Smartphone apps certainly make our lives easier. However, sometimes they can also cause problems.
Many school teachers in China depend on apps to give homework. The kids have to do their homework looking at a phone screen.
For example, Liu Yanming, a sixth-grade student in Shanghai, usually has to use his mother’s mobile phone to do his homework. The homework is handwritten, photographed and then posted by his teacher to a parent-teacher group on WeChat.
Liu Yong, his father, is afraid that the apps could encourage kids to watch something that has nothing to do with the homework. “He is just 12 years old, and I do not want to buy him a cellphone,” Liu told China Daily. “I also worry that my son’s eyesight will get worse because of staring at the phone for too long.”
However, Bai Yueping, president of Shanghai Tangzhen Middle School, agreed to use apps for homework. “Parents can understand their kids’ learning situation and tell them to finish the homework on time,” Bai told Xinmin Evening News.
Zhang Siqi, a student from Renmin University of China, has a similar opinion to Bai. “It’s convenient to give homework by using WeChat or QQ,” Zhang said. “We’re living in an Internet era (时代). It’s not wise to refuse to take advantage of technology.
Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, believed that it is impossible to ban (禁止) the use of electronic products in the Internet era. However, students should use them when it’s necessary, such as when they do listening exercises, “We don’t want to ban online education models, but they must be used carefully. Modern technologies are good, but they should be used in schools under control,” he told China Daily.
【小题1】What does Liu Yanming’s example show us?| A．Smartphones have many problems. | B．Our lives are changed by smartphone apps. |
| C．What problems smartphone apps cause. | D．How smartphone apps are used in schools. |
| A．He usually does it with his mother’s phone. | B．He looks at the screen for six minutes. |
| C．He posts it to a parent-teacher group. | D．He often asks his father for help. |
| A．He has to buy a smartphone for his son. | B．His son’s eyesight and learning habit. |
| C．Teachers depend on smartphone apps too much. | D．He has to spend more time watching his son. |
| A．They have different opinions. | B．They are against using smartphone apps. |
| C．They agree to give more suggestions. | D．They think it’s wise to use the modern technology. |
| A．Electronic products should be carefully used in teaching. |
| B．We should make more rules for the use of apps. |
| C．Media should do something to control smartphone apps. |
| D．It is good to do reading exercises with smartphone apps. |
