Predictions about higher education’s future o...

Predictions about higher education’s future often result in two very different visions about what is next for colleges and universities. In one camp: those who paint a rosy picture of an economy that will continue to demand higher levels of education for an increasing share of the workforce. In the other: those who believe fewer people will enroll（入学）in college as tuition costs go out of control and alternatives to the traditional degree emerge.

“We are living in an age for learning, when there’s so much knowledge available, that one would think that this is good news for higher education,” Bryan Alexander told me recently. Alexander writes often about the future of higher education and is finishing a book on the subject for Johns Hopkins University Press. “Yet we’ve seen enrollment in higher education drop for six years.”

Alexander believes that for some colleges and universities to survive, they need to shift from their historical mission of serving one type of student (usually a teenager fresh out of high school) for a specific period of time. “We’re going to see many different ways through higher education in the future,” Alexander said, “from closer ties between secondary and postsecondary（中学后）schools to new options for adults. The question is, which institutions adopt new models and which try desperately to hang on to what they have.”

“The fact is that to maintain affordability, accessibility and excellence, something needs to change,” Rafael Bras, Georgia Tech’s provost (院长), told me when he unveiled the report at the Milken Institute Global Conference this past spring.

The commission’s report includes many impressive ideas, but three point to the possibility of a very different future for colleges and universities.

1) College for life, rather than just four years. The primary recommendation of the Georgia Tech report is that the university turns itself into a place for lifelong learning that allows students to “associate rather than enroll.”

“Students who we educate now are expected to have a dozen occupations,” Bras said. “So a system that receives students once in their lives and turns them out with the Good Housekeeping seal(印章) of approval to become alums (校友) and come back on occasion and give money is not the right model for the future.”

2) A network of advisers and coaches for a career. If education never ends, Georgia Tech predicts, neither should the critical advising function that colleges provide to students. The commission outlines a plan in which artificial intelligence and virtual tutors help advise students about selecting courses and finding the best career options. But even for a university focused on science and technology, Georgia Tech doesn’t suggest in its report that computers will replace humans for all advising.

3) A distributed presence around the world. Colleges and universities operate campuses and require students to come to them. In the past couple of decades, online education has grown greatly, but for the most part, higher education is still about face-to-face interactions.

Georgia Tech imagines a future in which the two worlds are blended in what it calls the “atrium” — a place that share space with entrepreneurs and become gathering places for students and alumni.

In some ways, as the report noted, the atrium idea is a nod to the past, when universities had agricultural and engineering experiment stations with services closer to where people in the state needed them.

Whether Georgia Tech’s ideas will become real is, of course, unclear. But as Alexander told me after reading it, “There is a strong emphasis on flexibility and transformation so they can meet emergent trends.” This is clear: colleges and universities are about to undergo a period of deep change — whether they want to or not — as the needs of students and the economy shift.

1.What can we learn from the two camps’ opinions about future colleges?

A. Future workforce will have high levels of education.

B. The expensive traditional degree is losing its appeal.

C. Traditional higher education is not practical.

D. Declining enrollment in college results from easy learning.

2.What should traditional colleges do according to Alexander?

A. They should provide new options for adults to enter colleges.

B. The should strengthen the ties between secondary and postsecondary schools.

C. They should abandon what they have and change their historical mission.

D. They should offer more freedom to students throughout their life.

3.What can we infer from the commission’s report?

A. Students can return for further study or make donations freely after graduation.

B. Artificial intelligence and virtual tutors will perform better in career guidance.

C. It focuses on how to make people enjoy good education without stress.

D. There is no point in requiring students to be present at school.

4.The underlined words “two worlds” refer to _______.

A. Basic education and higher education

B. entrepreneurs and students

C. present education and future education

D. virtual education and real classes

5.What does the author think of atrium idea?

A. It corresponds to the past idea in some way.

B. It is hard to realize despite its flexibility.

C. It makes some industries more accessible.

D. It is a practical solution to the declining enrollment.

6.The passage mainly talks about _________.

