单选题 The richest man in America stepped to the podium and declared war on the nation"s school systems. High schools had become "obsolete" and were "limiting—even ruining—the lives of millions of Americans every year." The situation had become "almost shameful." Bill Gates, prep-school grad and college dropout, had come before the National Governors Association seeking converts to his plan to do something about it—a plan he would back with $2 billion of his own cash.
Gates"s speech, in February 2005, was a signature moment in what has become a decade-long campaign to improve test scores and graduation rates, waged by a loose alliance of wealthy CEOs who arrived with no particular background in education policy—a fact that has led critics to dismiss them as "the billionaire boys" club." Their bets on poor urban schools have been as big as their egos and their bank accounts.
Has this big money made the big impact that they—as well as teachers, administrators, parents, and students—hoped for? The results, though mixed, are dispiriting proof that money alone can"t repair the desperate state of urban education. For all the millions spent on reforms, nine of the 10 school districts studied substantially trailed their state"s proficiency and graduation rates—often by 10 points or more. That"s not to say that the urban districts didn"t make gains.
The good news is many did improve and at a rate faster than their states" 60 percent of the time—proof that the billionaires made some solid bets. But those spikes up weren"t enough to erase the deep gulf between poor, inner-city schools, where the big givers focused, and their suburban and rural counterparts.
The confidence that marked Gates"s landmark speech to the governors" association in 2005 has given way to humility. The billionaires have not retreated. But they have improved their approach, and learned a valuable lesson about their limitations. "It"s so hard in this country to spread good practice. When we started funding, we hoped it would spread more readily," acknowledges Vicki Phillips, the director of K-12 education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "What we learned is that the only things that spread well in school are kids" viruses."
The business titans entered the education arena convinced that America"s schools would benefit greatly from the tools of the boardroom. They sought to boost incentives for improving performance, deploy new technologies, and back innovators willing to shatter old orthodoxies. They pressed to close schools that were failing, and sought to launch new, smaller ones. They sent principals to boot camp. Battling the long-term worry that the best and brightest passed up the classroom for more lucrative professions, they opened their checkbooks to boost teacher pay. It was an impressive amount of industry. And in some places, it has worked out—but with unanticipated complications.

单选题 Bill Gates believes that the high school systems ______

单选题 One of the important purposes of Bill Gates" speech was to ______

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 第一段提到，Bill Gates去演讲的一个主要目的是seeking converts to his plan(为他的计划争取支持者或皈依者)，他的计划是改变学校的现状(do something about it)，具体来说就是提高学生的成绩和毕业率，他打算自掏腰包20亿美元来支持他的计划。从第二段我们了解到，过去10年来，富人们一直关心学校的教育问题，虽然他们的成功并没有依托特定教育政策背景，因此有些人称他们为“亿万富童俱乐部”，认为他们对城里的穷学校的赌注与他们的自负和他们的账户一样大。第二段最后一句充满幽默，意思是富人们热情很高，自以为是，自认为投很多钱就能改进中学的教育状况，但结果事与愿违。结合第二段来看，第一段中提到的Bill Gates的converts似乎应该包括愿意掏钱资助学校的其他富人。

单选题 The author thinks that the rich men"s money ______

单选题 Vicki Phillips admits that ______

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 第四、五段提到，虽然富人的投资在一些学校起到了有限效果，但是在富人资助的学校和郊区学校之间仍然存在很大差距。但亿万富翁们并没有气馁，他们吸取教训，调整做事方式。Vicki Phillips说，很难把好的教育实践传播开来，当我们开始投资的时候，我们希望它随时可以被传播开来。现在我们明白了，学校传播最快的东西是孩子们的病毒。这句话的意思是，好的教学方法很难应用到其他学校，虽然我们投资的时候希望它能很快被采用，但事实却并非如此。而最后一句是开玩笑的话，也是说传播好的教学方法很难。