1 . Americans have always been ambivalent in their attitudes toward education. On the one hand, free and universal public education was seen as necessary in a democracy, for how else would citizens learn how to govern themselves in a responsible way? On the other hand, America was always a country that offered financial opportunities for which education was not needed: on the road from rags to riches, schooling-beyond the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic-was an unnecessary detour.
Even today, it is still possible for people to achieve financial success without much education, but the number of situations in which this is possible is decreasing. In today's more complex world, the opportunities for financial success is closely related to the need for education, especially higher education.
Our society is rapidly becoming one whose chief product is information, and dealing with this information requires more and more specialized education. In other words, we grow up learning more and more about fewer and fewer subjects.
In the future, this trend is likely to continue. Tomorrow's world will be even more complex than today's world, and, to manage this complexity, even more specialized education will be needed.
1. The topic treated in this passage is _____.| A．education in general | B．Americans' attitudes |
| C．higher education | D．American education |
| A．certain | B．contradictory | C．ambitious | D．unclear |
| A．higher education | B．public education |
| C．responsible citizens | D．learning the basics |
| A．information is our only product | B．education in the future will be specialized |
| C．we are entering an age of information | D．we are living in an age of information |
| A．The History of American Education. | B．The Need for Specialized Education. |
| C．The Future of the American Educational System. | D．Attitudes toward American Education. |
2 . During the high school career, students may begin to question the importance of a college education. They might find themselves asking, “Why is it important to go to college?” The answer is that, more than ever, college graduates enjoy much greater opportunities available to them than those who have not received a college education.
For many high school students, being able to immediately generate an income after graduation is an appealing thought. They may also be affected by the rising cost of tuition, and while it is true that a higher education may be one of the largest expenses you will ever face, the importance of a college education has become quite evident in terms of earning potential within today’s economy.
Why should you go to college? One important answer to this question is more opportunity. As opposed to generations of the past, high school graduates today are unable to obtain high-paying jobs that were once available. The U.S. has been transformed from a manufacturing-based economy to an economy based on knowledge, and the importance of a college education today can be compared to that of a high school education forty years ago. It serves as the gateway to better options and more opportunity.
There are additional reasons as to why it is important to go to college. When students experience a post secondary education, they have the opportunity to read books and listen to the lectures of top experts in their fields. This encourages students to think, ask questions, and explore new ideas, which allows for additional growth and development and provides college graduates with more opportunities in the job market over those who have not experienced a higher education.
The importance of a college education is also stressed because of the opportunity to gain valuable resources during the study. The more connections which are collected during your college career, the more options you will have when you begin your job search. Once you have ended your job search and have started your career, however, the importance of a college education has not been exhausted. Having a college degree often provides for greater promotion opportunity.
So, why should you go to college? The reasoning does not begin and end with the job aspect. A good education is beneficial from many different viewpoints, and though the importance of a college education is quite evident for many high school students, what is often not as clear is how they will pay for that education.
1. Why do some high school graduates prefer working to college study?| A．To obtain high-paying jobs. | B．To earn money at an early age. |
| C．To spend less money on tuition. | D．To adapt to the knowledge-based society. |
| A．too much time is spent on lectures in college study |
| B．high school education is a gateway to more opportunity |
| C．college graduates gain more chances over others in job market |
| D．a college degree guarantees promotion in American companies |
| A．Refusing college education. | B．Changing college education. |
| C．Receiving college education. | D．Affording college education. |
| A．Importance of college education. | B．Education means opportunity. |
| C．Which is more important, job or education? | D．How to survive in the college. |
I: Introduction P: Point Sp: Sub-point (次要点) C: Conclusion
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
3 . In only two decades Asian Americans have become the fastest growing U.S. minority. As their children began moving up through the nation schools，it became clear that a new class of academic achievers was emerging. Their achievements are reflected in the nation’s best universities，where mathematics，science and engineering departments have taken on a decidedly Asian character. This special liking for mathematics and science is partly explained by the fact that Asian-American students who began their education abroad arrived in the U.S. with a solid grounding in mathematics but little or no knowledge of English. They are also influenced by the promise of a good job after college. Asians feel there will be less unfair treatment in areas like mathematics and science because they will be judged more objectively. And the return on the investment in education is more immediate in something like engineering than with an art degree.
