(E)
Free and secure accommodation, no bills and even the odd home-cooked meal. It sounds like the perfect living arrangement for cash-strapped students.
Two mothers believe they have devised a way for struggling students to save on accommodation costs when they leave home to study at university.
Kate Barnham and Amanda Flude have launched Student Swaps, an online accommodation forum (论坛) for parents and students, in advance of the introduction in September of ￡3,000 higher education top-up fees.
Their website says, “The principle behind Student Swaps is to enable students to literally swap (交换) family homes.” The website will hold a database of students who would like to swap and link them with suitable matches. So those from one town / city could swap with those from a different town / city.
The site describes itself as offering a “cost-free accommodation alternative… at a time of growing student debt”. There is no charge for the service at the moment but Ms Barnham and Ms Flude intend to introduce a ￡10 annual fee if it becomes established.
However, the National Union of Students (NUS) has warned that, while the scheme may sound appealing to struggling freshers, it lacks any formal regulation.
Veronica King, NUS vice-president of welfare, said, “The fact that this scheme has even been suggested is evidence to the high levels of debt students now face on graduation.” Recent research has shown that students are more likely to live at home in coming years, in a bid to cut down on the cost of a degree.
“This is worrying, as it may mean that students choose their university on the basis of where it is, rather than because it offers the best course for them. It also means students will miss out on what is for some a key part of the student experience-living away from home.”
71. A “cash-strapped” student means one who __________.
A. lacks money                        B. prefers to stay at home
C. is careful with money             D. wants to change cash
72. What is Kate Barnham and Amanda Flude’s purpose of launching Student Swaps?
A. To provide cheaper accommodation for students.          
B. To let students stay close to their universities.
C. To help students spend less on accommodation costs. 
D.To let students exchange ideas freely online.
73. What can students do on Student Swaps?
A. They can find students to exchange homes with.
B. They can make friends with students from a different city.
C. They can borrow money to pay for their higher education.
D. They can voice their opinions against the rising cost of a degree.
74. Now many students would prefer a university _________.
A. which can give them free accommodation            
B. which is not far away from their homes
C. which offers the best courses                                     
D. which can offer home-cooked meals
75. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. High Cost Troubles University Students in UK.
B. Students Swaps is Welcomed by Students in UK.
C. Two Mothers’ Good Intention to Help Students in UK.
D. Website Helps Students Live at Someone Else’s Home.

Being a mother is apparently not like it was in the good old days.
　　Today’s parents yearn for the golden age that their own mothers enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s, researchers found. Mothers have less time to themselves and feel under greater pressure to handle work and family life than the previous generation. As a result, 88 per cent said they felt guilty about the lack of time they spent with their children.
The survey of 1,000 mothers also found that more than a third said they had less time to themselves than their mothers did – just three hours a week or 26 minutes a day. And 64 per cent said this was because they felt they ‘had’ to go out to work, while nearly a third (29 per cent) said they were under constant pressure to be the ‘perfect mother’, the report found.
Other findings showed social networking and parenting websites, as well as technology such as Skype, were important in providing help and support among female communities. Kate Fox, a member of the Social Issues Research Centre, which conducted the survey for Procter & Gamble, said: ‘With increasing pressure on mothers to work a “double shift” — to be the perfect mother as well as a wage-earner — support networks are more important than ever.
It comes as a separate report examining childcare in the leading industrialised nations found that working mothers in Britain spend just 81 minutes a day caring for their children as a ‘primary activity’. Mothers who stay at home, on the other hand, manage twice as much time – more than two and a half hours – looking after their offspring, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
　　Critics say the pressure on women to work long hours, and leave their offspring in the hands of nurseries or childminders, is putting the well-being of their children at risk.
　　The study also reveals that, despite the fact that more and more modern mothers go out to work, the burden of childcare still falls on them - even if their husband is not in work. A father who is not in work tends to spend just 63 minutes a day looking after his child - 18 minutes less than a mother who goes out to work. Working fathers spare less than three quarters of an hour with their children.
【小题1】. What does the passage mainly talk about?

