesn’t enjoy studying any more
D 解析：细节理解题。根据第一段中的“but she just doesn’t seem to love learning any more”和第二段中的“I’d noticed the same thing about her daughter”可知，Alice的妈妈和作者都注意到了Alice 不再喜欢学习。
2．What does the underlined word “torn” mean in the passage?
A．Pained to choose.
B．Guilty to quit.
C．Tired to manage.
D．Certain to decide.
A 解析：词义猜测题。根据画线词后的“between my responsibility...and the knowledge that what I have to say is a truth”可知，作者在两者之间很难选择。
3. What does the teacher think of the girl?
A．Her academic perfection results from her character.
B．She is a gifted girl with spirits of challenging.
C．She is perfect in her character development.
D．Her academic performance is great.
D 解析：细节理解题。根据第三段中的“We taught her to protect...at all costs”可知，Alice的学业表现很好。
4．What leads to the girl’s change?
A．A few failure experiences.
B．Fear of failing to get good grades.
C．Her mother’s overprotection.
D．Her not being accepted by colleges.
B 解析：细节理解题。根据第三段中的“We taught her to protect...That fear is what has destroyed her love of learning.”可知，害怕失败毁掉了Alice对学习的热爱。
