1 . “You are being put thousands of dollars into debt to learn things you will never even use. Wasting 4 years of your life to be stuck at a paycheck that grows slower than the rate of inflation (通货膨胀). Paying $200 for a $6 textbook.” Wilson said in his social network.

His story has produced a ________ debate in the comments online. Other young adults are wondering if ________ higher education is worth the time and money.

Wilson, who was on an Architectural Engineering undergraduate course told BBC Trending that the “cost of inflation is relatively small compared to the cost of college over the last 30 or so years. I mean, it really is ridiculous how the cost of college has ________.”

He’s supported by data. According to the US Department of Education the average annual increase in college tuition in the United States, between 1980-2014, grew by nearly 260% compared to the nearly 120% ________   in all consumer items.

In 1980, the average cost of tuition, room and board, and fees for a four-year course was over $9,000. That cost now is more than $23,000 for state colleges. If you want to go ________ it’s more than $30,000.

A similar increase in tuition fees has also been seen in England. In 2012, the government supported initiatives from some universities to ________ more than the 9,000 tuition fee limit.

Wilson also regarded higher education ________ as a reason to leave university and enter the workplace. Students in the United States are estimated to be in around over $1.2 trillion of loan debt with 7 million borrowers.

Wilson says that when he first told his parents that he was leaving university, they were “very ________” but are now supportive of his decision. His parents finally came round to his decision to ________ his studies. Others, like Blair Brown, who agreed with Wilson also pointed out that some professions do require a university degree.

“Being an engineer, scientist, or computer technician could be learned rather quickly through apprenticeships, independent study, and hands-on experience. Human nature is to learn by doing, not ________ to do. As for more professional careers such as medical doctors and lawyers, university study is ________ necessary,” Brown commented.

Wilson, who told Trending that he is currently ________ for a trade show sales team and his employers did Google him and they saw the funny side. He adds that he hopes enough work experience will ________ him to be employed by an architectural engineering team in the future.

He doesn’t think university will play any ________ in that future. “They would have to make a ________ change to the system before I would consider that and I don’t think they’ll do that while I’m still young enough to want to go.”

1.

A．troublesome

B．vigorous

C．open

D．reliable

2.

A．pursuing

B．paying

C．accepting

D．refusing

3.

A．stayed up

B．paid up

C．gone up

D．grown up

4.

A．decline

B．improvement

C．amount

D．increase

5.

A．private

B．abroad

C．public

D．ahead

6.

A．charge

B．collect

C．pay

D．exchange

7.

A．quality

B．consumption

C．debt

D．quantity

8.

A．happy

B．upset

C．relieved

D．crazy

9.

A．follow

B．continue

C．select

D．abandon

10.

A．consuming

B．working

C．learning

D．experiencing

11.

A．knowingly

B．admittedly

C．mentally

D．academically

12.

A．employed

B．acknowledged

C．confirmed

D．approved

13.

A．promote

B．revise

C．motivate

D．allow

14.

A．joke

B．impact

C．part

D．effect

15.

A．moderate

B．big

C．slight

D．reverse

2 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

The benefits of having a higher education are manifold (多样的) and range from financial to cultural and from common benefits to some unexpected surprises, below you will find a number of reasons which will help to serve as justification for a higher education.

For many high school students, it is hard to imagine what the long-term benefits of a college education might be. College is demanding; the work seems challenging, and meeting all new people seems overwhelming. However, what most young people do not realize is that there is a high likelihood at college that you will find new friends with similar interests and values. You may find yourself developing new interests by getting along with those who have completely different life experiences. An opportunity to get to know your professors can also be counted one of the benefits of having a college education. These intellectuals can be counted on to welcome questions and discussion from students. Therefore, one of the key benefits of a college education is the social bonds created and developed during this unique time in a person’s life.

Besides, the fact that you’ll be building a career for the rest of your life is reason enough to make time for a college education. Indeed, a clear benefit of a college education is that not only will it give you time to better know your likes and dislikes before entering the labor force, it will also enhance the likelihood of a more successful career for you. Many young people are uncertain about a career path at the start of college. This is a time of exploration, and taking the time to explore a variety of college majors is time well spent.

