US universities are among the best in the world. Since World War Ⅱ, American scientists --- mostly working in universties or colleges --- have won more than half of all Nobel Prizes in physics and medicine. Foreign students rush to the United States by the tens of thousands. Last year they earned more than one quarter of the doctoral degrees awarded in the country. Yet while American universities produce the great research and great graduate program, they sometimes pay little attention to the task that lies at their very core: the teaching of undergraduate students.

With the increase in fees, educators feel obliged to improve undergraduate teaching. In speeches and interviews the nation’s higher educators have rediscovered teaching. Robert Rosenzweig, president of the Association of American Universities,  said,  “Our organization was never very concerned about teaching. In the last 18 months, we have spent more time on undergraduate education than on any other subject.”

Despite such promising efforts, no one doubts that research still outranks teaching at some of the leading universities, not least because it is a surer and faster way to earn status. Some people don’t think it has to be that way. They argue that the reward system for college faculty can be changed, so that professors will be encouraged to devote more time and effort to teaching. They say that they are beginning to believe that the first ten years of the 21st century may come to be remembered as the decade of the undergraduate.

That would bring it full circle. For more than two centuries after the founding of Harvard College in 1636, the instruction of undergraduate students was an essential condition of American higher education.

1.According to the passage, at some of the leading American universities ________.

A．research is declining in importance          B．teaching now ranks above research

C．teaching is a sure way to gain position        D．research still ranks above teaching

2.It is implied in the passage that about 200 years ago undergraduate instruction ________.

A．began to change all of a sudden

B．was already threatened by research work

C．was the central part of higher education

D．began to be neglected in most universities

3.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．University education in the US             B．University education challenged

C．Teaching and research in universities        D．Undergraduate teaching rediscovered

单词考查 （共10小题，满分20分）

1.He was found in ____________（拥有） of drugs and was accused.    

2.To t_____________（改造）hills into fields is an extremely tough job. 

3.It was a long journey, but we e____________ (最终) arrived at the small village before dark.

4.He was b_______ from driving for three months owing to rushing red lights.

5.The door opens and closes _____________（自动地）.

6.Whatever you do, you’ve to take the possible c_____________.

7.The rise in carbon dioxide is causing a s__________（持续）increase in global warming.

8.Try to use e____________ friendly materials to consume less energy.

9.There’s a lot of a__________（焦虑）among the staff about job losses.

10.In autumn, the temperature in this city v_______ from 10c to 30c in a day.

London will stage its biggest political funeral in almost half a century on Wednesday when Britain's governing elite join the Queen and global leaders to bid farewell to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, better known as the “ Iron Lady".

In an event comparable to that of Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965, Thatcher's coffin will be carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage through streets lined with admirers from parliament to the city's most famous cathedral.

The bells of London's symbolic Big Ben clock tower will fall silent for the first time since Churchill's funeral and more than 700 men and women from Britain's armed forces will honor a woman who led them to victory in the 1982 Falklands War as foreign politicians from around 170 nations look on.

Surveys have shown that many are unhappy that the estimated l0-million($15 million)pound bill for the funeral is being picked up by the taxpayer, while some left-wing lawmakers say the luxurious funeral is too expensive.                                                                            

But her admirers, of whom there are many in her party and in southern England, argue that her historical profile deserves such a funeral. She was the country's first and only woman premier, was Britain's longest-serving prime minister of the 20th century, and won three general elections.

More than 2,300 mourners will attend including 11 serving prime ministers from around the world, the British government's entire cabinet, two heads of state and 17 foreign ministers.

But there will be notable absences. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is too ill to attend and Nancy Reagan, the widow of Thatcher's great U·S. ally Ronald Reagan, is also unable to come.

Thatcher struck up a close relationship with Reagan during the Cold War, backed the first President  George Bush during the 1991 Gulf War, and was among the first to discover that Gorbachev was a man she could "do business with. ”

Covered in the red, white and blue British flag, Thatcher's coffin lay overnight in a 13th-century church in Britain's parliament, a forum she dominated for years.

1.From the passage we know that Big Ben clock tower will fall silent to         .

A. get repaired for the first time

B. honour the passing away of the great woman

C. tell the specific time to the public

D. welcome the officials from all over the world

2.Who that are still alive will be absent from the funeral?

A. Mikhail Gorbachev and Nancy Reagan.

B. Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan.

C. Nancy Reagan and Ronald Reagan.

D. George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev.

3.From the passage we can learn that Margaret Thatcher was        .

A. strong and smart               B. weak and disappointing

C. aggressive and warlike                   D. stubborn and luxurious

4.Which of the following might serve as the best title of the passage?

