Question

In her new book, “The Smartest Kids in the World,” Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist, tells the story of Tom, a high-school student from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, who decides to spend his senior year in Warsaw, Poland．Poland is a surprising educational success story: in the past decade, the country raised students’ test scores from significantly below average to well above it．Polish kids have now outscored（超过……分数） American kids in math and science, even though Poland spends, on average, less than half as much per student as the United States does．One of the most striking differences between the high school Tom attended in Gettysburg and the one he ends up at in Warsaw is that the latter has no football team, or, for that matter, teams of any kind．

That American high schools waste more time and money on sports than on math is an old complaint．This is not a matter of how any given student who plays sports does in school, but of the culture and its priorities．This December, when the latest Program for International Student Assessment（PISA） results are announced, it’s safe to predict that American high-school students will once again display their limited skills in math and reading, outscored not just by students in Poland but also by students in places like South Korea, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Singapore, and Japan．Meanwhile, they will have played some very exciting football games, which will have been breathlessly written up in their hometown papers．

Why does this situation continue? Well, for one thing, kids like it．And for another, according to Ripley, parents seem to like the arrangement, too．She describes a tour she took of a school in Washington D．C．, which costs thirty thousand dollars a year．The tour leader—a mother with three children in the school—was asked about the school’s flaws（暇疵）．When she said that the math program was weak, none of the parents taking the tour reacted．When she said that the football program was weak, the parents suddenly became concerned．“Really?” one of them asked worriedly, “What do you mean?” One of the ironies（讽刺） of the situation is that sports reveal what is possible．American kids’ performance on the field shows just how well they can do when expection are high．It’s too bad that their test scores show the same thing．

1.Tom decides to spend his senior year in Poland because _______．

A．there are striking differences between the 2 countries

B．Polish kids are better at learning

C．he intends to improve his scores

D．sports are not supported at schools in Gettysburg

2.According to Paragraph 2, we know that _______．

A．little time is spent on sports in Japanese schools

B．too much importance is placed on sports in America

C．American high schools complain about sports time

D．PISA plays a very important role in America

3.The underlined sentence in the last paragraph means _______．

A．American students’ academic performance worries their parents a lot

B．high expectations push up American students’ academic performance

C．lacking practice contributes to American students’ average performance

D．low expectations result in American students’ poor PISA performance

4.The purpose of this article is to _______．

A．draw public attention to a weakness in American school tradition

B．call on American schools to learn from the Polish model

C．compare Polish schools with those in America

D．explain what is wrong with American schools and provide solutions

Answer 1

1.C

2.B

3.D

4.A

【解析】

试题分析：文章介绍了美国学生在学业上比其他国家的学生平均要低，这是因为美国人传统上就重视运动，学生包括家长都把注意力更多的放在体育上，作者是想引起人们对美国传统的弱点的关注。

1.C。推理判断题。从第一段中的Poland is a surprising educational success story: in the past decade, the country raised students’ test scores from significantly below average to well above it.可知波兰的学生的学习成绩提高很快，所以可以推断出汤姆要到波兰学习是为了提高学习成绩。故选C

2.B。细节理解题：从第二段中的：That American high schools lavish more time and money on sports than on math is an old complaint.可知美国的学校更加重视运动，选 B

3.D。句意理解题：从前面的句子：American kids’ performance on the field shows just how well they can do when expectations are high.可知美国孩子在球场的表现好是因为期望值高，同样的事情发生在学习成绩上，就是说对他们学习成绩的期望值低。故选D

4.主旨大意题。文章介绍了美国学生在学业上比其他国家的学生平均要低，这是因为美国人传统上就重视运动，所以作者是想引起人们对美国传统的弱点的关注。故选A

考点：考查科普类阅读