2015同等学力英语阅读练习(21)

　　According to a report, around 30,000 pupils started secondary school last year with the math skills of a seven-year-old. MPs (国会议员) warned that many young people would need “expensive” remedial lessons in later life to get a job — posing major problems for the economy. The findings came just months after Ofsted(教育标准办公室)claimed almost half of math lessons in English schools were not good enough. It said many teachers relied on textbooks and mundane exercises to make sure pupils passed exams at the expense of a proper understanding of the subject. MPs backed the conclusions, saying too many pupils found lessons “boring”. They insisted improvements had been made under Labor but achievement had “leveled off” in recent years.

　　In 2008, 79 percent of pupils met the Government’s expected standard at the end of primary school, well short of the 85 percent target set for 2006. Around five percent moved to secondary school with the math skills of a seven- year-old, said the committee. In 2006, ￡2.3 billion was spent teaching the subject. It equates to around a quarter of the ￡10 billion total budget for primary teaching and support staff.

　　The report said the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) needed to “radically rethink its strategy for improving pupil attainment; otherwise we seriously doubt that the department will meet its 2011 target”. The target demands that 84.5 percent of pupils will make the necessary progress between 7 and 11.

　　Last year, the DCSF published a major review of math education in England to boost standards. It called for a math specialist in every primary school within 10 years and more emphasis on mathematical “play” in nursery schools. Mr. Leigh said, “The department’s 10-year program to train 13,000 specialist math teachers will not benefit some primary schools for another decade. That’s far too long; the department needs to look for ways to accelerate the program.” Sarah McCarthy Fry, the Schools Minister, said, “We have already accepted the main recommendation from a recent independent review of primary math that every school should have a specialist math teacher and have pledged ￡24 million over the next three years for a training program for teachers.”

　　Nick Gibb, the Tory shadow schools secretary, said, “The Government is not getting value for the money they have piled into education and the country is falling behind in international league tables as a result. The Government has failed to replace methods of teaching which have failed with tried and tested methods used in countries that have much higher levels of math achievement.”

　　1. What do we learn from the first paragraph?

　　A) 30,000 pupils started secondary school with poor math skills.

　　B) MPs insist more improvements should be made under Labor.

　　C) Young people need medical lessons to get a job.

　　D) Half of English schools were not good enough.

　　2. According to the passage, what happened in 2006?

　　A) 21% of pupils didn’t meet the Government’s expected standard.

　　B) The target set for 2006 was 87 percent.

　　C) ￡2.3 billion was spent on math teaching.

　　D) The total budget for primary teaching and support staff was ￡5 billion in 2006.

　　3. What will people probably do to improve math education in England?

　　A) Spend money on training specialist math teachers.

　　B) Hire a math specialist for every primary school.

　　C) Allow pupils to have more mathematical “play”.

　　D) Spend more time on math education.

　　4. What do Nick Gibb’s words mean?

　　A) The British government should put more money into math education.

　　B) Britain is falling behind in the international knowledge competition.

　　C) The British government should learn from other countries’ failures.

　　D) The British government should change their teaching methods every few years.

　　5. What’s the passage mainly talking about?

　　A) There aren’t enough math teachers in British primary schools.

　　B) The British government didn’t spend enough money on math education.

　　C) British pupils are not good at math.

　　D) Math lessons in British primary schools need to be improved.

　　参考答案：

　　1. A)。根据文章首段首句可知，去年升初中的小学生中大约有3万名学生数学水平只相当于7岁小孩的数学水平，也就是说这些小孩的数学能力很差。

　　2. C)。根据第二段“In 2006, ￡2.3 billion was spent teaching the subject.”可知，2006年花在数学教育上的费用为23亿英镑。

　　3. A)。第四段提到在十年的时间里为每所小学配备一名数学专家并加强对幼儿园数学游戏的重视，但重点主要是谈论花经费培训数学教师这件事。

　　4. C)。最后一段Nick Gibb主要讲“英国政府在教育上花了钱却没有达到预期的效果，并因此而落后于其他国家;同时英国政府在数学教育上还在走一些老路，而这些老路已经被有较高数学教育水平的国家尝试并证明走不通。”言外之意即：英国应该吸取其他国家的经验教训。

　　5. D)。这是一个主旨题，这篇文章指出了英国在数学教育方面存在的问题并给出了解决办法，文章围绕英国小学数学教育需要改进这一中心思想展开。