Most American schools have boys and girls in the same classroom. But a public high school in the small, rural town of Boonsboro, Maryland, offers a special program called the Academy. Top students in the ninth and tenth grades can attend single-sex classes for math, science, English and social studies.
The aim is to help teenagers keep their mind on their work by keeping males and females apart. What they really want to do is take that top group of kids and take them to the very highest level they can achieve there, so that they’re prepared for college.
Students are invited to enter this program after they finish middle school, and placement in the Academy is voluntary. However, they need high marks and test scores and strong teacher recommendations. They also need to be involved in activities.
Almost 350 students have taken part in the Academy. It began as an experiment in 2010.
Michael Bair has been at Boonsboro High for twenty years and directs the Academy. His ninth-grade English class for boys centers on books that he believes boys find interesting. He says that the novels the students are reading now are very manly (男子气概的) novels. These novels deal with the arrogance (傲慢) of man and the pride of man which finally leads to man’s downfall.
One of those books, for example, is The Call of the Wild by Jack London. This classic story tells of a dog stolen from his home and sold to work as a sled dog in Canada’s Klondike Gold Rush.
Morgan Fleet, a senior at Boonsboro High, likes being in the Academy. She says boys and girls act differently when they are together in a classroom. She believes this difference seems to prevent her from developing herself because she’s more focused on thoughts like “Oh, I wish they would shut up. Oh, what do they think of me?’’ instead of focusing on “What’s the homework? What’s going on in this class? What’s the lesson?”.
There is one activity that girls and boys in the Academy do together. At the end of the day, many of them stay and help tutor students who are having trouble in school.
小题1:What is the purpose of the Academy program?
A．To offer a special program in high school.
B．To help students concentrate on study.
C．To strengthen sex education for teenagers.
D．To start learning college courses earlier.小题2:To enter the Academy program, students are NOT required to _________.
A．do well in their study
B．be recommended by teachers
C．take part in some activities
D．have worked as volunteers小题3:The Call of the Wild is given as an example to show that male students ___.
A．should learn more about literature
B．should have a sense of protecting the wildlife
C．are reading more manly novels
D．are interested in stories on animals小题4:Which is likely to be Morgan Fleet’s opinion?
A．A girl cares about the boys’ opinions of her.
B．Single-sex classes should be stopped.
C．Girls are more focused when studying with boys.
D．Boys and girls act the same in separate classrooms.小题5:The passage is intended to _________.
A．introduce the single-sex class project
B．explain the differences between boys and girls
C．persuade students to enter the Academy program
D．urge students to work hard in their study
