C [2015 •黑龙江省佳木斯市第一中学高一下学期期中]

The SAT is one of two major tests for the entrance to American colleges and universities. The other test is called the ACT. More than 2 million students take the SAT yearly, including about 100,000 foreign students. The or?ganization of the SAT will change the entrance test in 2016. The College Board announced that the new SAT will no longer test students on rarely used words. But it will include passages from American historical documents or from writings on freedom and human rights.

The College Board says words on the new test will be related to usage. Students will be asked to tell the mean?ing of words according to the context of the reading passa?ges. Nigerian student Peace Umoru is in her first year at Howard University. She says the rarely used words are the hardest part for international students. The new test will be easier because of the reform.

Eddie West is with the College Board. He says the new test will better predict a student's performance in col?lege. The changes are moving the test in a positive direc?tion. The new SAT pays more attention to skills and abili?ties that students need to succeed. The addition of material about American historical documents could make the test harder for international students. After all, they live in different countries with different cultures. But it's a good chance for them to understand the Declaration of Inde?pendence or Martin Luther King's work, or anything else that might be tested.

Students from other countries, particularly those who did not grow up learning English, may feel it is more diffi?cult. For them, the test is in a foreign language. But the College Board says it has formed a free, online educational service. Khan Academy will provide preparation material linked to the newly designed SAT.

24.  What will be tested in the new SAT?

  A.  All the different meanings of a word.

B.  The rare usage of the common words.

C.  The difficult words for foreign students.

D.  The proper meaning of the words in the passages.

25.  The new SAT could be more difficult for international students because _______ .

  A.  they are short of skills and abilities

B.  they often perform badly in college

C.  they know nothing about American history

D.  they have different cultural backgrounds

26.  What's the main idea of the text?

  A.  How to prepare for the new SAT.

B.  The SAT will change the entrance test in 2016.

C.  Advice for foreign .students on passing the SAT.

D.  Tests for entrance to American colleges and uni?versities.

  An expert suggested that certain criminals should be sent to prison in their own home. When the scheme was first put forward publicly,many people opposed it or had serious reserva?tions about it. One very experienced social worker opposed the scheme in a television interview. When asked to explain the basis for his opposition,he thought for a moment and finally con?fessed, "Well,I guess, because it's new. That's my only reason.”

  Advocates of the scheme pointed out that courts frequently sentenced first offenders to com?munity service of some kind rather than send them to prison. The stigma of having a criminal re?cord was an adequate deterrent, and nothing positive was achieved by sending some types of convicted people to prison.

  Some critics rushed to take extreme cases. "If a murderer is allowed free in the community like this,what is to prevent him from killing somebody else?" This argument ignored the fact that nobody proposed to allow convicted murderers to use the bracelet system. One criticism put forward was that an offender could take off his bracelet and leave it at home or give it to a friend to wear while he himself wet off to commit another crime. The reply to this was that the bracelet would be made so that the computer would immediately detect any attempts to take it off or tamper with it.

  A more serious objection to the scheme was that the harsh life of prison was intended to be
part of the deterrent to crime. A prisoner who was allowed to live at home would suffer no parti-
cular discomfort and thus not be deterred from repeating his crime. No immediate action was
taken on the proposal. It was far too revolutionary and needed to be examined very carefully.
However, the idea was not rejected. Several governments appointed experts to investigate the
scheme and make recommendations for or against it.
(   ) 5. People's opinions are divided on the suggestion that      

A.     some criminals should serve their terms at home

B.     social workers can express themselves on TV

C.     first offenders should be sentenced to community service

D.     old offenders should be imprisoned

(   ) 6. A social worker opposed the proposal for the reason that      

A. it is unique    B. it is creative

C. it is novel    D. it is out-of-date

(   ) 7. The supporters of the scheme will probably agree that      

A.     the hard life of prison may prevent some people from repeating a crime

B.      the life at home is too comfortable for the prisoners

C.      high-technology should be deterrent to crime

D.     imprisonment will not achieve much to some offenders
(   ) 8. The prospect of the advice is that      

A.     it will be put into practice immediately

B.     it will be declined by the government

C.     it will be further carefully looked into

D.     it will be confirmed by appointed experts

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