【正文】 at thoughts are unnecessary.D.To show greatness es from the ordinary.（2）What was the most important thing about the argument about the potato? A.It helped the poor to feed themselves.B.It helped to spend less money on food.C.It brought about a struggle against the rich.D.It led to great changes in society.（3）Why didn39。t people smile in pictures painted hundreds of years ago? A.They lived a hard life.B.Their teeth looked terrible.C.They were not friendly.D.They preferred to look serious.（4）What is mainly discussed in the text? A.The ways to make life easier.B.The importance of the ordinary in history.C.The increasing interest in microhistory.D.Unknown people who invented small things.【答案】 （1）A（2）D（3）B（4）B 【解析】【分析】本文是一篇議論文。論述了關(guān)注社會中普通人的重要性。 （1）考查推理判斷。根據(jù)第一段中的“All the ordinary decisions we make and ordinary things we do are society in action.”及第二段中的“But has he been of more benefit to humanity than the unknown person who invented the first really fortable shoe? Try thinking great thoughts when your feet hurt.”可知第一個發(fā)明舒適的鞋的未知人的重要性。作者以此來印證普通人和普通人的想法的重要性。故選A。 （2）考查推理判斷。根據(jù)第三段中的“According to historian Catherine Gallagher, the potato was once a matter of great argument. ”以及“ It seems that European socialism started with an argument about vegetables.” 可知作者在文中提到了potato,而恰恰是對potato的討論帶來了社會的變革。故選D。 （3）考查推理判斷。根據(jù)第三段中的“It is all because of dentistry, he says. Once people were able to look after their teeth, they began to smile and the world became a happier place”可推斷當(dāng)人們會照料自己的牙齒的時候,人們才敢笑,這表明在此之前人不敢笑,是因為他們的牙齒很糟糕。故選B。 （4）考查主旨大意。本文主題為The importance of the ordinary in history,（歷史中普通人的重要性）各段落緊扣主題內(nèi)容,論證了作者在本文中的觀點普通人是很重要的。故選B。 【點評】本題考點涉及推理判斷和主旨大意兩個題型的考查，是一篇教育類閱讀，要求考生根據(jù)上下文的邏輯關(guān)系，進(jìn)行分析，推理，概括和歸納，從而選出正確答案。8．閱讀理解 If spending is a measure of what matters, then the people of the developing world place a high value on brains. While private spending on education has not changed much in the rich world in the past ten years, in China and India it has more than doubled. Since brainpower is the primary generator of progress, this burst of enthusiasm for investing in private education is excellent news for the world. But not everybody is delighted. Because private education increases inequality, some governments are trying to stop its advance. That39。s wrong: they should wele it, and spread its benefits more widely. ① Education used to be provided by religious institutions or entrepreneurs. But when governments, starting in Prussia in the 18th century, got into the business of nationbuilding, they realized they could use education to shape young minds. As state systems grew, private schooling was left to the elite and the pious(虔誠的). Now it is enjoying popularity again, for several reasons. Ines are rising, especially among the better off, at the same time as birth rates are falling. In China the former onechild policy means that six people—two parents and four grandparents—can pour money into educating a single child. ② All over the developing world, people want more or better education than governments provide. Where cities are growing at unmanageable speed, the private education is taking up the slack. In India the private education now educates nearly half of all children, in Pakistan more than a third, and in both countries the state education is shrinking. Even where the state does pretty well, as in East Asia, richer people still want better schooling for their children than the masses get. Thus, Vietnam, which has an outstanding stateschool system for a poor country, measured by its performance in the OECD39。s PISA test, also has the fastestgrowing private education. ③ In most ways, this is an excellent thing, because the world is getting more and better schooling. In rich countries, once the background and ability of the children who attend private schools are taken into account, their exams results are about the same as those in the state education. But in developing countries private schools are better—and much more efficient. A study of eight Indian states found that, in terms of learning outes per rupee, private schools were between times and 29 times more costeffective than state schools. ④ They tend to sort children by ine, herding richer ones towards better schools that will enhance their already superior life chances. That is one reason why many governments are troubled by their rise. Governments are right to worry about private education39。s contribution to inequality, but they are wrong to discourage its growth. Governments should instead focus on improving the public education by mimicking(模仿) the private education39。s virtues. Freedom from independent management is at the root of its superior performance and greater efficiency. Governments should therefore do their best to give school principals more freedom to innovate and to fire underperforming teachers. To spread the benefit of private schools more widely, governments should work with them, paying for education through vouchers(代金券) which children can spend in private schools. And vouchers should be limited to students in nonselective schools that do not charge topup fees。 otherwise governments will find themselves helping the better off and increasing inequality. The world faces plenty of problems. Governments should stop behaving as though private education were one of them. It will, rather, increase the chances of finding solutions.（1）What do we know about private education? A.More developed countries enjoy it.B.It attracts more and more investment.C.Public education will replace it in the future.D.It has helped governments to remove inequality.（2）What does the underlined phrase taking up the slack in Paragraph 3 probably mean? A.Filling the gap.B.Setting