“It's an alarming number,” said Tom Fagan, a former department official who conducted theanalysis. “It’s clear that the amount of overall increase is not keeping pace with the number ofpoor kids.”

　　Susan Aspey, a department spokeswoman, defended the spending levels for Title I，saying, “President Bush and Congress have invested record amounts of funding to help the nation’sneediest students.”

　　But Mr. Fagan said the increasing number of districts that are losing money is making it harderfor the schools to meet the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the Bushadministration's signature education program, which measures progress through annual testsin math, reading and science. That is giving critics of the program more grounds to accuse theadministration of not sufficiently financing the program while demanding greater results.

　　Title I provides the largest component of financing for No Child Left Behind.

　　“The federal government is concentrating more money in fewer districts," said John F. Jennings,the president and chief executive of the Center on Education Policy. “It means there is lots ofanger and lots of tension. They're asking us to do more and more with less and less.”

　　練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1.As it is indicated in the passage, the new analysis _____.

　　A.studied the federal money spent on low-income students

　　B.aimed at promoting the establishment of more public schools

　　C.showed that about half the schools would receive less money

　　D.was conducted by the Department of Education’s Title I program

　　2.Which of the following factors does NOT lead to the result that more than two-thirdsof thedistricts will get more poorly financed?

　　A.People often move from one place to another.

　　B.There are more children from poor families.

　　C.The way of distributing money has changed.

　　D.Spending under the Title I program decreased.

　　3.Susan Aspey looks at the funding by the government with _______.

　　A.criticism

　　B.consent

　　C.Indifference

　　D.expectation

　　4.According to Tom Fagan, ______.

　　A.the government has done its best to finance the poor children

　　B.the goals of No Child Left Behind Act are difficult to realize

　　C.the way of measuring progress by annual tests should be changed

　　D.the Bush government shouldn't have approved the Title I program

　　5.When the government concentrates more money in fewer districts, _____.

　　A.more poor children will get benefited

　　B.more public schools will have to be closed

　　C.it will arouse more people’s dissatisfaction

　　D.No Child Left Behind Act will be realized sooner

　　1.[A] 事實細節題。本題考査對長句的理解。從第1段首句中的“…of…”這一結構可知這個最新分析是要研究聯邦政府資金問題的。所以排除B。由第3段第1句可知這項最新分析是由the Center on Education Policy 進行的，因此排除選項D。根據第3段最后一句，選項C中show的行為主體應為similar study。

　　2.[D] 事實細節題。本題考查因果關系。第2段第2句指出有三個原因造成超過2/3的地區得到的資金減少，選項A、B、C是對這三個原因的近義改寫，但其中選項C與原句的形式分別最大，容易造成誤選。

　　3.[B] 觀點態度題。本題考查文人物的觀點。蘇珊·阿斯貝的觀點態度只能從第5段推斷出，從這一段中的defended和record amount of funding可知她對教育部的撥款數是認同的。選項A和C都是貶義詞，不可 能表達她的觀點;選項D雖是褒義詞,但蘇珊是在陳述已發生的事實，而不是發表對教育部的期望。

　　4.[B] 推理判斷題。本題考查對復合句的理解。由文中第6段第1句中的harder... to meet...可知選項B正確。選項C最具干擾性，要排除這個干擾，關鍵是要理解第6段第1句中由which引導的非限制性定語從句的作 用。這個從句是對前面“the Bush administration's signature education program”的附加事實信息，不屬于湯姆·法甘的看法。

　　5.[C] 推理判斷題。根據第6段第1句可知選項A和D與事實不符。最后一段倒數第2句中的anger和tension兩詞，可推斷人們對此表示不滿。