Are undergraduate(大学生)grades important?Everyone knows that high marks earned at different schools or under different instructors can indicate very different levels of achievement.One professor may be a hard grader, while another is very generous or one who takes the whole business as a bit of joke.Some schools have high standards, whereas others don't.And at all universities there is a constant tendency towards grade inflation(giving ever more high marks)that is fought fiercely at some universities and allowed to go unchecked for long periods at others.
Another point raised against grades is that they hardly predict how much graduates will be earning 15 or 20 years after getting their degrees.As many studies have shown, there is only a very poor link between undergraduate's grades and future wealth.People who get good marks tend to go into professions, not all of which are highly paid.The link between undergraduate grades and success in business, the most common road to wealth, is in fact zero.Many ordinary students become successful businessmen, while some brilliant and capable graduates(creative youngster, not students with special skills in passing exams)take up relatively low paying but interesting or satisfying careers.The general population sees one thing very clearly that good grades don't translate in any direct way into big money, and for better or for worse, the standard of“success”for countless Americans is the possession of wealth.
The result is a certain modesty about good grades in America among those who get them.A student's parents may be proud of his marks, but seldom will the student himself risk being called a“grade-grubber”by drawing too much attention to his academic success.High marks are not something to be advertised to the world except on resumes(简历),and anybody who is crazy about them is likely to be viewed with contempt(轻蔑),not least by intelligent people.
(1)
Which of the following is TRUE about undergraduate grades?
[ ]
A.
Different grades in schools show the same levels of achievement.
B.
Professors are giving increasingly high marks.
C.
Professors give grades without checking students' work.
D.
Professors are likely to give high grades if they are humorous.
(2)
According to the passage, what is the relationship between grades and business performance?
[ ]
A.
Good grades generally lead to business success.
B.
There is a direct link between grades and business performance.
C.
Good grades don't necessarily mean business success.
D.
Terrible grades often mean business success.
(3)
What is the American attitude towards good grades?
[ ]
A.
The students with good grades are shy to share their happiness with others.
B.
Good grades should be admired by both the poor and the rich.
C.
Not much importance is attached to good grades.
D.
Students should risk everything to get good grades.
(4)
The underlined phrase“grade-grubber”in Paragraph 3 probably means ________.
[ ]
A.
a student who likes to take risks
B.
a student who is poor in academic study
C.
a student who is devoted to getting good grades
D.
a student who isn't satisfied with his good grades
I.Q.stands for “Intelligence Quotient” which is a measure of a person's intelligence found by means of an intelligence test.Before marks gained in such a test can be useful as information about a person, they must be compared with some standard, or norm(规范).It is not enough simply to know that a boy of thirteen has scored, say, ninety marks in a particular test.To know whether he is clever, average or dull, his marks must be compared with the average achieved by other boys of thirteen in that test.
In 1906 the psychologist, Alfred Binet(1857--1911), devised the standard by which intelligence has since been assessed.Binet was asked to find a method of selecting all children in the schools of Paris who should be taken out of ordinary classes and put in special classes for defectives(后进生).The problem made him realize the need for a standard for measuring intelligence, and he hit upon the very simple concept of “mental age”.
First of all, he invented a variety of tests and put large numbers of children of different ages through them.He then found at what age each test was passed by the average child.For instance, he found that the average child of seven could count backwards from 20 to 1 and the average child of three could repeat the sentence:“We are going to have a good time in the country.” Billet arranged the various tests in order of difficulty, and used them as a scale against which he could measure every individual.If, for example, a boy aged twelve could only do tests that were passed by the average boy of nine, Binet held that he was three years below average, and that he had a mental age of nine.
The concept of mental age provided Binet, and through him, other psychologists, with the required standard.It enabled him to state scores in intelligence tests in terms of a norm merely by subtracting(减去)the “mental” age of a child from his “chronological” age(实际年龄).Then the boy in the example given would be “three years retarded”(迟缓、耽误).Later the “mental ratio” was introduced; that is to say, the ratio of the mental age to the chronological age.Thus a boy of twelve with a mental age of nine has a mental ratio of 0.75.
The “mental age” measurement was then replaced by the more famous I.Q(intelligence quotient).The “I.Q.” is the mental ratio multiplied by 100.For example, a boy of twelve with a mental age of nine has an “I.Q.” of 75.Clearly, since the mental age of the average child is equal to the chronological age, the average “I.Q.” is 100.
(1)
To judge a child's intelligence, his marks in a test must be compared with marks gained by ________.
[ ]
A.
others of the same age
B.
children of different ages
C.
a number of children aged thirteen
D.
the same child at different ages
(2)
Binet used a large number of children in his tests because he wanted to find out ________.
[ ]
A.
who were the most stupid
B.
the defectives
C.
what a bright child could do
D.
a norm
(3)
The purpose of I.Q.test is to find out ________.
[ ]
A.
whether one has the intelligence of thirteen-year-old children