Most Asian-American students owe their success to the influence of parents who are determined that their children take full advantage of what the American educational system has to offer. An effective measure of parental attention is homework. Asian parents spend more time with their children than American parents do, and it helps. Many researchers also believe there is something in Asian culture that makes success，such as ideals that stress family values and emphasize education.
Both explanations for academic success worry Asian Americans because of fears that they feed a typical racial image. Many can remember when Chinese, Japanese and Filipino immigrants were the victims of social isolation(隔离). Indeed, it was not until 1952 that laws were laid down giving all Asian immigrants the right to citizenship.
1. With making outstanding achievements at college，Asian- American students ________.| A．feel they are mistreated because of limited knowledge of English |
| B．are afraid that their academic successes are not recognized |
| C．still worry about unfair treatment in society for their origin |
| D．generally feel it a shame to have to depend on their parents |
| A．A solid foundation in basic mathematics and Asian culture. |
| B．Hard work and intelligence. |
| C．Parents’ help and a limited knowledge of English. |
| D．Asian culture and the American educational system. |
| A．their English is not good enough |
| B．they are afraid they might meet with unfair judgment in these areas |
| C．there is a wide difference between Asian and Western cultures |
| D．they know little about American culture and society |
| A．They are afraid that they would again be separated from American society. |
| B．People will think that Asian students rely on their parents for success. |
| C．Asian Americans will be a threat to other minorities. |
| D．Americans fear the academic achievements made by Asian Americans. |
| A．Asian Americans could not be academically successful |
| B．there were few immigrants from East and Southeast Asia |
| C．immigrants were not equally treated by Asian Americans |
| D．immigrants from East and Southeast Asia were looked down upon |
4 . In 2011，Amy Chua put out the book，Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother，which is her memoir（回忆录）about the challenges of being a parent and trying to keep to the strict upbringing（养）she knew as a child. Controversy over the book arose because many readers did not get the impression that Chua was trying to be humorous about her parenting methods. There was also miscommunication about the purpose of the book. Many received it as a guide for other parents on how to use strict methods to punish and motivate their children. However，Chua has always claimed the aim of her book was only to share her successes and failures as a parent in a culturally diverse world.
In the book，Chua compares Western and Chinese beliefs and methods of parenting. In general，Chinese parents believe a child's academic success is directly linked to parenting skills. It is common for such parents to take severe measures to make their children do exactly what they say. In contrast，Western parents worry more about their children's self-esteem（自尊），which drives their parenting methods. As a result，parenting methods have become less strict and children are not held to the high standards they were in the past.
Interestingly，in the West，many people agree that Western parenting methods could use improvement. Some even say that the laid-back Western methods can be just as damaging as the overly strict ones Chua connects with Chinese culture because more and more children are not learning how to face and overcome challenges. However，experts also say that being too strict with children can cause rebellion（反叛），low self-esteem and poor parent-child relationships.
What everyone can agree on is that there is no perfect way to parent. What's more a method that works with one child will not necessarily work with another. Parents are challenged with finding the best method that helps each child learn to be a responsible and confident person.
1. What do we know about Amy Chua's book?| A．It amused readers greatly. |
| B．It caused a serious debate. |
| C．It's about a tiger and its mother. |
| D．It's popular with both parents and kids. |
| A．To share her experience as a mom. |
| B．To tell interesting stories to children. |
| C．To introduce her research on parenting. |
| D．To help other parents educate their children. |
| A．What is most important for children. |
| B．How to help children to succeed in school. |
| C．The importance of mastering parenting skills. |
| D．Differences between upbringing in China and the West. |
| A．Children's academic success. |
| B．More positive attitudes toward life. |
| C．Bad relationships between parents and children. |
| D．Children's lack of experience in dealing with difficulties. |
| A．One parenting method doesn't work with all children. |
| B．A perfect way to parent is easy to find as long as parents work hard. |
| C．Western parenting methods are better than those in China. |
| D．Chinese parents are more worried about their children's self-esteem. |
5 . “I promise.” “I swear to you it’ll never happen again.” “I give you my word.” “Honestly. Believe me.” Sure, I trust. Why not? I teach English composition at a private college. With a certain excitement and intensity, I read my students’ essays, hoping to find the person behind the pen. As each semester progresses, plagiarism (剽窃) appears. Not only is my intelligence insulted as one assumes I won’t detect (查明) a polished piece of prose (散文) from an otherwise-average writer, but I feel a sadness that a student has resorted (求助于) to buying a paper from a peer. Writers have styles like fingerprints and after several assignments, I can match a student’s work with his or her name.
