Imagine a classroom missing the one thing that’s long been considered a necessary part to reading and writing---paper. No notebooks, no textbooks, no test papers. Nor are there any pencils or pens, which always seems to run out of ink at the critical moment. A “paperless classroom” is what more and more schools are trying to achieve .
Students don’t do any handwriting in this class . Instead , they use palm size , or specially—designed computers. The teacher downloads texts from Internet libraries and sends them to every student’s personal computer. Having computers also means that students use the Web. They can look up information on any subject they’re studying from maths to social science.
High school teacher Judy Herrell in Florida, US, described how her class used the Web to learn about the war in Afghanistan over one year ago. We could touch every side of the country through different sites from the forest to refugee camps, she said .“Using a book that’s three or four years old is impossible.”And exams can go on line too. At a high school in Tennessee, US, students take tests on their own computers. The teacher records the grades on the network for everyone to see and then copies them to his own electronic grade book. A paperless classroom is a big step towards reducing the waste of paper. High school teacher Stephanie—Sorrell in Kentucky,US, said she used to give about 900 pieces of paper each week to each student.
“Think about the money and trees we could save with the computers,”she said .But, with all this technology, there is always the risk that the machines will break down. So , in case of a power failure or technical problems, paper textbooks are still widely available for these hi—tech students.
小题1:What does the part of the last sentence in the first paragraph “run out of ink at the critical moment” mean ?
A．Pens may not write well at the critical moment.
B．Pens get lost easily , so you may not find them at the critical moment.
C．Pens may have little or no ink at the critical moment
D．Pens use ink, while pencils don’t.小题2:The high school teacher, Judy Herrell, used the example of her class to show that ________.
A．the Web could take them everywhere
B．the Web taught them a lot.
C．the Web is a good tool for information.
D．the Web , better than the textbooks ,can give the latest and comprehensive information.小题3:The paperless classroom will benefit _________ the most.
A．students
B．teachers
C．trees
D．computers小题4:What does the phrase in the last paragraph “break down ”mean ?
A．Break into pieces
B．Stop working
C．Fall down
D．Lose control
