When it comes to schooling， the Herrera boys are no match for the Herrera girls. Last week， four years after she arrived from Honduras， Martha， 20， graduated from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. She managed decent grades while working 36 hours a week at a Kentucky Fried Chicken. Her sister， Marlin， 22， attends a local community college and will soon be a certified nurse assistant. The brothers are a different story. Oscar， 17， was expelled two years ago from Fairfax for carrying a knife and later dropped out of a different school. The youngest， Jonathan， 15， is now in a juvenile boot camp after running into trouble with the law. “The boys get sidetracked more，” says the kids' mother， Suyapa Landaverde. “The girls are more confident.”

　　This is no aberration. Immigrant girls consistently outperform boys， according to the preliminary findings of a just-completed， five-year study of immigrant children——the largest of its kind， including Latino， Chinese and Haitian kids——by Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Though that trend holds for U.S.-born kids as well， the reasons for the discrepancy among immigrants are different. The study found that immigrant girls are more adept at straddling cultures than boys. “The girls are able to retain some of the protective features of [their native] culture” because they're kept closer to the hearth， says Marcelo Suarez-Orozco， “while they maximize their acquisition of skills in the new culture” by helping their parents navigate it.

　　Consider the kids' experiences in school. The study found that boys face more peer pressure to adopt American youth culture——the dress， the slang， the disdain for education. They're disciplined more often and， as a result， develop more adversarial relationships with teachers——and the wider society. They may also face more debilitating prejudices. One teacher interviewed for the study said that the “cultural awareness training” she received as part of her continuing education included depictions of Latino boys as “aggressive” and “really macho” and of the girls as “pure sweetness.”

　　Gender shapes immigrant kids' experiences outside school as well. Often hailing from traditional cultures， the girls face greater domestic obligations. They also frequently act as “cultural ambassadors，” translating for parents and mediating between them and the outside world， says Carola Suarez-Orozco. An unintended consequence： “The girls get foisted into a responsible role more than the boys do.” Take Christina Im， 18， a junior at Fairfax who arrived from South Korea four years ago. She ranks ninth in a class of 400 students and still finds time to fix dinner for the family and work on Saturdays at her mother's clothing shop. Her brother? “He plays computer games，” says Im.

　　The Harvard study bears a cautionary note： If large numbers of immigrant boys continue to be alienated academically——and to be clear， plenty perform phenomenally——they risk sinking irretrievably into an economic underclass. Oscar Herrera， Martha's dropout brother， may be realizing that. “I'm thinking of returning to school，” he recently told his mother. He ought to look to his sisters for guidance.

　　1. In the opening paragraph， the author introduces his topic by

　　[A]posing a contrast

　　[B]justifying an assumption

　　[C]making a comparison

　　[D]explaining a phenomenon

　　2. The statement “they also frequently act as ‘cultural ambassadors’”(Line two， Paragraph 4) implies that

　　[A]they work as a translator for their parents

　　[B]they help their parents have a better understanding of the foreign culture

　　[C]they encourage their parents to go into the outside world

　　[D]their parents help them realize their dream of becoming an ambassador.

　　3. Immigrant boys do not fare well in the outside world because of the following reasons， except that

　　[A]American youth culture has a bad influence on the boys

　　[B]people have prejudice against them

　　[C]their sense of responsibility is not as strong as that of the girls

　　[D]they do not get well along with the teachers and the outside world

　　4. Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco have eventually found in their study that

　　[A]the immigrant boys should not be allowed to go into the outside world

　　[B]the immigrant boys have no judgment about the youth culture

　　[C]the immigrant girls do a better job than the immigrant boys

　　[D]the immigrant boys should be severely disciplined

　　5. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

　　[A]All the dropouts should receive good education.

　　[B]Many immigrant boys are likely to fall into trouble in the future.

　　[C]Schooling education has been neglected.

　　[D]More attention should be paid to the immigrant children.

　　詞匯注釋

　　sidetracked 使受牽制的，誤入歧途的

　　aberration 失常;偏差

　　outperform 勝過

　　preliminary 預備的，初步的

　　discrepancy 相差，差異，矛盾

　　adept at 熟練于…;擅長于…

　　straddle 跨坐

　　navigate 航行于，駕駛，操縱

　　adversarial 敵手的，對手的

　　debilitate 使衰弱，使虛弱

　　macho 男子的，男子氣的

　　hailing from 來自，在某地生長

　　mediate 仲裁，調停

　　foist 偷偷插入，使混入

　　phenomenally 現象上的，明白地;驚人地

　　irretrievably 不能挽回地，不能補救地

　　look to sb. for sth.以來或指望某人提供或作某事物

　　fare 進展;成功

　　難句講解

　　1. Last week， four years after she arrived from Honduras， Martha， 20， graduated from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. She managed decent grades while working 36 hours a week at a Kentucky Fried Chicken.

　　[簡析] 本句話是一個并列句，其主干“Martha graduated from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. She managed decent grades…”。four years after she arrived from Honduras和20是插入語;while引導的斷語作狀語，表示讓步。

　　2. “The girls are able to retain some of the protective features of [their native] culture” because they're kept closer to the hearth， says Marcelo Suarez-Orozco， “while they maximize their acquisition of skills in the new culture” by helping their parents navigate it.

