大多数美国人若参加公民考试将无法通过

Most Americans Would Fail US Citizenship¹ Test

Most native-born Americans would fail a United States citizenship test if they had to take it. Yet people born in other countries must earn a test score of at least 60 percent to become U.S. citizens.

The finding comes from a recent study supported by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The non-profit is seeking to improve Americans’ historical knowledge. It says the results show teaching American students to memorize historical dates, names and events is not effective.

About 1,000 Americans across the U.S. took the test for the study. They were asked to choose the correct answer among several choices. But more than half of test-takers could not identify the 13 American colonies, the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme² Court, or the countries the U.S. fought during World War II.

The group did even worse on other questions. Three out of four did not know why the colonists³ fought the British during the Revolutionary War, which led to the founding of the United States.

One in ten thought World War II General Dwight Eisenhower led troops in the U.S. Civil War.

While test-takers knew the cause of the Western countries’ Cold War with Soviet⁴ countries in the later 20thcentury, a few said the reason was climate change.

Older people over age 65 earned the highest scores on the test. But only one in five people under the age of 45 passed it.

Arthur Levine is the president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. He pointed⁵ out that Americans have a chance to vote in the midterm elections on November 6. In a democratic country especially, he said, “an informed and engaged citizenry is essential.”

Levine added that history can be an anchor at a time of change, as well as a way to study the changes that are happening. And, he said, history can connect Americans at a time when divisions are deep.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

memorize - v. to learn something so well that you are able to remember it perfectly⁶

engaged - adj. giving something your interest and attention

essential - adj. extremely important and necessary

anchor - n. a thing that provides strength and support

1 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

2 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

3 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。