A. a reflection on the drawbacks of current higher education

B. the key factors which determine higher education’s future

C. two camps’ opposite opinions about higher education's future

D. a comparison between traditional and future higher education

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

As the higher education sector faces mounting pressures to provide value for money, it’s now often assumed that universities will provide its students with much more than just a degree. Most prospectuses(宣传册)introduction present institutions as being the “leaders” in academic research, student satisfaction, graduate employability and contact hours. 1.

Visiting a university “in the flesh” on the open day is the only way you can truly get a feel for the place, and ensures you won’t get any unpleasant surprises when you start your course. 2. Remember that there is no such thing as the best university – only the best fit for you.

Before your visit, conduct some online research and decide on a few universities you’d like to visit. Plan your day, booking any relevant sessions, and noting down any talks you would like to attend. Prepare a list of questions about all the aspects of university life.

During your visit, you need to make plenty of notes!3. You’ll start to forget important things unless you put them down. Note which accommodation you like as well as how much it costs and where it is located. Bear in mind that you might not get your first choice of accommodation, so have a few others in mind as a back-up.

4.Go along to application sessions and you can get the answers there. You could even show the admissions tutor a draft of your personal statement and ask for some direct feedback. Ask the experts -not only the admissions team and course tutors, but also the current students. While it might be tempting to let mum and dad take over, it’s you who will be going to university, not them, so don’t be afraid to speak up!

Write down what you like about the university and compare it to others. Remember to make sure you prioritise your course over the university.5. If you don’t enjoy your course, then chances are you will fail to maximise your potential. It’s your choice, so make the best of it!

A.Avoid being misled by claims and statistics.

B.It doesn’t matter how famous the university is.

C.It is important to find out the selection criteria.

D.With so many choices, how can you make an informed decision?

E.Faced with all the information, what you need to do is to get the most out of it.

F.The conversations and experiences you’ve had will mix together after a few visits.

G.Determine your own criteria –especially if you’re unsure about which subjects to study.

高三英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析

People who are worried about bad breath often reach for a toothbrush or a gun. But in the future, personal breath monitoring may include far more than fresh breath.

In face, breath is so rich in chemical compounds that fully understanding it has proved challenging. Each breath contains gases like carbon dioxide, the volatile(挥发性的)remains of recent snacks, medicines and even compounds taken in from things like carpeting or various kinds of air pollution. But breath detectors(检测器) can sort out these substances with increasing sensitivity(敏感性)。

Scientists are building electronic sniffers that examine the exhaled(呼气)air for signs of cancer, asthma(哮喘), and other diseases.

“There are clear signatures in the breath for liver(肝)disease, kidney(肾)disease and heart disease. Breath is a rich mixture that can reflect out state of health and disease.” said Dr. Raed Dweik, director of the Cleveland Clinic, adding “Breath analysis is the future of medical testing.”

He and his partners are testing a desktop system called BreathLink for use in rapid identification of diseases. The system is designed to work wherever there is an Internet connection. To use BreathLink, a person breathes into a long tube, and a breath sample is collected and analyzed within the system. Then it can detail chemical concentrations(浓度)of the breath in graphics. Dr. Raed Dweik said, “If you examine patients of asthma, you will find they have higher levels of nitric oxide(一氧化碳) in their exhaled air. It reflects their abnormal symptoms in the lungs.” His tests have reached 85 percent accuracy(精确度)so far in spotting people with some illness.

But some trained dogs, he pointed out, can sniff out cancer with 99 percent accuracy—although without the ability to identify particular compounds the way some detectors can.

“We are getting better and better,” he said. “But whether we will ever approach the accuracy of the dog—we don’t know.”

1.What is the breath detector used for?