　　[簡析]本句話的主干是“The girls are able to retain some of the protective features…”。Because引導的是原因莊宇從句;says Marcelo Suarez-Orozco是插入語;while 引導的是時間狀語從句，其中的by引導的短語作狀語，其中的it指的是new culture.

　　3. One teacher interviewed for the study said that the “cultural awareness training” she received as part of her continuing education included depictions of Latino boys as “aggressive” and “really macho” and of the girls as “pure sweetness.”

　　[簡析]本句話的主干是“One teacher said that…”。interviewed for the study作定語修飾teacher;that 引導的是賓語從句，其中的she received as part of her continuing education是一個省略了引導詞的定語從句，修飾cultural awareness training.

　　4. The Harvard study bears a cautionary note： If large numbers of immigrant boys continue to be alienated academically——and to be clear， plenty perform phenomenally——they risk sinking irretrievably into an economic underclass.

　　[簡析]本句話的主干是“The Harvard study bears a cautionary note…”。冒號后面的句子是在解釋前面的句子;if 引導的是條件狀語從句;破折號里面的內容是在進一步說明if 引導的從句。

　　答案與解析

　　1. C 結構題。本題的問題是“在開始段落，作者通過 介紹他的主題”。文章第一段提到，談到學校教育，哈瑞羅家的男孩無法與女孩相提并論;隨后，作者分別介紹了女孩和男孩的表現;該段最后引用孩子們的母親的話指出，男孩子大都誤入歧途，而女孩子卻更自信。這說明，作者是通過相互比較引出其主題的。[C]“做比較”是對該段的恰當概括，為正確答案。[A]“形成對照”不準確，因為contrast主要指的是對立，與文意不符;第一段中沒有提到某種假設，所以[B]“證明一種假設正確”不對;第一段中只是提出了女孩在學校教育方面比男孩表現好，并沒有解釋原因，所以[D]“解釋一種現象”不對。

　　2. B 推論題。本題的問題是“‘她們也常常擔任文化大使’(第四段)這句話暗示 ”。文章第二段提到，移民女孩比男孩更擅長于適應不同的文化，并且她們可以幫助其父母適應新文化;而第四段前面部分提到，女孩面臨更多家庭義務，她們也常常擔任“文化大使”。為她們的父母擔任翻譯，并且在父母與外部世界之間進行協調。由此可知，該句話表明，女孩可以幫助父母理解外國文化。[B]“她們幫助父母更好地了解外國文化”是對文中相關信息的改寫，為正確答案。[A]“她們充當她們父母的翻譯”是該句話的字面意思，不能表達深層含意，所以不對;[C]“她們鼓勵父母進入外面的世界”是誤解了該句話的意思;[D]“她們的父母幫助她們實現成為大使的夢想”明顯與文意不符。

　　3. A 細節題。本題的問題是“由于下面的原因，移民男孩不會在外面獲得成功，除了”。文章第三段介紹了男孩受到的影響，指出，他們受懲戒的次數更多，因此，他們會跟老師以及更廣大的社會發展更敵對的關系，他們也可能面對更多令人沮喪的偏見：這說明，[B]“人們對他們有偏見”和[D]“他們沒有處理好與老師和外面社會的關系”是移民男孩不會獲得成功的原因;第四段提到，由于女孩通常是在傳統文化中成長起來的，所以她們面臨更多家庭義務，女孩不得不承擔的責任比男孩多;這說明，[C]“他們的責任感不像女孩那么強烈”是移民男孩不會獲得成功的原因。[A]“美國的青少年文化對男孩有不利的影響”是針對第三段第二句設置的干擾項，文中說的是“研究發現，男孩要想接受美國的青少年文化，他們會面臨更多同齡人的壓力”，說明[A]與文意不符。

　　4. C 細節題。本題的問題是“馬賽羅和卡羅拉。蘇瑞茲。歐羅絲科在研究中最后發現”。文章第二段提到，根據馬賽羅和卡羅拉。蘇瑞茲。歐羅絲科剛剛完成的一項研究初步結果可知，移民女孩一向優于男孩;隨后的段落解釋了造成這種狀況的原因，指出，哈佛大學的研究顯示，大量移民男孩在學業上荒廢，許多人的學業成績差得令人難以置信。這說明，他們的研究發現，移民男孩的表現比女孩差。[C]“移民女孩比移民男孩的表現好”是對文中相關信息的概括，為正確答案。[A]“移民男孩不應該被容許進入外面的世界”屬于無中生有;[B]“移民男孩對青少年文化沒有判斷力”是針對文中“boys face more peer pressure to adopt Anierican youth culture”這句話設置的干擾項，與文意不符;文章第三段提到，正因為移民男孩受到更多的懲戒，所以他們會跟老師和社會發展更敵對的關系，說明懲戒太多會產生不好的影響，所以[D]“移民男孩應該受到嚴厲懲戒”與研究的發現相反。

　　5. B 推論題。本題的問題是“根據最后一段，我們可以推知什么?”最后一段提到，哈佛大學的研究表明，如果大量移民男孩繼續在學業上荒廢，那么他們將不可避免地面臨在經濟上陷入社會底層的風險。[B]“許多移民男孩將來可能陷入困境”是對該句話的mt.-~，為正確答案。[A]“所有輟學者都應該接受良好的教育”和[D]“應該更關注移~——T-A-”屬于無中生有;[C]“學校教育被人們忽視了”是對文中“imlnigrant boys continue to be alienated academically”設置的干擾項，是誤解了be alienated academically的意思。

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