六級(jí)閱讀訓(xùn)練10

　　　Latino youths need better education for Arizona to take full advantage of the possibilities their exploding population offers. Arizona's fast-growing Latino population offers che state tremendous promise and a challenge. Even more than the aging of the baby boomers. the Latino boom is fundamentally reorienting the state's economic and social structure.

　　Immigration and natural increase have added 600,000 young Latino residents to the state's population in the past decade.Half of the population younger than 18 in both Phoenix and Tucson cs now Latino. Within 20 years. Latinos will make up half of the homegrown entry-level labor pool in the state's two largest labor markets.

　　What is more, Hispanics are becoming key economic players. Most people don't notice it. but Latinos born in Arizona make up much of their immigrant parents' economic and educational deficits. For example. second-generation Mexican-Americans secure an average of 12 grades of schooling where their parents obtained less than nine. That means they erase 70 percent of their parents' lag behind third-generation non-Hispanic Whites in a single generation.

　　A11 of chis hands the state a golden opportunity. At a time when many states will struggle with labor shortages because of modest population growth. Arizona has a priceless chance m build a populous, hardworking and skilled workforce on which to base future prosperity. The problem is that Arizona and its Latino residents may not be able to seize this opportunity. Far too many of Arizona's Latinos drop out of high school or fail to obtain the basic education needed for more advanced study. As a result,educational deficits are holding back many Latinos-and the state as well. To be sure, construction and low-end service jobs continue to absorb tens of thousands of Latino immigrants with little formal education. But over the long tern. most of Arizona's Latino citizens remain ill-prepared to prosper in an increasingly demanding knowledge economy.

　　For the reason, the educational uplift of Arizona's huge Latino population must move to the center of the state's agenda. After all, the education deficits of Arizona's Latino population will severely cramp the fortunes of hardworking people if they go unaddressed and could well undercut the state's ability to compete in the new economy. At the entry level, slower growth rates may create more competition for low-skill jobs. displacing Latinos from a significant means of support. At the higher end. shortages of Latinos educationally ready to move up will make it that much harder for knowledge-based companies staff high-skill positions.

　　【參考譯文】

　　如果亞利桑那州要充分利用拉丁裔人口快速增長(zhǎng)帶來(lái)的機(jī)會(huì)的話，拉丁裔青年需要獲得更好的教育。亞利桑那州快速增長(zhǎng)的拉丁裔人口為該州展現(xiàn)了美好前景，但也帶來(lái)了一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)，[l]與生育高峰期出生人口的老齡化相比，拉丁裔人口生育高峰對(duì)該州經(jīng)濟(jì)和社會(huì)結(jié)構(gòu)的重新定向更具根本性影響。

　　在過(guò)去的十年，移民和自然增長(zhǎng)使亞利桑那州的人口增加了60萬(wàn)拉丁裔居民?，F(xiàn)在菲尼克斯和圖森兩市l(wèi)8歲以下的人口有一半是拉丁裔。未來(lái)20年在亞利桑那州的兩個(gè)最大的勞動(dòng)力市場(chǎng)，拉丁裔將占該州自產(chǎn)初入市場(chǎng)勞動(dòng)力資源的半數(shù)。

　　更有甚者，西班牙裔正在成為經(jīng)濟(jì)的關(guān)鍵貢獻(xiàn)者。[2]大多數(shù)人并未注意到，在亞利桑那州出生的拉丁裔彌補(bǔ)了大部分他們的移民父母在經(jīng)濟(jì)和教育方面的不足。例如，第二代墨西哥裔美國(guó)人肯定能平均上12年學(xué)，而他們的父母卻只上了不足9年學(xué)。這意味著，只用了一代人時(shí)間，他們就消除了父母與第三代非西班牙裔白人之間70%的差距。

　　所有這種情況為亞利桑那州帶來(lái)了絕好的機(jī)會(huì)。在許多州因?yàn)槿丝谠鲩L(zhǎng)有限而將要窮于應(yīng)付勞動(dòng)力不足之時(shí)。亞利桑那州得到一個(gè)寶貴的機(jī)會(huì)來(lái)建立一支人數(shù)眾多、工作勤奮和技術(shù)熟練的勞動(dòng)力大軍，為未來(lái)的繁榮打下基礎(chǔ)。問(wèn)題在于亞利桑那州及其拉丁裔居民未必能抓住這個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)。[3]因?yàn)閬喞Ｄ侵萦刑嗟睦∫釓母咧休z學(xué)或未能獲得深造所需要的基礎(chǔ)教育。結(jié)果教育不足拖了許多拉丁裔的后腿——也拖了亞利桑那州的后腿。固然，建筑業(yè)和低級(jí)服務(wù)業(yè)會(huì)繼續(xù)吸引成千上萬(wàn)未受過(guò)充分正式教育的拉丁裔移民，[5]但從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)來(lái)看，大多數(shù)拉丁裔公民仍然對(duì)在要求越來(lái)越高的知識(shí)經(jīng)濟(jì)中取得成功缺乏準(zhǔn)備。

