b
student participation（参与）in the classroom is not only accepted but also expected of the student in many courses．some professors base part of the final grade on the student’s oral participation．although there are formal lectures during which the student has a passive role （i.e,listening and taking notes）,many courses are organized around classroom discussions, student questions, and informal lectures．in graduate discussions the professor has a manager role and the students make presentations and lead discussions．the students do the actual teaching in these discussions．
a professor’s teaching method is another factor （因素） that determines the degree and type of student participation．some professors prefer to control discussion while others prefer to guide the class without controlling it．many professors encourage students to question their ideas．students who object to the professor’s point of view should be prepared to prove their positions．
in the teaching of science and mathematics, the controlling mode of instruction is generally traditional, with teachers presenting formal lectures and students taking notes．however, new educational trends have turned up in the humanities and social sciences in the past twenty years．students in education, society, and history classes, for example, are often required to solve problems in groups, design projects, make presentations, and examine case studies．since some college or university courses are “practical” rather than theoretical, they pay more attention to "doing" for themselves．
59．“participation in the classroom is not only accepted but also expected of the student” in many courses except in  ．
a．science and mathematics   b．the humanities and social sciences
c．informal lecture courses   d．discussion courses
60．from the passage we know that education in the humanities and society  ．
a．has not changed much
b．pay attention to students’ studying instead of teachers’ teaching
c．is much more important than that of science and mathematics
d．has become more practical than theoretical
61．the reason why some professors ask students to make presentations and lead discussions is that  ．
a．these professors are often not well prepared before class ．
b．these professors want to stress “doing”
c．these professors want to test the students’ abilities
d．these professors are not willing to teach theory
62．which of the following sentences is true according to the passage?
a．student participation is not common in the classroom in many courses like society．
b．some professors want to control the classroom discussion．
c．some professors usually want the students to take part in the teaching of science and mathematics．
d．new educational trends have turned up in teaching of natural sciences such as chemistry．

c
scientists have tried to come up with biological explanations for the difference between boys and girls．
however, none were believable enough to explain the general picture．as one scientist points out, “there are slight genetic（遗传的） differences between the sexes at birth which may affect the subjects boys and girls choose．but the difficulty  is that by the time children reach school age, there are so many other effects that it is almost impossible to tell whether girls  are worse at science and maths, or whether they’ve been brought up to think of these subjects as boys territory’．”
statistics（统计数据）show that in mathematics, at least, girls are equal to boys．a recent report suggests that girls only stop studying mathematics because of social attitudes．one of the reports’ authors says, “while it is socially unacceptable for people not to be able to read and write, it is still acceptable for women to say that they are ‘hopeless’ at maths．our research shows that, although girls get marks which are as good as the boys’, they have not been encouraged to do so．”
the explanation for the difference, which is very clear during the teenage years, goes as far back as early childhood experiences．from their first days in nursery school, girls are not encouraged to work on their own or to complete tasks, although boys are．for example, boys and not girls, are often asked to ‘ help’ with repair work．this encouragement leads to a way of
 learning how to solve problems later on in life．evidence （证据）shows that exceptional mathematicians and scientists did not have teachers who supplied answers; they had to find out for themselves．
a further report on maths teaching shows that teachers seem to give more attention to boys than to girls．
most teachers who took part in the study admitted that they expect their male students to do better at mathematics and science subjects than their female students．all of this tends to encourage boys to work harder in these subjects, gives them confidence（信心） and makes them believe that they can succeed．
interestingly, both boys and girls tend to regard such ‘male’ subjects like mathematics and science as difficult．yet it has been suggested that girls avoid mathematics courses, not because they are difficult, but for social reasons．
mathematics and science are mainly male subjects, and therefore, as girls become teenagers, they are less likely to take them up．girls do not seem to want to be in open competition with boys．neither do they want to do better than boys because they are afraid to appear less females and so, less attractive．
63．the underlined word “territory” in the second paragraph most probably means“  ”  a．interest   b．area of land  c．special field  d．district
64．according to scientific studies  ．
a．maths is not fit for girls to learn
b．boys have a special sense of maths
c．girls are poorer at maths because they are the weaker sex
d．girls can learn maths as well as boys if given enough encouragement
65．those who made extraordinary contribution in mathematics and science  ．
a．usually had good teachers to help them
b．had the abilities to solve problems by themselves
c．usually worked harder than others
d．were encouraged to repair things when young
66．which of the following is not true according to the text?
a．it seems socially acceptable for a girl not to be able to read and write
b．it is a social problem rather than a problem of brains that girls are poor at maths
c．mathematics and science are no easy subjects to either girls or boys
d．there is no connection between a girl’s ability in maths and her appearance
67．what would be the best title for the text?
a．who’s afraid of maths anyway?
b．are boys cleverer than girls?
c．boys are better at maths than girls by birth
d．maths—a difficult subject