專八閱讀訓練：Examinations Exert a Pernicious Influence on Education
We might marvel at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person’s knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to device anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For all the pious claim that examinations text what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person’s true ability and aptitude.
As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the mark of success of failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don’t count: the exam goes on. No one can give of his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of vicious competition where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of ‘drop-outs’: young people who are written off as utter failures before they have even embarked on a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?
A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus, so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive the teacher of all freedoms. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques which they despise. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under duress.
The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark stacks of hastily scrawled scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge’s decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner’s. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person’s true abilities. Is it cynical to suggest that examinations are merely a profitable business for the institutions that run them? This is what it boils down to in the last analysis. The best comment on the system is this illiterate message recently scrawled on a wall: ‘I were a teenage drop-out and now I are a teenage millionaire.’
1. The main idea of this passage is
[A] examinations exert a pernicious influence on education.
[B] examinations are ineffective.
[C] examinations are profitable for institutions.
[D] examinations are a burden on students.
2. The author’s attitude toward examinations is
[A]detest.
[B] approval.
[C] critical.
[D] indifferent.
3. The fate of students is decided by
[A] education.
[B] institutions.
[C] examinations.
[D] students themselves.
4. According to the author, the most important of a good education is
[A] to encourage students to read widely.
[B] to train students to think on their own.
[C] to teach students how to tackle exams.
[D] to master his fate.
5. Why does the author mention court?
[A] Give an example.
[B] For comparison.
[C] It shows that teachers’ evolutions depend on the results of examinations.
[D] It shows the results of court is more effectise.
答案詳解
1. A 考試對教育具有有害的影響。文章第一段就點明：考試是測試記憶的好方法，是測試在巨大壓力下快速工作的技巧的好方法，卻測不出一個人的真正能力和水平。第三段集中指出：考試不是促進學生廣泛閱讀，反而限制其閱讀;考試不能使學生追求更多的知識，而是誘導學生進行應付考試的突擊式學習。他們降低了教學水平，因為他們剝奪了老師的一切自由。常常以考試結果而不是所教課程來評定老師，是他們不得不以他們所輕視的考試技巧來培訓學生。第二段和第四段也涉及其后果。
B.考試無效。這是考試后果的一個方面。C.考試對教育機構有利。這也是一個方面。D.考試對學生是一種負擔。
2. C 批評的。第一段中作者明確指出，考試方法依舊，不能測出人的能力和水平。第二段點名，這種無用的考試決定人生的成敗。第三段說考試最成功的考試者經(jīng)常不是最佳的受教育者，他們是在脅迫下最佳獲得考試技巧者，而好的教育應能培養(yǎng)人的獨立思考。第四段涉及閱卷者又累又餓，常犯錯誤，不得不在限定時間披閱一大堆匆忙中七扭八歪寫出的卷子。最后一句“我過去是一個是來歲的輟學者，現(xiàn)在我是一個年輕的百萬富翁”畫龍點睛地指出，考試指揮下的教育的失敗。這一切都說明作者對考試的批評態(tài)度。
A.嫌惡，厭惡。此答案從意義上說是對的。但語法不通，因為這是個東西，而is后要求是名詞或形容詞。B.贊成。D.漠不關心的。
3. C 考試。答案在第二段，考試是最終憂慮制造者，那是因為許多事情取決于考試：它們是我們社會中成功或失敗的標志。你的未來可能全取決于這決定性的一天。
A.教育。B.教育機構。D.學生自己。
4. B 培養(yǎng)學生進行獨立思考。第三段第一句話點明：好的教育應該是培養(yǎng)學生自己獨立思考。
A.鼓勵學生廣泛閱讀。教學生如何應考。C.教學生如何應考。D.掌握自己命運。
5. B 作對比，答案在最后一段倒數(shù)第二句“審判官裁決后，你有權力上訴，而披閱考卷人給分后，學生可沒有上訴權”后面又談及“一想到考試只對進行考試的機構有禮，未免太自私了。這酒是最終分析歸納的東西。”所以作者呼吁，可定還有許多更簡便，更有效的評估人真正能力的方法。
A.給出一個例子。C.表示老師是由考試結果評定好壞。這是第三段講的不分內(nèi)容，教師他們自己常由考試結果而不是所教課程優(yōu)劣來評定。所以他們不得不對學生進行應試技巧教育，降低教學水平。D.表明審判官裁決更有效。
Vocabulary
1. pernicious 有害的，惡性的，破壞性的
2. knack 竅門，訣竅
3. embark 乘船，登記
4. write off 勾銷，注銷。確認某食物已損失或無效
5. syllabus 教學大綱
6. cram 塞入，把某物塞進，突擊式學習(尤指應考)，以注入方式教人
7. duress 威脅，逼迫
8. stack 堆，垛
9. scrawl 寫/畫(的內(nèi)容不工整，不仔細)潦草的筆跡，七扭八歪的字
10. script 講稿，劇本，腳本，筆試答卷
11. cynical 憤世嫉俗的，自私得為人不齒的
12. boil down 熬濃，濃縮，歸納
難句譯注
1. For all the pious claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite.
【參考譯文】盡管所有那些虔誠的說法說考試能測定你所知道的東西，但其結果常常是適得其反，這是眾所周之的常識。
2. As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none.
【結構簡析】second to none固定搭配，義：不亞于任何人或事物。
【參考譯文】(測)考試作為憂慮的制造者，真是出類拔萃。
3. induce cramming
誘人采用突擊式學習方式。Cram盡力塞入，應試突擊學習。EX: cram for a chemistry test.為應付化學考試而臨時抱佛腳。Cram pupils以填鴨式教學生。
4. Yet you have to mark stacks of hastily scrawled scripts in a limited amount of time.
【參考譯文】他們不得不在限定的時間內(nèi)，給一大堆匆忙涂寫而成的筆試答卷批分。
5. And their word carries weight.
【參考譯文】可他們的話/文字(這里指分數(shù))有份量(有影響)。
6. This is what it boils down to in the last analysis.
【參考譯文】這就是最終分析所歸納的一切。
寫作方法與文章大意
這是一篇類似分類寫作的文章。羅列了考試種種惡果。作者首先指出考試難以測定人的真正能力和水平，反而是適得其反。二是考試是憂慮的制造者，因為它決定了人的成敗命運。三是考試促使學校進行應試技巧教育，否定了教會人獨立思考、擴大視野。四是教師或者說測試人又累又餓，犯錯誤，還得在限定時間披閱成堆的試卷，他們的壓力和考試者一樣很大，而他們的話――分數(shù)有份量，審判官的裁決，你有權上訴，而他們的裁決――一筆定終身。
最后引用“輟學者成為百萬富翁”來點明測試這種形式對教育的壞影響。
