背诵

今天下午第二节课一上课，徐老师就在黑板上写了三项作业，分别是背成语、节气歌和对联。

刚开始背书时，我只是自己一个人在那里背。我觉得很茫然，不知从哪里开始背。我心想：“先背成语吧，因为第一个作业就是背成语，一定会很好背。”可是无论怎么背都不能把它背下来。这是当然的了，因为我那是死记硬背，怎么可能背得下来呢？

正当我发愁时，刘芷玥拍了拍我的肩膀对我说：“我们一起背好吗？”我说：“好呀！”刘芷玥说：“咱们背节气歌好吗？”我说：“好的。”我心想：“葫芦里究竟卖的什么药？我一定要搞清楚。”她双手打着拍子背道：“春雨惊春清谷天…”听完她背的后，我也和她一起背。当背到第三句时，我和她都忘词了。我急得把眼睛往书上瞅去。看到了！原来是这个字，真气人。我对刘芷玥说：“是秋处露秋寒霜降。”刘芷玥说：“哎呀，这么简单的我们都忘了，那我们一定要重来。”

这一次与以往不同，我编了一些可爱、搞笑的动作来帮助背诵，刘芷玥也编一些有趣的动作。如夏满芒夏暑相连，一背到“连”字，我们就把两只手的中指贴在一起，这样一下就会背了。刘芷玥做了一个从上到下急速下降的动作，我则把双手拼在一起，缓缓放下，像在接什么东西一样。你知道这是什么意思吗？对，意思就是从高高的天空中雪花飘落在地上。你看，虽然动作非常的简单，但表达的意思却又很清楚。它是不是要比想象的更简单呢？

下一个任务是背对联，有了这个方法，背对联在我眼里就只是个芝麻那么小的任务了。只读了一遍，我们就顺利地背下来了。原因是这样的：对联里的“余”和“鱼”是同音字，我们利用了这一点，一到“余”字就做小鱼游泳的动作。其余三副对联完全不在话下，我对刘芷玥说：“语文天地只要两副对联，我们挑两副简单的就是了。”她同意。这时，徐老师说要说要默写出来，可以在本子上复习。于是我默写了成语、对联和节气歌。有这么好的方法，背书就再不会占用那么多时间了。

原来，只要掌握记忆方法，就再也不用死记硬背了，能节约许多时间来干其他事。

1、请保留一份单纯，使你多一份与人的友善，少一些心灵的冷漠麻木;请保留一份单纯，使你多一份人生的快乐，少一些精神的衰老疲惫;请保留一份单纯，使你多一份奋进的力量，少一些故作高深的看破红尘。

2、成功是你梦寐以求的那朵红玫瑰，挫折正是那遍及周围的针刺。快乐是你辛勤耕耘获得的果实，悲伤正是那成熟前的秕粒。

3、天空收容每一片云彩，不论其美丑，所以天空宽阔无边。大地拥抱每一寸土地，不论其贫富，所以大地广袤无垠。海洋接纳每一条河流，不论其大小，所以海洋广阔无边。

4、当简爱说：“我们是平等的，我不是无感情的机器”，我懂得了作为女性的自尊;当裴多菲说：“若为自由故，两者皆可抛”，我懂得了作为人的价值;当鲁迅说：“不在沉默中爆发，就在沉默中灭亡”，我懂得人应具有反抗精神;当白朗宁说：“拿走爱，世界将变成一座坟墓”，我懂得了为他人奉献爱心的重要。

5、大厦巍然屹立，是因为有坚强的支柱，理想和信仰就是人生大厦的支柱;航船破浪前行，是因为有指示方向的罗盘，理想和信仰就是人生航船的罗盘;列车奔驰千里，是因为有引导它的铁轨，理想和信仰就是人生列车上的铁轨。

6、什么是幸福?幸福是果园里果农望着压满枝头果实的满脸喜色，幸福是教室里莘莘学子憧憬未来的动人笑脸，幸福是实验室里科学家又有新发现时的舒展眉头，幸福是领奖台上运动员仰望国旗冉冉升起时的莹莹泪光。幸福是奋斗的结晶，勤劳的丰碑。

7、未经历坎坷泥泞的艰难，哪能知道阳光大道的可贵;未经历风雪交加的黑夜，哪能体会风和日丽的可爱;未经历挫折和磨难的考验，怎能体会到胜利和成功的喜悦。挫折，想说恨你不容易……

8、幸福，时时刻刻围绕在你身旁。如果你从母亲手中接过饭碗，心存温馨，那就是幸福;如果你在灯下读着朋友的来信，品味友情，那就是幸福;如果你独坐一隅，静静听歌，凝神遐思，那就是幸福

9、有人说，幸福是星级宾馆里山珍海味间的觥筹交错;有人说，幸福是高档舞台厅里动人旋律中的翩翩起舞;有人说，幸福是端座奥迪、宝马车于人流如潮的大街上招摇过市;也有人说，幸福是待在密室里数着成叠的百元大钞;然而我要说：拥有这些，不一定就是真的拥有了幸福!

10、远去的飞鸟，永恒的牵挂是故林;漂泊的船儿，始终的惦记是港湾;奔波的旅人，无论是匆匆夜归还是离家远去，心中千丝万缕、时时惦念的地方，还是家。

11、幸福是什么?是功成名就、受人敬仰吗?是恬静悠闲、无牵无挂吗?是高朋满座、儿孙绕膝吗?我说：幸福是……。

12、人生就像一座山，重要的不是它的高低，而在于灵秀;人生就像一场雨，重要的不是它的大小，而在于及时。

13、要装进一杯新泉，你就必须倒掉已有的陈水;要获取一枝玫瑰，你就必须放弃到手的蔷薇;要多一份独特的体验，你就必须多一份心灵的创伤。

14、“指点江山，激扬文字”是一种豪迈的潇洒，“天生我材必有用”是一种自信的潇洒，“独钓寒江雪”是一种高洁的潇洒，“不破楼兰终不还”是一种悲壮的潇洒。

15、风从水上走过，留下粼粼波纹;阳光从云中穿过，留下丝丝温暖;岁月从树林走过，留下圈圈年轮，朋友，我们从时代的舞台上走过，留下了什么呢?

16、希望大海风平浪静，却常常有狂风和恶浪。希望江河一泻千里，却常常有旋涡和急流，希望生活美满幸福，却常常有悲伤和忧愁。

17。冬天的河干涸了，我相信，春水还会来临，那时白帆就是我心中的偶像;风中的树叶凋零了，我相信，泥土里的梦将在枝头开花结果。

18、天使的翅膀碎了，落到人间，成了我们的忧伤;诚信的被囊抛了，散到世上，成了撒旦的魔杖。

19、没有哪一种胭脂能涂抹时间，没有哪一件服装能掩饰灵魂，没有哪一套古籍能装潢空虚。

20、它可能是一座山，让你感受巍峨，它可能是一片海，让你体会壮阔，它可能是一首交响乐，让你领略激越，它可能是一座石雕，让你明白雄健。

21、在经受了失败和挫折后，我学会了坚韧;在遭受到误解和委屈时，我学会了宽容;在经历了失落和离别后，我懂得了珍惜。

22、不是苦恼太多，只是我们不懂生活;不是幸福太少，只是我们不懂把握。

23、责任感是诸葛孔明“鞠躬尽瘁，死而后已”写就的《出师表》，责任感是孔繁森离家别母血洒高原树立的公仆丰碑，责任感是贝多芬挑战人生超越自我谱写的《命运交响曲》。

24、金钱可以买来名贵的手表，但买不来宝贵的时间;金钱可以买来美味的食品，但买不好的胃口。

25、是一丛秋菊，也要散发芳香;是一片秋叶，也要装点大地;是一株古柏，也要撑起蓝天;是一眼古井，也要流出清泉。

26、尊重别人是一种美德，受人尊重重是一种幸福。

27、书是良药，刘向说：“书犹药也，善读可以医愚”;书是益友，臧克家说：“读过一本书，像交了一位益友”;书是窗户，高尔基说：“每一本书，都在我面前打开了一扇窗户”。

28、成熟是一种素质，一种源于心灵表于行动的素质;成熟是一种能力，一种自我约束自我管理的能力;成熟是一种态度，一种对任何事物都保持冷静的态度;成熟是一种心境，一种能看淡一切，万事淡如水的心境。

