Part I Reading Comprehension .docx Reading Comprehension ( 20 minutes ) Directions: There are several passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice. Passage One Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage. 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 freedom. 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 trained in the technique of working under duress ( 强迫 ). The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiners. 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 am a teenage millionaire." 1. It can be inferred from the passage that _________. A) examination advocates regard examination as a simple and effective way of assessing a person's true abilities B) teachers and students want examinations C) the examination system may not be perfect, but it's the best we have D) those who have succeeded in final examination are the best educated 2. The disadvantages of examinations are that __________. A) they restrict a student's reading B) they induce cramming C) they lower the standards of teaching D) all the above 3. The assessment of candidates' work is subjective rather than objective because _______. A) examiners are human and they may make mistakes B) computers are widely used to mark specially devised tests C) students are trained in the technique of working under pressure D) institutions that run examinations aim at making money 4. The author's attitude toward examination is ________. A) resentful B) negative C) praising D) positive 5. The last sentence of the passage expresses a tone of ________. A) deep sympathy for the unsuccessful candidates B) mild sarcasm about examination system C) sincere approval for examinations D) undisguised disappointment about some anonymous examiners Passage Two Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage. Reading is the key to school success, and like any skill it takes practice. A child learns to walk by practicing until he no longer has to think about how to put one foot in front of the other. A great athlete practices until he can play quickly, accurately, without thinking. Tennis players call that "being in the zone". Educators call it "automaticity". A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and decoding ( 辨识 ) the words. With practice, he stumbles less and less, reading by the phrase. With automaticity, he doesn't have to think about decoding the words, so he can concentrate on the meaning of the text. It can begin as early as in the first grade. In a recent study of children in Illinois schools, Alan Rossman of Northwestern University found automatic readers in the first grade who were reading almost three times as fast as the other children and scoring twice as high on comprehension tests. In the fifth grade, the automatic readers were reading twice as fast as the others, and still outscoring them on accuracy, comprehension and vocabulary. "It's not IQ, but the amount of time a child spends reading that is the key to automaticity," according to Rossman. Any child who spends at least 35 to 4 hours a week reading books, magazines or newspapers will in all likelihood reach automaticity. At home, where the average child spends 25 hours a week watching television, it can happen by turning off the set just one night in favor of reading. You can test your child by giving him a paragraph or two to read aloud — something unfamiliar but appropriate to his age. If he reads aloud with expression, with a sense of the meaning of the sentence, he probably is an automatic reader. If he reads haltingly, one word at a time, without expression or meaning, he needs more practice. 6. The first paragraph tells us _________. A) what automaticity is B) how accuracy is acquired C) how a child learns to walk D) how an athlete is trained 7. The Illinois study shows that the automatic reader's high speed _________. A) costs him a lot of work B) affects his comprehension C) leads to his future success D) doesn't affect his comprehension 8. A bright child _____________. A) also needs practice to be an automatic reader B) always achieves great success in comprehension tests C) becomes an automatic reader after learning how to read D) is a born automatic reader 9. The paragraphs used to test the automaticity of your child should be ____________. A) readable and interesting B) a little bit above his level C) full of dramatic expressions D) new to him 10. The main idea of the passage is _______________. A) how to score high on comprehension tests B) reading is the key to school success C) how to test your child's reading ability D) automaticity is important for efficient reading