One more justification for higher education could be that it is the best way to enhance yourself in an all-round way. Getting a good education may be the most important price you can pay for your personal advancement, because perhaps more than anything else, what you do with that huge gray material between your ears will determine your future. You never know where your talent could reach. So higher education can provide you with the chance to realize your personal value.

Therefore, never undervalue the benefits of entering a higher education, which surely will bring you something beyond expectation.

3 . Many parents, teachers, and politicians assert that preschool is the best way to prepare children to learn. There is no real agreement, however, about how this_______should be achieved.

For some, early childhood education_______the development of the whole child. They think that preschool should be play that encourages exploration and_______.Group activities teach_______social behaviors such as sharing, kindness, and patience. Time spent alone encourages_______. Learning letters and counting is important only for children who show an interest in them. Advocates of this_______stress that each child is unique and should learn at his or her own pace.

Other people cite research showing that children are ready to_______basic academic concepts by age 3 or 4. They claim that early_______to letters and numbers lays the foundation for later academic excellence. Since the 1980s, many people have stressed the value of preschool and point to the success of programs—such as Head Start—that target low-income children.

Is there proof that an academic curriculum in preschool will lead to academic success? Studies have not been _______.

In the short term, evidence suggests that middle-class children who attend preschool are________their peers in math and language skills, as well as in social skills, when they enter school.________, the same studies show that the gap________considerably by the time children reach age 8.

Children living in________are a different matter. Those enrolled in programs such as Head Start seem to do better than needy children who do not attend a preschool. For instance, youngsters in one group enrolled in the program,________until the age of 21, earned higher scores on intelligence tests, were more likely to graduate from high school, and demonstrated more interest in higher education.

The idea of public preschools raises many issues. Providing Head Start for all children would be a________burden on communities that already struggle to fund current school programs. Also, where would a sufficient number of teachers trained in early childhood development be found?

1.

A．preparation

B．claim

C．performance

D．direction

2.

A．comes to

B．appeals to

C．turns to

D．relates to

3.

A．attendance

B．discovery

C．relaxation

D．amusement

4.

A．positive

B．aggressive

C．strange

D．normal

5.

A．competition

B．loneliness

C．discipline

D．independence

6.

A．policy

B．plan

C．approach

D．drive

7.

A．publicize

B．absorb

C．define

D．reject

8.

A．introduction

B．devotion

C．entrance

D．contribution

9.

A．available

B．descriptive

C．conclusive

D．convincing

10.

A．equal to

B．distinguished from

C．inferior to

D．ahead of

11.

A．However

B．Therefore

C．Moreover

D．Otherwise

12.

A．widens

B．narrows

C．disappears

D．exists

13.

A．trouble

B．despair

C．poverty

D．danger

14.

A．documented

B．tracked

C．involved

D．accompanied

15.

A．mental

B．emotional

C．psychological

D．financial

4 . Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need.

Being Authoritative Parents

Phrases like “tiger mom” and “helicopter parent” have made their way into everyday language.    1     But is there anything wrong with a kind of “overparenting style”?

Parental involvement has a long history of being studied. Many of the studies, conducted by Diana Baumrind, a famous psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that a good parent is the one who is involved and reacts to her child in a positive way, who sets high expectations but gives her child independence. These “authoritative parents” appear to hit the sweet spot of parental involvement and generally raise children who do better academically, psychologically and socially than children whose parents are not strict and less involved, or controlling and more involved.     2    

Authoritative parents actually help improve motivation in their children. Carol Dweck, a social psychologist at Stanford University, has done research that indicates why authoritative parents raise more motivated children. In a typical experiment, Dr. Dweck takes young children into a room and asks them to solve a simple puzzle. Most do so with little difficulty. But then Dr. Dweck tells some, but not all, of the kids how clever they are. As it turns out, the children who are not told they're smart are more motivated to solve increasingly difficult puzzles. They also show higher levels of confidence and show greater progress in puzzle-solving.

