《考研英语阅读理解100篇 基础版》第2章　社会文化类 Unit 15

Piggybacking on a recent Bloomberg administration initiative，Scott M．Stringer，the Manhattan borough president，plans to propose on Tuesday that New York City experiment with an innovative method to help pay for early education．Mr．Stringer，a Democrat who is a likely contender for mayor in 2013，is advocating that the city explore the use of social-impact bonds，also called pay-for-success bonds，to expand access to Early Head Start，which helps pregnant mothers and families with children up to age 3．Such bonds—actually loans made by investors to pay for a program—typically require a government to pay the investors a return on their principal only if a program meets certain goals and helps that entity save money. 
Mr．Stringer said that his proposal would not cost taxpayers anything and stood in marked contrast to what other likely mayoral contenders have recently suggested in education，which has emerged as a key early issue in the mayor's race. 
Earlier this month，Bill de Blasio，the public advocate，proposed raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers to pay for more prekindergarten classes and after-school activities for students in Grades 6 to 8．In June，state lawmakers approved a proposal from Christine C．Quinn，the City Council speaker，to make kindergarten mandatory for all 5-year-olds in New York City，potentially covering 3,000 students who enter first grade without having first gone to kindergarten. 
“We are fooling ourselves if we think the same old approach to funding education will get us to where we want to be,” said Mr．Stringer，who plans to discuss his proposal—and several others designed to allow working- and middle-class New Yorkers more access to legal services—during a speech to the New York City Bar Association. 
To make the investment worthwhile for both investor and government，people who are experienced in the field say that an early-education program would likely require an investment of anywhere from $5 million to $25 million．But some critics fret that monetary incentives could distort the programs，or the way they are evaluated，and that the public sector could cater too much to potential investors. 
In theory，Mr．Stringer's proposal was welcomed by both the Bloomberg administration and Goldman Sachs．Alicia Glen，head of Goldman Sachs's Urban Investment Group，which is investing in the Rikers Island project，noted that early education has attracted enormous interest，and that three or four other municipalities across the country were already trying to come up with early-education social-impact bonds. 
注（1）：本文选自The New York Times； 
注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1、2、3题模仿2011年真题Text 1第1、4、5题；第4、5题模仿2011年真题Text 2第4、5题。 
1．What can we learn from Para.1 about Scott M．Stringer's proposal? 
A) The proposal is initially proposed by Bloomberg administration. 
B) The proposal is merely proposed for the sake of mayoral race. 
C) Investors should sponsor the program according to the proposal. 
D) The proposal aims at paying for early education. 
2．The writer's attitude to Scott M．Stringer's proposal can be said as ______. 
A) objective 
B) biased 
C) supportive 
D) oppositive 
3．Regarding the expenditure in early-education program，many feared that ______. 
A) investors and the government would not afford the expenditure 
B) the investment could not stimulate the program 
C) monetary incentives might bring negative effects on the program 
D) the public sector might commit corruption 
4．It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ______. 
A) Goldman Sachs will invest in early-education 
B) early-education will have a good development prospect 
C) Alicia Glen put forward early-education social-impact bonds first 
D) early-education needs to attract enormous interest 
5．The most appropriate title for this text would be ______. 
A) What Is Going on in the Mayoral Race 
B) Proposals on Early Education 
C) How to Collect Money for Early Education 
D) Who Will Be the Winner in the Mayoral Race