A. To find what kind of disease a person has.

B. To identify substances from people’s breath.

C. To help a patient recover from disease.

D. To smell how bad the breath is.

2.In the fifth paragraph, what Dr. Raed Dwik said is meant to______.

A. show how he and his partners treated patients

B. tell why a person has asthma

C. show how sensitive the device is

D. show how to diagnose a patient of asthma

3.It can be inferred that_______

A. brushing teeth can improve one’s bad breath

B. there are leftovers like snacks and medicines in one’s breath

C. one can know exactly about his physical state through the breath

D. breath analysis can be helpful in medical diagnosis

4.What’s the author’s attitude towards the future of breath detectors?

A. Indifferent　　　　 B. Positive

C. Doubtful.　　　　 D. Critical.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

We are going to talk again this week about higher education for disabled students who want to study in the United States．As we noted last time，there are no special colleges or universities for blind students．But there are for deaf students．One of them is Gallaudet University in Washington，D.C. Gallaudet is said to be the world’s only liberal arts university where everything is designed for deaf or hard-of-hearing students．About 2，000 students attend Gallaudet．The cost for international students is about 33,000 dollars a year．

Financial aid is available in the form of scholarships，but only after the first year of studies. Most scholarship aid goes to students in financial need who do well in their first year．One scholarship for international students is for deaf students from developing countries．Another is just for students from China．The university also offers an English Language Institute．But Gallaudet says this program does not guarantee (担保)acceptance to the university．

In the past year，students at Gallaudet protested against the administration’s choice of a new president for the university．The protests led to the choice of a different president who is more popular with the students，Robert Davila．He is a former officer of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf．This technical college is in Rochester, New York.  It is one of the eight colleges in the Rochester Institute of Technology．

More than one thousand students attend the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. About one hundred of them are international students．They come from Africa, Asia，Europe and South America.

The cost is about 28,000 dollars a year for an international Technical Institute student．Foreign graduate students pay about 20,000 dollars.  Both undergraduate and graduate student can receive limited financial aid. They can also take part in the student employment program．This program makes it possible for students to work at the school.

1. The passage is written for _______ .

2.The second paragraph mainly shows ________ .

3. Robert Davila is the president who __________ .

4.To those who study in Gallaudet，__________ .

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Educators across the US are calling for major changes to the admission process in higher education. The National Center for Educational Statistics reported that U.S. colleges and universities received more than 9 million applications between 2013 and 2014. The schools admitted more than 5 million students in that time.

But a new report says that the problem is not about the number of students that are being admitted, but rather how students are selected. The Harvard School of Graduate Education, along with 80 other schools and organizations, released the report in January 2016, called “Turing the Tide---Making Caring Common”. The report argues that the process schools use to choose students causes major problems.

David Hawkins, the Executive Director for Educational Policy, says that most colleges and universities require many things from students when they apply. Schools usually ask for an essay describing a student’s interests or why they want to study at that school. The schools also ask for letters from teachers or other responsible adults describing why a student is a good candidate. But, Hawkins says, the area that schools are most concerned with a student’s high school grades and standardized test results.

The report suggests that paying attention to academic success over other qualities works well for some students but hurts others. In addition, academic success is not the most important quality a student should have. More attention should be paid to showing whether or not a student wants to do good in the world. The report also suggests that schools should ask for evidence that students care about other people. Moving attention away from academic ability will make process less about competition, the report says. Students will feel less stress about meeting higher and higher expectation.

But the report does have its critics. Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director, said that every few years, someone makes the same argument for change. He said that no real change has happened yet and that even many of the schools that agree with the report still make no changes. “Many of the institutions that have supported the findings in the report are the very institutions that have the most competitive admission processes in the country," Schaeffer said.

1.What is the problem of the admission process according to the report?

A.The schools ask social responsibilities from the applying students

B.The schools attach importance to students’ academic records

C.The number of students getting admitted is too small

D.Admission officers only consider personal qualities

2.Which of the following do colleges ask of applicants except　　 ?

