(A)
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The term “formal learning” refers to all learning which takes place in the classroom regardless of whether such learning is informed by conservative or proGREssive ideologies（思想意识）. “Informal learning”, on the other hand, is used to refer to learning which takes place outside the classroom.
These definitions（定义）provide the basic difference between the two modes of learning. Formal learning is separated from daily life and may actually promote ways of learning and thinking which often run counter to those obtained from practical daily life. A characteristic feature of formal learning is the centrality of activities which can prepare for the changes of adult life outside the classroom, but it cannot, by its nature, consist of these challenges.
In doing this, language plays an important role as a major channel for information exchange. The language of the classroom is more similar to the language used by middle-class families than that used by working-class families. Middle-class children thus find it easier to gain the language of the classroom than their working-class classmates.
Informal learning, in contrast, occurs in the setting to which it relates, making learning immediately relevant（相关的）. In this context, language does not occupy such an important role: the child's experience of learning is more direct, involving sight, touch, taste, and smell—senses that are not used in the classroom. Whereas formal learning is transmitted by teachers selected to perform this role, informal learning is gained as a natural part of child's socialization. Adults or older children who are proficient（熟练的）in skill or activity provide—sometimes unintentionally（无意义地）—target models of behavior in the course of everyday activity. Informal learning, therefore, can take place at any time and place.
The motivation of learner provides another important difference between the two models of learning. The formal learner is generally motivated by some kind of external goal such as parental approval, social status, and possible financial reward. The informal learner, however, tends to be motivated by successful completion of the task itself and the partial knowledge of adult status（身份）.
Given that learning systems develop as a response to the social and economic contexts in which they are firmly, it is understandable that modern, high urbanized（城市化）societies have concentrated almost specially on the establishment of formal education systems. What these societies have failed to recognize are the ways in which formal learning inhibits the child's multi-sensory acquisition of practical skills. The failure to provide a child with a direct education may in part account for many of the social problems which trouble our societies.
1. Formal learning and informal learning are mainly told differences by __________ .
A. the place where they take place
B. the kind of knowledge to be obtained
C. the people who learn
D. the language used in instruction
2. The language used in classroom instruction explains __________ .
A. how learning can take place efficiently
B. why it is not easy for children of working-class families to get high scores
C. why informal learning is more important
D. why formal learning does not work with children of middle-class families
3. In informal learning __________ .
A. children usually follow the examples of adults to shape their own behaviour
B. children's learning is more direct
C. children are highly motivated by the learning activity itself
D. all of the above
4. The author's attitude towards the present state of formal learning is __________ .
A. aGREeable B. critical C. suspecting D. indifferent
参考答案：
（A）本文主要讲的是正规与非正规学习的区别。1. A。第一段谈到了这一点：两种学习在形式上的区别是“在课堂内还是课堂外”。
2. B。第三段告诉我们，课堂教学用语更贴近中产阶级家庭的孩子的生活，而劳工家庭的孩子难以适应，所以成绩常常很差。
3. D。倒数第二段最后一句说：“非正规学习”者一方面受社会竞争心理的驱使（motivate），一方面受成人意识的影响（答案A、C）；第四段第二句是B项的直接答案。所以答案应为D。
4. B。从末段最后两句说，现代的、高度城市化的社会所关注的只是如何建立和完善课堂正规教育，而忽略了课堂教育应使孩子多渠道获取实际技能的方法。不能给孩子们提供一个直接从社会获取知识的渠道，这正是导致很多社会问题的原因之一。从以上可知，作者对正规教育持批评态度。