Why is learning less important than a higher grade-point average (GPA) (平均成绩点数)? When we’re threatened or sick, we make conditional promises. “If you let me pass math I will …” “Lord, if you get me over this before the big homecoming game I’ll…” Once the situation is behind us, so are the promises. Human nature? Perhaps, but we do use that cliché (陈词滥调) to get us out of uncomfortable bargains.
Six years ago, I took a student before the dean. He had turned in an essay with the vocabulary and sentence structure of PhD thesis (博士毕业论文). Up until that time, both his out-of-class and in-class work were borderline passing.
I questioned the person regarding his essay and he swore that it was the consequence of his hardwork, but he had already had a given sheet of paper so he understood what was asked. He sat one hour, then turned in part of a page of unskilled writing and faulty logic. I confronted him with both the essays. “I promise…, I’m not lying. I swear to you that I wrote the essay. I’m just nervous today.”
The head of the English department agreed with my finding, and the meeting with the dean had the boy’s parents present. After an hour of discussion, touching on eight of the boy’s previous essays and his grade-point average, which indicated he was already on academic probation (留校察看), the dean agreed that the student had plagiarized (剽窃). His parents protested, “He’s only a child.” and we instructors were wiser and should be compassionate (有同情心的). College people are not really children and most times would resent being labeled as such… except in this uncomfortable circumstance.
1. According to the author, students commit plagiarism mainly for ________.| A．money | B．degree |
| C．higher GPA | D．reputation |
| A．students usually keep their promises |
| B．some students tend to break their promises |
| C．the promises are always behind the situation |
| D．we cannot judge the situation in advance |
| A．excellent | B．extremely poor |
| C．above average | D．not very good |
| A．teachers should be compassionate | B．instructors were wiser |
| C．he was only a child | D．he was threatened |
| A．Human Nature | B．Conditional Promises |
| C．How to Detect Cheating | D．The Sadness of Plagiarism |
6 . An introduction to this book is as superfluous as a candle in front of a powerful searchlight. But a convention of publishing seems to require that the candle should be there, and I am proud to be the one to hold it. About ten years ago I picked up from the pile of new books on my desk a copy of Sons and Lovers by a man of whom I had never heard, and I started to race through it with the immoral speed of the professional reviewer. But after a page or two I found myself reading, really reading. Here was—here is—a masterpiece in which every sentence counts, a book packed with significant thought and beautiful, arresting phrases, the work of a remarkable genius whose gifts are more richly various than those of any other young English novelist.
To appreciate the rich variety of Mr. Lawrence we must read his later novels and his volumes of poetry. But Sons and Lovers reveals the range of his power. Here are combined and blended(混合的) sort of “realism” and almost lyric(抒情的) imagery and rhythm. The speech of the people is that of daily life and the things that happen to them are normal adventures and accidents; they fall in love, marry, work, fail, succeed, and die. But of their deeper emotions and of the relations of these little human beings to the earth and to the stars, Mr. Lawrence makes something near to poetry and prose(散文) without violating its proper “other harmony.”
