2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读五十
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一三六
Japanese commuters try new ways to deter gropers日本通勤族尝试用新方法防止性骚扰Victims are fighting back with apps,badges and invisible ink受害者正在用应用程序、徽章和隐形墨水来反击Throughout her20s,Yayoi Matsunaga was groped,almost daily,on packed rush-hour trains going to and from work.Three decades later,she discovered that her friend’s daughter was being molested on her commute to high school.在松永弥生20多岁的时候，她几乎每天都会在上下班高峰拥挤的列车上被人骚扰。
30年过去了，她发现她朋友的女儿仍会在上高中的通勤路上被人骚扰。
The teenager,after fruitless talks with the police and railway companies, decided to hang a sign from her bag that read:“Groping is a crime.I will not cry myself to sleep.”The groping stopped immediately.在与警方和铁路部门交涉无果后，这名女孩决定在她的书包上挂一个牌子，上面写着：“性骚扰就是犯罪，我不会暗自哭泣的。
”效果立竿见影。
Inspired,Ms Matsunaga launched a crowdfunding campaign in2015to create badges with the same message.They proved as effective as the sign: nearly95%of users stopped experiencing groping on public transport, according to a survey.受此启发，松永弥生在2015年发起了一项众筹活动，制作带有相同信息的徽章。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
Ask people to name someone they find charming and the answers are often predictable. There’s James Bond, the fictional spy with a penchant for shaken martinis. Maybe they’ll mention Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton or a historical figure, like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi. Now ask the same people to describe, in just a few seconds, what makes these charmers so likable.要是你让人说出一个他心目中有魅力的人的名字，答案通常都可以预测。
有人会说詹姆斯·邦德，那个偏爱摇酒法调制的马提尼的虚构的间谍。
也许会有人提到欧普拉·温弗里，比尔·克林顿，或是某个历史人物，比如小马丁·路德·金牧师，或是圣雄·甘地。
那么现在再让同一个人来用区区几秒钟描述，到底是什么特质让这些魅力十足的人物如此受人爱戴呢？It’s here, in defining what exactly charisma is, that most hit a wall. Instinctually, we know that we’re drawn to certain people more than others. Quantifying why we like them is an entirely different exercise.到此为止，在魅力到底是什么的确切定义过程中，通常就是到这里走进了死胡同。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一三四
The first face-off人脸识别第一案A lawsuit against face-scans in China could have big consequences在中国，一场有关人脸识别的诉讼或将带来巨大的影响Guo Bing,a legal academic in the eastern city of Hangzhou,likes to spend his leisure time at a local safari park.But when the park informed season-pass holders like him that admission would require a face-scan,Mr Guo objected.郭兵是中国东部城市杭州市的一名法律学者，他平日里喜欢在当地的野生动物园度过闲暇时光。
但当动物园告知像他这样的年卡用户需要扫脸入园时，郭先生无法接受。
Late last month he filed a lawsuit,claiming the new rules violated his privacy.Facial-recognition technology is widely used in izens have been hailing Mr Guo as a champion of consumer rights.A thread about his suit has garnered100m views on Weibo,a social-media platform.上月底，他以新规定侵犯其隐私为由向法院提起了诉讼。
人脸识别技术在中国已经得到了广泛的应用。
网友们纷纷称赞郭兵是消费者权益的捍卫者。
在社交媒体平台新浪微博上，一条关于他诉讼的微博获得了1亿次的点击量。
It is surprising that it has taken so long for the judiciary to get involved. Some300tourist sites in China use facial recognition to admit visitors.The safari park says doing so can shorten queues.令人惊讶的是，司法部门过了这么久才介入其中。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一二三
