《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

1. Which one of the following actions may be carried out according to the “broken windows” philosophy?
[A] The police work hard on hopeless offenses 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.
1. 下列哪個行動是根據(jù)“破窗”法則實施的？
[A] 警察努力工作解決那些看起來沒有希望破獲的犯罪案例，以創(chuàng)造一個法治的文化。
[B] 警察對所有形式的犯罪采取更為嚴(yán)厲的懲戒辦法。
[C] 鼓勵人們看到周圍的犯罪行為后馬上報告。
[D] 給夜盜以嚴(yán)厲的懲罰。
答案：D　難度系數(shù)：☆☆☆
分析：推力題。本題的關(guān)鍵在于理解“破窗”法則的含義，文章第一段提到，該法則就是嚴(yán)厲打擊小的犯罪，從而營造一種遵紀(jì)守法的文化。那么，這四個選項中，只有選項D是嚴(yán)厲打擊小犯罪活動的，因此是正確答案。選項A具有較強(qiáng)的干擾性，所謂hopeless offenses并不僅僅指小型犯罪活動，因此該選項錯誤。選項B的錯誤也是由于同樣的原因，因為所針對的不是所有形式的犯罪。選項C則與題干的意思無關(guān)。
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
2. 美國政府資助的大城市中的公立學(xué)校成績不佳的原因最有可能是 _____。
[A] 城市犯罪猖獗
[B] 學(xué)生畢業(yè)率低、識字率低
[C] 由于教學(xué)方法差和教師素質(zhì)低而導(dǎo)致的學(xué)校管理較差
[D] 文章中沒有提到的某些原因
答案：D　難度系數(shù)：☆☆☆
分析：細(xì)節(jié)題?？v觀全文，其實文章中對于公立學(xué)校成績差的原因并沒有說明，而是著重講述改革的方法。因此，答案為D，而其他三個選項均是干擾選項。
3. Which one of the following is TURE 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.
3. 關(guān)于Bloomberg對于公立學(xué)校的改革，下列哪個選項是正確的？
[A] 他鼓勵建立一個透明和負(fù)責(zé)的沒有爭議的系統(tǒng)。
[B] 在大多數(shù)方面他有意模仿Giuliani先生的模式。
[C] 他在采取改革學(xué)校系統(tǒng)的措施方面比較溫和。
[D] 他采取了一些人們難以理解的措施。
答案：C　難度系數(shù)：☆☆☆
分析：細(xì)節(jié)題。選項A，第五段末尾提到“Bloomberg已經(jīng)通過這些方法將這個基于透明、責(zé)任心和競爭力的體系安置妥當(dāng)了”，然而該段開頭也提到了“Bloomberg先生用自己的行動證明了，即使不采取這些有爭議的方法”，這說明其實他的方法是存在爭議的，由此可見該陳述錯誤。選項B，文章最后一段雖然提到他們兩個的改革有相似之處，但也僅限于兩點，而且也不一定是Bloomberg先生故意模仿。選項C，第四段提到，Bloomberg先生改革學(xué)校的勇氣比不上Giuliani先生打擊犯罪改革的勇氣，可見他的風(fēng)格并不激進(jìn)和大膽，后面又提到他避免有爭議的做法，而選擇了更為穩(wěn)妥的方案。因此，可以看出他比較穩(wěn)健，該陳述正確；選項D，這點文章中沒有提及。因此，選項C為正確答案。
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
4. red rag這個短語（第五段第三行）最有可能的意思為 _____。
[A] 底線
[B] 有爭議的想法
[C] 引人發(fā)怒的因素
[D] 引人發(fā)怒的因素
答案：C　難度系數(shù)：☆
分析：推理題。第五段提到，Bloomberg先生沒有采取“活動付酬”和“書面證書”；由上一段可以看出，“書面證書”會讓家長選擇公立學(xué)校之外的教育資源，這樣公立學(xué)校的老師就要面對巨大的壓力，那么教師肯定對此采取一種反抗態(tài)度，因此，選項C最為符合這個意思。
