单选题 The scandal at Harvard University in which authorities are investigating whether nearly haft of a class of 279 students cheated on a take-home final exam raises a number of questions, including this: Does everybody cheat?
Dozens of Harvard University students may have wrongly shared answers on a final exam, an "unprecedented" case of suspected academic dishonesty. Sanctions for students found guilty of cheating include leaving Harvard for a year.
Harvard, like most U.S. colleges and universities, has never had an honor code, although the Associated Press reports that it is giving "renewed consideration" to the idea as a result of the scandal.
So, does everybody cheat?
Not quite, but studies show that most students cheat at one time or another.
A survey of 40,000 high school students found that more than half of teenagers said they had cheated on a test in the previous year, and 34 percent said they had done it more than twice. One-third of the students said that they had plagiarized an assignment with the help of the Internet.
The consequences for the country may be significant. A 2009 study about the relationship between high school attitudes and behavior and later adult conduct found that people who cheated on exams in high school two or more times are more likely to be dishonest later in life than those who never cheated in high school.
Meanwhile, we've seen successive scandals involving cheating by the adults in school—teachers and principals—as a result of the growing importance of standardized tests. As the stakes associated with the scores have risen—the tests are used to gauge not only student achievement, but also teacher effectiveness, school and district quality—more people have taken desperate measures to ensure better scores. Not an excuse, just an explanation.
Modern technology makes cheating much easier. Cheating cases have been documented in 30 states over the past three academic years. Some students, including those at virtual schools, sometimes put entire quizzes on the Internet, and the same exams are used repeatedly by teachers.
Back at Harvard, a culture of cheating persists. "There's a lot of pressure internally and externally to succeed at Harvard, and when kids who are not used to failing feel these things, it can really bend their ethics in ways I didn't expect to see," author Eric Kester told ABC News.

单选题 The word "unprecedented" is used in Paragraph two to emphasize that ______.

A. there had never been any cheating at Harvard before
B. such cases of cheating had been left unreported by the media
C. such large-scale cheating was something unheard of at Harvard
D. the causes of these cases of cheating had remained a mystery

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】首先要了解unprecedented的含义：前所未有的，史无前例的。这里所谓的“前所未有的”是指“参与作弊的人数之多(100多名学生)”，并不是“以前从未有人作弊”。

单选题 An honor code is probably ______.

A. a person who decides on the penalty to an offender
B. a set of rules or principles to deter academic dishonesty
C. a series of codes for various test papers at a school
D. a role model well-known for his honesty and diligence

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】honor的意义是“名誉”或“荣誉”，而code是“条例”或“编码”。美国大学的honor code相当于中国大学的“学术规范”，用于遏制作弊或剽窃。

单选题 The survey of 40,000 high school students found that ______.

A. the majority of these teenagers had cheated on many tests
B. one in three students had cheated on only one test
C. at least half of these students had committed cheating
D. all these teenagers had cheated with the help of the Internet

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】文章第六段介绍了一项对4万名中学生调查的结果：超过半数的中学生承认在上一年作过弊，而34%的学生承认作弊不止一次，还有三分之一的学生承认通过互联网抄袭他人作业。通过比较不同的百分比，可发现选项C是符合原文的。

单选题 According to the 2009 study, cheating on a test in high school ______.

A. leaves one prone to major crimes in adulthood
B. increases the chance of dishonesty in later life
C. has no effect on one's behavior in adulthood
D. is no longer regarded as shameful in adulthood

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】文章第七段介绍了2009年完成的一项研究，探讨的是中学时期的学习态度与成年后行为之间的关系。该研究发现，同中学阶段从不作弊的人相比，多次作弊的人长大后更有可能说谎行骗。文章没提到“重大犯罪”。

单选题 Which of the following is true about teachers and principals according to this passage?

A. They can benefit from high scores of students.
B. They seldom punish the offenders on a test.
C. They are reluctant to become more effective.
D. They have never used standardized tests.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】文章第八段第一句就说校长和老师参与作弊的丑闻不断，原因是考试成绩不仅用于衡量学生，也是评价教学效果的手段。人们不择手段确保学生取得好成绩。这些现象意味着学生分数高对教师有利。

单选题 The central idea of this passage is that ______.

A. students at Harvard are under great pressure
B. cheating has negative impact on one's career
C. high schools and colleges encourage cheating
D. cheating is quite universal and commonplace

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】选项A和选项B只是整个文章当中所提到的某一现象，并不是文章的中心思想。文章中没提到任何学校鼓励作弊。整个文章都在谈论作弊是司空见惯的，而且很容易得手，不论学校是什么类型的。