Why an“Uber for tailors”is gaining ground in Lagos“裁缝优步”为何能在拉各斯发展起来？“Rich and poor,everyone has a tailor here,”says Olajire Omikunle,a couturier for Nigeria’s powerful.So great is the appeal of a well-cut outfit in Lagos,Nigeria’s commercial centre,that roadside stitchers rove the streets armed with their sewing machines and clicking their large scissors to drum up customers.尼日利亚颇具影响力的服装设计师奥拉吉尔·奥米昆勒说：“无论贫富，这里的每个人都有自己的裁缝。
”在尼日利亚的商业中心拉各斯，一套剪裁考究的服装如此具有吸引力，以至于街头裁缝们会带着他们的缝纫机在街道上来回穿梭，并拿着大剪刀咔嚓咔嚓地招揽着顾客。
David Peterside,a local entrepreneur,hopes to capitalise on this sartorial obsession with a new app that is being dubbed an“Uber for tailors”.Fashion Map allows natty Nigerians to find a suitmaker at the press of a button.当地企业家戴维·彼得赛德希望借着人们对服装的痴迷，开发一款名为“裁缝优步”的新应用。
整洁时髦尼日利亚人只需按下一个按钮，便能在时尚地图上找到一位裁缝。
It may be a perfect fit for Africa’s most populous country.Nigeria has a fast-growing base of smartphone users and“over100,000registered tailors”,says Otunba Wasiu Taiwo of the Nigeria Union of Tailors.“We are still counting.”该应用或许非常适合这个非洲人口最多的国家。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一二六
Defending Switzerland’s coffee stockpile捍卫瑞士的咖啡储备If disaster strikes,the Swiss want to be caffeinated当灾难来袭时，瑞士人需要咖啡因To defend their independence the Swiss have mountains,conscription and a fierce sense of self-reliance.They also have a vast stockpile of food, medicine,animal feed and cooking oil,which they have maintained since the1920s.This makes sieges easier to withstand,but costs a fortune.瑞士人靠着山脉、兵役制度和强烈的自力更生精神捍卫着国家的主权独立。
自上世纪20年代以来，瑞士一直保持着大量的食品、药品、动物饲料和食用油储备。
这使得瑞士更容易抵御敌人的围攻，但这同时代价不菲。
So in April the Federal Office for National Economic Supply announced a plan to trim it a little.In future,it suggested,it would no longer pay for a huge emergency supply of coffee.This wonderful drink,it claimed,is not “vital for life”.因此，今年4月，瑞士联邦国家经济供应办公室宣布了一项略微削减开支的计划。
它表示，今后将废除紧急物资储备中的咖啡储备。
理由则是，这种美味的饮品并不是“攸关生死的”。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一二四
Neanderthals had a propensity for earache,nudging them to their doom易患耳疾将尼安德特人推向了灭亡A new analysis of their skulls points to an anatomical problem一项对头颅的新研究指出了一个生理构造缺陷The last neanderthals vanished from Earth about40,000years ago.Exactly what drove them to extinction,however,remains a mystery,with their disappearance variously attributed to anything from climate change to inferior cognitive abilities or even cannibalism.在大约4万年前，最后一批尼安德特人消失在地球上。
但究竟是什么导致了他们的灭亡，至今仍是一个谜，关于他们灭亡原因有着各种各样的猜想，从气候变化到认知能力低下，再到同类相食。
Anthony Pagano,a medical researcher at Seton Hall University in New Jersey,has a new explanation.He thinks Neanderthals might have been unusually prone to severe ear infections,which left them struggling to compete against their Homo sapiens cousins.新泽西州西顿霍尔大学的医学研究员安东尼·帕加诺给出了一个新的解释。
他认为尼安德特人或许非常容易患上严重的耳部感染，这使得他们很难与智人相互竞争。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
A global house-price slump is coming全球房价即将暴跌It won’t blow up the financial system, but it will be scary虽然不会摧毁金融体系，但仍然令人恐慌Over the past decade owning a house has meant easy money. Prices rose reliably for years and then went bizarrely ballistic in the pandemic. Yet today if your wealth is tied up in bricks and mortar it is time to get nervous.过去十年里，拥有一套房就意味着轻松赚钱。
房价多年来一直稳步上涨，甚至在疫情期间还异乎寻常地飙升了。
