In the college-admissions wars, we parents are the true fighters. We’re pushing our kids to get good grades, take SAT preparatory courses and build resumes so they can get into the college of our first choice. I’ve twice been to the wars, and as I survey the battlefield, something different is happening. We see our kids’ college background as a prize demonstrating how well we’ve raised them. But we can’t acknowledge that our obsession(痴迷) is more about us than them. So we’ve created various justifications（辩解）that turn out to be half-truths, prejudices or myths. It actually doesn’t matter much whether Aaron and Nicole go to Stanford.
We have a full-developed panic; we worry that there won’t be enough prizes to go around. Fearful parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever. What causes the hysteria(歇斯底里) is the belief that scarce elite（精英）degrees must be highly valuable. Their graduates must enjoy more success because they get a better education and develop better contacts. All seems right but mostly wrong. We haven’t found any convincing evidence that selectivity or prestige matters. Selective schools don’t systematically employ better instructional approaches than less selective schools. On two measures—professors’ feedback and the number of essay exams selective schools do slightly worse.
By some studies, selective schools do enhance（提高） their graduates’ lifetime earnings. The gain is reckoned at 2-4% for every 100-point increase in a school’s average SAT scores. But even this advantage is probably a statistical fluke(偶然). A well-known study examined students who got into highly selective schools and then went elsewhere. They earned just as much as graduates from higher-status schools.
Kids count more than their colleges. Getting into Yale may signify intelligence, talent and ambition. But it’s not the only indicator and, surprisingly, its significance is declining. The reason: so many similar people go elsewhere. Getting into college is not life’s only competition. In the next competition—the job market and graduate school—the results may change. Princeton economist Alan Krueger studied admissions to one top Ph.D. program. High scores on the GRE helped explain who got in; degrees of famous universities didn’t.
So, parents, take it easy（lighten up）. The stakes (利害关系) have been vastly exaggerated. Up to a point, we can rationalize our pushiness. America is a competitive society; our kids need to adjust to that. But too much pushiness can be destructive. The very ambition we impose on our children may get some into Harvard but may also set them up for disappointment. One study found that, other things being equal, graduates of highly selective schools experienced more job dissatisfaction. They may have been so conditioned to being on top that anything less disappoints.
1. Why does the author say that parents are the true fighters in the college-admissions wars?
A. They have the final say in which university their children are to attend.
B. They know best which universities are most suitable for their children.
C. They have to carry out intensive surveys of colleges before children make an application.
D. They care more about which college their children go to than the children themselves.
2. Why do parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever?
A. They want to increase their children’s chances of entering a prestigious college.
B. They hope their children can enter a university that offers attractive scholarships.
C. Their children will have a wider choice of which college to go to.
D. Elite universities now enroll fewer student than they used to.
3. What does the author mean by “kids count more than their colleges” Line1, para.4?
A. Continuing education is more important to a person’s success.
B. A person’s happiness should be valued more than their education.
C. Kids’ actual abilities are more important than their college background.
D. What kids learn at college cannot keep up with job market requirements.
4. What does Krueger’s study tell us?
A. Getting into Ph.D. programs may be more competitive than getting into college.
B. Degrees of prestigious universities do not guarantee entry to graduate programs.
C. Graduates from prestigious universities do not care much about their GRE scores.
D. Connections built in prestigious universities may be kept long after graduation.
5. One possible result of pushing children into elite universities is that______
A. they earn less than their peers from other institutions　　
B. they turn out to be less competitive in the job market
C. they experience more job dissatisfaction after graduation　
D. they overemphasize their qualifications in job application

