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  3. TO FOREIGNERS, few things seem as peculiarly British as the habit of sending

TO FOREIGNERS, few things seem as peculiarly British as the habit of sending

游客2024-06-11  11
问题    TO FOREIGNERS, few things seem as peculiarly British as the habit of sending young children away from home to school. At first glance, boarding schools are thriving, with almost 70,000 children within their walls .Independent education (both day and boarding) produces better-than-average academic results: they teach only 7% of English pupils but supply 38% of those gaining three or more A grades in the A-level exams takenen age 18.
    Yet some boarding schools are struggling. While the demand for private schools has increased over the past 20 years, the number of children at boarding schools has dropped sharply -- from 112, 135 in 1985 to68, 255 in 2005. The decline leveled off four years ago, thanks, say some, to the popularity of the Harry Potter books.
    One reason why boarding schools have lost some of their appeal is high fees -- the average is around Pounds 18,830 ($35,470) a year. Lurid stories of children who harm themselves or take drags, far from parental eyes, have not helped. Some schools are in trouble financially: three mergers have taken place this year; one school in Buckinghamshire will close in August; and another, in Sussex, was recently rescued by parents.
    Yet Adrian Underwood, national director of the Boarding Schools’ Association, describes the future as "rosy". His optimism stems partly from renewed political interest in taking children from foster care and children’s homes and sending them to boarding schools instead. Only 6% of those in care in 2004 got five god grades in their GCSE exams (taken at about 16 years of age), compared with 53% of children overall. Boarding schools can offer small classes and good discipline, helping pupils to counter the low expectations that prevent them from achieving all they could.   
    A working party in the Department for Education and Skills has spent months looking at ways to expand the programme. Pilot projects are due to start in September 2007. Among the 80 or so schools that are interested are Wellington, an independent senior school in Somerset, and the Dragon School, a preparatory school in Oxford. John Walker, speaking for Britain’s prep schools (which educate children from ages 7 to 13), says they could take pupils as young as five years old. Local authorities are less enthusiastic. Schools want full responsibility for the children they accept, while councils and social workers want to be able to check up on them. Some think that removing children from any version of parenting could have damaging long-term effects. Holidays are also problematic: the Fostering Network, which represents foster-carets, says that many foster parents are unwilling to have children only for the holidays.
    For boarding schools, both those with an idealistic streak and the financially strapped, the appeal of increasing numbers is clear, as long as other parents don’ t squawk. They have another reason to be keen. New laws will soon require charities to justify their tax breaks by proving that they benefit society at large. Independent schools, 80% of which have charitable status, reaped pounds 88m in tax rebates in 2004. Accepting a few needy children alight well safeguard that status. [br] What can we infer from the last paragraph?
选项 A、A lot of the independent schools are willing to supply help to those poor children.
B、Human indignation evolved from an uncertain source.
C、Independent schools need gain great popularity among society so that it can attract students as many as possible.
D、Accepting some needy children is only a way taken by the independent schools to justify their tax breaks.
答案 D
解析 推理题。对于这道题的解答，首先要注意该句中的几个关键词，比如说needy, status，只有通过上下文弄清楚这几个词的确切含义，我们知道在该文中提到，很多independent schools都是具有charitable status，这种地位能够使他们在税收方面收益，只要他们能证明他们是在为社会提供帮助，所以说招收几个经济上有困难的学生有利于保护他们的这种利益，换句话说就是招收这样的学生只是让他们逃避税收的一种途径。
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