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  3. There is a great concern in Europe and North America about declining standards of literacy in schools. In Britain, the fact that

There is a great concern in Europe and North America about declining standards of literacy in schools. In Britain, the fact that

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问题    There is a great concern in Europe and North America about declining standards of literacy in schools. In Britain, the fact that 30 percent of 16 year old have a reading age of 14 or less has helped to prompt massive educational changes. The development of literacy has far-reaching effects on general intellectual development and thus anything which impedes the development of literacy is a serious matter for us all. So the hunt is on for the cause of the decline in literacy. The search so far has forced on socioeconomic factors, or the effectiveness of "traditional" versus "modem" teaching techniques.
   The fruitless search for the cause of the increase in illiteracy is a tragic example of the saying "They can’t see the wood for the trees". When teachers use picture books, they are simply continuing a long-establisbed tradition that is accepted without question. And for the past two decades, illustrations in reading primers have become increasingly detailed and obtrusive, while language has become impoverished -- sometimes to the point of extinction.
   Amazingly, there is virtually no empirical evidence to support the use of illustrations in teaching reading. On the contrary, a great deal of empirical evidence shows that pictures interfere in a damaging way with all aspects of learning to read. Despite this, from North America to the Antipodes, the first books that many school children receive are totally without text.
   A teacher’s main concern is to help young beginning readers to develop not only the ability to recognize words, but the skills necessary to understand what these words mean. Even if a child is able to read aloud fluently, he or: she may not be able to understand much of it: this is called "barking at text". The teacher’s task of improving comprehension is made harder by influences outside the classroom. But the adverse effects of such things as television, video games, or limited language experiences at home, can be offset by experiencing "rich" language at school.
   Instead, it is not unusual for a book of 30 or more pages to have only one sentence full of repetitive phrases. The artwork is often marvellous, but the pictures make the language redundant, and the children have no need to imagine anything when they read such books. Looking at a picture actively prevents children younger than nine from creating a mental image, and can make it difficult for older children. In order to learn how to comprehend, they need to practise making their own meaning in response to text. They need to have their innate powers of imagination trained.
   As they grow older, many children turn aside from books without pictures, and it is a situation made more serious as our culture becomes more visual. It is hard to wean children off picture books when pictures have played a major part throughout their formative reading experiences, and when there is competition for their attention from so many other sources of entertainment. The least intelligent are most vulnerable, but tests show that even intelligent children are being affected. The response of educators has been to extend use of pictures in books and to simplify the language, even at senior levels. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge recently held joint conferences to discuss the noticeably rapid decline in literacy among their undergraduates.
   Pictures are also used to help motivate children to read because they are beautiful and eye-catching. But motivation to read should be provided by listening to stories well read, where children imagine in response to the story. Then, as they start to read, they have this experience to help them understand the language. If we present pictures to save children the trouble of developing these creative skills, then I think we are making a great mistake.
   Academic journals ranging from educational research, psychology, language learning, psycholinguistics, and so on cite experiments which demonstrate how detrimental pictures are for beginner readers. Here is a brief selection:
   The research results of the Canadian educationalist Dalt Willows were clear and consistent pictures affected speed and accuracy and the closer the pictures were to the words, the slower and more inaccurate the child’s reading became. She claims that when children come to a word they already know, then the pictures are unnecessary and distracting. If they do now know a word and look to the pictures which are not closely related to the meaning of the word they are trying to understand.
   Jay Samuels, an American psychologist, found that poor readers given no pictures learnt significanfly more words than those learning to read with books with pictures. He examined the work of other researchers who reported problems with the use of pictures and who had found that a word without a picture was superior to a word plus a picture. When children were given words and pictures, those who seemed to ignore the pictures and pointed at the words than children who pointed at the pictures, but they still learnt fewer words than the children who had no illustrated stimuli at all.
University academics are concerned because ______.
选项 A、young people are showing less interest in higher education
B、students cannot understand modem academic texts
C、academic books are too childish for their undergraduates
D、there has been a significant change in student literacy
答案D
解析 该题问：大学的学者们十分焦虑的原因是什么?A项意为“年轻人对高等教育不感兴趣”，这在文中没有提到。B项意为“学生不能理解现在的学术文章”，这是干扰项，推理不正确。C项意为“对于大学生来说，教科书简直太简单了”，原文没有提及。D项意为“学生的读写能力发生了巨大的变化”，在本文的第六段可以找到线索：The response of educators has been to extend the use of pictures in books and to simplify the language，even at senior levels．The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge recently held joint conferences to discuss the noticeably rapid decline in literacy among their undergraduates意为“教育家们已经开始对在高年级出现的使用图画和简化语言的现象做出反应。牛津和剑桥大学最近召开联合会议，讨论大学生读写能力下降的问题。因此可知D项为正确选项。
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