Google made waves recently by introducing its new program, “Google Career Certificates,” a collection of courses designed to help people get qualifications in high-paying, high-growth job fields without attending university. The courses should take about six months to complete and will cost a fraction (小部分) of a traditional college education.
Many people, especially students, were happy to see an alternative (可能的选择) to what many consider a broken education system—one that leaves many burdened with student debt for years while leaving them unprepared for the real world.
The truth is, traditional higher education may be necessary for some careers, but for others it is neither necessary nor practical. Google’s alternative not only costs a fraction of a traditional college education, but it can also be completed in far less time and can better prepare graduates for the real world.
Of course, what Google is offering isn’t exactly new. In some ways, the new program is similar to other types of training that have existed for years, like vocational education. The difference is, since Google is a household name, its certificate can be easily recognized and accepted across companies and industries — much like a degree from a major university.
Not everyone was in praise of Google’s alternative. Some people expressed concern that not enough employers would value Google’s certificate program. One even argued that graduates would likely not get a job and would then feel the need to go to college after all. Another criticism people leveled was that there are certain lessons taught in higher education that you merely can’t get in other places. “Students need more than a checklist of skills in order to compete in the real world,” those people said. “They need critical thinking abilities.”
I don’t think Google’s program will completely replace college education. But I do think it’s a step in the right direction — a separate path for students who are looking for something different from traditional higher education.
1. What is the purpose of Google’s certificate program?| A．To prepare people for future jobs. |
| B．To allow people to get work experience. |
| C．To teach people how to get a high-paying job. |
| D．To offer people the chance to go to university. |
| A．Its courses are mostly easy. |
| B．It ensures people a promising career. |
| C．Its training is new and of high quality. |
| D．It costs less than traditional higher education. |
| A．It isn’t practical. |
| B．It doesn’t offer valuable skills. |
| C．It isn’t acceptable to the public. |
| D．It doesn’t develop critical thinking abilities. |
| A．It should move in the right direction. |
| B．It will take the place of college education. |
| C．It can serve as an alternative for some people. |
| D．It needs to make changes to meet students’ needs. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Welcome to Parkside Federation Academies
We are pleased to introduce you to a wide range of courses, training programmes and other activities.
Enrolment (注册)
You can enrol for any course on 01223 712340 from 29th June. You can download course information from http: //www.parksidefederation.org.uk/adult-learn-train/.
The office will not be open from 23rd July until 3rd September for enrolment in person due to building work, however, we will be taking bookings over the phone and by email during this time.
Our hosted enrolment dates are:
Parkside Campus: 12th September 10:00-12:00
Coleridge Campus: 10th September 18:00-19:30
Fees·Fees are payable in full when you enrol.
·Refunds (退款) will be paid in fUll when a class is closed according to the College’s decision, or if you cancel your enrolment at least two weeks before the course starts. If you decide to cancel less than two weeks before the course starts you will receive a 50% refund. Unfortunately we cannot offer a refund if a course has already started.
Learner information
·If you supplied your email address, you should expect to receive a confirmation email after your enrolment.
·Free parking is available in the evening at all centres.
·Upon enrolment you will receive learner information about college support as well as policies and regulations.
·In the event of severe weather conditions that result in school closure: please check the website http: //www. parksidefederation.org.uk/ or turn on local radio for up-to-date information.
·Concessionary fees are available: if you have an income lower than the government low-income level. Proof must be shown at enrollment, otherwise the full fee will be charged.
1. If you want to enroll in person, you should avoid_______.
| A．29th June | B．24th July | C．10th September | D．12th September |
| A．No refund. | B．A 20% refund. | C．A 50% refund. | D．A full refund. |
| A．Give learners calls. | B．Write emails to learners. |
| C．Post notices on the website. | D．Announce the closure on local TV. |
| A．A college map. | B．A free parking permit. |
| C．Confirmation of schedule. | D．Information about college policies. |
| A．Reduced. | B．Standard. | C．Reasonable. | D．Unexpected. |
【推荐2】Are you a high school student? Then consider spending your summer at Harvard, where you can explore a variety of college-level courses, and live and learn with students from different countries.
