Question

Every September in China, people love to talk about the overprotective parents following their children around everywhere during university enrollment.

Now, with more than 420,000 youngsters in the UK starting their new college school year, what is their first day like? BBC’s Sean Coughlan described it in a recent report.

According to Coughlan, at the very beginning it is not hard to spot something familiar to Chinese–a stream of parents arriving with their sons and daughters at the student village. Mothers, fathers and a teenager–now most likely taller than they are – stand together like the three might have done on the first day of primary school.

“The approach road to the student village is a long traffic jam of family cars, stuffed full with boxes, pillows and nervous families,” he writes. “The door closes on a student’s room and parents and children go their separate ways. For many families, if childhood has a final moment, this is it.”

But saying goodbye to parents is not the only similarity between college freshmen in the UK and China. In both cases, new arrivals most want to know about their Internet connections. “It’s their most urgent concern,” notes Coughlan.

Even on their first day, university in the UK won’t be an entirely lonely experience for some new students. “Before they arrive they have been using social networking to get to know their future roommates,” writes Coughlan.

Still, the first night is something no UK university student ever forgets. There are people they meet and then spend three years avoiding and people who become their friends for the rest of their lives. First week stories are all about over-partying, bad cooking and misguided clothing, Coughlan says.

As he concludes: “These new students are entering their own soap opera of romance, friendship and ambition. It’s a huge adventure that they’ve worked for years to achieve.”

1.What is the author’s purpose in writing the article?

A. To introduce how UK students prepare for college.

B. To show different challenges that college freshmen face in the UK and China.

C. To describe how UK colleges welcome newcomers.

D. To inform us about what the first day of college is like in the UK.

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

A. On the first day of college, UK freshmen don’t know each other.

B. When the new semester begins, most UK freshmen drive to college by themselves.

C. For many freshmen, when they say goodbye to their parents, they are also saying goodbye to their childhood.

D. Most British parents stay around their children’s colleges for a few days at the beginning of the semester.

3.A similarity between college freshmen in the UK and China is that ______.

A. the approach roads to their colleges are packed with cars filled with nervous families

B. they have contacted their future roommates through social networking sites

C. once they get to the campus, they want to make sure that they have access to the Internet

D. they spend their first week getting to know their roommates and partying

4.From the article, we can conclude that Sean Coughlan’s report is ______.

A. descriptive      B. critical

C. sympathetic      D. bitter

Answer

1.D

2.C

3.C

4.A

【解析】

试题分析：中国每年的九月是传统的开学季，这时，人们都会关注大学生报名的情况。那么，在英国，新生开学时的情况是什么样的呢？相似的一点是，父母都会送孩子去上大学，并在大学里互相告别。

1.what is their first day like? BBC’s Sean Coughlan described it in a recent report.”可知，文章主要向大家介绍了英国大学开学第一天的情况，故选D。

2.The door closes on a student’s room and parents and children go their separate ways. For many families, if childhood has a final moment, this is it.”可知，当新生与父母告别时，也就预示着他们与有家人陪伴的童年的结束，从此开始独立的大学生活，故选C。

3.In both cases, new arrivals most want to know about their Internet connections.”可知，英国新生和中国新生一样，都是先确认能否上网，故选C。

4.Coughlan客观地描述了英国大学开学时候的情景，Coughlan的报道是描述性的，故选A。

考点：教育类短文阅读