A) In this month's Atlantic cover article, \argues that school-sponsored sports programs should be seriously cut. She writes that, unlike most countries that outperform the United States on international assessments, American schools put too much of an emphasis on athletics. \are not almost anywhere else,\debates about America's international mediocrity (平庸) in education.\
B) American student-athletes reap many benefits from participating in sports, but the costs to the schools could outweigh their benefits, she argues. In particular, Ripley contends that sports crowd out the academic missions of schools: America should learn from South Korea and Finland and every other country at the top level of international test scores, all of whom emphasize athletics far less in school. \spend playing sports,\she writes, citing a 2010 study published in the Journal of Advanced Academics.
C) It might well be true that sports are far more rooted in American high schools than in other countries. But our reading of international test scores finds no support for the argument against school athletics. Indeed, our own research and that of others lead us to make the opposite case. School-sponsored sports appear to provide benefits that seem to increase, not detract (减少) from, academic success.
D) Ripley indulges a popular obsession (痴迷) with international test score comparisons, which show wide and frightening gaps between the United States and other countries. She ignores, however, the fact that states vary at least as much in test scores as do developed countries. A 2011 report from Harvard University shows that Massachusetts produces math scores comparable to South Korea and Finland, while Mississippi scores are closer to Trinidad and Tobago. Ripley's thesis about sports falls apart in light of this fact. Schools in Massachusetts provide sports programs while schools in Finland do not. Schools in Mississippi may love football while in Tobago interscholastic sports are nowhere near as prominent. Sports cannot explain these similarities in performance. They can't explain international differences either.
E) If it is true that sports undermine the academic mission of American schools, we would expect to see a negative relationship between the commitment to athletics and academic achievement. However, the University of Arkansas's Daniel Bowen and Jay Greene actually find the opposite. They examine this relationship by analyzing schools' sports winning percentages as well as student-athletic participation rates compared to graduation rates and standardized test score achievement over a five-year period for all public high schools in Ohio. Controlling for student poverty levels, demographics (人口统计状况), and district financial resources, both measures of a school's commitment to athletics are significantly, positively related to lower dropout rates as well as higher test scores.
F) On-the-ficld success and high participation in sports is not random—it requires focus and dedication to athletics. One might think this would lead schools obsessed with winning to deemphasize academics. Bowen and Greene's results contradict that argument. A likely explanation for this seemingly counterintuitive (与直觉相反的) result is that success in sports programs actually facilitates or reflects greater social capital within a school's community.
G) Ripley cites the writings of renowned sociologist James Coleman, whose research in education was groundbreaking. Coleman in his early work held athletics in contempt, arguing that they
crowded out schools' academic missions. Ripley quotes his 1961 study, The Adolescent Society, where Coleman writes, \奖品) case would suggest to the innocent visitor that he was entering an athletic club, not an educational institution.\
H) However, in later research he would show how the success of schools is highly dependent on what he termed social capital, \norms, the social networks, and the relationships between adults and children that are of value for the child's growing up.\
I) According to a 2013 evaluation conducted by the Crime Lab at the University of Chicago, a program called Becoming a Man—Sports Edition creates lasting improvements in the boys' study habits and grade point averages. During the first year of the program, students were found to be less likely to transfer schools or be engaged in violent crime. A year after the program, participants were less likely to have had an encounter with the juvenile justice system.
J) If school-sponsored sports were completely eliminated tomorrow, many American students would still have opportunities to participate in organized athletics elsewhere, much like they do in countries such as Finland, Germany, and South Korea. The same is not certain when it comes to students from more disadvantaged backgrounds. In an overview of the research on non-school based after-school programs, researchers find that disadvantaged children participate in these programs at significantly lower rates. They find that low-income students have less access due to challenges with regard to transportation, non- nominal fees, and off-campus safety. Therefore, reducing or eliminating these opportunities would most likely deprive disadvantaged students of the benefits from athletic participation, not least of which is the opportunity to interact with positive role models outside of regular school hours.
K) Another unfounded criticism that Ripley makes is bringing up the stereotype that athletic coaches are typically lousy (蹩脚的) classroom teachers. \principals, unlike the vast majority of principals around the world, make many hiring decisions with their sports teams in mind, which does not always end well for students,\at schools primarily for the purpose of coaching are likely to shirk (推卸) teaching responsibilities, the argument goes. Moreover, even in the cases where the employee is a teacher first and athletic coach second, the additional responsibilities that come with coaching likely come at the expense of time otherwise spent on planning, grading, and communicating with parents and guardians. L) The data, however, do not seem to confirm this stereotype. In the most rigorous study on the classroom results of high school coaches, the University of Arkansas's Anna Egalite finds that athletic coaches in Florida mostly tend to perform just as well as their non-coaching counterparts, with respect to raising student test scores. We do not doubt that teachers who also coach face serious tradeoffs that likely come at the expense of time they could dedicate to their academic obligations. However, as with sporting events, athletic coaches gain additional opportunities for communicating and serving as mentors (导师) that potentially help students succeed and make up for the costs of coaching commitments.
