SAT阅读推荐之‘与SAT考试的爱恨交织’

There is little love for the SAT. How little, you ask? When a massive cheating scandal erupted this fall, fewer people rushed to defend the test than those to defend Penn State officials for allegedly covering up the sexual abuse of children. But as unpopular as the iconic SAT may be — among students and many educational activists alike — it’s actually pretty good at what it’s designed to do, which is to serve as a common measure across the hodgepodge of academic standards, grading systems and norms being used by America’s sprawling 25,000 high schools.

人们对SAT的感情所剩无几，如果要问到了哪种地步？当今秋（注：2011年）大规模爆出作弊丑闻时，出面为其辩白的人甚至比为掩盖娈童案真相的宾州政府辩白的人还要少。然而，如此不受欢迎又脸谱化的SAT（很多学生和教育活动家都这样认为），事实上，很好的履行着自己的目标，即作为一个可以平衡好学术要求、打分系统和相关规范的常规测试。

Unlike many of the tests that the education world loves to argue about, the SAT is an optional test; students choose to take it if they want to attend schools that require it for admission. So SAT angst is limited to the college-bound. (The test is administered by the New York-based nonprofit College Board, which is also in charge of high school Advanced Placement tests.) And although its only true fans are the intellectually insecure, the SAT, which used to be an acronym for Scholastic Aptitude Test, doesn’t show how smart or savvy students are or how successful, happy, or impactful they’re likely to be in life. But on average, it does fairly accurate gauge on how well students will do in their first year of college. That’s something admissions officials want to know. And that’s why good scores can boost an applicant’s chances of getting in and low scores can torpedo them.

与其他的那些在教育界中备受争议的考试不同，SAT并不强制学生参与;学生选择参加SAT是因为他们要申请的那些需要SAT成绩的大学。所以，只有那些志在接受高等教育的学生才会为之苦恼。（SAT由一家在纽约的名叫college Board的非盈利组织管理，这家组织也管理着Advanced Placement考试(AP))。而且尽管它唯一的拥趸是智力上缺乏安全感的那类人，SAT(英文“学术能力测试”的缩写）也无法显示出他们就有多聪明，或者他们可能在生活中是多么的成功，快乐和有影响力。不过，总的来说，它确实基本上准确的预测测学生们大学第一年的成绩。而对于大学招生官员来说这就足够了。因此分数越高对学生就越有利，反之亦然。

The SAT was front-page news this fall when 20 students were arrested in a New York suburb for cheating on it. The scandal was sensational but straightforward: high-scoring students used fake IDs to take the test for other students. One enterprising young man allegedly offered his customers a pay-by-installment plan and also factored their financial situations into his rates. Some locals indicated that the cheating was an open secret in these communities.

这个秋天的头版头条当属SAT的作弊丑闻，有20名纽约市郊的学生因此被捕。它既骇人听闻又直截了当：几名成绩佼好的学生伪造了相关证件为别的学生替考，其中一名胆大的年轻人还涉嫌提供给那些资金不足的“客户”一个“按揭贷款”计划。一些当地居民称，这种作弊现象在该地区并不是什么秘密。

Although the brazenness on display in Long Island’s Nassau County may be somewhat unusual, cheating on the SAT is not. The head of test security for the College Board recently told the New York Times that during the 2010-11 academic year, the nonprofit conducted “about 9,600 investigations of SAT testing irregularities, including fire alarms going off during testing and reports of test taker impersonation.” That averages out to be slightly more than one investigation per SAT test center that year. And surely no one thinks the ACT — the SAT counterpart that is used more widely for colleges in the Midwest and West — is immune from cheating either. In fact, prosecutors say ACT cheating may have occurred on Long Island as well.

发生于长岛纳苏郡的该项作弊事件或许有些耸人听闻，但SAT考场上的作弊行为却是司空见惯。College Board负责考试监管的责任人在接受《纽约时报》采访时说，在2010-11学年度中，他们查到了“约9600项SAT考场不规范行为，其中包括在考试时故意弄响火警警报器和替考。”也就是说，该年度几乎每个SAT考场就会有超过一起不规范行为。当然也没人认为ACT(American College Test，美国大学测试;类似于SAT的一项考试，广泛应用于美国中西部和西部地区高校)就没有作弊现象，事实上，在长岛也存在ACT考试作弊行为。

Most people in education are willing to tolerate these problems — and the tyranny of the SAT — because it’s a useful tool. Originally intended to help eliminate bias against various socioeconomic groups, today the SAT functions largely to address grading bias. It’s a barometer to help admissions officials make sense of the country’s diverse educational landscape, from the highly regarded and perhaps grade-grubbing private schools to the rigorous and not so rigorous public schools.

教育界中的绝大多数人士对于以上问题——及SAT的横行——予以宽容，因为它是一个好用的工具。它的初衷是为了消除不同社会经济团体间的偏见，如今它起码(largely address 不好翻译啊)能解决一下卷面分数上的偏见。它就像是一块晴雨表，帮助大学招生老师从各种教育情况。不管是从那些受重视、不打分数的私立学校，还是那些不宽不严的公立学校。

Taken over an almost four-hour period, the SAT today is a three-part test on a 2400-point scale. (So take note if you’re over 30: bragging about your 1400 or 1500 doesn’t sound so impressive now that the 1600-point scale is considered ancient history.) Many affluent kids use various SAT preparation programs — a legal way to bump your scores — and others will try whatever they think they can get away with to gain an edge.

如今，SAT考试一共要持续4个小时之久，分为3个科目，总分2 400分。（30岁以上的读者注意了：考个1400分或者1500一点儿也不稀奇，因为总分1600分制已经成为了历史）很多家境富裕的考生会参加各种SAT考前培训，这是一种合法的提高成绩的方法，而其他的考生也会为了成绩想尽一切办法。