Question

The kids in this village wear dirty, ragged clothes. They sleep beside cows and sheep in huts made of sticks and mud. They have no school. Yet they all can chant the English alphabet, and some can make words.

The key to their success: 20 tablet computers(平板電腦) dropped off in their Ethiopian village in February by a U.S. group called One Laptop Per Child.

The goal is to find out whether kids using today’s new technology can teach themselves to read in places where no schools or teachers exist. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers analyzing the project data say they’re already amazed. “What I think has already happened is that the kids have already learned more than they would have in one year of kindergarten,” said Matt Keller, who runs the Ethiopia program.

The fastest learner—and the first to turn on one of the tablets—is 8-year-old Kelbesa Negusse. The device’s camera was disabled to save memory, yet within weeks Kelbesa had figured out its workings and made the camera work. He called himself a lion, a marker of accomplishment in Ethiopia.

With his tablet, Kelbasa rearranged the letters HSROE into one of the many English animal names he knows. Then he spelled words on his own. “Seven months ago he didn’t know any English. That’s unbelievable,” said Keller.

The project aims to get kids to a stage called “deep reading,” where they can read to learn. It won’t be in Amharic, Ethiopia’s first language, but in English, which is widely seen as the ticket to higher paying jobs.

1.How does the Ethiopia program benefit the kids in the village?

A. It trains teachers for them.

B. It contributes to their self-study.

C. It helps raise their living standards.

D. It provides funds for building schools.

2.What can we infer from Keller’s words in Paragraph 3?

A. They need more time to analyze data.

B. More children are needed for the research.

C. He is confident about the future of the project.

D. The research should be carried out in kindergartens.

3.It amazed Keller that with the tablet Kelbesa could _______.

A. learn English words quickly.

B. draw pictures of animals.

C. write letters to researchers.

D. make phone calls to his friends.

4.What is the aim of the project?

A. To offer Ethiopians higher paying jobs.

B. To make Amharic widely used in the world.

C. To help Ethiopian kids read to learn in English.

D. To assist Ethiopians in learning their first language.

Answer 1