No school I have taught in has ever ignored spelling orconsidered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, very differentideas about how to teach it, or how much priority it must be given over generallanguage development and writing ability. The problem is how to encourage achild to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding himback with the complexities of spelling?If spelling becomes the only focal(焦点的) point of his teacher's interest, clearly abright child will be likely to "play safe". He will tend towrite only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurouslanguage. That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries andpay attention to content rather than technical ability.I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece ofwriting about a personal experience: "This work is terrible! There are fartoo many spelling errors and your writing is illegible (难以辨认)” It may have been a sharpcriticism of the pupil's technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sadreflection on the teacher who had omitted to read the essay, which containedsome beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The teacher was notwrong to draw attention to the errors, but if his priorities had centered onthe child's ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentationwould have given the pupil more motivation to seek improvement.36. Teachers differ in their opinions about ____.

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项

There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, very different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities of spelling?

If spelling becomes the only focal(焦点的) point of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to "play safe". He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurous language. That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.

I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: "This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling errors and your writing is illegible (难以辨认)” It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil's technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had omitted to read the essay, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the errors, but if his priorities had centered on the child's ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation to seek improvement.

36. Teachers differ in their opinions about ____.

   A. the difficulties in teaching spelling 

B. the role of spelling in general language development

C. the complexities of the basic writing skills    

D. the necessity of teaching spelling

37. The expression "play safe" in para2 probably means "____".

   A. to write carefully                   B. to do as teachers say

   C. to use dictionaries frequently       D. to avoid using words one is not sure of

38. Teachers encourage the use of dictionaries so that ____.

   A. students will be able to express their ideas more freely

   B. teachers will have less trouble in correcting mistakes

   C. students will have more confidence in writing

   D. students will learn to be independent of teachers

39. The writer seems to think that the teacher's judgment on that sensitive piece of writing is ____.

   A. reasonable        B. unfair      C. foolish        D. careless

40. The major point discussed in the passage is ____ .

   A. the importance of developing writing skills

   B. the complexities of spelling

   C. the correct way of making compositions

   D. the relationship between spelling and the content of a composition

.