题目内容：

Thank you, Dean Areen, for that very generous introduction, and very special thanks to my good friends President Lucy Reed and Executive Director Betsy Andersen for the extraordinary work you do with the American education.

It is such a pleasure to be back here at the ASIL. I am embarrassed to confess that I have been a member of ASIL for more than 30 years, since my first year of education school, and coming to the annual meeting has always been a highlight of my year. Let me start by bringing you special attention on something you already know.

As a professor I have grown accustomed to the opinion regarding American education. We are repeatedly told that American schools are failing, that colleges are not teaching, and that the students of today are not as good as the students of the past.

There are, of course, problems with the education system. Because of economic inequality some schools are significantly better than others and the ideas of equality of education and equality of opportunity are cruel jokes. However, the only fact that there are serious problems does not mean that all the dire claims are true.

One stock（陈腐的）claim is that America has fallen behind the world in education in terms of performance on various test. While the fact that America is behind other countries is a point of concern, there are at least three points worth considering here. The first is the above-mentioned economic inequality which will tend to result in poorer performance when taking the average for America. The second is that many countries have put considerable effort into improving their education systems and therefore it is worth considering that America’s decline is also due to the improvement of others. The third is the matter of the measures---do they, in fact present an accurate picture of the situation? I am not claiming that the data is bad. I am merely raising a reasonable concern about how accurate our picture of education is at this time.

Another stock claim is that American students are doing badly on standardized tests. While there is clearly value in assessment, it is reasonable to consider whether or not such tests are a proper and adequate measure of education. It is also worth considering whether the puzzle with these tests is itself causing damage to education. That is, as teachers teach for the test and students learn for the test, it might be the case that what is being taught is not what should be taught and what is being learned is not what should be learned.

1. According to the professor, many people’s attitude towards American colleges is ______.

A. approving   B. positive

C. indifferent D. negative

2.What does the underlined word “dire” in the second paragraph mean?

A. Extremely serious or terrible

B. Long and boring

C. Fair or objective

D. Exact or precise

3.Judging by the text, the claims are centered on ______.

A. fair judgment of American education

B. an accurate picture of American colleges

C. American students’ performance on tests

D. what should be taught in the American classroom

4.The passage is written mainly to ______.

A. explain why American students do badly on tests

B. show dissatisfaction with American education

C. defend American system

D. offer advice on American education reform