29、信念之于人，犹翅膀之于鸟，信念是飞翔的翅膀

30、爱心是一片照射在冬日的阳光，它使贫病交迫的人分外感到人间的温暖;爱心是一泓出现在沙漠的泉水，它使濒临绝境的人重新看到生活的希望。

31、包装是房子富丽堂皇的外壳，包装是丑妇手上绚丽的太阳伞，包装是模特在舞台上走出的一字猫步。

32、“慈母手中线，游子身上衣”说的是亲情;“人生得一知己足，斯世当以同怀视之”说的是友情，“曾经沧海难为水，除却巫山不是云”说的是爱情;“苟利国家生死以，岂因祸福避趋之”说的是爱国情。

在学生练习背诵达到一定程度时，为了进一步强化记忆，消除持续背诵造成的单调感、疲劳感，依据“寓教于乐”的原则，无妨采用以下方法来提高学生的背诵兴趣：①“对歌”式背诵法。即摹仿山区或某些兄弟民族“对歌”的方式，由甲、乙两个学生每人一句，轮流背诵;②“接力赛”式背诵法，即摹仿体育运动中接力赛跑的方式，由三个学生每人一句，上递下接，循环往复;③“叠罗汉”式背诵法，即摹仿杂技演员“叠罗汉”的方式由第一人背诵第一句，第二人接背二、三句，以下依次每人递增一句，连续不断，直到背完为止。以上方法不但趣味性强，而且参与面广，并能增强学生的群体意识，不妨一试。

写作的过程最后是一个输出的过程，它跟同学们大脑的语料库的积累，还有英文素材的积累和长期的修养是密不可分的。写作就跟银行存钱一样，零存整取，一点点的存进去，最后取出来的时候可以一大把一大把的取。如果我们平时背范文、背句子、背单词、背语法、背句型、背结构背得少，考前也没有进行练习的话，那考试中肯定会遇到很多的困难。所以这里建议大家去背诵考前背诵范文，背五篇左右是打底的，背到滚瓜烂熟，脱口而出。

挑代表性范文

考前应该大范围的进行准备，而不是把题目押到一两个上面。但是也不要求全部背诵，只要把里面的作文大部分进行精读和预览就可以了，可以挑出代表题型，图画作文、英语作文、还有图表作文以及提纲作文，至少每种各背一篇或者两篇，加在一起背五到八篇的范文就可以了。

作文一出生就是用来背的，背完后默写，修改，然后再接着背，接着默写，修改。我们学汉语学得这么溜的原因就是我们的脑子里有大量的文字性的片段和短语词汇之类的积累，想想你小时候语文老师教你背下来那些好词好段的用意，套用在英语上也能奏效，学习语言，没有比背诵更好的方法了。请16级备考的的童鞋们背完作文后务必要默写，然后对着原文一丝不苟的修改。另外，有一种“记住”叫做“你觉得你记住了”，别以为你背出来的就是原文，真写一遍你就知道你照葫芦画出来的究竟是瓢还是葫芦。

下面的材料旨在丰富学生在是非问题写作方面的思想和语言，考生在复习时可以先分类阅读这些篇章，然后尝试写相关方面的作文题。

对于素材中用黑体字的部分，特别建议你熟读，背诵，因为它们在语言和观点上都值得吸收。学习语言的人应该明白，表达能力和思想深度都靠日积月累，潜移默化。从某种意义上说，提高英语写作能力无捷径可走，你必须大段背诵英语文章才能逐渐形成语感和用英语进行表达的能力。这一关，没有任何人能代替你过。

因此，建议你下点苦功夫，把背单词的精神拿出来背诵文章。何况，并不是要求你背了之后永远牢记在心：你可以这个星期背，下个星期忘。这没有关系，相信你的大脑具有神奇的能力。背了工具箱里的文章后，你会惊讶的发现：I can think in English now！

1.?????? Proverbs

1. A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that individuality is the key to success.

2. The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one’s mind a pleasant place in which to spend one’s time.

3. Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.

4. The classroom--not the trench--is the frontier of freedom now and forevermore.

5. Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

6. It is the purpose of education to help us become autonomous, creative, inquiring people who have the will and intelligence to create our own destiny.

7. You see, real ongoing, lifelong education doesn’t answer questions; it provokes them.

8. People will pay more to be entertained than educated.

9.the most important function of education at any level is to develop the personality of the individual and the significance of his life to himself and to others. This is the basic architecture of a life; the rest is ornamentation and decoration of the structure.

10. The essence of our efforts to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each as equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different-to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind, and spirit he or she possesses.

11. A great teacher never strives to explain his vision-he simply invites you to stand beside him and see for yourself.

12. If you can read and don’, you are an illiterate by choice.

2. Damaging Research

A study by National Parent-Teacher Organization revealed that in the average American school, eighteen negatives are identified for every positive that is pointed out. The Wisconsin study revealed that when children enter the first grade, 80 percent of them feel pretty good themselves, but by the time they get to the sixth grade, only 10 percent of them have good self-images.

3. Education and Citizenship

An important aspect of education in the United States is the relationship between education and citizenship. Throughout its history this nation has emphasized public education as a means of transmitting democratic values, creating equality of opportunity, and preparing new generations of citizens to function in society. In addition, the schools have been expected to help shape society itself. During the 1950s, for example, efforts to combat racial segregation focused on the schools. Later, when the Soviet Union launched the first orbiting satellite, American schools and colleges came under intense pressure and were offered many incentives to improve their science and mathematics programs so that the nations would not fall behind the Soviet Union in scientific and technological capabilities.

Education is often viewed as a tool for solving social problems, especially social inequality. The schools, t is thought, can transform young people from vastly different backgrounds into competent, upwardly mobile adults. Yet these goals seem almost impossible to attain. In recent years, in fact, public education has been at the center of numerous controversies arising from the gap between the ideal and the reality. Part of the problem is that different groups in society have different have different expectations. Some feel that children should be taught basic job-related skills; still others believe education should not only prepare children to compete in society but also help them maintain their cultural identity (and, in the case of Hispanic children, their language). On the other hand, policymakers concerned with education emphasize the need to increase the level of student achievement and to improve parents in their children’s education.

Some reformers and critics have called attention to the need to link formal schooling with programs designed to address social problems. Sociologist Charles Moscos, for example, is a leader in the movement to expand programs like the Peace Corps, Vista, and Outward Bound into a system of voluntary national service. National service, as Moscos defines it, would entail “the full-time undertaking of public duties by young people whether as citizen soldiers or civilian servers-who are paid subsistence wages” and serve for at least one year. In return for this period of service, the volunteers would receive assistance in paying for college or other educational expenses.

Advocates of national service and school-to-work programs believe that education does not have to be confined to formal schooling. In devising strategies to provide opportunities for young people to serve their society, they emphasize the educational value of citizenship experiences gained outside the classroom. At this writing there is little indication that national service will become a new educational institution in the United States, although the concept is steadily gaining support among educators and social critics.

4. The Teacher’s Role

Given the undeniable importance of classroom experience, sociologists have done a considerable amount of research on what goes on in the classroom. Often they start from the premise that, along with the influence of peers, students’ experiences in the classroom are of central importance to their later development. One study examined the impact of a single first-grade teacher on her students’ subsequent adult status. The surprising results of this study have important implications. It is evident that good teachers can make a big difference in children’s lives, a fact that gives increased urgency to the need to improve the quality of primary-school teaching. The reforms carried out by educational leaders like James Comer suggest that when good teaching is combined with high levels of parental involvement the results can be even more dramatic.

Because the role of the teacher is to change the learner in some way, the teacher-student relationship is an important part of education. Sociologists have pointed out that this relationship is asymmetrical or unbalanced, with the teacher being in a position of authority and the student having little choice but to passively absorb the information provided by the teacher. In other words, in conventional classrooms there is little opportunity for the students to become actively involved in the learning process. On the other hand, students often develop strategies for undercutting the teacher’s authority: mentally withdrawing, interrupting, and the like. Hence, much current research assumes that students and teachers influence each other instead of assuming that the influence is always in a single direction.

