2020考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 80

Unit 80

Competition for admission to the country’s top private schools has always been tough, but this year Elisabeth Krents realized it had reached a new level. Her wake-up call came when a man called the Dalton School in Manhattan, where Krents is admissions director, and inquired about the age cutoff for their kindergarten program. After providing the information （they don’t use an age cutoff）, she asked about the age of his child. The man paused for an uncomfortably long time before answering. “Well, we don’t have a child yet,” he told Krents. “We’re trying to figure out when to conceive a child so the birthday is not a problem.”

School obsession is spreading from Manhattan to the rest of the country. Precise current data on private schools are unavailable, but interviews with representatives of independent and religious schools all told the same story: a glut of applicants, higher rejection rates. “We have people calling us for spots two years down the road,” said Marilyn Collins of the Seven Hills School in Cincinnati. “We have grandparents calling for pregnant daughters.” Public-opinion poll after poll indicates that Americans’ No. 1 concern is education. Now that the long economic boom has given parents more disposable income, many are turning to private schools, even at price tags of well over $10,000 a year. “We’re getting applicants from a broader area, geographically, than we ever have in the past,” said Betsy Haugh of the Latin School of Chicago, which experienced a 20 percent increase in applications this year.

The problem for the applicants is that while demand has increased, supply has not. “Every year, there are a few children who do not find places, but this year, for the first time that I know of, there are a significant number of children who don’t have places,” said Krents, who also heads a private-school admissions group in New York.

So what can parents do to give their 4-year-old an edge? Schools know there is no foolproof way to pick a class when children are so young. Many schools give preference to siblings or alumni children. Some use lotteries. But most rely on a mix of subjective and objective measures: tests that at best identify developmental maturity and cognitive potential, interviews with parents and observation of applicants in classroom settings. They also want a diverse mix. Children may end up on a waiting list simply because their birthdays fall at the wrong time of year, or because too many applicants were boys.

The worst thing a parent can do is to pressure preschoolers to perform—for example, by pushing them to read or do math exercises before they’re ready. Instead, the experts say, parents should take a breath and look for alternatives. Another year in preschool may be all that’s needed. Parents, meanwhile, may need a more open mind about relatively unknown private schools—or about magnet schools in the public system. There’s no sign of the private-school boom letting up. Dalton’s spring tours, for early birds interested in the 2001-2002 school year, are filled. The wait list? Forget it. That’s closed, too.

注（1）：本文選自Newsweek；

注（2）：本文習題命題模仿對象為2003年真題Text 4。

1. The author uses the example of Elisabeth Krents to show ______.

A) the concern of Americans

B) the charm of private schools

C) the fierce situation for preschoolers

D) the economic situation of American families

2. What is implied in Paragraph 4?

A) The harsh way of forming a class.

B) The high expectation of parents.

C) The wise way in selecting schools.

D) The difficulty of training children.

3. The author’s attitude toward this event is ______.

A) indifferent

B) apprehensive

C) supportive

D) indignant

4. Instead of giving their children great pressure to outperform, the parents should ______.

A) avoid the competition and wait for another year

B) give up their first choice and go to an unknown school

C) let their children do what they want to do

D) deal with the matter more casually and rethink the situation

5. The text intends to express ______.

A) the popularity of private schools

B) parents’ worry about their children’s schooling

C) the plight of preschoolers

D) the severe competition in going to school

篇章剖析

本文采用提出問題—分析問題的模式。文章以實例作為切入點，著重闡述了學齡前兒童所面臨的困境。第一段和第二段指出家長對子女教育問題的關(guān)注；第三段指出兒童入學難這一現(xiàn)象及其原因；第四段指出一些學校的招生辦法以及有些學生無法入學的原因；第五段指出父母應(yīng)該怎么做。

詞匯注釋

wake-up call （賓館提供的）喚醒服務(wù)，叫早服務(wù)

kindergarten /k?nd??gɑ?t(?)n/ n. 幼兒園 adj. 幼兒園的，初級的，啟蒙階段的

figure out 計算出；〈美口〉想出

conceive /k?n?si?v/ v. 懷孕；考慮，設(shè)想

obsession /?b?se?(?)n/ n. 迷住，困擾

glut /gl?t/ n. 供應(yīng)過剩；充斥

give an edge （to）加劇，使尖銳化；鼓舞，使興奮；給（刀等）開刃，使鋒利

foolproof /?fu?lpru?f/ adj. 十分簡單的，十分安全的，極堅固的

sibling /?s?bl??/ n. 兄弟（或姐妹），同胞

alumni /??l?mna?/ n. 畢業(yè)生，校友（alumnus的復數(shù)）

lottery /?l?t?ri/ n. 抽簽法

cognitive /?k?gn?t?v/ adj. 認知的，認識的，有感知的

diverse /da??v??s/ adj. 不同的，變化多的

alternative /??l?t??n?t?v/ n. 二中擇一，可供選擇的辦法adj. 選擇性的，二中擇一的

magnet school 有吸引力的學校（一種招收在形象和表演藝術(shù)上學術(shù)成績突出或者有天賦的學生的公立學校，這種學校從全城各個地區(qū)招收生源，提供較好的教育，并以此作為消除種族隔離的一種方法）

boom /bu?m/ n. 繁榮；隆隆聲

let up 停止；放松

難句突破

But most rely on a mix of subjective and objective measures: tests that at best identify developmental maturity and cognitive potential, interviews with parents and observation of applicants in classroom settings.

