口译教材：考试的弊端.docxVIP

Examination Exert a Pernicious Influence on EducationWe might marvel at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person’s knowledge and ability remain as primitive as they were ever before. It is really extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to devise anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. (A)For all the pious claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person’s true ability and aptitude.(B)The examination system does anything but train one to think independently. Examinations do no t motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable a student to seek more knowledge, but induce cramming. Examinations lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive the teacher of all freedom. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results; they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques which they despise. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under duress.(C)As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. They are the mark of success or failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. (D)It doesn’t matter that you weren’t feeling very well, or that a tragedy happened to your family. Little things like that don’t count: the exam goes on. No one can give of his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. (E)The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of vicious competition where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Unfortunately, the results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by