Asia’s school top of the class

　　亚洲国家占据全球最大规模学校排名前五

亚洲国家占据全球最大规模学校排名前五(双语)

　　全球最大规模的学校排名刚刚公布，亚洲国家占据排名前五名，非洲国家排在末尾。

　　新加坡居榜首，香港紧随其后，加纳排在最后一位。以下是 Sean Coughlan 的报道。

　　It's claimed if you want to see the economy of tomorrow look at the school system of

　　today. And that's going to be good news for some Asian countries with the world's highest

　　performing education systems。

　　Here in Singapore, teenagers are at the top of the biggest ever global comparison of

　　ability in maths and science. The country has worked hard to create a workforce ready

　　for the global economy. Using English as the teaching language and investing in keeping its

　　teachers skills up to date。

　　The league tables also show a strong performance by schools in Hong Kong in second

　　place, South Korea third and Japan in fourth place. And there are some surprises – Vietnam

　　another Asian success story – comes twelfth – racing past the United States in 29th position。

　　But some countries are less impressive. Sweden, which used to be among the most

　　successful, has declined sharply。

　　But what's the point of these league tables? Are they just about creating a global report

　　card with some countries passing and some failing? While these league tables show how

　　schools are performing now, their purpose is to create an economic roadmap for the future。

　　Questions

　　1. What language is used to teach students in Singapore?

　　2. Name one country that came higher than Vietnam in the global school league table?

　　3. True or false? According to the league table, Sweden's schools are not as successful as they used to be。

　　4. What word used in the report means 'not succeeding'?

　　Vocabulary and definitions

　　comparison

　　比较，对照

　　ability

　　能力

　　workforce

　　劳动力

　　up to date

　　掌握最新信息的，与时俱进的

　　performance

　　表现，成绩

　　less impressive

　　稍显逊色的

　　sharply

　　急剧的，大幅度的

　　roadmap

　　路线图，指导方针

　　Answers to the questions:

　　1. What language is used to teach students in Singapore? Answer: English。

　　2. Name one country that came higher than Vietnam in the global school league table? Answer: Hong Kong, South Korea or Japan。

　　3. True or false? According to the league table, Sweden's schools are not as successful as they used to be. Answer: True - Sweden which used to be among the most successful has declined sharply。

　　4. What word used in the report means 'not succeeding'? Answer: Failing。

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