A. The legend of Thatcher, the “Iron Lady".

B. Why Big Ben falls silent for the first time?

C. Who will pay for such a luxurious funeral?

D. London will witness its biggest political funeral.

Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets. But for all the progress, people __1  don’t know one another very well.

That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “  2  of conversation” — events   3  individuals sit in pairs with persons they don’ t know for three hours of  4  talk designed to help people know better about each other.

Mr. Zeldin heads Oxford Muse, a l0-year-old foundation based on the  _5  that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.

The “feast” in London looks  6 at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes  7   fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives. The “menu of _8  ” includes topics like “How have your concerns changed   9  the years?” Or, “What have you done against the past?”

As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite  _10  communications like QQ and MSN in a globalized age, issues of human heart   11 . Many people are lonely, or occupied in dealing with their daily businesses that discourage knowing the _ 12 _ of one another. “We are trapped in _ 13 _ conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,”he says. “But   14 _ interaction is what separates us from other species, __15  maybe dogs that do have interactions with humans.”

The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t   16 _ with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer. The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of people of different ages, in sun hats, ties and   __17_, looked to see   18  they would talk with for hours.   19  15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.

Some said they felt free to talk on   20   topics. Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”

1.                A．still            B．already         C．even D．yet

2.                A．topic           B．subject         C．idea D．feast

3.                A．what           B．when          C．that  D．where

4.                A．free           B．organized       C．guided   D．random

5.                A．theory         B．idea           C．opinion   D．fact

6.                A．not            B．not only        C．never    D．ever

7.                A．but            B．and            C．or   D．with

8.                A．talk            B．speech         C．conversation   D．communication

9.                A．during         B．over           C．for  D．within

10.               A．convenient      B．accessible       C．immediate D．instant

11.               A．leave          B．appear         C．disappear  D．remain

12.               A．depth          B．well           C．truth D．good

13.               A．small          B．daily           C．deep D．shallow

14.               A．thinking        B．talking         C．communicating  D．lecturing

15.               A．with           B．besides         C．except    D．from

16.               A．talk            B．pair           C．involve    D．sit

17.               A．dresses        B．skirts          C．T-shirts    D．coats

18.               A．which          B．whom          C．who  D．that

19.               A．So            B．And           C．But   D．Then

20.               A．hot            B．popular        C．sensitive   D．private

Ladies and Gentlemen, some strange, wild and wonderful stories colored the news in 2010, you may like them.

● A Copenhagen bus company has put "love seats" on 103 of its buses for people looking for a partner. "Even love at first sight is possible on the bus," said a spokesman for the company to explain the two seats on each bus that are covered in red cloth and a "love seat" sign.

● Shoppers at an international luxury fair in Italy, found a cell-phone-equipped golden coffin（棺材）among the items on display. The phones will help "the dead" contact relatives if they have been buried alive by mistake.

● A man in New York came up with a disarming（手无寸铁的）way to perform his latest bank heist , approaching the clerk’s window with a large bunch of flowers and handing over a note saying “give me the money!”

● An Englishman who lost all his legs and arms in an electrical accident successfully swam across the Channel, a challenge he had been preparing for two years. The whole cost is 400 dollars.

● A set of artificial teeth(假牙) made for Britain's war-time prime minister Winston Churchill known as "the teeth that saved the world" sold for nearly 18,000 pounds (21,500 euros, 24,000 dollars) at auction（拍卖）.

● A British woman caused an Internet hate campaign after she was caught on camera dumping（抛弃）a cat in a rubbish bin. She was fined 250 pounds (400 dollars, 280 euros) after pleading guilty.

● The BBC apologized completely and without any doubts after a radio presenter jokingly announced that Queen Elizabeth II had died.

● Two Australian men needed surgery（手术）after shooting each other in the bottoms during a drinking session to see if it would hurt and they were charged 400 dollars separately.

● A Kuwaiti MP(议员) suggested state-aid for male citizens to take second wives, in an effort to reduce the large number of unmarried women in the oil-rich state.

1.What is special about the coffin in the second news?

A．It is golden.                            B．It has a cell phone.

C．It is new.                              D．It has many items.

2.What is the probable meaning of the underlined word “heist” in the third news?

A．robbery          B．love              C．discussion         D．repair

3.Who has to spend 400 dollars to do the surgery?

A．A British woman who dumped a cat in a rubbish bin.

B．One who bought Winston Churchill’s artificial teeth.

C．An Australian man who was shot in bottom to test the hurt.

D．An Englishman crossing the Channel without legs and arms.