阅读理解
Japanese Students Suffer from Pressure
Last April,15-year-old Rei Iwasaki stopped her piano and flute lessons
and began to study every day of the week. Her parents paid to send her to a
"cram school(灌输式教学模式的学校)."She wanted very much to pass her
exams.
In February she did pass an all-day, five-subject examination and
entered the high school she hoped to enter.
Thirteen-year-old Akio Yoshiwara wasn't so lucky. Unable to take the
pressure of the exams, he hanged himself in February. He left a suicide note
which said, "I did my best in this dear life, but it's no good."
Suicides are now a common part of life among students in Japan. The
cause is the incredible pressure of the "examination hell."
Even a number of teachers are committing suicide each year. When
some students broke windows in a school near Tokyo, the principal blamed
himself and wrote the following note: "The incidents were due to the lack
of appropriate measures by the principal and I apologize. I am very tired.
The Japanese educational system is much different from the American
system. It is perhaps the most regimented(严密组织的) school system in
any of the industrialized nations.
Boys and girls wear uniforms and go to school six days a week --- 240
days a year compared to 180 in the U.S. Ninety- five percent graduate from
high school compared to seventy-five percent in the U.S.
Students don't ask questions in class but only listen respectfully to the
teachers. And every few years students are tested to see which school they
will enter next. There is stiff competition for the "best" schools.
The result is a well-informed, disciplined student, ideal for factory
and company work and excellent at learning specialized skills. But there is
little fun in education, little creativity and the incredible pressure of
"examination hell."
1. It's because ______ that many Japanese students committed suicide.
A. they didn't do their best in their lives.
B. they were sent to a "cram school".
C. of the most regimented school.
D. they were unable to take the pressure of the exams.
2. Why did the principal kill himself? Because__________
A. He thought it was his fault that some students broke the windows.
B. He was very tired.
C. He couldn't stand the pressure of the "examination hell".
D. He blamed himself and wrote a note.
3. Which of the following ideas agrees with the title of the passage.
A. The Japanese students love to study under pressure.
B. The Japanese students do well under pressure.
C. The exams give the Japanese students much pressure.
D. The exams make the Japanese students commit suicide each year.
4. Which of the following is Wrong?
A. The American educational system is much different from the Japanese system.
B. To enter a high school, a student must pass an all-day, five-subject examination.
C. The Japanese graduates from high school are much less than the American graduates.
D. In Japanese education, there is little creativity as well as little fun.