    3     Dealing with more difficult puzzles carries the risk of losing one's status as “smart”. Dr. Dweck's work strongly supports that of Dr. Baumrind, who also found that reasonably supporting a child's independence and limiting interference(干涉)causes better academic and emotional results.

The central task of growing up is to develop a sense of self that is independent and confident. If you treat your young child who is just learning to walk as if she can't walk, you reduce her confidence.    4     It is easier when they are young. The potential mistakes carry greater risks, and part of being a parent is reducing risk for our children.

A．Allowing children to make mistakes is one of the greatest challenges of parenting.

B．How is this parenting style different from the western concept of self-realization?

C．Many of us find ourselves drawn to the idea that with just a bit more parental hard work and effort, we might turn out children with bright futures.

D．As the experiment suggests, praising children's talents and abilities seems to shake their confidence.

E．Why is this parenting style so successful?

F．It can be learned from the experiment that parental expectations can motivate children to build a strong mind and encourage them to achieve their best academic performance.

5 . Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there is one sentence more than you need.

Best and Brightest

BAMA Companies has been making pies and biscuits in Oklahoma since 1920s. But the company is struggling to find Okies with the skills to fill even its most basic factory jobs. Graduates of local schools are often unable to read or do simple maths. This is why the company recently decided to open a new factory in Poland—its first in Europe.

    1    . Before 2000 half of the country’s rural adults had finished only primary school. Yet international rankings now put the country’s students well ahead of America’s in science and maths. What is Poland doing right? And what is America doing wrong? Amanda Ripley, an American journalist, seeks to answer such questions in The Smart kids in the World, her new book about the schools that are working around the globe.

If most exams quantify students’ ability to memorize material, the PISA test aims to assess their effectiveness at problem-solving. Since 2000 it has been administered to millions of teenagers in more than 40 countries, with surprising results. Pupils in Finland, South Korea, Japan and Canada consistently score much higher than their peers in Germany, Britain, America and France.

To understand what is happening in these classrooms, Mrs Ripley follows three American teenagers who spend a year as foreign-exchange students in Finland, Poland and South Korea. In each country, the Americans are startled by how hard their new peers work and how seriously they take their studies. Maths classes tend to be more sophisticated.     2    . And teachers in every subject exhibit the authority of Professionals.

Ms.Ripley credits Poland’s swift turnaround to Miroslaw Handke, the former minister of education. When he entered the post in 1997, Poland’s economy was growing but Poles seemed fated do the low-skilled jobs that other Europeans did not want. So he launched an impressive program of school reforms, with a new core curriculum and standardized tests. Yet his most effective change was also his vaguest: he expected the best work from all of his pupils. He decided to keep all Polish children in the same schools until they were 16, delaying the moment when some would have entered vocational tracks.     3    

Not every story of academic success is a happy one. In South Korea Ms. Ripley finds a “Culture of educational masochism(受虐狂),” where pupils study at all hours in the hope of securing a precious spot in one of country’s three distinguished universities.     4    . Even so, South Korea offers some good lessons for how quickly a country can change its fate.

A．Poland is a developed and democratic country, with a high-income economy, and a very high standard of living.

B．Poland’s swift rise in PISA rankings is largely the result of the high scores of these supposedly non-academic children.

C．The country may have one of the highest school-graduation rates in the world, but children appear miserable.

D．The PISA for Development initiative aims to encourage and facilitate PISA participation of interested and motivated low-and-middle-income countries

E．Poland has made some dramatic gains in education in the past decade.

F．Classrooms tend to be free of the high-tech devices of their schools back home.

6 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only   be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. reflection B. coaching C. attributes D. traits E. academic F proficiency G. integrity H. exposing I. flood J. extracurricular K. particularly

We all hope that the values that are important to each of us are passed along to our children.

Often, however, that hope is challenged by a(n)    1    of pop culture messages,     peer pressure,       and over-scheduled lives that leave little time for good   counsel or    2    .       It’s       easy to forget that learning values and character at home   is as important as any schoolwork or    3    activity.

