单选题 Chicago Public Schools are going to great lengths to hire teachers -- now the school district recruits teachers from other countries to help solve a shortage of teachers. It all started in i999, when Youses Hannon, a math and physics teacher from Palestine (巴勒斯坦), visited Chicago. He read about the teacher shortage at Chicago Public Schools and asked the school board if they'd hire him. The board was interested and decided to create a special program for foreign-born teachers like Hannon, and he was the first teacher hired.
The program is called the Global Educator Outreach or GEO, and it's a partnership between Chicago Public Schools and the U. S. Government. Because the teacher shortage in Chicago is so extreme, the Government allows the school district to temporarily hire foreign teaching candidates using H1-B visas. The Government grants these visas only to skilled foreign-born citizens so they can work in highly specialized jobs that can't be filled with available U. S. workforce.
Through the GEO, the school district has hired dozens of teachers from 22 different countries. Applicants must pass an English language test and specialize in math, science, world language or bilingual (双语的) education. Hannon and the first GEO teachers started in the classroom at the beginning of the 2000-200i school year.
What do the GEO teachers think of the American classroom? Hannon, who was hired to teach math at Gage Park High School, says classrooms in Chicago are very different from those in Palestine. For one thing, he says, the fixed schedule that forces students to attend the same classes at the same time each day becomes too dull. In Palestine, the class schedule changes each week. He says in Palestine, the culture forces students to work hard because if they don't they'll be kicked out and put in vocational schools, which limits their career options. There is not nearly as much pressure for American students to do well. He says he has to do double the amount of work just to get his students interested.

单选题 Chicago Public Schools began to employ foreign teachers because ______.

A. there were not enough American teachers
B. a program for foreign teachers was started
C. the school board was interested in foreign teachers
D. foreign teachers taught better than American teachers

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 本题从原文第一句话中可得出正确[答案] 芝加哥公立学校从国外聘请老师来解决本土老师的缺乏(to help solve a shortage of teachers)。故A为正确答案。

单选题 The American Government is involved in the program because ______.

A. the schools are public schools
B. the Government is to finance the program
C. the Government grants visas to the foreign teachers
D. the program involves bilingual education

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。答案在文中第二段可找到。

单选题 It seems that the Global Educator Outreach will ______.

A. be difficult to continue
B. last a limited period of time
C. pose a threat to U. S. workforce
D. be extended to other cities

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。我们可从文中第二段最后一句话得出结论：政府批准这些签证，目的在于培训这些外籍居民，使他们能胜任高度专业化的工作，以弥补美国劳动力的不足。由此可见这一做法是为了适应芝加哥目前教育状况的短期的项目，所以B选项是正确答案。

单选题 Chicago Public Schools do not seem to lack teachers of ______.

A. English
B. math
C. science
D. world language

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题，可从文中第三段第一句话中找到答案。

单选题 Hannon, as a GEO teacher, has found that .

A. class schedules in America and Palestine are very much the same
B. fixed class schedules make it easy for teachers to prepare lessons
C. vocational schools offer a good career option for American students
D. American students do not work as hard as Palestinian students

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。从“Hannon, who was hired to teach math at Gage Park High School, says classrooms in Chicago are very different from those in Palestine. ”可以判断A选项不正确。B、c两选项在文中并未出现，可排除。所以D选项是正确答案，依据为最后一段倒数第三句：在巴勒斯坦，文化逼迫学生努力学习，否则就会被踢到职业学校，职业选择也会由此受限。故B正确。