2020考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 76

Unit 76

Carmen Arace Middle School is situated in the pastoral town of Bloomfield, Conn. , but four years ago it faced many of the same challenges as inner-city schools in nearby Hartford: low scores on standardized tests, dropping enrollment and high rates of detention. Then the school’s hard-driving principal, Delores Bolton, persuaded her board to shake up the place by buying a laptop computer for each student and teacher to use, in school and at home. For good measure, the board provided wireless Internet access at school. Total cost: $2.5 million.

Now, an hour before classes start, every seat in the library is taken by students eager to get online. Fifth-grade teacher Jen Friday talks about sedimentary rocks as students view them at a colorful website. After school, students on buses pull laptops from backpacks to get started on homework. Since the computers arrived, enrollment is up 20%. Disciplinary suspensions are down 80%. Scores on state achievement tests are up 35%. Bolton, who is black, is proud to run “a school with 90% black enrollment that is on the cutting edge.”

Indeed, school systems in rural Maine and New York City are eager to follow Arace Middle School’s example. Governor Angus King has proposed using $50 million from an unexpected budget surplus to buy a laptop for all of Maine’s 17,000 seventh-graders—and for new seventh-graders each fall. The funds would create a permanent endowment whose interest would help buy the computers. The plan, scaled back to $30 million in a compromise with the legislature, is scheduled to be voted on this week.

In the same spirit, the New York City board of education voted unanimously on April 12 to create a school Internet portal, which would make money by selling ads and licensing e-commerce sites. The portal will also provide e-mail service for the city’s 1.1 million public school students. Profits will be used to buy laptops for each of the school system’s 87,000 fourth-graders. Within nine years, all students in grades 4 and higher will have their own computers.

Back in Bloomfield, the school board is seeking federal grant money to expand its laptop program to high school students. In the meantime, most of the kinks have been worked out. Some students were using their computers to goof off or visit unauthorized websites. But teachers have the ability to track where students have been on the Web and to restrict them. “That is the worst when they disable you,” says eighth-grade honors student Jamie Bassell. “You go through laptop withdrawal.” The habit is rubbing off on parents. “I taught my mom to use e-mail,” says another eighth-grader, Katherine Hypolite. “And now she’s taking computer classes. I’m so proud of her!”

注（1）：本文選自Time；

注（2）：本文習題命題模仿對象：第1~5題分別模仿1994年真題Text 4第1~4題和Text 3第4題。

1. The example of Carmen Arace Middle School in the text is used to ______.

A) show the challenges schools are faced with today

B) prove that a school with high black enrollment can do well

C) emphasize the importance of computers and the Internet in modern education

D) indicate that laptops can help improve students’ school performance

2. According to the author, students in New York City’s public schools will ______.

A) all have their own laptops within nine years

B) become more interested in their class activities with the application of laptop

C) spend more time visiting unauthorized websites with the expansion of the laptop program

D) enjoy e-mail service provided by the city’s school system in the near future

3. By introducing the laptop program, Delore Bolton has ______.

A) shaken the beliefs of both teachers’ and students’

B) witnessed a remarkable improvement in enrollment and students’ test scores

C) found herself followers all over the country

D) revolutionized class-room teaching in public schools

4. The word “kink” （Line 2, Paragraph 5） most probably means ______.

A) plan

B) method

C) problem

D) process

5. From the passage we learn that ______.

A) the laptop program also has a positive influence on parents

B) the laptop program in public schools is sponsored mainly by endowment

C) a school Internet portal is the key to a laptop program

D) students generally like the idea of having their online activities tracked

篇章剖析

本文是一篇說明文，介紹了美國的一些學校給在校師生配置筆記本電腦和引入網(wǎng)絡教學的情況。文章一開始就引用卡曼·阿雷斯中學在引入筆記本電腦和網(wǎng)絡教學之后發(fā)生的積極變化，以此說明這種做法值得嘗試；接下來在第三段和第四段介紹了緬因州和紐約市的類似做法；最后一段介紹了教師如何確保學生將這一資源用于學習，以及這一舉措的衍生價值：對家長產(chǎn)生積極的影響。

詞匯注釋

detention /d??ten??n/ n. 阻止，滯留

laptop /?l?pt?p/ n. 便攜式電腦

sedimentary /sed??ment?ri/ adj. 沉淀性的；沖積成的

backpack /?b?kp?k/ n. 背包，背囊

disciplinary /?d?s?pl?n?ri/ adj. 紀律的，執(zhí)行紀律的

suspension /s?s?pen??n/ n. 暫停，中止

surplus /?s??pl?s/ n. 盈余；余款

endowment /?n?da?m?nt/ n. 資助，捐贈

scale /ske?l/ v. （與up, down連用）按比例逐步增加；按比例逐步減少

unanimously /ju(?)?n?n?m?sli/ adv. 全體一致地，無異議地

portal /?p??t?l/ n. 【計】門戶

license /?la?s?ns/ v. 準許；發(fā)給執(zhí)照；批準

e-commerce 電子商務

kink /k??k/ n. （計劃、系統(tǒng)中的）小問題

goof off 打發(fā)時間

unauthorized /?n???θ?ra?zd/ adj. 未被授權(quán)的，未經(jīng)認可的

rub off on（感情、習慣或者某種特點）感染，影響他人

難句突破

Then the school’s hard-driving principal, Delores Bolton, persuaded her board to shake up the place by buying a laptop computer for each student and teacher to use, in school and at home.

