阿甘

I. Vocabulary (20%)
Part A
(A)broaching (B)highfliers (C)infatuated (D)plaudits (E)budge
(F)speculative (G)streamline (H)emblazoned (I)proprietary (J)envisages
(K)fomenting (L)broadside (M)paramount (N)pushover (O)stifle
(P)accentuate (Q)preeminent (R)encroached (S)ultimatum (T)steely
1. I’m more fond of plain T-shirts than ones _________ with logos or patterns. 
2. The CEO is optimistic and _________ a period of growth for the company over the next 
few years.
3. Among all things, the students’ safety on the field trip is the teachers’ _________ 
concern.
4. The prime minister of the country was accused of trying to _________ the voices of the 
opposition.
5. The band’s new album has earned the_________ from most of the reviewers around the 
world.
6. The magazine listed the young _________ who were making their mark in the 
technology industry.
7. Many _________ stocks are not suitable for inexperienced or conservative investors.
8. The dissidents were found _________ a violent insurrection against the government.
9. The manager insists on keeping the schedule; there is no way he will _________ on it.
10.It is unfortunate that Joshua’s colleagues treat him like a(n) _________ and always order
him around.
11.Todd had been _________ with Miranda for years before he confessed to her the other 
day.
12.Be careful when _________ the issue of Nazism to Jews, some of whom would rather 
not talk about it.
13.Her demand of a pay raise is seen as a(n) _________. She will resign if she does not get 
what she wants. 
14.The historian was widely recognized as a(n) _________ expert on the Victorian era. 
Many of his works are now cherished collections of the museum.
15.The candidate launched a(n) _________ at the government for its failure to tackle 
poverty.
 
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 Part B
16. The consumer advocate claimed that while drug manufacturers ------- the supposed 
advantages of their proprietary brands, generic versions of the same medications are often 
equally -------.
(A) tout . . efficacious (B) research . . innocuous
(C) market . . prohibitive (D) laud . . counterproductive
(E) extract . . prescriptive
17. The bearded dragon lizard is a voracious eater, so ------- that it will consume as many 
insects as possible.
(A) abstemious (B) cannibalistic (C) slovenly (D) insatiable (E) unpalatable
18. Because drummer Tony Williams paved the way for later jazz-fusion musicians, he is 
considered a ------- of that style.
(A) connoisseur (B) revivalist (C) beneficiary (D) disparager (E) progenitor
19. The politician’s speech to the crowd was composed of nothing but -------, a bitter railing 
against the party’s opponents.
(A) digressions (B) diatribes (C) platitudes (D) machinations (E) acclamations
20. Favoring economy of expression in writing, the professor urged students toward a -------
rather than an ------- prose style.
(A) spare . . ornate (B) terse . . opinionated
(C) personal . . academic (D) baroque . . embellished
(E) repetitive . . intricate
II. Discourse Structure Test: (15%)
Since the 1970s, parapsychologists at leading universities and research institutes around 
the world have risked the derision of skeptical colleagues by putting the various claims for 
telepathy to the test in dozens of rigorous scientific studies. The results and their 
implications are dividing even the researchers who uncovered them.
Some researchers say the results constitute compelling evidence that telepathy is 
genuine. Other parapsychologists believe the field is on the brink of collapse, having tried to 
produce definitive scientific proof and failed. _________1____________ Reports of 
telepathic experiences had by people during meditation led parapsychologists to suspect that 
telepathy might involve 'signals' passing between people that were so faint that they were 
usually swamped by normal brain activity. In this case, such signals might be more easily 
detected by those experiencing meditation-like tranquility in a relaxing 'whole field' of light, 
sound and warmth.
The ganzfeld experiment tries to recreate these conditions with participants sitting in 
soft reclining chairs in a sealed room, listening to relaxing sounds while their eyes are 
covered with special filters letting in only soft pink light. In early ganzfeld experiments, the 
telepathy test involved identification of a picture chosen from a random selection of four 
taken from a large image bank. _________2____________
Once the session was over, this person was asked to identify which of the four images 
had been used. Random guessing would give a hit-rate of 25 percent; if telepathy is real, 
however, the hit-rate would be higher. In 1982, the results from the first ganzfeld studies 
were analyzed by one of its pioneers, the American parapsychologist Charles Honorton. 
They pointed to typical hit-rates of better than 30 percent - a small effect, but one which 
statistical tests suggested could not be put down to chance.
The implication was that the ganzfeld method had revealed real evidence for telepathy. 
But there was a crucial flaw in this argument - one routinely overlooked in more 
conventional areas of science. Just because chance had been ruled out as an explanation did 
not prove telepathy must exist; there were many other ways of getting positive results. 
