Freshers’ WeekIn British universities, new st...

Freshers’ Week

In British universities, new students have a special name: they are called Freshers. After their A-level exams, young people in the UK often make a fresh start by going to university. Which can involve leaving their family and moving to a new city. 1..

Freshers’ Week is a chance to make lots of new friends and try out different hobbies. Most universities in the UK have a Union building: a place where students go to have fun. 2. It also hosts various societies, including sports teams, political groups, etc. Students buy a membership to be part of a society and go to social events to meet others with similar interests. Sometimes there are quite a lot of students in lectures so it is difficult to get to know people in class. Therefore, each subject has its own club, such as the English Society and the Philosophy Society.

3. Tours of the town, creative workshops and parties are great ways to socialize with others. Sometimes famous singers come and play concerts especially for the new students of the university. There are also opportunities to go on trips to theme parks or other big cities nearby.

Students often move into “halls of residence” in their first year. 4. This is an excellent way to make friends but sometimes it can be difficult if you don’t get along with your new flat-mates or if the shared area gets very messy.

Freshers’ Week can be quite an exhausting experience because so many activities happen at once. A lot of students feel homesick when they first arrive on campus and keep themselves very busy to avoid feeling sad about leaving their family. Some students use their new liberty to drink a lot of alcohol and eat unhealthy food during Freshers’ Week. 5. However, it is supposed to be the best week of your life, and it is also an opportunity to make friends. Remember that it is only the beginning of your time at university and that you have three years ahead of you.

A. Usually it has shops, bars and even underground nightclubs.

B. They live in apartments with their own bedrooms but share a kitchen.

C. The best part of it is that you can share your interests with people around.

D. In Freshers’ Week, lots of activities are organized for Freshers to meet each other.

E. Then comes the great opportunity to make friends, join clubs and settle into university life.

F. This can cause “Freshers’ flu”: people get ill after a week of late nights and non-stop parties.

G. The first week of university life is called Freshers’ Week and is both an exciting and scary experience.

高二英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析

Every year, it costs British students more and more to attend university. Students are graduating with larger and larger debts. So is a college degree really worth it?

In 2006, the UK government started to allow universities in England and Wales to charge British students tuition fees. As a result, more than 80 percent of students in England and Wales now take out a student loan in order to go to university.

They use the loan to pay for tuition fees and living expenses. Although the interest on student loans is quite low, it begins as soon as the student receives the loan.

The average student in England and Wales now graduates from university with a debt of around ￡12,000 (122,952 yuan). It means graduates have to struggle to pay rent on a flat, because they have to start paying back the student loan when they reach April after graduating. If you start to earn over ￡15,000 (153,630 yuan) a year, the government takes repayments directly from your monthly salary.

You might think that a person with a degree would find it easy to get a well-paid job. However, most people in “white collar jobs” seem to have a degree, so there is a lot of competition. Also, British companies tend to value work experience over a piece of paper.

All of the above is beginning to make British people question whether a university degree is really worth the money. Even before the credit crisis started, the BBC stated: “The number of British students at UK universities has fallen for the first time in recent history, from 1.97 million in 2007 to 1.96 million last year.”

Meanwhile, the British universities offer more and more of the available places to richer international students rather than poorer British students. What does the future hold for British higher education?

1.What can we infer from the second paragraph?

A. Universities’ charging students fees is quite common all over the world.

B. It’s unfair to charge college students fees in England and Wales.

C. Before 2006 the UK universities didn’t charge students tuition fees in England and Wales.

D. The UK universities are unwilling to carry out the government’s policy.

2.What might be the reason that the number of British students at UK universities falls?

A. It’s harder and harder for them to get a degree.

B. The credit crisis has great influnce on their families’ income.

C. College education costs them too much.

D. The competition to become a “white collar” is too fiece.

3.What does the underlined words “a piece of paper” refer to?

A. A written document from the bank.                 B. A letter of recommendation.

C. A filled application form.                                      D. A diploma.

4.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A. More Profits for the Banks                                  B. College Life in the UK

C. Welcome! International Students                     D. UK Universities Students Become Poorer

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

Every year, it costs British students more and more to attend university. Students are graduating with larger and larger debts. So is a college degree really worth it?

In 2006, the UK government started to allow universities in England and Wales to charge British students

tuition fees (学费). As a result, more than 80 percent of students in England and Wales now take out a student loan in order to go to university.

They use the loan to pay for tuition fees and living expenses. Although the interest on student loans is quite low, it begins as soon as the student receives the loan.

The average student in England and Wales now graduates from university with a debt of around ￡12,000 (122,952 yuan). It means graduates have to struggle to pay rent on a flat, because they have to start paying back the student loan when they reach the April after graduating. If you start to earn over ￡15,000 (153,630 yuan) a year, the government takes repayments directly from your monthly salary.