A.Their reasons to attend the school.

B.A description of their interests.

C.Recommendation letters from adults

D.Evidence that students care about others

3.What does the author’s attitude to the report of the admission process?.

A.Supportive. B.Doubtful C.Neutral D.Negative

4.The critic, Bob Schaeffer, thinks that　　 .

A.some schools don't do what they believe is right

B.the largest schools are expected to make changes first

C.not enough schools currently agree with the report

D.history has proved that all changes are good

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Educators across the US are calling for major changes to the admissions process in higher education. The Harvard school of Greduate Education, along with 80 other schools and organizations, released a report called "Turning the Tide Making Caring Common” in January, 2016. The report argues that the process schools use to choose students causes major problems.

David Hawkins is the Executive Director for Educational Content and Policy at the National Association for College Admissions Counseling. Hawkins told Voice of America that most colleges and universities require many　 things from students when they apply. Schools usually ask for an essay describing a student's interests or why they want to study at that school. The schools also ask for letters from teachers or other responsible adults describing why a student is a good candidate. But, Hawkins says, the area that schools are most concerned about is a student's high school grades and standardized test results.

The report suggests that paying attention to academic success over other qualities works well for some students but hurts others. In addition, academic success is not the most important quality a student should have. More attention should be paid to showing whether or not a student wants to do well in the world, according to the report.

The report goes on to state that the best way to change the admissions process is by changing college applications. It suggests that schools should ask for evidence that students care about other people. But the report does have its critics. Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, said that every few years, someone makes the same argument for changes, but no real change has happed yet. Even many of the schools that agree with the report still make no changes.

Lloyd Thacker, Executive Director of the Education Conservancy, said that until a majority of schools agree to make the changes, there will still be problems. However, he said, the admissions process was better in the past. If bad changes can affect the process, so can good ones.

1.What is the problems of the admissions process according to the report?

A. The schools ask too many things from the applying students.

B. The schools attach too much importance to students’ academic records

C. The number of students getting admitted is too small

D. Admissions officers consider too many unimportant factors

2.What is usually missing in an essay?

A. The reasons to attend the school

B. A description of interests

C. Recommendation letters from adults

D. Evidence that students care about others

3.Bob Schaeffer argues that _________.

A. not all changes are good

B. the largest schools are expected to make changes first

C. no schools currently agree with the report

D. some schools don’t make changes even if they agree

4.What’s Lloyd Thacker’s attitude toward the possible change in the admissions process?

A. Confident　　 B. Negative

C. Doubtful　　 D. Unclear

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Are you interested in higher education in the United States? The following advice might help you.

●　　 College, University or Institute

College and universities offer undergraduate degrees in arts and sciences. And both can help prepare young people to earn a living. But many colleges don't offer graduate studies. Universities are generally bigger, offer more programs and do more research. An institute of technology can offer a wide choice of programs and activities. Seventy-five percent of freshmen go there with a strong interest and involvement in the arts.

●　　 The Application Process

International admissions officers advise students to apply to at least three schools. You may be able to apply online and pay the application charge with a credit card, or by mail. You should study the websites of schools to find information about how and when to apply, how much it will cost and whether any financial aid is available.

●　　 Get a Student Card

If you requesting a visa for the first time, you will have to go to an American embassy or consulate（领事馆）. You will need to bring a government form sent to you by your American school that shows you have been accepted. A consular official will also take your picture and your fingerprints. You will also need banking and tax records that show you have enough money to pay for your education.

●　　 Financial Aid

American schools provide aid, like scholarships, fellowships, to almost half of foreign graduate students, but only ten percent of undergraduates. But grants, which, unlike a loan, does not have to be paid.

1.It can be inferred from the passage that American colleges and universities 　　　　 .

