时事英语02-7全真试题及标答(11)

高级时事英语期末试题

50. Monitoring results are____ a) only made biennially.

b)made at least monthly.

c)published in The Changing Daily.

Part 4. Read Passage 4 and answer Questions 51-60.

Passage 4

Can a Former Drop-Out Save New York's Schools

Fergus Bordewich From Readers Digest

1990:10 (adapted)

There' s a story that tells about Joe Fernandez in Miami. After he became superintendent of the Dade county schools in 1987, he made a surprise visit to a school in a poor neighborhood. Trash filled the schoolyard, and broken windows were everywhere. Inside, the stench of dirty toilets radiated through the school. Fernandez pushed open the principal's door to find him watching a soap opera. 'Pick up and get out of here!' Fernandez barked.

That was Friday. By Saturday afternoon workmen were fixing windows, mowing grass and painting halls. And by Tuesday there was a new principal.

Last January, Fernandez took charge of the biggest and perhaps most troubled school system in the nation. He became New York City's Chancellor of Public Schools. Once New York's public schools were regarded as the best in the nation. But now basic education has sunk so low that the New York Telephone company recently had to test 57,000 people to find just 2100 who were qualified to become operators and repair technicians.

'We're failing to prepare kids. ' Fernandez says.

Can Fernandez beat the odds against him? The sheer size of the New York system is overwhelming: nearly 1000 schools and 937,000 students, of whom 80 percent are black or Hispanic and one third live below the poverty line. Over half the public school students are reading below grade level, in some schools more than 80 percent. At least 30 per cent will never graduate.

Undaunted, Fernandez hit the streets of New York running. Within a few weeks, he had eliminated 14 departments and about 400 jobs at headquarters. In less than two months he had removed two district superintendents and three more principals, in addition to.pushing for a stronger role for himself in the selection of superintendents.

Ironically, Fernandez dropped out of school at 16, and joined a gang, himself. The Air Force was his escape. In it, he earned a high school equivalency diploma. He eventually worked his way through the University of Miami as a postman and a milkman.

He became a high school teacher in 1963, and chairman of the math department. By 1975, he was a principal. In 1985, he became a doctor of education. In 1987 he became superintendent of the nation's fourth largest school system.

Questions 51-60. Use words or short answers to complete the blanks in this summary of the material in passage 4. Your answers should be as brief as possible but they should cover the