A new analysis of federal money that public schools receive for low-income students shows that a record number of the nation’s school districts will receive less in the coming academic year than they did for theone just ended.
For the 2005-2006 school year, spending under the Department of Education’s Title I program, which helps low-achieving children in high-poverty areas, is increasing by 3.2 percent, to $12.6 billion. But because of population shifts, growing numbers of poor children, newer census data and complex formulas that determine how the money is divided, more than two-thirds of the districts, or 8,843, will not receive as much financing as before.
The analysis, based on data from the department, was made by the Center on Education Policy, a group advocating for public schools. A similar study by the group last year showed that 55 percent of the schools would receive less money than they did in the previous year.
“It’s an alarming number,” said Tom Fagan, a former department official who conducted the analysis. “It’s clear that the amount of overall increase is not keeping pace with the number of poor kids.”
Susan Aspey, a department spokeswoman, defended the spending levels for Title I，saying, “President Bush and Congress have invested record amounts of funding to help the nation’s neediest students.”
But Mr. Fagan said the increasing number of districts that are losing money is making it harder for the schools to meet the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the Bush administration’s signature education program, which measures progress through annual tests in math, reading and science. That is giving critics of the program more grounds to accuse the administration of not sufficiently financing the program while demanding greater results.
Title I provides the largest component of financing for No Child Left Behind.
“The federal government is concentrating more money in fewer districts," said John F. Jennings, the president and chief executive of the Center on Education Policy. “It means there is lots of anger and lots of tension. They’re asking us to do more and more with less and less.”
練習題：
Choose correct answers to the question:
it is indicated in the passage, the new analysis _____.
ied the federal money spent on low-income students
d at promoting the establishment of more public schools
ed that about half the schools would receive less money
conducted by the Department of Education’s Title I program
h of the following factors does NOT lead to the result that more than two-thirds of thedistricts will get more poorly financed?
le often move from one place to another.
e are more children from poor families.
way of distributing money has changed.
ding under the Title I program decreased.
n Aspey looks at the funding by the government with _______.
icism
ent
fference
ctation
rding to Tom Fagan, ______.
government has done its best to finance the poor children
goals of No Child Left Behind Act are difficult to realize
way of measuring progress by annual tests should be changed
Bush government shouldn’t have approved the Title I program
the government concentrates more money in fewer districts, _____.
poor children will get benefited
public schools will have to be closed
will arouse more people’s dissatisfaction
Child Left Behind Act will be realized sooner
1.[A] 事實細節題。本題考査對長句的理解。從第1段首句中的“…of…”這一結構可知這個最新分析是要研究聯邦政府資金問題的。所以排除B。由第3段第1句可知這項最新分析是由the Center on Education Policy 進行的，因此排除選項D。根據第3段最後一句，選項C中show的行為主體應為similar study。
2.[D] 事實細節題。本題考查因果關係。第2段第2句指出有三個原因造成超過2/3的地區得到的資金減少，選項A、B、C是對這三個原因的近義改寫，但其中選項C與原句的形式分別最大，容易造成誤選。
3.[B] 觀點態度題。本題考查文人物的觀點。蘇珊·阿斯貝的觀點態度只能從第5段推斷出，從這一段中的`defended和record amount of funding可知她對教育部的撥款數是認同的。選項A和C都是貶義詞，不可 能表達她的觀點;選項D雖是褒義詞,但蘇珊是在陳述已發生的事實，而不是發表對教育部的期望。
4.[B] 推理判斷題。本題考查對複合句的理解。由文中第6段第1句中的harder... to meet...可知選項B正確。選項C最具干擾性，要排除這個干擾，關鍵是要理解第6段第1句中由which引導的非限制性定語從句的作 用。這個從句是對前面“the Bush administration’s signature education program”的附加事實資訊，不屬於湯姆·法甘的看法。
5.[C] 推理判斷題。根據第6段第1句可知選項A和D與事實不符。最後一段倒數第2句中的anger和tension兩詞，可推斷人們對此表示不滿。
四級英語閱讀練習2Sleep is part of a person's daily activity cycle. There are several different stages of sleep, and they too occur in cycles. If you are an average sleeper, your sleep cycle is as follows. When you first drift off into slumber (安睡), your eyes will roll about a bit, your temperature will drop slightly, your muscles will relax, and your breathing were slow and become quite regular. Your brain waves slow down a bit too, with the alpha rhythm of rather fast waves predominating for the first few minutes. This is called stage 1 sleep. For the next half hour or so, as you relax more and more, you will drift down through stage 2 and stage 3 sleep. The lower your stage of sleep, the slower your brain waves will be. Then about 40 to 60 minutes after you lose consciousness you will have reached the deepest sleep of all. Your brain waves will show the large slow waves that are known as the delta rhythm. This is stage 4 sleep.
You do not remain at this deep fourth stage all night long, but instead about 80 minutes after you fall into slumber, your brain activity level will increase again slightly. The delta rhythm will disappear, to be replaced by the activity pattern of brain waves. Your eyes will begin to dart around under your closed eyelids (眼皮) as if you were looking at something occurring in front of you. This period of rapid eye movement lasts for some 8 to 15 minutes and is called REM sleep. It is during REM sleep period, your body will soon relax again, your breathing will grow slow and regular once more, and you will slip gently back from stage 1 to stage 4 sleep — only to rise once again to the surface of near consciousness some 80 minutes later.
stages of sleep take on ____.
A) an irregular aspect. B) a regular aspect C) a punctual aspect D) a similar aspect
e 4 sleep lasts ____.
A) about 80 minutes
B) about 40 60 minutes
C) about 30 munutes
D) about 20 40 minutes
brain waves are the slowest during ____.
A) stage 1 C) stage 4 B) stage 2 and stage 3 D) REM sleep
the second paragraph the word “dart” means ____.
A) glare B) move rapidly or suddenly C) stop moving D) gaze
of the features of REM sleep is that ____.
A) there are large slow waves, though rapid for the first few minutes
B) you have the deepest sleep
C) there are no brain waves
D) the brain waves are a little fast and the brain becomes a little active
參考答案：
26.答案B。文章的第二句告訴我們睡眠的不同階段是週期性發生的，故睡眠的各階段呈現規則的一面。
27.答案D。根據文章可知一個睡眠週期大約是 80分鐘，而stage 4 sleep是睡眠的最後階段，它發生在入睡後大約40至60分鐘時，據此可推出stage 4 sleep持續20至40分鐘。
28.答案C。文章第一段倒數第四句說“睡得越深，腦電波就越慢”，而 stage 4 sleep 是睡得最深的，故腦電波也是最慢的。
29.答案B。dart的後文說“眼睛好像看著發生在眼前的事”，又說“這種快速移動眼睛的階段叫 REM sleep”，據此可知dart意為move quickly or suddenly(飛快地移動)。glare怒目而視;gaze凝視。
30.答案D。從第二段第一、二句可知大腦運動水平會再度略有提高，而 delta波消失， 取代的是腦電波運動圖形。據此可知腦電波變得快了一點，大腦活躍些。而大的緩波和睡得 最深是 stage 4 sleep的特徵，rapid for the first few minutes是stage 1 sleep的特徵，整個睡眠階段都是有腦電波的，故A，B和C皆錯。