5. Education Philosophy

For the past fifty years our schools have operated on the theories of John Dewey (1859-1953), an American educator and writer. Dewey believed hat the school’s job was to enhance the natural development of the growing child, rather than to pour information, for which the child had no context, into him or her. In the Dewey system, the child becomes the active agent in his own education, rather than a passive receptacle for facts.

Consequently, American schools are very enthusiastic about teaching “life skills” –logical thinking, analysis, creative problem--solving. The actual content of the lessons is secondary to the process, which is supposed to train the child to be able to handle whatever life may present, including all the unknowns of the future. Students and teachers both regard pure memorization as an uncreative and somewhat vulgar.

In addition to “life skills”, schools are assigned to solve the ever growing stoke of social problems. Racism, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, drug use, reckless driving, and are just a few of the modern problems that have appeared on the school curriculum.

This all contributes to a high degree of social awareness in American youngsters.

6. Student Life

To the students, the most notable difference between elementary school and the higher levels is that in junior high they start “changing classes”. This means that rather than spending the day in one classroom, they switch classrooms to meet their different teachers. This gives them three or four minutes between classes in the hallways, where a great deal of the important social action of high school traditionally takes place. Students have lockers in these hallways, around which thy congregate.

Society in general does not take the business of studying very seriously. Schoolchildren have a great deal of free time, which they are encouraged to fill with extracurricular activities—sports, clubs, cheerleading, scouts—supposed to inculcate such qualities as leadership, sportsmanship, ability to organize, etc. those who don’t become engaged in such activities or have afterschool jobs have plenty of opportunity to “hang out”, listen to teenager music, and watch television.

Compared to other nations, American students do not have much homework. Studies also show that American parents have lower expectations for their children’s success in school than other nationalities do. (Historically, there has not been much correlation between American school success and success in later life.) “He’s just not a scholar”, the American parents might say, content that their son is on the swim team and doesn’t take drugs. (Some of the young do choose to study hard, for reason of their own, such as determining that the road to riches lies through Harvard Business School.)

What American schools do effectively teach is the competitive method. In innumerable ways children are pitted against each other—whether in classroom discussion, spelling bees, reading groups, or tests. Every classroom is expected to produce a scattering of A’s and F’s (teachers often grade A=excellent; B=good; C=average; D=poor; and F=failed). A teacher who gives all A’s looks too soft—so students are aware that they are competing for the limited number of top marks.

Foreign students sometimes don’t understand that copying from other people’s papers or from books is considered wrong and taken seriously. Here, it is important to show that you have done your own work and are displaying your own knowledge. It is more important than helping your friends to pass, whom we think do not deserve to pass unless they can provide their own answers. Group effort goes against the competitive grain, and American students do not study together as many Asians do. Many Asians in this country consider their group study habits a large contributor to their school success.

7. Adult Education

After complaining about many aspects of American life, a 40-year-old woman from Hong Kong concluded, “But where else could someone my age go back to school and get a degree in social work? Here you can change your whole life, start a new business, do what you really want to do.”

So at least to this person, school requirements weren’t inhibiting. And to millions of others, adult education is the path to a new career, or if not to a new career, to a new outlook. Schools generally encourage the older person who wants to start anew, and besides regular classes, schedule evening classes in special programs. Today there are so many people of retirement age in college that it is no longer remarkable.

8. Moral Relativism in American

Improving American education requires not doing new things but doing (and remembering) some good old things. At the time of our nation’s founding, Thomas Jefferson listed the requirements for a sound education in the Report of the Commissioners for the University of Virginia. In this landmark statement on American education, Jefferson wrote of the importance of education and writing, and of reading history, and geography. But he also emphasized the need “to instruct the mass of our citizens in these, their rights, interests, and duties, as men and citizens.” Jefferson believed education should aim at the improvement of both one’s “morals” and “faculties”. That has been the dominant view of the aims of American education for over two centuries. But a number of changes, most of them unsound, have diverted schools from these great pursuits. And the story of the loss of the school’s original moral mission explains a great deal.

Starting in the early seventies, “values clarification” programs started turning up in schools all over America. According to this philosophy, the schools were not to take part in their time-honored task of transmitting sound moral values; rather, they were to allow the child to “clarify” his own values (which adults, including parents, had no “rights” to criticize). The “values clarification” movement didn’t clarify values; it clarified wants and desires. This form of moral relativism said, in effect, that no set of values was right or wrong; everybody had an equal right to his own values; and all values were subjective, relative, and personal. This destructive view took hold with a vengeance.

In 1985 The York Times published an article quoting New York area educators, in slavish devotion to this new view, proclaiming, “They deliberately avoid trying to tell students what is ethically right and wrong.” The article told of one counseling session involving fifteen high school juniors and seniors. In the course of that session a student concluded that a fellow student had been foolish to return one thousand dollars she found in a purse at school. According to the article, when the youngsters asked the counselor’s opinion, “He told them he believed the girl had done the right thing, but that, of course, he would not try to force his values on them. ‘If I come from the position of what is wrong,’ he explained, ‘then I’m not their counselor.’”

Once upon a time, a counselor offered counselor, and he knew that an adult does not form character in the young by taking a stance of neutrality toward questions of right and wrong or by merely offering “choices” or “options”.

In response to the belief that adults and educators should teach children sound morals, one can expect from some quarters indignant objections (I’ve heard one version of it expressed countless times over the years): “Who are you to say what’s important?” or “Whose standards and judgments do we use?”

The correct response, it seems to me, is, is we ready to do away with standards and judgments? Is anyone going to argue seriously that a life of cheating and swindling is as worthy as a life of honest, hard work? Is anyone (with the exception of some literature professors at our elite universities) going to argue seriously the intellectual corollary, that a Marvel comic book is as good as Macbeth? Unless we are willing to embrace some pretty silly position, we’ve got to admit the need for moral and intellectual standards. The problem is that some people tend to regard anyone who would pronounce a definitive judgment as an unsophisticated Philistine or a closed-minded “elitist” trying to impose his view on everybody else.

The truth of the real world is that without standards and judgments, there can be no progress. Unless we are prepared to say irrational things—that nothing can be proven more valuable than anything else or that everything is equally worthless—we must ask the normative question. It may come, as a surprise to those who fell that to be “progressive” is to be value-neutral. But as Matthew Amold said, “the world is forwarded by having its attention fixed on the best things” and if the world can’t decide what the best things are, at least to some degree, then it follows that progress, and character, is in trouble. We shouldn’t be reluctant to declare that some things, some lives, books, ideas, and values are better than others. It is the responsibility of the schools to teach these better things.

At one time, we weren’t so reluctant to teach them. In the mid-nineteenth century, a diverse, widespread group of crusaders began to work for the public support of what was then called the “common school”, the forerunner of the public school. They were to be charged with the mission of school felt that the nation could fulfill its destiny only if every new generation was taught these values together in a common institution.

The leaders of the common school movement were mainly citizens who were prominent in their communities—businessmen, ministers, local civic and government officials. These people saw the schools as upholders of standards of individual morality and small incubators of civic and personal virtue; the founders of the public schools had faith that public education could teach good moral and civic character from a common ground of American values.

But in the past quarter century or so, some of the so-called experts became experts of value neutrality, and moral education was increasingly left in their hands. The commonsense view of parents and the publicthat schools should reinforce rather than undermine the values of home, family, and country, was increasingly rejected.

There are those today still that claim we are now too diverse a nation, that we consist of too many competing convictions and interests to instill common values. They are wrong. Of course we are a diverse people. We have always been a diverse people. And as Madison wrote in FederalistNo.10, the competing, balancing interests of a diverse people can help ensure the survival of liberty. But there are values that all American citizens share and that we should want all American students to know and to make their own: honesty, fairness, self-discipline, fidelity to task, friends, and family, personal responsibility, love of country, and belief in the principles of liberty, equality, and the freedom to practice one’s faith. The explicit teaching of these values is the legacy of the common schools, and it is a legacy to which we must return.