　　[4]為此，提升亞利桑那州大量拉丁裔人口的教育水平必須提到州議事日程的中心位置。畢竟，如果亞利桑那州的拉丁裔人口受教育不足問(wèn)題仍然得不到重視的話，將會(huì)嚴(yán)重限制工作勤奮的人取得成功的機(jī)會(huì)，也會(huì)大大削弱亞利桑那州在新經(jīng)濟(jì)情況下的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力。從低處來(lái)說(shuō)，緩慢的增長(zhǎng)率可能導(dǎo)致低技術(shù)要求工作崗位競(jìng)爭(zhēng)更激烈。而把拉丁裔人從重要的勞動(dòng)力生力軍中排擠出去。[5]而從高處來(lái)說(shuō)，由于缺乏為適應(yīng)工作升遷而獲得充分教育的拉丁裔，以致以知識(shí)為基礎(chǔ)的公司員工高技術(shù)要求崗位更難得到補(bǔ)充。

　　【測(cè)試題】

　　1. The Latino population is changing Arizona's__________________.

　　A) aging problem B) educational system

　　C) economic structure D) financial deficits

　　2. What can be inferred from the third paragraph?

　　A) The Latino population in Arizona is made up of Hispanics and Mexican-Americans.

　　B) The first-generation Latinos are immigrants instead of being born in America.

　　C) 70 percent of the first-generation Latinos had less schooling than nine years.

　　D) The educational system used to be in favor of the non-Hispanic Whites.

　　3. "Educational deficits" (Line 7. Para. 4) most probably means that______________.

　　A) the state did not put much money into education

　　B) many Latinos are too poor to obtain education

　　C) education is not a profitable enterprise

　　D) many Latinos are not well-educated

　　4. According to the author. Arizona should give highest priority to________________.

　　A) controlling the Latino population

　　B) enhancing the educational level of the Latino population

　　C) improving the knowledge-based economy

　　D) building the Latino population into hardworking and skilled workforce

　　5. It is implied that in the long run most Latinos in Arizona will_______________.

　　A) be jobless B) be badly-paid

　　C) do low-skill jobs D) do high-skill jobs

　　【選項(xiàng)翻譯與答案詳解】

　　1.拉丁裔人口改變了亞利桑那的___________________。

　　A) 人口老齡化問(wèn)題 B) 教育體系

　　C) 經(jīng)濟(jì)結(jié)構(gòu) D)財(cái)政赤字

　　[C]原文首段末句中的reorienting與changing為近義同，而該句表明拉丁裔人口在兩方面改變著亞利桑那州，選項(xiàng)C就是這兩方面的其中一個(gè)。選項(xiàng)A中的aging，選項(xiàng)B中的educational和選項(xiàng)D中的deficits都在文中出現(xiàn)，但都與題干的要求無(wú)關(guān)。

　　2.我們可以從第三段推斷出哪一個(gè)看法?

　　A) 亞利桑那的拉丁裔人口是由西班牙裔和墨西哥裔美國(guó)人所組成。

　　B) 第一代的拉丁裔是移民而不是在美國(guó)土生土長(zhǎng)的。

　　C) 第一代的拉丁裔中有70%只受過(guò)不到9年的教育。

　　D) 教育體系過(guò)去只對(duì)非西班牙裔的白人有利。

　　[B]第3段第3句表明第二代墨西哥裔美國(guó)人比他們的父母獲得更好的教育。而這一句是為了舉例說(shuō)明第2句提到的在Arizona出生的拉丁裔和他們的移民父母之間的區(qū)別，由此可見，第2句提到的immigrant parents就是第一代的拉丁裔美國(guó)人，immigrant一詞表明他們并非在美國(guó)出生，因此選項(xiàng)B為正確的推斷。

　　3.“教育赤字”(第4段第7行)最可能的意思是__________________。

　　A) 州政府沒(méi)有在教育上投入大量資金 B)許多拉丁裔窮得無(wú)法受教育

　　C) 教育不是一個(gè)能夠盈利的產(chǎn)業(yè) D)許多拉丁裔都沒(méi)有受過(guò)良好的教育

　　[D]第4段第5句開頭的As a result表明本句與上一句形成因果關(guān)系，由此可見。本句中的educational deficits與上一句提到的拉丁裔美國(guó)人受教育程度較低有關(guān)，由此可推斷，educational deficits指的應(yīng)該是受教育不足。因此.選項(xiàng)D為正確的理解。

　　4.作者認(rèn)為，亞利桑那應(yīng)該最關(guān)注______________。

　　A) 控制拉丁裔人口

　　B) 提高拉丁裔人口的教育水平

　　C) 改善知識(shí)經(jīng)濟(jì)

　　D) 將拉丁裔人口發(fā)展成努力工作的技術(shù)性勞動(dòng)力

　　[B]第5段首句中的move to the cemnter為題干中g(shù)ive highest priority的同義替換，選項(xiàng)B與原文該句的主語(yǔ)educational uplift也意思一致，因此選項(xiàng)B為本題答案。選項(xiàng)A在文中并無(wú)提及，選項(xiàng)C和D都在文中提到，但不符合題意，與highest priority無(wú)關(guān)。

　　5.文章暗示，從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)來(lái)看，亞利桑那大部分的拉丁裔人口將會(huì)_______________。

　　A) 失業(yè) B)工資很低

　　C) 做低技能的工作 D) 做高技能的工作

　　[C]第4段末句中的ill-prepared和第5段末句中的shortages of Latinos educationally ready都表明從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)來(lái)看，拉丁裔美國(guó)人受的教育仍然保持較低的水平，由此可推斷，他們只能做一些技術(shù)要求不高的工作，所以選項(xiàng)C為本題答案。