然而现如今，如果你的财富被套牢在房产上，那你应该感到紧张了。
House prices are now falling in nine rich economies. The drops in America are small so far, but in the wildest markets they are already dramatic. In condo-crazed Canada homes cost 9% less than they did in February.九个发达经济体的房价都在下跌。
到目前为止，美国房价的跌幅还不大，但最疯狂的市场的房价跌幅已经非常大了。
在热衷于共管公寓的加拿大，房价较今年2月下跌了9%。
As inflation and recession stalk the world a deepening correction is likely—even estate agents are gloomy. Although this will not detonate global banks as in 2007-09, it will intensify the downturn, leave a cohort of people with wrecked finances and start a political storm.随着通货膨胀和经济衰退的风险在全球范围内蔓延，房价或将迎来一场深度调整——甚至房地产经纪人也对此感到悲观。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一一一
The legal cannabis market shrank in California last year去年，加州的合法大麻市场在萎缩Harbourside Cannabis in Oakland is a modern-day temple to the delights and possibilities of the botanical marvel that is the plant Cannabis sativa. Around the airy shop move a well-heeled clientele.They browse among offerings ranging from cannabis-infused chocolate to sparkling water and vape pens.奥克兰的哈伯赛德大麻公司是一座可供寻求快乐和见识到大麻种植奇观的现代庙宇。
一群有钱人在通透的大麻商店里来来往往。
他们浏览着从大麻巧克力到大麻起泡水和大麻电子烟等各式各样的大麻商品。
California was the first state to allow sales of medical cannabis in1996, and Harbourside one of the first shops in America to sell pot legally.Since January last year,the firm has also been able to sell pot for purely recreational purposes.1996年，加州成为美国首个允许销售医用大麻的州，哈伯赛德也是美国首批合法销售大麻的商店之一。
自去年1月以来，哈伯赛德也能销售纯娱乐用途的大麻了。
Thanks to its large number of“medical”users,California’s is the largest legal cannabis market in the world.But since the legalisation of adult sales, that market has been shrinking.得益于大批的“医疗”用户，加州成为了全球最大的合法大麻市场。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一三五
Research suggests happy employees are good for firms and investors 研究表明，快乐的员工对公司和投资者都有好处There is an old joke about a new arrival in Hell,who is given the choice by Satan of two different working environments.In the first,frazzled workers shovel huge piles of coal into a fiery furnace.In the second,a group of workers stand,waist-deep in sewage,sipping cups of tea.有个老笑话讲的是一个刚下地狱的人，撒旦让他在两种不同的工作环境中做出选择。
在第一个房间里，疲惫不堪的工人们要将大堆大堆的煤铲进炽热的火炉中。
在第二个房间里，一群工人站在齐腰深的污水中，啜饮着茶。
The condemned man opts,on balance,for the second room.As soon as the door closes,the foreman shouts“Right lads,tea break over.Time to stand on your heads again.”这个有罪之人在经过权衡后最终选择了第二个房间。
门一关上，工头便喊道：“伙计们，茶歇时间到了，是时候再倒立了。
”Terrible working conditions have a long tradition.Early industry was marked by its dirty,dangerous factories(dark,satanic mills).In the early 20th century workers were forced into dull,repetitive tasks by the needs of the production line.However,in a service-based economy,it makes sense that focusing on worker morale might be a much more fruitful approach.恶劣的工作环境有着悠久的传统。
2019考研英语经济学人阅读1(英语学习).doc
2019考研英语经济学人阅读1（英语学习）联合国严厉制裁朝鲜The European Union announced that it will provide700m ($760m) in aid to accommodate migrants incountries overwhelmed by the refugee crisis. Most ofthe money is expected to go to Greece. AngelaMerkel, Germany’s chancellor, scolded Austria andother countries for clamping down on refugeearrivals, and vowed not to abandon Greece.欧盟宣布将向深陷难民危机的国家提供7亿欧元(7.6亿美元)的难民安置援助。