9. Schools Should Teach Values

People often said, “Yes, we should teach these values, but how do we teach them?” this question deserves a candid response, one that isn’t given often enough. It is by exposing our children to good character and inviting its imitation that we will transmit to them a moral foundation. This happens when teachers and principals, by their words and actions, embody sound convictions. As Oxford’s Mary Warnock has written, “You cannot teach morality without being committed to morality yourself; and you cannot be committed to morality yourself without holding that some things are right and others wrong.” The theologian Martin Buber wrote that the educator is distinguished from all other influences “by his will to take part in the stamping of character and by his consciousness that he represents in the eyes of the growing person a certain selection of what is, the selection of what is ‘right’, of what should be.” It is in this will, Buber says, in this clear standing for something, that the “vocation as an educator finds its fundamental expression.”

There is no escaping the fact that young people need as example principals and teachers who know the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, and who themselves exemplify high moral purpose.

As Education Secretary, I visited a class at Waterbury Elementary School in Waterbury, Vermont, and asked the students, “Is this a good school?” They answered, “Yes, this is a good school.” I asked them, “Why?” Among other things, one eight-year-old said, “The principal Mr. Riegel, makes good rules and everybody obeys them.” So I said, “Give me an example.” And another answered, “You can’t climb on the pipes in the bathroom. We don’t climb on the pipes and the principal doesn’t either.”

This example is probably too simple to please a lot of people who want to make the topic of moral education difficult, but there is something profound in the answer of those children, something education should pay more attention to. You can’t expect children to take messages about rules or morality seriously unless they see adults taking those rules seriously in their day-to-day affairs. Certain must be said, certain limits lay down, and certain examples set. There is no other way.

We should also do a better job at curriculum selection. The research shows that most “values education” exercises and separate courses in “moral reasoning” tend not to affect children’s behavior; if anything, they may leave children morally adrift. Where to turn? I believe our literature and our history are a rich quarry of moral literacy. We should mine that quarry. Children should have at their disposal a stock of examples illustrating what we believe to be right and wrong, good and bad—examples illustrating what are morally right and wrong can indeed be known and that there is a difference.

What kind of stories, historical events, and famous lives am I talking about? If we want our children to know about honesty, we should teach them about Abe Lincoln walking three miles to return six cents and conversely, about Aesop’s shepherd boy who cried wolf if we want them to know about courage, we should teach them about Joan of Arc, Horatius at the bridge, and Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. If we want them to know about persistence in the face of adversity, they should know about the voyages of Columbus and the character of Washington during the Civil War. And our youngest should be told about the Little Engine That Could. If we want them to know about respect for the law, they should understand why Socrates told Crito: “No, I must submit to the decree of Athens.” If we want our children to respect the rights of others, they should read the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Gettysburg Address, and Martin Luther King, Jr.’ “Letter from Birmingham jail.” From the Bible they should know about Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi, Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers, Jonathan’s friendship with David, the Good Samaritan’s kindness toward a stranger, and David’s cleverness and courage in facing Goliath.

These are only a few of the hundreds of examples we can call on. And we need not get into issues like nuclear war, abortion, creationism, or euthanasia. This may come as a disappointment to some people, but the fact is that the formation of character in young people is educationally a task different from, and prior to, the discussion of the great, difficult controversies of the day. First things come first. We should teach values the same way we teach other things: one step at a time. We should not use the fact that there are many difficult and controversial moral questions as an argument against basic instruction in the subject.

After all, we do not argue against teaching physics because laser physics is difficult, against teaching American history because there are heated disputes about the Founders’ intent. Every field has its complexities and its controversies. And every field has its basics, its fundamentals. So they are too with forming character and achieving moral literacy. As any parent knows, teaching character is a difficult task. But it is a crucial task, because we want our children to be healthy, happy, and successful but decent, strong, and good. None of this happens automatically; there is no genetic transmission of virtue. It takes the conscious, committed efforts of adults. It takes careful attention.

10. College Pressures

Mainly I try to remind that the road ahead is a long one and that it will have more unexpected turns than they think. There will be plenty of time to change jobs, change careers, change whole attitudes and approaches. They don not want to hear such liberating news. They want a map—right now – that they can follow unswervingly to career security, financial security, Social Security and, presumably, a prepaid grave.

What I wish for all students is some release from the clammy grip of the future. I wish them a chance to savor each segment of their education as an experience in itself and not as a grim preparation for the next step. I wish them the right to experiment, to trip and fall, to learn that defeat is as instructive as victory and is not the end of the world.

My wish, of course, is na?ve. One of the national gods venerated in our media—the million-dollar athlete, the wealthy executive—and glorified in our praise of possessions. In the presence of such a potent state religion, the young are growing up old.

I see four kinds of pressure working on college students today: economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure. It is easy to look around for villains—to blame the colleges for charging too much money, the professors for assigning too much work, the parents for pushing their children too far, and the students for driving themselves too hard. But there are no villains: only victims.

“In the late 1960s.” one dean told me. “The typical question that I got from students was ‘Why is there so much suffering in the world’ or ‘how I can make a contribution?’ Today it’s ‘Do you think it would look better for getting into law school if I did a double major in history and political science, or just majored in one of them?’” many other deans confirmed this pattern. One said: “They are trying to find an edge—the intangible something that will look better on paper if two students are about equal.”

Note the emphasis on looking better. The transcript has become a sacred document, the passport to security. How one appears on paper is more important than how one appears in person. A is for Admirable and B is for Borderline, even though, in Yale’s official system of grading, A means “excellent” and B means “very good.” Today, looking very good is no longer good enough, especially for students who hope to go on to law school or medical school. They know that entrance into the better schools will be an entrance into the better law firms and better medical practices where they will make a lot of money. They also know that the odds are harsh. Yale Law School, for instance, matriculates 170students from an applicant pool of 3,700; Harvard enrolls 550 from a pool of 7,000.

It’s all very well for those of us who write letters of recommendation for our students to stress the qualities of humanity that will make them good lawyers or doctors. And it’s nice to think that admission officers are ready reading our letters and looking for the extra dimension of commitment or concern. Still, it would be hard for a student not to visualize these officers shuffling so many transcripts studded with As that they regard a B as positively shameful.

The pressure is almost as heavy on students who just want to graduate and get a job. Long gone are the days of the “gentleman’s C.” when students journeyed through college with a certain relaxation, sampling a wide variety of courses-music, art, philosophy, classics, anthropology, poetry, religion—that would send them out as liberally educated men and women. If I were an employer I would rather employ graduates who have this range and curiosity than those who narrowly pursued safe subjects and high grades. I know countless students whose inquiring minds exhilarate me. I like to hear the play of their ideas. I do not know if they are getting As or Cs, and I do not care. I also like them as people. The country needs them, and they will find satisfying jobs. I tell them to relax. They cannot.

Nor can I blame them. They live in a brutal economy. Tuition, room, and board at most private colleges now come to at least $7,000, not counting books and fees. This might seem to suggest that the colleges are getting rich. But they are equally battered by inflation. Tuition covers only 60 percent of what it costs to educate a student, and ordinarily the remainder comes from what college receives in endowments, grants, and gifts. Now, the remainder keeps being swallowed by the cruel costs—higher every year—of just opening the doors. Heating oil is up. Insurance is up. Postage is up. Health-premium costs are up. Everything is up. Deficits are up. We are witnessing in American the creation of a brotherhood of paupers—colleges, parents, and students, joined by the common bond of debt.

Today it is not unusual for a student, even if he works part time at college and full time during the summer, to accrue $5,000 in loans after four years—loans that he must start to repay within one year after graduation. Exhorted at commencement to go forth into the world, he is already behind as he goes forth. How could he not feel under pressure throughout college to prepare for this day of reckoning? I have used “he,” incidentally, only for brevity. Women at Yale are under no less pressure to justify their expensive education to themselves, their parents, and society. In fact, they are probably under more pressure. For although they leave college superbly equipped to bring fresh leadership to traditionally male jobs, society has not yet caught up with this fact.

Along with economic pressure goes parental pressure. Inevitably, the two are deeply intertwined.

I see many students taking pre-medical courses with joyless tenacity. They go off to their labs as if they were going to the dentist. It saddens me because I know tem in other corners of their life as cheerful people.

“Do you want to medical school?” I asked them.

“I guess so,” they say, without conviction, or “Not really.”

“Then why are you going?”

