单选题 More than 40 million Americans between the ages of 5 and 18 attend schools throughout the United States. About 2 million school-age children are taught at home. While home schooling offers an alternative to the school environment, it has become a controversial issue.
Many public school advocates take a harsh attitude toward home schoolers, perceiving their actions as the ultimate Slap in the face of public education and a damaging move for the children. Yet, public school officials realize they stand little to gain by remaining hostile to the home-school population, the hard line seem to be softening a bit. Some public schools have moved closer to tolerance, and, even in some cases, are seeking cooperation with home schoolers." We are becoming relatively tolerant of home schoolers. Let's give the kids access to public school so they'll see it's not as terrible as they've been told, and they'll want to come back," says John Marshall, an education official.
Perhaps, but don't count on it, say home-school advocates. Some home schoolers oppose that public school system because they have strong convictions that their approach to education—whether fueled by religious belief or the individual child's interests and natural place—is best. Other home schoolers contend "not 80 much that the schools teach heresy, but that schools teach whatever they teach inappropriately," says Van Gallon. "These parents are highly independent and strive to take responsibility for their own lives within a society that they define as bureaucratic and inefficient."
But Howard Carol, spokesman for America's largest teachers union, argues that home schooling parents are trying to hide their children from the real world. "Maybe we are going to run into people with problems, people that have a drug problem, people that have an alcohol problem, and teenage pregnancy. We have many problems that happen in our society and many of the children are victims. But shielding the children from the real mix of what happens every day is denying them something that they are going to need later in life. "Mr. Carol also questioned the competence of parents as teachers though he admitted that some home schoolers do better academically. "We want to make sure that a student is not denied the full range of curriculum experiences and appropriate materials, especially now with the new technology that is being introduced and the costs involved there."
"The success of home schooling has been documented in standardized test scores administered by public school officials," says Frank Bernet, the executive director of the National Association of College Admission Councilors. "I know why they are doing it, but I wonder why they can't work with school officials and teachers to make the school what they want it to be." The response from home schoolers: "We have tried that. Now it's time to strike out on our own./

单选题 The author writes this passage to show that
A. public school is becoming more and more inefficient.
B. public school is still preferred by the majority.
C. home schooling becomes an alternative to public schools.
D. opinions differ over public school.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。作者在首段中说家庭教育作为学校教育的一种替代形式现在已经成为一个有争议的问题：在第二段中提到许多学校教育的倡导者对于家庭教育采取严厉的态度；在第三段中讲家庭教育倡导者反对学校教育系统，说明这些观点针锋相对；接下来作者引用资深教育家Howard Carol的话说明家庭教育的弊端；在末段中作者又提到家庭教育的成功。因此本文作者实际上是展示了双方各自的观点，故D项“对家庭看法不一”正确。

单选题 Public school teaching, in the opinions of home school advocates, is
A. systematic. B. inefficient.
C. uninteresting. D. superficial.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。由第三段的末尾句子“These parents are highly independent and strive to 'take responsibility' for their own lives within a society that they define as bureaucratic and inefficient. ”(家长们在这样一个被他们视为官僚、无能的社会当中，能够非常独立，并为自己承担生活的责任而努力奋斗)可见，在家长们的眼中，学校作为社会的一部分，是充满官僚主义和低效率的。他们希望能够自己担当起教育孩子的责任，因此B项“无效的”正确。