Homework has never been terribly popular with students and even many parents, but in recent years it has been particularly scorned. School districts across the country, most recently Los Angeles Unified, are revising their thinking on this educational ritual. Unfortunately, L.A. Unified has produced an inflexible policy which mandates that with the exception of some advanced courses, homework may no longer count for more than 10% of a student’s academic grade.

21. It is implied in Paragraph 1 that nowadays homework .

[A] is receiving more criticism

[B] is no longer an educational ritual

[C] is not required for advanced courses

[D] is gaining more preferences

分析：我们来看下这道考研英语的题目，首先通过题干的homework来定位，其实这段话的首末句都提到了homework这个词，但是我们解题还是得应该有焦点的，尤其是最后一句话，一看就是硬骨头。 然后我们接着分析，题干中还有一个词，nowadays(现在)，我们是否能用得上呢? 答案是可以的。 我们发现，其实段首句有个词in recent years(最近这些年来)，表示的是现在的时间，我们可以认为 nowadays=in recent years，所以解题重点在于段首句的but转折句。 然后转折句中讲的是： homework has been scorned(嘲讽)，作业被嘲讽了，表明答案应该是选择A(正在接受更多的批评)

总结：解题过程中，其实我们是通过题干中的nowadays来定位解题，但是大家做题过程中往往容易会忽略这种小词，殊不知“小词大用”

Come on—Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to no good—drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.

21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as

[A] a supplement to the social cure.

[B] a stimulus to group dynamics.

[C] an obstacle to social progress.

[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors.

分析： 我们可以通过题干的peer pressure回到文章中定位解题，可事实上，文中的每句话中都有peer pressure这个词汇，那么接下来我们的重点就是看题干的中“often”“emerge as”，一般而言，谓语动词的替换是非常难在原文中找得到的，所以不做重点考虑。我们把焦点放在“often”，发现原文中 it usually leads to no good.中有个“usually”= “often”，如此答案就可以呼之欲出了。 最终答案确定是【B】