There is no denying that students should learn something about how computers work, just as we expect them at least to understand that theinternal-combustion engine(内燃机 )has something to do with burning fuel, expanding gases andpistons(活塞) being driven. For people should have some basic idea of how the things that they use do what they do. Further, students might be helped by a course that considers the computer"s impact on society. But that is not what is meant by computer literacy. For computer literacy is not a form of literacy; it is a trade skill that should not be taught as a liberal art.Learning how to use a computer and learning how to program one are two distinct activities. A case might be made that the competent citizens of tomorrow should free themselves from their fear of computers. But this is quite different from saying that all ought to know how to program one. Leave that to people who have chosen programming as a career. While programming can be lots of fun, and while our society needs some people who are experts at it, the same is true of auto repair and violin-making.Learning how to use a computer is not that difficult, and it gets easier all the time as programs become more "user-friendly". Let us assume that in the future everyone is going to have to know how to use a computer to be a competent citizen. What does the phrase "learning to use a computer" mean It sounds like "learning to drive a car", that is, it sounds as if there is some set of definite skills that, once acquired, enable one to use a computer.In fact, "learning to use a computer" is much more like "learning to play a game", but learning the rules of one game may not help you play a second game, whose rules may not be the same. There is no such a thing as teaching someone how to use a computer. One can only teach people to use this or that program and generally that is easily accomplished. Learning to use a computer is getting easier all the time because ______.
A. programs are becoming less complicated
B. programs are designed to be convenient to users
C. programming is becoming easier and easier
D. programs are becoming readily available to computer users
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On average, American kids aged 3 to 12 spent 29 hours a week in school, eight hours more than they did in 1981. They also did more household work and participated in more of such organized activities as soccer andballet(芭蕾舞). Involvement in sports, in particular, rose almost 50% from 1981 to 1997: boys now spend an average of four hours a week playing sports; girls log half that time. All in all, however, children"s leisure time dropped from 40% of the day in 1981 to 25%."Children are affected by the same timecrunch(危机) that affects their parents," says Sandra Hofferth, who headed the recent study of children"s timetable. A chief reason, she says, is that more mothers are working outside the home. (Nevertheless, children in both double-income and "male breadwinner" households spent comparable amounts of time interacting with their parents, 19 hours and 22 hours respectively. In contrast, children spent only 9 hours with their single mothers.)All work and no play could make for some very messed-up kids. "Play is the most powerful way a child explores the world and learns about himself," says T. Berry Brazelton, professor at Harvard Medical School. Unstructured play encourages independent thinking and allows the young to negotiate their relationships with their peers, but kids aged 3 to 12 spent only 12 hours a week engaged in it.The children sampled spent a quarter of their rapidly decreasing "free time" watching television. But that, believe it or not, was one of the findings parents might regard as good news. If they"re spending less time in front of the TV set, however, kids aren"t replacing it with reading. Despite efforts to get kids more interested in books, the children spent just over an hour a week reading. Let"s face it, who"s got the time According to the author a child develops better if ______.
A. he has plenty of time reading and studying
B. he is left to play with his peers in his own way
C. he has more time participating in school activities
D. he is free to interact with his working parents
On average, American kids aged 3 to 12 spent 29 hours a week in school, eight hours more than they did in 1981. They also did more household work and participated in more of such organized activities as soccer andballet(芭蕾舞). Involvement in sports, in particular, rose almost 50% from 1981 to 1997: boys now spend an average of four hours a week playing sports; girls log half that time. All in all, however, children"s leisure time dropped from 40% of the day in 1981 to 25%."Children are affected by the same timecrunch(危机) that affects their parents," says Sandra Hofferth, who headed the recent study of children"s timetable. A chief reason, she says, is that more mothers are working outside the home. (Nevertheless, children in both double-income and "male breadwinner" households spent comparable amounts of time interacting with their parents, 19 hours and 22 hours respectively. In contrast, children spent only 9 hours with their single mothers.)All work and no play could make for some very messed-up kids. "Play is the most powerful way a child explores the world and learns about himself," says T. Berry Brazelton, professor at Harvard Medical School. Unstructured play encourages independent thinking and allows the young to negotiate their relationships with their peers, but kids aged 3 to 12 spent only 12 hours a week engaged in it.The children sampled spent a quarter of their rapidly decreasing "free time" watching television. But that, believe it or not, was one of the findings parents might regard as good news. If they"re spending less time in front of the TV set, however, kids aren"t replacing it with reading. Despite efforts to get kids more interested in books, the children spent just over an hour a week reading. Let"s face it, who"s got the time By mentioning "the same time crunch" (Line 1, Para. 2) Sandra Hofferth means ______.
