国会原本计划在去年重新审定此法，但却进展缓慢。在总统竞选的过程中，候选人对伊拉克和经济事务的关注使得教育问题被挤到了一边。但与表面看起来不同，该法案的基本原则不可能被彻底丢弃。但特别是对民主党总统候选人来说，他们需要像绕开政治“流沙坑”一样回避对NCLB法案的认真讨论。

大多数政客一致认为NCLB的目标正确——即提高教育标准并使学校确保达标。NCLB要求各州测试三至八年级（8到13岁）学生的数学和阅读水平。学生进高中后要再考一次，并会增加一些对自然科学的考查。没有“适当逐年提高”达到教育标准的学校就会面临处罚。按照法律，在未达标的学校读书的学生可以转到好点的学校或者得到辅导。同样，大多数政客也认为NCLB的问题很大，需要改进。实际上，只有极少数（少于1%）符合条件的学生在2003~2004学年中从较差的学校转学。教师工会指出，仅仅测试数学和阅读范围过小，且考查不出学生随时间所取得的进步，却鼓励了“应试教学”。他们还指责该法律缺乏足够的资金保证。保守政策组织，托马斯B. 福德姆基金会指出，各州的教育标准相差悬殊。而考试数据就反映出了这些差距：在密西西比州，90%的四年级学生在2006~2007学年的州阅读考试中被评定为“熟练”或更高级别，但在全国统考中仅有19%的学生达到了这个水平。

共和党总统提名人约翰·麦凯恩对NCLB仅予以不冷不热的支持，但未能对之详加阐述。在民主党的竞选集会上，NCLB只不过是个替罪羊。希拉里·克林顿宣称她会“取消没有基金支持的NCLB条例”。虽然她和巴拉克·奥巴马公开讽刺NCLB，但两人都支持教学效果考核制。他们倾向于用更复杂的“评估”来代替考试，重视更广泛的技能，增加对学校的支持，减少对其的处罚。但目前如何实现这些主张尚不明确。

毫不奇怪，那些没有参与总统竞选的人会提出更多具有争议性的方案。福德姆的切斯特·芬恩认为，联邦政府需要更大的权力来制定标准，同时各州在达标的过程中应该有更多的回旋余地。一个两党委员会针对NCLB发表了大量提案，其中的一个尤其引发争议，该计划提出，应通过参考学生的考试分数来鉴定不合格的老师及其是否需要重新培训。当然，单靠制定教育标准并不能提高教学质量。克林顿夫人和奥巴马先生为学校提出了一大堆方案，这些方案如果在竞选中没怎么被提及的话，也会在他们的网页上有详细解读。不过，教学效果考核制可能还是学校改革的主要部分。





Unit 76


Carmen Arace Middle School is situated in the pastoral town of Bloomfield, Conn. , but four years ago it faced many of the same challenges as inner-city schools in nearby Hartford: low scores on standardized tests, dropping enrollment and high rates of detention. Then the school’s hard-driving principal, Delores Bolton, persuaded her board to shake up the place by buying a laptop computer for each student and teacher to use, in school and at home. For good measure, the board provided wireless Internet access at school. Total cost: $2.5 million.

Now, an hour before classes start, every seat in the library is taken by students eager to get online. Fifth-grade teacher Jen Friday talks about sedimentary rocks as students view them at a colorful website. After school, students on buses pull laptops from backpacks to get started on homework. Since the computers arrived, enrollment is up 20%. Disciplinary suspensions are down 80%. Scores on state achievement tests are up 35%. Bolton, who is black, is proud to run “a school with 90% black enrollment that is on the cutting edge.”

Indeed, school systems in rural Maine and New York City are eager to follow Arace Middle School’s example. Governor Angus King has proposed using $50 million from an unexpected budget surplus to buy a laptop for all of Maine’s 17,000 seventh-graders—and for new seventh-graders each fall. The funds would create a permanent endowment whose interest would help buy the computers. The plan, scaled back to $30 million in a compromise with the legislature, is scheduled to be voted on this week.

In the same spirit, the New York City board of education voted unanimously on April 12 to create a school Internet portal, which would make money by selling ads and licensing e-commerce sites. The portal will also provide e-mail service for the city’s 1.1 million public school students. Profits will be used to buy laptops for each of the school system’s 87,000 fourth-graders. Within nine years, all students in grades 4 and higher will have their own computers.