The tea gardens in Sri Lanka are actually large estates(种植园). The best tea usually comes from plants grown on high grounds, the cool hilltops with rows and rows of tea plants. The plants are about one metre apart. The plant is often pruned so that it remains only 60 to 90 centimetres high. Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender hoots, or young leaves. It is from these shoots that the best in got.
Practically all the tea pickers are women. The estates like to employ women pickers because they are more careful. Their thin fingers can easily remove the twin leaves and new shoots from the plant, which are the parts used for processing(加工)tea. The pickers carry large baskets into which they throw their pickings. A skilled worker can harvest between 9 to 14 kilogrammes of tea leaves a day. Usually new shoots can be picked from the plants about every ten or fifteen days.
Processing tea shoots into the familiar dry tea leaves requires great care and skill. There are various methods of processing depending on the type of tea required. For black tea, the young green leaves are first spread out on shelves to dry. This process removes much of its water and the leaves become soft. After this, the leaves are passed through heavy rollers. This operation will press the leaves for juices which give the tea both its colour and taste. Then the leaves are spread out on floors and left to ferment(发酵)under wet conditions. Fermentation develops the rich taste of black tea. The fermented leaves are then dried with a hot­air blower until they become rolled­up black leaves. The final step is to sort and grade them before the black tea is ready for sale to countries all over the world.
【小题1】In the first paragraph, the word“pruning”means______.

Employers fear they will be unable to recruit (招募) students with the skills they need as the economic recovery kicks in, a new survey ___21___.

Nearly half of the organizations told researchers they were already struggling to find ___22___ with skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), ___23___ even more companies expect to experience ___24___ of employees with STEM skills in the next three years.

The Confederation of British Industry___25___694 businesses and organizations across the public and ___26___sectors , which together employ 2.4 million people.

Half are ___27___ they will not be able to fill graduate posts in the coming years, while a third said they would not be able to ___28___ enough employees with the right A-level skills.

　　“___29___ we move further role recovery and businesses plan ___30___ growth, the demand for people with high-quality skills and qualifications will ___31___.” said Richard Lambert, Director General, CBI. “Firms say it is already hard to find people with the right ___32___ or engineering skills. The new government must make it a top ___33___ to encourage more young people to study science-related ___34___.”

　　The survey found that young people would improve their job prospects (预期) ___35___ they studied business, maths, English and physics or chemistry at A-level. The A-levels that employers ___36___least are psychology and sociology. And while many employers don’t insist on a ___37___ degree subject . A third prefer to hire those with a STEM-related subject.

The research ___38___ worries about the lack of progress in improving basic skills in the UK ___39___. Half of the employer expressed worries about employees’ basic literacy and numeracy（计算) skills, while the biggest problem is with IT skills, ___40___ two-thirds reported concerns.

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    In the college-admissions wars, we parents are the true fighters. We’re pushing our kids to get good grades, take SAT preparatory courses and build resumes so they can get into the college of our first choice. I’ve twice been to the wars, and as I survey the battlefield, something different is happening. We see our kids’ college background as a prize demonstrating how well we’ve raised them. But we can’t acknowledge that our obsession(痴迷) is more about us than them. So we’ve created various justifications（辩解）that turn out to be half-truths, prejudices or myths. It actually doesn’t matter much whether Aaron and Nicole go to Stanford.

Employers fear they will be unable to recruit (招募) students with the skills they need as the economic recovery kicks in, a new survey ___21___.
Nearly half of the organizations told researchers they were already struggling to find ___22___ with skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), ___23___ even more companies expect to experience ___24___ of employees with STEM skills in the next three years.
The Confederation of British Industry___25___694 businesses and organizations across the public and ___26___sectors , which together employ 2.4 million people.
Half are ___27___ they will not be able to fill graduate posts in the coming years, while a third said they would not be able to ___28___ enough employees with the right A-level skills.
　　“___29___ we move further role recovery and businesses plan ___30___ growth, the demand for people with high-quality skills and qualifications will ___31___.” said Richard Lambert, Director General, CBI. “Firms say it is already hard to find people with the right ___32___ or engineering skills. The new government must make it a top ___33___ to encourage more young people to study science-related ___34___.”
　　The survey found that young people would improve their job prospects (预期) ___35___ they studied business, maths, English and physics or chemistry at A-level. The A-levels that employers ___36___least are psychology and sociology. And while many employers don’t insist on a ___37___ degree subject . A third prefer to hire those with a STEM-related subject.
The research ___38___ worries about the lack of progress in improving basic skills in the UK ___39___. Half of the employer expressed worries about employees’ basic literacy and numeracy（计算) skills, while the biggest problem is with IT skills, ___40___ two-thirds reported concerns.