__________3___________ In response, the researchers issued a review of all the ganzfeld 
studies done up to 1985 to show that 80 percent had found statistically significant evidence. 
However, they also agreed that there were still too many problems in the experiments which 
could lead to positive results, and they drew up a list demanding new standards for future 
research.
After this, many researchers switched to autoganzfeld tests - an automated variant of 
the technique which used computers to perform many of the key tasks such as the random 
selection of images. By minimizing human involvement, the idea was to minimize the risk 
of flawed results. In 1987, results from hundreds of autoganzfeld tests were studied by 
Honorton in a 'meta-analysis', a statistical technique for finding the overall results from a set 
of studies. Though less compelling than before, the outcome was still impressive.
Yet some parapsychologists remain disturbed by the lack of consistency between 
individual ganzfeld studies. __________4___________ If, as current results suggest, 
telepathy produces hit-rates only marginally above the 25 percent expected by chance, it's 
unlikely to be detected by a typical ganzfeld study involving around 40 people: the group is 
just not big enough. Only when many studies are combined in a meta-analysis will the faint 
signal of telepathy really become apparent. And that is what researchers do seem to be 
finding.
What they are certainly not finding, however, is any change in attitude of mainstream 
scientists: most still totally reject the very idea of telepathy. The problem stems at least in 
part from the lack of any plausible mechanism for telepathy. Various theories have been put 
forward, many focusing on esoteric ideas from theoretical physics. They include 'quantum 
entanglement', in which events affecting one group of atoms instantly affect another group, 
no matter how far apart they may be. While physicists have demonstrated entanglement 
with specially prepared atoms, no-one knows if it also exists between atoms making up 
human minds. Answering such questions would transform parapsychology. 
_________5____________ Some work has begun already, with researchers trying to 
identify people who are particularly successful in autoganzfeld trials. Early results show that 
creative and artistic people do much better than average: in one study at the University of 
Edinburgh, musicians achieved a hit-rate of 56 percent. Perhaps more tests like these will 
eventually give the researchers the evidence they are seeking and strengthen the case for the 
existence of telepathy.
A. This has prompted some researchers to argue that the future lies not in collecting 
more evidence for telepathy, but in probing possible mechanisms.
B. The idea was that a person acting as a 'sender' would attempt to beam the image 
over to the 'receiver' relaxing in the sealed room.
C. The limitations of the studies have undermined the reliability of their findings, and, 
thus, invite more doubt.
D. Skeptics and advocates alike do concur on one issue, however, that the most 
impressive evidence so far has come from the so-called 'ganzfeld' experiments, a 
German term for 'whole field'.
E. These ranged from 'sensory leakage' - where clues about the pictures accidentally 
reach the receiver - to outright fraud.
F. Defenders of telepathy point out that demanding impressive evidence from every 
study ignores one basic statistical fact: it takes large samples to detect small effects.

III. Essay Questions: (15%)
One big challenge English teachers face in the classroom is how to engage 
students in class. Please elaborate on the methods you will use to get your passive, 
lukewarm or reluctant students to actively participate in the classroom activities. 
IV. Cloze Test Design: Summarize the following article into a passage of about 200 
words. Based on the passage, design 5 multiple-choice cloze questions with 4 
distractors each. The examinees are 11th graders. (20%)
For years, video games have been criticized for making people more antisocial, 
overweight or depressed. But now researchers are finding that games can actually change us 
for the better and improve both our body and mind.
Games can help to develop physical skills. Pre-school children who played interactive 
games such as the ones available on Wii have been shown to have improved motor skills. 
For example, they can kick, catch and throw a ball better than children who don’t play video 
games. A study of surgeons who do microsurgery in Boston found that those who played 
video games were 27 percent faster and made 37 percent fewer errors than those who didn't. 
Vision is also improved, particularly in telling the difference between shades of grey. This is 
useful for driving at night, piloting a plane or reading X-rays.
Games also benefit a variety of brain functions, including decision-making. People who 
play action-based games make decisions 25 percent faster than others and are no less 
accurate, according to one study. It was also found that the best gamers can make choices 
and act on them up to six times a second, four times faster than most people. In another 
study by researchers from the University of Rochester in New York, experienced gamers 
were shown to be able to pay attention to more than six things at once without getting 
confused, compared with the four that most people can normally keep in mind. Additionally, 
video games can also reduce gender differences. Scientists have found that women who play 
games are better able to mentally manipulate 3D objects.
