MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are free, but without tutoring, and are open to anyone, anywhere in the world. The courses are flexible – normally three to five hours of study a week – done at any time, short (5 to 10 weeks) and video-rich. They are also heavily dependent on crowd sourcing: you can discuss a course with fellow students through online forums, discussion boards and peer review. Students don't have to finish the courses, pass assessments or do assignments, but, if they do, they get a certification of participation.
The Open University launched FutureLearn, the UK's answer to US platforms such as Coursera, EdX and Udacity, which have been offering MOOCs from top US universities for the past two years. The response has been incredible, with more than three million people registering worldwide. Meanwhile, in 2012, Edinburgh University became the first non-US institution to join Coursera's partnership, comprising 13 universities. “We already run 50 online master's degrees, so this was a logical expansion,” says Professor Jeff Haywood, Edinburgh's vice-principal. “It's an investment in teaching methods research. How am I going to teach introductory philosophy to 100,000 people? That's what I call educational R&D.” He adds “If you look ahead 10 years, you'd expect all students graduating to have taken some online courses, so you've got to research that. Our MOOCs are no more in competition with our degrees than a lifelong learning course because they don't carry credits.”
Cooperation is key, Haywood stresses. It is far better to offer 20-30 courses in your own areas of expertise (专门技能) and let other institutions do likewise. Professor Mike Sharples, FutureLearn's academic lead, goes further: “We've tied the elements available before into a package of courses offered by leading universities worldwide on a new software platform, with a new way of promoting it and also a new social-learning teaching method. You won't just receive an exam, but be able to discuss and mark each other's assignments.”
Bath University, one of more than 20 universities working with FutureLearn, launches its first course, Inside Cancer, next January, and regards MOOCs as a way of breaking down age barriers. "There's no reason why someone doing GCSEs should not look at our MOOCs and get quite a way through them, or someone at PhD level and beyond," says Professor Bernie Morley, expert for learning and teaching.
1.MOOCs have these features EXCEPT that ___________.
A. MOOCs have a platform for learners to share their learning experience
B. MOOCs provide teachers’ instructions if you have some difficulty
C. MOOCs can be adjusted according to people’s learning pace
D. MOOCs are free of charge for anyone
2.The response to Future Learn has been thought to be unbelievable mainly because ___________.
A. all the courses on the platform are available to anyone in the world
B. the number of people registering in the platform is beyond expectation
C. Edinburgh University became the first non-US institution to join it
D. students can get a certification of participation without passing assessments
3.What can be inferred from Professor Bernie Morley in the last paragraph?
A. MOOCs are not so competitive as lifelong learning courses due to the problems of credits.
B. Inside Cancer will be the most popular course for someone doing GCSEs.
C. People at PhD level have already known everything about MOOCs.
D. People with various learning levels will probably show interest in MOOCs.
4.The passage mainly deals with ___________.
A. the advantages of online teaching methods
B. the various opinions on FutureLearn
C. the appearance of a new learning platform
D. the popularity of no-credit courses
For centuries, medical pioneers have refined a variety of methods and medicines to treat sickness, injury, and disability, enabling people to live longer and healthier lives.
“A salamander (a small lizard-like animal) can grow back its leg. Why can't a human do the same?” asked Peruvian-born surgeon Dr. Anthony Atala in a recent interview. The question, a reference to work aiming to grow new limbs for wounded soldiers, captures the inventive spirit of regenerative medicine. This innovative field seeks to provide patients with replacement body parts. These parts are not made of steel; they are the real things --- living cells, tissue, and even organs.
Regenerative medicine is still mostly experimental, with clinical applications limited to procedures such as growing sheets of skin on burns and wounds. One of its most significant advances took place in 1999，when a research group at North Carolina’s Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine conducted a successful organ replacement with a laboratory-grown bladder. Since then, the team, led by Dr. Atala, has continued to generate a variety of other tissues and organs 一 from kidneys to ears.
The field of regenerative medicine builds on work conducted in the early twentieth century with the first successful transplants of donated human soft tissue and bone. However, donor organs are not always the best option. First of all, they are in short supply, and many people die while waiting for an available organ; in the United States alone, more than 100,000 people are waiting for organ transplants. Secondly, a patient’s body may ultimately reject the transplanted donor organ. An advantage of regenerative medicine is that the tissues are grown from a patient’s own cells and will not be rejected by the body’s immune system.
Today, several labs are working to create bioartificial body parts. Scientists at Columbia and Yale Universities have grown a jawbone and a lung. At the University of Minnesota, Doris Taylor has created a beating bioartificial rat heart. Dr. Atala’s medical team has reported long-term success with bioengineered bladders implanted into young patients with spina bifida (a birth defect that involves the incomplete development of the spinal cord). And at the University of Michigan, H. David Humes has created an artificial kidney.
So far, the kidney procedure has only been used successfully with sheep, but there is hope that one day similar kidney will be implantable in a human patient. The continuing research of scientists such as these may eventually make donor organs unnecessary and, as a result, significantly increase individuals'chances of survival.
1. In the latest field of regenerative medicine, what are replacement parts made of?
A. Cells, tissues and organs of one’s own.
B. Rejected cells, tissues and organs.
C. Donated cells, tissues and organs.
D. Cells, tissues and organs made of steel.
2.What have scientists experimented successfully on for a bioartificial kidney?