主體句式：The school’s... principal persuaded her board to...

結(jié)構(gòu)分析：這一句是個簡單句，容易造成理解困難的是hard-driving這個單詞和shake up the place這個短語。hard-driving用于指人的作風“強硬”，shake up the place的意思是“令這個地方震動”，說明這一措施非常大膽。

句子譯文：后來該校作風強硬的校長德洛麗斯·博爾頓說服校董事會給每個學生和老師購置一臺筆記本電腦供他們使用，這一舉措在當?shù)匾鹆瞬恍〉恼饎印?

題目分析

1. D 細節(jié)題。從文中第二段引用的一系列數(shù)字可以看出，引入筆記本電腦和互聯(lián)網(wǎng)以后，該校教育質(zhì)量有了顯著提高。所以該校的例子是為了說明筆記本電腦有助于提高學生的成績。

2. D 細節(jié)題。這可以從第四段“The portal will also provide e-mail service for the city’s 1.1 million public school students. ”得知。

3. B 細節(jié)題。第一段里的shake up the place指她的提議在當?shù)匾鹆苏饎?，第二段就以具體數(shù)字說明學生入學率增加和測試成績提高的事實。

4. C 語義題。聯(lián)系上下文，work out the kink中work out的意思是“解決，設(shè)計出，計算出”等，kink最貼近的意思應該是“問題”。

5. A 推理題。這可以從文章最后一段“The habit is rubbing off on parents”得知。sth. rubs off on sb. 的意思是“某事感染或影響某人”。下文從某學生談及她對母親上電腦班的感受“I am so proud of her”可知，這種影響是積極的影響。

參考譯文

卡曼·阿雷斯中學位于康涅狄格州的寧靜小鎮(zhèn)布盧姆菲爾德，但四年前它與附近的哈特福德市市區(qū)學校一樣面臨著許多同樣的問題：標準化考試成績較差，入學率連年下降，留級率居高不下。后來該校作風強硬的校長德洛麗斯·博爾頓說服校董事會給每個學生和老師購置一臺筆記本電腦供他們使用，這一舉措在當?shù)匾鹆瞬恍〉恼饎?。此外，校董事會還為學校提供了無線上網(wǎng)的便利條件。總耗資為250萬美元。

現(xiàn)在，在上課前一小時，圖書館里就坐滿了想要上網(wǎng)的學生。五年級教師詹在星期五的課上討論沉積巖，同時學生們可以從一個內(nèi)容豐富的網(wǎng)站上觀看沉積巖。下課后，坐上公交車的學生就把筆記本電腦從背包里拿出來，開始做作業(yè)。自從有了電腦以后，學校的入學率上升了20%，留級率下降了80%。參加全州水平考試的成績也提高了35%。學?！昂谌巳雽W率高達90%，教育質(zhì)量領(lǐng)先”，黑人校長博爾頓對此倍感自豪。

其實，緬因州和紐約市的農(nóng)村地區(qū)的學校都很渴望采用卡曼·阿雷斯中學的做法。州長安格斯·金已經(jīng)提議從意外增加的預算盈余中撥出500萬美元給所有緬因州17,000名七年級學生購置一臺筆記本電腦——這項措施將適應每年秋季升入七年級的新生。這些資金將會長久持續(xù)下去，專門用于購置電腦。這一計劃最終和立法機關(guān)妥協(xié)之后，金額裁減到300萬美元，本周將對這一計劃進行投票表決。

基于同樣的考慮，紐約市教育局在4月12日一致投票同意創(chuàng)建一個學校互聯(lián)網(wǎng)門戶，以銷售廣告和特許電子商務網(wǎng)站實現(xiàn)盈利。這一門戶還能為城里的110萬公立中學的學生提供電子郵件服務。門戶利潤將被用來給教育系統(tǒng)內(nèi)87,000名四年級的每個學生購置一臺筆記本電腦。在九年之內(nèi)，所有四年級和更高年級的學生都將擁有他們自己的電腦。

在布盧姆菲爾德，校董事會正在尋求聯(lián)邦津貼，將筆記本電腦項目擴展到中學生中。與此同時，操作指南的大部分內(nèi)容也已經(jīng)做出來了。一些學生曾經(jīng)用電腦訪問未授權(quán)網(wǎng)站來打發(fā)時間，不過教師可以跟蹤學生的網(wǎng)上活動并對他們進行限制?！白钤愀獾木褪撬麄冏屇銦o法訪問這些網(wǎng)站，”八年級優(yōu)秀生杰米·巴塞爾說?！澳悴坏貌煌顺龉P記本電腦?！边@種習慣還能對家長產(chǎn)生影響?！拔医虌寢屖褂秒娮余]件，”另一位八年級學生凱瑟琳·海珀萊特說道?！艾F(xiàn)在她正在學習電腦課程。我真為她驕傲！”