A
Five years ago，when I taught art at a school in Seattle, I used Tinkertoys as a test at the beginning of a term to find out something about my students.I put a small set of Tinkertoys in front of each student, and said：“Make something out of the Tinkertoys.You have 45 minutes today—and 45 minutes each day for the rest of the week.”
A few students hesitated to start.They waited to see what the rest of the class would do.Several others checked the instructions and made something according to one of the model plans provided.Another group built something out of their own imaginations.
Once I had a boy who worked experimentally with Tinkertoys in his free time.His constructions filled a shelf in the art classroom and a good part of his bedroom at home.I was delighted at the presence of such a student.Here was an exceptionally creative mind at work.His presence meant that I had an unexpected teaching assistant in class whose creativity would infect(感染) other students.
Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside.I ran the risk of losing those students who had a different style of thinking.Without fail one would declare, “But I'm just not creative.”
“Do you dream at night when you're asleep？”
“Oh, sure.”
“So tell me one of your most interesting dreams.”The student would tell something wildly imaginative.Flying in the sky or in a time machine or growing three heads.“That's pretty creative.Who does that for you？”
“Nobody.I do it.”
“Really—at night，when you're asleep？”
“Sure.”
“Try doing it in the daytime，in class，okay？”
【语篇解读】 本文是一篇记叙文。作为一名教师，作者用一种玩具培养孩子们的创造性和动手能力，其中一个孩子的创造性引起了作者的注意。
1．The teacher used Tinkertoys in class in order to .
A．know more about the students
B．make the lessons more exciting
C．raise the students' interest in art
D．teach the students about toy design
【解析】 细节理解题。从题干的in order to判断，本题询问作者在课堂使用这种玩具的目的，第一段提到as a test...to find out something about my students，由此可知作者的目的是更多地了解自己的学生，因此选A项。B项“让课程更激动人心”，C项“提高学生们对艺术的兴趣”，D项“教学生玩具设计”，均不是作者的目的。
【答案】 A
2．What do we know about the boy mentioned in Paragraph 3?
A．He liked to help his teacher.
B．He preferred to study alone.
C．He was active in class.
D．He was imaginative.
【解析】 推理判断题。第三段作者描述这个学生，说他特别有创造性(was an exceptionally creative mind at work)，因此选D项。imaginative有想象力的。作者在该段说他的创造力能够感染班上其他学生，这让作者意外地有了一个教学帮手，没有说他喜欢帮助老师(A项错)，文章没有提到他更喜欢独自一个人学习(B项错)，也没有提到他在课堂上非常活跃(C项错)。
【答案】 D
3．What does the underlined word “downside” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
A．Mistake. B．Drawback.
C．Difficulty. D．Burden.
【解析】 词义猜测题。前文提到作者很喜爱这个学生，说这个学生的创造性能够感染其他学生，下文说“冒着失去那些有不同的思考风格的学生的风险”，根据语境前后的对比判断，downside的含义应该是drawback“不利条件，缺点”，而不是mistake“错误”，difficulty“困难”，burden“负担”。
【答案】 B
4．Why did the teacher ask the students to talk about their dreams?
A．To help them to see their creativity.
B．To find out about their sleeping habits.
C．To help them to improve their memory.
D．To find out about their ways of thinking.
【解析】 推理判断题。根据题干信息可知本题考查的是文章后半部分对话的信息。作者鼓励学生讲述他们最有趣的梦，然后鼓励学生说，“白天在课堂上也试一试做梦，好吗？”由此推断，作者让学生讲述他们的梦，是为了帮助学生看到自己的创造性，因此选A项。B项“为了弄清楚他们的睡眠习惯”，C项“为了帮助他们提高记忆力”，D项“为了弄清楚他们的思维方式”，均不是作者的目的。
【答案】 A
