【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[听力原文] 22-25
Professor: Let me begin by saying that ... ah ... the history and culture of these two countries ... Creat Britain and the United States ... seem to be similar in many ways, but ... ah ... not in others. In the field of education, for example, the school systems of these two English-speaking countries are no more alike than ... ah ... than cricket and baseball.
Let's look at the matter of examinations ... those terrible inventions that students all over the world fear and dread ... In England they are standard.That is, students all over the country take the same examination. Most children begin school at five, you see ... and study the basics for about eight years ... then, if they decide to go on, they select certain subjects and study for these nation-wide standard exams.This process ends at about age 16, except for those who want to enter universities.These students must ... ah, study for yet more difficult examinations, known in England as the "A Levels", or Advanced Level Examinations.
As you can see, these national examinations are very important to British students ... but in the United States there are none ... oh, of course we have other kinds of tests that are important ... but I mean there are no nationally set examinations that determine whether students can graduate from our public schools. Each local school system has its own standards, and these are set by the local school boards. So a high school diploma from ... ah ... Oregon, for example, is not the same as one from ah ... Florida or Minnesota, or California.
Generally speaking, there are twelve grades in the American system... and these twelve are divided into two levels: elementary and secondary... the secondary one is known as "high school." Each grade takes one year, so children who begin the first grade at the age of six usually graduate when they are about seventeen, if they want to go on to college ... they have to write and find out what the entrance requirements are, because each college and university is different.
Now, as for which system is better...the American or the British, I can only say that each one ... (fade)