C

       If you were to come up with a list of organizations whose failures had done the most damage to the American economy in recent years, you would probably have to start with the Wall Street firms that brought us the financial crisis．From there, you might move on to the automakers in Detroit．

    But I would suggest that the list should also include a less obvious nominee: public education．

At its top level, the American system of higher education may be the best in the world．Yet in terms of its core mission---turning teenagers into educated college graduates--- much of the system is failing．

   The United States does a good job enrolling （招生） teenagers in college, but only half of the students who enroll end up with a bachelor’s degree．

   So identifying the causes of the college dropout crisis in the world’s largest economy matters enormously, and a new book called “Crossing the Finish Line” tries to do precisely that．Its authors are economists William Bowen and Michael McPherson, and a doctoral candidate Matthew Chingos．The first problem they diagnose is something they call under-matching．It refers to students who choose not to attend the best college they can get into．They instead go to a less selective one, perhaps one that is closer to home or less expensive．About half of the low-income students with a grade-point average of at least 3．5 in high school and an SAT score of at least 1,200 do not attend the best college they could have．“I was really astonished by the degree to which well-qualified students from poor families under-matched,” said Mr．Bowen．

   In fact, well-off students attend the colleges that do the best job of producing graduates．Meanwhile, lower-income students -–even when they are better qualified—often go to colleges that excel（擅長）in producing drop-outs．“It’s really a waste,” Mr．Bowen said, “and a big problem for the country．” As the authors point out, the only way to lift the college graduation rate significantly is to lift it among poor and working-class students．Instead, it appears to have fallen．

   What can be done? Money is clearly part of the answer．

46. Which of the following would people first think of as a factor responsible for the American financial crisis according to this passage?

       A．The government．            B．Public education

       C．The Detroit automakers．   D．The Wall Street firms．

47．What is a big problem with American higher education?

    A．It is hard to enroll enough students into college．

    B．Many colleges are experiencing low rate of graduation．

    C．Many college students stay away from classes．

       D．It is hard for many colleges to get financial aid from the government．

48．The title of the book Crossing the Finish Line probably means______．

       A．running to the end of the line        B．going to college

       C．finishing college education     D．working hard in college

49．Why do some students under--match ?

    A．Because they have financial difficulty．       B．Because they face ambition crisis．

    C．Because they lack confidence．          D．Because they can’t get guidance．

50．The passage is mainly about _______．

    A．problems with secondary American education and possible solutions

    B．America’s financial crisis, its cause and influence

    C．low rate of American college graduation, its cause and its influence

    D．relationship between American education and its economy

VII．短文改錯（共10小題；每小題1分，滿分10分）

       假定英語課上老師要求同桌之間交換修改作文，請你修改你同桌寫的以下作文。文中共有10處語言錯誤，要求你在錯誤的地方增加、刪除或修改某個單詞。

       增加：在缺詞處加一個漏字符號（^），并在其下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線（\）劃掉。

       修改：在錯的詞下劃一橫線，并在該詞下面寫上修改后的詞。

       注意：1．每處錯誤及其修改均僅限一詞。

       2．只允許修改10處，多者（從第11處起）不計分。

       During the summer holidays in this year, I thought I shall do something meaningfully instead of staying at home, but I got a job at a KFC fast-food restaurant and worked there as a cleaner. I worked seven hours a day for three weeks. The job was hard and bored and seemed endless, that made me very tired that I nearly gave it up half way. After all, I stick to it with determination. Every day I started off for work early in the morning and got home lately in the evening. Finally I finished the job before the new term began. Now, I understand what labor means. I think it is really successful experience.