About 700,000 children in Mexico dropped out of school last year as recession-stricken families pushed kids to work, and a weak economic recovery will allow only slight improvement in the drop-out rate in 2010, a top education official said.

Mexico's economy suffered more than any other in Latin America last year, shrinking an estimated 7 percent due to a plunge in U.S. demand for Mexican exports such as cars.

The decline led to a 4 percent increase in the number of kids who left primary or middle school in 2009, said Juan de Dios Castro, who heads the nation's adult education program and keeps a close watch on drop-out rates.

"Poverty rose and that is a factor that makes our job more difficult," Castro told Reuters in an interview earlier this month.

Hindered by higher taxes and weak demand for its exports, Mexico's economy is seen only partially recovering this year. As a result, drop-out rates will not improve much, Castro said.

"There will be some improvement, but not significant," Castro said.

Mexicohas historically had high drop-out rates as poor families pull kids out of school to help put food on the table, and children often sell candy and crafts in the streets or work in restaurants.

The nation's drop-out problem is just the latest bad news for the long-term competitiveness of the Mexican economy. Mexico's politicians have resisted mending the country's tax, energy and labor laws for decades, leaving its economy behind countries such as Brazil and Chile.

【點評】

本篇文章談?wù)摰氖悄�西哥失學(xué)率問題。文章先開篇闡述了墨西哥失學(xué)情況的現(xiàn)狀，然后談到這一現(xiàn)狀的原因和所造成的嚴(yán)重后果。文中國家有關(guān)的Mexico、Mexican、Chile等部分考生可能不熟悉，而造成聽力困擾，但這些實際并非考點，切記死盯部分詞匯不放，而影響全篇理解。

最后，文中生詞不多，實際內(nèi)容對于喜歡閱讀報刊雜志、關(guān)心時事熱點的考生而言，能夠根據(jù)日常經(jīng)驗有所預(yù)判。這就提醒考生，聽力同樣也需要平時多多進(jìn)行報刊閱讀。

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