An increase in students applying to studs economics at university is being attributed to(归因于)the global economic crisis awakening a public thirst for knowledge about how the financial system works.

Applications for degree courses beginning this autumn were up by 15% this January, according to UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. A spokesman for the Royal Economic Society said applications to do economics at A-level were also up.

Professor John Beath, the president of the society and a leading lecture at St Andrews University, said his first-year lectures-which are open to students from all departments-were drawing crowds of 400, rather than the usual 250.

“There are a large number of students who are not economics major, who would like to learn something about it. One of the things I have done this year is to relate my teaching to contemporary events in a way that one hasn’t traditionally done.”he added.

University applications rose 7% last year, but there were rises above average in several subjects. Nursing saw a 15% jump, with people’s renewed interest in careers in the public sector (部门)，which are seen as more secure in economic crisis.

A recent study showed almost two thirds of parents believed schools should do more to teach pupils about financial matters, and almost half said their children had asked them what was going on, although a minority of parents felt they did not understand it themselves well enough to explain.

Zack Hocking ,the head of Child Trust Funds, said：“It’s possible that one good thing to arise from the downturn will be a generation that’s financially wiser and better equipped to manage their money through times of economic uncertainty.”

1. Professor John Beath’s lectures are 　　　　.

A. given in a traditional way

B. connected with the present situation

C. open to both students and their parents

D. warmly received by economists

2. Careers in the public sector are more attractive because of their __________.

A. greater stability                                          B. higher pay

C. fewer applications                                    D. better reputation

3. In the opinion of most parents, __________.

A. economics should be the focus of student teaching

B. more students should be admitted to universities

C. the teaching of financial matters should be strengthened

D. children should solve financial problems themselves

4. According to Hocking, the global economic crisis might make the youngsters _________.

A. wiser in money management

B. have access to better equipment

C. confident about their future careers

D. get jobs in Child Trust Funds

5. What’s the main idea of the text?

A. Universities have received more applications.
B. Economics is attracting an increasing number of students.

C. College students benefit a lot from economic uncertainty.

D. Parents are concerned with children’s subject selection.

George Spilich at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, decided to find out whether, as many smokers say, smoking helps them to “think and fix their attention on (集中精力于)their work”. Spilich put young non－smokers, active smokers and smokers deprived(被剥夺)of cigarettes through a series of tests.

In the first test, each subject sat before a computer screen and pressed a key as soon as he or she recognized a certain letter among a grouping of 96. In this simple test, smokers, deprived smokers and non－smokers performed equally well. The next test was more difficult, requiring all to scan(扫描) groups of 20 letters and find the one of the letters changed into a different one. Non－smokers were faster, but under the stimulation(刺激)of nicotine, active smokers were faster than deprived smokers. In the third test of short－term memory, non－smokers made the fewest mistakes, but deprived smokers made fewer mistakes than active smokers. The fourth test required people to read a passage, then answer questions about it. Non－smokers remembered 19 percent more of the most important information than active smokers, and deprived smokers did better than those who had smoked a cigarette just before testing. Active smokers were likely not only to have poorer memories but also had trouble separating important information from unimportant details.

“As our tests became more difficult，” says Spilich, “non－smokers performed better than smokers by far.” he says, “Smokers might perform adequately(准确)at many jobs until they got very difficult. A smoking airline pilot could fly adequately if no problems arose, but if something went wrong, smoking might damage his mental capacity(思维能力)．”

1. Smokers usually think that smoking ________.

A. helps them to be less nervous

B. helps them to do better work

C. helps them to think and act quickly

D. does some good to their health

2. George Spilich's experiment was organized in such a way as to ________.

A. force the subjects to separate major information from minor details

B. check the effectiveness of nicotine on smokers

C. put the subjects through increasing difficult test

D. make a written and formal record of the answers of the subjects

3. Which fact does this passage lead us to believe?

A. Active smokers generally performed better than deprived smokers.

B. Active smokers answered more quickly than the other subjects.

C. Deprived smokers gave the slowest answers to the various tasks.

D. Non－smokers were not better than other subjects in performing simple tasks.

4. We can infer from the last paragraph that ________.

A. smokers should not expect to become airline pilots

B. smokers may prove unequal to dealing with emergency (紧急) cases

C. no airline pilots smoke during flights

D. smoking in emergency cases causes mental illness

I cheated on a final exam in college. It was spring semester of my junior year, the early 70s, at  21  was then Rider College. I was between a B and a C in “Introduction to  22 ”, and the exam would determine my final  23 .

    Music was  24  my strongest subject. I had never studied an instrument and had had little  25  to classical music. But as a secondary education major, I needed two fine arts electives. I had chosen music as one of them. At two credits, how  26  could it be?

    I thought I could hold my own on the test  27  just before it began, when the professor announced that he would  28  a series of musical passages on a tape recorder for 15 minutes. We were to name the  29  we heard in each selection.

    We were  30  in that classroom like penguins on a chunk of floating sea  31 , so it was an effort to keep my eyes  32  on my own desk. I think the music was a Mozart symphony,  33  by Tchaikovsky and a piece by John Philip Sousa. During one selection, my  34  turned to the paper of the student on my right. I had  35  the instrument to be a violin; my neighbor had written viola(中提琴). He had to be  36 ---almost anyone would know more about music than I did. I changed my  37 .