In the real world of jobs and career, people are judged by two standards: their professional skills and their personal    4    . While grade school, high school,   and college can teach   skills and    5    , it’s up to parents to teach children the    6    that make for success     in the real world—diligence, a cooperative attitude, creativity, optimism, assertiveness, and honesty.   Schools—    7    colleges—   don’t   focus on   these   issues.     That’s   the   job   of   the parents, so take the assignment seriously.   Send your kids into the world,   ready to handle not     only the tasks of life but also its hurdles, social obstacles, and frustrations with finesse and character.

You really can’t start soon enough. After all, children need personal    8    and morals as much as any adult.     Bullies will always be around;     tasks won’t always be assigned fairly; the good guys won’t always win; petty concerns will   often trump   issues of substance;   and   money won’t always be in ample supply;    9    children to the harsher realities of life isn’t     cruel; giving them that experience and    10    them through it is part and parcel of raising kids to have courage, resiliency and honor.

7 . How to help your kids find a purpose? You don’t have to start with the really big questions. Quick, what’s the meaning of life?” Many of us may not be able to answer that, but that doesn’t ______ our kids don’t have questions or need answers.

“The sense that your personal life is ______ to you is a basis of psychological well-being,” says Michael F. Steger，director of the laboratory for Meaning and Quality of Life at Colorado State University. Not only that，it is tightly tied to being happier, more positive, more ______, more caring, more helpful, more resilient (坚韧), and more satisfied in your life, relationships, and work.

But helping your kids find meaning doesn’t mean parents have to ______ all life’s ancient mysteries, Steger says. The ______ is to understand the difference between the meaning of life and the meaning in life.

“We do not have to start with the biggest and most troubling questions about our lives,” Steger says. “We can start with trying to ______ how, today, right now, we are going to do one thing that makes the story of our lives more positive, or makes a positive difference to someone else.”

With kids in ______ school, Steger says, “At the most basic level, our best hopes for our children are that they feel their lives matter and that they ______.” To start conversations along those lines, says Steger, “You can ask questions about what they think their best ______ or strengths are, whether they have good relationships with other people, whether they care about others. You can ask them about times when they have made a difference, made someone feel better, felt ______ for doing something, or helped someone out. All of these kinds of questions can start a conversation about your kid’s ______ way of being in and contributing to the world.”

In middle school, says Steger, “Kids are being exposed to ideas, behaviors, assumptions, and priorities that might be ______ different from the ones they have always assumed were true.” So for kids this age, parents can start conversations focusing on how your children’s sense of who they are, how they related to others and what life is has been ______.

By high school, according to Steger, “We hope our children see how much their lives matter, see that they are at the beginning of an exciting and strengthening life story, and have some slight ideas about ______.”   But the question of what you want to do with your life is too big for a single conversation, says Steger. Instead, he encourages parents to have ______, smaller conversations with their kids about how they view themselves and their lives, and what kind of impact they would like to make.

1.

A．intend

B．mean

C．remain

D．hope

2.

A．significant

B．decisive

C．meaningful

D．useful

3.

A．confident

B．cautious

C．intelligent

D．special

4.

A．discover

B．present

C．memorize

D．solve

5.

A．trick

B．occupation

C．address

D．promise

6.

A．look for

B．pick up

C．deal with

D．figure out

7.

A．junior

B．advanced

C．elementary

D．senior

8.

A．make a difference

B．spare no effort

C．take the initiative

D．make a living

9.

A．specialties

B．qualities

C．features

D．performances

10.

A．appreciated

B．prepared

C．understood

D．well-known

11.

A．apparent

B．smart

C．unique

D．appropriate

12.

A．generally

B．eventually

C．impossibly

D．completely

13.

A．improving

B．strengthening

C．appearing

D．changing

14.

A．truth

B．purpose

C．positivity

D．contribution

15.

A．permanent

B．long-lasting

C．frequent

D．occasional

8 . The “Bystander Apathy Effect” was first studied by researchers in New York after neighbors ignored — and in some cases turned up the volume on their TVs — the cries of a woman as she was murdered (over a half-hour period). With regard to helping those in difficulty generally, they found that:
(1) women are helped more than men;
(2) men help more than women;
(3) attractive women are helped more than unattractive women.

