2015年6月大学英语六级模拟试题(2)

　　根据下面材料，回答47-56题。

　　German’s Education System

　　[A]Germany invented the modern university but long ago lost its leading position to other countries，especially America.These days the land of poets and thinkers is prouder of its“dualsystem”for training skilled workers such as bakers and electricians.Teenagers not bound foruniversity apply for places in three—year programmes combining classroom learning with practicalexperience within companies.The direct benefit is superior German quality in haircuts as well ascars.Dual training"is the reason we’re the world export champion”，says Mrs Schavan，the education minister.Azubis(trainees)acquire not just a professional qualification but an identity.

　　[B]But the dual system is under pressure.The number of places offered by companies has long beenfalling short of the number of applicants. Almost as many youngsters move into a“transitionalsystem”，a grab-bag of remedial education programs designed to prepare them for the dual system oranother qualification.Often it turns out to be a dead end，especially for male immigrants.Andgiven that Germany produces far fewer university graduates than many comparable countries.somewonder whether the dual system is producing the right qualifications for the knowledge—basedprofessions of the future.

　　[C]The system is governed by a consortium(协会)representing almost everyone who counts：the federaland state governments.the chambers of conunerce and the unions.It regulates access t0 350 narrowlydefined trades.You can train to become a goldsmith，or if you want to manage a McDonald’s youlearn Systemgastronomie. Baking bread and pastries(糕点)are separate disciplines.Schools outside the system may not train Azubis for a reserved trade.

　　[D]It makes sense to combine theory and practice，says Here Solga of the Social Science ResearchCentre in Berlin。but the dual system is rigid and discriminatory.And because the trades ale sospecialized.getting a job at the end can be hard.In 2005 more than a third of graduates wereunemployed a year after completing their course.Once a scholar,always a scholar

　　[E]The type of secondary school a German attends，the degree he obtains and the exams he passesclassify him for life.The differentiations are made earlier and more rigidly than in othercountries. Many children are typecast(定型)at age ten，which is when most German states decide which of threekinds of secondary school he or she will attend.Traditionally the Hauptschulen。the lowesttier，were the main suppliers of recruits to the dual training system，but they gradually becamedumping grounds for children who could not keep up.Upon leaving(sometimes without passing the finalexanl).nearly 40% of these students find themselves in the precarious transitional system.Thedual system now draws its intake mainly from the middle—grade Realschulen，the traditional trainingground for white—collar workers，and even Gymnasien(grammar schools)，the main route touniversity.

　　[F]The state bureaucracy acknowledges four career paths：the simple，middle，elevated and higherservices.Bureaucrats in one category can rarely be ambitions to careers.Teachers in Gynumsieneajoy a higher status than those at other schools，and have their own trade union，the grandly namedPhilologenverband.A Meisterbrief，the highest vocational credent/a/(证书)，is not just a badge ofcompetence but in some trades a keep-off sign to competitors.

　　[G]Germans are now asking themselves whether this way of doing things is fair，and whether it isworking.Although income is distributed relatively equally，opportunity is not.“Germany is one ofthe most rigid among the relatively advanced societies，”says Karl Ulrich Mayer，a sociologist atYale University.But social exclusiveness has not produced excellence.The 2001“PISA shock”一a setof OECD figures which.revealed that German 15一year-olds scored in the bottom third among schoolchildren from 32 countries in tests of reading and maths has not worn off.Overall.Genuany’sperformance remains mediocre。 More than a fifth of 15-year-olds cannot read.or calculateproperly;8%of teenagers drop out of school.A war of ideoiogies

　　[H] There is“no consensus on the content and goals of education”。says Mrs Schavan.The argumentsextend from primary schools to universities and are as much about tradition and status as aboutlearning.Many Germans are to scrap a system so closely identified with the country’s economic andcultural success.

　　[I]A controversy now raging m Hamburg，a port city and one of Germany’s smallest states，illustrates the strife.In 2008 the Christian Democrats，normally champions of the threetier high school system，formed their first state level coalition with the left leaning GreenParty.The Greens won agreement for a radical school reform，mainly by extending primary schooling(and thus shortening secondary schooling)by two years.The idea was that if streaming children by ability：is done later，the slower ones will have a better chance of doing well and thebrighter ones will at least fare no worse.

　　[J]Middle.class parents of Gymnasium bound children rebelled.The“Gucci protesters”collected morethan enough signatures to get the reform put to a referendum.The.parents fear that their childrenwill be dragged down by academic laggards in the name of social justice，although such evidence asis available points in the opposite direction.

　　[K]Almost any education reform offends somebody.In a move to strengthen federalism in 2006，thefederal government was banned from investing ill areas reserved for the l6 states(includingeducation)，which makes serious reform even harder.Progress is halting but the direction is clear：the system is being streamlined，schools are being made more accountable and the hierarchy isbecoming less rigid.

　　[L] The 2001 PISA results，which not only compared Germany with other countries but individualGerman states with each other。put state education ministers under pressure.Both states and thefederal government are sharpening their instruments for measuring schoois’performance.Starting in2005. the states for the first time submitted to binding quality standards for secondary schools.

　　[M]’the universities are embroiled in a row of their own.They have given up the revered Diplom tocomply with Europe’s Bologna process，which mandates(mostly shorter)bachelor's and master’sdegrees.This is meant to make German system compatible with others in Europe(and encourage students to move arounD.，and to award more useful degrees.Hard core traditionalists oppose thereform in principle，but the main objections are its sometimes sloppy implementation and the scantresources available to universities in general.

　　47The direct benefit for German from也e“dual system”is that all products are of good quaiity.

　　48Meisterbrief acknowledged by the state bureauracy is a highest certification and a sign ofstatus.

　　49The controversial dual system has a privilege of controlling the access of 350 defined trades.

　　50According to Heike Solga，the dual system lacks flexibility and shows prejudice.

　　51Education reforms should be promoted by skills of hand.

　　52In Germany.children attending Gymnasien can be classified for a promising life.

　　53The comparisons of PISA results between countries and states result in binding quality standardsfor secondary schools.

　　54The rigid class social system produced commonplace talents.

　　55The aim of the universities reform in Germany is not only to award useful degrees.but makeGerman system compatible with European ones

　　56The controversy raging in Hamburg focuses on extending primary schooling