美国《国际先驱论坛报》每天都会在头版报道中国消息，一般都是政治、经济、社会新闻。上周三不寻常地在头版头条报道了一条与教育有关的消息，题目是Exam scores by Shanghai student stun educators（上海学生测试成绩让教育工作者震惊）。报道说，国际经济合作与发展组织（OECD）公布了2009年第四次国际学生评估项目（Program for International Student Assessment，PISA）调查结果，首次参与评估的5000名15岁中国上海学生在65个国家和经济体的同龄学生中脱颖而出，在阅读（reading）、数学（math）和科学（science）三项评价中均大幅领先排在第一位（见下表各科前30位名单）。

国际先驱论坛报的报道引述曾任小布什政府教育部研究员的马克•施内德的话说，一些因素促成上海学生成绩出色。官方让成绩好的外地学生留在上海，且学生显然已接到通知，知道这次测试对中国形象很重要，因此考出好成绩的动力更强。但是，“你能想象我们也告诉芝加哥学生说PISA是重要的国际化测试，美国的声誉就靠学生的出色表现吗？无论如何，中国非常重视教育，他们异常刻苦。”美国教育部长邓肯说：“我们认识到警钟已敲响。我知道怀疑论者肯定会质疑测试结果，但我们认为结果是准确可靠的。美国在大多数科目中都排名23、24位，我们的教育落后了。”

上海学生参加的这个国际测试到底包括什么样的试题？我这里就阅读、数学、科学各举一题作为例子，供各位参考。

——阅读题示例：

Question 1.1
What is the depth of Lake Chad today?
A. About two metres.
B. About fifteen metres.
C. About fifty metres.
D. It has disappeared completely.
E. The information is not provided.

Question 1.2
In about which year does the graph in Figure 1 start?

Question 1.3
Why has the author chosen to start the graph at this point?

Question 1.4
Figure 2 is based on the assumption that
A. the animals in the rock art were present in the area at the time they were drawn.
B. the artists who drew the animals were highly skilled.
C. the artists who drew the animals were able to travel widely.
D. there was no attempt to domesticate the animals which were depicted in the rock art.

Question 1.5
For this question you need to draw together information from Figure 1 and Figure 2.
The disappearance of the rhinoceros, hippopotamus and aurochs from Saharan rock art happened
A. at the beginning of the most recent Ice Age.
B. in the middle of the period when Lake Chad was at its highest level.
C. after the level of Lake Chad had been falling for over a thousand years.
D. at the beginning of an uninterrupted dry period.

——数学题示例：

Question 2.1
If the formula applies to Heiko’s walking and Heiko takes 70 steps per minute, what is Heiko’s
pacelength? Show your work.

Question 2.2
Bernard knows his pacelength is 0.80 metres. The formula applies to Bernard’s walking.
Calculate Bernard’s walking speed in metres per minute and in kilometres per hour. Show your working out.

——科学题示例：

Question 3.1
Which statement explains why daylight and darkness occur on Earth?
A. The Earth rotates on its axis.
B. The Sun rotates on its axis.
C. The Earth’s axis is tilted.
D. The Earth revolves around the Sun.

Suppose it is the shortest day in Melbourne.
Show the Earth’s axis, the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere and the Equator on the Figure. Label all parts of your answer.