Other factors relate to the number of people in the area, whether the person is thought to be in trouble through their own fault, and whether a person sees himself as being able to help.

       According to Adrian Furnham, Professor of University College, London, there are three reasons why we tend to stand by doing nothing:
(1) “Shifting of responsibility”— the more people there are, the less likely help is to be given. Each person excuses himself by thinking someone else will help, so that the more “other people’ there are, the greater the total shifting of responsibility.
(2) “Fear of making a mistake” — situations are often not clear. People think that those involved in an accident may know each other or it may be a joke, so a fear of embarrassment makes them keep themselves to themselves.
(3) “Fear of the consequences if attention is turned on you, and the person is violent.”

Laurie Taylor, Professor of Sociology at London University, says: “In the experiments I’ve seen on intervention (介入), much depends on the neighborhood or setting. There is a silence on public transport which is hard to break. We are embarrassed to draw attention to something that is happening, while in a football match, people get involved, and a fight would easily follow.”

Psychotherapist Alan Dupuy identifies the importance of the individual: “The British as a whole have some difficulty intervening, but there are exceptional individuals in every group who are prepared to intervene, regardless of their own safety: These would be people with a strong moral code or religious ideals.”

1. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A．Pretty women are more likely to be helped.

B．People on a bus are more likely to stop a crime.

C．Religious people are more likely to look on.

D．Criminals are more likely to harm women.

2. Which factor is NOT related with intervention according to the passage?

A．Sex.

B．Nationality.

C．Profession.

D．Setting.

3. Which phenomenon can be described as the “Bystander Apathy Effect”?

A．When one is in trouble, people think it’s his own fault.

B．In a football match, people get involved in a fight.

C．Seeing a murder, people feel sorry that it should have happened.

D．On hearing a cry for help, people keep themselves to themselves.

4. The author wrote this article ______.

A．to explain why bystanders behave as they do

B．to urge people to stand out when in need

C．to criticize the selfishness of bystanders

D．to analyze the weakness of human nature

9 . Philosophy of Education is a label applied to the study of the purpose, process, nature and ideals of education. It can be considered a branch of both philosophy and education. Education can be defined as the teaching and learning of specific skills, and the imparting of knowledge, judgment and wisdom, and is something broader than the societal institution of education we often speak of.

Many educationalists consider it a weak and imprecise field, too far removed from the practical applications of the real world to be useful. But philosophers dating back to Plato and the Ancient Greeks have given the area much thought and emphasis, and there is little doubt that their work has helped shape the practice of education over the millennia.

Plato is the earliest important educational thinker, and education is an essential element in “The Republic” (his most important work on philosophy and political theory, written around 360 B.C.). In it, he advocates some rather extreme methods: removing children from their mothers’ care and raising them as wards of the state, and differentiating children suitable to the various castes(社会等级), the highest receiving the most education, so that they could act as guardians of the city and care for the less able. He believed that education should be holistic(全面的), including facts, skills, physical discipline, music and art. Plato believed that talent and intelligence is not distributed genetically and thus is to be found in children born to all classes, although his proposed system of selective public education for an educated minority of the population does not really follow a democratic model.

Aristotle considered human nature, habit and reason to be equally important forces to be cultivated in education, the ultimate aim of which should be to produce good and virtuous citizens. He proposed that teachers lead their students systematically, and that repetition be used as a key tool to develop good habits, unlike Socrates’ emphasis on questioning his listeners to bring out their own ideas. He emphasized the balancing of the theoretical and practical aspects of subjects taught, among which he clearly mentions reading, writing, mathematics, music, physical education, literature, history, and a wide range of sciences, as well as play, which he also considered important.

During the period of Middle Age, the idea of Perennialism was first formulated by St. Thomas Aquinas in his work “De Magistro”. Perennialism holds that one should teach those things deemed to be of everlasting importance to all people everywhere, namely principles and reasoning, not just facts (which are apt to change over time), and that one should teach first about people, not machines or techniques. It was originally religious in nature, and it was only much later that a theory of worldly Perennialism developed.

