阅读理解 What' s Wrong with Our Teaching?
Testing has replaced teaching in most public schools. My own children' s school week is focused on pretests, drills, tests, and retests. I believe that my daughter Erica, who gets excellent marks, has never read a chapter of any of her school textbooks all the way through. And teachers are often heard to state proudly and openly that they teach to the mandated state test.
Teaching to the test is a strange phenomenon. Instead of deciding what skills students ought to learn, helping students learn them, and then using some sensible methods of assessment (评估) to discover whether students have mastered the skills, teachers are encouraged to reverse the process. First one looks at a test. Then one draws the skills needed not to master, say, reading, but to do well on the test. Finally, the test skills are taught.
The ability to read or write or calculate might imply the ability to do reasonably well on standardized tests. However, neither reading nor writing develops simply through being taught to take tests. We must be careful to avoid mistaking preparation for a test of a skill with the acquisition of that skill. Too many discussions of basic skills make this fundamental confusion because people are test obsessed rather than concerned with the nature and quality of what is taught.
Recently many schools have faced with what could be called the crisis of comprehension or, in simple terms, the phenomenon of students with grammar skills still being unable to understand what they read. These students are good at test taking, but they have little or no experience reading or thinking, and talking about what they read. They are taught to be so concerned with grade that they have no time or ease of mind to think about meaning, and reread things if necessary.

单选题 11.The author gives an account of Erica' s performance in her study in order to______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】这篇文章主要讲应试教育给学生带来的一些危害。作者以自己女儿Erica为例：虽然她在考试中得了高分，但她从未从头到尾读过课本中的任何一章，以此来说明现行教育制度的弊端。A项“说明她在考试上的聪明才智”，B项“揭示老师的无能”，这两者均不是重点所在；D项“展现读课本的最好方法”，这正好与作者的意思相反。故选C。

单选题 12.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A、 The phenomenon of teaching to the test has aroused curiosity in many educators.
B、 Skills in general are not only useless but often lead students astray.
C、 Ability to read and write is one thing, and ability to do well in standardized tests is quite another.
D、 Preparation for test of a skill does not necessarily mean the acquisition of that skill.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】A选项提到应试教育引起许多教育者的好奇，文中并未提到这一点，只说应试教育是一个奇怪的现象(Teaching to the test is a strange phenomenon)。B选项提到通常的技巧不仅无用还经常把学生引入歧途。文中所指的技巧是纯为应付考试的技巧而不是指所有的一般意义上的技巧，故B不对。C选项说读写能力是一回事，做好标准化试题的能力是另一回事，文中第三段的开头一句话证明了C项错误。由第三段第三句可知D正确。故选D。

单选题 13.The author insists that______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】要做好这道题，首先应明白这是一个虚拟语气的宾语从句，从句中都省略了助动词should。A选项是讲mandated state tests应被一些更明智的评估方法所代替，文中并未提到代替，只是说应该用一些更明智的评估方法去发现学生们是否已掌握了技巧(using some sensible methods of assessment to discover whether students have mastered the skills)。C选项说学生应关心分数和更多的阅读与思考，文章一直在批判应试教育不应该只关注分数，因此C选项错误。D选项说教学的一般方法应被彻底改变，文中只说改变应试教育的方法，故D不对。根据第三段最后一句可知，B选项正确。

单选题 14.By "crisis of comprehension" the author means many students______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】根据题目中crisis of comprehension(理解危机)可定位至最后一段第一句。很明显in simple terms后面的内容是对前面的补充说明：有语法知识的学生仍看不懂他们所读的东西。由于这种应试教育，学生考试能拿高分，但并不一定得他所阅读的内容。因此该题正确答案为D。