This trend of grade inflation—the gradual increase in average GP As over the past few decades—is often considered a product of a consumer era in higher education, in which students are treated like customers to be pleased. But another, related force—a policy often buried deep in course catalogs called "grade forgiveness"—is helping raise grade-point averages. Different schools' policies can work in slightly different ways, but in general, grade forgiveness allows students to retake a course in which they received a low grade, and the most recent grade or the highest grade is the only one that counts in calculating a student's overall GPA. (Both grades still appear on the student's transcript.)

The use of this little-known practice has accelerated in recent years, as colleges continue to do their utmost to keep students in school (and paying tuition) and improve their graduation rates. According to a forthcoming survey by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, a trade group, some 91 percent of undergraduate colleges and 80 percent of graduate and professional schools permit students to repeat courses to improve a grade. When this practice first started decades ago, it was usually limited to freshmen, to give them a second chance to take a class in their first year if they struggled in their transition to college-level courses. But now most colleges, save for many selective campuses, allow all undergraduates, and even graduate students, to get their low grades forgiven.

The rise of grade forgiveness scans as yet another instance of colleges treating students as customers to be satisfied—similar to campus amenities such as luxurious dorms, palatial recreational facilities, and cornucopian dining halls. Indeed, there seems to be demand for do-overs. "Students are asking for it," said Jack Miner, Ohio State University's registrar and executive director of enrollment services. "We're attracting and, retaining stronger students and there's more competition to get into majors and graduate schools, and a small change in their GPA can help."

Ohio State expanded its grade-forgiveness policy three years ago to cover all undergraduates instead of just freshmen. Miner says that about 4,500 students roughly 10 percent of Ohio State's undergraduate population—take advantage of the policy in any given year. Most students see their grades rise in the second attempt, usually a full letter grade or a full letter and a half, Miner said. Still, about 15 percent of students who receive a failing grade in, the first attempt have the same outcome in the second. "That's a wake-up call for those students that maybe they need to reconsider their major," Miner said.

Miner is generally optimistic about the promise of grade forgiveness, but others are concerned about what it could do to academic dynamics. "It teaches students that their work in a course doesn't matter because there's always another chance," said Jonathan Marx, a professor of sociology at Winthrop University, in South Carolina.

Marx and his colleague David Meeler, an associate professor of philosophy, have studied grade-forgiveness programs at eight public institutions in an unnamed southern state. What they found in a study published in 2013 is that 5 percent of the seniors they polled at one of the institutions used grade -forgiveness policies to keep anywhere from a quarter to half of all of their coursework from counting toward their GPA One student highlighted in the study repeated five different courses for better grades, including a math class in which she was eventually able to raise her grade from a D to an A-minus.

"Everyone knows about grade inflation, but this is GPA distortion, and few people looking at a student's GPA know it happens," Meeler said. He and Marx told me they have nothing against giving students second chances, but their issue is with the colleges that, say, allow a student to repeat five courses as they please. "Institutions are allowing students to manage their grades to get the highest reward," Meeler said, as opposed to requiring students to work with faculty members to master the material.

At the University of Colorado Boulder, such concerns led faculty members to eliminate grade forgiveness in 2010. Professors at the time were worried about the fairness of the policy—they noticed that students in some majors were using it more than those in others, and that a freshman-oriented rule was being used regularly by upperclassmen. But now, as other colleges adopt or expand such policies, Colorado is considering reinstating the practice. "We're weighing how to foster student success to help them achieve their goals," said Kristi Wold-McCormick, the university's registrar. "We are not trying to alter academic history. It gives the student a chance to tell their story, about how they overcame a mistake or a struggle."

College officials also tend to emphasize that the goal of grade forgiveness is less about the grade itself and more about encouraging students to retake courses critical to their degree program and graduation without incurring a big 'penalty. "Ultimately," Ohio State's Miner said, "we see students achieve more success because they retake a course and do better in subsequent courses or master the content that allows them to graduate on time."

