全球最大规模的学校排名刚刚公布，亚洲国家占据排名前五名，非洲国家排在末尾。新加坡居榜首，香港紧随其后，加纳排在最后一位。

It's claimed if you want to see the economy of tomorrow look at the school system of today. And that's going to be good news for some Asian countries with the world's highest performing education systems.

Here in Singapore, teenagers are at the top of the biggest ever global comparison of ability in maths and science. The country has worked hard to create a workforce ready for the global economy. Using English as the teaching language and investing in keeping its teachers skills up to date.

The league tables also show a strong performance by schools in Hong Kong in second place, South Korea third and Japan in fourth place. And there are some surprises – Vietnam another Asian success story – comes twelfth – racing past the United States in 29th position.

But some countries are less impressive. Sweden, which used to be among the most successful, has declined sharply.

But what's the point of these league tables? Are they just about creating a global report card with some countries passing and some failing? While these league tables show how schools are performing now, their purpose is to create an economic road map for the future.

Glossary 词汇表

comparison比较，对照

ability能力

workforce劳动力

up to date掌握最新信息的，与时俱进的

performance表现，成绩

less impressive稍显逊色的

sharply急剧的，大幅度的

roadmap路线图，指导方针