Passage 1

It seems an appropriatemoment to ask what lies ahead of students in Britain's fast-changinguniversities: Will the experiences, the quality of education and the jobprospects of today's undergraduates be as good as those of their parents'generation?

Twenty years ago just about12 percent young people received higher education. Today more than 33 percentdo so. Over the same period the number of undergraduate degrees awarded inBritain has risen from just over 100,000 a year to more than 260,000 a year.This does not mean that the quality of a degree is necessarily lower, but itdoes mean a university degree is no longer a qualification as distinctive as itonce was. But the economy has also moved on and the demand for graduates hasgrown at the same time as the supply has increased. If the growth over the past20 years has been rapid, the expansion since the first big explosion ofuniversity growth in the mid-1960s is even more dramatic. In 1965 just over400,000 students studied at British universities. Today the figure is 1.8million.

Englishmen have seen ashift from a university system serving a small number of outstanding people toone that is now closer to the mass university systems of the USA or manycontinental European countries. At the same time, the university experience hasgone from a five-star, luxury design to a mass-transit economy model. Nothingreveals this more obviously than the amount of public money spent on each student.This has fallen from over £7,500 just over a decade ago to around £4,800 today.

The result is that most oftoday's students receive no grants to cover living costs, about half must paysomething toward their tuition costs, and all face more crowded lecturetheaters and less individual time with staff.

According to a survey, thetop five courses are: business and management studies, computer science, law,psychology, and primary education. You have to go to the sixth place to findthe first purely academic subject, namely English.

1.  What do we know about British universitiestoday? 

 A.  They are getting better than before. 

  B.  They are getting worse than before. 

  C.  They are losing the quality of education. 

  D.  They are experiencing rapid changes. 

2.  What does "a university degree is nolonger a qualification as distinctive as it once was" in the secondparagraph mean? 

  A.   Inthe past, having a university degree was a necessary qualification forpeople. 

  B.   Inthe past, the quality of a university degree was much higher than it isnow. 

  C.  Now, having a university degree cannot prove a person is sooutstanding. 

  D.  Now, having a university degree is quite common among young people. 

3.  What can we infer about the university systemof the USA? 

  A.  Most of the people can receive higher education. 

  B.  Only the outstanding people can go to university. 

  C.   Asmall amount of college graduates are outstanding. 

  D.  The majority of college graduates are outstanding. 

4.  What are all the British college studentsexperiencing now? 

  A.   Afive-star, luxury design of the curriculums and after-class activities. 

  B.  More crowded classrooms and less time to spend with teachers alone. 

  C.  Working very hard part-time to earn money for their tuition costs. 

  D.  Not enough time to study English because of five other importantcourses. 

5.  What can we infer from the passage? 

  A.  Business and management studies is the top purely academic course. 

  B.  The students don't want to choose purely academic courses at all. 

  C.  English is not the students' top priority among all the courses incollege. 

  D.  The tuition costs have great influence on students' choices ofcourses. 

Passage 2

Applications for UKuniversity courses, in the first year of higher tuition fees, are down by 8.7percent, according to figures from the Admissions Service. With fees rising upto £9,000 per year, the impact has been biggest for England’s universities – downby 9.9 percent. In Scotland, where Scottish students do not pay fees, there isa fall of 1.5 percent. However, school-leaver applications from the mostdisadvantaged areas have not been disproportionately affected by the feesincrease – with a decline of only 0.2 percent. It is encouraging thatapplications from people from some of the most disadvantaged backgrounds remainstrong.

But figures are veryworrying and once again highlight the government’s foolishness in raisingtuition fees to as much as £9,000 a year. Applications in England are down over50 percent more than in any other part of the UK as a result of the governmentmaking it the most expensive area in the world in which to gain a publicdegree. A breakdown of the UK figures shows a 4 percent fall in applications inNorthern Ireland and 1.9 percent in Wales. Figures show that by January 15deadline there were 462,507 applications for courses beginning in September.This represented an 8.7 percent drop in applications from students in the UK –but an increase in overseas applications meant that the overall figure was 7.4percent lower than at the same point last year.