该援助的一大部分将给希腊。
德国总理安吉拉·默克尔(Angela Merkel)谴责奥地利等国家抵制难民入境的行为，并承诺不会放弃对希腊的援助。
The leader of Spain’s Socialist Party, Pedro Sánchez, failed in his first attempt to form aminority government with the upstart centrist Ciudadanos party. Both the centre-right PopularParty and the far-left Podemos party voted against the proposed coalition in parliament. If MrSánchez fails again in a second vote planned for March 4th, the caretaker government willprobably call new elections.西班牙工人社会党( Socialist Party)领导人彼得罗·桑切斯(Pedro Sánchez)与新兴中立公民党(Ciudadanos party)首次尝试组建少数党政府，但最终以失败告终。
2019年考博英语阅读经济学人文章精析【三篇】
2019年考博英语阅读经济学人文章精析【三篇】AT THE centre of a large office in west London sits a raised circular platform with several seats. Screens in front carry international news superimposed on a huge atlas. From here rescue missions are co-ordinated by International SOS (ISOS), the world’s largest travel-security firm, which counts nearly two-thirds of the Fortune Global 500 companiesas clients. It operates 26 other centres across the world.The firm says they have never been busier.在伦敦西部一个大型的写字楼的中间，摆放着一张大圆桌，几把椅子。
前方的屏幕滚动的国际新闻叠加在一个巨型地图册上，世界上的旅行安全保障公司国际SOS救援中心(ISOS)就是从这里策划营救活动的，世界财富500强公司里接近2/3都是它的客户。
它经营者横跨世界的其他26处中心，该公司表示它从来没有这么忙碌过。
ISOS has responded to emergencies large and small. They range from giving timely advice to the parents of a child in Nigeria who had swallowed a coin to evacuating corporate and NGO clients from Burundi during last year’s coup attempt. Torn between a medical airlift and potentially risky surgeryin a local hospital, the child’s parents were counselled by ISOS doctors to let nature take its course, which it duly did. The Burundi operation was trickier.国际SOS救援中心对大大小小的紧急情况做出了回应。
考研英语经济学人文章阅读训练20191221
Technology and society科技与社会Pessimism v progress悲观VS发展Faster,cheaper,better—technology is one field many people rely upon to offer a vision of a brighter future.But as the2020s dawn,optimism is in short supply.更快、更低价、更好的技术为许多人勾勒出一个美好明天的愿景。
但在21世纪20年代即将到来之际，人们却很难保持乐观。
Today’s gloomy mood is centred on smartphones and social media,which took off a decade ago.Yet concerns that humanity has taken a technological wrong turn,or that particular technologies might be doing more harm than good,have arisen before.如今，人们对科技的悲观情绪主要源自于十年前开始兴起的智能手机和社交媒体。
然而，在此之前就曾出现过有关人类点错了科技树或是某些技术可能弊大于利的担忧。
In the1970s the despondency was prompted by concerns about overpopulation,environmental damage and the prospect of nuclear immolation.上世纪70年代，对人口过剩、环境破坏和核毁灭前景的担忧就曾使人们意志消沉。
The1920s witnessed a backlash against cars,which had earlier been seen as a miraculous answer to the affliction of horse-drawn vehicles—whichfilled the streets with noise and dung,and caused congestion and accidents.上世纪20年代也曾发生过一场抵制汽车的运动，而在此之前，汽车曾一度被视为是解决了马车困扰（在马车时代，街道嘈杂纷乱、粪便遍地，堵车和交通事故也是常有之事）的奇迹般的发明。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
Have baby, stay in school生孩子还是继续上学？Why teenage mothers in Zimbabwe struggle to get educated为什么津巴布韦的未成年妈妈很难继续接受教育Brilliant Ndlovu has never really known childhood. Since the age of seven she has headed her household in Tsholotsho, a town in rural western Zimbabwe, after her parents went to work abroad. The oldest of five, she scraped a living growing crops while trying to keep up with her schoolwork.聪明的恩德洛夫从未真正经历过童年。