TWO CHOICES TO CHOOSE FROM:
| Pre-College Program |
| A two-week residential (住宿的) experience featuring noncredit courses SESSION (期)Ⅰ: June 24—July 6 SESSION Ⅱ: July 8—20 SESSION Ⅲ: July 22—August 3 |
| The program features: ●A choice of over 100 noncredit courses designed for precollege students. ●On-campus (校内的) housing with fellow pre-college students and residential staff. ●Structured days, with weekday class meetings and pre-college activities. |
| The fee for the Harvard Pre-College Program session is $4,500. The Pre-College Program cost includes: ●Courses ●Housing and all meals ●Off-campus activities—transportation and most entrance fees |
| Secondary School Program |
| College courses for credits in a seven-week session, June 23—August 11 |
| The program features: ●College courses (over 200 to choose from), which you attend with college students, other high school students, and professionals from around the world. ●Credits you can transfer to a college in the future. ●The choice to live on campus, commute (走读), or study online. ●The freedom to schedule your days. |
| For students living on campus, the average cost of attending the program is $11,900, which includes fees for two 4-credit courses ($3,050 for each course) or one 8-credit course ($6,100), room and meal fees, and a health insurance fee. For those attending as a commuting or online student, the cost ranges from $3,050 to $6,100 depending on the number of courses taken. |
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
| A．You don’t need to gain credits. |
| B．You are free to arrange your day. |
| C．You can live with the local family. |
| D．You have over 200 courses to choose from. |
| A．Courses. | B．All meals. |
| C．Off-campus activities. | D．The transportation to Harvard. |
| A．A 5-week session. | B．A 6-week session. |
| C．A 7-week session. | D．A 8-week session. |
| A．$3,050. | B．$4,500. | C．$6,100. | D．$11,900. |
【推荐3】Math and music are two entirely different fields of study, but there is a strong relevance between them. At some point, they tend to overlap, and it is common for people good at math to be good at music. It may seem illogical to compare the two, but there are more similarities between math and music than you would imagine.
Numbers can tell us more about music. Sounds strange but it’s true. Music is divided into sections that are called measures, where each measure has equal amounts of beats. This is comparable to mathematical divisions of time. Now, each piece of music will tell us how many beats there are in each measure. All the music notes have numerical connections and a number of beats. It is important to understand the value of fractions (分数) and notes to count the music correctly.
The biggest similarity between math and music in pattern. For example, music has repeating choruses while math uses patterns to explain the unknown. You can use different mathematical phenomena in music. These include geometry (几何学), signal processing, etc. In fact, research has shown that when music shows some mathematical structure, it tends to be more popular.
In addition to their shared elements, math and music can be taught using the principles of both. A student who enjoys math and music can benefit from both. For example, music can enhance cognition and reasoning skills. For instance, Einstein listened to music when solving math problems to increase clarity. Similarly, playing music can improve cognition, as it increases communication between the two brains.
Music is a gateway to many things, and until now, you probably didn’t realize that it’s just as demanding, analytical, logical and scientific as math. Something as simple as learning “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on the piano is actually setting your child up for bigger and better things; maybe they’ll pick up Pythagoras (毕达哥拉斯) in a flash, maybe they’ll be a genius in math, perhaps they’ll one day discover their own theory of relativity.
1. What does the author think about math and music?| A．Math and music are deeply intertwined. |
| B．Music is a totally different subject from math. |
| C．It sounds reasonable to compare math and music. |
| D．People expert at math all tend to be music lovers. |
| A．Measure is a piece of music. | B．Math helps in reading music. |
| C．Music sound appears strange. | D．Music beats equal to math numbers. |
| A．Patterns are common in both math and music. |
| B．Certain music skills are practised via choruses. |
| C．Music principle seems easier than mathematics. |
| D．Reasoning skills in math chiefly rely on music. |
| A．Musical involvement promotes to be a genius. |
| B．Music allows kids to combine math with piano. |
| C．Music offers kids potential success in mathematics. |
| D．Music may enhance the mathematics skills of all kids. |
【推荐1】College students usually hear the praises of education. We have all become used to believing that a college education is always a guarantee of an easier life. I was nine years old when my fourth-grade teacher presented me with a task, to write down all of the things I wanted in my life. I filled my paper with things like: own a big house and have servants; be rich and have a good job. The next day my teacher handed back my paper and in red ink she wrote: “GO TO COLLEGE.” For a long time, I believed that once I got a college education, BAM! Life would be easier.
However, education cannot promise all wishes, dreams, and desires. Society must reject (拒绝接受) the foolish idea that a college education’s main purpose is to satisfy our desires and secure success. Like most challenging things, education is a gamble (赌博) in which results depend entirely on people’s ability to look past their wants to see the realism and reason behind their wants.
For example, my first year of college, I took a sociology (社会学) class. In class, we were taught that Third World countries were poor. We learned that our quality of life would be almost impossible for an average person in those countries. I began to examine my own desire to be rich. To always go after money felt selfish when knowing others had none at all. Learning about other society’s economic situations forced me to look beyond what I wanted.
