同等學力英語閱讀及翻譯專項練習 7

A quality education is the ultimate liberator. It can free people from poverty, giving them the power to greatly improve their lives and take a productive place in society. It can also free communities and countries, allowing them to leap forward into periods of wealth and social unity that otherwise would not be possible.

For this reason, the international community has committed itself to getting all the world's children into primary school by 2015, a commitment known as Education for All.

Can education for all be achieved by 2015? The answer is definitely “yes”, although it is a difficult task. If we now measure the goal in terms of children successfully completing a minimum of five years of primary school, instead of just enrolling for classes, which used to be the measuring stick for education, then the challenge becomes even more difficult. Only 32 countries were formerly believed to be at risk of not achieving education for all on the basis of enrollment rates. The number rises to 88 if completion rates are used as the criterion.

Still, the goal is achievable with the right policies and the right support from the international community. 59 of the 88 countries at risk can reach universal primary completion by 2015 if they bring the efficiency and quality of their education systems into line with standards observed in higher-performing systems. They also need significant increases in external financing and technical support. The 29 countries lagging farthest behind will not reach the goal without unprecedented rates of progress. But this is attainable with creative solutions, including use of information technologies, flexible and targeted foreign aid, and fewer people living in poverty.

A key lesson of experience about what makes development effective is that a country's capacity to use aid well depends heavily on its policies, institutions and management. Where a country scores well on these criteria, foreign assistance can be highly effective.

1. In the first paragraph, the author suggests that a quality education can ______.

A. free countries from foreign rules B. speed up social progress

C. give people freedom D. liberate people from any exploitation

2. Ideally, the goal of the program of Education for All is to ______ by 2015.

A. get all the world's children to complete primary school

B. enroll all the world's children into primary school

C. give quality education to people of 88 countries

D. support those committed to transforming their education systems

3. ______ countries are now at risk of not achieving education for all on the basis of completion rates.

A. 32 B. 59 C. 29 D. 88

4. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT mentioned as the right policy?

A. Raising the efficiency of education systems.

B. Improving the quality of education.

C. Using information technologies.

D. Building more primary schools.

5. As can be gathered from the last paragraph, foreign aid ______.

A. may not be highly effective

B. is provided only when some criteria are met

C. alone makes development possible

D. is most effective for those countries lagging farthest behind

素質教育是最根本的解放。它可以使人們擺脫貧困，賦予他們能力迅速改善他們的生活，從事社會中具有創造性的工作。它還可以使社會和國家解除負擔，使它們迅速跨入富裕與社會和睦的時期，而用別的方式是不可能達到這種效果的。

因此，國際社會承諾：到二○一五年時，將讓世界上的所有兒童都上小學，這就是著名的“教育面向所有人”的承諾。

到二○一五年時，“教育面向所有人”的目標能夠實現嗎？盡管這是一項艱巨的任務，但回答肯定是“能夠”。如果我們現在根據孩子順利讀完最少五年的小學來評估該目標，而不只是根據班級的注冊人數來評估該目標——過去用于評估教育的方法，那么，這種挑戰就會更加艱難。以前，根據注冊率，只有三十二個國家被認為面臨實現不了“教育面向所有人”目標的風險。如果把畢業率當作評估標準的話，那么這個數字會上升為八十八個。

盡管如此，只要政策合適，國際社會又給予適當的援助，該目標還是可以實現的。如果八十八個有風險的國家使其教育體系的效率和質量達到效率更高的體系所奉行的標準，那么，到二○一五年時，其中的五十九個國家就可以實現“所有孩子都能夠小學畢業”的目標。這些國家也需要國際社會給予資金和技術方面的大力援助。如果沒有空前的發展速度，二十九個最落后的國家將不可能實現該目標。但是，如果有創造性的解決方法，這個目標也可以實現——包括使用信息技術，國際社會靈活、目的明確的援助以及更少的生活貧困的人們。

有關“是什么使發展有效”的一個主要經驗教訓就是：一個國家有效利用援助的能力主要取決于該國的政策、制度和管理。基于這些標準，在一個國家表現好的領域，國際社會的援助就可能非常有效。

參考答案 ： 1 ． B 2 ． A 3 ． D 4 ． D 5 ． A