第二篇文章选自The New York Times.原文题目是Near Cambodia's Temple Ruins, a Devotion to Learning。这是一篇社会生活类的小新闻,难度不大。
Millions of tourists come here every year to visit the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, an influx that has helped transform what once resembled a small, laid-back village into a thriving and cosmopolitan town with thumping nightlife and more than 10,000 hotel rooms. But the explosion of the tourism industry here has also done something less predictable. Siem Reap, which had no universities a decade ago, is now Cambodia’s second-largest hub for higher education, after the capital, Phnom Penh.
全文首段呈现Angkor Wat过去和现在的强对比。第二句以but开头,引出核心话题,即伴随旅游业的发展,随之相关的教育业也发展起来。
The sons and daughters of impoverished rice farmers flock here to work as tour guides, receptionists, bartenders and waitresses. When their shifts are over, they study finance, English and accounting.“I never imagined that I could go to university,” said Hem Sophoan, a 31-year-old tour guide who is now studying for his second master’s degree. “There’s been so much change and opportunities for young people.”The establishment of five private universities here is helping to transform the work force in this part of Cambodia, one of Asia’s poorest countries.
第二段指出当地孩子是怎样半工半读的。其中大量直接引语可以略读。
Khim Borin, a 26-year-old tour guide by day and law student by night, says he wants to become a lawyer. But he sometimes has trouble staying awake in class during the high tourist season, when he spends hours scaling vertiginous temple steps and baking in the tropical sun.“I tell my friends, ‘Hit me if you see me falling asleep,”’ he said. The five universities in Siem Reap currently enroll more than 10,000 students. Most of the campuses, which are scattered around the town, are quiet during the day but come to life with the buzz of students’ motorcycles as soon as the sun sets.
第三段继续介绍孩子们的学习状况,尤其是在半工半读过程中遇到的困扰。
The United Nations and foreign aid organizations have had an oversize role in helping steer the country since the Khmer Rouge were driven from power more than three decades ago. But the symbiosis of work and study here came together without any master plan.
It was driven largely by supply and demand: universities opened to cater to the dreams of Cambodia’s youth. University administrators say 80 to 90 percent of the students hold full-time jobs.
第四段but指出这种教育形式的弊端。
Most students pay the annual tuition of $400 themselves. Luckier students get sponsorship from foreigners. On a recent evening, an Argentine insurance saleswoman on vacation here, Maria Theresa Landoni, went to the university to pay the tuition of a young woman who wanted to study tourism.
第五段以事实加例子的形式讲学费问题。
Ms. Landoni struck up a friendship with the driver of her tuk-tuk, the open-air motorized rickshaws popular here, and met his daughter during a visit to the family’s house. “They were very, very, very poor,” Ms. Landoni said. “This is a country that has suffered a lot.”Ms. Landoni said she agreed to pay one semester’s worth of fees for the daughter: $180. “I don’t have a lot of money,” Ms. Landoni said. “But I have enough for that.”
第六段通过例子告诉我们很多当地人的经济状况不好,供孩子读书非常不易。
Many graduates seem to have stayed with their employers and moved up, their degrees having made them better prospects for managerial roles. But it is too early to draw conclusions about whether the degrees are leading to better jobs. The six-year-old University of South-East Asia, for example, has had only two graduating classes, and they were small.
最后一段通过seem和but的强对比,作者对当地的这种教育形式持保留态度。
题目:
1. 细节题,考察对比细节,定位全文首段。
2. 细节题,审题时根据be attributed to,判断考察原因。
3. 细节题,考生定位到第五段即可。
4. 细节题,考生定位到第三段当中的强对比细节即可。
5. 主旨题,考生依据排除法可成功解题。