1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 148 及答案与解析Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)0 Conventional wisdom suggests that students perform better when they are enrolled in smaller classes. But new research and advocacy groups suggest that t
2、argeted resizing of classesincluding increasing class sizes in certain subjectscan save districts money while minimally impacting student achievement.Education Resource Strategies(ERS)estimates that up to $6 billion could be saved nationally by increasing class sizes by just one student. A report re
3、leased in May by the Brookings Institution states that the same move would reduce the number of teachers necessary by approximately 7 percent.Class-size legislation has remained an important political issue in many states. At least 24 states have enacted class-size laws that limit enrollment. Karen
4、Miles, executive director of ERS, says these laws can hurt students in the long term. Important programs like teacher development classes and extracurricular activities have been cut in order to employ enough teachers to keep class sizes low, she says.Others, including Secretary of Education Arne Du
5、ncan, have come around to her way of thinking. In a letter to governors weighing state budget cuts, he wrote that states should use federal money in a way that would have the “greatest positive impact on students. “ Among his suggestions were “targeted adjustments in class size, and compensation mod
6、els that reward the best, most effective work. “Research shows that drastic class size reduction can improve student performance. The most widely cited research, the Student Teacher Achievement Ratio study conducted in the late 1980s, showed that when class sizes were reduced from 22 students to 15
7、students, student a-chievement increased by about three months of additional schooling. Subsequent studies have shown that slight increases or decreases in class size enrollment have negligible effects on student achievement.The May Brookings report says, “ It appears that very large class-size redu
8、ctions, on the order of magnitude of 7-10 fewer students per class, can have significant long-term effects on student achievement. These effects seem to be largest when introduced in the earliest grades, and for students from less advantaged family backgrounds. “Miles stresses that schools and distr
9、icts need a strategy when it comes to changing class enrollment. If class sizes are increased, the money saved should be spent training effective teachers. She says schools should experiment with hiring part-time experts to teach reading in small groups. If there are three third-grade classes in a s
10、chool, for instance, those classes could be combined for part of the day in classes such as art.Enrollment reductions should be focused on underprivileged students and young students, she adds. Better teacher evaluation systems need to be developed and implemented so that ineffective teachers can be
11、 held accountable for student performance, and effective teachers can be rewarded.1 Smaller class is believed to be good because it can（A）serve to improve the numbers of the qualified teachers.（B） enrich students curricula in the long term.（C） help to improve students performance.（D）provide students
12、 with more colorful after-class activities.2 The second paragraph indicates that increasing class size（A）is one way to save national economy.（B） will increase the number of teachers.（C） can bring some benefits to students.（D）is better than reducing it.3 Which of the following statements is true acco
13、rding to the passage?（A）Students in reduced classes can increase three months of additional schooling.（B） Students will not be affected with little changes in class size.（C） The older the students are, the more urgent the limit enrollment is.（D）Students from the rich family should be put into bigger
14、 classes.4 Which of the following would Karen Miles most probably agree on?（A）We should apply the money saved to training teachers.（B） The class size should be increased for the sake of better performance.（C） Art is a course suitable for large classes of all grades.（D）Money should be spent to improv
15、e students performance.5 Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?（A）Class-Size Legislationa Shortcut for Better Performance（B） Targeted Resizing of Classa Strategy for Class Enrollment（C） Class-Size Limitationthe Only Way for Schools（D）Class-Size Increasea Substitute for Limit
16、 Enrollment5 Legal training is not a requirement to serve in Congress, although many of the members are, and have been, lawyers. Nor is it necessary for a House or Senate member to have served in another government post, although many have, and their experience at forging alliances and compromises h
17、as been helpful. We no longer have literacy tests for voters, a technique southern states used until the 1960s, effectively to disenfranchise African-American voters.Yet, it might not be a bad idea to require incoming members of Congress to take a basic test in civics.How else, other than an alarmin