Nick Davy, higher educationpolicy manager at the Association of Colleges, says the government is concernedwith the drop in student applications, particularly at a time of record levelsof unemployment among young people. There have also been signs of an increasein UK students applying overseas.

There has been intensespeculation over whether raising tuition fees would put a road block in frontof university applications and ambitions to boost social mobility. Studentsmight strongly resent the fees reform, but since there are few alternatives,they are still applying for universities.

1.  Which area of the UK has the lowest fall inuniversity applications? 

  A.  England 

  B.  Scotland 

  C.  Northern Ireland 

  D.  Wales 

2.  What is the overall situation in applicationsfor universities in the UK? 

  A.  There is a 9.9 percent decline due to higher tuition fees.  

  B.  Applications are down over 50 percent more than last year. 

  C.  There is a 7.4 percent decline compared to the same time last year. 

  D.  There is a 1.9 percent increase in overseas applications ingeneral. 

3.  What can we infer about UK students? 

  A.  Their interest in college education is declining over the years. 

  B.  More and more UK students apply for foreign universities. 

  C.  They are the main reason for the record levels of unemployment. 

  D.  They have many other choices except for applying for universities. 

4.  What can we know from the lastparagraph? 

  A.  The drop of university applications has become a serious problem. 

  B.  Students hate the fees reform and will not apply for universities. 

  C.  Raising tuition fees helps prevent overseas students from applying. 

  D.  Raising tuition fees will probably cause some social problems. 

5.  What is the passage mainly talkingabout? 

  A.   UKuniversity applications are down as tuition fees rise. 

  B.  The British government is greatly concerned about the drop in studentapplications. 

  C.  More and more overseas students are willing to apply for universities inthe UK. 

  D.  More and more UK students intend to apply for universities overseas.

Cloze

There are 20blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices. Choosethe one that best fits into the passage.

"What are yougoing to do with a degree in the humanities? Do you think you can find a jobafter college?" If you 1) participate in/major in/consist in/join inliberal arts or philosophy, you will probably hear questions like those,especially when the labor markets struggle.

What you must haveheard of is that many famous people 2) charted/departed/startled/started asstudents of humanities and yet turned out very successful for many differentcareers they3) undertook/understood/functioned/operated. However, what younever know is how studying the humanities 4) requests/contests/invests/quests you with critical thinking and how it provides youwith the 5) scope/space/scale/margin of many opportunities.

Studying thehumanities will help you understand the hopes and dreams 6)likely/bound/liable/common to all humanity and will greatlyenhance your future career 7)aspects/prospects/prosperities/inspects. Studyingthe humanities will equip you with the ability to make 8)similarities/competitions/comparisons/distinctions,with which you can always think more logically and 9) creatively/relatively/sensitively/alternativelythan those without. If you study the humanities, you can make 10) advances/breakthroughs/promotions/explorationson many barriers along the road ahead of you. 11) Accidentally/Dependently/Evidently/Confidently,things will be different for those with a background in the humanities.

Most job positionsrequire people to work in an efficient 12) aspect/style/form/manner,able to learn things and solve problems quickly. Though a college degree is the13)abundant/dominant/reluctant/elegant credential you need forentry-level jobs, most job seekers 14) bet/promise/trust/risk having acollege degree won't necessarily guarantee your 15) constant/distant/instant/dominantsuccess in getting a job because employers are looking for more skills in a candidate.The most 16) convincing/pressing/overwhelming/compelling skill employersseek in job candidates is the ability to communicate 17) comparatively/effectively/objectively/affectively,plus a strong will to be determined to 18) overcome/welcome/overtake/overwhelmany barrier in times of difficulty.

In fact, whatemployers ask from their candidates is 19) accurately/correctly/precisely/closelywhat you have learned from the humanities. Graduates in the humanities need to20)maintain/endure/continue/persist even facing today's downturn of theworld economy. Eventually, you will appreciate what you have learned from allthe coursework in the humanities.