Through the process of education, everything once desired is tested. Wanting something no longer is enough; it’s more important to examine why we want it and whether we really want it. When my desire for money changed, everything changed. I stopped longing for money-driven careers and stopped valuing the people who had them. I began to examine the things I bought and my reason for wanting them.
Education is a tool to be used to develop and advance our desires, so we can discover the things that are truly important in life. Education is a source to improve our society to see beyond the superficial (表面的) attractions and the “quick fixes”, leaving the belief of an effortless life behind in order to desire a meaningful one.
1. What does the underlined word “guarantee” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Promise. | B．Process. | C．Attraction. | D．Dream. |
| A．the author was a bad-working student |
| B．the author should set more realistic goals |
| C．college students were leading an easy life |
| D．a college education was the key to the author’s dreams |
| A．To share her leaning experiences with readers. |
| B．To support her new understanding about education. |
| C．To express her pity on people in Third World. |
| D．To stress the importance of taking a sociology course. |
| A．College education is a key to an effortless life. |
| B．College education offers solutions to social problems. |
| C．College education tests and guides our life desires. |
| D．College education turns young people into gamblers. |
【推荐2】It often seems that some people possess superhuman eating powers, allowing them to eat an entire pizza while remaining slim. Others only eat a slice but gain five pounds. Now one doctor says there' s evidence that genetics could be behind some of these differences. Regardless of how much you eat, your weight may be out of control.
Vann Bennett, a biochemist at Duke University and his team led a new study and discovered why this happens. They engineered mice to have several common modifications of the gene found in humans. They observed that mice who had mutations of ankyrin-B(锚蛋白B的变异) took more glucose(葡萄糖) into their fat cells, which in turn made more fat. Typically, the cell membrane( 膜) acts as a barrier to prevent glucose from entering these cells ; the change kept the gate open. The change may serve a useful purpose. “ Probably this is not always a bad thing,” Bennett told Newsweek. “It could help people survive hunger in the past. But today we have so much food that it probably is a bad thing.”
Dieters have long been told to watch their calories and exercise more, but this new finding suggests that a common approach doesn't work for everyone. Our metabolism( 新陈代谢) naturally slows with age, making it harder to maintain the weight of our 30-year-old selves when we' re 50. Now add an uncontrollable ankyrin-B gene, and it may seem impossible to stay slim.
The mice in the study gained more weight when on high-fat diets. Despite being studied in mice, the researchers believe further research on this gene could potentially create a field of customized diets and health plans based on genetics. Bennett imagines such assessments being performed at birth one day. For now, disappointed dieters can take comfort with one saying: It's not you, it's your genes.
1. How did a mouse gain weight with mutations of ankyrin-B?| A．The ankyrin-B could make the mouse eat more. |
| B．The fat cells in the mouse would take more glucose to create more fat. |
| C．The glucose could function as a barrier to prevent the fat from reducing. |
| D．The cell membrane in the mouse could open the gate of fat into the mouse. |
| A．It could help people to avoid fat food. |
| B．It could help people to absorb more nutrition. |
| C．It could help people to get through the starvation. |
| D．It could help people to enjoy more delicious snacks. |
| A．Because we all lack exercise. | B．Because we have ankyrin-B genes. |
| C．Because we watch our calories less. | D．Because our metabolism weakens. |
| A．It may help people to maintain the weight. |
| B．It may provide more comfort for the depressed dieters. |
| C．It may change many new-born babies’ gene arrangement. |
| D．It may present human beings with a series of health plans. |
【推荐3】While the remaining 8 teams of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar compete in the quarter-finals, it is worth noting that it is not only soccer that has captured the world’s attention, but also the video assistant referee (VAR) technology.
Like it or hate it, the VAR is a part of football games today.
Many football fans question whether the system made the game better or if it added unnecessary some complication to the beautiful game, especially this time in Qatar, as a number of controversial (引起争议的) decisions were made involving VAR – it slows down the game, offside law (越位规则) is sometimes not flexible.
The introduction of the VAR means at the top-level football now tends to pause and delay with the on-field referee often waiting for decisions to be made by those located in offices often far away from the stadiums themselves.
Actually, the use of video match officials (VMOs) in football was included in the 2018/2019 edition of the Laws of the Game and was already used at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Since then, the system has been used in over 100 competitions worldwide.
Despite criticisms, FIFA thought VAR’s first show to be a success, with referee committee head Pierluigi Collina claiming that 99.3 percent of “match-changing” decisions were called correctly at the World Cup – “very, very close to perfection”. Without VAR, referees called 95% of incidents correctly.
We should admit that sports tech is still far from perfect in the field of sports events. People’s emotions are not towards those technologies themselves, but the current shortcomings of the application of the technology.
