問題詳情：
When asked to identify the qualities that lead to success in life, experts often list the ability to overcome obstacles. Getting over the difficulties, through determination and persistence, is the characteristic of the greatest leaders, the most successful parents and the most prized employees. Those who make no excuses, who do whatever it takes to get something done, are the ones who have the capacity to achieve greatness.
In education, we focus a lot on meeting our students' needs. It's our job to teach them. But to truly help them be successful, we ourselves have to have the “no excuses” attitude. The problem is that by allowing ourselves no excuses, and doing whatever it takes to make students successful, we often find ourselves accepting excuses from them. Students don't complete an assignment, and we give them a second chance. A test is failed and we provide a chance to retake it, or do test corrections for extra credit.
But there's always a reason for a child's behavior. It's important to understand the reason, but it's equally important to remember that a reason is not an excuse.
There's a girl in my class with terrible handwriting. “Maybe if I had a mother who had taught me that, I would have better handwriting！” she says. She has been in and out of foster care (寄養照管) for years. She has an explanation for her bad handwriting, but when does it become an excuse that reduces her ability to communicate for the rest of her life?
We must understand the kids and work to find ways for them to succeed. Simultaneously (同時), we must draw lines, set limits, show them the difference between right and wrong. The real work is figuring out when we stop letting reasons be excuses, and start to teach kids about taking responsibility for themselves.
Maybe there is failure on the path to success. Sometimes a child has to fail in order to discover the line that he cannot cross.
篇章導讀：本文是一篇議論文，主要介紹教師在教育學生的過程中要培養他們“不找藉口”的態度，使他們對自己的言行負責。
13．The example of the girl in Paragraph 4 shows that ________.
A．children can't tell a reason from an excuse
B．children need to improve their ability to communicate
C．children's behavior is greatly affected by their parents
D．children have reasonable explanations for their behavior
14．What is a teacher's real work in the author's opinion?
A．To show kids the difference between right and wrong.
B．To help kids become responsible for themselves.
C．To set specific limits to the behavior of kids.
D．To meet the needs of different kids.
15．What does the author try to express in the last paragraph?
A．Children should try to avoid failure.
B．Failure may benefit children in the long run.
C．Children should be careful on their way to success.
D．Failure is easy to conquer if children are confident.
16．The passage is probably written by ________.
A．a working parent
B．a college student
C．an experienced teacher
D．a newspaper reporter
【回答】
13.A 推理判斷題。結合第三段尾句中的“but it's equally important to remember that a reason is not an excuse”可知，原因不等於藉口，女孩的例子正是說明了孩子們往往無法辨別藉口和原因，故選A。
14.B 細節理解題。從倒數第二段最後一句可知，一個教師真正的工作是弄清楚什麼時候不再讓理由變成藉口，並開始教孩子們要對他們自己的言行負責，故選B。
15.B 推理判斷題。根據文章最後一段第二句“Sometimes a child has to fail in order to discover the line that he cannot cross.”可以推斷，從長遠來看，讓孩子經歷失敗並不一定是壞事，孩子們能從中受益，故選B。
16.C 推理判斷題。根據第二段第一、二句“In education, we focus a lot on meeting our students' needs. It's our job to teach them.”以及第四段首句“There's a girl in my class with terrible handwriting.”可推知，這篇文章很可能是由一個有經驗的教師寫的。
知識點：教育類閱讀
題型：閱讀理解