Take the marvellous paragraph on next to the last page of Sons and Lovers (Mr. Lawrence depends so little on plot in the ordinary sense of the word that it is perfectly fair to read the end of his book first):
Where was he? One tiny upright speck of flesh, less than an ear of wheat lost in the field. He could not bear it. On every side the immense dark silence seemed pressing him, so tiny a spark, into extinction, and yet, almost nothing, he could not be extinct. Night, in which everything was lost, went reaching out, beyond stars and sun, stars and sun, a few bright grains, went spinning round for terror, and holding each other in embrace, there in the darkness that outpassed them all, and left them tiny and daunted(气馁). So much, and himself, infinitesimal, at the core a nothingness, and yet not nothing.
Such glorious writing lifts the book far above a novel which is merely a story. I beg the reader to attend to every line of it and not to miss a single one of the many sentences that await and surprise you. Some are enthusiastic and impressive, like the paragraph above; others are keen, “realistic” observations of things and people. In one of his books Mr. Lawrence makes a character say, or think, that life is “mixed.” That indicates his philosophy and his method. He blends the accurately literal and trivial(琐碎的) with the extremely poetic.
To find a similar blending of tiny daily detail and wide imaginative vision, we must go back to two older novelists, Hardy and Meredith. I do not mean that Mr. Lawrence derives(源于) immediately from them or, indeed, that he is clearly the disciple(弟子) of any master. I do feel simply that he is of the elder stature(名望) of Hardy and Meredith, and I know of no other young novelist who is quite worthy of their company. When I first tried to express this comparison, this connection, I was contradicted by a fellow-critic, who pointed out that Meredith and Hardy are entirely unlike each other and that therefore Mr. Lawrence cannot resemble both. To be sure, nothing is more hateful than forced comparisons, nothing more boring than to discover parallels between one work of art and another. An artist’s mastery consists in his difference from other masters. But to refer a young man of genius to an older one, at the same time pronouncing his independence and originality, is a fair, if not very superior, method of praising him.
1. The underlined word “superfluous” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______.| A．meaningful | B．unnecessary |
| C．fundamental | D．unbelievable |
| A．They equally reveal his genius power. |
| B．They contain lots of great lyric poetry. |
| C．They present some real living situations. |
| D．They focus on relations between humans. |
| A．The plot of the novel has little to do with daily life. |
| B．It is wise to read Lawrence’s books from the end. |
| C．Lawrence is capable of telling good stories. |
| D．The language in Lawrence’s books is elegant. |
| A．They taught Lawrence literature when he was young. |
| B．They were the realistic novelists of Lawrence’s time. |
| C．They were novelists who resemble each other in writing. |
| D．They were novelists combining details with imagination. |
| A．He must have personal diversity. |
| B．He must have the critical spirits. |
| C．He must be happy to be compared. |
| D．He must be a man of genius. |
| A．To introduce Lawrence’s novel Sons and Lovers. |
| B．To show his experiences of reading classics. |
| C．To analyze Lawrence’s writing characteristics. |
| D．To compare the styles of different novelists. |
7 . The question of what children learn, and how they should learn, is continually being debated and redebated. Nobody dares any longer to defend the old system, the learning of lessons parrotfashion, the grammarwithawhip system, which was good enough for our grandparents.The theories of modern psychology have stepped in to argue that we must understand the needs of children. Children are not just small adults; they are children who must be respected as much.
Well, you may say, this is as it should be, a good idea.But think further.What happens? “Education” becomes the responsibility not of teachers，but of psychologists.What happens then? Teachers worry too much about the psychological implications of their lessons, and forget about the subjects themselves. If a child dislikes a lesson, the teacher feels that it is his fault, not the child’s. So teachers worry whether history is “relevant” to modern young children. And do they dare to recount stories about violence? Or will this make the children themselves violent? Can they tell their classes about children of different races, or will this encourage racial hatred? Why teach children to write grammatical sentences? Verbal expression is better. Sums? Arithmetic? No, reallife mathematical situations are more understandable.
You see, you can go too far. Influenced by educational theorists, who have nothing better to do than to write books about their ideas, teachers leave their teachertraining colleges filled with grand, psychological ideas about children and their needs.They make elaborate (精心的), sophisticated (复杂的) preparations and try out their “modern methods” on the longsuffering children. Since one “modern method” rapidly replaces another, the poor kids will have had a good bellyful by the time they leave school. Frequently the modern methods are so sophisticated that they fail to be understood by the teachers, let alone the children; even more often, the relaxed discipline so essential for the “informal” feelings the class must have, prevents all but a handful of children from learning anything.
