单选题 What makes a great high school? Americans think a lot of things do, from outstanding academics or a supportive environment for students to a great football or basketball team. Still, pretty much everyone agrees teaching and learning are central to the mission. High schools are expected to prepare students for further education, work, or the military and eliminate the large gaps in achievement separating different ethnic and income groups of students. These are sensible goals.
While there are many great high schools among the nearly 22,000 across the country, too many are still not getting the job done. Only about half of African-American and Hispanic students finish high school on time. Meanwhile, the National Assessment of Education Progress tests, often referred to as "the nation's report card," show significant achievement gaps separating white students from black and Hispanic high school students.
These are not small differences but rather vast gaps that crush opportunity and tear at our nation's social contract. Leave aside the intrinsic value of being an educated citizen; there are practical effects as well. In 2005, the mean annual earnings were about ＄20,000 for a high school dropout but ＄54,000 for someone with a bachelor's degree. And those differences are growing wider, not lessening, as our economy becomes more knowledge and skills based. In 1975, a high school dropout earned about half as much as a college graduate, compared with about one third today.
This is why U.S. News set some clear criteria for academic quality in its new ranking of American high schools. These criteria mean a lot of schools don't measure up-only 505 schools nationwide earned a silver or gold medal this year. The list illustrates at once the promise and the challenge for high schools today. Only about 1 in 8 of the schools on this list serves a student population that is more than 50 percent low income, and only about 1 in 5 has a majority of nonwhite students. Meanwhile, about 1 in 5 selects students based on academic merit, something that obviously boosts the chances of meeting the criteria.
Because the U.S. News list uses more data to judge schools, it paints a clearer picture. Of course, no list is perfect. For instance, it is difficult to account for high school graduation rates because states calculate them in different ways. But this one better reflects what policymakers and parents want from high schools, as well as the challenge our nation faces to make our high schools as good as they need to be.

单选题 American high schools are expected to

A. eliminate large social gaps.
B. remain ethnic diversities.
C. teach students practical skills.
D. prepare students for the future.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】事实细节题。根据expected to定位到第一段。该段提到美国中学的目标有：完成教学使命，为学生将来的学习、工作和参军做好准备；消除不同种族、不同家庭的学生的学习差异，D项是对前半部分目标的概括，故为正确答案。A项“根除巨大的社会差距”是对原文“学习差距”的夸大：B项“保持种族差异”与原文相悖；C项“传授实用技能”在文中并未提及。

单选题 In Paragraph 2, "the nation's report card" is cited to show that

A. too many high schools fail to accomplish the mission of teaching and learning.
B. half of African-American and Hispanic high school students are dropouts.
C. achievement gaps are the primary causes of ethnic separation in America.
D. American high schools haven't wiped off ethnic gaps among students.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】事实细节题。第二段提及“国家教育报告卡”是要通过研究发现增强说服力，证明本段论点——种族差异导致中学生的学习差异很大。因此D项正确。A项“中学不能完成教学的目标”扩大了该段论述的中心；B项“半数非裔和西班牙裔学生辍学”只是现象，并非论点；C项primary causes属过度推断。

单选题 We can learn from Paragraph 3 that

A. inequality of education breaks the contract America signs with its citizens.
B. income gaps are widened as the economy relies more on knowledge and skills.
C. high school education results in more economical impact than emotional one.
D. high school dropouts used to earn more in the 1970s than today.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】推理判断题。直接定位到第三段。其中讲到学习差异导致收入差距，并且随着经济发展越来越依赖知识和技能，这种收入差距还在扩大，因此B项正确。A项对social contract生硬理解；C项emotional一词文中未提及，属过度推断；D项理解错误，half和one third是比例，不是绝对数值。

单选题 High schools of silver or gold medalists by U.S. News most probably

A. dedicate to students from low-income families.
B. recruit mainly white students.
C. select students based on academic performance.
D. admit only minority elite students.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】推理判断题。根据silver or gold medalists定位到第四段。在分析这份新排名时提及只有1/5的学校是以非白人为主，即主流学校以白人学生居多，故B项正确。A项“主要招收低收入家庭孩子”在榜单上只有1/8；C项以“学习成绩”招生也只占1/5；D项only说法过于绝对。

单选题 Which of the following is a feature of the U.S. News list?

A. Ideal.
B. Exaggerating.
C. Insightful.
D. Threatening.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】推理判断题。定位到最后一段。该段评价榜单时说到“更好地反映了决策者和家长的期望”，由此可知C项“富洞察力的”正确；文中提及no list is perfect，A项的Ideal“完美的”与此不符；文中指出“榜单使用更多数据”，而并非B项所说的Exaggerating“夸大的”；此榜单只是反映情况，D项Threatening“威胁的”是对榜单性质的错误理解。