More students than ever before are taking a gap year (间隔年) before going to university. It used to be called the “year off” between school and university. The gap-year phenomenon originated (起源) with the months left over to Oxbridge applicants between entrance exams in November and the start of the next academic year.
This year, 25,310 students who have accepted places in higher education institutions have put off their entry until next year, according to statistics on university entrance provided by the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS).
That is a record 14.7% increase in the number of students taking a gap year. Tony Higgins from UCAS said that the statistics are good news for everyone in higher education. “Students who take a well-planned year out are more likely to be satisfied with, and complete, their chosen course. Students who take a gap year are often more mature and responsible.” he said.
But not everyone is happy. Owain James, the president of the National Union of Students (NUS), argued that the increase is evidence of student hardship—young people are being forced into earning money before finishing their education. “New students are now aware that they are likely to leave university up to £ 15,000 in debt. It is not surprising that more and more students are taking a gap year to earn money to support their study for the degree. NUS statistics show that over 40% of students are forced to work during term time and the figure increases to 90% during vacation periods,” he said.
1.What do we learn about the gap year from the text?
A.It is flexible in length. B.It is a time for relaxation.
C.It is increasingly popular. D.It is required by universities.
2.According to Tony Higgins, students taking a gap year .
A.are better prepared for college studies
B.know a lot more about their future jobs
C.are more likely to leave university in debt
D.have a better chance to enter top universities
3.How does Owain James feel about the gap-year phenomenon?
A.He’s puzzled. B.He’s worried.
C.He’s surprised. D.He’s annoyed.
4.What would most students do on their vacation according to NUS statistics?
A.Attend additional courses. B.Make plans for the new term.
C.Earn money for their education. D.Prepare for their graduate studies.
阅读下列材料，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题纸上将该选项标号涂黑。
A
From the very beginning of school we make books and reading a constant source of possible failure and public humiliation. When children are little we make them read aloud, before the teacher and other children, so that we can be sure they “know” all the words they are reading. This means that when they don’t know a word, they are going to make a mistake, right in front of everyone. After having taught fifth-grade classes for four years, I decided to try at all costs to rid them of their fear and dislike of books, and to get them to read oftener and more adventurously.
One day soon after school had started, I said to them, “Now I’m going to say something about reading that you have probably never heard a teacher say before. I would like you to read a lot of books this year, but I want you to read them only for pleasure. I am not going to ask you questions to find out whether you understand the books or not. If you understand enough of a book to enjoy it and want to go on reading it, that’s enough for me. Also I’m not going to ask you what words mean. “
The children sat stunned and silent. Was this a teacher talking? One girl, who had just come to us from a school where she had had a very hard time, looked at me steadily for a long time after I had finished. Then, still looking at me, she said slowly and seriously, Mr Holt, do you really mean that?” I said just as seriously, “I mean every word of it.
During the spring she really astonished me. One day, she was reading at her desk, From a glimpse of the illustrations I thought I knew what the book was. I said to myself, “It can’t be,” and went to take a closer look. Sure enough, she was reading Moby Dick , in edition with woodcuts. I said, “Don’t you find parts of it rather heavy going?” She answered, Oh, sure, but I just skip over those parts and go on to the next good part. “
This is exactly what reading should be and in school so seldom is, an exciting, joyous adventure. Find something, dive into it, take the good parts, skip the bad parts, get what you can out of it, go on to something else. How different is our mean-spirited, picky insistence that every child get every last little scrap of “understanding” that can be dug out of a book.
1.According to the passage, children’s fear and dislike of books may result from________.
A.reading little and thinking little
B.reading often and adventurously
C.being made to read too much
D.being made to read aloud before others
2.The teacher told his students to read______ .
A.for enjoyment
B.for knowledge
C.for a larger vocabulary
D.for higher scores in exams
3.Upon hearing the teacher’s talk, the children probably felt that________.
A.it sounded stupid
B.it was not surprising at all
C.it sounded too good to be true
D.it was no different from other teachers' talk
4.Which of the following statements about the girl is TRUE according to the passage?
A.She skipped over those easy parts while reading.
B.She had a hard time finishing the required reading tasks.
C.She learned to appreciate some parts of the difficult books.
D.She turned out to be a top student after coming to this school.
5.From the teacher's point of view,_________ .
A.children cannot tell good parts from bad parts while reading
B.children should be left to decide what to read and how to read
C.reading is never a pleasant and inspiring experience in school
D.reading involves understanding every little piece of information
D
Parents who help their children with homework may actually be bringing down their school grades. Other forms of prenatal involvement, including volunteering at school and observing a child's class, also fail to help, according to the most recent study on the topic.
