Examinations Exert a Pernicious Influence on Education

We might marvel at the progress made in every field ofstudy, but the methods of testing a person’s knowledge andability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really isextraordinary that after all these years, educationists have stillfailed to device anything more efficient and reliable thanexaminations. For all the pious claim that examinations text whatyou know, it is common knowledge that they more often do theexact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidlyunder extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person’s true ability and aptitude.

As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them.They are the mark of success of failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in onefateful day. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t feeling very well, or that your mother died. Littlethings like that don’t count: the exam goes on. No one can give of his best when he is in mortalterror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him todo. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of vicious competition where success andfailure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of ‘drop-outs’:young people who are written off as utter failures before they have even embarked on a career?Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?

A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examinationsystem does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus, so thestudent is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, butto restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but inducecramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive the teacher of all freedoms.Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching theirsubjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques which they despise. Themost successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in thetechnique of working under duress.

The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment bysome anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they makemistakes. Yet they have to mark stacks of hastily scrawled scripts in a limited amount of time. Theywork under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After ajudge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s. There must surely bemany simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person’s true abilities. Is it cynical to suggestthat examinations are merely a profitable business for the institutions that run them? This is what itboils down to in the last analysis. The best comment on the system is this illiterate messagerecently scrawled on a wall: ‘I were a teenage drop-out and now I are a teenage millionaire.’

1. The main idea of this passage is
[A] examinations exert a pernicious influence on education.
[B] examinations are ineffective.
[C] examinations are profitable for institutions.
[D] examinations are a burden on students.

2. The author’s attitude toward examinations is
[A]detest.
[B] approval.
[C] critical.
[D] indifferent.

3. The fate of students is decided by
[A] education.
[B] institutions.
[C] examinations.
[D] students themselves.

4. According to the author, the most important of a good education is
[A] to encourage students to read widely.
[B] to train students to think on their own.
[C] to teach students how to tackle exams.
[D] to master his fate.

5. Why does the author mention court?
[A] Give an example.
[B] For comparison.
[C] It shows that teachers’ evolutions depend on the results of examinations.
[D] It shows the results of court is more effectise.

答案詳解（反白可見）：
1. A 考試對教育具有有害的影響。文章第一段就點明：考試是測試記憶的好方法，是測試在巨大壓力下快速工作的技巧的好方法，卻測不出一個人的真正能力和水平。第三段集中指出：考試不是促進(jìn)學(xué)生廣泛閱讀，反而限制其閱讀；考試不能使學(xué)生追求更多的知識，而是誘導(dǎo)學(xué)生進(jìn)行應(yīng)付考試的突擊式學(xué)習(xí)。他們降低了教學(xué)水平，因為他們剝奪了老師的一切自由。常常以考試結(jié)果而不是所教課程來評定老師，是他們不得不以他們所輕視的考試技巧來培訓(xùn)學(xué)生。第二段和第四段也涉及其后果。
B.考試無效。這是考試后果的一個方面。C.考試對教育機(jī)構(gòu)有利。這也是一個方面。D.考試對學(xué)生是一種負(fù)擔(dān)。
2. C 批評的。第一段中作者明確指出，考試方法依舊，不能測出人的能力和水平。第二段點名，這種無用的考試決定人生的成敗。第三段說考試最成功的考試者經(jīng)常不是最佳的受教育者，他們是在脅迫下最佳獲得考試技巧者，而好的教育應(yīng)能培養(yǎng)人的獨立思考。第四段涉及閱卷者又累又餓，常犯錯誤，不得不在限定時間披閱一大堆匆忙中七扭八歪寫出的卷子。最后一句“我過去是一個是來歲的輟學(xué)者，現(xiàn)在我是一個年輕的百萬富翁”畫龍點睛地指出，考試指揮下的教育的失敗。這一切都說明作者對考試的批評態(tài)度。
A.嫌惡，厭惡。此答案從意義上說是對的。但語法不通，因為這是個東西，而is后要求是名詞或形容詞。B.贊成。D.漠不關(guān)心的。
3. C 考試。答案在第二段，考試是最終憂慮制造者，那是因為許多事情取決于考試：它們是我們社會中成功或失敗的標(biāo)志。你的未來可能全取決于這決定性的一天。
A.教育。B.教育機(jī)構(gòu)。D.學(xué)生自己。
4. B 培養(yǎng)學(xué)生進(jìn)行獨立思考。第三段第一句話點明：好的教育應(yīng)該是培養(yǎng)學(xué)生自己獨立思考。
A.鼓勵學(xué)生廣泛閱讀。教學(xué)生如何應(yīng)考。C.教學(xué)生如何應(yīng)考。D.掌握自己命運(yùn)。
5. B 作對比，答案在最后一段倒數(shù)第二句“審判官裁決后，你有權(quán)力上訴，而披閱考卷人給分后，學(xué)生可沒有上訴權(quán)”后面又談及“一想到考試只對進(jìn)行考試的機(jī)構(gòu)有禮，未免太自私了。這酒是最終分析歸納的東西。”所以作者呼吁，可定還有許多更簡便，更有效的評估人真正能力的方法。
A.給出一個例子。C.表示老師是由考試結(jié)果評定好壞。這是第三段講的不分內(nèi)容，教師他們自己常由考試結(jié)果而不是所教課程優(yōu)劣來評定。所以他們不得不對學(xué)生進(jìn)行應(yīng)試技巧教育，降低教學(xué)水平。D.表明審判官裁決更有效。

翻頁查看詞匯及難句譯注>>>