2016英语专八阅读理解练习及答案详解（12）

2016英语专八阅读理解练习及答案详解（12）

　　2016英语专八阅读增加了sectionb部分的“简答题”。考生们要保证速度和准确度。虽说增加了新题型其实按着平时的阅读理解训练来从文中找答案即可，填写答案不超过10个单词。新东方在线专八频道整理了2016英语专八阅读理解练习及答案详解供大家参考练习。

　　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.’

　　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.

　　The author’s attitude toward examinations is ___________

　　[A]detest.

　　[B] approval.

　　[C] critical.

　　[D] indifferent.

　　The fate of students is decided by ___________

　　[A] education.

　　[B] institutions.

　　[C] examinations.

　　[D] students themselves.

　　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.

　　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

　　pernicious 有害的，恶性的，破坏性的

　　knack 窍门，诀窍

　　embark 乘船，登记

　　write off 勾销，注销。确认某食物已损失或无效

　　syllabus 教学大纲

　　cram 塞入，把某物塞进，突击式学习(尤指应考)，以注入方式教人

　　duress 威胁，逼迫

　　stack 堆，垛

　　scrawl 写/画(的内容不工整，不仔细)潦草的笔迹，七扭八歪的字

　　script 讲稿，剧本，脚本，笔试答卷

　　cynical 愤世嫉俗的，自私得为人不齿的

　　boil down 熬浓，浓缩，归纳

　　难句译注

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

　　【参考译文】尽管所有那些虔诚的说法说考试能测定你所知道的东西，但其结果常常是适得其反，这是众所周之的常识。

　　As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none.

　　【结构简析】second to none固定搭配，义：不亚于任何人或事物。

　　【参考译文】(测)考试作为忧虑的制造者，真是出类拔萃。

　　induce cramming

　　诱人采用突击式学习方式。Cram尽力塞入，应试突击学习。EX: cram for a chemistry test.为应付化学考试而临时抱佛脚。Cram pupils以填鸭式教学生。

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

　　【参考译文】他们不得不在限定的时间内，给一大堆匆忙涂写而成的笔试答卷批分。

　　And their word carries weight.

　　【参考译文】可他们的话/文字(这里指分数)有份量(有影响)。

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

　　【参考译文】这就是最终分析所归纳的一切。

　　写作方法与文章大意

　　这是一篇类似分类写作的文章。罗列了考试种种恶果。作者首先指出考试难以测定人的真正能力和水平，反而是适得其反。二是考试是忧虑的制造者，因为它决定了人的成败命运。三是考试促使学校进行应试技巧教育，否定了教会人独立思考、扩大视野。四是教师或者说测试人又累又饿，犯错误，还得在限定时间披阅成堆的试卷，他们的压力和考试者一样很大，而他们的话――分数有份量，审判官的裁决，你有权上诉，而他们的裁决――一笔定终身。

　　最后引用“辍学者成为百万富翁”来点明测试这种形式对教育的坏影响。

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