单选题 Americans today don"t place a very high value on intellect. Our heroes are athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs, not scholars. Even Our schools are where we send our children to get a practical education—not to pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Symptoms of pervasive anti-intellectualism in our schools aren"t difficult to find.
"Schools have always been in a society where practical is more important than intellectual," says education writer Diane Ravitch. "Schools could be a counterbalance." Ravitch"s latest book, "Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms", traces the roots of anti-intellectualism in our schools, concluding they are anything but a counterbalance to the American distaste for intellectual pursuits.
But they could and should be. Encouraging kids to reject the life of the mind leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and control. Without the ability to think critically, to defend their ideas and understand the ideas of others, they cannot fully participate in our democracy; "Continuing along this path," says writer Earl Shorris. "We will become a second-rate country. We will have a less civil society."
"Intellect is resented as a form of power or privilege," writes historian and professor Richard Hofstadter in "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life", a Pulitzer-Prize winning book on the roots of anti-intellectualism in U.S. politics, religion, and education. From the beginning of our history, says Hofstadter, our democratic and populist urges have driven us to reject anything that smells of elitism. Practicality, common sense, and native intelligence have been considered more noble qualities than anything you could learn from a book.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalist philosophers thought schooling and rigorous book learning put unnatural restraints on children: "We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for 10 or 15 years and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing." Mark Twain"s "Huckleberry Finn" exemplified American anti-intellectualism. Its hero avoids being civilized—going to school and learning to read—so he can preserve his innate goodness.
Intellect, according to Hofstadter, is different from native intelligence, a quality we reluctantly admire. Intellect is the critical, creative, and contemplative side of the mind. Intelligence seeks to grasp, manipulate, re-order, and adjust, while intellect examines, ponders, wonders, theorizes, criticizes, and imagines.
School remains a place where intellect is mistrusted. Hofstadter says our country"s educational system is in the grips of people who "joyfully and militantly proclaim their hostility to intellect and their eagerness to identify with children who show the least intellectual promise".

单选题 What do American parents expect their children to acquire in school?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 从文章第1段的内容可知，美国人现在不太重视才智了。我们崇拜的是运动员、演员和企业家，而不是学者。甚至我们的学校也是一个我们送孩子去接受实用教育的场所。在我们的学校，不难发现普遍的反才智主义的现象。从第2段的内容可知，作家Diane Ravitch说，“学校总是处于一个实践重于智慧的社会之中。”据此可知，美国人期待他们的孩子在学校学到实际本领。C项与文章的意思相符，因此C项为正确答案。

单选题 We can learn from the text that Americans have a history of ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 从文章第1段的内容可知，美国人现在不太重视才智了；从文章第4段的内容可知，“才智受到人们的憎恶，”历史学家Hofstadter教授指出；他说，自美国的历史开始之时，美国的民主和平民的愿望就促使我们抵制任何带有精英政治味道的东西；实用性、常识以及天赋被看成是比你能够从书本中学得的任何东西都崇高的本领。据此可知，美国人有不重视才智的历史。因此A项为正确答案。

单选题 The views of Ravitch and Emerson on schooling are ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 从文章第2段的内容可知，“学校总是处于一个实践重于智慧的社会环境之中，”作家Diane Ravitch说。“学校可能成为一种平衡力。”Ravitch的最新作品探究了我们的学校中反才智主义的根源，并得出结论——学校根本就不是美国人反感智慧追求的一种抗衡力；从文章第5段的内容可知，爱默生和其他先验论哲学家认为，学校教育和严谨的书本知识学习刻意限制了孩子——我们被禁闭在中小学和大学的背诵室里10～15年，最后带着满腹经纶出来，却不懂任何东西。据此可知，这两者的观点大不相同。D项与文章的意思相符，因此D项为正确答案。

单选题 Emerson, according to the text, is probably ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 本题可参照文章的第5段。从中可知，爱默生和其他先验论哲学家认为，学校教育和严谨的书本知识学习不正常地限制了孩子——我们被禁闭在中小学和大学的背诵室里10～15年，最后带着满腹经纶出来，却不懂任何东西；马克·吐温的《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》一书再现了美国人的反才智主义现象：书中的主人公逃避接受教育，所以他能够保持他天生的美德。据此可知，爱默生可能是反才智主义的。B项与文章的意思相符，因此B项为正确答案。

单选题 What does the author think of intellect?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 本题可参照文章的第1段。从中可知，美国人现在不太重视才智了。在我们的学校，不难发现普遍的反才智主义的现象。从第3段的内容可知，学校能够也应该成为反才智主义的平衡力。由于缺乏严谨思考的能力，缺乏捍卫自己的思想、理解他人思想的能力，这些孩子不可能完全融入我们的民主生活。如果继续这样发展下去，我们的国家将会成为二流国家，我们的社会的文明程度也会降低。据此可知，作者认为，由于才智非常重要，我们应该追求才智。C项与作者的观点相符，因此C项为正确答案。