As students primp and preen to wow their favorite colleges, there's one characteristic they can't control: their race. That's one reason voters, courts and politicians in six states have outlawed racial preferences in college admissions, while other colleges, fearful of lawsuits, play down their affirmative-action efforts these days. But make no mistake: race still matters. How much depends on the school and the state.

In Texas, public universities have managed to counteract the effect of racial-preference bans by automatically admitting the top 10% of the graduating class of every high school, including those schools where most students are minorities. But Rice University in Houston, private and highly selective, has had to reinvent its admissions strategies to maintain the school's minority enrollment. Each February, 80 to 90 black, Hispanic and Native American kids visit Rice on an expenses-paid trip. Rice urges counselors from high schools with large minority populations to nominate qualified students. And in the fall, Rice sends two recruiters on the road to find minority applicants; each recruiter visits about 80 predominantly black or Hispanic high schools. Two weeks ago, Rice recruiter Tamara Siler dropped in on Westlake High in Atlanta, where 99% of the 1,296 students are black. Siler went bearing literature and advice, and though only two kids showed up, she said, "I'm pleased I got two."

Rice has also resorted to some almost comical end-runs around the spirit of the law. The university used to award a yearly scholarship to a Mexican-American student; now it goes to a student who speaks Spanish really well. Admissions officers no longer know an applicant's race. But a new essay question asks about each student's "background" and "cultural traditions." When Rice officials read applications, they look for "diverse life experiences" and what they awkwardly call "overcome students," who have triumphed over hardship.

Last spring, admissions readers came across a student whose SAT score was lower than 1,200 and who did not rank in the top 10% of her class. Numerically speaking, she lagged far behind most accepted applicants. But her essay and recommendations indicated a strong interest in civil rights and personal experience with racial discrimination. She was admitted. "All the newspapers say affirmative action is done," says a veteran counselor at a large New York City high school. "But nothing has changed. I have a [minority] kid at Yale with an SAT score in the high 900s."

While minority admissions at the University of California system overall have dipped only slightly since a ban on affirmative action took effect in 1998, they have plummeted at the most selective campuses. At Berkeley, for example, the class entering this fall included 608 Chicano students, vs. 1,013 in 1997. In response, the elite schools have moved aggressively to recruit at minority high schools——and even to improve the performance of students who are graduating from them. This year the U.C. system will spend $250 million on outreach, from installing tutors at low-income schools to inviting high school teachers to summer calculus seminars.

1. Affirmative action is something ___________.

[A] that guarantees students of different races to be admitted equally

[B] American citizens fight against because it discriminates minority students

[C] colleges take to give preference to minority students in college admission

[D] favored by American colleges yet unpopular with American public

2. Rice University sent two recruiters to find minority applicants because _________.

[A] Rice wanted to maintain minority enrollment

[B] minority students have better school performance

[C] Rice has a large minority population

[D] Rice is famous for admitting minority students

3. The writer mentioned Rice's some comic end-runs around the spirit of the law to show that_____________.

[A] Rice abides by the law strictly

[B] Rice deals with students in a comic way

[C] Rice prefers minority students

[D] Rice has its own ways of dealing with the law

4. It seems that minority students _________.

[A] are still benefiting from affirmative action

[B] have lower SAT scores

[C] are often admitted by universities because they have unique racial experience

[D] lag far behind than other students in school performance

5. The word "plummeted" (Line 2, Paragraph 5) most probably means_________.?

[A] doubled

[B] risen

[C] stayed the same

[D] decreased

参考答案：C、A、D、A、D

篇章剖析：

本文是一篇说明文，介绍了各大学是如何应对不允许在招生中照顾少数族裔的法律的。在第一段作者指出虽然一些州规定在大学招生中照顾某些种族的政策为非法，但学生的种族身份仍然很重要。第二段介绍了德克萨斯州公立大学的应对策略和私立大学莱斯大学对付这一情况的办法。第三段介绍了莱斯大学所采用的迂回策略。第四段以两个例子说明少数族裔的学生即使SAT成绩不高也能上名牌大学。最后一段介绍了加利福尼亚禁止平权措施带来的影响以及加利福尼亚大学为了克服这些不利影响所作的努力。

词汇注释：

primp: v. 梳理（头发），打扮

preen: v. 把（自己）打扮漂亮

wow: v. 激起热烈赞扬，使惊叹，使佩服

affirmative-action: 平权措施

counteract: v. 抵抗;抵制;消除，抵消

enrollment: n. 登记，注册，入学

counselor: n. 顾问

nominate: v. 提名，推荐

predominantly: adv. 主要地，占优势地

Hispanic: adj. 西班牙的

literature: n. 印刷品

resort: v. 求助，诉诸，采取（某种手段等）

end-run: 迂回

diverse: adj. 不同的，变化多的

SAT: 学术能力测验指代（美国）学术能力测试的一种标志

numerically: adv. 用数字，在数字上

recommendation: n. 推荐信

discrimination: n. 歧视

veteran: n. 老手，富有经验的人

dip: v. （短时间）降下一点，降低一些

plummet: v. 骤降，爆跌突然和大幅度地降低

Chicano: adj. n.奇卡诺人（指墨西哥裔美国人或在美国的讲西班牙语的拉丁美洲人后裔）

outreach: n. 扩大服务项目;有系统地尝试向一团体的特别部门提供超常规的服务

calculus: n. 微积分学

seminar: n. 研究会，讨论发表会

难句突破：

That's one reason voters， courts and politicians in six states have outlawed racial preferences in college admissions， while other colleges， fearful of lawsuits， play down their affirmative-action efforts these days.