“Well, my parents want me to be a doctor. They are paying all this money and …”

Poor students, poor parents, they are caught in one of the oldest webs of love and duty and guilt. The parents mean will; they are trying to steer their sons and draughts toward a secure future. But the sons and daughter want to major in history or classics or philosophy—subjects with no “practical” value. Where’s the payoff on the humanities? It’s not easy to persuade such loving parents that the humanities do indeed pay off. The intellectual faculties developed by studying subjects like history and classics—an ability to synthesize and relate, to weigh cause and effect, to see events in perspective—are just the faculties that make creative leaders in business or almost any general field. Still, many fathers would rather put their money on courses that point toward specific profession—courses that are pre-law, pre-medical, pre-business, or, as I sometimes heard it put, “pre-rich.”

But the pressure on students is severe. They are truly torn. One part of them feels obliged to fulfill their parents’ expectations; after all, their parents are older and presumably wiser. Another part tells them that the expectations that are right for their parents are not right for them.

I know a student who wants to be an artist. She is very obviously an artist and will be a good one—she has already had several modest local exhibits. Meanwhile she is growing as a well-round person and taking humanistic subjects that will enrich the inner resources out of which her art will grow. But her father is strongly opposed. He thinks that an artist is a “dumb” thing to be. The student vacillates and tries to please everybody. She keeps up with her art somewhat furtively and takes some of the “dumb” courses her father wants her to take—at least they are dumb courses for her. She is a free spirit on a campus of tense students—no small achievement in it—and she deserves to follow her muse.

Peer pressure and self-induced pressure are also intertwined, and they begin almost at the beginning of freshman year.

“I had a freshman student I’ll call Linda,” one dean told me, “who came in and said she was under terrible pressure because her roommate, Barbara, was much brighter and studied all the time. I could not tell her that Barbara had come in two hours earlier to say the same thing about Linda.”

The story is almost funny—except that it is not. It is symptomatic of all the pressure put together. When every student thinks every other student is working harder and doing better, the only solution is to study harder still. I see students going off to the library every night after dinner and coming back when it closes at midnight. I wish they would sometimes forget about their peers and go to a movie. I hear the clacking of typewriters in the hours before dawn. I see the tension in their eyes when exams are approaching and papers are due: “Will I get everything done?”

Probably they won’t. They will get blocked. They will sleep. They will oversleep. They will bug out.

Part of the problem is that they are expected to do. A professor will assign five page papers. Several students will start writing ten page papers to impress him. Then more students will write ten page papers, and a few will raise the ante to fifteen. Pity the poor student who is still just doing the assignment.

“Once you have twenty or thirty percent of the student population deliberately overexerting,” one dean points out, “It’s bad for everybody. When a teacher gets more and more effort from his class, the student who is doing normal work can be perceived as not doing well. The tactic work, psychologically.”

Why cannot the professor just cut back and not accept longer papers? He can, and he probably will. But by then the term will be half over and the damage done. Grade fever is highly contagious and not easily reversed. Besides, the professor’s main concern is with his course. He knows his students only in relation to the course and does not know that they are also overexerting in their other courses. Nor is it really his business. He did not sign up for dealing with the student as a whole person and with all the emotional baggage the student brought along from home. That’s what deans, masters, chaplains, and psychiatrists are for.

To some extent this is nothing new: a certain number of professors have always been self-contained islands of scholarship and shyness, more comfortable with books than with people. But the new pauperism has widened the gap still further, for professors who actually like to spend time with students do not have as much time to spend. They are also overexerting. If they are young, they are busy trying to publish in order not to perish, hanging by their figure nails onto a shrinking profession.

If they are old and tenured, they are buried under the duties of administering departments—as departmental chairmen or members of committees—that have been thinned out by the budgetary axe.

Ultimately it will be the students’ own business to break the circles in which they are trapped. They are too young to be prisoners of their parents’ dreams and their classmates’ fears. They must be jolted into believing into themselves as unique men and women who have the power to shape their own future.

“Violence is being done to the undergraduate experience,” says Carlos Hortas. “College should be open-ended: at the end it should open many, many roads. Instead, students are choosing their goal in advance, and their choices narrow as they go along. It’s almost as if they think that the country has been codified in the type of jobs that exist-that they’ve got to fit into certain slots. Therefore, fit into the best paying slot.”

“They ought to take chances. Not taking chances will lead to life of colorless mediocrity. They’ll be comfortable. But something in the spirit will be missing.”

I have painted too drab a portrait of today’s students, making them seem a solemn lot. That is only half of their story; if they were so dreary I wouldn’t so thoroughly enjoy their company. The other half is that they are easy to like. They are quick to laugh and to offer friendship. They are not introverts. They are usually kind and are more considerate of one another than any student generation I have known.

Nor are they so obsessed with their studies that they avoid sports and extracurricular activities. On the contrary, they juggle their crowded hours to play on a variety of teams, perform with musical and dramatic groups, and write for campus publications. But this in turn is one more cause of anxiety. There are too many choices. Academically, they have 1,300 courses to select from; outside class they have to decide how much spare time they can spare and how to spend it.

This means that they engage in fewer extracurricular pursuits than their predecessors did. If they want to row on the crew and play in the symphony they will eliminate one; in the ‘60s they would have done both. They also tend to choose activities that are self-limiting. Drama, for instance, is flourishing in all twelve of Yale’s residential colleges, as it never has before. Students hurl themselves into these productions—as actors, directors, carpenters, and technicians—with a dedication to create the best possible play, knowing that the day will come when the run will end and they can get back to their studies.

They also cannot afford to be the willing slave of organizations like the Yale Daily News. Last spring at the one-hundredth anniversary banquet of that paper—who’s past chairmen include such once and future kings as Potter Stewart, Kingman Brewster, and William F. Buckley, Jr.—much was made of the fact that the editorial staff used to be small and totally committed and that “newsies” routinely worked fifty hours a week. In effect they belonged to a club; Newsies is how they defined themselves at Yale. Today’s students will one or two articles a week, when he can, and he defines himself as a student. I’ve never heard the word Newsie except at the banquet.

If I have described the modern undergraduate primarily as a driven creature who is largely ignoring the blithe spirit inside who keeps trying to come out and play, it’s because that’s where the crunch is, not only at Yale but throughout American education. It’s why I think we should all be worried about the values that are nurturing a generation so fearful of risk and so goal-obsessed at such an early age.

I tell students that there is no one “right” way to get ahead—that each of them is a different person, starting from a different point and bound for a different destination. I tell neither them that change is a tonic and that all the slots are not codified nor the frontiers closed. One of my ways of telling them is to invite men and women who have achieved success outside the academic world to come and talk informally with my students during the year. They are heads of companies or ad agencies, editors of magazines, politicians, public officials, television magnates, labor leaders, business executives, Broadway products, artists, writers, economists, photographers, scientists, historians—a mixed bag of achievers.

I asked them to say a few words about how they got started. The students assume that they started in their present profession and knew all along that it was what they wanted to do. Luckily for me, most of them got into their field by a circuitous route, to their surprise, after many detours. The students are startled. They can hardly conceive of a career that was not pre-planned. They can hardly imagine allowing the hand of God or chance to nudge them down some unforeseen trail.

11. To Err Is Wrong

In the summer of 1979, Boston Red Sox first baseman Carl Yastrzemski became the fifteenth player in baseball history to reach the three thousand hit plateaus. This event drew a lot of media attention, and for about a week prior to the attainment of this goal, hundreds of reports covered Yaz’s every more. Finally, one reporter asked, “Hey Yaz, aren’t you afraid all of this attention will go to your head?” Yastrzemski replied, “I look at this way: in my career I’ve been up to bat over ten thousand times. That means I’ve been unsuccessful at the plate over seven thousand times. That fact alone keeps me from getting a swollen head.”?

Most people consider success and failure as opposites, but they are actually both products of the same process. As Yaz suggest, an activity that produces a hit may also produce a miss. It is the same with creative thinking; the same energy that generates good creative ideas also produces errors.

Many people, however, are not comfortable with errors. Our educational system, based on “the right answer” belief, cultivates our thinking in another, more conservative way. From an early age, we are taught that right answers are good and incorrect answers are bad. This value is deeply embedded in the incentive system used in most schools:

Right over 90% of the time = “A”

Right over 80% of the time = “B~”

Right over 70% of the time = “C~” Right over 60% of the time = “D~” Less than 60% correct, you fail.

