2020考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 75
Unit 75
On March 18th Margaret Spellings, the secretary of education, announced a pilot reform to the No Child Left Behind Act（NCLB）, George Bush’s education law, which was passed in 2002. Up to ten states, she said, would be allowed to target their resources at the most severely struggling schools, rather than at the vast number needing improvement. The change drew a predictable mix of praise and censure. Above all, though, it was a reminder of utter inaction elsewhere.
Congress, which was supposed to re-authorise the law last year, has made little progress. On the campaign trail, concerns over Iraq and the economy have made education a minor issue. Contrary to appearances, the law’s main tenets are unlikely to be abandoned completely. But for the Democratic candidates in particular, a proper debate on NCLB is to be avoided like political quicksand.
Most politicians agree that the law has the right goals—to raise educational standards and hold schools accountable for meeting them. NCLB requires states to test pupils on maths and reading from third to eighth grade （that is, from the ages of eight to 13）, and once in high school. Some science testing is being added. Schools that do not make “adequate yearly progress” towards meeting state standards face sanctions. Pupils in failing schools can supposedly transfer to a better one or get tutoring. Most also agree that NCLB has big flaws that must be fixed. Few pupils in bad schools actually transfer—less than 1% of those eligible did so in the 2003-04 school year. Teachers’ unions say the tests are focused too narrowly on maths and reading, fail to measure progress over time and encourage “teaching to the test”. They also complain that the law lacks proper funding. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a conservative policy group, has exposed wide gaps in state standards. Test-data reflect this. In Mississippi 90% of fourth-graders were labelled “proficient” or better in the state reading test in 2006-07. Only 19% reached that level in a national test.
John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, offers NCLB tepid support but fails to elaborate. At Democratic rallies, NCLB is little more than a whipping-boy. Hillary Clinton proclaims that she will “end the unfunded mandate known as No Child Left Behind”. But though she and Barack Obama deride NCLB publicly, each endorses the idea of accountability. They favour using more sophisticated “assessments” in place of tests, want to value a broader range of skills, punish schools less and support them more. How these ideas would be implemented remains unclear.
Not surprisingly, more controversial proposals can be found among those not running for president. Chester Finn of Fordham thinks the federal government needs greater power to set standards, while states should have more leeway in meeting them. A bipartisan commission on NCLB has issued a slew of proposals. Particularly contentious is a plan to use pupils’ test scores to help identify ineffective teachers as in need of retraining. Of course, standards alone do not improve education. Both Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama propose a host of new programmes for schools, described on their websites if rarely on campaign. But accountability is likely to remain a big part of school reform.
注（1）：本文選自Economist；
注（2）：本文習題命題模仿對象為2003年真題Text 4。
1. The article begins with an announcement about a pilot reform of NCLB to ______.
A) show that the federal government is dedicated to improve education quality
B) tell us that Bush’s education law was not properly designed and needs change
C) introduce how NCLB provokes different opinions and proposals
D) remind places of utter inaction to implement some measures
2. What is implied in Paragraph 3?
A) NCLB’s principles are widely recognized but practices questioned.
B) The aim of NCLB is to encourage students to strive for entering better schools.
C) An important goal of NCLB is to improve students’ test-taking ability.
D) The definitions of “proficiency” are different on the state and federal levels.
3. The Democratic attitude toward NCLB is ______.
A) indifferent
B) disapproving
C) supportive
D) apprehensive
4. According to the proposals raised by those not running for president, ______.
A) a more controversial debate should be carried on about NCLB
B) all the states should strictly meet the standards set by the federal government
C) teachers who fail to help students improve test scores should leave their schools
