Every year, it costs British students more and more to attend university. Students are graduating with larger and larger debts. So is a college degree really worth it?

    In 2006, the UK government started to allow universities in England and Wales to charge British students tuition fees. As a result, more than 80 percent of students in England and Wales now take out a student loan in order to go to university.

    They use the loan to pay for tuition fees and living expenses. Although the interest on student loans is quite low, it begins as soon as the student receives the loan.

    The average student in England and Wales now graduates from university with a debt of around ￡12,000 (122,952 yuan). It means graduates have to struggle to pay rent on a flat, because they have to start paying back the student loan when they reach April after graduating. If you start to earn over ￡15,000 (153,630 yuan) a year, the government takes repayments directly from your monthly salary.

    You might think that a person with a degree would find it easy to get a well-paid job. However, most people in “white collar jobs” seem to have a degree, so there is a lot of competition. Also, British companies tend to value work experience over a piece of paper.

    All of the above is beginning to make British people question whether a university degree is really worth the money. Even before the credit crisis started, the BBC stated: “The number of British students at UK universities has fallen for the first time in recent history, from 1.97 million in 2007 to 1.96 million last year.”

    Meanwhile, the British universities offer more and more of the available places to richer international students rather than poorer British students. What does the future hold for British higher education?

1.What can we infer from the second paragraph?

A. Universities’ charging students fees is quite common all over the world.

B. It’s unfair to charge college students fees in England and Wales.

C. Before 2006 the UK universities didn’t charge students tuition fees in England and Wales.

D. The UK universities are unwilling to carry out the government’s policy.

2.What might be the reason that the number of British students at UK universities falls?

A. It’s harder and harder for them to get a degree.

B. The credit crisis has great influnce on their families’ income.

C. College education costs them too much.

D. The competition to become a “white collar” is too fiece.

3.What does the underlined words “a piece of paper” refer to?

A. A written document from the bank.                 B. A letter of recommendation.

C. A filled application form.                                      D. A diploma.

4.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

  A. More Profits for the Banks                                  B. College Life in the UK

C. Welcome! International Students                     D. UK Universities Students Become Poorer

Every year, it costs British students more and more to attend university. Students are graduating with larger and larger debts. So is a college degree really worth it?

    In 2006, the UK government started to allow universities in England and Wales to charge British students tuition fees. As a result, more than 80 percent of students in England and Wales now take out a student loan in order to go to university.

    They use the loan to pay for tuition fees and living expenses. Although the interest on student loans is quite low, it begins as soon as the student receives the loan.

    The average student in England and Wales now graduates from university with a debt of around ￡12,000 (122,952 yuan). It means graduates have to struggle to pay rent on a flat, because they have to start paying back the student loan when they reach April after graduating. If you start to earn over ￡15,000 (153,630 yuan) a year, the government takes repayments directly from your monthly salary.

    You might think that a person with a degree would find it easy to get a well-paid job. However, most people in “white collar jobs” seem to have a degree, so there is a lot of competition. Also, British companies tend to value work experience over a piece of paper.

    All of the above is beginning to make British people question whether a university degree is really worth the money. Even before the credit crisis started, the BBC stated: “The number of British students at UK universities has fallen for the first time in recent history, from 1.97 million in 2007 to 1.96 million last year.”

    Meanwhile, the British universities offer more and more of the available places to richer international students rather than poorer British students. What does the future hold for British higher education?

What can we infer from the second paragraph?

A. Universities’ charging students fees is quite common all over the world.

B. It’s unfair to charge college students fees in England and Wales.

C. Before 2006 the UK universities didn’t charge students tuition fees in England and Wales.

D. The UK universities are unwilling to carry out the government’s policy.

What might be the reason that the number of British students at UK universities falls?

A. It’s harder and harder for them to get a degree.

B. The credit crisis has great influnce on their families’ income.

C. College education costs them too much.

D. The competition to become a “white collar” is too fiece.

What does the underlined words “a piece of paper” refer to?

A. A written document from the bank.         B. A letter of recommendation.

C. A filled application form.                       D. A diploma.

Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

  A. More Profits for the Banks                        B. College Life in the UK

C. Welcome! International Students                    D. UK Universities Students Become Poorer

The United States will introduce a new and comprehensive(综合的) exam for students who seek to study in American and other English-speaking countries, Xinhua News Agency reported from New York.

The exam, which stands for a great change from the current English level test, was disclosed by Theresa Chang Wei Jen, associate director of the International Service of the US College Board, America’s leading educational organization.

The Advanced Placement International English Language (APIEL) will be offered for the first time throughout the world on May 10, 2002, said Jen.

However, the APIEL is a strange title to most Chinese students, and it is unlikely to soon gain the similarity of other already existing exams, such as the TOEFL(Test of English as a Foreign Language), the GRE(Graduate Record Examination), or the IELTS(International English Language Testing System).

