2012年9月公共英语三级考试真题及答案(阅读理解Text 3)

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2012年9月公共英语三级考试真题及答案(阅读理解Text 3)

Text 3

Lately，presidentsof some American universities have added inflation to their worry list.They are notconcemed about inflation of prices，but of academicgrades.Larry Summers，president of Harvard.recentlycaused a storm when he told one of the university’s professors he didn’t likegrade inflation.

Insiders say that nearly half thegrades Harvard awards have lately been A or A minus—a lot moreman in the l980s.Is this trend a bad thing，in fact2 And is thisgrade inflation really“inflation”?

To take the second question first，the answeris N0，not stricdy speaking.”Inflation”in grades ought to mean that work of a given standardwould be awarded an ever higher grade，year by year.Thehighest permissible grade would therefore have to keep rising in a ceaselessprocesslon of non-improvement.Because in reality the top grade is fixed，the processis not so much grade inflation as grade compression.This isworse：a distortion in relative prices is more confusing than a uniformupward drift.Grade compression squeezes information out of the system.

But is grade inflation necessarily a bad thing?Theanswer depends on who you are.When students leave Harvard,they carry grades as a sort of currency：a pocketfulof intellectual capital，to bid for jobs or places in graduate schools against graduates fromother universities with other currencies.These positions goto those who can put the most academic cash on the table。Employersandgraduate schools must decide on the exchange rate,as it were，between aHarvard C student

and an A student from a less distinguishedplace.

Again.overall gradeinflation-the uniform devaluation of the students’ capital-would be telativelyeasy to cope with，working in principle neither to the advantage or disadvantage ofHarvard

graduates. Recruiters.in aposition to see the market for graduates as a whole，would simplyadjust their exchange rate.Compression，however，hasdistributional consequences.The best Harvard students see their grades devalued relativeto those of second.rate Harvard students.That is bad with respect to encouraging students to workharder.

56.The text talksabout the recent storm concerning grade inflation in American universities by focusingon_________.

[A]itscauses

[B]its features

[C]itsimpacts

[D]its purposes

57.In thewriter’s opinion，real grade inflation can occur when the highest permissible grade_______

[A]israised accordingly

[B]is cautiously granted

[C]isstrictly administered

[D]is limited appropriately

58.The writerthinks that grade compression characterizes________.

[A]ajust policy in evaluation

[B]a distorted grading system

[C]afixed criterion for the work done

[D]a relative difference among students

59.As far asjob—seeking is concerned，Harvard grade inflation will benefit________.

[A]itsbest graduates

[B]its ordinary graduates

[C]thejob recruiters

[D]the school authorities

60.With gradeinflation going on in Harvard，it is likely that________.

[A]itsbest students will lack the urge to make progress

[B]itsranking in the US universities will going down

[C]itsadvantages will be overtaken by its disadvantages

[D]itssystem of school score distribution will be in chaos

参考译文

近，美国部分高校的校长将“通胀”列到了其担心列表上。他们所担心不是物价的通胀，而是学分的通胀。哈佛大学校长拉里·萨摩斯近告诉该校一住大学教授他不喜欢学分通胀，因此引发了一场风波。内部人士说哈佛大学的成绩奖几乎一半都是A或者A一，这样的一个比例比20世纪80年代时高很多。但这样的趋势事实上是坏事儿吗?这样的学分通胀真的是“通胀”吗?先回答第二个问题，从并不严格的意义上讲，答案是否定的。学分“通胀”应该意味着同一水准的成绩获得的学分逐年增高。因此，在没有改善、提高的情况下，允许学生获得的学分应该不断上升。然而在现实中，学分是固定的，因此这个过程不是学分增值而是学分贬值。这个更糟：相对价格的扭曲比统一上浮更加令人困惑。学分贬值让学生学到的知识越来越少，从而令整个教育系统的知识量逐渐减少，甚至匮乏。

那么学分通胀就一定是坏事儿吗?答案取决你是哪所学校毕业的学生。从哈佛毕业的学生，他们将学分看成是一种货币：满兜的智力资本，他们用它同毕业于其他院校的、拿着其他货币的学生竞争工作岗位或所申请的研究生院。只有那些将多的学术现金放到案上的人才可能得到这些职位。雇主和各大研究生院必须决定汇率，即他们必须考虑是选择一个哈佛毕业但只获得c的学生还是选择一个学校并不那么出名却获得A的学生。

总体再看一下学分通胀——学生资本的集体贬值——将相对容易理解，它基本上既不是哈佛毕业生的优势也不是他们的劣势。招聘人员，站在自己的角度，会把毕业生作为一个整体来看，一的差别仅仅是调整汇率的问题。然而，学分贬值呈现出了区域性分布的结果。和哈佛大学二流学生相比，哈佛大学一流的学生认为他们的学分贬值了。这对于鼓励学生努力学习这一点，影响不是很好。

56.C【精析】推理题。分析全文的结构可知，前两段提出了学分通胀的问题，第三段的第二句和第三句简要说明了学分通胀的原因，即：学分“通胀”应该意味着同一水准的成绩获得的学分逐年增高。因此，在没有改善、提高的情况下，允许学生获得的学分在不断上升。然而在现实中，学分是固定的，因此这个过程不是学分增值而是学分贬值。紧接着，该文又分析了学分通胀所产生的影响：相对价格的扭曲比统一上浮更加令人困惑;学分贬值让学生学到的知识越来越少，从而令整个教育系统的知识量减少，甚至匮乏。文章的第四段和第五段也是对学分通胀所产生的影响的分析，包括对学生就业和继续学习的影响，故选c。

57.A【精析】细节题。根据第三段第二句“‘Inflation’in grades ought to mean that work of a given standard would beawarded an ever higher grade，year by year.”内容可知，学分通胀意味着同一水准的成绩获得的学分逐年增高，因此，在作者看来，学分提高时会发生学分通胀，故选A。

58.B【精析】推理题。根据第三段后两句“That is worse：a distortion in relative prices is more

confusingthan a uniform upward drift.Grade compression squeezes information OUt of the system.”可知，相对价格的扭曲比统一上浮更加令人困惑。学分贬值让学生学到的知识越来越少，从而令整个教育系统的知识量逐渐减少，甚至匮乏。由此可推知，作者认为学分贬值的特征就是一个扭曲的评分体系，故选B。

59.B【精析】推理题。根据文章第四段内容可知，雇主在录取人员时，会考虑选择一个哈佛毕业但只获得c的学生，还是选择一个学校并不那么出名却获得A的学生，由此可推知，哈佛成绩一般的学生在找工作时更能从学分通胀中获益，故选8。

60.A【精析】细节题。根据后一段后两句“The best Hagvard students see their grades devalued relativeto those of second.rate Harvard.That is bad with respect to encouraging students to work harder.”可知，哈佛大学学分通胀让学生丧失了不断进步的动力，故选A。

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