Back in Bloomfield, the school board is seeking federal grant money to expand its laptop program to high school students. In the meantime, most of the kinks have been worked out. Some students were using their computers to goof off or visit unauthorized websites. But teachers have the ability to track where students have been on the Web and to restrict them. “That is the worst when they disable you,” says eighth-grade honors student Jamie Bassell. “You go through laptop withdrawal.” The habit is rubbing off on parents. “I taught my mom to use e-mail,” says another eighth-grader, Katherine Hypolite. “And now she’s taking computer classes. I’m so proud of her!”

注（1）：本文选自Time；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1~5题分别模仿1994年真题Text 4第1~4题和Text 3第4题。



1. The example of Carmen Arace Middle School in the text is used to ______.

A) show the challenges schools are faced with today

B) prove that a school with high black enrollment can do well

C) emphasize the importance of computers and the Internet in modern education

D) indicate that laptops can help improve students’ school performance

2. According to the author, students in New York City’s public schools will ______.

A) all have their own laptops within nine years

B) become more interested in their class activities with the application of laptop

C) spend more time visiting unauthorized websites with the expansion of the laptop program

D) enjoy e-mail service provided by the city’s school system in the near future

3. By introducing the laptop program, Delore Bolton has ______.

A) shaken the beliefs of both teachers’ and students’

B) witnessed a remarkable improvement in enrollment and students’ test scores

C) found herself followers all over the country

D) revolutionized class-room teaching in public schools

4. The word “kink” （Line 2, Paragraph 5） most probably means ______.

A) plan

B) method

C) problem

D) process

5. From the passage we learn that ______.

A) the laptop program also has a positive influence on parents

B) the laptop program in public schools is sponsored mainly by endowment

C) a school Internet portal is the key to a laptop program

D) students generally like the idea of having their online activities tracked





篇章剖析


本文是一篇说明文，介绍了美国的一些学校给在校师生配置笔记本电脑和引入网络教学的情况。文章一开始就引用卡曼·阿雷斯中学在引入笔记本电脑和网络教学之后发生的积极变化，以此说明这种做法值得尝试；接下来在第三段和第四段介绍了缅因州和纽约市的类似做法；最后一段介绍了教师如何确保学生将这一资源用于学习，以及这一举措的衍生价值：对家长产生积极的影响。





词汇注释


detention /dɪˈtenʃən/ n. 阻止，滞留

laptop /ˈlæptɒp/ n. 便携式电脑

sedimentary /sedɪˈmentəri/ adj. 沉淀性的；冲积成的

backpack /ˈbækpæk/ n. 背包，背囊

disciplinary /ˈdɪsɪplɪnəri/ adj. 纪律的，执行纪律的

suspension /səsˈpenʃən/ n. 暂停，中止

surplus /ˈsɜːpləs/ n. 盈余；余款

endowment /ɪnˈdaʊmənt/ n. 资助，捐赠

scale /skeɪl/ v. （与up, down连用）按比例逐步增加；按比例逐步减少

unanimously /ju(ː)ˈnænɪməsli/ adv. 全体一致地，无异议地

portal /ˈpɔːtəl/ n. 【计】门户

license /ˈlaɪsəns/ v. 准许；发给执照；批准

e-commerce 电子商务

kink /kɪŋk/ n. （计划、系统中的）小问题

goof off 打发时间

unauthorized /ʌnˈɔːθəraɪzd/ adj. 未被授权的，未经认可的

rub off on（感情、习惯或者某种特点）感染，影响他人





难句突破


Then the school’s hard-driving principal, Delores Bolton, persuaded her board to shake up the place by buying a laptop computer for each student and teacher to use, in school and at home.

主体句式：The school’s... principal persuaded her board to...

结构分析：这一句是个简单句，容易造成理解困难的是hard-driving这个单词和shake up the place这个短语。hard-driving用于指人的作风“强硬”，shake up the place的意思是“令这个地方震动”，说明这一措施非常大胆。