主体句式That's one reason…

结构分析：这是一个复杂句，reason后面的成分是一个同位语从句，在这个从句里又包含了一个while引导的状语从句，表示对照。文中比较难的语言表达是play down和affirmative-action.“play down”的意思是“降低，减少”，而“affirmative action”指的是美国大学为了保证少数族裔的受教育机会而采取的照顾政策，称为“平权措施”。

句子译文：正因如此，才会有六个州的选民，法庭和从政者将大学招生中的对某些种族的照顾政策宣布为非法，而其它的大学最近也因为担心法律诉讼而减少了在实施平权法案方面的努力。

题目分析：

1. 答案为C，属推理判断题。根据第一段中的上下文，美国六个州制定法律，规定“racial preferences in college admissions”为非法，继而说美国的学校为了免于诉讼就减少了“affirmation action”的努力，可见“affirmation action”应该是指在大学入学方面给与少数民族学生的照顾政策。

2. 答案为A，属事实细节题。第二段第四行讲述了Rice University不得不重新制定策略“to maintain the school's minority enrollment”，下面派招生员到各处招收少数族裔申请者则是实现这一目的的一个方式。可见答案是A.

3. 答案为D，属推理判断题。文章第二段提到Rice University为了应对新法律不得不重新制定策略来保证学校少数族裔学生入学。接着在第三段中举了三个根法律玩擦边球的例子：把原来给墨西哥裔学生的年度奖学金变成给西班牙语流利的学生（墨西哥裔学生的母语多位西班牙语）;虽然不知道申请人的种族，但申请者要回答的论文问题却是“背景”和“文化传统”，而且招生人员看重的是“不同的体验”和“克服困难”的学生（少数族裔学生通过回答这些问题就可以轻易地让招生人员把他们挑出来）。可见Rice大学自有一套对付法律的办法。

4. 答案为A，属推理判断题。第四段举了两个大学入学考试成绩不高但依然被录取的少数族裔学生的例子，接着引用一位中学顾问的话：“所有的报纸都说平权措施（affirmative action）要过时了，但一切都是老样子。”来说明少数族裔的学生依然从平权措施中受益。

5. 答案为D，属猜词题。这个词的意思可以从下文中给出的例子猜测出来。文中说：以伯克利为例，今年秋季入学的班级有608名奇卡诺裔学生，而在1997年，这个数字是1013人。可见少数族裔的入学人数是大幅下降了。

参考译文：

当学生们为了给自己喜爱的学校留下好印象而打扮修饰的时候，有一点却是他们无法控制的：那就是他们的种族身份。正因如此，才会有六个州的选民，法庭和从政者将大学招生中的对某些种族的照顾政策宣布为非法，而其它的大学最近也因为担心法律诉讼而减少了在实施平权措施方面的努力。但别弄错了：种族身份仍然很重要。到底有多重要则因学校和州而异。

在德克萨斯州，公立大学通过自动录取各个中学毕业班成绩在前10%的学生，包括那些以少数族裔为主的学校的学生来抵消禁止照顾某些种族所产生的影响。但休斯敦的私立大学莱斯大学对学生的挑选比较严格，因而不得不重新制定其招生方针以保持学校少数民族学生的入学情况。每年二月，80到90名黑人，西班牙裔和印第安人儿童会免费参观莱斯。莱斯鼓励少数民族学生较多的中学的顾问提名合格的学生。今年秋季，莱斯还派了两名招生员到外地寻找少数族裔的申请人;每一名招生员走访了将近80所以黑人和西班牙裔学生为主的中学。两星期前，莱斯的招生员塔玛拉。塞勒顺便走访了亚特兰大市的西湖中学，该校1296名学生中99%都是黑人。塞勒带着印刷品和建议去到那所学校，虽然只有两个孩子露面，她仍然说：“我很高兴我招到了两个”

莱斯大学还采取了一些可笑的迂回手段来应对这条法律。 这所大学以前每年都会给一位墨西哥裔美国学生授予年度奖学金;现在的要求则是能够说一口流利的西班牙语。招生官员再也无从知道申请人的种族身份。但一个新的考试题目问及每个学生的“背景”和“文化传统”。当莱斯的官员阅读申请书的时候，他们寻找的是“不同的生活体验”以及被他们笨拙地称为“克困学生”的那些成功克服困难的学生。

去年春天，阅读招生信息的读者发现有一个学生的SAT（学术能力测验）成绩低于1200分，而且她也不在班里的前10%之列。如果按排序的话，她比大部分已经被接受的申请人的成绩要差很多。但她的论文和推荐信表明她对于民权有着浓厚的兴趣，而且还亲身经历过种族歧视。最后她被录取了。“所有的报纸都说平权措施要过时了，”来自一所规模较大的纽约市中学的一位资深顾问说道。“但一切都是老样子。我知道一个[少数族裔]学生上了耶鲁，SAT成绩也就900多分。”

自从1998年开始禁止平权措施以来，加利福尼亚大学少数族裔的整体录取情况只是略有下降，尽管如此，他们在淘汰率高的校区却下降较多。以伯克利为例，今年秋季入学的班级有608名奇卡诺裔学生，而在1997年，这个数字是1013人。为了应对这一情况，那些主力学院都开始积极在少数民族中学招生——甚至还积极帮助那些从这类学校毕业的学生提高学习成绩。今年加利福尼亚大学将会花2.5亿美元系统地扩大服务项目，从在低收入学校安排指导教师到邀请中学老师参加夏季微积分研讨会等不一而足。