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考研英语阅读理解是重头戏，分值大，比重高，考生在复习总也要多做练习，提高阅读速度和做题技巧。下面新东方在线小编份上2015考研英语阅读理解强化练习及解析希望考生先做练习后看解析，多思考总结，提高自己的阅读水平。》》点击查看：2015年考研英语复习指导专题
2015考研英语阅读理解强化练习及解析（6）
Americans today don’t place avery high value on intellect. Our heroes are
athletes, entertainers, andentrepreneurs, not scholars. Even our schools are
where we send our children toget a practical education—not to pursue knowledge
for the sake of knowledge. Symptoms ofpervasive anti-intellectualism in our
schools aren’t difficultto find。
“Schools havealways been in a society where practical is more important
than intellectual,”sayseducation writer Diane Ravitch. “Schools could be a
counterbalance。” Ravitch’s latestbock, Left Back: A Century of Failed School
Reforms, traces the roots ofanti-intellectualism in our schools, concluding they
are anything but acounterbalance to the American distaste for intellectual
pursuits。
But they could and should be. Encouraging kids to reject the lifeof the
mind leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and control. Without theability to
think critically, to defend their ideas and understand the ideas ofothers, they
cannot fully participate in our democracy. Continuing along thispath, says
writer Earl Shorris,“We will become a second-rate country. We will have a less
civilsociety。”
“Intellect isresented as a form of power or privilege,”writes historian
andprofessor Richard Hofstadter in Anti-Intellectualism in American Life,
aPulitzer Prize winning book on the roots of anti-intellectualism in USpolitics,
religion, and education. From the beginning of our history, saysHofstadter, our
democratic and populist urges have driven us to reject anythingthat smells of
elitism. Practicality, common sense, and native intelligencehave been considered
more noble qualities than anything you could learn from abook。
Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalist philosophersthought
schooling and rigorous book learning put unnatural restraints onchildren: “We
are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for 10 or 15years and come
out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing。”Mark
Twain’sHuckleberry Finn exemplified American anti-intellectualism. Its hero
avoidsbeing civilized—going to school and learning to read—so he can preservehis
innate goodness。
Intellect, according to Hofstadter, is different from nativeintelligence, a
quality we reluctantly admire. Intellect is the critical,creative, and
contemplative side of the mind. Intelligence seeks to grasp,manipulate,
re-order, and adjust, while intellect examines, ponders, wonders,theorizes,
criticizes and imagines。
School remains a place where intellect is mistrusted. Hofstadtersays our
country’s educational system is in the grips of people who “joyfully
andmilitantly proclaim their hostility to intellect and their eagerness
toidentify with children who show the least intellectual promise。”
36. What do American parents expect their children to acquire inschool?
[A] The habit of thinking independently。
[B] Profound knowledge of the world。
[C] Practical abilities for future career。
[D] The confidence in intellectual pursuits。
37. We can learn from the text that Americans have a history of
[A] undervaluing intellect。
[B] favoring intellectualism。
[C] supporting school reform。
[D] suppressing native intelligence。
38. The views of Ravish and Emerson on schooling are
[A] identical.
[B] similar.
[C] complementary.
[D] opposite。
39. Emerson, according to the text, is probably
[A] a pioneer of education reform.
[B] an opponent of intellectualism。
[C] a scholar in favor of intellect.
[D] an advocate of regular schooling。
40. What does the author think of intellect?
[A] It is second to intelligence.
[B] It evolves from common sense。
[C] It is to be pursued.
[D] It underlies power。
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发表于 2017-8-6 15:53:20