Question

    For a generation now, school reform has meant what students must be taught and carried out by standardized（标准化的）tests.

Here’s a thought experiment. Suppose that next year almost every student passed the tests. What would the reaction be from people? Would they shake their heads in respect and say, “Damn, those teachers must be good!”?

Of course not. Such remarkable success would be used as evidence that the tests were too easy and it needs to raise standards. “High standards” really means “standards that all students will never be able to meet”. My little thought experiment uncovers a truth that we have been taught to respond with doubt whenever all members of any group are successful. In America, success doesn’t count unless it is got by only a few.

Consider widespread complaints about “grade inflation（膨胀）” in higher education. Many people don’t even bother to stress that grades have risen over time. They simply point to how many students get A’s right now. The goal, in other words, isn’t to do well but to defeat other people who are also trying to do well. Grades in testing should be used to announce who’s beating whom. A school’s final task, apparently, is not to help everyone learn but to prepare the game so that there will always be losers.

This makes no sense in any situation. Perhaps, for example, we can defend rating states or nations based on the quality of their air, health care or schools, but ranking them is foolish. School testing ranking doesn’t lead to improvements in performance but tends to hold us back from doing our best. It makes productive teamwork less likely and leads all concerned to focus not on meaningful improvements but on trying to beat everyone else.

Most of all, it encourages the false belief that excellence is a zero-sum game. It would be more reasonable to rescue the spirit of the concept: Everyone may not succeed, but at least in theory all of us could.

1.What did the writer’s thought experiment prove?

A.Good teachers represent higher test scores.

B.Excellence is regarded as a rare thing.

C.American tests are usually too easy.

D.Students don’t meet the test standards.

2.What does the writer think American schools seem to do?

A.Promote teachers to teach better. B.Remove the belief of beating others.

C.Help all students do well at school. D.Ensure the existence of failures.

3.What is the writer’s attitude towards schools testing ranking?

A.Disapproving. B.Optimistic.

C.Sympathetic. D.Unconcerned.

4.What is the best title for the text?

A.How Can Students Succeed? B.Why Can’t Everyone Get A’s?

C.What Standards Do Schools Set? D.Who Get Best Grades at School?

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.A

4.B

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。作者通过一个思维实验推导出了学校等级排名的不合理性，认为学校的这种做法在灌输错误的观念。

1.推理判断题。由第三段中的“My little thought experiment uncovers a truth that we have been taught to respond with doubt whenever all members of any group are successful.（我这个小的思维实验揭示了一个真理：每次无论是哪个组内成员全部成功的时候，我们总是被教育的持怀疑的态度）”可知，我们总是认为优秀是一件很稀有的事情，所以我们不相信一群人都同时很优秀。故选B。

2.细节理解题。由第四段“A school’s final task, apparently, is not to help everyone learn but to prepare the game so that there will always be losers.”（ 显然，学校的最后一项任务不是帮助每个人学习，而是为比赛做准备，让失败者永远存在）可知，作者认为美国学校似乎在确保失败的存在。故选D。

3.推理判断题。由倒数第二段“but ranking them is foolish. School testing ranking doesn’t lead to improvements in performance but tends to hold us back from doing our best. It makes productive teamwork less likely and leads all concerned to focus not on meaningful improvements but on trying to beat everyone else.”（ 但是给他们排名是愚蠢的。 学校测试排名并不能带来学习成绩的提高，反而会阻碍我们发挥最佳水平。 它降低了高效率的团队合作的可能性，并导致所有关注的焦点不是有意义的进步，而是试图打败其他人）由此判断出，作者对学校排名持不同意的态度。故选A。

4.主旨大意题。这是一篇说明文，第一段和第二段点明了现在教学中常出现的现象：成功只能被少数人获得。后边几个段落都批判了这种做法的不合理性，认为学校的这种做法在灌输错误的观念。选项B（为什么不能每个人都得A呢？）利用反问句体现了这一思想，并且这个反问的话题与第二段作者引出话题所使用的的例子一致。故选B。