根据下列问题及所给提示，完成下面短文，注意恰当地使用连词and, but, so。

1. Why did Steve call Pippa?

(to ask him if he would like to go to a lecture on Thursday)

2. What is the lecture about? (universe)

3. How is the speaker supposed to be? (excellent)

4. Is Pippa free that day? (No, he has already got something on that day. )

5. What do they decide to do then?

(must get together some other time for a chat)

1. Why did Steve call Pippa?

(to ask him if he would like to go to a lecture on Thursday)

2. What is the lecture about? (universe)

3. How is the speaker supposed to be? (excellent)

4. Is Pippa free that day? (No, he has already got something on that day. )

5. What do they decide to do then?

(must get together some other time for a chat)

The Cost of Higher Education
Individuals (个人) should pay for their higher education.
A university education is of huge and direct benefit to the individual. Graduates earn more than non-graduates. Meanwhile, social mobility is ever more dependent on having a degree. However, only some people have it. So the individual, not the taxpayers, should pay for it. There are pressing calls on the resources (资源) of the government. Using taxpayers' money to help a small number of people to earn high incomes in the future is not one of them.
Full government funding (资助) is not very good for universities. Adam Smith worked in a Scottish university whose teachers lived off student fees. He knew and looked down upon 18th-century Oxford, where the academics lived comfortably off the income received from the government. Guaranteed salaries, Smith argued, were the enemy of hard work; and when the academics were lazy and incompetent, the students were similarly lazy.
If students have to pay for their education, they not only work harder, but also demand more from their teachers. And their teachers have to keep them satisfied. If that means taking teaching seriously, and giving less time to their own research interests, that is surely something to celebrate.
Many people believe that higher education should be free because it is good for the economy (经济). Many graduates clearly do contribute to national wealth, but so do all the businesses that invest (投资) and create jobs. If you believe that the government should pay for higher education because graduates are economically productive, you should also believe that the government should pay part of business costs. Anyone promising to create jobs should receive a gift of capital from the government to invest. Therefore, it is the individual, not the government, who should pay for their university education.
【小题1】 The underlined word "them" in Paragraph 2 refers to ______.

I once had my Chinese MBA students brainstorming on “two-hour business plans”. I separated them into six groups and gave them an example: a restaurant chain. The more original their idea, the better, I said. Finally, five of the six groups presented plans for restaurant chains. The sixth proposed a catering(餐饮) service. Though I admitted the time limit had been difficult, I expressed my disappointment.

My students were middle managers, financial analysts and financiers from state-owned enterprises and global companies. They were not without talent or opinions, but they had been shaped by an educational system that rarely stressed or rewarded critical thinking or inventiveness. The scene I just described came in different forms during my two years’ teaching at the school. Papers were often copied from the Web and the Harvard Business Review. Case study debates were written up and just memorized. Students frequently said that copying is a superior business strategy, better than inventing and creating.

In China, every product you can imagine has been made and sold. But so few well-developed marketing and management minds have been raised that it will be a long time before most people in the world can name a Chinese brand.

With this problem in mind, partnerships with institutions like Yale and MIT have been established. And then there’s the “thousand-talent scheme”: this new government program is intended to improve technological modernization by attracting top foreign-trained scientists to the mainland with big money. But there are worries about China’s research environment. It's hardly known for producing independent thinking and openness, and even big salary offers may not be attractive enough to overcome this.

At last, for China, becoming a major world creator is not just about setting up partnerships with top Western universities. Nor is it about gathering a group of well-educated people and telling them to think creatively. It’s about establishing a rich learning environment for young minds. It’s not that simple.

1.Which of the following scenes is NOT considered as lack of creation?

A．Papers were often downloaded from the Internet.

B．Students often said that copying is a preferable business strategy.

C．Case study debates were written up as well as recited.

D．Students combine knowledge and critical thoughts to solve a problem.

2.The underlined word “scheme” in the forth paragraph means          .

A．timetable      B．theme          C．project        D．policy

3.We can infer from the passage that ___________.

A．China can make and sell any product all over the world

B．high pay may not solve the problem of China’s research environment

C．cooperation with institutions has been set up to make a Chinese brand

D．the new government program are aimed at encouraging imagination

4.Which is the best title of the passage?

A．Look for a New Way of Learning       B．Reward Creative Thinking

C．How to Become a Creator          D．Establish a Technical Environment

I would like to tell you a story about my uncle Theo. He is my oldest uncle, a tall, thin, grey-haired man whose thoughts are always on learning and nothing else. He is quiet, gentle and absent-minded and with about as much sense as a child where money is concerned. Well, he applied a post in Camford University. It was a very good post and there were hundreds of candidates who applied for it, and about fifteen, including Theo, were asked to be interviewed.

