《考研英語閱讀理解100篇 高分版》 Unit 14 - TEXT THREE

In the 1990s New York City's success in cutting crime became a model for America and the world. Innovative policing methods, guided by the “broken windows” philosophy of cracking down on minor offences to encourage a culture of lawfulness, showed that a seemingly hopeless situation could be turned around. It made the name of the mayor, Rudy Giuliani, now a presidential aspirant.
Hopeless is how many people feel about America's government-funded public schools, particularly in the dodgier parts of big cities, where graduation rates are shockingly low and many fail to achieve basic levels of literacy and numeracy. As with urban crime, failing urban schools are preoccupying countries the world over. And just as New York pointed the way on fighting crime, under another mayor, Michael Bloomberg, it is now emerging as a model for school reform.
On November 5th Mr. Bloomberg announced a new “report card” for the city's schools, designed to make them accountable for their performance. The highest-graded schools will get an increased budget and perhaps a bonus for the principal. Schools that fail will not be tolerated: unless their performance improves, their principals will be fired, and if that does not do the trick, they will be closed. This is the culmination of a series of reforms that began when Mr. Bloomberg campaigned for, and won, direct control of the school system after becoming mayor in 2002. Even before the “report cards”, there have been impressive signs of improvement, including higher test scores and better graduation rates.
Mr. Bloomberg has not been as brave with schools as Mr. Giuliani was with crime. Oddly given his belief in competition, the former media mogul shunned the most radical option—vouchers that allow parents to shop around beyond the public-schools system for their children's education. On the other hand, even supporters of school choice, like this newspaper, have to admit it is proving hard to sell. Nor has Mr. Bloomberg made a big push to introduce large numbers of independent charter schools as exist, say, in Los Angeles.
Against this, Mr. Bloomberg has provided an example of what a mayor with control of schools can do even without embracing such controversial ideas. He has avoided inflammatory political terms—“merit pay” and “vouchers” are red rags to teachers' unions. Instead, by using the carrot of pay rises to extract performance concessions from principals and teachers, and by persuading philanthropists such as Bill Gates to pay for innovations that might be hard to sell to the public if the public had to pay for them, he has put in place a system based on transparency, accountability and competition that he hopes will achieve much the same effect.
Will it? A lot will depend on whether Mr. Bloomberg's actions continue to match his tough talk. Unless bad schools are indeed closed, his scheme will be as much good as a blackboard with no chalk. But there are some parallels with Mr. Giuliani's crime reforms. For the New York Police Department's giant CompStat database, which provided useful insight into crime patterns, read a new schools information system for students, parents, teachers and schools administrators designed by IBM. For the concept of making precinct police captains personally accountable for reducing crime, read the grading of schools and firing of failing principals.
1. Which one of the following actions may be carried out according to the “broken windows” philosophy?
[A] The police work hard on hopeless offences to create a lawful culture.
[B] The police make the punishment harsher for all kinds of crime.
[C] People are encouraged to give an immediate report about the crime nearby.
[D] Burglars are given a severe punishment.
2. The poor performance of America's government-funded public schools in big cities is most probably due to _____.
[A] a rampant growth of the urban crime
[B] low rate of graduation and student literacy
[C] the poor management of the schools in terms of teaching method and teacher qualification
[D] certain reasons which are not mentioned in the passage
3. Which one of the following is TRUE of Mr. Bloomberg's reform on public schools?
[A] He was encouraged to establish a transparent and accountable system without controversial ideas.
[B] He was intentionally copying Mr. Giuliani's models in most aspects.
[C] He was moderate in taking measures to change the schools system.
[D] He adopted measures that were difficult for people to understand.
4. The phrase “red rag” (Line 3, Paragraph 5) most probably means _____.
[A] the bottom line
[B] controversial ideas
[C] irritative factors
[D] sensitive topics
5. Mr. Bloomberg's scheme is compared to a blackboard with no chalk because _____.
[A] his scheme is only empty talk
[B] his scheme has not been implemented
[C] his scheme sounds too good to be true
[D] his scheme awaits to be rectified