A. have their own origins in institutes of technology

B. have both similarities and differences

C. can offer a wide choice of programs and activities

D. provide about seventy-five percent students with art courses

2.In what order should the steps for applying to an American school be completed by a foreign student?

a. Apply online

b. Find out how much it will cost and whether any financial aid is available online

c. Pay the application charge with a credit card, or by mail

d. Choose at least three schools

e. Find information about how and when to apply online

A. a-c-e-d-b　　 B. e-d-c-a-b

C. d-a-c-e-b　　 D. b-c-e-d-a

3.To apply for a vise for the first time, you'll have to do the following things EXCEPT 　　　　 .

A. paying an American embassy or consulate some money

B. taking your picture and your fingerprints

C. showing a government form given by the American school admitting you

D. providing evidence that you have enough money to pay for your education

4.The purpose of the passage is 　　　　 .

A. to make some money

B. to provide foreign students with a guide

C. to improve education quality

D. to attract foreign visitors to America

高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

In China, all the students work hard at school _________ going to university for higher education in the future.

A. in the habit of          B. in the hope of

C. in search of            D. in honor of

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

What will higher education look like in 2050? That was the question addressed Tuesday night by Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University.

“We’re at the end of the fourth wave of change in higher education,” Crow began, arguing that research universities followed the initial establishment of higher education, public colleges, and land-grant schools in the timeline of America.

In less than a half-century, he said, global market competition will be at its fastest rates of change ever, with several multitrillion-dollar economies worldwide. According to a recent projection, the nation’s population could reach 435 million, with a large percentage of those residents economically disadvantaged. In addition, climate change will be “meaningfully uncontrollable” in many parts of the world.

The everyday trends seen today, such as declining performance of students at all levels, particularly in math and science, and declining wages and employment among the less educated, will only continue, Crow maintained, and are, to say the least, not contributing to fulfilling the dream of climbing the social ladder mobility, quality of life, sustainable environment, and longer life spans that most Americans share.

“How is it that we can have these great research universities and have negative-trending outcomes?” Crow said in a talk “I hold the universities accountable. … We are part of the problem.”

Among the “things that we do that make the things that we teach less learnable,” Crow said, are the strict separation of disciplines, academic rigidity, and conservatism, the desire of universities to imitate schools at the top of the social ranks, and the lack of the computer system ability that would allow a large number of students to be educated for a small amount of money.

Since 2002, when Crow started being in charge at Arizona State — which he calls the “new American university” — he has led more than three dozen initiatives that aim to make the school “inclusive, scalable, fast, adaptive, challenge-focused, and willing to take risks.”

Among those initiatives were a restructuring of the engineering and life sciences schools to create more linkages between disciplines; the launch of the School of Earth and Space Exploration and the School of Sustainability; the start of a Teachers College to address K-12 performance and increase the status of the Education Department at the university; and broadened access, increasing the freshman class size by 42 percent and the enrollment of students living below the poverty line by 500 percent.

Universities must start, Crow noted, “by becoming self-reflective architects, figuring out what we have and what we actually need instead of what legend tells us we have to be.” Research universities today have “run their course,” he added. “Now is the time for variety.”

During a discussion afterward, Crow clarified and expanded on some of his points. He discussed, for example, the school’s distance-learning program. “Nearly 40 percent of undergraduates are taking at least one course online,” he said, which helps the school to keep costs down while advancing interactive learning technologies.

He said that Arizona State is working to increase the transfer and completion rates of community-college students, of whom only about 15 percent, historically, complete their later degrees. “We’ve built a system that will allow them to track into universities,” particularly where “culturally complex barriers” beyond finances limit even the most gifted students.

1.The fourth wave of change in America’s higher education refers to _______.

A. public colleges

B. land-grant schools

C. research universities

D. initial higher education

2.Which is NOT part of the American dream most people share?

A. People enjoy a quality life.

B. People live longer and longer.

C. The freedom to move around.

D. An environment that is sustainable.

3.Which is an initiative adopted by Crow at Arizona State University?