The findings challenge a key principle of modern parenting(养育子女) where schools except them to act as partners in their children's education. Previous generations concentrated on getting children to school on time, fed, dressed and ready to learn.
Kaith Robinson, the author of the study, said, "I really don't know if the public is ready for this but there are some ways parents can be involved in their kids' education that leads to declines in their academic performance. One of the things that was consistently negative was parents' help with homework." Robinson suggested that may be because parents themselves struggle to understand the task." They may either not remember the material their kids are studying now, or in some cases never learnt it themselves, but they're still offering advice."
Robinson assessed parental involvement performance and found one of the most damaging things a parent could do was to punish their children for poor marks. In general, about 20% of parental involvement was positive, about 45% negative and the rest statistically insignificant.
Common sense suggests it was a good thing for parents to get involved because "children with good academic success do have involved parents ", admitted Robinson. But he argued that this did not prove parental involvement was the root cause of that success." A big surprise was that Asian-American parents whose kids are doing so well in school hardly involved. They took a more reasonable approach, conveying to their children how success at school could improve their lives."
1.The underlined expression "parental involvement " in Paragraph 1 probably means .
A.parents' expectation on children's health
B.parents' participation in children's education
C.parents' control over children's life
D.parents' plan for children's future
2.What is the major finding of Robinson's study ?
A.Modern parents raise children in a more scientific way.
B.Punishing kids for bad marks is mentally damaging.
C.Parental involvement is not so beneficial as expected.
D.Parents are not able to help with children’s homework.
3.The example of Asian-American parents implies that parents should .
A.help children realize the importance of schooling
B.set a specific life goal for their children
C.spend more time improving their own lives
D.take a more active part in school management
When I was nine years old, I loved to go fishing with my dad. But the only thing that wasn’t very fun about it was that he could catch many fish while I couldn’t catch anything. I usually got pretty upset and kept asking him why. He always answered, ”Son, if you want to catch a fish, you have to think like a fish.” I remember being even more upset then because, “I’m not a fish!” I didn’t know how to think like a fish. Besides, I reasoned, how could what I think influence what a fish does?
As I got a little older I began to understand what my dad really meant. So, I read some books on fish. And I even joined the local fishing club and started attending the monthly meetings. I learned that a fish is a cold-blooded animal and therefore is very sensitive to water temperature. That is why fish prefer shallow water to deep water because the former is warmer. Besides, water is usually warmer in direct sunlight than in the shade. Yet, fish don’t have any eyelids(眼皮) and the sun hurts their eyes…The more I understood fish, the more I became effective at finding and catching them.
When I grew up and entered the business world, I remember hearing my first boss say, “We all need to think like salespeople.” But it didn’t completely make sense. My dad never once said, “If you want to catch a fish you need to think like a fisherman.” What he said was, “You need to think like a fish.” Years later, with great efforts to promote long-term services to people much older and richer than me, I gradually learned what we all need is to think more like customers. It is not an easy job. I will show you how in the following chapters.
1.Why was the author upset in fishing trips when he was nine？
A.He could not catch a fish
B.His father was not patient with him
C.His father did not teach him fishing
D.He could not influence a fish as his father did
2.What did the author’s father really mean?
A.To read about fish
B.To learn fishing by oneself
C.To understand what fish think
D.To study fishing in many ways
3.According to the author, fish are most likely to be found .
A.in deep water on sunny days
B.in deep water on cloudy days
C.in shallow water under sunlight
D.in shallow water under waterside trees
4.After entering the business world，the author found .
A.it easy to think like a customer
B.his father’s fishing advice inspiring
C.his first boss’s sales ideas reasonable
D.it difficult to sell services to poor people
5.This passage most likely comes from .
A.a fishing guide
B.a popular sales book
C.a novel on childhood
D.a millionaire’s biography
When John was growing up, other kids felt sorry for him. His parents always had him weeding the garden, carrying out the garbage and delivering newspapers. But when John reached adulthood, he was better off than his childhood playmates. He had more job satisfaction, a better marriage and was healthier. Most of all, he was happier. Far happier.