18、g misunderstanding of the basic of American government, to explain the effort of House Republicans to shut the Senate out of the budget process? Their sanctimoniously titled Government Shutdown Prevention Act would do just that, deeming that if the Senate failed to pass a measure to keep the governm
19、ent running amid the current budget dispute, that the House-passed version would become law.The idea is bizarre on so many levelsnot least because the Senate would actually have to pass the Government Shutdown Prevention Act for the House to assume a dictatorial role in one of the three branches of
20、the worlds greatest democracy. The current fashion of anti-intellectual-ism in politics aside, do the House Republicans not understand the elementary-school fundamentals of how a bill becomes a law?The freshman GOP lawmakers are annoyed with the Democratic-controlled Senate, this time for failing to
21、 cave in on the dramatic cuts the House Republicans want in the budget. Ask the House Democrats, who approved more than 300 bills in the last Congress that ended up dying in a Senate that failed to pass them or even consider them.But the rudimentary lesson of lawmaking are nowhere near as important
22、as the lesson about getting things done in a country of diverse interests. The Tea Party crowd ran campaigns of anger and frustration, blaming Congress for its failure to get balanced budgets and myriad other things. Theres a reason for that, and its not because members are stupid or lazy or weak. I
23、ts because this is a country of wildly divergent attitudes and perspectives, reflected in the lawmakers those citizens send to Congress. The Tea Partyers believe they were sent to Washington with a mission, and they likely were. So were Nancy Pelosi and other liberal members whose constituents have
24、drastically different perspectives than those in the Tea Party teams districts. And their views are no less valid.Legislating requires compromise, and compromise is hard, especially during times of economic stress. Being a congressman is a difficult job, forcing them to balance their districts needs
25、 with the national interest. The new members signed up for this job. They should do it.6 What can we infer from the first paragraph?（A）People have to be a lawyer if they want to serve in Congress.（B） People must have worked in Senate if they are good at building alliance.（C） People in southern state
26、s have to pass the literary test if they want to vote before 1960s.（D）People would be good at compromising after serving in House.7 Which of the following is true about the House Republicans and the Senate?（A）The Senate used to set aside the bills approved by the House.（B） The Senate has passed the
27、Government Shutdown Prevention Act.（C） The Senate failed to resolve the current budget dispute.（D）The Senate has been greatly irritated by the House Republicans.8 What is the reason for Congress failing in getting balanced budgets?（A）They havent received legal training before holding the post.（B） Th
28、ey have to consider their different standpoints and interests.（C） They are both lazy and weak in characteristics.（D）They tend to cause the anger and frustration of the minority group.9 The author quotes the example of Nancy Pelosi to show（A）she is the first female speaker of the House of Representat
29、ives.（B） she has a close relationship with other liberal members.（C） her view is the most valid one.（D）how divergent the perspectives held by different parties are.10 What should the new senate members do in the authors opinion?（A）They should try their utmost to get the dictatorial role.（B） They sho
30、uld undertake the mission of their citizens.（C） They should balance the interest of divergent parties through compromise.（D）They should make their views more valid.10 Its time for America to start following other countries leads when it comes to education, according to a new report by the National C
31、enter on Education and the Economy(NCEE), an organization that researches education systems around the world. The report studied the overall education systems in Canada, China, Japan, and Singapore, discovering education achievement in the U. S. has fallen to the middle of the pack among developed n
32、ations, but said that America can solve this educational crisis by looking at it like it looked at manufacturing at the turn of the 20th century.“We took the best ideas in steelmaking, industrial chemicals and many other fields from England and Germany and others and put them to work here on a scale
33、 that Europe could only imagine,“ the report says. By using the educational strategies of successful nations, NCEE says, the U. S. can catch up.“The most effective way to greatly improve student performance in the United States is to figure out how the countries with top student performance are doin
