2009年12月英語四六級閱讀理解主旨題名師精解

　　18 It is commonly believed in the United States that school is where people go to get an education. Nevertheless, it has been said that today children interrupt their education to go to school. The difference between schooling and education implied by this remark is important.

　　Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling. Education knows not limits. It can take place anywhere, whether in the school or on the job, whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both the formal learning that takes place in schools and the whole universe of informal learning. The agent (doer) of education can vary from respected grandparents to the people arguing about politics on the radio, from a child to a famous scientist. Whereas schooling has a certain predictability(可預(yù)料性), education quite often produces surprises. A chance conversation with a strange may lead a person to discover how little is know of other religious (宗教) . People receive education from infancy(嬰幼兒) on. Education, then, is a very broad, inclusive term. It is a lifelong process, a process that starts long before the start of school, and one that should be a necessary of one’s entire life.

　　Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern varies little from one setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive school at about the same time, take the assigned seats, are taught by the adult, use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on. The pieces of reality that are to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of the workings of government, have been limited by the subjects being taught. For example, high school students know that they are likely to find out in their classes the truth about political problems in their society or what the newest filmmakers are experimenting with. There are clear undoubtful conditions surrounding the formalized of schooling.

　　What is the main idea of this passage?

　　A The best schools teach a variety of subjects.

　　B Education and schooling are quite different experiences.

　　A. The more years students go to schools, the better their education.

　　B. Students benefit from schools, which require bong hours and homework.

　　19 Since the beginning of time, man has invented many interesting things. Some of these inventions, like numbers, the alphabet and the radio, have certainly changed history. Since 1946, one of the most important inventions has been the computer. It will change all our lives.

　　At one time it was as large as a room, and quite difficult and slow to operate. But, since the invention of the silicon ship, which is really a very very small electric circuit, computers have been greatly improved. They have become smaller, easier to use, and faster; they can store a lot more information.

　　Some computer are made as well as television sets. Simple computers can be made smaller than a book. And computers are getting smaller all the time.

　　There are several reasons why the computer is useful to us. Firstly, it can store a very very large quantity of information in its memory. Secondly, the computer can operate very quickly –thousands of times faster than a human—and it will not tire. Thirdly, modern computers can be built into other kinds of machines, like radios, cars, planes and so on. They can do many kinds of work.

　　Soon, almost everyone, either at home or at work, will use some kind of computer. the lives of all of us will be changed by this invention.

　　The main idea of this passage is ____

　　A how the computer came into being

　　B that computers ate getting smaller and smaller all the time

　　C that the computer will change the lives of all of us

　　D that modern computers can be built into other machine