2012年MBA聯(lián)考英語閱讀理解復(fù)習(xí)(3)

　　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.

　　1.The author uses the examples to show __________.

　　[A]the concern of Americans

　　[B]the charm of the 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 the parents.

　　[C]The wise selection of the school.

　　[D]The difficulty of getting enrolled.

　　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 the unknown school

　　[C]let their children be and 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 the private schools

　　[B]parents’ worry about their children’s schooling

　　[C]the plight of the preschoolers

　　[D]the severe competition in going to school

　　答案:CABDC

　　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(xué)齡前兒童所面臨的困境。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(xué)難這一現(xiàn)象及其原因；第四段指出一些學(xué)校的招生辦法以及有些學(xué)生無法入學(xué)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 [kIndE5^B:t(E)n] n.幼兒園adj.幼兒園的, 初級的, 啟蒙階段的

　　figure out v.合計為, 計算出, 解決, 斷定, 領(lǐng)會到

　　conceive [kEn5si:v] v. 懷孕, 考慮, 設(shè)想

　　obsession [Eb5seF(E)n] n. 迷住, 困擾

　　glut [^lQt] n. 供應(yīng)過剩；充斥

　　edge [edV] n.刀口, 利刃, 鋒, 優(yōu)勢, 邊緣, 優(yōu)勢, 尖銳 give anedge to 加劇, 使尖銳化；鼓舞, 使興奮；給(刀等)開刃, 使鋒利

　　foolproof [5fu:lpru:f] adj.十分簡單的, 十分安全的, 極堅固的

　　sibling[5sIblIN] n.兄弟, 姐妹, 同胞, 同屬

　　alumni [E`lQmnaI ] n. pl.男畢業(yè)生, 男校友

　　lottery [5lRtErI] n. 抽彩給獎法

　　cognitive [ `kC^nItIv ] adj.認(rèn)知的, 認(rèn)識的, 有感知的

　　diverse [daI5v\:s] adj.不同的, 變化多的

　　alternative [C:l5t\:nEtIv] n. 二中擇一, 可供選擇的辦法, 事物adj.選擇性的, 二中擇一的

　　magnet school有吸引力的學(xué)校。一種招收在形象和表演藝術(shù)上學(xué)術(shù)成績突出或者有天賦的學(xué)生的公立學(xué)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 v. 停止, 中止, 放松

　　難句突破

　　1． 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。冒號之后的成分做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(xué)校還是用主觀和客觀結(jié)合的方法：進(jìn)行考試，確定孩子的發(fā)育成熟程度和認(rèn)知潛能；同學(xué)生家長面談，或在教室觀察孩子的反應(yīng)能力。

　　題目分析

　　1．答案為C，屬事實細(xì)節(jié)題。文中頭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(xué)齡前兒童入學(xué)難這一社會問題。

　　2．答案為A，屬推理判斷題。第四段闡述了學(xué)校選學(xué)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(xué)生的多樣性，等等。對于孩子來講，真是有些勉為其難。

　　3．答案為B，屬情感態(tài)度題。全文表達(dá)了對學(xué)齡前兒童的關(guān)注，以及對他們所處環(huán)境的憂慮和擔(dān)心。

　　4．答案為D，屬事實細(xì)節(jié)題。原文對應(yīng)信息“Instead, the experts say, parents should take a breath and look for alternatives.”

　　5．答案為C，屬中心思想題。全文的中心都圍繞著學(xué)齡前兒童所處的困境這一點。

　　參考譯文

　　想要進(jìn)入國家的私立學(xué)校，競爭往往是非常激烈的，但是今年，伊麗莎白?克倫茨卻意識到這種競爭已經(jīng)達(dá)到了一個新的水平�？藗惔氖锹�哈頓多爾頓學(xué)校的招生辦主任。她的叫醒電話剛響，她就接到一名男子打給學(xué)校的電話，詢問有關(guān)孩子參加幼兒園課程的年齡限制。答復(fù)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，“我們正在考慮什么時候要孩子好，以至于孩子的出生日期在入學(xué)時不會成為一個問題。”

　　入學(xué)的困擾正在從曼哈頓傳向全國各地。我們無法得到有關(guān)私立學(xué)校的確切的最新數(shù)據(jù)，但是采訪私立學(xué)校和教會學(xué)校代表的情況表明，這些學(xué)校的情況都是一樣的：入學(xué)申請者供過于求，落選率高居不下。“有人打電話來詢問這兩年的入學(xué)狀況，” 辛辛那提市塞文西爾斯學(xué)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(xué)的電話。一次又一次的民意測驗表明，美國人關(guān)心的頭等大事是教育。由于長期的經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮使父母有了更多的可支配的收入，即使私立學(xué)校的收費每年超過一萬美元，很多父母還是選擇私立學(xué)校。芝加哥拉丁語學(xué)校的貝特西?霍說：“申請者的生源地較之過去更為寬泛。”這所拉丁語學(xué)校今年申請入學(xué)的人比過去增長了20%。

　　這些申請者所面臨的問題是需求增加了，但供應(yīng)卻沒有。還擔(dān)任紐約私立學(xué)校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(xué)校，但今年，我次得知有相當(dāng)一大批孩子無處就讀。”

　　那么家長怎樣做才能使他們四歲的孩子出類拔萃呢？學(xué)校知道，沒有穩(wěn)妥可靠的辦法去為那么小的孩子們選擇合適的班級的。許多學(xué)校往往優(yōu)先招收兄弟姐妹或校友的孩子，還有一些學(xué)校使用抽獎的辦法招生，但大多數(shù)學(xué)校還是用主觀和客觀結(jié)合的方法：進(jìn)行考試，確定孩子的發(fā)育成熟程度和認(rèn)知潛能；同學(xué)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�？赡苤皇怯捎诤⒆拥某錾�月份與上學(xué)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。

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