本文為正在復(fù)習(xí)英語(yǔ)四級(jí)閱讀的同學(xué)準(zhǔn)備了閱讀精選練習(xí)題，供大家參考。

We might marvel at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person's knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to device anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For all the pious claim that examinations text what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under 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 one fateful day. It doesn't matter that you weren't feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don't count: the exam goes on. No one can give of his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of vicious competition where success and failure 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 examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus, so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. 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 their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques which they despise. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under duress.

The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark stacks of hastily scrawled scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge's decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner's. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person's true abilities. Is it cynical to suggest that examinations are merely a profitable business for the institutions that run them? This is what it boils down to in the last analysis. The best comment on the system is this illiterate message recently 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.

Vocabulary

1. knack 竅門，訣竅

2. embark 乘船，登記

3. write off 勾銷，注銷。確認(rèn)某食物已損失或無(wú)效

4. syllabus 教學(xué)大綱

5. cram 塞入，把某物塞進(jìn)，突擊式學(xué)習(xí)(尤指應(yīng)考)，以注入方式教人

6. duress 威脅，逼迫

7. stack 堆，垛

8. scrawl 寫/畫(的內(nèi)容不工整，不仔細(xì))潦草的筆跡，七扭八歪的字

9. script 講稿，劇本，腳本，筆試答卷

10. cynical 憤世嫉俗的，自私得為人不齒的

11. boil down 熬濃，濃縮，歸納

難句譯注

1. For all the pious claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite.

【參考譯文】盡管所有那些虔誠(chéng)的說(shuō)法說(shuō)考試能測(cè)定你所知道的東西，但其結(jié)果常常是適得其反，這是眾所周之的常識(shí)。

2. As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none.

【結(jié)構(gòu)簡(jiǎn)析】second to none固定搭配，義：不亞于任何人或事物。

【參考譯文】(測(cè))考試作為憂慮的制造者，真是出類拔萃。

3. induce cramming

誘人采用突擊式學(xué)習(xí)方式。Cram盡力塞入，應(yīng)試突擊學(xué)習(xí)。EX: cram for a chemistry test.為應(yīng)付化學(xué)考試而臨時(shí)抱佛腳。Cram pupils以填鴨式教學(xué)生。

4. Yet you have to mark stacks of hastily scrawled scripts in a limited amount of time.

【參考譯文】他們不得不在限定的時(shí)間內(nèi)，給一大堆匆忙涂寫而成的筆試答卷批分。

5. And their word carries weight.

【參考譯文】可他們的話/文字(這里指分?jǐn)?shù))有份量(有影響)。

6. This is what it boils down to in the last analysis.

【參考譯文】這就是最終分析所歸納的一切。

參考答案：

1. A 　　2. C　　3. C 　　4. B 　　5. B

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