A. children have little time to play with their parents
B. children are not taken good care of by their working parents
C. both parents and children suffer from lack of leisure time
D. both parents and children have trouble managing their time
It"s very interesting to note where the debate aboutdiversity(多样化) is taking place. It is taking place primarily in political circles. Here at the College Fund, we have a lot of contact with topcorporate(公司的) leaders; none of them is talking about getting rid of those instruments that produce diversity. In fact, they say that if their companies are to compete in the global village and in the global market place, diversity is an imperative. They also say that the need for talented, skilled Americans means we have to expand the pool of potential employees. And in looking at where birth rates are growing and at where the population is shifting, corporate America understands that expanding the pool means promoting policies that help provide skills to more minorities, more women and more immigrants. Corporate leaders know that if that doesn"t occur in our society, they will not have the engineers, the scientists, the lawyers, or the business managers they will need.Likewise, I don"t hear people in the academy saying. "Let"s go backward. Let"s go back to the good old days, when we had ameritocracy(不拘一格选人才)" (which was never true—we never had a meritocracy, although we"ve come closer to it in the last 30 years). I recently visited a great little college in New York where the campus has doubled its minority population in the last six years. I talked with an African American who has been a professor there for a long time, and she remembers that when she first joined the community, there were fewer than a handful of minorities on campus. Now, all of us feel the university is better because of the diversity. So where we hear this debate is primarily in political circles and in the media—not in corporate board rooms or on college campuses. High corporate leaders seem to be in favor of promoting diversity so as to ______.
A. lower the rate of unemployment
B. win equal political rights for minorities
C. be competitive in the world market
D. satisfy the demands of a growing population
There is no denying that students should learn something about how computers work, just as we expect them at least to understand that theinternal-combustion engine(内燃机 )has something to do with burning fuel, expanding gases andpistons(活塞) being driven. For people should have some basic idea of how the things that they use do what they do. Further, students might be helped by a course that considers the computer"s impact on society. But that is not what is meant by computer literacy. For computer literacy is not a form of literacy; it is a trade skill that should not be taught as a liberal art.Learning how to use a computer and learning how to program one are two distinct activities. A case might be made that the competent citizens of tomorrow should free themselves from their fear of computers. But this is quite different from saying that all ought to know how to program one. Leave that to people who have chosen programming as a career. While programming can be lots of fun, and while our society needs some people who are experts at it, the same is true of auto repair and violin-making.Learning how to use a computer is not that difficult, and it gets easier all the time as programs become more "user-friendly". Let us assume that in the future everyone is going to have to know how to use a computer to be a competent citizen. What does the phrase "learning to use a computer" mean It sounds like "learning to drive a car", that is, it sounds as if there is some set of definite skills that, once acquired, enable one to use a computer.In fact, "learning to use a computer" is much more like "learning to play a game", but learning the rules of one game may not help you play a second game, whose rules may not be the same. There is no such a thing as teaching someone how to use a computer. One can only teach people to use this or that program and generally that is easily accomplished. To be the competent citizens of tomorrow, people should ______.
A. try to lay a solid foundation in computer science
B. be aware of how the things that they use do what they do
C. learn to use a computer by acquiring a certain set of skills
D. understand that programming a computer is more essential than repairing a car