单选题 Some 130 penalties were issued to schools and colleges for malpractice in this summer's GCSEs and A-levels—the highest number on record. Ofqual, the qualifications watchdog, revealed that five institutions were stripped of the power to run their own exams "altogether because of concerns over the way tests were organised. One more school had its exam entries suspended. Schools can be subjected to official reprimands for helping pupils in the exams hall, breaches of security, allowing students to open test papers early or a lack of proper invigilation.
A further 60 individual teachers also faced penalties for "malpractice", the regulator said, although this was down on a year earlier. The disclosure comes amid an ongoing investigation into cheating in GCSEs by one of the Government's flagship academies. Kingsdale Foundation School in south London was alleged to have changed pupils' work after tests and fabricated coursework in an attempt to drive up grades.
According to reports, one former pupil even claimed that teachers entered the exam hall during a test, telling students to change their answers. Ofqual insisted that the sharp rise in school reprimands was down to a clampdown on malpractice by one exam board—Edexcel.
A spokeswoman for Pearson, which runs the board, said: "In 2012 we introduced a more rigorous warning process so that we can gain far more accurate data across centres on all incidents, both minor and major." According to figures, 130 penalties were imposed on schools and colleges in England, Wales and Northern Ireland this summer, compared with just 56 a year earlier and 106 in 2010. It was the highest total since records were first collated in 2009.
School-wide penalties can be imposed for a serious management failure across an entire institution or department, rather than the isolated actions of one teacher. Three schools were found to be giving assistance to pupils in the exam hall and examiners reported security breaches on 21 occasions, it emerged. Remaining penalties were imposed for a variety of reasons, including opening papers early, sitting an exam at the wrong time and failing to invigilate candidates properly. Most cases resulted in a written warning, although five had their power to run exams withdrawn. This penalty had previously only been used five times over the last three years.
Some 60 teachers or lecturers were subjected to individual penalties, with two-thirds of cases related to "inappropriate assistance to candidates". Other staff were reprimanded for coaching or prompting students and giving candidates more time beyond the official finishing point. Overall, 23 teachers were suspended from involvement in exams.
The use of mobile phones and other electronic devices in the exam hall was the most common reason—covering almost half of cases—followed by plagiarism, failing to acknowledge sources and copying from other students.

单选题 Which of the following has the similar meaning with "reprimands" (Paragraph One)?
A．Suggestions. B．Supports. C．Rewards. D．Blames.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 语义题。由单词所在首段末句上下文可推知，reprimands是官方的，政府的，for引导原因状语，说明reprimands产生的原因，由“helping pupils in the exams hall, breaches of security, allowing students to open test papers early or a lack of proper invigilation.”等含义可知这些均为违规行为。理应得到惩罚或谴责，故D为答案。A“建议”、B“支持”和C“奖励”含义均与上下文内容不符，故都排除。
单选题 According to the author, Kingsdale Foundation School
A．got the most penalties this summer. B．did a great job in avoiding cheating.
C．used improper ways to help students cheat. D．is famous for strict academic atmosphere.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。第二段末句指出“Kingsdale Foundation School...was alleged to have changed pupils' work after tests and fabricated coursework in an attempt to drive up grades.”，由此可推知该学校使用了不当手段来帮助学生作弊，故C为答案。原文并未提及Kingsdale Foundation School受处罚数量的多少，故排除A；由第二段末句排除与文意不符的B和D。
单选题 The reasons of penalty include all the following EXCEPT
A．lacking necessary security measures. B．attempting to lower students' grades.
C．changing students' work after tests. D．allowing students to open papers early.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。由the reasons of penalty定位到文章第一、二段，其中，第二段末句提及“fabricated coursework in an attempt to drive up grades”，B含义与此相反，不是被处罚的原因，故为答案。由首段末句中“breaches of security”可知A符合文意。故排除；由第二段末句中“changed pupils' work after tests”可知C符合文意，故排除；由首段末句中“allowing students to open test papers early”可知D符合文意，故排除。
单选题 In order to avoid penalties, a teacher should
A．give students more time beyond the finishing time.
B．apply more electronic devices in the exams hall.
C．help students to make clear their answer sources.
D．get rid of management failure with a warning process.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。倒数第二段首句提及“Some 60 teachers or lecturers were subjected to individual penalties, with two-thirds of cases related to 'inappropriate assistance to candidates'.”，也即教师个人受处罚的原因多与“对参加考试者给予不恰当的帮助”有关，由此可推知D项的建议有助于教师避免被处罚，故为答案。由倒数第二段第二句“Other staff were reprimanded for...giving candidates more time beyond the official finishing point.”排除含义相反的A；由末段可推知使用电子设备和failing to acknowledge sources是考试作弊最常见的因素，B和C的做法只会导致教师帮助学生作弊，与题干要求不符，故都排除。
单选题 What's the main idea of this passage?
A．Practical ways to help students with their tests.
B．Schools' management failure and exam cheating.
C．Electronic devices' functions in stopping cheating.
D．The necessity of lowering the difficulty of exams.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 主旨题。通读全文可知，本文围绕学生考试作弊以及学校和教师帮助、纵容违规现象而遭受惩罚的话题展开，B是对原文内容的概括，故为答案。通过通读全文可知，文章只是借助处罚列举了教师在监考中的不当行为，并未提及帮助学生考试的实用方法，故排除A；文章末段只是提及电子设备是非常普遍的作弊闲索，并未提及如何使用它们防止作弊，故排除C；原文并未明确提及降低考试难度的必要性问题，故排除D。