主體句式：Most rely on a mix of subjective and objective measures.

結(jié)構(gòu)分析：本句是一個簡單句。冒號之后的成分作measures的同位語；tests，interviews和observation屬于并列結(jié)構(gòu)。

句子譯文：但大多數(shù)學校還是依賴主客觀相結(jié)合的方法：采用能最好測試孩子的發(fā)育成熟程度和認知潛能的考試，同學生家長面談，或在教室觀察孩子的反應(yīng)能力。

題目分析

1. C 細節(jié)題。文中前兩段舉例說明子女教育問題成了美國家庭的頭等大事，由此引發(fā)學齡前兒童入學難這一社會問題。

2. A 推理題。第四段闡述了學校挑選學生的一些傾向和做法。對于一個幾歲的孩子及其家長又是主觀考察，又是客觀考察，又是抽簽，還要考慮班里學生的多樣性等等。這說明了學校挑選學生時的嚴苛。

3. B 情感態(tài)度題。全文表達了對學齡前兒童的關(guān)注，以及對他們所處環(huán)境的憂慮和擔心。

4. D 細節(jié)題。原文對應(yīng)信息：“Instead, the experts say, parents should take a breath and look for alternatives. ”

5. C 主旨題。全文都圍繞著學齡前兒童所處的困境這一點。

參考譯文

進入全國最好的私立學校的競爭往往是非常激烈的，不過伊麗莎白·克倫茨卻意識到今年的競爭已經(jīng)達到了一個新的水平?？藗惔氖锹D多爾頓學校的招生辦主任。她的叫醒電話剛響，就接到一位男士打給學校的電話，詢問有關(guān)孩子參加幼兒園課程的年齡限制。在答復了他的詢問后（他們沒有年齡限制），她問他的孩子有多大。這名男子局促不安地遲疑了好大一會兒才回答說，“噢，我們還沒有孩子，”他對克倫茨說，“我們正在考慮選個合適的時間要孩子，這樣孩子的出生日期在入學時不會成為一個問題?！?

入學引起的困擾不只存在于曼哈頓，在全國各地都很普遍。我們無法得到有關(guān)私立學校的確切的最新數(shù)據(jù)，但是對私立學校和教會學校代表的采訪結(jié)果表明，這些學校的情況都是一樣的：入學申請者供過于求，落選率高居不下?！坝腥舜螂娫拋碓儐栠@兩年的入學狀況，”辛辛那提市塞文西爾斯學校的瑪里琳·柯林斯說，“我們還接到祖父母幫他們懷孕的女兒詢問入學的電話。民意測驗反復表明，教育是美國人關(guān)心的頭等大事。由于經(jīng)濟長期繁榮，父母可支配的收入增多，即使私立學校的收費每年超過一萬美元，很多父母還是選擇私立學校。芝加哥拉丁語學校的貝特西·霍說：“申請者的生源地較之過去更為寬泛?！边@所拉丁語學校今年申請入學的人比過去增長了20%。

申請者所面臨的問題是需求增加了，但供應(yīng)卻沒有。另外在紐約一所私立學校擔任錄取小組組長的克倫茨說：“每年都有少數(shù)孩子找不到就讀的學校，但今年，是我第一次聽說，有相當一大批孩子無處就讀。”

那么要使他們四歲的孩子出類拔萃，家長怎樣做才行呢？學校知道，為那么小的孩子們選擇合適的班級實在沒有絕對穩(wěn)妥可靠的辦法。許多學校往往優(yōu)先招收兄弟姐妹或校友的孩子，還有一些學校使用抽獎的辦法招生，但大多數(shù)學校還是依賴主客觀相結(jié)合的方法：采用能最好測試孩子的發(fā)育成熟程度和認知潛能的考試，同學生家長面談，或在教室觀察孩子的反應(yīng)能力。他們還要考慮其他多種混合因素。可能只是由于孩子的出生月份與入學的要求不符，或是申請者中男孩的比例太高等原因，有些孩子最終被列在繼續(xù)等候的名單上。

父母做的最不明智的事情就是強迫學齡前孩子去做一些事情——比如，當孩子還很小的時候就逼迫他們?nèi)ラ喿x或者做數(shù)學題。專家的意見是，做父母的應(yīng)該歇口氣，放松放松，尋找其他的解決辦法。在幼兒園再待上一年可能是最好的辦法。同時，父母的眼界還要放寬一些，可以關(guān)注一下那些不太出名的私立學校——或者公立學校中那些有吸引力的學校。目前沒有跡象表明私立學校熱會迅速降溫。多爾頓學校已經(jīng)停止其春季巡回招生工作，因為2001~2002學年的入學名額早已報滿了。等候名單？算了吧，那也滿了。