Rarely have I experienced a reaction like that which came about following the idea of banning private education. One of those who contacted me to disagree with the idea was 17 year old Anirudh Mandagere. He got 10 A*s at GCSE and is currently studying English, French, Math and History at a private school in Manchester. Here is his response:

For me, the idea that all private schools should be banned is not only ridiculous and unrealistic, but goes against the idea of liberty. We must have the freedom to choose between state-funded and privately educated schools. If parents pay taxes, surely they should be able to choose whether they send their children to a state-funded or a privately-funded school.

The economic impacts of abolishing private education are vast. Banning private schools would obviously contribute to a great transfer to state schools. Many state schools are already overburdened; do they really need more pupils? Abolishing private education would lead to higher taxes for taxpayers since more money would be needed to educate the 7% who were previously private educated. In the times of economic crisis, should the taxpayer need to fork out more money to pay for their education? There would also be a great rise in unemployment of the staff who works at private schools.

It is noted that, in general, private schools have better grades at GCSE and A level than state schools. Yet, why do people view this as a bad thing? The higher private school grades eventually force the government to endlessly improve state education so that the middle-classes do not totally abandon state education for private education. This competition creates reform and progress within state schools and eventually promote them! If the private schools did not exist, where would be the impetus for state school improvement?

Government should not simply ban a system which produces results. It should learn from it and use the private education model as a basis for the state education model. Abolishing a successful system will not help anybody, learning from a successful system will.

1.In the eye of Anirudh Mandagere, parents have the right to ______.

A. criticize state-funded schools

B. pay taxes for the promotion of private schools

C. choose the way their children receive education

D. advocate the competition between state schools and private ones

2.According to the passage, banning private education will ______.

A. obviously contribute to lower taxes

B. not cause the state schools to be overburdened

C. force the government to boost state education

D. lead to many people losing their jobs 

3.The underlined word “impetus” in the fourth paragraph probably means ______.

A. motivation         B. prevention         C. participation       D. assessment

4.Compared with state schools, private ones ______.

A. educate a little fewer students                B. conduct better than all state ones

C. are better received by the public             D. are more competitive on the whole

5.Which of the following statements will Anirudh Mandagere agree with?

A. His wonderful performance results from the education his private school offers.

B. Without the existence of private schools, state ones wouldn’t get improved much.

C. Private education is a good system to make students successful in life.

D. Private schools are supposed to be sponsored more than state ones.

 

No matter where he lives, 16-year-old Danny Lopez feels like an outsider: he is half-Mexican and half-white.

    At his private high school in wealthy northern San Diego, California, US, Lopez is too brown to fit in, whereas for the Mexican side of his family in National City, just a dozen miles from the border, he is too white to belong.

    Different from both sides, Lopez is silent in school. He focuses on his passion for baseball and working hard to improve the pitches (球场) that have kept him off the school team.

    Mexican Whiteboy, by Matt de la Pena, is about a teenager’s search for identity. It was named as one of the Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults in 2009 by the US Young Adult Library Services Association.

    When Lopez’s mother decides to go to live with her wealthy white boyfriend in San Francisco, he chooses to spend the summer with his father’s family in San Diego. It’s a trip to explore roots and self-identity, filled with unexpected friendship.

    There he meets Uno, of mixed heritage (遗传) like himself, also with a divorced mom. Uno understands Danny’s split background and helps him improve his baseball skills. Both boys have big league dreams, but they both have to learn to come to terms with their mixed heritages before they can achieve their goals.

    Aside from discussions of racism, Mexican Whiteboy takes on other issues, such as the importance of family and the negative influence of hiding the truth. It also shows how sports can draw cultures together.

1.The reason why Lopez feels like an outsider lies in the fact that ___________.

A. he is a Mexican                                             B. he lives in San Diego

C. he is half-white and half-Mexican            D. he studies in a private school

2.Most probably “Mexican Whiteboy” is a ____________.

A. book                 B. club               C. newspaper           D. organization

3.When Lopez found it is hard for him to fit in, he ____________.

A. starts writing a book about himself

B. begins to look for identity with the help of Mexican Whiteboy

C. loses his interest in baseball

D. works in the fields in which he was kept off the school team

4.Lopez and Uno have a lot in common except that ____________.