句子译文：后来该校作风强硬的校长德洛丽斯·博尔顿说服校董事会给每个学生和老师购置一台笔记本电脑供他们使用，这一举措在当地引起了不小的震动。





题目分析


1. D 细节题。从文中第二段引用的一系列数字可以看出，引入笔记本电脑和互联网以后，该校教育质量有了显著提高。所以该校的例子是为了说明笔记本电脑有助于提高学生的成绩。

2. D 细节题。这可以从第四段“The portal will also provide e-mail service for the city’s 1.1 million public school students. ”得知。

3. B 细节题。第一段里的shake up the place指她的提议在当地引起了震动，第二段就以具体数字说明学生入学率增加和测试成绩提高的事实。

4. C 语义题。联系上下文，work out the kink中work out的意思是“解决，设计出，计算出”等，kink最贴近的意思应该是“问题”。

5. A 推理题。这可以从文章最后一段“The habit is rubbing off on parents”得知。sth. rubs off on sb. 的意思是“某事感染或影响某人”。下文从某学生谈及她对母亲上电脑班的感受“I am so proud of her”可知，这种影响是积极的影响。





参考译文


卡曼·阿雷斯中学位于康涅狄格州的宁静小镇布卢姆菲尔德，但四年前它与附近的哈特福德市市区学校一样面临着许多同样的问题：标准化考试成绩较差，入学率连年下降，留级率居高不下。后来该校作风强硬的校长德洛丽斯·博尔顿说服校董事会给每个学生和老师购置一台笔记本电脑供他们使用，这一举措在当地引起了不小的震动。此外，校董事会还为学校提供了无线上网的便利条件。总耗资为250万美元。

现在，在上课前一小时，图书馆里就坐满了想要上网的学生。五年级教师詹在星期五的课上讨论沉积岩，同时学生们可以从一个内容丰富的网站上观看沉积岩。下课后，坐上公交车的学生就把笔记本电脑从背包里拿出来，开始做作业。自从有了电脑以后，学校的入学率上升了20%，留级率下降了80%。参加全州水平考试的成绩也提高了35%。学校“黑人入学率高达90%，教育质量领先”，黑人校长博尔顿对此倍感自豪。

其实，缅因州和纽约市的农村地区的学校都很渴望采用卡曼·阿雷斯中学的做法。州长安格斯·金已经提议从意外增加的预算盈余中拨出500万美元给所有缅因州17,000名七年级学生购置一台笔记本电脑——这项措施将适应每年秋季升入七年级的新生。这些资金将会长久持续下去，专门用于购置电脑。这一计划最终和立法机关妥协之后，金额裁减到300万美元，本周将对这一计划进行投票表决。

基于同样的考虑，纽约市教育局在4月12日一致投票同意创建一个学校互联网门户，以销售广告和特许电子商务网站实现盈利。这一门户还能为城里的110万公立中学的学生提供电子邮件服务。门户利润将被用来给教育系统内87,000名四年级的每个学生购置一台笔记本电脑。在九年之内，所有四年级和更高年级的学生都将拥有他们自己的电脑。

在布卢姆菲尔德，校董事会正在寻求联邦津贴，将笔记本电脑项目扩展到中学生中。与此同时，操作指南的大部分内容也已经做出来了。一些学生曾经用电脑访问未授权网站来打发时间，不过教师可以跟踪学生的网上活动并对他们进行限制。“最糟糕的就是他们让你无法访问这些网站，”八年级优秀生杰米·巴塞尔说。“你不得不退出笔记本电脑。”这种习惯还能对家长产生影响。“我教妈妈使用电子邮件，”另一位八年级学生凯瑟琳·海珀莱特说道。“现在她正在学习电脑课程。我真为她骄傲！”





Unit 77


Few ideas in education are more controversial than vouchers—letting parents choose to educate their children wherever they wish at the taxpayer’s expense. The principle is compellingly simple. The state pays; parents choose; schools compete; standards rise; everybody gains. Simple, perhaps, but it has aroused predictable—and often fatal—opposition from the educational establishment. Letting parents choose where to educate their children is a silly idea; professionals know best. Co-operation, not competition, is the way to improve education for all. Vouchers would increase inequality because children who are hardest to teach would be left behind.

But these arguments are now succumbing to sheer weight of evidence. Voucher schemes are running in several different countries without ill-effects for social cohesion; those that use a lottery to hand out vouchers offer proof that recipients get a better education than those that do not. In several American states, the voucher pupils did better even though the state spent less than it would have done had the children been educated in normal state schools. American voucher schemes typically offer private schools around half of what the state would spend if the pupils stayed in public schools.