D) teachers should be provided with more pressure and assistance
5. The text intends to show ______.
A) that the presidency candidates are lukewarm towards educational issues
B) that NCLB is flawed with some fundamental problems
C) the discussion and controversies caused by a pilot reform to NCLB
D) how NCLB fails to comprehensively improve American education in general
篇章剖析
本文就美國教育部計劃對《不讓一個孩子掉隊法案》進行試點改革這一事件展開討論。第一段首先介紹了這一事件；第二段指出像NCLB這樣的教育問題并不是總統(tǒng)競選中的熱門話題；第三段指出大多數(shù)政客支持NCLB的基本原則但是認為該法案存在很大問題；第四段簡單介紹了兩黨候選人對NCLB的看法；最后一段就此問題深入展開，討論更宏觀的教育質(zhì)量問題。
詞匯注釋
trail /tre?l/ n. 一長串；一系列；蹤跡
tenet /?ten?t/ n. 信條；主義；宗旨；原則
quicksand /?kw?ks?nd/ n. 流沙
sanction /?s??k??n/ n. 制裁，處罰
eligible /?el?d??bl/ n. 合格者，適任者
proficient /pr??f???nt/ adj. 精通的，熟練的
tepid /?tep?d/ adj. 不熱情的，不冷不熱的
elaborate /??l?b?r?t/ v. 詳盡闡述；詳細制定
rally /?r?li/ n. 集合，集會
mandate /?m?nde?t/ n. 命令，指令
deride /d??ra?d/ v. 嘲笑；嘲弄
endorse /?n?d??s/ v. 支持，贊同
leeway /?li?we?/ n. 余地；（時間等的）余裕
bipartisan /ba??pɑ?t?z?n/ adj. 兩黨的，代表兩黨的
slew /slu?/ n. 許多
contentious /k?n?ten??s/ adj. 有異議的；引起爭論的
難句突破
They favour using more sophisticated “assessments” in place of tests, want to value a broader range of skills, punish schools less and support them more.
主體句式：They favour...want...punish...and support...
結(jié)構(gòu)分析：本句是一個簡單句，其特色是有四個并列的謂語，整個句子讀起來相當有節(jié)奏感，是一種值得借鑒的寫作風格。
句子譯文：他們傾向于用更復雜的“評估”來代替考試，重視更廣泛的技能，增加對學校的支持，減少對其的處罰。
題目分析
1. C 細節(jié)題。從文章中可以看出，作者開頭用美國教育部計劃對NCLB進行試點改革這一事件作為一個引子，引出文章的重點，即各方的觀點和提議，第一段也指出“The change drew a predictable mix of praise and censure.”，因此C是正確答案。
2. A 推理題。文章第三段指出“大多數(shù)政客一致認為NCLB的目標正確，即提高教育標準并使學校確保達標”，“同樣，大多數(shù)政客也認為NCLB的問題很大，需要改進”，由此可見人們認同NCLB的基本原則但是質(zhì)疑其具體做法，因此A是正確答案。雖然文中提到“在未達標的學校讀書的學生可以轉(zhuǎn)到好點的學?；蛘叩玫捷o導”，但這并不是NCLB的目標，所以B項是錯的。該段指出NCLB的一個問題是鼓勵了應試教學，所以顯然提高考試能力也不是NCLB的目標，C項也不正確。D的錯誤在于，該段最后說的是各州的標準不同，而不是國家和州對于“熟練”這個等級的定義不同。
