2017公共英語二級閲讀理解文章

如果問在英語考試裏，什麼題型最容易讓考生丟分，閲讀理解一定有一席之地。面對20217年下半年的公共英語二級備考，小編特地為大家送上兩篇公共英語二級閲讀理解文章，希望對大家有所幫助。

It is commonly believed in the United States that school is where people go to get an education. Nevertheless, it has been said that today children interrupt their education to go to school. The distinction between schooling and education implied by this remark is important. Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling. Education knows no bounds. It can take place anywhere, whether in the shower or in the job, whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both the formal learning that takes place in schools and the whole universe of informal learning. The agents of education can range from a revered grandparent to thepeople debating politics on the radio, from a child to a distinguished scientist.

Whereas schooling has a certain predictability, education quite often produces surprises. A chance conversation with a stranger may lead a person to discover how little is known of other religions. People are engaged in education from infancy on. Education, then, is a very broad, inclusive term. It is a lifelong process, a process that starts long before the start of school, and one that should be an integral part of one's entire life.

Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern varies little from one setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive at school at approximately the same time, take assigned seats, are taught by an adult, use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on. The slices of reality that are to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of the workings of government, have usually been limited by the boundaries of the subject being taught. For example, high school students know that they are not likely to find out in their classes the truth about political problems in their communities or what the newest filmmakers are experimenting with. There are definite conditions surrounding the formalized process of schooling.

在美國，人們通常認為上學是為了受教育。而現在卻有人認為孩子們上學打斷了他們受教育的過程。這種觀念中的上學與受教育之間的區別非常重要。與上學相比，教育更具開放性，內容更廣泛。教育不受任何限制。它可以在任何場合下進行，在淋浴時，在工作時，在廚房裏或拖拉機上。它既包括在學校所受的正規教育，也包括一切非正規教育。傳授知識的人可以是德高望重的老者，可以是收音機裏進行政治辯論的人們，可以是小孩子，也可以是知名的科學家。上學讀書多少有點可預見性，而教育往往能帶來意外的發現。與陌生人的一次隨意談話可能會使人認識到自己對其它宗教其實所知甚少。人們從幼時起就開始受教育。因此，教育是一個內涵很豐富的詞，它自始至終伴隨人的一生，早在人們上學之前就開始了。教育應成為人生命中不可缺少的一部分。然而，上學卻是一個特定的形式化了的過程。在不同場合下，它的'基本形式大同小異。在全國各地，孩子們幾乎在同一時刻到達學校，坐在指定的座位上，由一位成年人傳授知識，使用大致相同的教材，做作業，考試等等。他們所學的現實生活中的一些片斷，如字母表或政府的運作，往往受到科目範圍的限制。例如，高中生們知道，在課堂上他們沒法弄清楚他們社區裏政治問題的真情，也不會了解到最新潮的電影製片人在做哪些嘗試。學校教育這一形式化的過程是有特定的限制的。社區裏政治問題的真情，也不會了解到最新潮的電影製片人在做哪些嘗試。 學校教育這一形式化的過程是有特定的 限制的。

The American Revolution was not a revolution in the sense of a radical or total change. It was not a sudden and violent overturning of the political and social framework, such as later occurred in France and Russia, when both were already independent nations. Significant changes were ushered in, but they were not breathtaking. What happened was accelerated evolution rather than outright revolution. During the conflict itself people went on working and praying, marrying and playing. Most of them were not seriously disturbed by the actual fighting, and many of the more isolated communities scarcely knew that a war was on. America's War of Independence heralded the birth of three modern nations. One was Canada, which received its first large influx of English-speaking population from the thousands of loyalists who fled there from the United States. Another was Australia, which became a penal colony now that America was no longer available for prisoners and debtors. The third newcomer —— the United States —— based itself squarely on republican principles.

Yet even the political overturn was not so revolutionary as one might suppose. In some states, notably Connecticut and Rhode Island, the war largely ratified a colonial self-rule already existing. British officials, everywhere ousted, were replaced by a home-grown governing class, which promptly sought a local substitute for king and Parliament.

美國革命其實並不算是一場革命，因為它並未導致完全的和徹底的變化。 這次革命並不是對政治和社會框架的一次突然和猛烈的顛覆，象後來在已經是獨立國家的法國和俄國所爆發的革命那樣。革命帶來了重大的變化，但並非翻天覆地，所發生的只是進化的加速，而不是一場徹底的革命;在衝突期間，人們仍然上班、做禮拜、結婚、玩耍。多數人並沒有受到實際戰鬥的嚴重影響。許多較閉塞的社區對這場戰爭幾乎一無所知。美國獨立戰爭宣佈了三個現代國家的誕生，其中一個是加拿大。加拿大的第一大批講英語的流入人口來自於成千上萬英王的效忠者，這些人從美國逃到了加拿大。另一個國家是澳大利亞，因為美國不再是容納罪犯和欠債者的國度了，澳大利亞就變成了一個懲治罪犯的殖民地(注：獨立戰爭前，英國政府將罪犯流放到美國)。第三個國家就是美國，它完全建立在共和原則基礎上。

即使政治上的顛覆也不如人們可能想象的那樣具有革命性。在一些州，特別是康涅狄格和羅德島，戰爭基本上只是承認了已經存在的殖民地的自治。四處被驅逐的英國官員都被本土的統治階級所替代，這個統治階級迅速地以地方權力機關來替代國王和議會。