Question

Despite gains in recent years，women still fall behind men in some areas of math achievement，and the question of why has caused heated argument. Now，a study of first and second graders suggests what may be part of the answer：Female primary school teachers who are concerned about their own skills could be passing that along to the little girls they teach.

Young students tend to model themselves after adults of the same sex，explained Beilock，an associate professor in psychology at the University of Chicago. Little girls may learn to fear math from the women who are their earliest teachers. Beilock and her colleagues studied 52 boys and 65 girls in classes taught by 17 different teachers. Ninety percent of the US primary school teachers are women，as was all of those in this study.

Students’ math ability was not related to teachers’ math anxiety at the start of the school year，but at the end of the year，the more anxious teachers were about their own skills，the more likely their female students—but not the boys—were to agree to that “boys are good at math and girls are good at reading”．In addition，the girls who answered that way scored lower on math tests than either the classes’ boys or the girls who had not developed such a belief，the researchers found.

After seeing the results，the researchers recommended that the math requirements for obtaining a primary education teaching degree should be rethought. “If the next generation of teachers，especially primary school teachers，is going to teach their students more effectively，more care needs to be taken to develop both strong math skills and positive math attitudes in these educators,” the researchers wrote.

“Girls who grow up believing females lack math skills wind up avoiding harder math classes. It keeps girls and women out of a lot of careers，particularly in science technology,” Beilock said.

1.We can learn from the first three paragraphs that ______.

A. teachers in US primary schools are mostly females

B. the students involved in the study are starters at primary school

C. young students usually follow example of their female teachers

D. it’s true that boys do well in math while girls do well in reading

2.We can we infer from the text?

A. Beilock’s study will bring about a primary education revolution.

B. Girls’ lack of confidence in math skills affects their future jobs.

C. The performance of the students changed little during the process of the study.

D. The researchers argued that current primary school education needed improving.

3.What’s the suggested solution to the phenomenon mentioned in the text?

A. Using different approaches to excite students’ interest in math.

B. Reducing the number of situations that make teachers anxious.

C. Creating more chances for boys and girls to work together in class.

D. Improving teachers’ math skills and changing their math attitudes.

4.What’s the main idea of the text?

A. Girls may learn math anxiety from female teachers.

B. Boys are free from the math anxiety of female teachers.

C. Primary school teachers have a far-reaching influence on students.

D. Students should learn how to hold positive attitudes towards math.

Answer 1