Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage. In a time of low academic achievement by children in the United States, many Americans are turning to Japan, a country of high academic achievement and economic success, for possible answers. However

阅读 Passage 1,完成小题.
Passage 1
Today'sadults grew up in schools designed to sort us into the various segments of oursocial and economic system. Theamount of time available to learn was fixed: one year per grade. The amount learnedby the end of that time was free to vary:?some of us learned a great deal; some, very little. As weadvanced through the grades, those who had learned a great deal in previousgrades continued to build on those foundations. Those who had failed to masterthe early prerequisites within the allotted time failed to learn that whichfollowed. After 12 or 13 years of cumulative treatment of this kind, we were,in effect, spread along an achievement continuumthat was ultimately reflected in each student's rank in class upon graduation.
?Fromthe very earliest grades, some students learned a great deal very quickly andconsistently scored high on assessments. The emotional effect of this was tohelp them to see themselves as capable learners, and so these students becameincreasingly confident in school. That confidence gave them the inner emotionalstrength to take the risk of striving for more success because they believed thatsuccess was within their reach. Driven forward by this optimism, these studentscontinued to try hard, and that effort continued to result in success for them.They became the academic and emotional winners. Notice that the trigger fortheir emotional strength and their learning success was their perception oftheir success on formal and informal assessments.
?Butthere were other students who didn’t fare so well. They scored very low ontests, beginning in the earliest grades. The emotional effect was to cause themto question their own capabilities as learners. They began to lose confidence,which, in turn, deprived them of the emotional reserves needed to continue totake risks. As their motivation warned, of course, their performance?plummeted.These students embarked on what they believed to be an irreversible slide towardinevitable failure and lost hope. Once again, the emotional trigger for theirdecision not to try was their perception of their performance on assessments.
?Consider the reality—indeed, the paradox of— the schools in whichwe were reared.?If some students worked hard and learneda lot, that was a positive result, and they would finish high in the rankorder. But if some students gave up in hopeless failure, that was an acceptableresult, too, because they would occupy places very low in the rank order. Theirachievement results fed into the implicit mission of schools: the greater thespread of achievement among students, the more it reinforced the rank order.This is why, if some students gave up and stopped trying (even dropped out of school),that was regarded as the student's problem, not the teacher's or the school's.
??Onceagain, please notice who is using test results to decide whether to strive forexcellence or give up in hopelessness. The "data-based decisionmakers" in this process are students themselves. Students are decidingwhether success is within or beyond reach, whether the learning is worth the requiredeffort, and so whether to try or not. The critical emotions underpinning thedecision making process include anxiety, fear of failure, uncertainty, andunwillingness to take risks-all triggered by students ' perceptions of theirown capabilities as reflected in assessment results.
?Some students responded to the demands of suchenvironments by working hard and learning a great deal. Others controlled theiranxiety by giving up and not caring. The result for them is exactly theopposite of the one society wants. Instead of leaving no child behind, thesepractices, in effect, drove down the achievement of at least as many studentsas they successfully elevated. And the evidence suggests that the downsidevictims are more frequently members of particular socioeconomic and ethnicminorities.

What has made students spread along an achievement continuum according to the passage?

A.The allotted time to learn.
B.Social and economic system.
C.The early prerequisites students mastered.
D.Performance on formal and informal assessments.

资料： The poverty line is the minimum income that people need for an acceptable standard of living. People with incomes below the poverty line are considered poor. Economists study the causes of poverty in order to find solutions to the problem.
As the general standard of living in the country rises, the poverty line does, too. Therefore, even with today’s relatively high standard of living, about 10 percent of the people in the United States are below the poverty line. However, if these people had stable jobs, they could have an acceptable standard of living. Economists suggest several reasons why poor people do not have jobs.
For one thing, more than half of the poor people in the United States are not qualified to work. Over 40 percent of the poor. People are children. By law, children less than 16 years old cannot work in many industries. A large number of poor people are Old. Many companies do not hire people over 65 years old, the normal retirement age.
Some poor adults do not look for jobs for a variety of personal reasons: they are sick, they do not have any motivation, they have family problems, or they do not believe that they can find a job.
Other poor people look for a job but cannot find one. Many poor adults never went to high school. Therefore, when they look for jobs, they have few skills that they can offer.
At the present time, the government thinks it can reduce poverty in the country in the following ways. First, if the national economy grows, businesses and industries hire more workers. Some of the poor who are qualified to look for jobs may find employment. Then they will no longer be below the poverty line. Second, if society invests in the poor, the poor will become more productive. If the government spends money on social programs, education, and training for poor people, the poor will have the skills to offer. Then it is more likely that they can find jobs.
Finally, if the government distributes society's income differently, it raises some poor people above the poverty line. The government collects taxes from the non－poor and gives money to the poor. These payments to the poor are called welfare. In 1975 over 18 million people in the United States received welfare.
Some economists are looking for better solutions to the poverty problem. However, at the present time, many people depend on welfare for a minimally acceptable standard of living.

The author’s main purpose to write this article is_____

A.to give several possible solutions to the problem of poverty
B.to explain why some people in the United States are below the poverty line
C.to show sympathy for those poor people
D.to give the definition of “poverty line”

Children who have negative relationships with their parents often develop______problems including low academic achievement，negative social relationships，and delinquency。

A.domestic
B.influential
C.diverse
D.identical

共用题干
Schools and Education

1. Life in the twenty-first century demands preparation.Today,all individuals in a country must have adequate schooling to prepare them for their work as well as for their responsibilities as citizens.With this in mind,national leaders everywhere are placing more emphasis on the education of the young.In the United States,government officials,parents,and teachers are working hard to give their children一tomorrow's decision makers一the best preparation available.
2. There is no national school policy in the United States.Each of the fifty states makes its own rules and regulations for its school,but there are many similarities among the fifty school systems.Public schools in all states are supported by taxes paid by the citizens of the individual state. In most states the children are required to attend school until they reach the age of sixteen.
3. When they become six years old,children begin elementary school.After six years in elementary school,they go into junior high school and remain there for three years.The last three years of their public school education are spent in senior high school,from which they graduate at the age of eighteen.
4. A great number of high school graduates continue their education in one of the many colleges or universities in the country.After four years,they receive a bachelor's degree.Some continue studying for a master's degree and perhaps a doctor's degree.

In most states children,before they are 16,must________.
A:go on to study in colleges or universities
B:emphasized today
C:the taxes paid by the citizens of each state
D:to go abroad to do further study
E:attend school
F: private source