TEXT D
Examinations Exert a Pernicious Influence on Education
We might marvel at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person's knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to device anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For all the pious claim that examinations text what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person's true ability and aptitude.
As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the mark of success of failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn't matter that you weren't feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don't count: the exam goes on. No one can give of his best when he is in mortal terrow, or after a slppeless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of vicious competition where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of ‘drop-outs’: young people who are written off as utter failures before they have even embarked on a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?
A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus, so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive the teacher of all freedoms. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques which they despise. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under duress.
The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark stacks of hastily crawled scripts in a limited aount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge's decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner's. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person's true abilities. It is cynical to suggest that examinations are merely a profitable business for the institutions that run them? This is what it boils down to in the last analysis. The best comment on the system is this illiterate message recently scrawled on a wall: ‘I were a teenage drop-out and now I are a teenage millionaire.’
The main idea of this passage is ________.
本题考查的是主旨大意。
【关键词】main idea
【主题句】Examinations Exert a Pernicious Influence on Education考试对教育有有害的影响
【主旨句】文章第一段“They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person's true ability and aptitude.”指出，考试是测试记忆的好方法，是测试在巨大压力下快速工作的技巧的好方法，却测不出一个人的真正能力和水平。第三段“Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming.”指出，考试不能促进学生广泛阅读，反而限制其阅读；考试不能使学生追求更多的知识，而是诱导学生进行应付考试的突击式学习。“They lower the standards of teaching,······”他们降低了教学水平，因为他们剥夺了老师的一切自由。常常以考试的结果而不是所教课程来评定老师，使他们不得不以他们所轻视的考试技巧来培训学生。”
【解析】A项意为“考试对教育有有害的影响”；B项意为“考试是无效的”；C项意为“考试对机构来说是有利可图的”；D项意为“考试是学生的负担”。结合题目“Examinations Exert a Pernicious Influence on Education”，A项更符合。
故正确答案为A。
The author's attitude toward examinations is ________.
本题考查的是推理判断。
【关键词】author's attitude; examinations
【主题句】Examinations Exert a Pernicious Influence on Education考试对教育有有害影响“······but they can tell you nothing about a person's true ability and aptitude······”······考试不能测出人的能力和水平······“As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none······”考试是麻烦制造者“······ Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. ”主考也是人，会累会犯错误。
【解析】A项意为“厌恶”；B项意为“赞成，认可”；C项意为“批评的，批判的”；D项意为“中立的”。题目意为“作者对考试的态度是________。”结合题目及主题句，如第一段，“······but they can tell you nothing about a person's true ability and aptitude.”考试不能测出人的能力和水平。第二段，“As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none.”考试是麻烦制造者，无用的考试决定人的成败。第三段谈及最成功的考试经常不是最佳的受教育者，他们是在胁迫下最佳考试技巧获得者，而好的教育应当培养人的独立思考。第四段指出阅卷者又累又饿，常犯错误。最后一段画龙点睛“I were a teenage drop-out and now I are a teenage millionaire.”我是个十来岁的辍学者，现在是一个年轻的百万富翁。这是考试指挥下教育的失败。以上说明作者对考试是批判的态度。
故正确答案为C。
The fate of students is decided by ________.
本题考查的是细节理解。
【关键词】fate；students
【主题句】As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the mark of success of failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day，考试是最终忧虑的制造者，那是因为许多事情都取决于考试，他们是我们成功或失败的标志，你的未来可能全取决于这决定性的一天。
【解析】A项意为“教育”；B项意为“机构”；C项意为“考试”；D项意为“学生自己”。题目意为“学生的命运由________决定”。结合主题句，C项符合题意。
故正确答案为C。
According to the author, the most important of a good education is ________.
本题考查的是细节理解。
【关键词】the most important; good education
【主题句】A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself.好的教育应培养你独立思考。
【解析】A项意为“鼓励学生广泛阅读”；B项意为“培养学生独立思考”；C项意为“教学生如何应付考试”；D项意为“掌控自己的命运”。题目意为“对作者而言，好的教育最重要的是________。”结合主题句，第三段“A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself.”，即好的教育应该是培养学生自己独立思考。
故正确答案为B。
Why does the author mention court?
本题考查的是推理判断。
【关键词】court
【主题句】After a judge's decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner's.在法官裁决后，你有上诉的权利，但主考给分后则没有。
【解析】A项意为“举例”；B项意为“对比”；C项意为“这表明，教师的演变取决于考试的结果。”；D项意为“结果表明，法院的审判结果更加有效。”题目意为“为什么作者提到法院？”结合主题句，文中最后一段，“After a judge's decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner's.”指出，审判官裁决后，你有权利上诉，而批阅考卷人给分后，学生可没有上诉权。作者提及“court”来做对比。
故正确答案为B。