单选题 At dawn one m0ming in early May, Sean Cosgrove is stashing piles of maps, notes and photocopied documents in his gym bag before heading for West Milford High, a rural school in northernmost New Jersey. On his 30-minute commute, the young former investment banker tries to dream up new ways of lifting the monumentally forgettable Mexican War off the textbook page and into his students' imaginations. Can he invoke the storied memories of Robert E. Lee, who cut his first military exploits on the plains of Veracuz—or will he be met with thundering responses of "Who's Lee"? Should he raise James K. Polk out of the mystic chords of memory, and hope, for a nanosecond, that the kids will care about the first U. S. president who stepped aside because he'd accomplished everything he wanted? Let's think some more. Well, there's always the Alamo. And hey, isn't that the teachers' parking lot up ahead?
It's never an easy task. These big kids, in big jeans and ball caps, come to his history classes believing that history is about as useful as Latin. Most are either unaware or unimpressed that the area's iron forges once produced artillery cannon for George Washington's army. Their sense of history orbits more narrowly around last month's adventures on "Shop Rite Strip", the students' nickname for downtown West Milford, once a factory town, now a Magnet for middle class vacationers. Cosgrove looks uncommonly glum as he thumbs through a stack of exams in the teachers' lounge. "I can't believe anyone in my class could think John Brown was the governor of Massachusetts," moans Cosgrove, 28, pointing to one student's test paper. He had to be sleeping for days on end. The same morning, students in his college bound class could name only one U. S. Supreme Court justice—Clarence Thomas. All his wit, energy and beyond the textbook research can't completely reverse the students' poor preparation in history, their lack of general knowledge, their numbness to the outside world. It's the bane of history teachers at every level. When University of Vermont professor James Loewen asked his senior social science majors who fought in the Vietnam War, 22 percent answered D.P.R. korea and R.O.Korea. Don't these kids even go to the movies?

单选题 What did Cosgrove do before he became a teacher teaching history?
A. A clerk working in a gym. B. A man running a bank.
C. A sportsman. D. A historian.

单选题 On the way to school, Cosgrove ______.
A. was deep in thought of his past
B. was thinking of who Lee was
C. was thinking of how to teach his class
D. was having a talk with another passenger

单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
A. the task for Cosgrove is quite heavy
B. the students are enthusiastic about history study
C. the students have little interest in history study
D. West Milford once was a factory town

单选题 Which of the following is true according to this passage?
A. Only the students in high school were poor in history study.
B. Only college students could not study history well.
C. Students at every level have poor knowledge of history.
D. All Americans' knowledge of history was poor.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 本题是推理判断题，根据选项定位到全文第三段。第二段指出Cosgrove面对的问题十分普遍，“...the students' poor preparation in history, their lack of general knowledge, their numbness to the out side world. It's the bane of history teachers at every level.”由此可以推知，各个级别学校的历史老师都要面对学生历史基础差的问题，也即各个级别的学生都存在历史知识欠缺的问题。

单选题 What's the meaning of the word "bane" in the last paragraph?
A. Headache. B. Ban. C. Pleasure. D. Opportunity.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 本题是语义理解题，根据题干定位到全文第二段。前文指出Cosgrove“moan”(抱怨)他的学生历史基础差，紧接着作者指出“...the students' poor preparation in history, their lack of general knowledge. their numbness to the outside world. It's the bane of history teachers at every level.”由此可以推知，学生的历史基础差是让所有级别学校的历史老师都“头疼”的事。