Passage 8
学霸导读 学会独立思考，实现自我成长。
“I never let school interfere with my education，” said Mark Twain. The famous writer of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer， and later a recipient （ 接受者 ） of an honorary doctorate （ 荣誉博士 ） from Oxford University， had left school at the age of twelve and from then on his “school” was curiosity， life experience and i 1 thinking.
Twain is an example that learning is more than just the gaining of knowledge. We also have to think about what we’ve learned and make judgments about what we’ve been taught. Unfortunately, at present, the Chinese educational system still emphasizes memorization and test taking.
If students are to achieve their full potential and if China is to grow and innovate, there should be changes made in the education system to e 2 independent thinking. But how can this be achieved?
Well， there are two ways. One is “Critical Thinking” （批判性思维） and the other is the “Socratic Method” （苏格拉底法则）. Critical Thinking involves analyzing facts before you form an o 3 . You gather information and listen to other points of view before you decide to agree or disagree with something. The Socratic Method of learning is a little more diff icult and frustrating because it involves endless questions. Socrates was the Greek philosopher who taught his students how to think， not what to think. For example， in a discussion of “goodness”， he would ask the students， “What is goodness？” “Who d 4 what is good and what is bad？” “If something is good for you and bad for someone else， is it still good？” There are no “good” answers to these questions. They are only meant to challenge students’ assumptions and get them to think in new ways.
How these teaching methods would work in a Chinese classroom is diff icult to say. But students should also be a 5 that developing an independent mind is something that everyone needs to accomplish by themselves. “Education is not the f 6 of a pail （ 桶 ）， but the lighting of a f ire.” The quote attributed to Irish poet William Butler Yeats tells people that education is the spark that lights up a mind. When young minds are s 7 equipped to think independently for themselves， the things that they eventually （ 最终 ） achieve might just surprise us all.1.__________2.__________3.__________4.__________5.__________6.__________7.__________
高频词汇
curiosity /ˌkjʊəri'ɒsəti/ n. 好奇心；求知欲
judgment /'dʒʌdʒmənt/ n. 判断力；识别力
innovate /'ɪnəveɪt/ v. 引入（新事物、思想或方法）；创新；改革
frustrating /frʌs'treɪtɪŋ/ adj. 令人懊恼的；令人沮丧的
assumption /ə'sʌmpʃn/ n. 假定；假设；臆断
accomplish /ə'kʌmplɪʃ/ v. 完成
attribute /'ætrɪbjuːt/ v. 认为是……所为（或说、写、作）