Unit4 1-8

ten ten ten

Before I read the article, I am interested in the title---Cheating: Alive and Flourishing. The word “Flourishing” confuses me, so I consult it by Webster On-line Dictionary. It means that something to reach a height of development or influence or to grow or develop successfully. Then an idea rises in my mind, I am sure this article is about cheating. Then I begin to read the article. I hope my guess is true. When it comes to the first paragraph. I am attracted by the first sentence “Trying to get a handle on scholastic cheating is as frustrating as surveying American eating patterns”. It seems to me that cheating is a big problem and hard to solve in most American school. I find that this paragraph is easy to understand. The author compares cheating to surveying American eating patterns. They are both frustrating in American. Turing to paragraph 2 and 3. I read carefully, I get some understandings of these 2 paragraphs. If you compare with the first sentence of these 2 paragraphs. It is easy to get the answer. When it comes to the students. They said they cheated when they were younger, and now they would not of cheating. Also cheating is not a big problem at their school. By contrast, turning to the Teachers. In their eyes, cheating is a serious problem in school. The author thinks that cheating is of a habit that takes root in elementary school, bud in high school, and flower in college. The first sentence of paragraph 3 confuses me. I am not familiar with the word “one” in this sentence. So I look up the notes in the book behind the new words. Then I get the answer. In this sentence, “one” refers to “a different picture” and “that shatters the myths about who cheats and why” is its attributive clause. The word “shatter” here means “damage or destroy”. The word ‘myth’ here means “a widely held but false belief or idea”. Then I read the other 5 paragraphs. In paragraph 4, it tells us that schools are trying to cut down the opportunity to cheat. There are many methods. For example, several school trying to cut down on the opportunity to cheat by giving more open—book exams. What is more, others are holding seminars for their teachers to discuss the cheating phenomenon. The author thinks that the root of the problem lie in the influence of parents on the children, and it is always parents and teachers that encourage it by their own attitude. In paragraph 5, the word “shoplifting” stops me. The dictionary tells us that it means the illegal act of taking goods from a shop without paying for them. In My View, we can simply say they are thief. As I come back to this paragraph, I am very confused. Why the students felt that shoplifting is dishonest; writing a couple of math formulas on their hand are not? In my opinion, too many parents are abdicating that responsibility.