单选题 Testing has replaced teaching in most public schools. My own children's school week is framed by pretests, drills, tests, and retests. They know that the best way to read a textbook is to look at the questions at the end of the chapter and then skim the text for the answers. I believe that my daughter Erica, who gets excellent marks, has never read a chapter of any of her school textbooks all the way through. And teachers are often heard to state proudly and openly that they teach to the mandated state test.
Teaching to the test is a curious phenomenon. Instead of deciding what skills students ought to learn, helping students learn them, and then using some sensible methods of assessment to discover whether students have mastered the skills, teachers are encouraged to reverse the process. First one looks at a commercially available test. Then one distills the skills needed not to master reading, say, or math, but to do well on the test. Finally, the test skills are taught.
The ability to read or write or calculate might imply the ability to do reasonably well on standardized tests. However, neither reading nor writing develops simply through being taught to take tests. We must be careful to avoid mistaking preparation for a test of a skill with the acquisition of that skill. Too many discussions of basic skills make this fundamental confusion because people are test obsessed rather than concerned with the nature and quality of what is taught.
Recently many schools have faced what could be called the crisis of comprehension or, in simple terms, the phenomenon of students with phonic and grammar skills still being unable to understand what they read. These students are competent at test taking and filling in workbooks and ditto masters. However, they have little or no experience reading or thinking, and talking about what they read. They know the details but can't see or understand the whole. They are taught to be so concerned with grade that they have no time or ease of mind to think about meaning, and reread things if necessary.

单选题 The author gives an account of Erica's performance in her study in order to______.
A. illustrate her cleverness in test-taking
B. reveal the incompetence of teachers
C. show there is something wrong with current practice in teaching
D. demonstrate the best way to read textbooks

单选题 Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. The phenomenon of teaching to the test has aroused curiosity in many educators.
B. Skills in general are not only useless but often lead students astray.
C. Ability to read and write is one thing, and ability to do well on standardized tests is quite another.
D. Preparation for a test of a skill does not necessarily mean the acquisition of that skill.

单选题 The author insists that______.
A. mandated state tests be replaced by some more sensible methods of assessment
B. teachers pay more attention to the nature and quality of what is taught
C. students not be concerned with grades but do more reading and thinking
D. radical changes be brought about in the general approach to teaching

单选题 We can safely conclude that______may cause educational problems.
A. test obsession
B. standardized tests
C. test-taking
D. preparation for mandated state tests

单选题 By "crisis of comprehension" the author means many students______
A. are too much concerned with grades
B. fail to understand the real goal of education
C. lack proper practice in phonic and grammar drills
D. are unable to understand what they read, though they do reasonably well on standardized tests