1. People do not dare to defend the old system mainly because under the old system________.| A．too much grammar was taught to children |
| B．children were spoiled |
| C．children were treated as grownups |
| D．children were made to learn passively |
| A．Children must be understood and respected. |
| B．Children are small adults and know what they need. |
| C．Children are better off without learning lessons. |
| D．Education of children is the responsibility of psychologists. |
| A．They find that the children dislike the lessons. |
| B．They tend to blame students for their failure. |
| C．They do not pay enough attention to the actual lessons. |
| D．They no longer want to teach children history. |
| A．it is better to use verbal expression only |
| B．words are said out of natural feelings only |
| C．talking freely and naturally without sentences is a better form of expression |
| D．it is felt that formal grammar rules might cause unnatural expressions |
| A．neither teachers nor pupils |
| B．only a handful of teachers and pupils |
| C．the more sophisticated teachers |
| D．everyone who enjoys the relaxed discipline of the informal classes |
8 . In the college-admissions wars, we parents are the true fighters. We’re pushing our kids to get good grades, take SAT preparatory courses and build resumes so they can get into the college of our first choice. I’ve twice been to the wars, and as I survey the battlefield, something different is happening. We see our kids’ college background as a prize demonstrating how well we’ve raised them. But we can’t acknowledge that our obsession (痴迷) is more about us than them. So we’ve created various justifications (辩解) that turn out to be half-truths, prejudices or myths. It actually doesn’t matter much whether Aaron and Nicole go to Stanford.
We have a full-developed panic; we worry that there won’t be enough prizes to go around. Fearful parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever. What causes the hysteria (歇斯底里) is the belief that scarce elite (精英) degrees must be highly valuable. Their graduates must enjoy more success because they get a better education and develop better contacts. All seems right but mostly wrong. We haven’t found any convincing evidence that selectivity or prestige matters. Selective schools don’t systematically employ better instructional approaches than less selective schools. On two measures—professors’ feedback and the number of essay exams selective schools do slightly worse.
By some studies, selective schools do enhance (提高) their graduates’ lifetime earnings. The gain is reckoned at 2-4% for every 100-point increase in a school’s average SAT scores. But even this advantage is probably a statistical fluke (偶然). A well-known study examined students who got into highly selective schools and then went elsewhere. They earned just as much as graduates from higher-status schools.
Kids count more than their colleges. Getting into Yale may signify intelligence, talent and ambition. But it’s not the only indicator and, surprisingly, its significance is declining. The reason: so many similar people go elsewhere. Getting into college is not life’s only competition. In the next competition—the job market and graduate school—the results may change. Princeton economist Alan Krueger studied admissions to one top Ph.D. program. High scores on the GRE helped explain who got in; degrees of famous universities didn’t.
So, parents, take it easy(lighten up). The stakes (利害关系) have been vastly exaggerated. Up to a point, we can rationalize our pushiness. America is a competitive society; our kids need to adjust to that. But too much pushiness can be destructive. The very ambition we impose on our children may get some into Harvard but may also set them up for disappointment. One study found that, other things being equal, graduates of highly selective schools experienced more job dissatisfaction. They may have been so conditioned to being on top that anything less disappoints.