A. Patients. B. Rats. C. Soldiers. D. Sheep.
3.Why is generative medicine considered innovative?
A. It will strengthen the human body’s immune system.
B. It will provide patients with replacement soft tissues.
C. It will make patients live longer with bioartificial organs.
D. It will shorten the time patients waiting for a donated organ.
4.What is the writer’s attitude towards regenerative medicine?
A. Doubtful. B. Reserved. C. Positive. D. Negative.
| NEWRI Environmental Master of Science NEWRI: Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute Be a leader in environmental science and engineering through the NEMS programme |
NEWRI Environmental Master of Science（NEMS） is a primary graduate education and research programme conducted by Nanyang Technological University’s （NTU’s） NEWRI, with summer attachment at Stanford University. It aims to train engineers and scientists to meet the increasing environmental challenges for Asia and the wider region. | NEWRI-Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute NEWRI is enabling Singapore to be a global center of environmental science and technology in providing technological solutions to the world. It is committed to environmental and water technologies through its ecosystem of education, research and developmental activities. NEWRI is trying its best to pull together NTU’s water and environment-related centers and institutes, gathering one another’s strengths for the benefit of industry and society. |
Master of Science Applications ●Applications open now and close on 30 May 2012 for Singapore applicants. ●Graduates having relevant engineering or science background, including final-year students, are invited to apply. ●Applicants are required to have a certificate of GRE. Further information and application materials are available at the Website: www.ntu.edu.sg/cee/program/postgrad.asp | Highlights of Programme: ★Students spend a full summer term at Stanford taking regular courses and continue with the rest of their academic programme at NTU. ★It is a 12-month full-time course in environmental science & engineering. ★Students under NEMS will have opportunities to do research projects under NEWRI as well as to continue for the Doctor’s degree. ★Graduating students receive the NTU degree and a certificate from Stanford for their summer attachment. |
Scholarship for tuition grants and living expenses at both Stanford and NTU are available | |
Enquiry contact: Ms Christian Soh Tel：（65） 6861 0507 Fax:（65） 68614606 Email: nems@ntu. edu. sg Information on other graduate programmes available at： www.ntu.edu.sg/cee/program/postgrad.asp |
1.Students admitted to the NEMS Programme __________.
A. will first have regular courses at Stanford
B. needn’t be released from their regular jobs
C. are required to obtain a Doctor’s degree
D. can receive degrees of both NTU and Stanford
2.What’s the main purpose of the NEMS programme?
A. To offer scholarship for tuition grants and living expenses.
B. To strengthen the cooperation between NTU and Stanford.
C. To cultivate experts on environmental science and engineering.
D. To introduce Nanyang Environment&Water Research Institute.
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. 30 May 2012 is the deadline for NEMS application.
B. Applicants for NEMS should have relevant work experience.
C. Other centers and institutes for environmental and water technologies also exist in NTU.
D. Singapore is the global center of environmental science and technology.
Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family, and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I’m not going to say luck, talent, and circumstances don’t come into play because they do .some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that’s just the reality of how life is.
However, to succeed in life, one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And, in addition to that, in order to be really good at something, one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practicing. To become great at certain things, it’ll require even more time, time that most people won’t put in.
This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don’t enjoy what you do ,it is going to feel like unbearable pain and will likely make you quit well before you ever become good at it.
When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success, you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost. It’s sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent, but thinking that way does you no good, and there’s a huge chance that you’re wrong anyway.
Whatever you do, if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out, almost to the point of addiction, and over a long period of time. If you’re not willing to put in the time and work, don’t expect to receive any rewards. Consistent, hard work won’t guarantee you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.
1. Paragraph 1 mainly talks about ________.
A. the reasons for success
B. the meaning of success
C. the standards of success
D. the importance of success
2.In Paragraph 2,the underlined word that refers to ______.
A. being good at something
B. setting a practical goal
C. putting in more time
D. succeeding in life
3.What can we infer from Paragraph 4?
A. Successful people like to show their great skills.
B. People sometimes succeed without luck or talent.
C. People need to achieve success at the cost of life.
D. It helps to think that luck or talent leads to success.
4.What is the main theme of the passage?
A. Having a goal is vital to success.
B. Being good is different from being great.
C. One cannot succeed without time and practice.
D. Luck, talent and family help to achieve success.
书面表达
假如你是李华，最近你从报纸上看到一家涉外酒店招聘暑期兼职工的广告，请你根据下列要点提示写一封应聘信。
1.李华，女，18岁，身体健康。
2.擅长英语，口语流利。
3.性格外向，交际能力强。
注意：
1.词数120左右。
2.书信格式已经给出，不计入总词数。
3.可以适当拓展。
Dear Sir or Madame,
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
Yours，
Li Hua
The other day, I was invited my friend Sam’s home for dinner. I felt a bit surprising when I saw Bill there. It was two month since we two had quarreled, so I was embarrassed and didn’t know how to do. I sat down on the sofa but began to watch TV. Later Sam came to ask I to make up with Bill. Until then I realize that Sam had arranged the meeting on purpose. He went up to Bill and greeted him warmly, smiled at him. He looked very happily and talked with me excitedly. That night, we had a great fun together.