From this we learn to be right as often as possible and to keep our mistakes to a minimum. We learn, in other words, that “to err is wrong.

Playing It Safe

With this kind of attitude, you aren’t going to be taking too many chances. If you learn that failing even a litter penalizes you (e.g., being wrong only 15% of the time garners you only a “B” performance), you learn not to make mistakes. And more important, you learn not to put yourself to situation where you might fall. This leads to conservative thought pattern designed to avoid the stigma our society puts on “failure”.

I have a friend who recently graduated from college with a Master’s degree in Journalism. For the last six month, she has been trying to find a job, but to no avail. I talked with her about situation, and realized that her problem is that she doesn’t know how to fail. She went through eighteen years of schooling to try any approaches where she might fail. She has been conditioned to believe that failure is bad in and of itself, rather than a potential stepping-stone to new ideas.

Look around. How many middle managers, housewives, administrators, teachers, and other people do you see who are to try anything new because of this failure? Most of us have learned not to make mistakes in public. As a result, we remove ourselves from many learning experience except for those occurring in the most private of circumstances.

Different Logic

From a practical point of view, “to err is wrong” makes sense. Our survival in the everyday world requires us to perform thousand of small tasks without failure. Think about it: you wouldn’t last very long if you were to step out in front of traffic or stick your hand a pot of boiling water. In addition, engineers whose bridges collapse, stock brokers who lose money for their clients, and copywriters whose ad campaigns decrease sales won’t keep their jobs very long.

Nevertheless, too great an adherence to the belief “to err is wrong” can greatly undermine your attempts to generate new ideas. If you are more concerned with producing right answers than generating original ideas, you’ll probably make uncritical use of the rules, formulae, and procedures used to obtain these right answers. By doing this, you’ll by-pass the germinal phase of the creative process, and thus spend litter time testing assumptions, challenging the rules, asking what-if questions, or just playing around with the problem. All of these techniques will produce some incorrect answers, but in the germinal phase errors are viewed as a necessary by-product of creative thinking. As Yaz would put it, “if you want the hits, be prepared for the misses.” That’s the way the game of life goes.

Errors as Stepping Stones

Whenever an error pops up, the usual response is “Jeez, another screw up, what went wrong this time?” the creative thinker, on the other hand, will realize the potential value of errors, and perhaps say something like, “Would you look at that! Where can it lead our thinking?” and then he or she will go on to use the error as a stepping stone to a new idea. As a matter of fact, the whole history of discovery is filed with people who used erroneous assumptions and failed ideas as stepping-stones to new ideas. Columbus thought he was finding a shorter route to India. Johannes Kepler stumbled on to the idea of interplanetary gravity because of assumptions that were right for the wrong reasons. And, Thomas Edison knew 1800 ways not to build a light bulb.

The following story about the automotive genius Charles Kettering exemplifies the spirit of working through erroneous assumptions to good ideas. In 1912, when the automobile industry was just beginning to grow, Kettering was interested in improving gasoline engine efficiency. The problem he faced was“knockthe phenomenon in which gasoline takes too long to burn in the cylinder-thereby reducing efficiency.

Kettering began searching for ways to eliminate the “knock.” He thought to him, “How can I get the gasoline to combust in the cylinder at an earlier time?” the key concept here is “early”. Searching for analogous situations, he looked around for models of “things that happen early.” He thought of historical models, physical models, and biological models. Finally, he remembered a particular plant, the trailing arbutus, which “happens early,” i.e., it blooms in the snow (“earlier” than other plants). One of this plant’s chief characteristics is its’ red leaves, which help the plant retain light at certain wavelengths. Kettering figured that it must be the red color, which made the trailing arbutus bloom earlier.

Now came the critical step in Kettering’s chain of thought. He asked himself, “How can I make the gasoline red?” perhaps I’ll put red dye in the gasoline—maybe that’ll make it combust earlier.” He looked around his workshop, and found that he didn’t have any red dye. But he did happen to have some iodine—perhaps that would do. He added the iodine to the gasoline and, lo and behold, the engine didn’t “knock”.

[英语作文写作的需要背诵的部分

很多高中生过于相信一些写作论坛或者写作书上推荐的写作模板，并且将其运用到雅思考试中去，但是最后的分数却是差强人意。其实模板作为一种解读雅思写作思路的工具还是起到一定作用的，考生可以通过阅读写作模板来迅速了解雅思写作段落布局和层次。但是谈及考试时的运用，苏州朗阁的老师不敢苟同。多年第一线雅思写作培训过程中，凡是写作在7分以上的学生，几乎没有人是使用写作模板的。而且钟情于模版的学生一般的写作分数甚至连6分都不到。所以朗阁的老师不推荐同学大量背诵写作模板，理由很简单，写作是活的，模板是死的。

正确的方法是多写，写之前要对雅思的2部分写作结构有一定了解，词汇和句型要有一定积累，最好是能参加专业培训，遇到一些有经验的写作老师，在你考前助你一臂之力，这样一定可以取得理想的成绩。

理解是记忆的前提和基础。分层背诵法，就是先理解背诵部分的总的意思，然后把它分为几个层次，归纳概括出每层的意思，了解层与层之间的内在联系，把思 路理清，将各层的意思连贯起来，在此基础上，再反复诵读几遍，就能较快地背诵下来。这种方法适合于背诵段落或篇幅不长的课文。比如《为学》这篇课文，首先 要注意理清思路，划分层次，找出联系。全文可分三大段。第一自然段为第一大段，提出全文的观点：人求学确实有难易之别，但只要努力去学，就能变难为易。要 记住这一段，一是要理清它的主要观点，二是要理清由一般事物到具体事物的推理过程，三是要抓住对照的写作特点。第二至第六自然段为第二大段，是用“僧之南 海”的事例证明上述观点。第二自然段头一句是第一层，交待地点、人物;第六自然段是第三层，交待结果;中间贫富二僧的两次对话是第二层。最后一自然段为第 三大段，总结全文，勉励晚辈应向贫僧学习，树立远大的志向，并为之而努力奋斗。前一句承上文而引出后一句;后一句顺着上文而来反问点明题旨。经过这样梳理 一番，再反复读几遍，就很容易背诵了。

上课铃响了，钟老师乘着歌声的翅膀笑眯眯地走进教室。钟老师双手往后一背，扫了同学们一眼，说：“同学们，既然我们已经把《学弈》这片课文学完了，那么，我们来背一背怎么样？”钟老师边走边说，样子好像对我们充满了信心。

“哗”，一阵混乱，如热锅上的蚂蚁。几秒过后，教室里恢复了平静，同学们全神贯注地盯着钟老师看，63双眼睛已聚集在了一点。同学们似乎已等的有些急燥了，教室里出现了一点儿小小的声响。钟老师嘴角悄悄的往上翘了翘。“那我们先请第五排同学好不好？”“从左到右依次来吧！”全班又一阵哗然。坐在我后面的周灵佩左右看了一下，发现是自己第一个，还没回过神来，就被旁边的刘翔宇喊起来了。“恩，弈秋，通过之善意者也。使，弈秋悔二人弈~”是‘诲’不是‘悔’，全班纠正到。“哦，使弈秋诲二人弈！”她改正道。我看见同学们有的满意的笑了笑。全排背完了，钟老师也给了“酬劳”的，每人加了两颗星星。 同学们一看老师手中的花名册，眼睛都亮了，一个劲的争取把手举到最高，连吃奶的劲都用上了。第七行被抽到了，第七行的同学受宠若惊，得意慌了，摆出各种胜利的手势家迷人的pose显示出他们的兴奋。没被抽到的同学也跟着他们背，想把它背的再熟些，好让老师多加几颗星星。第七行的同学吸取了第五行同学的教训，明显要背的好一些。而第三次抽的第二排就更上一层楼了，背的又熟，声音又大，于是各各加了三颗星，露出了胜利的微笑。