That said, there is a way in which grade forgiveness satisfies colleges' own needs as well. For public institutions, state appropriations are sometimes tied partly to their success on metrics such as graduation rates and student retention so better grades can, by boosting figures like those, mean more money. And anything that raises GPAs will-likely make students -who, at the end of the day, are paying the bill—feel they've gotten a better value for their tuition dollars, which is another big concern for colleges.

Indeed, grade, forgiveness is just another way that universities are responding to consumers' expectations for higher education. Since students and parents expect a college degree to lead to a job, it is in the best interest of a school to churn out graduates who are as qualified as possible—or at least appear to be. On this, students' and colleges' incentives seem to be aligned.

26.【题干】What is commonly regarded as the cause of grade inflation? _____.

【选项】

A.The change of course catalogs

B.Students' indifference to GPAs

C.Colleges' neglect of GPAs

D.The influence of consumer culture

【答案】D

【解析】根据题干信息词定位到首段第一句，句子主干“Grade inflation is often considered a product of a consumer era in higher education”即高校成绩膨胀问题通常被认为是消费者至上时代的产物。选项The influence of consumer culture. “消费者至上文化的影响”正是该句原因的同义表达。故D选项正确。



27.【题干】What was the original purpose of grade forgiveness? _____.

【选项】

A.To help freshmen adapt to college learning

B.To maintain colleges' graduation rates

C.To prepare graduates for a challenging future

D.To increase universities income from tuition

【答案】A

【解析】根据题干要求定位到第三段第二句。该句中的this practice对应题干中的grade forgiveness，first started对应题干中的original，而不定式短语to give them(freshmen)a second chance...if they struggled in their transition to college-level courses(如果大一新生在都向大学课程的过渡中有问题的话在给他们一次机会......)为目的，对应题干中的purpose，故正确答案应为[A]选项To help freshmen adapt to college learning(帮助大一新生适应大学学习)。



28.【题干】According to Paragraph 5, grade forgiveness enables colleges to _____.

【选项】

A.obtain more financial support

B.boost their student enrollments

C.improve their teaching quality

D.meet local governments' needs

【答案】A

【解析】细节题做题的技巧是“准确定位和匹配”。根据题干关键词 “Paragraph 5”,以及“grade forgiveness”和“colleges”定位到第五段第一句话。通过第一句话可以看出，“grade forgiveness”满足了大学自己的需要，而具体的需要在第二句中体现，因此本题真正的答案出自于第二句即“For public institution…”。第二句话的意思是“对于大学来讲，国家的基金有时候是跟一些因素有关的，比如毕业率和学生在学率，因此好的分数意味着钱。题干中问题使“grade forgiveness”使大学能够…,而根据本段的第二句话，可知 “grade forgiveness”使大学能够获得更多的国家的基金，这与A选项“获得更多的经济支持”匹配，因此正确答案选A。



29.【题干】What does the phrase “to be aligned” (Line 5, Para. 6) most probably mean? _____.

【选项】

A.To counterbalance each other

B.To complement each other

C.To be identical with each other

D.To be contradictory to each other

【答案】C

【解析】根据题目定位到第6段最后一句：On this, students' and colleges' incentives seem to be aligned.解决本题的关键是this指代的内容，根据上文Since students and parents expect a college degree to lead to a job, it is in the best interest of a school to turn out graduates who are as qualified as possible—or at least appear to be.即“由于学生和家长都希望通过大学学历找工作，因此符合学校最佳利益的便是尽可能地证明学生的能力——或者说至少看起来如此”。由此可知，学生和学校有着共同的利益目标，所以正确答案为C，学生和学校的倡议是一致的。



30.【题干】The author examines the practice of grade forgiveness by _____.