自从7岁起，她的父母去国外工作后，她就一直在津巴布韦西部乡村小镇茨洛特肖主持家务。
她是五个孩子中的老大，一边靠种庄稼勉强糊口，一边还要努力完成学业。
But in 2020 the covid-19 pandemic struck, coming shortly after a devastating drought. Farmers could not afford to pay child labourers like Ms Ndlovu. “So I looked for a man to help support my family,” she recalls. She found one who demanded sex in exchange for money. Aged 17, she got pregnant.但在2020年，经历一场毁灭性的干旱后，新冠疫情又紧随其后。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
Britain’s young face a poorer future英国年轻一代面临更加贫穷的未来Economic statistics will never fully capture the extent of the sacrifices of Britain’s youth during the pandemic. For a generation of students and pupils it was a lost chance to make friends, explore who they are and, gradually, become adults — as well as to learn, in person. In the face of the deaths in the broader population, it is easy to dismiss as frivolous the setbacks of those who missed partying, travelling and dating during the long months stuck inside but these are still years of carefree youth they will not get back. What is more, most of these privations were primarily to protect those from older generations, the most vulnerable to the coronavirus.经济统计数字将永远不能完全反映出英国青年在这场大流行病中牺牲了多少。
对于这一代学生来说，他们失去了结交朋友、探索自我并逐渐成长为人,以及亲身学习的机会。
在有人死于新冠疫情之际，我们很容易认为被困在室内长达数月而错过聚会、旅行和约会的人所经历的这些挫折无关痛痒，但这是他们再也无法重返的无忧无虑的青春时光。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读五十五
Behavioural economics行为经济学People are more honest than they think they are人们比他们所认为的更诚信More money in a lost wallet means it is more likely to be returned钱包里的钱越多，找回来的可能性就越大Imagine that you found a wallet in the street containing a stranger’s contact details but no cash.Would you go out of your way to return it to its owner?Now imagine that the same wallet contained a fewcrisp banknotes.Would that alter your response?Does it depend on the amount of money?And how do you think other people would react in similar circumstances?假如你在街上捡到了一个钱包，钱包里有主人的联系方式但没有钱。
你会想办法物归原主吗？又假如在你捡到的这个钱包里有几张崭新的钞票。
这会让你的行为有所改变吗？归还与否取决于钱的多少吗？你认为其他人在碰到类似的情况时会有什么反应？Honesty makes the world go round.Without people trusting in one another,at least to a certain extent,society would fall apart.Honesty istherefore studied academically.Most work in the area,though,takes place under controlled conditions in laboratories.世界依靠诚信而运转。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一二五
Don’t panic about e-cigarettes不必对电子烟恐慌Banning them all will cause far more harm than good全面禁令将会弊大于利“It’s time to stop vaping,”says Lee Norman,a health official in Kansas. Six people are dead in America,apparently from smoking e-cigarettes. More than450have contracted a serious lung disease.So Mr Norman’s advice sounds reasonable.堪萨斯州的卫生官员诺曼·李说：“是时候禁止吸食电子烟了。
”美国已有6人明显死于吸食电子烟。
超过450人因吸食电子烟而患上了严重的肺病。
因此，诺曼的建议似乎合情合理。
The Centres for Disease Control and the American Medical Association agree:the country’s11m vapers should quit.A new idea is circulating,that vaping is worse than smoking.On September11th the Trump administration said it intends to ban non-tobacco flavoured vaping fluid.Some politicians want a broader ban on all e-cigarettes.美国疾病预防控制中心和美国医学会一致认为：美国1100万电子烟民应该戒烟。
