After rising steadily for almost a century, standards of education in the public schools of Europe and North

America have levelled off and, in the opinion of many parents and employers, are actually falling.

More and more children are leaving school with little more than a basic knowledge of reading, writing and
arithmetic and illiteracy is becoming a social problem once again.

With dropout rates of twenty-seven percent in high schools and fifty percent on colleges, the American
education system is clearly in trouble; European dropout rates, though lower than those of the U.S. are rising
too.

Various factors have been blamed for the apparent decline in education standards. Some people say that
overcrowding and lack of discipline are major factors.

Other maintain the subjects like art and drama have been over emphasized at the expense of more practical
subjects. The negative influence of television is frequently mentioned as a reason for growing illiteracy.

Many teachers and principal, however, insist that the problem is not a falling standards but of rising
expectations on the part of parents and employers.

Whether or not standards in public school are falling, many parents feel that the only way to secure a good
education for their children is to send them to private schools is growing steadily, despite the high tuition fees.
In the U.S. for example, eleven percent of all school children attend private school, in France, over sixteen
percent do so.

1. What is the text about?

(A) Problems in current educations systems
(B) Rising dropout rates in American public school
(C) Factors determining general education standard
(D) Comparison between the American and European education system
(E) Problems in education in European and American public school

2. Private schools have become popular among parent, because ...

(A) They charge high tuition fees
(B) Their educational systems never has problems
(C) Parents expectations for more practical subjects are met
(D) They think that private school provide better education
(E) Their rate of dropout is lower than that in public schools do

3. Which of the following statement is true according to text?

(A) School authorities do not think that the educational standards in public school is declining.
(B) More children are leaving school because they realize that public school have no discipline.
(C) The general trend in the world is that there is a decline in educational standards.
(D) Television greatly contributed to the failure of public school in general.
(E) Private schools are expensive because they provide more practical subject than public school do.
Researchers have debunked the myth that extreme sportsmen and women are adrenalin junkies with a death
wish. According to Professor Brymer from Leeds Beckett University, there had been a gross misunderstanding
of what motivates people to take part in extreme sports. Many write it off as an activity for adrenalin junkies.

His research has shown that people who engage in extreme sports are anything but irresponsible risk-takers with
a death wish. They are highly trained individuals with a deep knowledge of themselves, the activity, and the
environment. They usually do the activity to have a life-enhancing experience. The experience is very hard to
describe in the same way that love is hard to describe. For example, BASE jumpers talk about being able to see
all the colours and nooks and crannies of the rock as they zoom past at 300km/h. Meanwhile, extreme climbers
feel like they are floating and dancing with the rock.

Professor Schweitzer said understanding motivations for extreme sports was important to understand human. In
fact, extreme sports participation facilitates more positive psychological experiences and expresses human
values. These include humility, harmony, creativity, spirituality, and a vital sense of self.

He added that extreme sports participants found it hard to put their experiences into words. Thus, the research
project had taken a new approach to understanding the data. His research team did not employ a theory-based
approach which may make judgements that do not reflect the lived experience of extreme sports participants.
Instead, they took a phenomenological approach. By doing so, they were able to conceptualize such
experiences. They could also investigate the choices to engage in activity which may lead to death. However,
such experiences have been shown to be affirmative of life and the potential for transformation. Extreme sports
have the potential to induce powerful states of consciousness. ... and provide a further glimpse into what it
means to be human.

4. The paragraph preceding the passage most likely discusses ....

(A) types and examples of extreme sportsmen and women
(B) news coverage on incidents linked to extreme sports athle
(C) therising trend of people taking part in extreme sports
(D) circulating sportsmen and women rumours about adrenalin junkies
(E) results of earlier studies on extreme sports accident

5. The word 'debunked' in paragraph 1 in the passage is closest in meaning to ....

(A) corrected
(B) disproved
(C) neglected
(D) discontented
(E) deconstructed

6. From paragraph 1, the author of the passage is trying to convey that ....
(A) doing extreme sports may cause death
(B) extreme sports can lead to addiction to adrenalin
(C) extreme sports can be played by men and women
(D) extreme sports are only played by adrenalin junkies
(E) the motivations of extreme sports athletes have been mistaken