    A few days later, looking at the answers to the exam and the final grades posted on the professor’s office  38 , I understood the meaning of poetic justice. The instrument had been a violin. That one answer had  39  my exam grade to a C, which  40  a C for the course.

　 If you take it for granted that to study in university is the same as at middle school and high school, then you will be in for a surprise.

　 A change of attitude is involved in many ways when you go up to university. Although the process has been going on since you went to middle school, the biggest change is going to take place. Now, instead of taking several subjects, you have chosen one major subject because you find it interesting and worth exploring further. The choice was yours. You also have before you the goal of getting a degree. The degree, and the stages you have to pass through to achieve it, give you motivation, even though it may become weak from time to time, and not all parts of the course will be exciting; a sure way to lose interest is to do too little work. It is a law of diminishing returns---the less work you do, the less interest you will have and the more bored you will become. So regular work is needed to keep your interest as well as keep pace with new work.

　 Another change is in the relationship with those who teach you. This may well have changed during middle school and high school, but now the whole context is different. You are no longer forced to stay in school all day, and you organize your own time and place for studying. You are there to study actively rather than to be taught passively. Your teachers may or may not urge you, but they do want you to share their interest in the subject and they want you to succeed.

　 The teacher works as your coach or trainer. If you were becoming a professional tennis player or musician, you would expect your coach to look out for ways of improving your performance, and to criticize your work all the time; you would be silly to feel fed up about this---in fact you would sack your coach if he just said everything was fine. So if you get work back with a poorer mark than you expected and with various criticisms, don’t feel discouraged by this. If you don’t understand what is wrong and how to improve, then ask your teacher to explain and don’t be satisfied until you do understand.

41. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. You need to study just one subject in university.

B. The desire to get a degree is always strong throughout university days.

C. How hard-working the students are affects their interest in their study.

D. You needn’t be taught by teachers in university.

42. The teachers in university __________.

A. have to urge you to study hard

B. may instruct you how to improve your studies

C. never criticize your work

D. never help you if you fail to understand a difficult problem

43. In university, what you can do includes___________.

a. going shopping in the evening　　　　 b. organizing your class time

c. doing homework in your dormitory　　 d. staying in school all day

A. abc　　　　 B. ac　　　　 C. bd　　　　 D. acd　

44. The underlined word “sack” in the last paragraph probably means __________.

A. disbelieve　　 B. like　　　　 C. fire　　　　 D. thank

45. The main idea of the passage is that _________.

A. students go to university to get a degree

B. going to university brings two major changes

C. students learn how to study in university

D. students learn to understand college life

　 If you take it for granted that to study in university is the same as at middle school and high school, then you will be in for a surprise.

　 A change of attitude is involved in many ways when you go up to university. Although the process has been going on since you went to middle school, the biggest change is going to take place. Now, instead of taking several subjects, you have chosen one major subject because you find it interesting and worth exploring further. The choice was yours. You also have before you the goal of getting a degree. The degree, and the stages you have to pass through to achieve it, give you motivation, even though it may become weak from time to time, and not all parts of the course will be exciting; a sure way to lose interest is to do too little work. It is a law of diminishing returns---the less work you do, the less interest you will have and the more bored you will become. So regular work is needed to keep your interest as well as keep pace with new work.

　 Another change is in the relationship with those who teach you. This may well have changed during middle school and high school, but now the whole context is different. You are no longer forced to stay in school all day, and you organize your own time and place for studying. You are there to study actively rather than to be taught passively. Your teachers may or may not urge you, but they do want you to share their interest in the subject and they want you to succeed.

　 The teacher works as your coach or trainer. If you were becoming a professional tennis player or musician, you would expect your coach to look out for ways of improving your performance, and to criticize your work all the time; you would be silly to feel fed up about this---in fact you would sack your coach if he just said everything was fine. So if you get work back with a poorer mark than you expected and with various criticisms, don’t feel discouraged by this. If you don’t understand what is wrong and how to improve, then ask your teacher to explain and don’t be satisfied until you do understand.

41. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. You need to study just one subject in university.

B. The desire to get a degree is always strong throughout university days.

C. How hard-working the students are affects their interest in their study.

D. You needn’t be taught by teachers in university.

42. The teachers in university __________.

A. have to urge you to study hard

B. may instruct you how to improve your studies

C. never criticize your work

D. never help you if you fail to understand a difficult problem

43. In university, what you can do includes___________.

a. going shopping in the evening　　　　 b. organizing your class time

c. doing homework in your dormitory　　 d. staying in school all day

A. abc　　　　 B. ac　　　　 C. bd　　　　 D. acd　

44. The underlined word “sack” in the last paragraph probably means __________.

A. disbelieve　　 B. like　　　　 C. fire　　　　 D. thank

45. The main idea of the passage is that _________.

A. students go to university to get a degree

B. going to university brings two major changes

C. students learn how to study in university

D. students learn to understand college life