Passage Three The standardized educational or psychological tests, which are widely used to aid in selecting, assigning or promoting students, employees and military personnel, have been the target of recent attacks in books, magazines, the daily press, and even in Congress. The target is wrong, for, in attacking the tests, critics divert attention from the fault that lies with ill-informed or incompetent users. The tests themselves are merely tools. Whether the results will be valuable, meaningless, or even misleading depends partly upon the tool itself but largely upon the user. All informed predictions of future performance are based upon some knowledge of relevant past performance. How well the predictions will be validated by later performance depends upon the amount, reliability and appropriateness of the information used and on the skill and wisdom with which it is interpreted. Anyone who keeps careful score knows that the information available is always incomplete and that the predictions are always subject to error. Standardized tests should be considered in this context: they provide a quick, objective method of getting some kind of information about what a person has learned, the skills he has developed, or the kind of person he is. The information so obtained has, qualitatively, the same advantages and shortcomings as other kinds of information. Whether to use tests, other kinds of information, or both in a particular situation depends, therefore, upon the empirical evidence concerning comparative validity and upon such factors as cost and availability. In general, the tests work most effectively when the traits or qualities to be measured can be most precisely defined (for example, ability to do well in a particular course of training program) and least effectively when what is to be measured or predicted cannot be well defined, for example, personality or creativity. Properly used, they provide a rapid means of getting comparable information about many people. Sometimes they identify students whose high potential has not been previously recognized.
The author’s attitude toward standardized tests could be described as _______. A. positive B. critical C. prejudiced D. indifferent.
ID：9121-12371（本题为引用材料试题，请根据材料回答以下问题） If children have flu-like symptoms, their parents ________. A. are advised not to give them aspirin B. should watch out for signs of Reye syndrome C. are encouraged to take them to hospital for vaccination D. should prevent them from mixing with people running a fever
ID：9121-12131（本题为引用材料试题，请根据材料回答以下问题） What tends to tarnish with time? A. The reputation a person has. B. A high degree of moral virtue. C. A person’s accomplishments. D. Honor that is undeserved.
ID：9121-11832 A transformation is occurring that should greatly __1__ living standards in the developing world. Places that __2__ recently were deaf and dumb are rapidly acquiring __3__ telecommunications. Many developing countries are planning to invest vast sums of money __4__ their telecommunications networks to allow them to __5__ with developed countries. They believe this will __6__ foreign and domestic investment. However, how fast these nations should push __7__ is a matter of debate. And some developing countries __8__ experience in weighing costs and choosing between technologies. Vietnam, __9__ particular, though desperate for any phones, requires that all mobile phones be expensive digital models. Still, there is __10__ dispute that communications will be a key factor __11__ the winners from the losers. Over the next decade, China plans to pour some $100 billion into telecommunications equipment. Telecommunications is also a key __12__ Shanghai’s ambition of becoming a top financial center. Shanghai plans to be as electronically advanced __13__ New York. __14__, some other developing countries and areas such as Hungary, Latin America, and Thailand are all hoping to jump into the modern world __15__ means of telecommunication revolution. For countries that have lagged __16__ for so long, the temptation to move ahead in one jump is hard to __17__. And __18__ the mistakes they’ll make, they’ll persist ―__19__ day they can cruise alongside Americans and Western Europeans __20__ the information superhighway. 4 A in B for C on D at