【选项】

A.assessing its feasibility

B.analyzing the causes behind it

C.comparing different views on it

D.listing its long-run effects

【答案】B

【解析】根据题干，表面上问作者通过什么论述方式来探讨grade forgiveness的实践操作，其实是考全文的主旨写作手法，属于主旨大意题。方法即是串读每段段落大意句，把握作者的论述角度。尤其，在第一段第一句 Grade inflation-…. - is often considered a product of a consumer era…. 以及第二句 But another, related force -…… 谈及的都是背后的原因。第五段，第一句 That said, there is a way in which grade forgiveness satisfies colleges' own needs as well.也是突出了grade forgiveness 能够满足大学自身的需求，这也是分析了grade forgiveness的原因。所以，该题答案是B项，analyzing the causes behind it.



Text 3

This year marks exactly two centuries since the publication of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley. Even before the invention of the electric light bulb, the author produced a remarkable work of speculative fiction that would foreshadow many ethical questions to be raised by technologies yet to come.

Today the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) raises fundamental questions: “What is intelligence, identity, or consciousness? What makes humans humans?”

What is being called artificial general intelligence, machines that would imitate the way humans think, continues to evade scientists. Yet humans remain fascinated by the idea of robots that would look, move, and respond like humans, similar to those recently depicted on popular sci-fi TV series such as “Westworld” and “Humans”.

Just how people think is still far too complex to be understood, let alone reproduced, says David Eagleman, a Stanford University neuroscientist. “We are just in a situation where there are no good theories explaining what consciousness actually is and how you could ever build a machine to get there.”

But that doesn't mean crucial ethical issues involving AI aren’t at hand the coming use of autonomous vehicles, for example, poses thorny ethical questions. Human drivers sometimes must make split-second decisions. Their reactions may be a complex combination of instant reflexes, input from past driving experiences, and what their eyes and ears tell them in that moment. AI “vision” today is not nearly as sophisticated as that of humans. And to anticipated every imaginable driving situation is a difficult programming problem.

Whenever decisions are based on masses of data, “you quickly get into a lot of ethical questions,” notes Tan Kiat How, chief executive of a Singapore-based agency that is helping the government develop a voluntary code for the ethical use of AL. Along with Singapore, other governments and mega-corporations are beginning to establish their own guidelines. Britain is setting up a data ethics center, India released its AI ethics strategy this spring.

On June 7 Google pledged not to “design or deploy AI” that would cause “overall harm,” or to develop AI-directed weapons or use AI for surveillance that would violate international norms. It also pledged not to deploy AI whose use would violate international laws or human rights.

While the statement is vague, it represents one starting point. So does the idea that decisions made by AI systems should be explainable, transparent, and fair.

To put it another way: How can we make sure that the thinking of intelligent machines reflects humanity’s highest values? Only then will they be useful servants and not Frankenstein’s out-of-control monster.

31.【题干】Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is mentioned because it _____.

【选项】

A.fascinates al scientists all over the world

B.has remained popular for as long as 200 years

C.involves some concerns raised by AI today

D.has sparked serious ethical controversies

【答案】C

【解析】由题干表述可判断本题为典型的观点例证题，所证观点就在例证前后，该例子出现在篇首，引出主题在后。由此可知本题定位句为第一段最后一句话。与选项比对可知，C项为“... that would ... to come”部分的同义转述，故为正确答案。其中，involves对应foreshadow，some concerns对应many ethical questions，剩余部分对应选项中的raised by AI today。其余选项在原文均无依据，故排除。



32.【题干】In David Eagleman's opinion, our current knowledge of consciousness _____.

【选项】

A.helps explain artificial intelligence

B.can be misleading to robot making

C.inspires popular sci-fi TV series

D.is too limited for us to reproduce it

【答案】D

【解析】观点细节题。根据题干中的David Eagleman定位到文中第四段第一句，该段第二句there are no good theories与题干中的knowledge属于等价代换，该段第二句中的consciousness与题干中的consciousness对应，第一句表明光人们如何思考就复杂到难以理解的程度更不用说要复制它了，第二句表明我们没有解释什么是consciousness的理论，与选项D吻合。题干our current knowledge of consciousness 及选项is too limited for us与定位句中的there are no good theories explaining what consciousness actually属于等价代换，选项reproduce it与定位句中reproduced属等价代换。选项A、选项B及选项C基于文中出现的artificial intelligence、robot及sci-fi TV series错误引申。



33.【题干】The solution to the ethical issues brought by autonomous vehicles _____.