1. Why does the author say that parents are the true fighters in the college-admissions wars?| A．They have the final say in which university their children are to attend. |
| B．They know best which universities are most suitable for their children. |
| C．They have to carry out intensive surveys of colleges before children make an application. |
| D．They care more about which college their children go to than the children themselves. |
| A．They want to increase their children’s chances of entering a prestigious college. |
| B．They hope their children can enter a university that offers attractive scholarships. |
| C．Their children will have a wider choice of which college to go to. |
| D．Elite universities now enroll fewer student than they used to. |
| A．Continuing education is more important to a person’s success. |
| B．A person’s happiness should be valued more than their education. |
| C．Kids’ actual abilities are more important than their college background. |
| D．What kids learn at college cannot keep up with job market requirements. |
| A．Getting into Ph.D. programs may be more competitive than getting into college. |
| B．Degrees of prestigious universities do not guarantee entry to graduate programs. |
| C．Graduates from prestigious universities do not care much about their GRE scores. |
| D．Connections built in prestigious universities may be kept long after graduation. |
| A．they earn less than their peers from other institutions |
| B．they turn out to be less competitive in the job market |
| C．they experience more job dissatisfaction after graduation |
| D．they overemphasize their qualifications in job application |
Using a web camera equipped in Jennifer’s Los Angeles apartment, the monitor in Phoenix tracked how frequently her eyes moved from the computer screen and listened for the secret sounds of a possible helper in the room. Her Internet access was locked-remotely-to prevent Internet searches, and her typing style was analyzed to make sure she was who she said she was: Did she enter her student number at the same speed as she had in the past? Or was she slowing down?
In the battle against cheating, this is the cutting edge and a key to encourage honesty in the booming field of online education. The technology gives trust to the entire system, to the institution and to online education in general. Only with solid measures against cheating, experts say, can Internet universities show that their exams and diplomas are valid-that students haven’t just searched the Internet to get the right answers.
Although online classes have existed for more than a decade, the concern over cheating has become sharper in the last year with the growth of "open online courses." Private colleges, public universities and corporations are jumping into the online education field, spending millions of dollars to attract potential students, while also taking steps to help guarantee honesty at a distance.
Aside from the web cameras, a number of other high-tech methods are becoming increasingly popular. Among them are programs that check students’ identities using personal information, such as the telephone number they once used.
Other programs can produce unique exam by drawing on a large list of questions and can recognize possible cheaters by analyzing whether difficult test question are answered at the same speed as easy ones. As in many university classes, term papers are scanned against some large Internet data banks for cheating.
1. Why was Jennifer watched in an online exam?| A．To correct her typing mistakes. |
| B．To find her secrets in the room. |
| C．To prevent her from slowing down. |
| D．To keep her from dishonest behaviors. |
| A．advanced technique | B．sharpening tool |
| C．effective rule | D．dividing line |
| A．they can attract potential students | B．they can defeat academic cheating |
| C．they offer students online help | D．they offer many online courses |
| A．checking the question answering speed |
| B．producing a large number of question |
| C．scanning the Internet test question |
| D．giving difficult test question |
| A．The Advantages of Online Exams |
| B．The High-tech Methods in Online Courses |
| C．The Fight against Cheating in Online Education |
| D．The War against the Booming of Online Education |
10 . Everyone knows about straight-A students. We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge of the Nerds. They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book. They are not good at social communication and look clumsy while doing sports.
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School. She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society. For two years she has maintained A's in every subject. Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque. He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station. Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A's in. his regular classes, plus bonus points for A's in two college-level courses.
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren't the only answer. “Top grades don't always go to the brightest students,” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students. “Knowing how to make the most of your innate abilities counts for more. Much more.”
In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don't do as well as classmates with lower IQ. For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down.
Hard work isn't the whole story, either. “It's not how long you sit there with the books open,” said one of the many straight-A students we interviewed. “It's what you do while you're sitting.” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates.
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn.
1. The underlined word “nerds” can probably be __________| A．dull bookworms lacking sports and social skills |
| B．successful top students popular with their peers |
| C．students with certain learning difficulties |
| D．born leaders crazy about social activities |
| A．Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students. |
| B．People have unfavorable impression of straight-A students. |
| C．Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films. |
| D．Straight-A students are well admired by people in society. |
| A．they are born cleverer than others | B．they work longer hours at study |
| C．they make full use of their abilities | D．they know the shortcut to success |
| A．The interviews with more students. | B．The role IQ plays in learning well. |
| C．The techniques to be better learners. | D．The achievements top students make. |
| A．IQ is more important than hard work in study. |
| B．The brightest students can never get low grades. |
| C．Top students certainly achieve all-around developments. |
| D．Students' with average IQ can become super-achievers. |