You might think that a person with a degree would find it easy to get a well-paid job. However, most people in “white collar jobs” seem to have a degree, so there is a lot of competition. Also, British companies tend to value work experience over a piece of paper.

All of the above is beginning to make British people question whether a university degree is really worth the money. Even before the credit crisis started, the BBC stated: “The number of British students at UK universities has fallen for the first time in recent history, from 1.97 million   in 2007 to 1.96 million last year [2008].”

“Student poverty” is now considered a real problem. Meanwhile, the British universities offer more and more of the available places to richer international students rather than poorer British students. What does the future hold for British higher education?

1.What makes British students question the worth of a university degree?

A. Higher university expenses.                  B. Lower education quality.

C. A higher interest rate on student loans.         D. Greater difficulty obtaining student loans.

2.According to the article, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. University tuition fees in all parts of Britain have been on the rise since 2006.

B. Interest on a student loan starts as soon as the student receives it.

C. Britons have always questioned the worth of a university degree.

D. University graduates need to pay off their loans right upon graduation.

3.Which of the following is NOT a factor that concerns a British university graduate?

A. Fierce competition in the job market.                B. The burden of a large debt.

C. Lack of experience.                              D. Fewer job openings.　　　　　　　　　　　　　

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Last week the British university system offered a record number of places. That sounds like good news—but do we really need more people to go to university? For that matter, does the world need more universities?

The answer feels like it should be yes.

Education is good, is it not? But everything has a cost.

Education takes time. We could insist that everyone study full-time until the age of 45 but that would surely be too much. And perhaps half the population studying until they’re 21 is also too much. As for universities, they consume financial and intellectual resources—perhaps those resources might be better spent elsewhere.

My own personal opinion is strongly in favour both of going to university, and of simply having universities around.

The main skill I learnt at university was to write about economics, and I use that skill every day of my professional life, even an abstract education seems practical to me. And I now live in Oxford, one of the world’s most celebrated (著名的) university cities. Oxford’s experience certainly suggests that universities have much to offer.

The city’s architecture and green spaces have been shaped—greatly for the better, on balance —by the 900-year-old institution at its heart. The beauty attracts tourists and locals too.

But these are samples of one. Many people do not find themselves using the skills and knowledge they accumulated at university. And Oxford’s dreaming spires (尖顶) aren’t terribly representative of global universities as a whole.

1.Which of the following is the most proper title?

A. Does the world need more universities?

B. Is education really necessary?

C. Is British university system the best?

D. Do you prefer universities abroad?

2.Which of the following about the writer is TRUE?

A. He is an economist now.

B. He likes Oxford’s architecture and green spaces most.

C. The skill he learnt at university is practical in his career.

D. He holds the view that going to univeristy is a waste of resources.

3.The writer develops the passage by ______.

A. comparing his experience with others’

B. persuading us with his own experience and opinion

C. describing and sharing his own university experience

D. informing us of the advantages of universities

4.In the following part, the writer is likely to ______.

A. list more supporting details about his opinion

B. show more disadvantages about going to universities

C. present some opposite opinions about universities

D. draw a conclusion about the topic

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

According to a new study by a British’s university , learning ______ second language can lead to ________ increase in your brain power.

A) a ; the         B) 不填；the     C）a ；an       D）the ；an

高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

A new report says the number of foreign students at colleges and universities in the United States increased by three percent last year. This has been the first obvious increase since 2001.

American schools last fall had 583,000 foreign students. The record is 586,000. That was set in 2002 after many years of gains. But after that the numbers fell. The terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 led to more visa (签证) requirements. Now stronger efforts are being made to get more foreign students to study in the United States.

China remained in second place in front of South Korea but behind India, whichsent almost 84,000 students last fall. The number of Japanese fell sharply by nine percent, although it remained in fourth place.

There were three percent drops from Indonesia and Kenya, the only African country in the top twenty last year. But there were obvious increases from Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Vietnam. The number of Saudi students more than doubled, rising to nearly eight thousand.

For a sixth year, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles had the most foreign students. Columbia University in New York was second. Other schools in the top five were New York University, the University of Illinois and Purdue University.

Unlike American students in other countries, who often choose history and language study, the leading area of study in the USA was business and management. Second was engineering.

The new report also says more than 220,000 Americans studied in other countries. That was during the 2005-2006 school year. It was a record number, and an increase of eight and a half percent from the year before. But only five percent of them stayed for a full year.

1.After 2002, the number of foreign students in the USA fell mainly because ____.