These results are important because they strip out other influences. Home, neighbourhood and natural ability all affect results more than which school a child attends. If the pupils who received vouchers differ from those who don’t—perhaps simply by coming from the sort of go-getting family that elbows its way to the front of every queue—any effect might simply be the result of any number of other factors. But assigning the vouchers randomly guarded against this risk. Opponents still argue that those who exercise choice will be the most able and committed, and by clustering themselves together in better schools they will abandon the weak and voiceless to languish in rotten ones. Some cite the example of Chile, where a universal voucher scheme that allows schools to charge top-up fees seems to have improved the education of the best-off most.

The strongest evidence against this criticism comes from Sweden, where parents are freer than those in almost any other country to spend as they wish the money the government allocates to educating their children. Sweeping education reforms in 1992 not only relaxed enrolment rules in the state sector, allowing students to attend schools outside their own municipality, but also let them take their state funding to private schools, including religious ones and those operating for profit. The only real restrictions imposed on private schools were that they must run their admissions on a first-come-first-served basis and promise not to charge top-up fees. The result has been burgeoning variety and a rapid expansion of the private sector. At the time of the reforms only around 1% of Swedish students were educated privately; now 10% are, and growth in private schooling continues unabated.

More evidence that choice can raise standards for all comes from Caroline Hoxby, an economist at Harvard University, who has shown that when American public schools must compete for their students with schools that accept vouchers, their performance improves. Swedish researchers say the same. It seems that those who work in state schools are just like everybody else: they do better when confronted by a bit of competition.

注（1）：本文选自Economist；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为1999年真题Text 2 （1、2、3、5题）和2002年真题Text 2第2题（第4题）。



1. We learn from the beginning of the passage that vouchers _______.

A) have evoked different opinions in the educational circle

B) have gained unanimous support in the American society

C) encourage cooperation among educational establishments

D) can help promote equal distribution of educational resources

2. Speaking of voucher schemes in Paragraph 2, the author implies that_______.

A) they are always carried out in the way of lottery

B) they can damage social cohesion

C) they are proved to be of help and value

D) they should be adopted by every country

3. In the view of the “opponents” mentioned in the third paragraph, _______.

A) students should pick up their schools randomly so that good students can be equally distributed among schools

B) Chile’s voucher schemes have improved the education of the most able and committed students

C) the right to choose good schools by paying top-up fee serves to improve education

D) students from different family backgrounds are supposed to go to different schools

4. The phrase “burgeoning variety” （Line 7, Paragraph 4） most probably means _______.

A) fast development

B) increasing popularity

C) increasing diversity

D) a larger number

5. We learn from the last paragraph that _______.

A) Swedish parents can only send their kids to schools within their own city

B) the education reform in Sweden is mainly to set up voucher schemes

C) the Harvard economist disagrees with Swedish researchers on vouchers

D) competition is an incentive to spur public schools to improve their teaching





篇章剖析


本文就是否应该向学生提供教育券以及如何提供教育券这一话题展开了谈论。第一段首先指出反对发放教育券的意见和观点；第二段通过实际例子说明为学生们提供教育券能够使得他们接受更好的教育；第三、四段是对问题的深入讨论，充分考虑了支持者与反对者的观点；第五段以哈佛大学一位经济学家的论点总结全文。





词汇注释


voucher /ˈvaʊtʃə/ n. 优惠，优惠券

compelling /kəmˈpelɪŋ/ adj. 强制的，引人注目的

fatal /ˈfeɪtl/ adj. 致命的，不幸的

succumb /səˈkʌm/ vi. 屈服，屈从

sheer /ʃɪə/ adj. 全然的，纯粹的

cohension /kəʊˈhiːʒən/ n. 凝聚，团结

recipient /rɪˈsɪpɪənt/ n. 接受者

strip /strɪp/ vt. 剥，剥去

elbow /ˈelbəʊ/ v. 用肘推

cluster /ˈklʌstə/ vt. 使成群

languish /ˈlæŋgwɪʃ/ vi. 憔悴，凋萎

allocate /ˈæləʊkeɪt/ vt. 分派，分配

municipality /mjuːˌnɪsɪˈpælɪtɪ/ n. 市政当局

impose /ɪmˈpəʊz/ vi. 征（税），强加

burgeon /ˈbɜːdʒən/ v. 萌芽，发展

unabated /ˌʌnəˈbeɪtɪd/ adj. 不衰退的，不减弱的





难句突破


In several American states, the voucher pupils did better even though the state spent less than it would have done had the children been educated in normal state schools.