A. Restructuring the teachers College.

B. Launching the School of Life Sciences.

C. Ignoring the linkages between disciplines.

D. Enrolling more students from poor families.

4.Which one is similar to the underlined word “architect” in meaning?

A. The author of the guidebook is an architect by profession.

B. If you want to refurnish the house, consult the architect.

C. Deng Xiaoping is one of the architects of the PRC.

D. Tom is considered one of the best landscape architect here.

5.With the distance-learning program, Arizona State University is able to ______.

A. enroll 40% of its students online

B. keep costs down without a loss of quality

C. provide an even greater number of courses

D. attract the most gifted students all over the world

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

What will higher education look like in 2050? That was the question addressed Tuesday night by Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University.

“We’re at the end of the fourth wave of change in higher education,” Crow began, arguing that research universities followed the initial establishment of higher education, Public colleges, and land-grant schools in the timeline of America.

In less than a half-century, he said, global market competition will be at its fastest rates of change ever, with several multitrillion — dollar economies worldwide. According to a recent projection, the nation’s population could reach 435 million, with a large percentage of those residents economically disadvantaged. In addition, climate change will be meaningfully uncontrollable in many parts of the world.

The everyday trends seen today, such as declining performance of students at all levels, particularly in math and science, and declining wages and employment among the less educated, will only continue. Crow maintained, and are to say the least, not contributing to fulfilling the dream of climbing the social ladder mobility, quality of life, sustainable environment, and longer life spans that most Americans share.

“How is it that we can have these great research universities and have negative-trending outcomes?” Crow said in a talk “I hold the universities accountable.... We are part of the problem.” Among the “things that we do that make the things that we teach less learnable,” Crow said, are the strict separation of disciplines, academic rigidity, and conservatism, the desire of universities to imitate schools at the top of the social ranks, and the lack of the computer system ability that would allow a large number of students to be educated for a small amount of money.

Since 2002, when Crow started being in charge at Arizona State — which he calls the “new American university” — he has led more than three dozen initiatives that aim to make the school “inclusive, scalable, fast, adaptive, challenge-focused, and willing to take risks.”

Among those initiatives were a restructuring of the engineering and life sciences schools to create more linkages between disciplines; the launch of the School of Earth and Space Exploration and the School of sustainability; the start of a Teachers College to address K-12 performance and increase the status of the Education Department at the university; and broadened access, increasing the freshman class size by 42 percent and the enrollment of students living below the poverty line by 500 percent.

Universities must start, Crow noted, “by becoming self-reflective architects, figuring out what we have and what we actually need instead of what legend tells us we have to be.” Research universities today have “run their course,” he added. “Now is the time for variety.”

During a discussion afterward, Crow clarified and expanded on some of his points. He discussed, for example, the school's distance-leading program. “Nearly 40 percent of undergraduates are taking at least one course online,” he said, which helps the school to keep costs down while advancing interactive learning technologies.

He said that Arizona State is working to increase the transfer and completion rates of community-college students, of whom only about 15 percent, historically, complete their later degrees. “We’ve built a system that will allow them to track into universities,” particularly where “culturally complex barriers” beyond finances limit even the most gifted students.

1.The fourth wave of change in America's higher education refers to ________.

A.public colleges B.land-grant schools

C.research universities D.initial higher education

2.Which is NOT part of the American dream most people share _________.

A.People enjoy a quality life. B.People live longer and longer.

C.The freedom to move around. D.An environment that is sustainable.

3.Which one is similar to the underlined word “architect” in meaning?

A.The author of the guidebook is an architect by profession.

B.If you want to refurnish the house, consult the architect.

C.Deng Xiaoping is one of the architects of the PRC.

D.Tom is considered one of the best landscape architect here.

4.With the distance-learning program, Arizona State University is able to ___________ .

A.enroll 40% of its students online

B.keep costs down without a loss of quality

C.provide an even greater number of courses

D.attract the most gifted students all over the world

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析