College graduation brings both the satisfaction of academic achievement and the expectation of a well-paid job. But for 6,000 graduates at San Jose State this year, there’s uncertainty as they enter one of the worst job markets in decades. Ryan Stewart has a freshly-minted(新兴的) degree in religious studies, but no job prospects.

“You look at everybody’s parents and neighbors, and they’re getting laid off and don’t have jobs,” said Stewart, “then you look at the young people just coming into the workforce… it’s just scary.”

When the class of 2003 entered college, the future never looked brighter. But in the four years they’ve been here, the world outside has changed greatly.

“Those were the exciting times, lots of dot-com opportunities, exploding offers, students getting top dollar with lots of benefits,” said Cheryl Allmen-Vinnidge of the San Jose State Career Center. “Times have changed. It’s a mew market.”

Cheryl Allmen-Vinnidge ought to know. She runs the San Jose State Career Center, sort of a crossroad between college and the real world. Allmen-Vinnidge says students who do find jobs after college have done their homework.

“The typical graduate who does have a job offer started working on it two years ago. They’ve postured(定位) themselves well during the summer. They’ve had several internships(实习)”, she said. And they’ve majored in one of the few fields that are still hot, like chemical engineering, accounting, or nursing, where average starting salaries  have actually increased over last year. Other popular fields have seen big declines in starting salaries.

Ryan Stewart may just end up going back to school. “I’d like to teach college some day and that requires more schooling, which would be great in a bad economy,” he said.

To some students, a degree may not be a ticket to instant wealth. For now, they can only hope its value will increase overtime.

49. The underlined expression “dot-com” in the 4 th paragraph probably means _____.

A. a company making dots

B. the Internet

C. teaching on the Internet

D. a well-known website

50. The purpose of a college career center is probably to _____.

A. help students do their homework

B. find jobs for students while they are in school

C. prepare students to find jobs after they graduate

D. help high school students get accepted to college

51. Ryan Stewart is probably going to _____.

A. get a teaching job

B. become a religious leader

C. change his major

D. go back to school

52. What does the underlined sentence “To some students, a degree may not be a ticket to instant wealth.” mean?

A. Having a college degree does not provide travel discounts.

B. A college degree doesn’t promise a person a high-paying job.

C. Most students with degrees will be able to find jobs.

D. The best way to get rich is to get a college degree.

Many people now think that teachers give pupils too much homework .They say that

it is _51 for children to work at home in their free time. _52 ,they argue that most teachers do not_ 53 plan the homework tasks they give to pupils. The result is that pupils have to_54 tasks which they have already done at school.

Recently in Greece many parents_ 55_ about the difficult homework which teachers gave to their children. The parents said that most of the homework was a waste of time ,and they wanted to_56__it. Spain and Turkey are two countries which stopped homework recently .In Denmark ,Germany and several other countries in Europe, teachers cannot set homework at weekends .In Holland, teachers allow pupils to stay at school to do their homework .The children are free to help one another.Similar_57 _also exists in some British schools.

Most people agree that homework is not___58 .A pupil who can do his homework in a quiet and_ 59  room is in a much better position than a pupil who does his homework in a small,noisy room with the television on.Some parents help their children with their homework.Other parents take no_ 60  at all in their children's homework.

51.A.unnecessary      B. uninteresting      C. unfortunate     D. unimportant

52.A.Nevertheless     B. However           C. Therefore        D. Moreover

53.A.considerably     B. favourably        C. properly         D. pleasantly

54.A.finish           B. repeat            C. attend           D. accomplish

55.A.quarrelled       B. puzzled           C. explored         D. complained

56.A.delay             B. stop             C. block          D. prove

57.A.schedule          B. operation        C. arrangement    D. behaviour

58.A.fair              B. average          C. balanced       D. comparative

59.A.furnished         B. expensive        C. comfortable    D. suitable

60.A.interest          B. curiosity        C. notice         D. Attention

PART FOUR   WRITING

SECTION A ( 10 points )

Directions: Read the following passage. Complete the diagram by using the information for the passage.

Write NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS for each answer.

After the women’s movement in the world, women’s position in society as well as at home is improving. But how many men on earth have helped their wives do their housework at home, do you know? Recently a European Commission tried to find out people's ideas and reactions to the women's movement.They have carried out an overall survey of that. As part of their survey , they asked many men and women all over the Europe the same question,“Who does the housework?” The men answered very differently from the women!

The housework they asked people about were: preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning the house and babysitting. 48% of British husbands said they did these things at home. 37% of Danish men helped their wives do such things in the house. But only 15% of Italian men said they did the housework; many of them said they never helped at all.

But there was an interesting point of view from the wives. According to British wives, only 38% of their husbands helped in the house. And Italian wives said that their husbands hardly ever helped them at home. The Italian and British men did not tell the truth! The Commission, however, found that Danish men were the most truthful husbands, fpr their answers were the same as their wives' answers.

Do the men you know around you help their wives in the house? Do you think the survey made by the European Commission gives a true picture in your experience? Write and tell us what you think.

European Commission’s survey