The controversies in the football field are not caused by VAR alone as there are too many uncertain factors on the court, which is a part of the game drama. For example, the penalty kick (点球) in the penalty area is judged in a variety of situations.
1. What made fans dissatisfied in Qatar?| A．The use of VAR technology. |
| B．The results of soccer games. |
| C．The changes of match laws. |
| D．The decisions made by coaches. |
| A．Viewer. | B．Athlete. | C．Judge. | D．Host. |
| A．It reduces the burden of the referees. |
| B．It has become a part of football games. |
| C．It is widely applied in many fields of sports. |
| D．Its “match-changing” decisions proved more exact. |
| A．World Cup 2022 is a turning point |
| B．Is VAR technology ruining football games? |
| C．Should VAR be popularized in the sports world? |
| D．The 2022 World Cup saw the first show of VAR |
【推荐1】In a survey, 1,500 people were asked the same question and were then divided into two different groups based on their answers. 1,245 people went into the first group thinking that money was the most important thing and they would consider doing what they wanted to do later. The other group, made up of 255 people, preferred following their passion(热情) and trusted that money would then follow.
Guess what happened to both groups 20 years later: 101 of surveyed people became millionaires. And only one of them came from the first group. The remaining 100 all came from those who chose a career according to their interest.
It is so common to hear friends and relatives complaining about work, workplace, coworkers, etc. Recent research shows there are 20% more heart attacks(心脏病发作) on Mondays than on any other day in Japan. Perhaps this is not surprising when you look at how most of us choose our careers.
We have few or even no choices of careers. Sometimes, even if we have choices, we are more likely to choose the one with better pay. But all the rewards we get from our work largely depend on productivity(生产能力) and few things in life affect productivity more than passion does. The world’s largest chocolate producer, Patrick De Maeseneire, once said, “Producing great chocolate is all about being passionate.” Passion creates the desire and energy required to do what others think is impossible.
Not loving our work is something that prevents us from reaching our goals. Doing what we love to do not only makes us effective but also makes others feel the same.
1. What was probably the question of the survey mentioned in Pare.1?| A．What would you like to do in the future? |
| B．How would you like to choose your career? |
| C．Do you think money can buy happiness? |
| D．What is the most important thing in your life? |
| A．Mondays are the busiest workdays |
| B．most people in Japan have heart disease |
| C．most employees hate to return to their jobs. |
| D．most employees are dissatisfied with their weekends |
| A．They don’t need much money. | B．They work with interest. |
| C．They have better-paid jobs. | D．They have more career choices. |
| A．Productivity really matters. | B．Interest builds confidence. |
| C．Choosing a career is difficult. | D．Passion leads to success. |
【推荐2】When you are looking for a new job, you'll probably get a lot of advice from the Internet and well-meaning friends.
You don't need to be perfect to apply. If you meet some of the requirements that the job asks for, take a chance? It's pretty rare for a company to find someone who meets all the requirements. Of course, there are some things that companies won't bend on, or give in, like experience or skills.
Temporary jobs don't necessarily mean dead-ends.
Your personality is no less important than your qualification. You may have gone to a top school and have years of experience.
| A．However, it never hurts to try. |
| B．Some may turn into long-term or full-time work. |
| C．Your college degree determines your career path. |
| D．You don't have to work in the field your degree is in. |
| E．While the advice can sometimes be helpful, a lot of it is contradictory. |
| F．Therefore, they will save companies the trouble of training new employees. |
| G．But, if your attitude doesn't match the company culture, you won't be employed. |
【推荐3】Choosing a career path is one of the most important decisions that senior high graduates have to make.
Personal Interests and Passions: Choosing a career that suits to one’s interests and passions can lead to a fulfilling and satisfying career. For instance, if someone is passionate about art, they may consider a career in graphic design, animation, or fine arts.
Job Market and Demand: Graduates should research the job market and find out which careers are in high demand.
Potential Salary and Benefits: Graduates should research the average salary and benefits for their chosen career and ensure that it matches up with their financial goals and lifestyle.
Work- Life Balance:
Choosing a career is a significant decision that requires careful consideration. By considering these factors, graduates can make an informed decision that will lead to a fulfilling and successful career.
| A．Previous Working Experience: |
| B．Education and Training Requirements: |
| C．This will increase their chances of finding a job after graduation. |
| D．It is a decision that will have a significant impact on their future. |
| E．Graduates should consider the gap between the job demand and their potential. |
| F．Some careers may require long hours or frequent travel, while others may offer more flexibility. |
| G．On the other hand, someone interested in science may consider a career in medicine, engineering, or research. |
