Even in a weak job market, the old college try isn’t the answer for everyone. A briefing paper from the Brookings Institution warns that “we may have overdone the message” on college, senior fellow Isabel Sawhill said.
“We’ve been telling students and their families for years that college is the only way to succeed in the economy and of course there’s a lot of truth to that,” Ms. Sawhill said. “On average it does pay off… But if you load up on a whole lot of student debt and then you don’t graduate, that is a very bad situation.”
One comment that people often repeat among the years of slow job growth has been the value of education for landing a job and advancing in a career. April’s national unemployment rate stood at 7.5%, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate for high-school graduates over 25 years old who hadn’t attended college was 7.4%, compared with 3.9% for those with a bachelor’s degree or more education. The difference is even bigger among those aged 16-24. The jobless rate for those with only a high school diploma in that age group is about 20%. At the same time, recent research by Canadian economists warns that a college degree is no guarantee of promising employment.
Ms. Sawhill pointed out that among the aspects that affect the value of a college education is the field of one’s major: students in engineering or other sciences end up earning more than those who major in the arts or education. The cost of tuition and the availability of financial aid are other considerations, with public institutions generally a better financial bargain than private ones.
She suggested two ways of improving the situation: increasing vocational-technical(职业技能) training programs and taking a page from Europe’s focus on early education rather than post-secondary learning. “The European countries put a little more attention to getting people prepared in the primary grades,” she said. “Then they have a higher requirement for whoever goes to college—but once you get into college, you’re more likely to be highly subsidized(资助).”
She also is a supporter of technical training—to teach students how to be workers, such as plumbers, welders and computer programmers—because “employers are desperate” for workers with these skills.
1.People usually think that _____.
A. the cost of technical schooling is a problem
B. one will not succeed without a college degree
C. technical skills are most important for landing a job
D. there is an increased competition in getting into a college
2.What does the underlined part “taking a page from” mean?
A. hearing from.
B. changing from.
C. differing from.
D. learning from.
3.What can we infer from the passage?
A. Public institutions charge more for education.
B. European universities are stricter with students.
C. Students with certain skills are in great demand.
D. Canadian students prefer to major in engineering.
4.Which would be the best title for the text?
A. Is the ‘Go to College’ message overdone?
B. The new requirement of Labor Market
C. Primary education in European countries
D. Is technical training more popular?
The extraordinary Eastgate Building in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city, is said to be the only one in the world to use the same cooling and heating principles like the termite mound(白蚁堆).
Architect Mick Pearce used precisely the same strategy when designing the Eastgate Building, which has no air-conditioning and almost no heating. The building—the country’s largest commercial and shopping mall—uses less than 10% of the energy of a traditional building of its size. The Eastgate’s owners saved $3.5 million on a $36 million building because an air-conditioning plant didn’t have to be imported.
The mall is actually two buildings linked by bridges across a shady, glass-roofed atrium(天井) open to the air. Fans suck fresh air in from the atrium, blow it upstairs through hollow spaces under the floors and from there into each office through baseboard vents(通风口). As it rises and warms, it is drawn out via ceiling vents and finally exists through forty-eight brick chimneys.
During summer’s cool nights, big fans blow air through the building seven times an hour to cool the empty floors. By day, smaller fans blow two changes of air an hour through the building to circulate（流通） the air which has been in contact with the cool floors. For winter days, there are small heaters in the vents.
This is all possible only because Harare is 1600 feet above sea level, has cloudless skies, little dampness and rapid temperature swings （摆幅）—days as warm as 31℃ commonly drop to 14℃ at night. “You couldn’t do this in New York, with its fantastically hot summers and fantastically cold winters,” Pearce said.
The engineering firm of Ove Arup&Partners monitors daily temperatures. It is found that the temperature of the building has generally stayed between 23℃ and 25℃, with the exception of the annual hot period just before the summer rains in October and three days in November, when a doorkeeper accidentally switched off the fans at night. And the air is fresh—far more so than in air-conditioned buildings, where up to 30% of the air is recycled.
1.Why was Eastgate cheaper to be built than a traditional building?
A. It was designed in a smaller size.
B. No air conditioners were fixed in.
C. Its heating system was less advanced.
D. It used rather different building materials.
2.What does “it” refer to in Paragraph 3?
A. Fresh air from outside.
B. Heat in the building.
C. Hollow space.
D. Baseboard vent.
3.Why would a building like Eastgate Not work efficiently in New York?
A. New York has less clear skies as Harare.
B. Its dampness affects the circulation of air.
C. New York covers a larger area than Harare.
D. Its temperature changes seasonally rather than daily.
4.The data in the last paragraph suggests Eastgate’s temperature control system_____.
A. allows a wide range of temperatures
B. functions well for most of the year
C. can recycle up to 30% of the air
D. works better in hot seasons
Here are the comments on CRI (China Radio International) given by people from different countries on the Internet.
