instance, eighth graders in the United States cover about 33 topics in math versus just 19 in Japan. Among science courses, the international gap is even wider. U.S. curricula for this age level resemble those of a small group of countries including Australia, Thailand, Iceland, and Bulgaria. Schmidt asks whether the United States wants to be classed with these nations, whose educational systems "share our pattern of splintered (支离破碎的) visions" but which are not economic leaders.
The new report "couldn’t come at a better time," says Gerald Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association in Arlington. "The new National Science Education Standards provide that focused vision," including the call "to do less, but in greater depth."
Implementing the new science standards and their math counterparts will be the challenge, he and Schmidt agree, because the decentralized responsibility for education in the United States requires that any reforms be tailored and instituted one community at a time.
In fact, Schmidt argues, reforms such as these proposed national standards "face an almost impossible task, because even though they are intellectually coherent, each becomes only one more voice in the babble ( 嘈杂声)."
31. According to the passage, the teaching of science and math in America is
A) focused on tapping students’ potential
B) characterized by its diversity
C) losing its vitality gradually
D) going downhill in recent years
32. The fundamental flaw of American school education is that ________.
A) it lacks a coordinated national program
B) it sets a very low academic standard for students
C) it relies heavily on the initiative of individual teachers
D) it attaches too much importance to intensive study of school subjects
33. By saying that the U.S. educational environment is "a mile wide and an inch deep" (Line 2, Para. 5), the author means U.S. educational practice ________.
A) lays stress on quality at the expense of quantity
B) offers an environment for comprehensive education
C) encourages learning both in depth and in scope
D) scratches the surface of a wide range of topics
34. The new National Science Education Standards are good news in that they will
A) provide depth to school science education
B) solve most of the problems in school teaching
C) be able to meet the demands of the community
D) quickly dominate U.S. educational practice
35. Putting the new science and math standards into practice will prove difficult because ________.
A) there is always controversy in educational circles
B) not enough educators have realized the necessity for doing so
C) school districts are responsible for making their own decisions
D) many schoolteachers challenge the acceptability of these standards.
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
"I’ve never met a human worth cloning," says cloning expert Mark Westhusin from his lab at Texas A&M University. "It’s a stupid endeavor." That’s an interesting choice of adjective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars trying to clone a 13-year-old dog named Missy. So far, he and his team have not succeeded, though they have cloned two cows and expect to clone a cat soon. They just might succeed in cloning Missy this spring - or perhaps not for another 5 years. It seems the reproductive system of man’s best friend is one of the mysteries of modern science.
Westhusin’s experience with cloning animals leaves him upset by all this talk of human cloning. In three years of work on the Missy project, using hundreds upon hundreds of dog’s eggs, the A&M team has produced only a dozen or so embryos (胚胎) carrying Missy’s DNA. None have survived the transfer to a surrogate (代孕的) mother. The wastage of eggs and the many spontaneously aborted fetuses (胎) may be acceptable when you’re dealing with cats or bulls, he argues, but not with humans. "Cloning is incredibly inefficient, and also dangerous," he says.
Even so, dog cloning is a commercial opportunity, with a nice research payoff. Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, Westhusin’s phone has been ringing with people calling in hopes of duplicating their cats and dogs, cattle and horses. "A lot of people want to clone pets, especially if the price is right," says Westhusin. Cost is no obstacle for Missy’s mysterious billionaire owner; he’s put up $3.7 million so far to fund A&M’s research.
Contrary to some media reports, Missy is not dead. The owner wants a twin to carry on Missy’s fine qualities after she does die. The prototype is, by all accounts, athletic, good-natured and supersmart. Missy’s master does not expect an exact copy of her. He knows her clone may not have her temperament. In a statement of purpose, Missy’s owner and the A&M team say they are "both looking forward to studying the ways that her clones differ from Missy."
Besides cloning a great dog, the project may contribute insight into the old question of nature vs. nurture. It could also lead to the cloning of special rescue dogs and many endangered animals.
However, Westhusin is cautious about his work. He knows that even if he gets a dog pregnant, the offspring, should they survive, will face the problems shown at birth by&
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