第五部分：补全短文

My Life at Renda

I learned very quickly that being a teaching assistant (TA) at the University of Iowa would be different from life as a teacher at Renmin University.

________________(46) Eyes staring, mouths open, students examining my big nose, hands nervous, people whispering while I wrote my name on the blackboard.

At Iowa, when my first classes began, half my students still hadn't arrived. When everyone finally found a seat, ringing cellphones and loud yawns interrupted my opening remarks.

It's not that American students were disrespectful. __________________(47) They were, however, far more skeptical than the students I had at Renda. The truth is I couldn't fault them for their skepticism. Undergraduates at large US universities -especially freshmen and sophomores ? often have several classes a semester handled by TAs. In some cases, the TA sets the course content. ______________(48) Most have good intentions, but only a few are as effective as flesh-and-blood professors.

Every teacher has to confront obstacles to learning - no matter what the culture. Students who talk during lectures, students who cheat, students who question the grade they get for a paper or project - dealing with these is all part of the job. __________________(49)

The difference, I think - at least in my experience is that in the US I had to swallow more of my pride. __________________(50)

I had a responsibility to teach them, of course, but I had to do so indirectly-as a guide who himself had a few things to learn from the students.

答案：

46. Back at Renda, I had walked into my first classes feeling like a celebrity.

47. Most were polite or, at least, indifferent.

48. In others, the TA works as a grader and discussion leader.

49. I encountered these in China, and I faced them in the US.

50. In my students' minds, I had little to offer them, except perhaps some sample questions for the mid-term exam.