People | Comments |
Yingtian Hu Guangzhou, China | This is the first time that I participate in CRI. And I like it very much. I hope its website will become the most excellent one with the foreign languages. And I choose the important news which I think has a great influence on our society and our lives. In the end, I hope that more and more persons join in CRI and make it perfect! |
SujanParajuli, Select city, Nepal | I am both a regular listener of CRI and visitor of its wonderful Website. First of all, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to CRI for its great efforts to keep the listeners up-to-date during the year 2008. We, the listeners, are greatly grateful to CRI for its praise-worthy efforts to quench the thirst of its dear listeners. During the Year 2008, I found all of your programs quite interesting, informative and educational. Once again, thanks a lot for offering lots of information, news, entertainment and many items which have indeed broaden the horizons of our knowledge and understanding as well. |
Ibrahim Rustamov, Tajikistan | With CRI, I was impressed by China’s rapid development in all spheres. But I felt so sorry to get to know about the snowstorms in China and Wenchuan earthquake. CRI and CCTV play a great role in introducing China to the world! Kudos! My friends and I wish CRI all the best! |
Mike Thatcher, London | My family and I are all keen on Chinese Culture, especially the beautiful Chinese folk music. Various interesting programs by CRI just open a window for us foreigners, through which we can know more about China and have a better understanding of the Chinese culture. Best wishes to CRI! Best wishes to China! |
1.Which of the following benefits of CRI is NOT mentioned above?
A. CRI helps to keep its listeners up-to-date.
B. CRI helps its listeners to better understand China.
C. CRI helps its listeners to practice and improve foreign languages.
D. CRI helps its listeners broaden their knowledge with its rich contents.
2.The underlined phrase “quench the thirst” refers to _____.
A. satisfy one’s need
B. supply drinks
C. take care of
D. keep in touch with
3.What can be concluded from the four comments?
A. CRI has a great influence on our society and lives.
B. Wonderful though CRI is, there are still many weaknesses.
C. CRI plays an important role in introducing the world to China.
D. CRI has made great efforts to make itself better and gained popularity.
My father was always a good gardener. One of my earliest memories is standing without shoes in the freshly tilled(翻耕的) soil, my hands blackened from digging in the ground.
As a child, I loved following Dad around in the garden. I remember Dad pushing the tiller(耕作机) ahead in perfectly straight lines. Dad loved growing all sorts of things: yellow and green onions, watermelons almost as big as me, rows of yellow corn, and our favorite--- red tomatoes.
As I grew into a teenager, I didn’t get so excited about gardening with Dad. Instead of magical land of possibility, it had turned into some kind of prison. As Dad grew older, his love for gardening never disappeared. After all the kids were grown and had started families of their own, Dad turned to gardening like never before. Even when he was diagnosed with cancer, he still took care of his garden.
But then, the cancer, bit by bit, invaded his body. I had to do the things he used to do. What really convinced me that Dad was dying was the state of his garden that year. The rows and rows of multicolored vegetables were gone. Too tired to weed them, he simply let them be.
For the first few years after he died, I couldn’t even bear to look at anyone’s garden without having strong memories pour over me like cold water from a bucket. Three years ago, I decided to plant my own garden and started out with just a few tomatoes. That morning, after breaking up a fair amount of soil, something caught the corner of my eye and I had to smile. It was my eight-year-old son Nathan, happily playing in the freshly tilled soil.
1.Why did the author like the garden when he was a child?
A. He wanted to be a garden-crazy like his father.
B. He loved being in the garden with his father.
C. The garden was full of his favorite food.
D. The garden was just freshly tilled.
2.When all the kids started their own families, the author’s father _____.
A. stopped his gardening
B. turned to other hobbies
C. devoted more to gardening
D. focused on planting tomatoes
3.What happened to the garden when the author’s father was seriously ill?
A. There was a great harvest.
B. The garden was almost deserted.
C. No plant grew in the garden at all.
D. The author’s son took charge of the garden.
4.Why did the author start his garden with tomatoes?
A. He wanted to honor his father.
B. His son liked the fields of tomatoes.
C. He only knew how to grow tomatoes.
D. He thought tomatoes were easy to manage.
随着社会的发展和我国加入WTO, 英语成了中外交流的桥梁.而互联网的广泛使用,使掌握英语成为一种趋势.当今世界上以英语为母语的人和学习,使用英语的人越来越多. 我们中学生学好英语一方面是为了今后的升学, 就业, 同时也是为社会的发展出一份力.
请你根据以上材料, 用英语写一篇100 字左右的作文.
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短文改错(共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分)
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。
错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号(＾)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线( ____ )，并在该词下面写出修改的词。
注意：1．每处错误及修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分
I still remember an interesting story that happen when I was ten. One day, a classmate of my named Craig brought his pet mice along. Later, our maths teacher, Miss Jones, who came into the classroom to give her lesson. She saw the mice and said angry, “Get those mice out of here right now!” Craig’s feeling were hurt, so he let them out of cage. The teacher was very terrified that she jumped up onto her desk and screamed. We all fell back laughed. Four teachers ran into our classroom to see what was go on. They told us that we should put it back in the cage.
Five minutes later, Miss Jones was still screaming.