There is also evidence that gaming can help with psychological problems. At the 
University of Auckland in New Zealand, researchers asked 94 young people diagnosed with 
depression to play a 3D fantasy game called SPARX and in many cases, the game reduced 
symptoms of depression more than conventional treatment. Another research team at 
Oxford University found that playing Tetris shortly after exposure to something very 
upsetting – in the experiment, a film of traumatic scenes of injury and death was used – can 
actually prevent people having disturbing flashbacks.
The effects are not always so positive, however. Indiana University researchers carried 
out brain scans on young men and found evidence that violent games can alter brain 
function after as little as a week of play, affecting regions in the brain associated with 
emotional control and causing more aggressive behaviour in the player. But Daphne 
Bavelier, one of the most experienced researchers in the field, says that the violent action 
games that often worry parents most may actually have the strongest beneficial effect on the 
brain. In the future, we may see many treatments for physical and neurological problems 
which incorporate the playing of video games.
V. Course Design: 30%
“Master Framework for the 12-year Basic Education Curriculum Guidelines 
(108 課綱)” is going to be put into practice in the following new school year. The 
new curriculum aims to
(1) develop learners’ individuality by enhancing a few personal qualities, 
including fundamental knowledge and morale, motivation and passion for 
learning, realization of individual potential, fulfilled learning, and 
self-confidence. 
(2) empower learners to explore the world via praxis connecting with people, 
environment, and different cultures. 
(3) ensure individual well-being and promote universal harmony. Learners 
will be bestowed with a caring heart, initiative-taking attitudes, and 
awareness of global sustainability. 
To sum up, the new curriculum aims to help students develop the competence and 
the ability to 
(1) take the initiative. 
(2) engage the public.
(3) seek the common ground.
The following is an article that you are going to teach in class. Read the article and 
then design two follow-up tasks (for students to do), which would implement the 
new curriculum guidelines mentioned above. - 
i. The first task must be based on the content of the article, which aims to help 
students understand the reading better. (20%)
ii. The second task explores the issue(s) related to the article, which aims to help 
students connect what has been learned to themselves. (20%)
iii. The two tasks must effectively empower at least two of the following students’ 
abilities: reading, writing, listening, speaking.
MALALA YOUSAFZAI: A NORMAL YET POWERFUL GIRL
Malala Yousafzai (born 1997) is a Pakistani activist for female education and the 
youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala is from the Swat Valley in 
northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban has banned girls from attending 
school. Malala, whose family ran a chain of local schools, publicly stood against the 
Taliban’s actions and launched an international movement. On October 9th, 2012, a 
gunman from the Taliban boarded a school bus and shot her in the head. Malala 
remained in critical condition in the days following the attack, but survived. Since 
then, she has continued to advocate internationally for women’s education.
As you read, consider what drove Malala to overcome tremendous adversity.
“I think Malala is an average girl,” Ziauddin Yousafzai says about the 16-year-old 
Pakistani girl who captured the world’s attention after being shot by the Taliban, “but 
there’s something extraordinary about her.”
A teacher himself, Yousafzai inspired his daughter’s fight to be educated. At a special 
event with Malala in Washington, D.C., he says that he is often asked what training he 
gave to his daughter. “I usually tell people, ‘You should not ask me what I have 
done. Rather you ask me, what I did not do,’” he says. “I did not clip her wings to fly. I 
did not stop her from flying.”
A year after being shot, Malala is clear about her goal. “I speak for education of every 
child, in every corner of the world,” Malala says. “There has been discrimination in 
our society,” which she believes must be defeated. “We women are going to bring 
change. We are speaking up for girls’ rights, but we must not behave like men, like 
they have done in the past.”
Perhaps she has learned from her father’s experience. When asked what gave him a 
passion for girls’ education, Yousafzai points out that he was “born in a society where 
girls are ignored.” Living with five sisters, he was sensitive to discrimination from an 
early age. “In the morning, I was used to milk and cream, and my sisters were given 
only tea,” he says.
Yousafzai felt the injustice even more when Malala was born. He later opened a school 
that Malala attended in the Swat Valley. At the time, the Taliban’s influence was 
gaining power and both Yousafzais were firmly on their radar. “But we thought that 
even terrorists might have some ethics,” Yousafzai says. “Because they destroyed 
some 1,500 schools but they never injured a child. And she was a child.”
Malala says that the shooting has taken away her fear. “I have already seen death and I 
know that death is supporting me in my cause of education. Death does not want to kill 
me,” she says. “Before this attack, I might have been a little bit afraid how death 
would be. Now I’m not, because I have experienced it.”
Malala knows the Taliban would still like to kill her, but she says she hopes to return 
to Pakistan one day. “First, I need to empower myself with knowledge, with 
education. I need to work hard,” she says. “And when I [am] powerful, then I will go 
back to Pakistan, inshallah [God willing