A. they both have a divorced mom

B. they both have mixed heritage

C. they were both in the school baseball team

D. both of them have big league dreams

 

完形填空（共20小题，每小题1分，满分20分）

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing his father could well  41  it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs  42  his father had bought the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private   43  . His father told him how   44   he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He   45   his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but   46   disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man’s   47   embossed (压印浮凸)in gold.

Angrily, he   48   his voice to his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible（圣经）?" He then stormed out of the house,   49  the Bible.

Many years  50   and the young man was very   51  in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realizing his father was very   52  , he thought perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since that graduation day.   53  he could make the arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had   54  , and willed all of his possessions to his  55  . He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and   56   filled his heart. He began to search through his father’s important papers and saw the   57   new Bible, just as he had left it years ago.

With   58  , he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he was reading, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name, the   59  dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the word “PAID IN FULL”.

How many times do we miss blessings   60   they are not packaged as we expected? What may appear as bad fortune may in fact be the door that is just waiting to be opened.

41. A. buy                    B. afford                      C. make                       D. pay

42. A. that                    B. which                     C. what                       D. where

43. A. house                 B. office                     C. study                     D. car

44. A. proud                 B. hopeful                  C. eager                     D. anxious

45. A. showed            B. handed                 C. brought                    D. provided

46. A. anyway               B. somewhat                 C. somehow               D. somewhere

47. A. number               B. hand                     C. hair                        D. name

48. A. risen                   B. rose                       C. arose                    D. raised

49. A. leaving               B. left                          C. leave                        D. to leave

50. A. past                 B. passed                   C. went                     D. flied

51. A. satisfied                     B. busy                     C. successful                D. lucky

52. A. old                            B. selfish                      C. mean                       D. lonely

53. A. After               B. When                    C. Before                         D. Since

54. A. passed by            B. passed away           C. passed down             D. passed out

55. A. daughter       B. son                          C. grandson                  D. wife

56. A. regret                 B. anger                    C. disappointment         D. annoyance

57. A. even                   B. also                         C. still                      D. yet

58. A. smiles                 B. tears                      C. hearts                    D. glasses

59. A. same                  B. different                   C. familiar                    D. similar

60. A. before              B. if                             C. though                          D. because

Rarely have I experienced a reaction like that which came about following the idea of banning private education. One of those who contacted me to disagree with the idea was 17 year old Anirudh Mandagere. He got 10 A*s at GCSE and is currently studying English, French, Math and History at a private school in Manchester. Here is his response:

For me, the idea that all private schools should be banned is not only ridiculous and unrealistic, but goes against the idea of liberty. We must have the freedom to choose between state-funded and privately educated schools. If parents pay taxes, surely they should be able to choose whether they send their children to a state-funded or a privately-funded school.

The economic impacts of abolishing private education are vast. Banning private schools would obviously contribute to a great transfer to state schools. Many state schools are already overburdened; do they really need more pupils? Abolishing private education would lead to higher taxes for taxpayers since more money would be needed to educate the 7% who were previously private educated. In the times of economic crisis, should the taxpayer need to fork out more money to pay for their education? There would also be a great rise in unemployment of the staff who works at private schools.

It is noted that, in general, private schools have better grades at GCSE and A level than state schools. Yet, why do people view this as a bad thing? The higher private school grades eventually force the government to endlessly improve state education so that the middle-classes do not totally abandon state education for private education. This competition creates reform and progress within state schools and eventually promote them! If the private schools did not exist, where would be the impetus for state school improvement?

Government should not simply ban a system which produces results. It should learn from it and use the private education model as a basis for the state education model. Abolishing a successful system will not help anybody, learning from a successful system will.

In the eye of Anirudh Mandagere, parents have the right to ______.

A. criticize state-funded schools

B. pay taxes for the promotion of private schools

C. choose the way their children receive education

D. advocate the competition between state schools and private ones

According to the passage, banning private education will ______.

A. obviously contribute to lower taxes

B. not cause the state schools to be overburdened

C. force the government to boost state education

D. lead to many people losing their jobs 

The underlined word “impetus” in the fourth paragraph probably means ______.

A. motivation         B. prevention         C. participation       D. assessment

Compared with state schools, private ones ______.

A. educate a little fewer students                B. conduct better than all state ones

C. are better received by the public             D. are more competitive on the whole

Which of the following statements will Anirudh Mandagere agree with?

A. His wonderful performance results from the education his private school offers.

B. Without the existence of private schools, state ones wouldn’t get improved much.

C. Private education is a good system to make students successful in life.

D. Private schools are supposed to be sponsored more than state ones.