"We do look very different; we're older. Leo's 38, I'm 37. We were 21 and 22 when we made that film. You know, he's fatter now -- I'm thinner.". So says Kate Winslet, who is thrilled at the 3-D re-release of Titanic to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the ship's demise. “ It happens every time I get on any boat of any kind." She recalls. There are all the people who want her to walk to the front of the ship and re-create her famous pose, arms flung wide. Most people remember the tragedy: The British passenger ship -- said to be unsinkable -- hit an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912, during its maiden voyage from England to New York City. More than 1,500 people died. But little known is what the world learned from the sinking to prevent future incidents.

Probably the greatest deficiency （不足）of the Titanic was that she was built 40 years before the widespread use of the wonderful invention radar(雷达). Her only defense against icebergs and hidden obstacles was to rely on manned lookouts. On that fateful night the eyesight of trained lookouts only provided 37 seconds of warning before the collision.

Traveling at nearly 30 miles an hour the Titanic was moving far too fast to avoid the huge iceberg. The warning did prevent a head-on collision as the officer on the bridge managed to turn the ship slightly.

The last ship to send a warning was the California. She was within ten miles of the Titanic during the disaster, but her radio operator went to bed at midnight and never received any of the SOS messages from the Titanic. That was one of the important lessons learned from the catastrophe, the need for 24-hour radio operators on all passenger liners.

Another lesson learned was the need for more lifeboats. The Titanic remained afloat(漂浮) for almost three hours and most of the passengers could have been saved with enough lifeboats.

1,500 passengers and workers died in the 28 degree waters of the Atlantic. Out of the tragedy, the sinking did produce some important maritime reforms. The winter travel routes were changed to the south and the Coast Guard began to keep an eye on the location of all icebergs. The new rules for lifeboats were obvious to all. There must be enough lifeboats for everybody on board.

The most important lesson learned was that no one would ever again consider a ship unsinkable- no matter how large or how well constructed. Never again would sailors place their faith in a ship above the power of the sea.

1.The text mainly tells us ______.

2.According to the passage, which of the following could we infer?

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

4.What’s the sailors’ attitude towards the ships after the tragedy?

Being a mother is apparently not like it was in the good old days.

　　Today’s parents yearn for the golden age that their own mothers enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s, researchers found. Mothers have less time to themselves and feel under greater pressure to handle work and family life than the previous generation. As a result, 88 per cent said they felt guilty about the lack of time they spent with their children.

The survey of 1,000 mothers also found that more than a third said they had less time to themselves than their mothers did – just three hours a week or 26 minutes a day. And 64 per cent said this was because they felt they ‘had’ to go out to work, while nearly a third (29 per cent) said they were under constant pressure to be the ‘perfect mother’, the report found.

Other findings showed social networking and parenting websites, as well as technology such as Skype, were important in providing help and support among female communities. Kate Fox, a member of the Social Issues Research Centre, which conducted the survey for Procter & Gamble, said: ‘With increasing pressure on mothers to work a “double shift” — to be the perfect mother as well as a wage-earner — support networks are more important than ever.

It comes as a separate report examining childcare in the leading industrialised nations found that working mothers in Britain spend just 81 minutes a day caring for their children as a ‘primary activity’. Mothers who stay at home, on the other hand, manage twice as much time – more than two and a half hours – looking after their offspring, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

　　Critics say the pressure on women to work long hours, and leave their offspring in the hands of nurseries or childminders, is putting the well-being of their children at risk.

　　The study also reveals that, despite the fact that more and more modern mothers go out to work, the burden of childcare still falls on them - even if their husband is not in work. A father who is not in work tends to spend just 63 minutes a day looking after his child - 18 minutes less than a mother who goes out to work. Working fathers spare less than three quarters of an hour with their children.

1.What does the underlined phrase “yearn for” probably means ___________.

A. hate            B. forget          C. miss        D. control

2.Which of the following problems is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A. Today’s mothers have less time left for their children and themselves.

B. The working mothers can hardly strike the balance between work and family.

C. Most of the mothers can not control their husbands nowadays.

D. Modern fathers do not spend enough time with their children.

3.From Para. 4, we can infer that ___________.

   A. Skype is a very famous expert in studying social issues

   B. working mothers can seek help on line

   C. working mothers’ double shift is to be a wife and a mother

   D. Kate Fox has opened a website offering help to working mothers

4. What critics say means that _____________.

   A. it is wise for working mothers to put their kids in nurseries or childminders

   B. children do not like nurseries or childminders at all

   C. nurseries or childminders are dangerous places for children

   D. too much time in nurseries or childminders is bad for kids’ mental and physical health