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  3. There will be no valedictory speech(毕业致辞)at Jericho High School’s graduation on Sunday. With seven seniors laying claim to the t

There will be no valedictory speech(毕业致辞)at Jericho High School’s graduation on Sunday. With seven seniors laying claim to the t

admin2014-01-07  40
问题     There will be no valedictory speech(毕业致辞)at Jericho High School’s graduation on Sunday. With seven seniors laying claim to the title by compiling A-plus averages, no one wanted to sit through a solid half-hour of inspirational quotations and silly memories.
    Instead, the seven will perform a 10-minute humorous play titled "2010: A Jericho Odyssey," about their collective experience at this high-achieving Long Island high school, finishing up with 30 seconds each to say a few words to their classmates and families.
    "When did we start saying that we should limit the honors so only one person gets the glory?" asked Joe Prisinzano, the Jericho principal.
    In top suburban schools across the country, the valedictorian, a beloved tradition, is rapidly losing its singular meaning as administrators dispense the title to every straight-A student rather than try to choose the best among them.
    Principals say that recognizing multiple valedictorians reduces pressure and competition among students, and is a more equitable way to honor achievement, particularly when No.l and No.5 may be separated by only the smallest fraction of a grade from sophomore science. But some scholars and parents have criticized the swelling valedictorian ranks as yet another symptom of unstrained grade inflation, with teachers reluctant to lose the best and brightest’s chances of admission to top-tier colleges.
    "It’s honor inflation," said Chris Healy, an associate professor at Furman University, who said that celebrating so many students as the best could leave them ill prepared for competition in college and beyond. "I think it’s a bad idea if you’re No. 26 and you’re valedictorian. In the real world, you do get ranked."
    Not, though, at graduation from Stratford High School in the suburbs of Houston, which accorded its 30 valedictorians—about 6.5 percent of the class—gold honor cords. Nor at Cherry Hill High School East in southern New Jersey, which has revised its graduation tradition, picking a speaker among this year’s nine co-valedictorians by lottery and printing speeches from the others in the program.
    William R. Fitzsimmons, the dean of admissions at Harvard, said he had heard of schools with more than 100 valedictorians, and had seen home-schooled students praised as No.l—out of one—all of which has helped render the distinction meaningless.
    Even some principals who have named multiple valedictorians acknowledge that the honor no longer carries the same weight. "If you’ve got one in a population of 500, it has special significance," said John O’Breza, the principal of Cherry Hill East. "When you have 9, 10 or 30 in a population of 500, the numbers speak for themselves. The more rare it is, the more distinguished."
    Still, being tapped as valedictorian resonates(引起共鸣)deeply. "I feel like as long as you reach that point, it doesn’t matter how many you have," said Yvette Leung, one of the Jericho seven, who is bound for Harvard. "To be named valedictorian is an honor and a testament to how hard we’ve tried."
The traditional meaning of "valedictorian" is
选项 A、the straight-A students in a graduating class.
B、the best graduate who makes the farewell speech.
C、students who give a performance in the graduation ceremony.
D、students who have admitted by the top-tier colleges.
答案B
解析 题干中的valedictorian是本文主题。在文章多处都可以找到这个词。根据第1段开头的valedictoryspeech可以首先推断valedictorian应该与“毕业致辞”有关，再根据第4段中的losing its singular meaning可知，传统意义上的valedictorian是一个单数概念，同时由第3段中的…so only one person gets theglory也进一步说明，valedictorian传统的意思是“在毕业典礼上发言的那个最优秀的毕业生”，本题选B。
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