These are the findings of a 40-year study that followed the lives of 456 teenage boys from Boston. The study showed that those who had worked as boys enjoyed happier and more productive lives than those who had not. ＂Boys who worked in the home or community gained competence(能力) and came to feel they were worthwhile members of society,＂ said George Vaillant, the psychologist(心理学家) who made the discovery. ＂And because they felt good about themselves, others felt good about them.＂
Vaillant’s study followed these males in great detail. Interviews were repeated at ages 25,31 and 47. Under Vaillant, the researchers compared the men’s mental-health scores with their boyhood-activity scores. Points were awarded for part-time jobs, housework, effort in school, and ability to deal with problems.
The link between what the men had done as boys and how they turned out as adults was surprisingly sharp. Those who had done the most boyhood activities were twice as likely to have warm relations with a wide variety of people, five times as likely to be well paid and 16 times less likely to have been unemployed. The researchers also found that IQ and family social and economic class made no real difference in how the boys turned out.
Working — at any age — is important. Childhood activities help a child develop responsibility, independence, confidence and competence — the underpinnings(基础) of emotional health. They also help him understand that people must cooperate and work toward common goals. The most competent adults are those who know how to do this. Yet work isn’t everything. As Tolstoy once said, ＂One can live magnificently in this world if one knows how to work and how to love, to work for the person one loves and to love one’s work.＂
1.What do we know about John?
A.He enjoyed his career and marriage.
B.He had few childhood playmates.
C.He received little love from his family.
D.He was envied by others in his childhood.
2.Vaillant’s words in Paragraph 2 serve as .
A.a description of personal values and social values
B.an analysis of how work was related to competence
C.an example for parents’ expectations of their children
D.an explanation why some boys grew into happy men
3.Vaillant’s team obtained their findings by .
A.recording the boys’ effort in school
B.evaluating the men’s mental health
C.comparing different sets of scores
D.measuring the men’s problem solving ability
4.What does the underlined word ＂sharp＂ probably mean in Paragraph 4?
A.Quick to react. B.Having a thin edge.
C.Clear and definite. D.Sudden and rapid.
5.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A.Competent adults know more about love than work.
B.Emotional health is essential to a wonderful adult life.
C.Love brings more joy to people than work does.
D.Independence is the key to one’s success.
Why College Is Not Home
The college years are supposed to be a time for important growth in autonomy(自主性) and the development of adult identity. However, now they are becoming an extended period of adolescence, during which many of today’s students are not shouldered with adult responsibilities.
For previous generations, college was a decisive break from parental control; guidance and support needed to come from people of the same age and from within. In the past two decades, however, continued connection with and dependence on family, thanks to cell phones, email and social media, have increased significantly. Some parents go so far as to help with coursework. Instead of promoting the idea of college as a passage from the shelter of the family to autonomy and adult responsibility, universities have given in to the idea that they should provide the same environment as that of the home.
To prepare for increased autonomy and responsibility, college needs to be a time of exploration and experimentation. This process involves ＂trying on＂ new ways of thinking about oneself both intellectually(在思维方面)and personally. While we should provide ＂safe spaces＂ within colleges, we must also make it safe to express opinions and challenge majority views. Intellectual growth and flexibility are fostered by strict debate and questioning.
Learning to deal with the social world is equally important. Because a college community(群体) differs from the family, many students will struggle to find a sense of belonging. If students rely on administrators to regulate their social behavior and thinking pattern, they are not facing the challenge of finding an identity within a larger and complex community.
Moreover, the tendency for universities to monitor and shape student behavior runs up against another characteristic of young adults: the response to being controlled by their elders. If acceptable social behavior is too strictly defined(规定) and controlled, the insensitive or aggressive behavior that administrators are seeking to minimize may actually be encouraged.
It is not surprising that young people are likely to burst out, particularly when there are reasons to do so. Our generation once joined hands and stood firm at times of national emergency. What is lacking today is the conflict between adolescents’ desire for autonomy and their understanding of an unsafe world. Therefore, there is the desire for their dorms to be replacement homes and not places to experience intellectual growth.
Every college discussion about community values, social climate and behavior should include recognition of the developmental importance of student autonomy and self-regulation, of the necessary tension between safety and self-discovery.
1.What’s the author’s attitude toward continued parental guidance to college students?
A.Sympathetic. B.Disapproving.
C.Supportive. D.Neutral.
2.The underlined word ＂passage＂ in Paragraph 2 means___________.
A.change B.choice
C.text D.extension
3.According to the author, what role should college play?
A.To develop a shared identity among students.
B.To define and regulate students’ social behavior.
C.To provide a safe world without tension for students.
D.To foster students’ intellectual and personal development.
4.Which of the following shows the development of ideas in the passage?
A.
B.
C.
D.
