5. cranky: Cranky behavior is strange behavior which results form someone havingunusual ideas; used showing disapproval.
6. cantankerous: A cantankerous person is always finding things to argue orcomplain about.
7. tip: A tip is also a small but useful piece of advice.
8. empathize: If you empathize with someone，you understand their situation,problems，and feelings，perhaps because the situation that they are in is onewhich have been in yourself .
9. imperative: Something that is imperative is extremely important or urgent，andneeds to be considered or dealt with before anything else.
10. set sb. up: If someone set you up，they make it seem that you have donesomething wrong when you have not，or they deceive you and get you into asituation in which you may be harmed; used in informal English.
11. shrug one??s shoulders: If you shrug your shoulders or if you shrug，you raise yourshoulders in order to show that you are not interested in something or that youdon??t know or care about it.
12. intervene: If you intervene，you take action in a situation that did not originally
involve you，especially in order to prevent conflict between two people or groups,or to help someone.
13. Unfortunately，some parents steal this wonderful opportunity by trying to makesure their children??s teachers are“ perfect”. : Unfortunately，some parents whodon??t act on the advice mentioned above prevent their children from getting theopportunity to know they can succeed in dealing with different types of people bytrying to make sure their children??s teachers are“perfect”.
C. Post -r eading a ctivity
Think and answer the following questions.
1. How does a parent or educator feel when they hear children??s words such as“ Idon??t want to go to school. I hate my teacher ，or my teacher is so mean! ”? Why?
2. What is the result if parents say something negative about teachers before theirchildren?
3. What is advisable for parents to do when children complain about their teachers orschools according to this passage?
4. Use the reading strategy of comparison and contrast to find out comparison orcontrast sentences in the passage.
Ⅳ. Fast Read in g
In this part，you are required to read three passages and choose the best answersfor the questions after each passage，using the skill you have just learned.
( 1)
My favorite teacher was passionate about her subject matter. She didn??t teach us asubject; she shared with us a wonderful secret. Her enthusiasm，her lectures，herassignments，even her test questions fairly screamed，“Isn??t this fascinating? Isn??t thisbrilliant? Isn??t this exciting? Don??t you want to know more?”
My favorite teacher was demanding. Hers was the original zero toleranceclassroom. “ You didn??t do your homework? Complete the assignment? Followdirections? Listen to the question? Study for the exam? Intolerable! You get a zero! ”
My favorite teacher was flexible. Her zero tolerance policy was tempered withcommon sense. “My dog ate my homework”didn??t cut it.“My dog was sick”did.
“ I got so interested in Chapter 6 that I didn??t have time to read Chapter 7 ”could alsobe winner - provided you could justify the chapter??s fascination.
My favorite teacher criticized us but never demeaned us. She wasn??t above apublic dressing down if one of us failed to turn in an assignment or pay attention inclass or do our best. But she never attacked us personally，she always knew what ourbest was，and she never asked for more than that - or accepted less.
My favorite teacher was fair. She was human. She must have had favorites. Butif she did，we never knew who they were. She clearly loved us all.
My favorite teacher was“ frightening and mean ” - but only in the eyes ofstudents who had never been in her classroom. Those of us who were her studentsencouraged the rumors and bolstered our reputations for bravery，secure in theknowledge that she would protect and defend us with every ounce of her being,because we were“ her students. ”
My favorite teacher demanded respect，treated us respectfully，and expected us torespect one another. We were a family. We took care of one another . No excuses!
My favorite teacher was involved - and she bullied us into getting involved too.
“ I??m directing the spring play. I expect to see every one of you at tryouts. ”“ I??m theadvisor for the school paper and I need a good sports writer . ”“ You have terrificliterary insights. Why don??t I see you at the Great Books Club meetings? ”This isyour life. Live it!
My favorite teacher was enthusiastic and involved，demanding and fair,
interesting and interested. She gave every indication that she saw each of us as uniqueand fascinating individuals who were destined to make her proud - if only she couldknock some sense into us. How could we disappoint her?
1. In the author??s eyes，his favorite teacher??s lectures were .
A. boring B. surprising C. attractive D. dull
2. The teacher .
A. could put up with her students??studying hard
B. could put up with her students??not studying hard
C. couldn??t put up with her students??studying hard
D. couldn??t put up with her students??not studying hard
3. The teacher loved the student who .
A. treated all the students in her class equally
B. treated the students who studied hard better than the ones who didn??t
C. treated the students who were unique better than the ones who weren??t
D. treated the students who were unique and fascinating better than the ones who weren??t
4. Which of the following can best describe his teacher?
A. Demanding，tolerant and fair .
B. Strict，enthusiastic and fair.
C. Enthusiastic，mean and fair.
D. Enthusiastic，frightening and mean.
( 2)