我想：这次背诵比赛并不仅仅是一个简简单单的背诵比赛，因为它体现了我们6.3班别具特色的一面！

我背书是很困难的，我是一个不太爱背书的孩子，我也是一个很难背书的孩子。而那天我们教授的恰巧是白居易的著名作品《长恨歌》。“汉家有女初长成，养在深闺人未识。”然后又背“春寒赐浴华清池，温泉水滑洗凝脂。”然后又背：“7月7日长生殿，夜半无人私语时。在天愿作比翼鸟，在地愿为连理枝。”然后又背来背去，我总也记不住啊！老师，您怕不是骗我的吧？怎么这首诗，那么难背呀。

老师讲了很多有关唐玄宗跟杨贵妃的趣事。然而，我了解了也背不出来。是不是《长恨歌》真的那么难背呢？当时老师说背完了就过来听孟子。孟子可能是老师唯一想跟我讲的先秦诸子了，然而，我《长恨歌》怎么也背不完，所以一直没机会。我其实一直认为我是可以背下来的，然而一次又一次的不成功，让我怎么也想不出来。

所以《长恨歌》我整整背了一周，那是我所有文章中背诵的最久的一次。之前的《桃花源记》我半天就好了，五柳先生传，我三个小时就背到了。归去来兮，用了一天，然后《长恨歌》却可以用一周。我想我是堕落了，也就从那一次之后，我就很少再去老师那里了，我记得在我印象中，我就再也没听老师讲授更多的国学知识了。

那之后我便被父母接回了家，自学了起来。然而我很想回到课堂，我很想去听孟子，但是又想，我《长恨歌》还没背完。原来我还不够努力呀！

这学期，黄老师要求每一篇课文都要背诵。

我们急了。每天都早早到校，不再一到校就打打闹闹，而是一到校就拿出书认认真真读课文。黄老师也提前到校督促我们读书。值日干部更加负责了，每天努力地盯着大家读书。

星期五，黄老师在走廊上就听见教室里传出的朗朗书声。我们一个个都聚精会神地盯着书本上的每一个字，大声朗读。

今天要背诵《雅鲁藏布大峡谷》这篇课文。我们放开喉咙，一心一意地读，一遍一遍又一遍。我看见有些记忆能力比我强的同学背完这一课，去读后面的课文了。我不服气，于是坚持再读几遍。一会儿，我就背得滚瓜烂熟了。心里不禁有一点儿得意：太简单了。

上完语文课，黄老师交代：“明天要背《鸟的天堂》，请同学们抓紧时间背诵。”老师一说完，有些人就愁眉苦脸的。我心里得意洋洋地想：这还不简单？小菜一碟。

可好景不长，等我背诵的时候就发觉文章实在太长了，一下子还真背不出来。

放学后，我垂头丧气地回家，做完其他作业就马上读书、背书。结果很长时间都没有背出来。

“唉，要是不要背就好了。”我忍不住唉声叹气。

接着，我就像丢了东西的娃娃，趴在桌子上懒洋洋地读书：我们吃过……一直读呀读，声音有气无力的。妈妈似乎看出了我的心思，问：“怎么了？是不是背不出啊？”

一连串的问题把我难住了，我委屈极了：“嗯……”

“这样背嘛。”妈妈教我秘诀，“每个自然段读5遍，直到可以背诵了再读下一段。不要总是读一遍课文就背一遍。”

我半信半疑：“哦，我试一试！”

我按照妈妈的方法，尝试背诵。背完第一段之后，我恍然大悟：妈妈教的方法真的管用！我一高兴就把烦恼抛到了九霄云外，重新找回了自信。没过多久，我就背完了《鸟的天堂》。

我发现，背完课文做《能力》时，特别轻松。我都不用去翻书了，《能力》做得又快又好！

我终于懂得了背诵的好处。我要努力，提高记忆能力。

星期五，黄老师说让我们背课文。我不想背，也不会背，可又不能不背。一不背的话在学校里，黄老师就会抽人去背，每个同学都很有可能会被抽到，我也是一样的。如果抽到我，我却背不了，那黄老师可能就会生气了。

我带着这样忐忑的心思去了补习班。在补习班里，我一直读书，一直读书，整个补习班都是书声。有的捂住耳朵在背书，有的把书捂在胸前，口里念念有词，有的俯首默念，文字好像在捉弄我，我怎么也捉不住它。

我恨死这些字了。我咬牙切齿的，一个字，一个字地读，就像要把它们吃进去一样。终于，我把1、2、3段勉勉强强背完了。我又用同样的办法把4、5、6自然段背完了。

我只有第7自然段没背完以及一篇作文没完成的时候，妈妈来了。老师让我回去背完。我回去的时候想：原来背书不也不是那么难。

回到家，妈妈要我多读几遍，说有助于记忆，不然会很快就忘记的。我遵照妈妈说的话，把课文读得滚瓜烂熟。

之前我不喜欢背课文，现在我觉得，我很喜欢背课文了。

新的学期，去学校上课的第一天，黄老师就要求我们这个学期每篇课文都背诵。

我们学的第一篇课文就是《观潮》。放学，老师给我们布置的作业就有一项背诵任务。回家后，我做完其它作业就开始读。一开始读了好多遍我都不会背。妈妈叫我先一个自然段一个自然段地背，会背了再一起背。我照着妈妈教我的方法一段一段背，背到好晚才背完，但还不是很熟练，只能算勉强。妈妈交代我第二天早自习去认真读，早上的记忆要比晚上好。果然，我读了几遍之后在我的同桌袁紫露那里背，顺利地过关了。

这一课，袁紫露没有我背得这么熟。她在我这里背的时候总要提醒几个字，所以我让她继续去读，只要用心去读，就一定能背下来。读了一会，她又到我这里来背，这一次可以说是背得滚瓜烂熟。

学完第一课又是第二课。第二课我们学的是《雅鲁藏布大峡谷》。第二天早自习，我跟袁紫露比赛背，看哪个先背完。她也认真地读起来。这一课我只读了一个早自习就背下来了，她却背了好几天，这一次我比赢了。

难怪妈妈经常跟我说，一天之计在于晨。早上读书背书是最好的时光。我觉得背诵是一件很好的事情，既可以学习知识，还可以训练记忆。我以后一定会更努力地背诵！

新学期到了，黄老师在讲台上严肃地说：“这学期的课文全部都要背诵。”

我坐在下面很苦恼：按照我这种记忆力，就是让我读一天我都背不下来呀！

星期二，我一进教室就看见黑板上写着：一五二班所有的人今天要早自习，必须背完第一课。看完黑板上的字后，我赶紧坐在座位上一心一意地读，可是我读了二十多遍还不能背一段。

好消息就在我苦闷的时候来了，黄老师进来说：“今天读书很认真，就只要你们读三四自然段，而且是在家里背。”我一听心里马上就乐开了花。

终于熬到放学回家了，我先做完了作业到了晚上才开始背书的。我跟妈妈说，我们只要背第一课的三四段。妈妈听了之后也没说什么，只是微微点下头让我认真背。背诵的过程中，我一会儿跟弟弟玩，一会儿出去看会儿电视，一会儿玩一下平衡车，可是我似乎忘记了什么东西，这时我才想起还没把课文背下来。可是已经到了睡觉时间，我只好去睡觉了。

到了星期三，我大约五点左右就起床背书了。那时我读得很认真，一句一句一段一段的，终于能背下来了，妈妈那时候出来揉揉眼睛连忙竖起大拇指表扬了我。

背诵课文真是件既让我头痛又让我感到开心的事。

这几天，黄老师布置了一项令我最烦恼最痛苦的作业——背诵《自然之道》。

有些人说：“背诵其实很简单。”可是我没看见过哪个同学背诵起来很容易的。哎，真烦。别管他，我还是先看课外书吧。

几天过去，我还是不能背诵。心里想着利用早自习好好读，争取背诵。可是一到校，我总是控制不住自己。没读几分钟就分心了。不是跟袁炜宸讲话，就是跟孟靖涵打闹。黄老师看见了，严厉地批评我：“阳涛，你一定要用心啊！”我马上拿起书来读，可不久就放弃了。我拿书遮住自己的头，跟袁炜宸讲话。不知怎么的，黄老师还是发现了我。我一边读一边想，黄老师是有透视眼吗？太可怕了，我还是认真读吧。可是，我还没读完一遍，下课铃就响了，我一下飞了出去。

