The speaker, a teacher from a community college, addressed a sympathetic audience. Heads nodded in agreement when he said, "High school English teachers are not doing their jobs." He described the inadequacies of his students, all high school graduates who can use language only at grade 9 level. I was unable to determine from his answers to my questions how this grade 9 level had been established.

My topic is not standards, nor its decline. What the speaker was really saying is that he is no longer young; he has been teaching for sixteen years, and is able to think and speak like a mature adult.

My point is that the frequent complaint of one generation about the one immediately following it is inevitable. It is also human nature to look for the reasons for our dissatisfaction. Before English became a school subject in the late nineteenth century it was difficult to find the target of the blame for language deficiencies. But since then, English teachers have been under constant attack.

The complainers think they have hit upon an original idea. As their own command of the language improves, they notice that young people do not have this same ability. Unaware that their own ability has developed through the years, they assume the new generation of young people must be hopeless in this respect. To the eyes and ears of sensitive adults the language of the young always seems inadequate.

Since this concern about the decline and fall of the English language is not perceived as a generational phenomenon but rather as something new and peculiar to today’s young people, it naturally follows that today’s English teachers cannot be doing their jobs. Otherwise, young people would not commit offenses against the language.

1. The speaker the author mentioned in the passage believed that         .

A. the language of the younger generation is usually inferior to that of the older generation

B. the students had a poor command of English because they didn’t work hard enough

C. he was an excellent language teacher because he had been teaching English for sixteen years

D. English teachers should be held responsible for the students’ poor command of English

2. In the author’s opinion, the speaker        .

A. gave a correct judgment of the English level of the students

B. had exaggerated the language problems of the students

C. was right in saying that English teachers were not doing their jobs

D. could think and speak intelligently

3. The author’s attitude towards the speaker’s remarks is          .

   A. neutral           B. positive       C. critical       D. compromising

4. It can be concluded from the passage that           .

A. it is justifiable to include English as a school subject

B. the author disagrees with the speaker over the standard of English at Grade 9 level

C. English language teaching is by no means an easy job

D. Language improvement needs time and effort

5. In the passage the author argues that            .

A. it is unfair to blame the English teachers for the language deficiencies of the students

B. young people would not commit offences against the language if the teachers did their jobs properly

C. to eliminate language deficiencies one must have sensitive eyes and ears

D. to improve the standard of English requires the effort of several generations

参考答案：21. D B C D A

那位演讲者是来自一所社区大学的教师，他在给一群富有同感的听众演讲。当他说到“当今的中学老师不称职”时，听众们都点头表示赞同。他这样表述他的学生的无能：高中毕业生运用语言的能力仅仅达到九级水平。然而，从他给我提问的回答中我无法确定他所谓的九级是怎样确定的。
我要说的不是标准的确定问题，也不是学生语言水平是否有所下降的问题。这位演讲人真正想说的是他已经不再年轻了，他已经教了16年书了，他能够像一个成熟的成年人那样说话和思考了。
我认为，一代人对下一代人有怨言是常有的事。为自己的不满找些理由也是人之常情。在19世纪后期英语成为学校的一门课程之前，很难找到怪罪语言能力缺陷的对象。但是自那以后，英语老师就不断受到攻击。
那些抱怨的人自认为他们有独到的见解。随着教师们对语言掌握的日益完善，他们便注意到年轻人不具备同等能力。由于没有意识到自己的语言能力是经过多年培养起来的，他们便想当然的认为新一代的年轻人在这方面无药可救了。在那些敏锐的成年人眼中，年轻人的语言听上去总有些差强人意。
由于没有将英语水平下滑的问题看作是每代人都会有的现象，而是现代年轻人特有的新问题，人们很自然就会得出一种结论：现在的英语老师没有尽到责任。否则年轻人就不会在语言上犯错了。