There is a common belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling.

There is a common belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have taught in has ever considered spelling unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, quite different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority (优先) it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is how to encourage a child to express himself freely in writing without holding him back with spelling.
If spelling becomes the only point of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to play safe. He will write only words within his spelling range. That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.
I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling mistakes. It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupils' technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad thing for the teacher who had omitted (略过)to read the composition, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the mistakes, but if his priority had centered on the child's ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more hope to seek improvement.
【小题1】Teachers differ in their opinions about .A．the difficulties in teaching spellingB．the necessity of teaching spellingC．the importance of the basic writing skillsD．the role of spelling in general language development【小题2】The expression play safe probably means .A．to write carefullyB．to avoid using words one is not sure ofC．to use dictionaries frequentlyD．to do as teachers say【小题3】Teachers encourage the use of dictionaries so that .A．students will be able to express their ideas more freely.B．teachers will have less trouble in correcting mistakes.C．students will have more trust in writing.D．students will learn to spell words correctly.【小题4】The main idea of the passage is .A．the importance of developing writing skillsB．the importance of spellingC．the correct way of marking compositionD．the relationship between spelling and the content of a compositionＤ

(答案→)Ｄ 解析：文章介绍了老师对待拼写不同的看法，如果把拼写放在很重要的地位，就会造成学生只撑握老师让拼写的单词，使学生在词的使用上，自由的表达自己的思想感情上受的限制，而不重视拼写又会造成学生在写作文时出现很多的错误。对两种情况加以陈述。【小题1】 Ｄ细节理解题。There are, however, quite different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority (优先) it must be given over general language development and writing ability.在对待怎么去教拼写或者在培养学生的语言表达和写作能力上拼写有多大的优先上存在两种不同的观点。所以答案应为Ｄ，即拼写在语言发展中的角色上有不同的观点。【小题2】Ｂ词义理解题。 If spelling becomes the only point of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to play safe. He will write only words within his spelling range.如果拼写成为老师唯一感兴趣的，很显然聪明的孩子似乎就会“play safe”.他就仅会在他（需要拼写的）范围内去拼写。意思就是说失去了使用那些不需要拼写单词的机会。避免使用他没有把握的单词。故答案应为B。【小题3】Ａ细节判断题。That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.意思是：那就是老师经常鼓励学生使用词典，把注意力放在内容上而不是技术能力上的原因。由此可以看出，让学生使用词典是为了让学生能够更自由的表达自己（的思想观点）故答案为A。【小题4】Ｄ综合理解题。文章的第一自然段点明对待拼写有两种不同的观点，下文介绍了让学生拼写会限制学生主动使用新的词汇影响他们表达自己的思想，不让学生拼写会造成在作文中很多的拼写错误，故答案为D，介绍了拼写与写作的关系。【考点】考查教育类文章的阅读理解。

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