34、g it, build on their achievements and then, by building on our unique strengths, figure out how to do it even better,“ Marc Tucker, NCEEs CEO, said in a statement.The reports recommendation requiring students to pass tests at certain grade levels before continuing their education is likely to be con
35、troversial. Hypothetically, students would have to pass a “ gateway test“ at the end of middle school and again at the end of 10th grade in order to move on to the next grade. NCEE says gateway tests in other countries are well-designed, comprehensive, and standardized throughout the nation. “Becaus
36、e the exams are very high quality, they cannot be test prepped; the only way to succeed on them is to actually master the material,“ NCEE says.The report praises the new Common Core State Standards, a state-led initiative launched last year that set guidelines for student achievement in math and Eng
37、lish and has been adopted in 42 states. But it also says America needs to go further by expanding the system to the rest of the core curriculum with subjects such as history and science. NCEE also worries that relying on computer-scored exams to provide readings on student achievement, which the Com
38、mon Core does, is a gamble.Other countries “are deeply skeptical that computer-scored tests or examinations can adequately measure the acquisition of the skills and knowledge they are most interested in,“ NCEE says. “If the United States is right about this, we will wind up with a significant advant
39、age over our competitors in the accuracy, timeliness and cost of scoring. If we are wrong, we will significantly hamper our capacity to measure the things we are most interested in measuring. “11 Whats the attitude of the new report towards American education?（A）Pessimistic.（B） Optimistic.（C） Ptheti
40、c.（D）Anxious.12 By citing “steelmaking, industrial chemicals.“(Line 1, Para. 2), the author intends to show（A）America has taken the leads in such fields.（B） American is superior to European countries.（C） American education has the ability to catch up.（D）American has a strong economic foundation for
41、education.13 Which of the following is true about “gateway test“?（A）Its validity and accuracy are still in strong dispute.（B） It has been adopted in 42 states of America.（C） It is still not very mature in countries like China.（D）It is the only standard for students to go next grade.14 Why does the a
42、uthor say what the Common Core does is gamble in Paragraph 5?（A）Because it far lags behind gateway tests as for the advantages.（B） Because it has not been expanded to other subjects.（C） Because it proves insufficient readings for students achievements.（D）Because it needs further evidence as for its
43、accuracy, timeliness, etc.15 Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?（A）American manufacturing has always been in the leading position.（B） Students have to command the knowledge in order to pass the test.（C） America has figured out the ways of other countries to develop education.（D）
44、Gateway tests should be standardized for America to use.15 We are all familiar with the phrase “monkey see, monkey do“but have we actually thought about what it means? Over the last two decades, neuroscience research has been investigating whether this popular saying has a real basis in human behavi
45、our.Over twenty years ago, a team of scientists, led by Giacomo Rizzolatti at the University of Parma, discovered special brain cells, called mirror neurons, in monkeys. These cells appeared to be activated both when the monkey did something itself and when the monkey simply watched another monkey d
46、o the same thing.The function of such mirror neurons in humans has since become a hot topic. In the latest issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, a team of distinguished researchers debate whether the mirror neuron system is involved in such diverse processes as understanding speech, unders
47、tanding the meaning of other peoples actions, and understanding other peoples minds.The mirror neuron system probably plays some role in how we understand other peoples speech, but its likely that this role is much smaller than has been previously claimed. In fact, the role is small enough that its
48、unlikely that mirror neurons would be causal factors in our ability to understand speech. Mirror neuron-related processes may only contribute to understanding what another person is trying to say if the room is very noisy or there are other complications to normal speech perception conditions.Mirror
49、 neurons are believed to play a critical role in how and why we understand other peoples actions. There are many physical actions, like Tiger Woods golf swing, that we ourselves cant do, but we understand those actions anyway. However, contrary to what some mirror neuron proponents have suggested, doing isnt required for understanding. In fact, neuro-imaging data reviewed in this article demonstrate that the actions we ourselves have the most experience doingthe actions we are best at doing and understand bestactually show less mirror neuron acti
