When English as a foreign language is taught to children at the primary and early secondary levels of education, it is generally taught with a general educational aim in mind—that is, it is regarded as a "good thing" for them to learn a foreign language as a part of a broad education. There is usually, however, no immediate and specific requirement for such children to make use of the language in any communicative situation. The purpose of learning the language is essentially a "deferred" purpose, deferred till the tertiary(第三的)level of education, normally at university, where, it is agreed, a knowledge of English would be helpful in their academic studies. Immediate aims of learning English are defined by the requirements of examinations. Inevitably what is taught to primary and secondary level children is not a communicative knowledge of English language use, but a knowledge of how the rules of English operate. The language system is taught by means of systematic audio-lingual drill and exercise techniques based on habit formation theory of learning and structural description of English. This may be an effective manner of teaching English usage, but it is less certain that an understanding of how these rules are related to language in use for communicative purposes is an automatic result of this instruction. What the thousands of children succeed in learning in this way is what is necessary in order to pass examinations. Whether such examinations accurately reflect the uses to which English will be put at the tertiary level is another matter altogether. Adults, on the other hand, unless they are learning a foreign language for "pleasure" at evening institutes, as a "cultural" and social experience, are generally highly conscious of the use to which they intend to put it. That use is frequently associated with an academic or professional requirement: without a knowledge of the foreign language, their development in their chosen sphere of work could be restricted or at least adversely affected.
单选题 According to the author, the current examination system______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析：事实细节题。由第一段前两句可知，目前中小学阶段的英语教学是基于通才教育这样的目标，而并不考查英语交际，故选C)。A)与第三段第二句提的意思不符；B)在文中未提及；由第一段可知，D)是在中小学开设英语课的目的，而非考试目的。
单选题 Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析：事实细节题。由定位句可知，英语教学有一个远期目标，即懂英语有助于学生在大学阶段搞研究，故选C)。A)、D)其实是目前中小学英语教学的一些现状，并不是作者所提倡的；B)表述不正确，英语教学在小学和中学已经存在。
单选题 We know from the passage that______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析：事实细节题。由第一段可知，学习英语的近期目标由考试要求来左右，这不可避免地导致了英语语法规则成为小学和初中阶段英语教学的重点，故选B)。A)夸大了事实，与原文第二段第一、二句不符，可排除；C)与第一段首句说法不符；D)与文章最后一段成人学习英语的情况相矛盾。
单选题 What's the relationship of English learning at different levels?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析：推理判断题。题干提到了各阶段英语学习的关系，可定位到第三段。由该段可知，中小学的英语考试不一定准确反映了大学阶段的英语使用情况，所以中小学阶段考试的成功不一定意味着大学阶段英语学习的成功，故选C)。
单选题 What is the main topic of this passage?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析：主旨大意题。贯穿整篇文章的话题就是为什么要进行外语教学，即外语教学的目标和目的，各段都涉及这一主题，故选D)。A)在文中未提及；B)是目前的一个事实，并非本文主旨；C)概括范围过大。