During the Renaissance(文艺复兴), the French doubter Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592) was one of the first to critically look at education. Unusually for his time, Montaigne was willing to question the conventional wisdom of the period, calling into question the whole structure of the educational system, and the assumption that university-educated philosophers were necessarily wiser than uneducated farm workers, for example.

1. Why do many educationists consider philosophy a ‘weak and imprecise field’?

A．It is the practical applications of the real world.

B．Its theoretical concepts are easily understood.

C．It is irrelevant for education.

D．It is not practically applicable.

2. What is the difference between the approaches of Socrates and Aristotle?

A．Aristotle felt the need for repetition to develop good habits in students; Socrates felt that students need to be constantly questioned.

B．Aristotle felt the need for rote-learning; Socrates emphasized on dialogic learning.

C．There was no difference.

D．Aristotle emphasized on the importance of paying attention to human nature; Socrates emphasized upon science.

3. According to the passage, the underlined word “Perennialism” most probably refers to something _____________

A．that is unnecessary.	B．that is of ceaseless importance.
C．that is abstract and theoretical.	D．that exists no more.

4. Why did Aquinas propose a model of education which did not lay much emphasis on facts?

A．Facts are not important.

B．Facts do not lead to holistic education.

C．Facts change with the changing times.

D．Facts are frozen in time.

10 . Sandra Boynton, a children’s author, has in more recent years branched out into kids music. Her most recent album Hog Wild!, for example, features Samuel L. Jackson as a Tyrannosaurus Rex. She talked in an interview about how to tap into kids' imaginations and how to make scary things less threatening for them.

In your years of writing and illustrating children’s books, have you noticed anything that really sparks a child’s imagination?

I think maybe there’s no basic difference between what fascinates a child and what fascinates the rest of us. We’re all drawn to things that wake us up, things that grab our attention through our hearing or our sight or our sense of touch. We’re curious about the world as it is, and we’re curious about what could be. Imagination follows curiosity pretty naturally.

It doesn’t feel to me like it’s been a long time that I’ve been drawing and writing things. It doesn’t feel like a short time, either. It just feels like what I do. I make things. I’m a permanent Kindergartner, I guess.

You often take a threatening figure like a Tyrannosaurus Rex or a monster and make him cute. Do you have any suggestions for how to make children less afraid of things?

Actually, I think kids kind of like being afraid of things, as long as someone calm is right there with reassurance. Hugging helps.

What have you learned about childhood from writing kids’ books?

Accessing childhood has actually never been that hard. It’s adulthood that’s still perplexing. I would guess that most children’s book writers are that way. I’m really writing books and making music for my own child-self. But I’m certainly delighted and grateful that my books work for people other than just me. It keeps me from having to find an actual job.

A lot of authors are worried that children spend too much time on digital devices rather than with books, but you seem to have embraced it. Why?

When the interactive book app universe was new, I was, as a creator of things, curious. My background is theater, and I thought it could be interesting to try to figure out how to create content that’s both theater-like and book-like. I found a superb partner in this, the insanely ingenious Loud Crow Interactive in Vancouver. We worked intensively together for a couple of years and made five very cool apps. I’m proud of them. But now, having too often seen very young kids sitting idly, staring at screens, I have my doubts.

1. What does Sandra Boynton think about imagination?

A．It fascinates both adults and children.

B．It can be waken up by attention to senses.

C．It can be naturally aroused out of curiosity.

D．It lasts for long in a permanent kindergartner.

2. When writing children’s books, Sandra ______.

A．finds herself confused about remembering childhood

B．agrees with other book writers that writing is hard

C．puts herself in a child’s place and thinks like a child

D．is delighted that she doesn’t need to find another job

3. Sandra thinks the apps she made with her partner were cool because they were ______.

A．new ways to increase interactions between users

B．interactive by combining theatre and book

C．beneficial with the content both theatre-like and book-like

D．created by an insanely ingenious expert and friend

4. We can conclude from the interview that ______.

A．Sandra is good at making a threatening figure cute

B．kids are always calm instead of being afraid of things

C．digital devices have been embraced by most of the authors

D．there were no interactive book apps before Sandra’s apps