3. B 情感態(tài)度題。文章第四段提到了兩位民主黨總統(tǒng)候選人對NCLB的看法，指出希拉里宣稱她會“取消沒有基金支持的NCLB條例”，同時她和奧巴馬公開諷刺NCLB，這說明他們對NCLB持不支持的態(tài)度，因此答案為B。
4. D 細節(jié)題。本題主要針對文章最后一段。最后一段指出“那些沒有參與總統(tǒng)競選的人會提出更多具有爭議性的方案”，但這里的controversial不是說這些人認為要進行更多的爭論，因此可以首先排除A。B項對應的信息為“the federal government needs greater power to set standards, while states should have more leeway in meeting them”，這里的leeway指的是“回旋余地”，而不是B項所說的嚴格遵守標準，故排除。還有一個計劃提出“應通過參考學生的考試分數(shù)來鑒定不合格的老師及其是否需要重新培訓”，但沒有說要讓老師離開學校，因此C項也不正確。而這種做法正是給了老師們更大的壓力，同時培訓也是一種幫助，因此正確答案是D。
5. C 主旨題?？v觀全文，文章首先說了美國教育部計劃對NCLB進行試點改革這一事件，然后下面各個段落討論了各方的觀點和提議，因此C是正確答案。其他三個選項從表述上來說都是正確的，但是它們都只表達了文章的一個方面，不夠全面，故排除。
參考譯文
3月18日，美國教育部長瑪格麗特·斯佩林斯宣布將對《不讓一個孩子掉隊法案》（簡稱NCLB）進行試點改革，這項教育法案是布什政府在2002年通過的。斯佩林斯指出，在此次試點改革中多達十個州將被允許把資源有針對性地投給那些最困難的學校，而不是分散地投給大批有待改進的學校。正如所料，這種改變引起的社會反應是毀譽參半。盡管如此，這項改革最重要的一點在于，它給那些完全沒有采取任何行動的其他地方提出了一個警告。
國會原本計劃在去年重新審定此法，但卻進展緩慢。在總統(tǒng)競選的過程中，候選人對伊拉克和經(jīng)濟事務的關注使得教育問題被擠到了一邊。但與表面看起來不同，該法案的基本原則不可能被徹底丟棄。但特別是對民主黨總統(tǒng)候選人來說，他們需要像繞開政治“流沙坑”一樣回避對NCLB法案的認真討論。
大多數(shù)政客一致認為NCLB的目標正確——即提高教育標準并使學校確保達標。NCLB要求各州測試三至八年級（8到13歲）學生的數(shù)學和閱讀水平。學生進高中后要再考一次，并會增加一些對自然科學的考查。沒有“適當逐年提高”達到教育標準的學校就會面臨處罰。按照法律，在未達標的學校讀書的學生可以轉(zhuǎn)到好點的學?；蛘叩玫捷o導。同樣，大多數(shù)政客也認為NCLB的問題很大，需要改進。實際上，只有極少數(shù)（少于1%）符合條件的學生在2003~2004學年中從較差的學校轉(zhuǎn)學。教師工會指出，僅僅測試數(shù)學和閱讀范圍過小，且考查不出學生隨時間所取得的進步，卻鼓勵了“應試教學”。他們還指責該法律缺乏足夠的資金保證。保守政策組織，托馬斯B. 福德姆基金會指出，各州的教育標準相差懸殊。而考試數(shù)據(jù)就反映出了這些差距：在密西西比州，90%的四年級學生在2006~2007學年的州閱讀考試中被評定為“熟練”或更高級別，但在全國統(tǒng)考中僅有19%的學生達到了這個水平。
共和黨總統(tǒng)提名人約翰·麥凱恩對NCLB僅予以不冷不熱的支持，但未能對之詳加闡述。在民主黨的競選集會上，NCLB只不過是個替罪羊。希拉里·克林頓宣稱她會“取消沒有基金支持的NCLB條例”。雖然她和巴拉克·奧巴馬公開諷刺NCLB，但兩人都支持教學效果考核制。他們傾向于用更復雜的“評估”來代替考試，重視更廣泛的技能，增加對學校的支持，減少對其的處罰。但目前如何實現(xiàn)這些主張尚不明確。
毫不奇怪，那些沒有參與總統(tǒng)競選的人會提出更多具有爭議性的方案。福德姆的切斯特·芬恩認為，聯(lián)邦政府需要更大的權(quán)力來制定標準，同時各州在達標的過程中應該有更多的回旋余地。一個兩黨委員會針對NCLB發(fā)表了大量提案，其中的一個尤其引發(fā)爭議，該計劃提出，應通過參考學生的考試分數(shù)來鑒定不合格的老師及其是否需要重新培訓。當然，單靠制定教育標準并不能提高教學質(zhì)量。克林頓夫人和奧巴馬先生為學校提出了一大堆方案，這些方案如果在競選中沒怎么被提及的話，也會在他們的網(wǎng)頁上有詳細解讀。不過，教學效果考核制可能還是學校改革的主要部分。
