A
In New York City public schools, 176 different languages are spoken among the more than 1 million students. For 160,000 children, English is not their first language. New York's Department of Education makes learning better for these students by providing duallanguage programmes, in which students are taught in two languages, English and another one, like Russian or Chinese. Maths, social studies, science and all other regular courses are taught in both languages. And they learn about the culture of the other country.
Milady Baez, Deputy Chancellor of English Language Learners and Student Support, says these duallanguage programmes will help children succeed in the future. “The jobs of the future require that our students know more than one language. They are going to be travelling abroad; they are going to be communicating with people from all over the world. This will open doors for them.”
Middleschoolers might not have jobs on their minds yet. For Kequing Jaing, she likes keeping up her first language, Mandarin. “It makes me feel that I am home because I can speak in Chinese, learn in Chinese, while learning in English. So it makes me feel better and makes me understand more about the task I'm learning.”
Anastasia Hudikova came to the United States when she was 2 years old. She says the RussianEnglish programme keeps her connected to her heritage and her parents happy. “They're really happy about the programme. They are really happy that I can preserve my culture and my language, and that I can speak it fluently in school.”
The New York schools also offer duallanguage programmes in seven other languages: Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Korean, Polish and Spanish. There are plans to add even more languages in the future. While these duallanguage programmes are popular, some organisations in the US say teaching English comes first. US studies show that children who learn English early will be more successful later.
篇章导读:本文是一篇说明文。纽约市为公立学校的学生启动双语言项目,帮助孩子们更好地学习,他们不仅学语言,还学习另一国家的历史文化。
1.Duallanguage programmes in New York aim to ________.
A.help the students learn better
B.rid the students of homesickness
C.attract more international students
D.prevent the students from forgetting their culture
答案:A 细节理解题。由第一段第三句中的“New York's Department of Education makes learning better for these students by providing duallanguage programmes ...”可知,双语言项目旨在帮助孩子们更好地学习。
2.Who may not quite agree with duallanguage programmes?
A.Milady Baez.
B.Kequing Jaing.
C.Anastasia Hudikova's parents.
D.Some organisations in the US.
答案:D 细节理解题。由最后一段倒数第一、二句“While these duallanguage programmes are popular, some organisations in the US say teaching English comes first. US studies show that children who learn English early will be more successful later.”可知,一些美国的组织也许会反对这个双语计划,因为他们觉得英语更加重要。
3.The author writes the passage in order to ________.
A.encourage us to learn more languages
B.introduce duallanguage programmes in New York schools
C.advertise the duallanguage programmes
D.inspire more students to study in New York
答案:B 主旨大意题。文章主要介绍了纽约的公立学校帮助孩子们更好地学习的双语言项目。