终于放学了，我回家把所有书面作业做完，只剩下背诵。我把作业全部给爸爸检查。爸爸明知故问：“你还有作业没做完吗？”我只得老老实实回答；“背诵！”“还不快去读！”爸爸吼道。

没办法，我只好回房间读书。可是，我看到桌子上有一本课外书，于是拿起来看了几页。怕爸爸发现，我又读了几句书。太累了，我躺到床上休息了几分钟。爸爸发现了，用了他的独门绝技——狮子吼，差点把我耳朵震聋了。最后丢下一句话；“今天你必须背完，不背完不能睡觉。”

事已至此，我只得认认真真，一心一意地读了起来。一遍一遍读，读到差不多能背了，我就去爸爸那里过关。结果没能过关，我回头又读了五六遍。再次过关，结果就能背诵了。

原来，背书也不是很难，只要你用心去读，必能成功。

张耀然

在人生的路途中，每个人都会遇到困难与挫折，但是只要是用心去思考，辛勤去付出，勇敢去面对，总会有解决困难的方法，一切挫折都会烟消云散。

平日里，我晚上在家学习写作业都会很长时间，基本上都是结束学习任务后就到了睡觉的时间，可有一次晚上，作业出奇的少，另外也没有其它的学习任务了，吃完晚饭我便一鼓作气在很短的时间完成了当天的作业，计划和弟弟好好的玩一次。收拾好书包，我像离弦的箭一样飞出书房，带着弟弟来到了我们的游乐天地——玩具房。也许幸福来得太突然，我心里一直有种不祥的预感，可能要有不好的事情要发生。果真，我们正在玩的不亦乐乎的时候，我们的英语老师给我妈妈联系，说要让我背诵一大段英语解说词。此时我真佩服我的直觉，真让我猜中了，今晚的欢乐玩耍要泡汤了。无奈，我就从玩具房出来重新回到了书房，准备背诵英语。看到老师发的短文，瞬间我就蒙圈了，这篇短文别说背诵了，有些单词我还不认识，这可是难上加难的任务啊，面对着这个困难，我脑子一片空白，着急的掉下了眼泪，感觉自己完不成这个任务。这时，妈妈走了过来，安慰我说：“老师把任务交给你说明相信你能完成，你如果觉得有困难，那么首先要冷静的想一想该如何去做，如何迈出解决困难的第一步。”听了妈妈的话后，我便开始调整自己的情绪，耐心的拿出英文词典，一个个查出不认识单词的读音的中文含义，然后在这些单词上标注了同音的中文。确实这个方法很有作用，这样既理解了短文的意思，也知道了陌生单词的读音，背诵起来易如反掌，和背诵一段汉语短文基本上没有区别，于是，我在很短的时间就熟练的背诵了下来，内心充满了无限的成就感。

通过这次背诵我明白了一个道理：困难也许只是心里的一种恐惧，但是只要自己内心勇敢了，困难并不是那么可怕，克服了心理上的困难，用心去思考问题，想出解决的方法，任何事情都会迎刃而解，因为“办法总比困难多”。我相信只要我坚持这个信念，我一定会勇敢的朝自己的梦想前进，我也一定会变得无比强大。

李思张

低年级时，同学们一提起背诵就愁眉苦脸的，包给我也在其中。所以，我们都很讨厌背课文，可是我们怕什么，老师就来什么。这不，这学期老师要求我们学的课文书本要求背诵的就一定要背诵，而且都要到黄老师那儿背，背完了等黄老师打了个“背”字才能够算这一课背诵过关。

唉，背到第三课时，我就焉了，这么长的课文，这是要背到猴年马月呀！

放学后我一回到家，就唉声叹气的坐着发呆，妈妈见我这模样，便问我怎么啦？是不是遇到学习上的困难了？

唉！我们要背一篇课文，很长呢，话音刚落，又一声叹气就诞生了。

“要不，我带你读，我一句，你一句，好不好？”妈妈问我。“好啊好啊，见妈妈都参与背诵，我立马精神起来了。

“七月的新疆……”妈妈真的带我读了起来，读完之后，妈妈不禁赞叹起来，“这真是一篇写景的好文章，很好背的，你不仅要背下来，还要学习这里面的写作方法……。”“好！”我赞同的说。

开始，我还不熟练，背起来结结巴巴，可是，等我多读几遍之后慢慢地也找到了感觉，很熟练的把这篇课文背诵完了。

原来背诵的方法在于多读，多理解，功夫不负有心人，只要努力，没有做不到的事情。

刘锦昱

说起背诵课文，我简直恨之入骨，如果能够不写作文，那我简直可以上刀山下火海，可是现在我发现作文似乎不是那么讨厌了。

以前老师都是让我们在早自习，自己背诵的，可是这学期每篇课文的背诵要到黄老师那里去过关，当我听到这个消息的时候，彻底绝望了，我背是可以背，就是不敢再大人面前背啊！

每到早自习，我就使劲的读啊，读啊记呀记呀能够背第一段了，就背第二段，第二段背完了，就把第一段和第二段连起来背，就这样，慢慢的背，我便能将整篇课文全部背诵完。

第一次在黄老师那里背的时候，我的声音微微颤颤的在背的时候身体还有一些小小的发抖，心里紧张的不得了。

我看看我后面的同学张思涵还没有开始背，就已经有些微微发抖，不是吧，这么胆小。

每当我到黄老师那里背诵的时候总是改不了本性每次都紧张的不得了，很容易出错。

唉，不说了，我又得去完成我们的任务，将小学生必背古诗75首完全被下来。

作者：郭政禹

我有一个好同桌——朱博洋。个子不高，但他长着闪闪发光的眼睛，肉嘟嘟的小脸蛋，肥嘟嘟的手。看着他的手，如同一个肉球一般。但他有许多优点。

有一次，我是说让我们背诵课文。此时，我心一下子就沉重下来。我背诵能力一向不好，在以前我背一首古诗需要好几天才能背熟，现在才有点提升。我半点时间都不敢浪费，马上开始背诵。背诵，我先读了两遍，此时，令我吃惊的事情来了——他居然已经被过了老师说的内容。这让我感到不可思议，我吃惊地想：“我和他当了这么长时间的同桌，但从未知道他还有背诵这个特长。”我更加紧张了，加速背起来。

时间过去了十分钟，我终于背过了，但是不怎么熟，这是我听到他也在背——背的是倒数第二段，我听着，一会他把整篇课文背完了，这证明他已经背过了整篇课文。一会，老师开始检查了，他背得很快，但是一字不落。

我这位神奇的同桌，背诵能力真强。

“窗含西岭千秋雪，门泊东吴万里船。”背古诗能手登场了，我对我同桌说我背古诗很快，记忆力很强，他不相信，他说他有一朋友背古诗也很快，为何不让我俩比一比呢。

就这样，“战争”拉开了序幕。

在同桌家里，同桌说的那个人走了进来头抬的高高的，双眼微微闭着，带着一副小眼镜，有一种目中无人的感觉。

他霸气地说：“听说你记忆力很强，可否与在下对决一二。”“好的，请开始。”他挑了一首简单的五言古诗，开始计时，他用时32秒背会，我用时31秒背会。空气中有点火药味儿，我们俩人好像有仇似的，一直盯着对方，总担心对方会抢先一步背会，终于到了最后一首，是《长恨歌》，我有点急了，他见我那样子就知道我有点困难了。他得意地站起来背，而此时的我头脑发昏，汗嗒嗒地流着，我咽了口唾沫，对自己说，加油，一定能行。我拼尽全力，可还是输了，没关系，这次没赢，只要多背，就一定会赢。

我刚想走，又想到自己有两盒乐高积木，不如再比试一场，我叫住他，对他说比这个，而且只看一遍图纸把它拼出来。他有点发虚，因为平常他不玩这个，而他又很爱面子，说：“行，我有什么不敢，来吧！”

比赛开始，我俩看完图纸后，就开始拼。我见他抓耳挠腮，恨不得看着图纸拼的样子，就感到非常高兴，像一名获胜的战士一样。叫你得意，继续得意呀。拼到中间，他猛的站起来说不拼了，然后像落魄的狮子一样跑了出去。

其实记忆力好不是天生的，是需要一点点锻炼积累的，就像盖房一样，地基要打好，读书就是最好的地基。