2015考研英阅读理解精读P6—教育学.docVIP

2015考研英语阅读理解精读P6—教育学 　　Passage 6 　　Amy High is decked out in the traditional pink dress and golden stole of ancient Rome. She bursts into a third-grade classroom and greets her students: Salvete, omnes! (Hello, everyone!) The kids respond in kind, and soon they are studying derivatives. How many people are in a duet? High asks. All the kids know the answer, and when she asks how they know, a boy responds, Because duo is two in Latin. High replies, Plaudite! and the 14 kids erupt in applause. They learn the Latin root later, or side, and construct such English words as bilateral and quadrilateral. Latins going to open up so many doors for you, High says. Youre going to be able to figure out the meaning of words youve never seen before. 　　High teaches at Providence Elementary School in Fairfax City, Va., which has a lot riding on the success of her efforts. As part of Virginias high-stakes testing program, schools that dont boost their scores by the year 2007 could lose state funding. So Fairfax City, just 18 miles southwest of the White House, has upgraded its two crumbling elementary schools with new high-tech television studios, computer labs and one very old feature--mandatory Latin. 　　Here lies one of the more counterintuitive developments of the standardized-testing movement: Though some critics complain that teachers are forced to dumb down their lessons and teach to the test, some schools are offering more challenging course work as a way of engaging students. In the past three years, scores of elementary schools in high-stakes testing states such as Texas, Virginia and Massachusetts have added Latin programs. Says Allen Griffith, a member of the Fairfax City school board: If were trying to improve English skills, teaching Latin is an awfully effective, proved method. 　　This is not your fathers Latin, which was taught to elite college-bound high schoolers and drilled into them through memorization. Its tedium and perceived irrelevance almost drove Latin from