高中英语人教版必修五Unit 2 The United Kingdom同步练习 (3)

    In 1978, I was 18 and was working as a nurse in a small town about 270 km away from Sydney, Australia. I was looking forward to having five days off from duty. Unfortunately, the only one train a day back to my home in Sydney had already left. So I thought I'd hitch a ride (搭便车).

    I waited by the side of the highway for three hours but no one stopped for me. Finally, a man walked over and introduced himself as Gordon. He said that although he couldn't give me a lift, I should come back to his house for lunch. He noticed me standing for hours in the November heat and thought I must be hungry. I was doubtful as a young girl but he assured (使……放心) me I was safe, and he also offered to help me find a lift home afterwards. When we arrived at his house, he made us sandwiches. After lunch, he helped me find a lift home.

Twenty-five years later, in 2003, while I was driving to a nearby town one day, I saw an elderly man standing in the glaring heat, trying to hitch a ride. I thought it was another chance to repay someone for the favor I'd been given decades earlier. I pulled over and picked him up. I made him comfortable on the back seat and offered him some water.

    After a few moments of small talk, the man said to me, “You haven't changed a bit, even your red hair is still the same.”

    I couldn't remember where I'd met him. He then told me he was the man who had given me lunch and helped me find a lift all those years ago. It was Gordon.

    Recently, people in US education have gotten extremely worried because a new report has shown that American students have a math problem.

    The 2015 Program for International Student Assessment(评估)(PISA) shows math scores in the US getting lower and no improvement in science or reading. PISA tests 15-year-olds from different countries and regions in their math, science and reading skills. About 540, 000 students from 72 countries and regions took part in the assessment in 2015.

    US scores in reading and science were about the same as three years ago, leaving Americans near the middle of the bigger group. But the situation in math is much more worrying. The US average score was 470, below the OECD(经合组织)test average of 490, meaning the US was No. 40 among the 72 countries and areas. It was 12 points lower than in 2012 and 18 points lower than in 2009. So, what is going on with American students' math skills?

    One reason may be that the US does not teach math in enough depth. "Students are often good at answering the first part of a problem in the United States, "said Andreas Schleicher, director of education and skills at OECD. "But as soon as students have to go deeper and answer the more complicated part of a problem, they have difficulties. "In comparison, many high-performing countries and regions in math teach a lot less but focus in much greater depth,  especially when you look at East Asia, Japan and Singapore, according to Schleicher.

    Another reason may be the fact that many people in the US are unwilling to travel to foreign countries to learn better teaching practices. "One of our biggest challenges in the US is that the teachers are not going out and seeing what high-performing countries do differently, "said Wendy Kopp, who started Teach for America, in a news program.

    Mike Miles hadn't had a stable job in years. He bounced around from one position to another, never sure when his last day would be. Sometimes, he lost a position with less than a day's notice. This wasn't due to a poor work ethic—from arriving early to staying late, Miles says he did everything he could to build a good relationship with employers. But because Miles had a criminal record, he was always cut loose when it came time to let staff go.

    It wasn't until October 2015, nearly a decade after his release from prison, that a cousin told Miles about Lancaster Food Company, a local business that focuses on hiring people released from prison. Hoping this would clear up what felt like a thick cloud of uncertainty over his future, Miles submitted an application. He got an interview, and he then began a new job.

    Miles' scenario is rare in Lancaster, where the poverty rate holds steady at 30%. This figure riled Charlie Crystle,  Lancaster's co-founder and CEO. Crystle was raised in Lancaster but left in 1986 to purse a college degree and later, a career in technology. He co-founded four tech companies, one of which sold for millions of dollars back in 2000.

    Crystle is skeptical that many of Lancaster's low-income residents can get started the way he did. He believes food production is a key way to meet former offenders who may lack a college degree. Lancaster produces products like bread. Nowadays the company is rapidly expanding; however, at just 16 full-time employees, including administration and owners, it doesn't lower the city's poverty rate.

    Crystle says he wants to inspire other companies to rethink their current practices and start conversations around minimum wage and employment opportunities for everyone, including ex-offenders. Dan Jurman, who chairs the city's Commission to Combat Poverty, believes that Crystle's business is a great way to make this happen. "None of us can handle these issues alone, " he said.

—Oh yes，enough and to spare.

—______ for a taxi. The underground can save money.

—No，I think they ________.