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
5. Bloomberg的方案被比作沒寫粉筆字的黑板，這是因為 _____。
[A] 他的方案只是空談
[B] 他的方案還沒被實施
[C] 他的方案太好了，以至于聽起來不像是真的
[D] 他的方案等待被核準(zhǔn)
答案：B　難度系數(shù)：☆☆☆
分析：推理題。文章最后一段提到，這些能否實現(xiàn)關(guān)鍵在于Bloomberg先生的行動是否和諾言一致，目前看來是好的，因為只是計劃，還未落實，好比沒有寫字的黑板一樣，一切都有待書寫。因此，選項B最為符合題意。

20世紀(jì)90年代，紐約市成功地降低了犯罪率，成為美國和世界的榜樣。新型的治安方法以“破窗”法則為指導(dǎo)，嚴(yán)厲打擊小規(guī)模犯罪行為，鼓勵遵紀(jì)守法的文化，這說明看起來沒有希望的情形仍可以被扭轉(zhuǎn)過來。這一成就使得紐約市市長Rudy Giuliani一舉成名，現(xiàn)在他是總統(tǒng)候選人。
許多人對于美國政府資助的公立學(xué)校都感到失望，特別是大城市中較難管理的地方，那里的畢業(yè)率驚人的低，許多學(xué)生連最低的讀寫和算術(shù)水平都達(dá)不到。和城市犯罪一樣，不成功的城市學(xué)校問題也困擾著世界上的許多國家。正當(dāng)紐約提出打擊犯罪的新主張的時候，在另一任市長Michael Bloomberg的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，紐約正日益成為學(xué)校改革的模范。
11月5日，Bllomberg宣布，該市學(xué)校中使用一種新的“聲譽(yù)卡”，以促使學(xué)校為自己的表現(xiàn)負(fù)責(zé)。獲得最高分的學(xué)?？梢垣@得更多的經(jīng)費(fèi)，甚至校長也會有獎金。而那些表現(xiàn)不佳的學(xué)校就不能再放任自流了，除非其表現(xiàn)有所改進(jìn)，否則校長就要被解雇。如果還不能奏效，那么學(xué)校就得關(guān)門。2002年Bloomberg先生擔(dān)任市長后，通過努力贏得了對學(xué)校系統(tǒng)的直接監(jiān)控權(quán)，自此開始了一系列改革，而這次算是達(dá)到了頂點。在“聲譽(yù)卡”措施實施之前，學(xué)校就有顯著進(jìn)步的跡象，比如考試分?jǐn)?shù)有所提高，畢業(yè)率也上升了。
Bloomberg先生在學(xué)校改革方面的勇氣還比不上Giuliani先生在打擊犯罪改革方面的勇氣。他對競爭很有信心，但這位前媒體大亨卻避開最激進(jìn)的選擇，即發(fā)放教育權(quán)，允許家長在公立學(xué)校系統(tǒng)之外給孩子們選擇教育資源。另一方面，即使是像本報這樣的擇校支持者也得承認(rèn)，出售這種教育權(quán)很難。而Bloomberg也沒有大力引進(jìn)洛杉磯現(xiàn)有的大量獨(dú)立特許學(xué)校的模式。
對于這些，Bloomberg先生用自己的行動證明了，即使不采取這些有爭議的方法，一個對學(xué)校擁有控制權(quán)的市長都可以做些什么。他沒有使用那些有煽動性的政治詞語，如“活動付酬”和“書面證書”，這些都會激怒教師協(xié)會。相反，可以使用增加工資的方法來使校長和老師之間妥協(xié)，對于那些需要公眾付費(fèi)才能使用而一般難有銷路的發(fā)明創(chuàng)造，就可以說服像比爾·蓋茨那樣的慈善來家埋單，Bloomberg已經(jīng)通過這些方法將這個基于透明、責(zé)任心和競爭力的體系安置妥當(dāng)了，可望達(dá)到同樣的效果。
那么這能實現(xiàn)嗎？主要還得取決于Bloomberg先生的行動能否和他堅決的諾言一致。除非糟糕的學(xué)校真的關(guān)了門，否則他的計劃就像是沒寫粉筆字的黑板一樣，看起來永遠(yuǎn)都那么好。但是也有與Giuliani先生打擊犯罪改革相似的地方。紐約警察總局的大型ComStat數(shù)據(jù)庫曾在犯罪類型方面提供了有價值的見解，而由IBM設(shè)計的為學(xué)生、家長、老師和學(xué)校管理者服務(wù)的全新學(xué)校信息系統(tǒng)也已經(jīng)開始運(yùn)行了。讓地區(qū)警官親自負(fù)責(zé)降低犯罪率的理念，同樣也運(yùn)用到了為學(xué)校評分和辭退表現(xiàn)不好的校長上。