考研英语阅读理解中的文章，很多来自一些外刊杂志方面的题材。接下来，北京文都考研网为扩宽2020考研学子的知识面，整理了考研英语经济学人外刊:小升初考试应该被废除吗? 供考生参考。
2020考研英语经济学人外刊:小升初考试应该被废除吗?
Should British 11-year-olds be sitting exams?
英国11岁的孩子应该参加考试吗?
Labour wants to scrap standardised tests. But it may struggle to find an adequate replacement
工党希望废除标准化考试。但或许很难找到一个替代方案
Next month 11-year-olds will sit a series of short tests in maths and English—a fact that causes much unhappiness among England’s teachers.
下个月，11岁的孩子们将参加一系列有关数学和英语的小测试——这在英国的教师群体中引起了极大的不满。
At the National Education Union’s recent conference, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s leader, announced to hearty applause that he would scrap these tests, which are known as SATs, and that he would review other primary-school assessments.
在全国教育联盟最近的一次会议上，工党领袖杰里米·科尔宾在热烈的掌声中宣布，他将废除这些被称为 SATs 的考试，并将考虑用其他的方式对小学进行评估。(注：SATs，即标准成绩考试，类似于我国的小升初考试。)
At the conference of the NASUWT, another teachers’ union, an official made headlines when he revealed that lots of schools were calling pupils in to prep for the tests over Easter, sometimes with rewards of fun activities or fast food.
在全国校长协会暨女教师公会联盟(另一个教师联盟)的一次会议上，一名官员透露称，许多学校要求学生们准备复活节期间的考试，并且有时会以有趣的活动或快餐作为奖励，这一消息随后登上了头条新闻。
Unlike GCSEs (taken at 16) and A-levels (at 18), SATs hold little sway over a pupil’s future. At most, they will help determine which academic stream the child enters in their first year at secondary school. Their chief purpose is to measure teachers and schools.
与GCSEs (16岁时参加的，相当于英国的中考)和 A-levels (18岁时参加的，相当于英国的高考)不同，SATs 对学生的未来几乎不产生影响。它最多是帮助孩子们确定在中学的第一学年进入哪个学术流。SATs 的主要目的是为了考核教师和学校。
If children are making good progress in their sums but not their reading, a school can devote more resources to English lessons. If one part of the country is making good progress, the government can study its success.
如果孩子们在算术上进步很大，但在阅读上却没有进步，那么学校就可以投入更多的资源到英语课程上。如果一个国家在某一方面正在取得很大的进展，那么政府就可以(利用 SATs)研究它的成功所在。
Teachers nevertheless complain that they are under too much pressure to squeeze high marks out of their pupils.
尽管如此，教师们还是抱怨称，他们承受了太大的压力，要去逼着学生们考取高分。
League tables are based on the percentage of children reaching certain standards, the schools inspectorate uses their results to inform its judgments and some teachers are on performance-related pay. Not all respond well.
排名表是基于达到某一成绩标准的学生的百分比来算的，学校监察机构以学生的考试成绩作为教师评判的依据，一些教师的工资是和学生的成绩挂钩的。这并不只产生积极的效应。
One head teacher in Leeds dragged a high-performing pupil from their sick bed to take a test, setting a sick bucket beside them.
利兹市的一位班主任把一名躺在病床上的成绩优异的学生拖去参加考试，而仅仅只为他准备了一个痰盂在身旁。
Although tempting to teachers (and some parents), Labour’s promise to abolish SATs raises a question: what would replace them? A popular answer among teachers is to rely on their own assessments.
尽管工党废除 SATs 的承诺对于教师(和一些家长)来说很有吸引力，但它同时带来了一个问题：用什么来取代 SATs 呢?教师们的普遍回答是依靠教师自己的判断。
Yet this would be no better than children marking their own homework. What’s more, there is evidence that teachers are biased by pupils’ ethnicity. Mr Corbyn has promised that his alternative system will encourage creativity.
然而，这就如同让孩子们批改自己的家庭作业一样。更重要的是，有证据表明，有些教师对学生存在种族偏见。科尔宾承诺，他的替代方案将会鼓励学生们的创造力。
[重难点词汇]
adequate [ˈædɪkwət] adj. 充足的;适当的;胜任的
squeeze [skwiz] vt. 挤;紧握;勒索 vi. 压榨 n. 压榨;紧握;拥挤;佣金
inspectorate [ɪn'spɛktərət] n. 检查员;视察团;检查员的辖区
以上是北京文都考研网给出的“2020考研英语经济学人外刊:小升初考试应该被废除吗? ”，希望对备考2020考研英语的考生有所帮助!祝2020考研顺利!
推荐阅读：
