阅读理解
Throughout the nation''s more than 15,000 school districts, widely differing approaches to teaching science and math have emerged. Though there can be strength in diversity, a new international analysis suggests that this variability has instead contributed to lackluster (平淡的) achievement scores by U.S. children relative to their peers in other developed countries.
Indeed, concludes William H. Schmidt of Michigan State University, who led the new analysis, "no single intellectually coherent vision dominates U.S. educational practice in math or science. " The reason, he said, "is because the system is deeply and fundamentally flawed."
The new analysis, released this week by the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va. , is based on data collected from about 50 nations as part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study.
Not only do approaches to teaching science and math vary among individual U.S. communities, the report finds, but there appears to be little strategic focus within a school district''s curricula, its textbooks, or its teachers'' activities. This contrasts sharply with the coordinated national programs of most other countries.
On average, U.S. students study more topics within science and math than their international counterparts do. This creates an educational environment that "is a mile wide and an inch deep," Schmidt notes.
For instance, eighth graders in the United States cover about 33 topics in math versus just 19 in Japan. Among science courses, the international gap is even wider. U.S. curricula for this age level resemble those of a small group of countries including Australia, Thailand, Iceland, and Bulgaria. Schmidt asks whether the United States wants to be classed with these nations, whose educational systems "share our pattern of splintered (支离破碎的) visions" but which are not economic leaders.
The new report "couldn''t come at a better time," says Gerald Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association in Arlington, "The new National Science Education Standards provide that focused vision," including the call "to do less, but in greater depth."
Implementing the new science standards and their math counterparts will be the challenge, he and Schmidt agree, because the decentralized responsibility for education in the United States requires that any reforms be tailored and instituted one community at a time.
In fact, Schmidt argues, reforms such as these proposed national standards "face an almost impossible task, because even though they are intellectually coherent; each becomes only one more voice in the babble (嘈杂声).”
单选题
According to the passage, the teaching of science and math in America is________.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】辨认事实题。他们询问根据文章，美国的科学和数学的教学是________。第1段第1句说：“Throughout the nation''s more than 15,000 school districts，widely differing approaches to teaching science and math have emerged. (全国1.5万多个校区出现了教授科学和数学的千差万别的不同的教学方法。)”第2段第1句说： no single intellectually coherent vision dominates U. S. educational practice in math or science. (美国的数学或科学教育实践中缺少一种知识内容上前后连贯的主导性的观念。)”答案是B项“以多样化为自己的特色”。本文讨论美国各地各不一致的面广而不深入的数字、科学教学的弊端及改正措施。A项“注重开发利用学生的潜能”；C项“逐渐失去了它的生命力”；D项近年来每况愈下”都与文章无关。
单选题
The fundamental flaw of American school education is that________.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】细节加主旨题。题目问：美国学校教育的根本缺陷在于________。查关键词 fundamental flaw，在第2段末尾。第 2段称，因为美国教育体制存在深刻的、根本上的缺陷，所以数学或理科教学活动缺少全国一致的理念。仅仅由此，也可以判定答案为A项；因为其余选项没有与“一致性”相关的概念。实际上，第4段谈到美国缺少其他国家都有的“coordinated national programs”，第6段又说一些经济地位不高的国家才有和美国一样的教育体制，即是pattern。f splintered visions，正反两面都说明了美国教育中的问题是A项缺少协调一致的全国性方案”。
单选题
By saying that the U.S. educational environment is "a mile wide and an inch deep" (Line 2, Para. 5), the author means U.S. educational practice________.
单选题
The new National Science Education Standards are good news in that they will________.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】辨认事实题。题目询问新的全国科学教育标准是个好消息，因为这些标准会________。根据第7段第2句The new National Science Education Standards provide that focused vision，’including the call to do less，but in greater depth. (‘新的国家科学教育标准提供了明确的理念’，包括号召‘缩小范围、增加深度’。)”可推知A项规定学校科学教育的深度是正确答案。B项解决学校教育的问题”，C项“能够满足社区的要求”都没有提到。根据文章最后一句话后半句“because even though they are intellectually coherent，each becomes only one more voice in the babble(因为即使它们在知识内容上连贯一致，但每一项标准都只会变成嘈杂声音中的另一个声音而已)”暗示D项“迅速统领美国教育实践”不正确。
单选题
Putting the new science and math standards into practice will prove difficult because ________.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】事实细节加推断题。题目问：实施新的科学和数学教育标准将是困难的，因为________。根据倒数第二段“Implementing the new science standards and their math counterparts will be the challenge... because the decentralized responsibility for education in the United States requires that any reforms be tailored and instituted one community at a time. (……因为美国的教育权限是分散的，它要求任何一项改革的制定和执行一次只能在一个社区进行。)”C项“各校区各自负责做出自己的决定”是正确的。A项教育圈子里总有争论”;B项“没有足够多的教育家认识到这样做的必要性”；D项“许多教师质疑这些标准的可接受性”在文中都没有提及。