    Camford is a very small town; there is only one hotel in it, and it was so full that they had to put many of the candidates two in a room. Theo was one of these, and the man who shared the room with him was a self-confident fellow called Adams, about twenty years younger than Theo, with a loud voice, and a laugh that you could hear all over the hotel. But he was a clever fellow all the same and had a good post in Iscaiot College, Narkover. Well, the Dean, who was the head of the department of the University, and the committee interviewed all the candidates; and as a result of this interview, the number of the candidates was reduced to two, Uncle Theo and Adams. The committee couldn’t decide which of the two to take, so they decided to make their final choice after each of the candidates had given a public lecture in the college lecture-hall. The subject they had to speak on was “The Civilization of the Ancient Summerians”; and the lecture had to be given in three days’ time.

    Well, for these three days Uncle Theo never left his room. He worked day and night at that lecture, writing it out and memorizing it, almost without eating or sleeping. Adams didn’t seem to do any preparation at all. You could hear his voice and his laughter where he had a crowd of people around him. He came to his room late at night, asked Uncle Theo how he was getting on with his lecture, and then told him how he had spent the evening playing bridge, or at the music hall. He ate like a horse and slept like a log; and Uncle Theo sat up working at his lecture.

    The day of the lecture arrived. They all went into the lecture hall and Theo and Adams took their seats on the platform. And then, Theo discovered, to his horror,  that typewritten copy of his speech had disappeared! The Dean said they would call on the candidates on the alphabetical order, Adams first; and the despair in his heart, Theo watched Adams calmly take the stolen speech out of pocket and read it to the professors who were gathered to hear it. And how well he read it! Even Uncle Theo had to admit he couldn’t have read it nearly so eloquently himself, and when Adams finished there was a great burst of applause. Adams bowed and smiled, and sat down.

    Now, it was Theo’s turn. But what could he do? He had put everything he knew into the lecture. His mind was too much upset to put the same thoughts in another way. With a burning face he could only repeat, word for word, in a low, dull voice, the lecture that Adams had spoken so eloquently. There was hardly any applause when he sat down.

    The Dean and the committee went out to decide who the successful candidate was, but everyone was sure what their decision would be. Adams leaned across to Theo and patted him on the back and said, smilingly, “Hard luck, old fellow, but after all, only one of us could win”

    Then the Dean and the committee came back, “Gentlemen”, the Dean said, “the candidate we have chosen is Mr. Hobdell.” Uncle Theo had won! The audience were completely taken by surprise, and the Dean continued, “ I think I ought to tell you how we arrived at the decision. We were all filled with admiration at the learning and eloquence of Mr. Adams. I was greatly impressed. But, you will remember, Mr. Adams read his lecture to us. When Mr. Hobdell’s turn came, he repeated that speech, word by word from memory, though, of course, he couldn’t have seen a line of it before. Now a fine memory is absolutely necessary for this post; and what a memory Mr. Hobdell must have! This is why we decided that Mr. Hobdell was exactly the man we wanted! ”

    As they walked out of the room, the Dean came up to Uncle Theo, who was so confused but so happy that he hardly knew whether he was standing on his head or heels; and as he shook Theo’s hand he said, “Congratulations, Mr. Hobdell! But, my fellow, when you are on our staff, you must be more careful and not leave valuable papers lying about!”

1.. Which of the followings best describes Uncle Theo?

A. Good-mannered    B. Modest     C. Childish      D. Bookish

2. What do we know about the post at Camford University?

   A. The applicants had to sit for an examination.

   B. There was much competition for the post.

   C. The post requires a lot of teaching experience.

   D. The post offered quite high salary.

3.. Adams did not bother to do any preparation because______.

   A. he was quite familiar with the subject.

   B. he knew the committee members well.

   C. he had a well-thought-out plan.

   D. he had full confidence in himself.

4. When Uncle Theo’s turn came, _______.

   A. he felt so angry that he couldn’t see a word.

   B. he felt so upset that he could not remember anything.

   C. he had to put the same thoughts in another way.

   D. he had to repeat the speech, word by word from memory.

5. When the committee went out to make a decision, Adams _______.

   A. could not help feeling worried.

   B. could hardly wait to show his joy.

   C. felt sorry for Theo and tried to cheer him up.

   D. felt ashamed and tried to chat with Theo.

6.Theo became successful because _______.

   A. he had a better memory than Adams.

   B. he was more experienced than Adams.

   C. the committee knew he was exactly the man they wanted.

   D. the committee knew Adams had copied Theo’s speech.