真题文章（1995年翻譯）

     The standardized educational or psychological test that are widely used to aid in selecting, classifying, assigning, or promoting students, employees, and military personnel have been the target of recent attacks in books, magazines, the daily press, and even in congress. The target is wrong, for in attacking the tests, critics divert attention form the fault that lies with ill-informed or incompetent users. The tests themselves are merely tools, with characteristics that can be measured with reasonable precision under specified conditions. Whether the results will be valuable, meaningless, or even misleading depends partly upon the tool itself but largely upon the user .

     All informed predictions of future performance are based upon some knowledge of relevant past performance: school grades, research productivity, sales records, or whatever is appropriate. How well the predictions will be validated by later performance depends upon the amount, reliability, and appropriateness of the information used and on the skill and wisdom with which it is interpreted. Anyone who keeps careful score knows that the information available is always incomplete and that the predictions are always subject to error.

     Standardized tests should be considered in this context. They provide a quick, objective method of getting some kinds of information about what a person learned , the skills he has developed, or the kind of person he is. The information so obtained has, qualitatively, the same advantages and shortcomings as other kinds of information. Whether to use tests, other kinds of information, or both in a particular situation depends, therefore, upon the evidence from experience concerning comparative validity and upon such factors as cost and availability.

     In general, the tests work most effectively when the qualities to be measured can be most precisely defined and least effectively when what is to be measured or predicted cannot be well defined. Properly used, they provide a rapid means of getting comparable information about many people. Sometimes they identify students whose high potential has not been previously recognized, but there are many things they do not do. For example, they do not compensate for gross social inequality, and thus do not tell how able an underprivileged youngster might have been had he grown up under more favorable circumstances.

考研核心词汇

psychological  / 7saikE5lCdVikEl /  adj.  心理(上)的

[例] Is there any possible psychological explanation for his bad health?

他健康状况不好,有没有可能具有什么心理上的原因呢?

[派生] psychologically / 9psaIkE`lCdVIkElI /  adv.  心理上地, 心理学地

      psychology / sai5kClEdVi /  n.  心理学, 心理状态

classify  / 5klAsifai /  vt.  分类, 分等

[例] classify books by subjects    按学科将图书分类

[同义] group, sort, categorize, organize

[派生] classified  / 5klAsifaid /  v. 分类  adj. 机密的

military / 5militEri / adj. 军事的, 军用的

[例] According to the Constitution of the country all the young men do a year's military service.  "根据该国的宪法规定,所有的男青年都要服一年兵役。"

[同义] armed forces, army , service, civil , naval

[反义] civil / 5sivl /  adj.  全民的, 市民的, 公民的, 国民的, 民间的.民事的, 根据民法的, 文职的, 有礼貌的

[派生] militarize  / 5militEraiz /  v. 军事化

personnel  / 7pE:sE5nel /  n. 人员, 职员

[例] personnel agency  职业介绍所

divert / di5vE:t /  v. 1转移, 转向2使高兴

[例] A ditch diverted water from the stream into the fields.

一条沟渠把水从河里引向田间。

[同义] amuse, delight , entertain ,tickle；detract, distract

[派生] diversion  / dai5vE:FEn /  n. 转移, 转换, 牵制, 解闷, 娱乐

precision  / pri5siVEn /  n. 精确, 精密度, 精度

[例] precision in calculation   计算的精确度

[同义] accuracy, correctness ,exactness

[反义] inaccuracy  / in5AkjurEsi /  n.  错误

[派生] precise  / pri5sais / adj.  精确的, 准确的  n.  精确

validate  / 5vAlideit /  vt. 1[律]使有效, 使生效2确认, 证实, 验证

[例] Time validated our suspicion.   时间证实了我们的怀疑。

[反义] invalidate / in5vAlideit /  vt.  使无效

[派生] validity  / vE5liditi /   n. 有效性, 合法性, 正确性

error  / 5erE /  n.  错误, 过失, 误差

[例] The accident was caused by human error. 这事故是由人为的错误引起的。

[同义] fault , wrong , mistake

[派生] erroneous  / i5rEunjEs /  adj.  错误的, 不正确的

qualitative  / 5kwClitEtiv /  adj.  性质上的, 定性的

[例] a qualitative analysis    定性分析

[派生] qualitatively / 5kwClitEtivli /   adv.  质量上

comparable   / 5kCmpErEbl /  adj.  可比较的, 比得上的

[例] A comparable car would cost far more in Europe.

一辆象这样好的汽车在欧洲可要贵得多。

[同义] similar, equivalent

[反义] incomparable  / in5kCmpErEbl / adj.  无与伦比的, 不能比较的

[派生] compare  / kEm5pZE /  v. 比较, 相比, 比喻  n. 比较

underprivileged  / 5QndE5privilidVd /  adj. 被剥夺基本权力的,穷困的,下层社会的

[例] an underprivileged man   一个穷困潦倒的人

circumstance  / 5sE:kEmstEns /  n.  环境, 详情, 境况

[例] The circumstances forced me to accept.   环境迫使我不得不同意。

[同义] condition， situation ，state

[派生] circumstantial  / 7sE:kEm5stAnFEl / adj.  依照情况的