“I have never heard of such a test and I would prefer the IELTS if I need another exam,” said Xu Jingyan, a graduating student from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, who wants to study in England and has already taken the TOEFL.

Most of Xu’s classmates have never heard of the APIEL. “The APIEL is designed for international students who wish to get university studies in English-speaking countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, and Australia.” said Jen.

The APIEL has been adopted, said Jen, because the TOEFL can no longer accurately reflect the abilities of students of using the English language comprehensively in an academic environment. Xinhua reported that a fairly large number of foreign students who earned high scores in TOEFL exam turned out to be very ordinary educational performers after admission.

Compared with the TOEFL, the APIEL measures a student’s ability to read, write, speak and understand English through testing his or her skills in listening comprehension, speaking with accuracy(精确) and resourcefulness, and writing with clarity and fluency(流畅), Jen said.

1. The United States will introduce a new exam because _______.

A. more and more students want to get further education in the USA

B. the Chinese people pay special attention to English studies with China’s entry into the WTO

C. the already existing exam systems seem to be far from perfect

D. it will bring the US government quite a lot of money

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the selection？

A. It will take quite a period of time for people to accept the APIEL.

B. The TOEFL is more popular with the Chinese than the IELTS.

C. A student will have to take the APIEL if he or she wants to study in English—speaking countries from 2002.

D. Chinese students will prefer the IELTS rather than the APIEL even in the future.

3. The underlined word current in the second paragraph means _______.

A. modern            B. present             C. standard           D. formal

4. Please decide which of the following would be the best title for this news report.

A. The Key to English-speaking Countries

B. The Four Skills in Learning English

C. TOEFL, IELTS and GRE to be Out of Date

D. New Exam Designed for Students

A 25-five-year student from Hubei was admitted into Tsinghua University, China’ most famous university, after an eight-year ___21___．Li Jun comes from a small village of Hubei Province．He first ____22____ going to college in year 2000 ___23__he was admitted by a local school after __24___ from a secondary technical school at 17．As a ___25___ art student, he passed the exam again the next year but __26_____ school due to economic pressure in September 2002．Life seemed ___27___ but Li didn’t give in．He earned a _28_____ by working part-time in Wuhan’s art rooms and tutoring students．But he never lost sight of his lifelong dream of __29___ the Academy of Arts & Design of Tsinghua University．Li __30____ the college entrance examination for five continuous years from 2003．____31___, he missed making the cut one mark last year．

In 2008, his fifth try, Li’s efforts ___32_____．He finished the qualifying exam in his province and was finally admitted as a sculpture major in Tsinghua University．Every year, Li took art __33___ in Beijing and took exams from December to March．He then took cultural courses in his school till June．The rest of the year he spent on __34____ work．Li said he hadn’t ____35___any money from his family since he graduated from the technical secondary school．Li said the reason he maintained for eight years was that he wanted to change his __36_____ through knowledge．

_____37___ by his contribution, Li Jun’s university __38____ him 9,000 yuan out of his tution fees of 11,450 yuan．An eight-year struggle may have come to an end for Li Jun, but a new ___39__ has now begun．Li said he would not worry about repaying loans at present．He wants to study well and __40___ more scholarships．

Agnes Miller was one of the earliest leaders of the Women’s Liberation Movement in the United States. She was born on a farm in Missouri in 1892. Strangely enough she had a very happy life as a child. She was the only daughter and the youngest child of five. Her parents and her brothers always treated her as their favorite.

In 1896 the family moved to Chicago. Three years later they moved back to St. Louis where Agnes spent the rest of her childhood. She enjoyed her years in school and was an excellent student of mathematics. She also was quite skillful as a painter.

It was when Agnes went off to college that she first learned that women were not treated as equals. She didn’t like being treated unequally but she tried not to notice it. After graduating from college she tried to get a job in her major field—physics. She soon found it was almost impossible for a woman.

Agnes spent a full year looking for a job. Finally she gave up in anger. She began writing letters of anger to various newspapers. An editor in New York liked her ideas very much. He specially liked her style. He asked her to do a series of stories on the difficulties that women had in finding a job. And there she began her great fight for equal rights for women.

1.

Where did Agnes spend her childhood?

   A. Missouri.     B. Chicago.     C. New York.     D. St. Louis and Chicago.

2.

At school, Agnes was good at      .

   A. physics and painting      B. maths and painting

   C. writing and maths         D. physics and writing

3.

What happened in Agnes’s life when she was in college?

   A. She learned to accept the fact that men and women were unequal.

   B. She learned that it was impossible for a woman to be a scientist.

   C. She came to know of the inequality between men and women.

   D. She developed her personal way of writing.