如今大家普遍认为，电子烟的危害比传统香烟更大。
9月11日，特朗普政府表示将计划禁止非烟草味的电子烟烟液。
2019年经济学人考研英语双语阅读
There is no cure for HIV—but scientists may be getting closer科学家们虽然无法根治艾滋病- 但希望还是有的By Alice Park文/爱丽斯·帕克CURE ISN’T A WORD NORMALLY USED IN THE CONTEXT OF AIDS.“根治”一词通常不适用于艾滋病这一语境。
For most of the 35 years since HIV, the virus responsible for the disease, was first identified,自艾滋病病毒，也即诱发艾滋病的病毒，被首次发现以来的35年间，doctors have viewed the notion of a cure as more fantasy than fact.大部分时间医生们都认为根治艾滋病的概念更像是一种幻想而非事实。
That’s because HIV is a virus unlike any other.这是因为艾滋病病毒不同于其他任何一种病毒。
It disables the very immune cells that are supposed to destroy it and also sequesters itself in the body’s cells,它能摧毁原本应该反过来摧毁它的免疫细胞，然后将自身隔离在人体的细胞中，staging the ultimate deadly ambush whenever the immune defense’s guard comes down, months or sometimes even years later.准备着发动最后的致命伏击，只等免疫系统受损，无论是数月之后还是数年之后。
Yet for the first time in the HIV epidemic that currently affects nearly 37 million people worldwide,然而，就在目前影响着全世界近3700万人的这一流行病领域，some experts are starting to aim for a cure—cautiously—as they fashion the next generation of HIV treatments.一些专家率先开始了 - 谨慎地开始了- 艾滋病的根治研究，研制出了新一代艾滋病疗法。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
What are the keys to a successful life?成功的关键是什么?No matter what your goals are in life, there is one great law that you need to obey in order to be successful: No one else is going to climb the ladder of success for you. No one else is responsible for your health, wealth, happiness, or success. From the day you leave your parents’ house and start to make your own choices, you are responsible for your life and the choices you make.无论你的人生目标是什么，要想成功，你必须遵守一条伟大的法则：没有人会替你登上成功的阶梯。
没有人会对你的健康、财富、幸福或成功负责。
从你离开父母家开始做出自己的选择的那一天起，你就要对自己的生活和选择负责。
You choose the job you work in, the person you live with, and how much you exercise every day. Only you can choose how you spend your time, and the decisions you make on a consistent basis will make or break your life.你可以选择你的工作、与你一起生活的另一伴以及每天的运动量。
只有你自己可以选择如何分配你的时间，而你所做的决定将会成就或毁掉你的生活。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一二二
Lilies tweak their fruit and seeds to ensure their propagation百合对其果实和种子进行改造，以确保其繁殖Spit it out把种子吐出来African bush lilies are demanding plants.To thrive,they need dappled shade—for they are sensitive to full sunlight—and well-drained soil.They are therefore patchily distributed,growing only in microclimates where these conditions pertain.非洲灌木百合是一种对生长环境有着严苛要求的植物。
为了能够茁壮生长，它们需要斑驳的树荫（它们对充足的阳光很敏感）和排水良好的土壤。
因此，它们往往散落分布，仅在这些条件适宜的小气候中生长。
That means their seeds are likely to do best if they germinate near the plant that bore them.Too near,though,and they will compete with that parent for resources.这意味着，这些种子如果在播种它们的植物附近将会生长的最好。
但是，如果靠的太近将会和它们的母代植物争夺资源。
Somehow,a way needs to be arranged for seeds to be carried the optimum distance from their parental plants.And Ian Kiepiel and Steven Johnson at the University of KwaZulu-Natal,in South Africa,think they know how it happens.于是乎，需要通过某种途径让种子和母代植物保持最佳的距离。
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Should British11-year-olds be sitting exams?
英国11岁的孩子应该参加考试吗?
