World:Exam scores aren't everything!
【明報專訊】The Primary School Leaving Exam (PSLE), a test Singaporean primary students must take before they move on to secondary education, is very important. A student's PSLE score determines his or her path in the competitive education system there. It causes many students great stress.
The maximum PSLE score is 300, and a student must score at least 250 before he can be admitted into one of the top-ten secondary schools. Khairudin Aljunied (凱魯丁), an Associate Professor of the National University of Singapore (新加坡國立大學), posted on Facebook: "...My PSLE score is 221. I am now an Associate Professor in a University." He wants youngsters to realise one's PSLE score doesn't determine one's future. The post has been shared nearly 4,000 times, and thousands of netizens, of whom many are engineers, teachers, artists or athletes, have followed suit and shared their PSLE results and careers.
(sources: Ming Pao, BBC)
■ Photo Story
Aljunied revealed that he got a PSLE score of 221, which is not considered high.
■ Quiz
Answer the following questions.
(Answers on next text)
1. What does "It" in paragraph one refer to?
_________________________________________
2. Khairudin Aljunied has posted his PSLE score on Facebook to...
a. show it is easy to get a good PSLE score.
b. convince people one needs only a PSLE score of 221 to become an associate professor.
c. tell people that PSLE scores are useless.
d. tell youngsters that one's PSLE score has little to do with one's future.
3. Is the following sentence true or false?
In Singapore, a student whose PSLE score is lower than 250 may not enter any of the top-ten secondary schools.True/False
4. A lot of people have responded to Aljunied on Facebook. They include people who are _____________
■ English highway﹕move on
To move on means to finish or stop doing one thing and start doing something different.
e.g. The Smarties have finished their training of level 2. It's time they moved on to level 3.
■ Glossary
competitive (adj) 競爭的
realise (v) 了解
netizen (n) 網民
convince (v) 說服