题目内容
Rarely have I experienced a reaction like that which came about following the idea of banning private education. One of those who contacted me to disagree with the idea was 17 year old Anirudh Mandagere. He got 10 A*s at GCSE and is currently studying English, French, Math and History at a private school in Manchester. Here is his response:
For me, the idea that all private schools should be banned is not only ridiculous and unrealistic, but goes against the idea of liberty. We must have the freedom to choose between state-funded and privately educated schools. If parents pay taxes, surely they should be able to choose whether they send their children to a state-funded or a privately-funded school.
The economic impacts of abolishing private education are vast. Banning private schools would obviously contribute to a great transfer to state schools. Many state schools are already overburdened; do they really need more pupils? Abolishing private education would lead to higher taxes for taxpayers since more money would be needed to educate the 7% who were previously private educated. In the times of economic crisis, should the taxpayer need to fork out more money to pay for their education? There would also be a great rise in unemployment of the staff who works at private schools.
It is noted that, in general, private schools have better grades at GCSE and A level than state schools. Yet, why do people view this as a bad thing? The higher private school grades eventually force the government to endlessly improve state education so that the middle-classes do not totally abandon state education for private education. This competition creates reform and progress within state schools and eventually promote them! If the private schools did not exist, where would be the impetus for state school improvement?
Government should not simply ban a system which produces results. It should learn from it and use the private education model as a basis for the state education model. Abolishing a successful system will not help anybody, learning from a successful system will.
1.In the eye of Anirudh Mandagere, parents have the right to ______.
A. criticize state-funded schools
B. pay taxes for the promotion of private schools
C. choose the way their children receive education
D. advocate the competition between state schools and private ones
2.According to the passage, banning private education will ______.
A. obviously contribute to lower taxes
B. not cause the state schools to be overburdened
C. force the government to boost state education
D. lead to many people losing their jobs
3.The underlined word “impetus” in the fourth paragraph probably means ______.
A. motivation B. prevention C. participation D. assessment
4.Compared with state schools, private ones ______.
A. educate a little fewer students B. conduct better than all state ones
C. are better received by the public D. are more competitive on the whole
5.Which of the following statements will Anirudh Mandagere agree with?
A. His wonderful performance results from the education his private school offers.
B. Without the existence of private schools, state ones wouldn’t get improved much.
C. Private education is a good system to make students successful in life.
D. Private schools are supposed to be sponsored more than state ones.
1.C
2.D
3.A
4.D
5.B
【解析】略
Disposing(处理)of waste has been a problem since humans started producing it.As more and more people choose to live close together in cities,the waste-disposal problem becomes increasingly difficult.
During the eighteenth century,it was usual for several neighboring towns to get together to select a faraway spot as a dump site.Residents or trash haulers(垃圾拖运者)would transport household rubbish,rotted wood,and old possessions to the site.Periodically some of the trash was burned and the rest was buried.The unpleasant sights and smells caused no problem because nobody lived close by.
Factories,mills,and other industrial sites also had waste to be disposed of.Those located on rivers often just dumped the unwanted remains into the water.Others built huge burners with chimneys to deal with the problem.
Several facts make these choices unacceptable to modern society.The first problem is space Dumps,which are now called landfills,are most needed in heavily populated areas.Such areas rarely have empty land suitable for this purpose.Property is either too expensive or too close to residential neighborhoods.Long-distance trash hauling has been a common practice but once farm areas are refusing to accept rubbish from elsewhere,cheap land within trucking distance of major city areas is almost nonexistent.
Awareness of pollution dangers has resulted in more strict rules of waste disposal.Pollution of rivers,ground water,land and air is a price people can no longer pay to get rid of waste.The amount of waste,however,continues to grow.
Recycling efforts have become commonplace,and many towns require their people to take part.Even the most efficient recycling programs,however,can hope to deal with only about 50 percent of a city’s reusable waste.
【小题1】The most suitable title for this passage would be ______.
A.Places for Disposing Waste | B.Waste Pollution Dangers |
C.Ways of Getting Rid of Waste | D.Waste Disposal Problem |
A.burying it | B.recycling it |
C.burning it | D.throwing it into rivers |
A.Farm areas accept waste from the city in modern society. |
B.There is cheap land to bury waste in modern society. |
C.It is difficult to find space to bury waste in modern society. |
D.Ways to deal with waste in modern society stay the same. |
A.draw people’s attention to waste management |
B.warn people of the pollution dangers we are facing |
C.call on people to take part in recycling programs |
D.tell people a better way to get rid of the waste |
History is full of examples of leaders joining together to meet common goals. But rarely have two leaders worked together with such friendship and cooperation as American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. They both were born in wealthy families and were active in politics for many years. Both men loved the sea and the navy,history and nature.
Roosevelt and Churchill first met when they were lowerlevel officials in World War One. But neither man remembered much about that meeting. However,as they worked together during the Second World War they came to like and trust each other. Roosevelt and Churchill exchanged more than one thousand seven hundred letters and messages during five and a half years. They met many times,at large national gatherings and in private talks. But the closeness of their friendship might be seen best in a story told by one of Roosevelt’s close advisors,Harry Hopkins. Hopkins remembered how Churchill was visiting Roosevelt at the White House one day. Roosevelt went into Churchill’s room in the morning to say hello. But the president was shocked to see Churchill coming from the washing room with no clothes at all. Roosevelt immediately apologized to the British leader for seeing him naked. But Churchill reportedly said: “The Prime Minister of Great Britain has nothing to hide from the president of the United States.” And then both men laughed.
The United States and Great Britain were only two of several nations that joined together in the war to resist Hitler and his Allies. In January,1942,twentysix of these nations signed an agreement promising to fight for peace,religious freedom,human rights,and justice. The three major Allies,however,were the most important for the war effort: the United States,Britain,and the Soviet Union. Yet,Churchill and Roosevelt disagreed about when to attack Hitler in western Europe. And Churchill resisted Roosevelt’s suggestions that Britain give up some of its colonies. But in general,the friendship between Roosevelt and Churchill,and between the United States and Britain led the two nations to cooperate closely.
【小题1】What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Roosevelt and Churchill had much in common. |
B.Roosevelt and Churchill had nothing in common. |
C.Roosevelt and Churchill had no difference but cooperation. |
D.Roosevelt and Churchill always joined together to meet common goals. |
A.Since World War One they had believed in each other. |
B.They exchanged just 27 letters and messages per month during the 5.5 years. |
C.Harry Hopkins never let out the closeness of their friendship. |
D.Roosevelt and Churchill hadn’t been presidents before World War One. |
A.Roosevelt and Churchill did not always agree with each other |
B.over two differences between Churchill and Roosevelt were mentioned |
C.Churchill urged Roosevelt to give up some of its colonies |
D.the differences between Roosevelt and Churchill had an effect on their cooperation |