Labour wants to scrap standardised tests.But it may struggle to find
an adequate replacement
工党希望废除标准化考试。
但或许很难找到一个替代方案
Next month11-year-olds will sit a series of short tests in maths and English—a fact that causes much unhappiness among England’s teachers.
下个月，11岁的孩子们将参加一系列有关数学和英语的小测试——这在英国的教师群体中引起了极大的不满。
At the National Education Union’s recent conference,Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s leader,announced to hearty applause that he would scrap these tests,which are known as SATs,and that he would review other
primary-school assessments.
在全国教育联盟最近的一次会议上，工党领袖杰里米·科尔宾在热烈的掌声中宣布，他将废除这些被称为SATs的考试，并将考虑用其他的方式对小学进行评估。
（注：SATs，即标准成绩考试，类似于我国的小升初考试。
）
At the conference of the NASUWT,another teachers’union,an official made headlines when he revealed that lots of schools were calling pupils in to prep for the tests over Easter,sometimes with rewards of fun activities or fast food.
在全国校长协会暨女教师公会联盟（另一个教师联盟）的一次会议上，一名官员透露称，许多学校要求学生们准备复活节期间的考试，并且有时会以有趣的活动或快餐作为奖励，这一消息随后登上了头条新闻。
Unlike GCSEs(taken at16)and A-levels(at18),SATs hold little sway over a pupil’s future.At most,they will help determine which academic stream the child enters in their first year at secondary school.Their chief purpose is to measure teachers and schools.
与GCSEs(16岁时参加的，相当于英国的中考)和A-levels(18岁时参加的，相当于英国的高考)不同，SATs对学生的未来几乎不产生影响。
它最多是帮助孩子们确定在中学的第一学年进入哪个学术流。
SATs的主要目的是为了考核教师和学校。
If children are making good progress in their sums but not their reading,a school can devote more resources to English lessons.If one part of the country is making good progress,the government can study its success.
如果孩子们在算术上进步很大，但在阅读上却没有进步，那么学校就可以投入更多的资源到英语课程上。
如果一个国家在某一方面正在取得很大的进展，那么政府就可以（利用SATs）研究它的成功所在。
Teachers nevertheless complain that they are under too much pressure to squeeze high marks out of their pupils.
尽管如此，教师们还是抱怨称，他们承受了太大的压力，要去逼着学生们考取高分。
League tables are based on the percentage of children reaching certain standards,the schools inspectorate uses their results to inform its judgments and some teachers are on performance-related pay.Not all respond well.
排名表是基于达到某一成绩标准的学生的百分比来算的，学校监察机构以学生的考试成绩作为教师评判的依据，一些教师的工资是和学生的成绩挂钩的。
这并不只产生积极的效应。
One head teacher in Leeds dragged a high-performing pupil from their sick bed to take a test,setting a sick bucket beside them.
利兹市的一位班主任把一名躺在病床上的成绩优异的学生拖去参加考试，而仅仅只为他准备了一个痰盂在身旁。
Although tempting to teachers(and some parents),Labour’s promise to abolish SATs raises a question:what would replace them?A popular answer among teachers is to rely on their own assessments.
尽管工党废除SATs的承诺对于教师(和一些家长)来说很有吸引力，但它同时带来了一个问题：用什么来取代SATs呢？教师们的普遍回答是依靠教师自己的判断。
Yet this would be no better than children marking their own homework. What’s more,there is evidence that teachers are biased by pupils’ethnicity.Mr Corbyn has promised that his alternative system will encourage creativity.
然而，这就如同让孩子们批改自己的家庭作业一样。
更重要的是，有证据表明，有些教师对学生存在种族偏见。
科尔宾承诺，他的替代方案将会鼓励学生们的创造力。
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)
重难点词汇：
adequate[ˈædɪkwət]adj.充足的；适当的；胜任的
squeeze[skwiz]vt.挤；紧握；勒索vi.压榨n.压榨；紧握；拥挤；佣金inspectorate[ɪn'spɛktərət]n.检查员；视察团；检查员的辖区。