poorly in international educational tests, coming behind Asian countries that spend less on education but work their children harder. California's state universities have to send over a third of their entering class to take remedial courses in English and maths. At least a third of successful PhD students come from abroad.
A growing number of politicians are waking up to the problem. These politicians have no shortage of evidence that America's poor educational performance is weakening its economy. A recent report argues that the lagging performance of American pupils, particularly its poor and ethnic minority children, has caused more destruction on the economy than the current recession.
61.What is the passage mainly about?
A) American education principles. B) American education condition. C) American education perspective. D) American education background.
正确答案为 B 你没有作答。 解析：
文章首先提出了美国孩子们每学年的上课时间是最少的，而且他们每天的上课时间也是最短的；随后又提到这种教育条件使得美国的孩子在一些国际竞赛的成绩落后于其他国家的孩子；文章的最后又提到越来越多的政治家们已经意识到这个问题的严重性，由此可以综合分析出，文章主要是介绍目前美国的教育情况的，所以选B。
62.What can be inferred about American children according to the passage?
A) American kids have only 11 school years, less than those in OECD countries. B) American kids have shorter school days, but more homework, which surprises the Japanese and Chinese.
C) American kids enjoy the long summer vacation but only richer children work hard during the school time.
D) American kids are less competitive than those from other countries in international educational tests.
正确答案为 D 你没有作答。 解析：
文章第四段中提到教育也使得美国的孩子在竞争中显得装备不足。他们通常在国际教育竞赛中表现不佳，落后于教育投入低，但对小孩严格要求的亚洲国家（The education is also leaving American children ill-equipped to compete. They usually perform poorly in international educational tests, coming behind Asian countries that spend less on education but work their children harder），选项D符合文章原意，所以选D。
63.Which of the following may best interpret \
A) exaggerating
B) understating C) worsening D) overstating
正确答案为 C 你没有作答。 解析：
回答此问题需要对下文加以理解分析，文章第三段中提到因此，贫困的孩子也经常更容易产生学习损耗。他们普遍在阅读方面落后两个月的水平。而富裕的孩子则更能提高他们的成绩（Consequently, poorer children are particularly prone to learning loss. They fall behind by an average of over two months in their reading. Richer children actually improve their performance），由此可以分析出，词语所在的句子表示的是在这种教育条件下，这种社会的不平等是越来越严重的，因此exacerbating与worsening的意思相同，均表示“使……加重”，所以选C。
64.Who may suffer from the \
A) American teachers. B) Poor American children. C) Rich American children.
D) Kids from all American families, either rich or poor.
正确答案为 B 你没有作答。 解析：
文章第三段中提到因此，贫困的孩子也经常更容易产生学习损耗（Consequently, poorer children are particularly prone to learning loss），由此不难得出答案，所以选B。 65.Which of the following can we learn from the passage?
A) The short school hours bring more chances to American richer kids to compete on the globe.
B) The short school hours have caused the lagging performance of all American pupils. C) The economic crisis in the US has exerted less effect on its economy than on its educational performance.
D) Some American universities have to help students to make up for their summer learning loss.
正确答案为 B 你没有作答。 解析：
文章最后一段中提到最近一份报告称，美国学生落后的学业，尤其是来自贫困家庭和少数民族家庭的孩子，比当前的衰退对经济发展的破坏更大（A recent report argues that the lagging performance of American pupils, particularly its poor and ethnic minority children, has caused more destruction on the economy than the current recession），由此可以的得出，文章最后一段主要说明美国孩子们上课时间少所造成的不良后果，即导致了他们的学业落后，选项B符合文章原意，所以选B。