Section II　 Reading Comprehension

　　Text 1

　　It's true that high-school coding classes aren't essential for learning computer science in college. Students without experience can catch up after a few introductory courses, said Tom Cortina, the assistant dean at Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science.

　　However, Cortina said, early exposure is beneficial. When younger kids learn computer science, they learn that it's not just a confusing, endless string of letters and numbers—but a tool to build apps, or creat artwork, or test hypotheses. It's not as hard for them to transform their thought processes as it is for older students. Breaking down problems into bite-sized chunks and using code to solve them becomes normal. Giving more children this training could increase the number of people interested in the field and help fill the jobs gap, Cortina said.

　　Students also benefit from learning something about coding before they get to college, where introductory computer-science classes are packed to the brim, which can drive the less-experienced or -determined students away.

　　The Flatiron School, where people pay to learn programming, started as one of the many coding bootcamps that's become popular for adults looking for a career change. The high-schoolers get the same curriculum, but “we try to gear lessons toward things they're interested in,” said Victoria Friedman, an instructor. For instance, one of the apps the students are developing suggests movies based on your mood.

　　The students in the Flatiron class probably won't drop out of high school and build the next Facebook. Programming languages have a quick turnover, so the “Ruby on Rails” language they learned may not even be relevant by the time they enter the job market. But the skills they learn—how to think logically through a problem and organize the results—apply to any coding language, said Deborah Seehorn, an education consultant for the state of North Carolina.

　　Indeed, the Flatiron students might not go into IT at all. But creating a future army of coders is not the sole purpose of the classes. These kids are going to be surrounded by computers—in their pockets, in their offices, in their homes—for the rest of their lives. The younger they learn how computers think, how to coax the machine into producing what they want—the earlier they learn that they have the power to do that—the better.

　　21.Cortina holds that early exposure to computer science makes it easier to __________.

　　[A]complete future job training

　　[B]remodel the way of thinking

　　[C]formulate logical hypotheses

　　[D]perfect artwork production

　　22.In delivering lessons for high-schoolers, Flatiron has considered their______.

　　[A]experience

　　[B]academic backgrounds

　　[C]career prospects

　　[D]interest

　　23.Deborah Seehorn believes that the skills learned at Flatiron will______.

　　[A]help students learn other computer languages

　　[B]have to be upgraded when new technologies come

　　[C]need improving when students look for jobs

　　[D]enable students to make big quick money

　　24.According to the last paragraph, Flatiron students are expected to______.

　　[A]compete with a future any of programmers

　　[B]stay longer in the information technology industry

　　[C]become better prepared for the digitalized world

　　[D]bring forth innovative computer technologies

　　25.The word “coax”（Line. 4, Para. 6）is closest in meaning to______.

　　[A]challenge

　　[B]persuade

　　[C]frighten

　　[D]misguide

　　Text 2

　　Biologists estimate that as many as 2 million lesser prairie chickens—a kind of bird living on stretching grasslands—once lent red to the often grey landscape of the mid-western and southwestern United States. But just some 22,000 birds remain today, occupying about 16% of the species' historic range.

　　The crash was a major reason the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decided to formally list the bird as threatened. “The lesser prairie chicken is in a desperate situation,” said USFWS Director Daniel Ashe. Some environmentalists, however, were disappointed. They had pushed the agency to designate the bird as “endangered,” a status that gives federal officials greater regulatory power to crack down on threats. But Ashe and others argued that the “threatened” tag gave the federal government flexibility to try out new, potentially less confrontational conservation approaches.In particular,they called for forging closer collaborations with western stata governments,which are often uneasy with federal action,and with the private landowners who control an estimated 95% of the prairie chiekens habitat.

　　Under the plan, for example, the agency said it would not prosecute landowners or businesses that unintentionally kill, harm, or disturb the bird as long as they had signed a range-wide management plan to restore prairie chicken habitat. Negotiated by USFWS and the states, the plan requires individuals and businesses that damage habitat as part of their operations to pay into a fund to replace every acre destroyed with 2 new acres of suitable habitat. The fund will also be used to compensate landowners who set aside habitat. USFWS also set an interim goal of restoring prairie chicken populations to an annual average of 67, 000 birds over the next 10 years. And it gives the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), a coalition of state agencies, the job of monitoring progress. Overall, the idea is to let “states remain in the driver's seat for managing the species,” Ashe said.