考研英语核心词汇总结(2018英语二Text1)

2018英语二Text1

It is curious that Stephen Koziatek feels almost as though he has to justify1 his efforts to give

his students a better future.

Mr. Koziatek is part of something pioneering2. He is a teacher at a New Hampshire high

school where learning is not something of books and tests and mechanical memorization3, but

practical4. When did it become accepted wisdom that students should be able to name the 13th

president of the United States but be utterly5 overwhelmed by a broken bike Chain6?

As Koziatek know, there is learning in just about everything. Nothing is necessarily gained

by forcing students to learn geometry7 at a graffitied desk8 stuck with generations of discarded

chewing gum9. They can also learn geometry by assembling10 a bicycle.

But he’s also found a kind of insidious prejudice11. Working with your hands is seen as

almost a mark of inferiority12. School in the family of vocational education13 “have that

hat it’s for kids who can’t make it academically,” he says.

On one hand, that viewpoint is a logical product of America’s evolution. Manufacturing is

not the economic engine that it once was. The job security that the US economy once offered to

high school graduates has largely evaporated14. More education is the new principle15. We want

more for our kids, and rightfully so16.

But the headlong push into bachelor’s degrees for all—and the subtle devaluing17 of anything

less—misses an important point: That’s not the only thing the American economy needs. Yes, a

bachelor’s degree opens more doors. But even now,54 percent of the jobs in the country are

middle-skill jobs, such as construction and high-skill manufacturing. But only 44 percent of

workers are adequately18 trained.

In other words, at a time when the working class has turned the country on its political head,

frustrated that the opportunity that once defined America is vanishing, one obvious solution is

staring us in the face. There is a gap in working-class jobs, but the workers who need those jobs

most aren’t equipped19 to do them. Koziatek’s Manchester School of Technology High School is

trying to fill that gap.

Koziatek’s school is a wake-up call. When education becomes one-size-fits-all, it risks

overlooking a nation’s diversity20 of gifts.

21. A broken bike chain is mentioned to show students’ lack of ________.

A. academic training

B. practical ability

C. pioneering spirit

D. mechanical memorization

22. There exists the prejudice that vocational education is for kids who ________.

A. have a stereotyped mind

B. have no career motivation

C. are financially disadvantaged

D. are not academically successful

23. We can infer from Paragraph 5 that high school graduates ________.

A. used to have more job opportunities

B. used to have big financial concerns21

C. are entitled to22 more educational privileges

D. are reluctant to work in manufacturing

24. The headlong push into bachelors degrees for all ________.

A. helps create a lot of middle-skill jobs

B. may narrow the gap in working-class jobs

C. indicates the overvaluing23 of higher education

D. is expected to yield24 a better-trained workforce

25. The author’s attitude toward Koziatek’s school can be described as ________.

A. tolerant

B. cautious

C. supportive

D. disappointed

【干货笔记】

1. justify v. 证明；为…辩护

2. pioneer n. 先锋；先驱者；工兵；创始人；拓荒者

v. 开拓；开辟

Young Pioneers 少先队员

pioneering adj.先驱的；开创的

3. mechanical memorization 机械记忆

4. practical adv. 实际的，实用的

5. utterly adv.完全彻底地；全然；绝对

6. broken bike Chain 坏掉的自行车链

7. geometry n. 几何学

8. graffitied desk 涂鸦桌

9. discarded chewing gum

10. assemble

废弃的口香糖

v.集合；收集；装配

11. insidious prejudice 阴险的偏见

12. inferiority n.自卑；低劣的，劣等的

13. vocation n. 职业

vocational adj. 职业的

vocational education 职业教育

14. evaporate v. 蒸发；失去水分；消失

15. principle n. 原则；原理

16. rightfully so 理应如此

17. devaluing v. 使(货币)贬值( devalue的现在分词)；降低

18. adequately adv. 适当地；充分地

19. equipped

20. diversity

v. 装备；整装；预备

n. 多样化,（人在种族、民族、宗教等方面的）多样性；差异；分歧

diverse adj. 多样的

diversify v. 使变化；使…多样化

21. financial concerns 财政问题

22. be entitled to… 有权…；有资格…

23. overvaluing 高估

24. yield v. 屈服；生产；获利 n. 投资收益；生产量