Directions
There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the center.
真题一
Passage One
New Yorkers are gradually getting used to more pedaling(骑车的)passengers on those shining blue Citi Bikes. But what about local bike shops? Is Citi Bike rolling up riders at their expense?
At Gotham Bikes in Tribeca, manager W. Ben said the shop has seen an increase in its overall sales due to the bike-share program. “It’s getting more people on the road,” he said. James Ryan, an employee at Danny’s Cycles in Gramercy also said Citi Bike is a good option for people to ease into biking in a city famed for its traffic jams and aggressive drivers. “They can try out a bike without committing to buying one,” he said.
Rentals are not a big part of the business at either Gotham Bikes or Danny’s Cycles. But for Frank’s Bike Shop, a small business on Grand St., the bike-share program has been bad news. Owner Frank Arroyo said his rental business has decreased by 90% since Citi Bike was rolled out last month. Arroyo’s main rental customers are European tourists, who have since been drawn away by Citi Bikes.
However, Ben said the bike-share is good for bike sales at his shop. “People have used the bike-share and realized how great it is to bike in the city, then decide that they want something nicer for themselves,” he noted.
Christian Farrell of Waterfront Bicycle Shop, on West St. just north of Christopher St., said initially he was concerned about bike-share, though, he admitted, “I was happy to see people on bikes.”
Farrell’s early concerns were echoed by Andrew Crooks, owner of NYC Velo, at 64 Second Ave. “It seemed like a great idea, but one that would be difficult to implement,” Crooks said of Citi Bike. He said he worried about inexperienced riders’ lack of awareness of biking rules and strong negative reaction from non-cyclists. However, he said, it’s still too early to tell if his business has been impacted.
While it’s possible bike-share will cause a drop in business, Crooks allowed that the idea is a positive step forward for New York City.
56. What is the author’s chief concern about the increasing use of Citi Bikes in New York?
A) How non-cyclists will respond to it.
B) Whether local bike shops will suffer.
C) Whether local bike businesses will oppose it.
D) How the safety of bike riders can be ensured.
57. What happened to Gotham Bikes as a result of the bike-share program?
A) It found its bike sales unaffected. B) It shifted its business to rentals.
C) It saw its bike sales on the rise. D) It rented more bikes to tourists.
58. Why is the bike-share program bad news for Frank’s Bike Shop?
A) It cannot meet the demand of the bike-share program.
B) Its customers have been drawn away by Citi Bikes.
C) Its bike prices have to be lowered again and again.
D) It has to compete with the city’s bike rental shops.
59. Why did Andrew Crooks think that the bike-share program would be difficult to execute?
A) Inexperienced riders might break biking rules.
B) Conflicts might arise among bike rental shops.
C) Traffic conditions might worsen in the downtown area.
D) There are not enough lanes to accommodate the bikes.
60. What is the general attitude of the local bike shops towards Citi Bike?
A) Wait-and-see. B) Negative.
C) Indifferent. D) Approving.
Passage Two
Various studies have shown that increased spending on education has not led to measurable improvements in learning. Between 1980 and 2008, staff and teachers at U.S. public schools grew roughly twice as fast as students. Yet students showed no additional learning in achievement tests.
Universities show similar trends of increased administration personnel and costs without greater learning, as documented in Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa’s recent book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses.
A survey shows that 63% of employers say that recent college graduates don’t have the skills they need to succeed and 25% of employers say that entry-level writing skills are lacking.
Some simplistically attribute the decline in our public education system to the drain of skilled students by private schools, but far more significant events were at work.
Public schools worked well until about the 1970s. In fact, until that time, public schools provided far better education than private ones. It was the underperforming students who were thrown out of public schools and went to private ones.
A prominent reason public schools did well was that many highly qualified women had few options for working outside the house other than being teachers or nurses. They accepted relatively low pay, difficult working conditions, and gave their very best.
Having such a large supply of talented women teachers meant that society could pay less for their services. Women’s liberation opened up new professional opportunities for women, and, over time, some of the best left teaching as a career option, bringing about a gradual decline in the quality of schooling.
Also around that time, regulations, government, and unions came to dictate pay, prevent adjustments, and introduce bureaucratic(官僚的)standard for advancement. Large education bureaucracies and unions came to dominate the landscape, confusing activity with achievement. Bureaucrats regularly rewrite curriculums, talk nonsense about theories of education, and require ever more administrators. The end result has been that, after all the spending, students have worse math and reading skills than both their foreign peers and earlier generations spending far less on education—as all the accumulating evidence now documents.
61. What do we learn from various studies on America’s public education?
A) Achievement tests have failed to truly reflect the quality of teaching.
B) Public schools lack the resources to compete with private schools.
C) Little improvement in education has resulted from increased spending.
D) The number of students has increased much faster than that of teachers.
62. How do some people explain the decline in public education?
A) Government investment does not meet schools，needs.
B) Skilled students are moving to private schools.
C) Qualified teachers are far from adequately paid.
D) Training of students’ basic skills is neglected.
63. What was a significant contributor to the past glory of public schools?
A) Well-behaved students. B) Efficient administration.
C) Talented women teachers. D) Generous pay for teachers.
64. Why did some of the best women teachers leave teaching?
A) New career opportunities were made available to them by women’s liberation.
B) Higher academic requirements made it difficult for them to stay in their jobs.
C) They were unhappy with the bureaucratic administration in their schools.
D) The heavy teaching loads left them little time and energy for family life.
65. What does the author think is one of the results of government involvement in education?
A) Increasing emphasis on theories of education.
B) Highly standardized teaching methods.
C) Students5 improved academic performance.
D) An ever-growing number of administrators.
