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  3. There will be no valedictory speech(毕业致辞)at Jericho High School’s graduation

There will be no valedictory speech(毕业致辞)at Jericho High School’s graduation

游客2023-11-09  23
问题     There will be no valedictory speech(毕业致辞)at Jericho High School’s graduation on Sunday. With seven seniors laying claim to the title by compiling A-plus averages, no one wanted to sit through a solid half-hour of inspirational quotations and silly memories.
    Instead, the seven will perform a 10-minute humorous play titled "2010: A Jericho Odyssey," about their collective experience at this high-achieving Long Island high school, finishing up with 30 seconds each to say a few words to their classmates and families.
    "When did we start saying that we should limit the honors so only one person gets the glory?" asked Joe Prisinzano, the Jericho principal.
    In top suburban schools across the country, the valedictorian, a beloved tradition, is rapidly losing its singular meaning as administrators dispense the title to every straight-A student rather than try to choose the best among them.
    Principals say that recognizing multiple valedictorians reduces pressure and competition among students, and is a more equitable way to honor achievement, particularly when No.l and No.5 may be separated by only the smallest fraction of a grade from sophomore science. But some scholars and parents have criticized the swelling valedictorian ranks as yet another symptom of unstrained grade inflation, with teachers reluctant to lose the best and brightest’s chances of admission to top-tier colleges.
    "It’s honor inflation," said Chris Healy, an associate professor at Furman University, who said that celebrating so many students as the best could leave them ill prepared for competition in college and beyond. "I think it’s a bad idea if you’re No. 26 and you’re valedictorian. In the real world, you do get ranked."
    Not, though, at graduation from Stratford High School in the suburbs of Houston, which accorded its 30 valedictorians—about 6.5 percent of the class—gold honor cords. Nor at Cherry Hill High School East in southern New Jersey, which has revised its graduation tradition, picking a speaker among this year’s nine co-valedictorians by lottery and printing speeches from the others in the program.
    William R. Fitzsimmons, the dean of admissions at Harvard, said he had heard of schools with more than 100 valedictorians, and had seen home-schooled students praised as No.l—out of one—all of which has helped render the distinction meaningless.
    Even some principals who have named multiple valedictorians acknowledge that the honor no longer carries the same weight. "If you’ve got one in a population of 500, it has special significance," said John O’Breza, the principal of Cherry Hill East. "When you have 9, 10 or 30 in a population of 500, the numbers speak for themselves. The more rare it is, the more distinguished."
    Still, being tapped as valedictorian resonates(引起共鸣)deeply. "I feel like as long as you reach that point, it doesn’t matter how many you have," said Yvette Leung, one of the Jericho seven, who is bound for Harvard. "To be named valedictorian is an honor and a testament to how hard we’ve tried." [br] What is Yvette Leung’s attitude towards the multiple valedictorians?
选项 A、Indifferent.
B、Critical.
C、Unclear.
D、Favorable.
答案 D
解析 根据人名YveRe Leung定位到最后一段。从该段中的“只要你达到了那个标准，有多少人获此荣誉没有什么要紧的”以及“成为valedictorian是一种荣誉，也是对我们努力的证明”这些话可以看出，YvetteLeung对于授予不止一个毕业生valedictorian的荣誉是持肯定、赞同态度的，因此本题选D。
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