M) If schools allow student-athletes to regularly miss out on instructional time for the sake of traveling to athletic competitions, that's bad. However, such issues would be better addressed by changing school and state policies with regard to the scheduling of sporting events as opposed to total elimination. If the empirical evidence points to anything, it points towards school-sponsored sports providing assets that are well worth the costs.
N) Despite negative stereotypes about sports culture and Ripley's presumption that academics and athletics are at odds with one another, we believe that the greater body of evidence shows that
school-sponsored sports programs appear to benefit students. Successes on the playing field can carry over to the classroom and vice versa (反之亦然). More importantly, finding ways to increase school communities' social capital is imperative to the success of the school as a whole, not just the athletes.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2 上作答。
46. Students from low-income families have less access to off-campus sports programs.
47. Amanda Ripley argues that America should learn from other countries that rank high in international tests and lay less emphasis on athletics.
48. According to the author, Amanda Ripley fails to note that students' performance in exams varies from state to state.
49. Amanda Ripley thinks that athletic coaches are poor at classroom instruction. 50 James Coleman's later research makes an argument for a school's social capital.
51. Researchers find that there is a positive relationship between a school's commitment to athletics and academic achievements.
52. A rigorous study finds that athletic coaches also do well in raising students' test scores.
53. According to an evaluation, sports programs contribute to students' academic performance and character building.
54. Amanda Ripley believes the emphasis on school sports should be brought up when trying to understand why American students are mediocre.
55. James Coleman suggests in his earlier writings that school athletics would undermine a school's image.
Section C
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 centre.
Passage One
Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.
It is easy to miss amid the day-to-day headlines of global economic recession, but there is a less conspicuous kind of social upheaval (剧变) underway that is fast altering both the face of the planet and the way human beings live. That change is the rapid acceleration of urbanization. In 2008, for the first time in human history, more than half the world's population was living in towns and cities. And as a recently published paper shows, the process of urbanization will only accelerate in the decades to come — with an enormous impact on biodiversity and potentially on climate change.
As Karen Seto, the lead author of the paper, points out, that the wave of urbanization isn't just about the migration of people into urban environments, but about the environments themselves
becoming bigger to accommodate all those people. The rapid expansion of urban areas will have a huge impact on biodiversity hotspots and on carbon emissions in those urban areas.
Humans are the ultimate invasive species — when they move into new territory, they often displace the wildlife that was already living there. And as land is cleared for those new cities — especially in the dense tropical forests — carbon will be released into the atmosphere as well. It's true that as people in developing nations move from the countryside to the city, the shift may reduce the pressure on land, which could in turn be good for the environment. This is especially so in desperately poor countries, where residents in the countryside slash and bum forests each growing season to clear space for farming. But the real difference is that in developing nations, the move from rural areas to cities often leads to an accompanying increase in income — and that increase leads to an increase in the consumption of food and energy, which in turns causes a rise in carbon emissions. Getting enough to eat and enjoying the safety and comfort of living fully on the grid is certainly a good thing — but it does carry an environmental price.
The urbanization wave can't be stopped — and it shouldn't be. But Seto's paper does underscore the importance of managing that transition. If we do it the right way, we can reduce urbanization's impact on the environment. \an enormous opportunity here, and a lot of pressure and responsibility to think about how we urbanize,\build cities the way we have over the last couple of hundred years. The scale of this transition won't allow that.\heaven or hell is up to us.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2 上作答。
56. What issue does the author try to draw people's attention to? A) The shrinking biodiversity worldwide. B) The rapid increase of world population. C) The ongoing global economic recession. D) The impact of accelerating urbanization.
57. In what sense are humans the ultimate invasive species? A) They are much greedier than other species. B) They are a unique species born to conquer. C) They force other species out of their territories. D) They have an urge to expand their living space.
58. In what way is urbanization in poor countries good for the environment? A) More land will be preserved for wildlife. B) The pressure on farmland will be lessened.
C) Carbon emissions will be considerably reduced. D) Natural resources will be used more effectively.
59. What does the author say about living comfortably in the city? A) It incurs a high environmental price.
B) It brings poverty and insecurity to an end.
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