Exceptional children are different in some significant way from others of the same age. For these children to develop to their full adult potential. their education must be adapted to those differences.
Although we focus on the needs of exceptional children, we find ourselves describing their environment as well. While the leading actor on the stage captures our attention, we are aware of the importance of the supporting players and the scenery of the play itself. Both the family and the society in which exceptional children live are often the key to their growth and development. And it is in the public schools that we find the full expression of society's understanding - the knowledge, hopes, and fears that are passed on to the next generation.
Education in any society is a mirror of that society. In that mirror we can see the strengths, the weaknesses, the hopes, the prejudices, and the central values of the culture itself. The great interest in exceptional children shown in public education over the past three decades indicates the strong feeling in our society that all citizens, whatever their special conditions, deserve the opportunity to fully develop their capabilities.
"All men are created equal." We've heard it many times, but it still has important meaning for education in a democratic society. Although the phrase was used by this country's founders to denote equality before the law, it has also been interpreted to mean equality of opportunity. That concept implies educational opportunity for all children - the right of each child to receive help in learning to the limits of his or her capacity, whether that capacity be small or great. Recent court decisions have confirmed the right of all children - disabled or not - to an appropriate education, and have ordered that public schools take the necessary steps to provide that education. In response, schools are modifying their programs, adapting instruction to children who are exceptional, to those who cannot profit substantially from regular programs.
训练题
59. In paragrah 2 . the author cites the example of the leading actor on the stage to show that ________.
[A] the growth of exceptional children has much to do with their family and the society
[B] exceptional children are more influenced by their families than normal children are
[C] exceptional children are the key interest of the family and society
[D] the needs of the society weigh much heavier than the needs of the exceptional children
60. The reason that the exceptional children receive so much concern in education is that ________.
[A] they are expected to be leaders of the society
[B] they might become a burden of the society
[C] they should fully develop their potentials
[D] disabled children deserve special consideration
61. This passage mainly deals with ________.
[A] the differences of children in their learning capabilities
[B] the definition of exceptional children in modern society
[C] the special educational programs for exceptional children
[D] the necessity of adapting education to exceptional children
62. From this passage we learn that the educational concern for exceptional children ________.
[A] is now enjoying legal support
[B] disagrees with the tradition of the country
[C] was clearly stated by the country's founders
[D] will exert great influence over court decisions
参考答案：ACDA
"I have great confidence that by the end of the decade we'll know in vast detail how cancer cells arise," says microbiologist Robert Weinberg, an expert on cancer. "But," he cautions, "some people have the idea that once one understands the causes, the cure will rapidly follow. Consider Pasteur, he discovered the causes of many kinds of infections, but it was fifty or sixty years before cures were available."
This year, 50 percent of the 910,000 people who suffer from cancer will survive at least five years. In the year 2000, the National Cancer Institute estimates, that figure will be 75 percent. For some skin cancers, the five-year survival rate is as high as 90 percent. But other survival statistics are still discouraging - 13 percent for lung cancer, and 2 percent for cancer of the pancreas.
With as many as 120 varieties in existence, discovering how cancer works is not easy. The researchers made great progress in the early 1970s, when they discovered that oncogenes, which are cancer-causing genes, are inactive in normal cells. Anything from cosmic rays to radiation to diet may activate a dormant oncogene, but how remains unknown. If several oncogenes are driven into action, the cell, unable to turn them off, becomes cancerous.
The exact mechanisms involved are still mysterious, but the likelihood that many cancers are initiated at the level of genes suggests that we will never prevent all cancers. "Changes are a normal part of the evolutionary process," says oncologist William Hayward, Environmental factors can never be totally eliminated; as Hayward points out, "We can't prepare a medicine against cosmic rays."
The prospects for cure, though still distant, are brighter.
"First, we need to understand how the normal cell controls itself, Second, we have to determine whether there are a limited number of genes in cells which are al-ways responsible for at least part of the trouble. If we can understand how cancer works, we can counteract its action."
训练题
63. The example of Pasteur in the passage is used to ?________.
[A] predict that the secret of cancer will be disclosed in a decade
[B] indicate that the prospects for curing cancer are bright
[C] prove that cancer will be cured in fifty to sixty years
[D] warn that there is still a long way to go before cancer can be conquered
64. The author implies that by the year 2000, ________.
[A] there will be a drastic rise in the five-year survival rate of skin-cancer patients
[B] 90 percent of he skin-cancer patients today will still be living
[C] the survival statistics will be fairly even among patients with various cancers
[D] there won' t be a drastic increase of survival rate of all cancer patients
65. Oncogenes are cancer-causing genes ??________.
[A] that are always in operation in a healthy person
[B] which remain unharmful so long as they are not activated
[C] that can be driven out of normal cells
[D] which normal cell can't turn off
66. The word "dormant" in the third paragraph most probably means ________.
[A] dead
[B] ever-present
[C] inactive
[D] potential
参考答案：DDBC