Question

       Americans have a reputation for being global illiterate（文盲）, only one in ten can speak another language .That does not stop millions of American tourists ,businessmen, diplomats and journalists from visiting and working in nearly every country in the world. Americans simply expect everyone else to know their language. Few Americans study foreign language extensively and few American schools and universities ask them to. “We want to learn about the people outside America,” says Chicago Spanish tutor Jody Miles, “It’s sad ,isn’t it? It’s the Americans’ attitude: “They’ll find me a guide who speaks English.

       The American preference for English is hardly discouraged in the nation’s schools. At least 20 percent of the country’s high schools teach no foreign language at all. Few schools teach languages to students under 12, when they can best learn another language .As a result ,fewer than 3 percent of all high school graduates achieve “ meaningful” competence in a foreign language . But that is no bar to getting into the nation’s colleges ;only 8 percent have a foreign language requirement. Some colleges permit students to take proficiency（精通）exams to demonstrate they can speak a foreign language―to some degree―instead of taking a language course. Harvard even allows undergraduates to “psych out” of its one year foreign language requirement. Students can persuade health-clinic psychiatrists（精神病医师）to prove their psychological inability to learn another language.

       Still ,there are many students who want to learn foreign languages. Some study Spanish to understand the country’s growing Hispanic（西班牙的）population; others want to study the language of their immigrant ancestors .Another reason to learn a foreign language is the tight job market. If you have two qualified people applying for a job at an international firm and only one speaks a foreign language ,it’s obvious who will be chosen.

 

Questions:

73．Find in the passage a word closest in meaning to the underlined word “competence”.

                                                                                

74．Who is responsible for American students’ incompetence in foreign languages?（回答词数不超过5个）

                                                                                

75．How can Harvard students be allowed to go without the one year foreign language requirement?（回答词数不超过10个）

                                                                                

Answer 1

73．Ability.

74．American schools and universities/colleges.

75．Psychiatrists’ proof of their inability to learn another language.