【选项】

A.can hardly ever be found

B.is still beyond our capacity

C.causes little public concern

D.has aroused much curiosity

【答案】B

【解析】细节题。根据题干中的autonomous vehicles定位到第五段第二句。该句出现for example，可知autonomous vehicle是具体的例子。篇中的例子是为了证明论点，应往前看，即证明第一句的观点：涉及人工智能的伦理问题在我们身边(注意这里doesn't和aren't为双重否定)，说明问题依然存在。选项[B]与题干结合含义为：找出由自动驾驶车带来的人工智能伦理问题的解决方法超出了我们的能力。与文章含义一致。[A]选项过于绝对，且从第六段可以看出，不同国家、公司在找解决问题的方法。[C]选项和[D]选项的public concern和curiosity这些信息词在原文中未涉及，属无中生有。



34.【题干】The authors attitude toward Google's pledges is one of _____.

【选项】

A.affirmation

B.skepticism

C.contempt

D.respect

【答案】A

【解析】态度题。根据题干中的the author's attitude，Google's pledges。回文定位到第七段，第八段，但其七段都是在讲Google's pledge，继续看第八段，开头while，转折，while the statement is vague,与vague相反的即是观点，这个地方没有说是谁的观点，无人认领的观点即是作者的观点。vague是情感向下的词语，相反方向应是正向情感。[B]skepticism[C]contempt 都是负向情感，全部排除。[D]respect，虽是正向情感，其程度太深。所以选affirmation。



35.【题干】Which of the following would be the best title for the text? _____.

【选项】

A.AI's Future: In the hands of Tech giants

B.Frankenstein, the Novel Predicting the Age of AI

C.The Conscience of AI: Complex But Inevitable

D.AI Shall Be Killers Once Out of Control

【答案】C

【解析】主旨题。本文首段通过引用Mary Shelley的书引出本文要探讨的话题新技术所引发的道德问题。第二段更是明确指出AI引起了一些问题。第三段和第四段对第二段提出的两个问题进行了详细的阐述，表明我们并不能确定智能化的程度以及因为所处环境的复杂无法定义人类自我意识。而在第五段转折之后明确指出AI所涉及的道德问题已经触手可及了。全篇复现了AI和conscience这两个关键词，因此正确答案为C，The Conscience of AI: Complex But Inevitable。

选项A中的Tech Giants是文章没有提及的概念。尽管文章以Frankenstein这本书为引子，但是这本书并没有预测AI，而是AI技术引发的道德问题，故排除选项B。作者在最有一段表明了对未来积极的态度，AI的发展并非代替人类的最高智慧，最终还是会为人类所用，故排除选项D，该选项中的AI shall be killers呈现负向态度。



Text 4

States will be able to force more people to pay sales tax when they make online purchases under a Supreme Court decision Thursday that will leave shoppers with lighter wallets but is a big financial win for states.

The Superme Court’s opinion Thursday overruled a pair of decades-old decisions that states said cost them billions of dollars in lost revenue annually. The decisions made it more difficult for states to collect sales tax on certain online purchases.

The cases the court overturned said that if a business was shipping a customer's purchase to a state where the business didn't have a physical presence such as a warehouse or office, the business didn't have to collect sales tax for the state. Customers were generally responsible for paying the sales tax to the state themselves if they weren't charged it, but most didn't realize they owed it and few paid.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the previous decisions were flawed. “Each year the physical presence rule becomes further removed from economic reality and results in significant revenue losses to the States,” he wrote in an opinion joined by four other justices. Kennedy wrote that the rule “limited states' ability to seek long-term prosperity and has prevented market participants from competing on an even playing field.”