提高阅读能力专项练习
本文为各位同学准备了一篇题，希望同学们在练习中不断提高阅读能力，取得优异的阅读成绩。
We might marvel at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person s knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to device anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For all the pious claim that examinations text what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person s true ability and aptitude.
As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the mark of success of failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn t matter that you weren t feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don t count: the exam goes on. No one can give of his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of vicious competition where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of drop-outs : young people who are written off as utter failures before they have even embarked on a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?