When times get tough, we all look for ways to cut back. When we’re hungry, we eat at home instead of going out. We take buses instead of taxis. And we wear our old designer jeans just a few months longer. With college expenses at all-time highs, high school students are eager to do anything to cut the cost of a university education.
One cost-cutting proposal is to allow college students to get a bachelor’s degree in three years instead of four. Educational institutions have been actively exploring ways to make the learning process more efficient. But there’s a question: Would the quality of undergraduate(本科生)education suffer? Few US universities have formally approved a “three-year degree” model.
I doubt that mainstream North American colleges will carry out a three-year curriculum(課程) any time soon. For one thing, most universities already allow highly qualified students to graduate early by testing out of certain classes and obtaining a number of college credits(學(xué)分). In addition, at famous universities, the committee who determine which courses are required and which courses are electives are unlikely to suddenly “throw out” one quarter of the required credits. Professors will resist “diluting(稀釋)” the quality of the education they offer.
In my opinion, a quality four-year education is always superior to a quality three-year education. A college education requires sufficient time for a student to become skilled in their major and do coursework in fields outside their major. It is not a good idea to water down education, any more than it’s not a good idea to water down medicine. If we want to help students find their way through university, we should help them understand early on what knowledge and skills they need to have upon graduation. We should allow students to test out of as many courses as possible. We should give them a chance to earn money as interns(實(shí)習(xí)生)in meaningful part-time jobs that relate to their university studies, such as the five-year co-op program at Northeastern University.
【小題1】The first paragraph serves as a(n)________．

A．explanation B．definition C．introduction D．comment
【小題2】We can learn from the passage that ________.
A．most American universities are against the “three-year degree” model
B．many famous US universities are considering adopting the “three-year degree” model
C．professors are willing to accept the “three-year degree” model
D．the “three-year degree” model can make college learning more efficient
【小題3】In most US universities，________.
A．college students are offered the co-op program
B．electives’ credits make up one quarter of the required credits
C．a(chǎn)ll students are required to finish four-year education before graduation
D．some excellent students can graduate ahead of time
【小題4】We can infer that________.
A．the author is a college professor
B．the author thinks the cost of a university education is too high for people to afford
C．the author considers the university education quality very important
D．the author pays special attention to the all-round development of college students
【小題5】Which of the following can be the best title?
A．It’s time to shorten the learning process
B．Best learning takes place over time
C．University education should be watered down
D．College education calls for reform


【小題1】C
【小題2】A
【小題3】D
【小題4】C
【小題5】B

解析試題分析：文章大意：作者認(rèn)為把大學(xué)四年的學(xué)制縮短為三年不是一個(gè)好主意，保證足夠的時(shí)間才能保證大學(xué)教育的質(zhì)量。
【小題1】C篇章結(jié)構(gòu)題。本題要求學(xué)生推斷文章的結(jié)構(gòu)。根據(jù)第一段的內(nèi)容可知第一段是用來(lái)引入話題的，故C項(xiàng)最佳。
【小題2】A細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段中的Few US universities have formally approved a “three-year degree” model可知幾乎沒(méi)有幾所美國(guó)大學(xué)認(rèn)可“三年本科學(xué)位”模式。
【小題3】D細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段中的most universities already allow highly qualified students to graduate early可知特別優(yōu)秀的大學(xué)生可以提前畢業(yè)。
【小題4】C推理判斷題。在第四段作者給出了自己的觀點(diǎn)，從“A college education requires sufficient time for a student to become skilled in their major...”“It is not a good idea to water down education”等處可以看出作者非�？粗卮髮W(xué)教育質(zhì)量。
【小題5】B主旨大意題。作者認(rèn)為把大學(xué)四年的學(xué)制縮短為三年不是一個(gè)好主意，學(xué)好大學(xué)功課是需要付出時(shí)間的，故B項(xiàng)最佳。
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Sooner or later, most students are to take some form of English examinations. Often the more successful students are better prepared. However, sometimes students who do well have better test taking skills. These abilities really have nothing to do with understanding English better. They are skills that make taking the test easier, and therefore provide better results.
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【小題1】In the first paragraph, the writer stresses the importance of ______.

A．better preparations for exams.
B．better understanding of English.
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【小題3】It is common that many students______.
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It’s common for parents to feel emotional when the moment comes for their child to leave home and go to university. Even parents who don’t speak about the event are likely to feel a sense of sadness because it’s the end of an era where you and your family were at the centre of your child’s world. As a parent you’ll probably continue to support your child in different ways, but the main job of raising your child is over. It’s a huge change for everyone involved.
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【小題4】What would be an appropriate title for the whole passage?
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源： 題型：閱讀理解

In her new book, “The Smartest Kids in the World,” Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist, tells the story of Tom, a high-school student from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, who decides to spend his senior year in Wroclaw, Poland. Poland is a surprising educational success story: in the past decade, the country raised students’ test scores from significantly below average to well above it. Polish kids have now outscored American kids in math and science, even though Poland spends, on average, less than half as much per student as the United States does. One of the most striking differences between the high school Tom attended in Gettysburg and the one he ends up at in Wroclaw is that the latter has no football team, or, for that matter, teams of any kind.
That American high schools lavish more time and money on sports than on math is an old complaint. This is not a matter of how any given student who plays sports does in school, but of the culture and its priorities. This December, when the latest Program for International Student Assessment(PISA) results are announced, it’s safe to predict that American high-school students will once again display their limited skills in math and reading, outscored not just by students in Poland but also by students in places like South Korea, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Singapore, and Japan. Meanwhile, they will have played some very exciting football games, which will have been breathlessly written up in their hometown papers.
Why does this situation continue? Well, for one thing, kids like it. And for another, according to Ripley, parents seem to like the arrangement, too. She describes a tour she took of a school in Washington D.C., which costs thirty thousand dollars a year. The tour leader—a mother with three children in the school—was asked about the school’s flaws. When she said that the math program was weak, none of the parents taking the tour reacted. When she said that the football program was weak, the parents suddenly became concerned. “Really?” one of them asked worriedly, “What do you mean?”
One of the ironies of the situation is that sports reveal what is possible. American kids’ performance on the field shows just how well they can do when expectations are high. It’s too bad that their test scores show the same thing. 
【小題1】Tom decides to spend his senior year in Poland because _______.

A．he intends to improve his scores
B．Polish kids are better at learning
C．sports are not supported at schools in Gettysburg
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【小題2】According to Paragraph 2, we know that _______.
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【小題3】The underlined sentence in the last paragraph means _______.
A．low expectations result in American students’ poor PISA performance
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【小題4】The purpose of this article is to _______.
A．compare Polish schools with those in America
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