【小阅读^大脑袋】0324 NO.342

When Andrea Peterson landed her first teaching job, she faced the daunting task of creating a music program with almost no money for equipment or supplies in a climate where standards-based learning was the focus and music just provided a break for students and teachers.

For her drive and creativity in overcoming those challenges, she’s been named national teacher of the year.

Principal Waynes Kettler said he’s worked with many outstanding teachers in his 22 years as an educator, but Peterson is “just that one step above anybody I’ve ever worked with before.”

Kettler and others at Monte Cristo Elementary School talk about the ways she has introduced the learning from other classrooms into her music program and her creativity in working around things such as the lack of money for new music.

When students were reading S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders in their regular classroom, Peterson helped them write a 30-minute play with scenes from the book. Then they chose three Broadway tunes that focused on race, equality and social justice, the themes of the book. Peterson composed two other songs herself after classroom discussions about the play and the book.

The honor means a lot to residents of Granite Foils. It’s inspiring to know that people from small towns own even win national honors.

As national teacher of the year, Peterson will spend the more year outside the classroom, as a national and international spokeswoman for education. Not surprisingly, she is a big believer in the value of arts education. She said it’s essential for schools to offer classes such as art or music and physical education because for some kids one of those subjects is the only thing that motivates them to come back to school day after day.
ABA
答案解析：
1．The underlined word “daunting” in Paragraph 1 most probably means __________.
A．discouraging
B．interesting
C．creative
D．unbearable
解析：A正确
第一段中划线的单词是什么意思？
将选项逐个带入原文体会上下文意思，从后面的条件可以看出这件任务很困难的，因为缺乏很多必需的条件，所以可以说这件任务是令人沮丧的。B,C两个词是积极的，与后文矛盾。D，难以忍受的，说任务难以忍受这样的搭配不符合表达习惯

 

2．What is the most important reason that Peterson won the award?
A．She concerned herself with current social problems.
B．She motivated students to learn music with her creativity.
C．She has taught music at the elementary school for 22 years.
D．She makes great efforts to amuse students’ interest in literature.
解析：B正确
Peterson获奖的最重要的理由是什么？
文中不断强调了她音乐教学的创造性，这就是关键词。而其他选项与原文不符

3．In Peterson’s opinion, ____________.
A．art music and PE classes are all important
B．more subjects should be offered to students
C．students should be motivated to attend art classes
D．arts education is more important than other subjects
解析：A正确
Peterson认为什么？
可以从文章最后一段她的话中总结出来。

参考译文：
当Andrea Peterson得到她的第一份教师工作时, 她面对的是一件让人望而却步的工作——在没有任何资金来购买器材的情况下, 在一个以常规教育为重点而音乐只是作为师生的闲暇之用的环境里, 建立一个音乐教学计划。

她积极而富有创造力地克服这些困难, 使她被提名为国家年度最佳教师。

校长Waynes Kettler说,在他从事教育工作的22年中同许多优秀教师工作过, 但Peterson “就是要比其他任何我与之工作过的老师更高明一点。"

Kettler和其他Monte Cristo小学的同事谈论着她是怎样将其他课程的学习引入她的音乐教学中和她的创造力怎样帮助了她解决其他的难题,比如购买新音乐的资金短缺问题。

当学生们在他们日常的课堂上阅读苏西•辛顿的小说《局外人》, Peterson帮助着他们用小说中的情节改写成了一段30分钟的剧本. 然后他们选了三段表现了小说主题中的种族, 平等, 和社会公正等内容的现代歌剧音乐。 Peterson在与学生们进行了关于剧本和小说内容的课外讨论之后, 亲自谱写了另外两首歌曲。

这份荣誉对Granite Foil的居民有很大的意义。 一个小镇老师可以赢得国家级荣誉是一件振奋人心的事。

作为全国年度最佳教师, Peterson将因为她国家级和国际级的教育代言人的身份再离开她的教室一年时间. 并不意外的是, 她坚信艺术教育的价值。她说, 学校要为学生们提供诸如艺术,音乐和体育等科目，这是十分重要的, 因为对于一些孩子来说, 这些科目当中的一门是唯一促使他们每天到学校来的动力。

 

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词汇及短语：
daunting: 使人畏缩的
name: vt. 决定; 任命; 提名
compose: 创作(乐曲、诗歌等); 为…谱曲
inspiring: 鼓舞人的,激励的,启发灵感的;使人感兴趣的
essential: 必不可少的, 绝对必要的; 非常重要的

 

Notes:
《局外人》是一部极其著名并轰动一时的青少年成长小说。它极其尖锐地给我们展示了庞尼和他的伙伴们在成长的过程中所面临的严重的社会问题——贫富不同阶层之间的冲突，暴力和歧视。在作品的主人公庞尼的世界里有他的两个哥哥，三个好伙伴和他们的共同的敌人——生活在西城的富有的男孩儿们。本文论述了庞尼经过了一个伤人、逃亡和救人的经历后，对周围人的观点的改变，而这一改变正是庞尼成长的历程。

About Author:
The Outsiders. Hinton's first novel, begun when she was a high school sophomore, deals with teenage gang violence and has been described as "one of the most successful, and the most emulated, young adult books of all time." Credited with revolutionizing the young adult novel genre by portraying teenagers realistically, Hinton would follow her first success with novels such as That Was Then, This Is Now (1971), Rumble Fish (1975), Tex (1979), and Taming the Star Runner (1988).

苏西•辛顿是美国最受青少年欢迎的小说家，她的经典之作《斗鱼》曾获得美国图书协会（American Library Association，简称ALA）第一届马格瑞特•A•爱德华奖（Margaret A. Edwards Award）。《局外人》是她创作的第一部作品。