A．Americans were worried that foreign students might attack them

B．few American universities welcomed students from abroad

C．their own countries could offer them a better education

D．it was harder for foreign students to get permission to study in the USA

2.Which of the following Asian countries has the largest number of studentsstudying

in the USA?

A．China.            B．Japan.            C．South Korea.       D．India.

3.Which subject is the most attractive to foreign students in the USA?

A．Business and management.                B．History.

C．Engineering.                           D．Language.

4.We can learn from the passage that ____ .

A．Kenya is the only African country that has students in the USA

B．now foreign students are encouraged to study in the USA

C．the number of students studying in America always increases

D．the number of foreign students in the USA will keep increasing in the future

5.In which section of a newspaper could you most probably read this passage?

A．Culture.           B．Science.           C．Education.         D．Business.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A new report says the number of foreign students at colleges and universities in the United States increased by three percent last year. This has been the first obvious increase since 2001.

American schools last fall had 583,000 foreign students. The record is 586,000. That was set in 2002 after many years of gains. But after that the numbers fell. The terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 led to more visa (签证) requirements. Now stronger efforts are being made to get more foreign students to study in the United States.

China remained in second place in front of South Korea but behind India, which sent almost 84,000 students last fall. The number of Japanese fell sharply by nine percent, although it remained in fourth place.

There were three percent drops from Indonesia and Kenya, the only African country in the top twenty last year. But there were obvious increases from Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Vietnam. The number of Saudi students more than doubled, rising to nearly eight thousand.

For a sixth year, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles had the most foreign students. Columbia University in New York was second. Other schools in the top five were New York University, the University of Illinois and Purdue University.

Unlike American students in other countries, who often choose history and language study, the leading area of study in the USA was business and management. Second was engineering.

The new report also says more than 220,000 Americans studied in other countries. That was during the 2005-2006 school year. It was a record number, and an increase of eight and a half percent from the year before. But only five percent of them stayed for a full year.

1.After 2002, the number of foreign students in the USA fell mainly because ____ .

A．Americans were worried that foreign students might attack them

B．few American universities welcomed students from abroad

C．their own countries could offer them a better education

D．it was harder for foreign students to get permission to study in the USA

2.Which of the following Asian countries has the largest number of students studying in the USA?

A．China.            B．Japan.            C．South Korea.       D．India.

3.Which subject is the most attractive to foreign students in the USA?

A．Business and management.                B．History.

C．Engineering.                           D．Language.

4.We can learn from the passage that ____ .

A．Kenya is the only African country that has students in the USA

B．now foreign students are encouraged to study in the USA

C．the number of students studying in America always increases

D．the number of foreign students in the USA will keep increasing in the future

5.In which section of a newspaper could you most probably read this passage?

A．Culture.           B．Science.           C．Education.         D．Business.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

British engineers at a company called Reaction Engines, have successfully tested a whole new kind of jet engine, named Sabre, Financial Times is reporting, so that the time of long-distance flight could be halved, or even quartered. Britain’s Orange News says jets with the new engine could fly from London to Sydney in four hours, instead of the usual twelve to sixteen hours and Mail Online adds that new engine not only allows for faster travel but pollutes less and the fuel for it costs less as well.

The secret to the new engine is patented(获得专利) and this new technology very quickly changes air from normal temperature to super-cold temperature. This means the engine can run faster without breaking apart due to overheating, which keeps most modern jets from traveling faster. The engine is air-breathing and use hydrogen as its fuel source. In addition to flying faster, a jet with the new engine would also fly much higher, allowing for an even faster flight in the very thin air. Because of the very high speed produced by the engine and the high altitude, a jet with Sabre in it would not have any windows.

This is the biggest breakthrough in jet technology since the invention of the jet engine, and they expect new aircraft with the new engine to be traveling in the sky in just ten years. They also note that tests of the engine were overseen by the European Space Agency which has now wholly supported the new engine and has even begun talking about booking flight time with future jets that could be used to deliver satellites into orbit around the earth.

This technology is not something that happens overnight. Instead, it is the result of many years’ hard work by thousands of engineers from over seventeen countries. Research has suggested that, with advances in jet plane technology to match the engine, flights could eventually reach speeds of nearly 20,000 miles per hour, making travel to distant parts of the globe as quick and simple as driving across town.

1.Which advantage of jets with the new engine is NOT mentioned?

A. traveling faster　　 B. polluting less

C. costing less　　 D. flying more safely

2.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 1 refer to ?

A. Reaction Engines.　　 B. A long-distance flight.

C. A jet with the new engine.　　 D. Mail Online.

3.The modern jets without the new engine can’t travel faster mainly because ________.

A. their engines can’t stay cool

B. they use a normal fuel source

C. they just fly at very high altitudes

D. their engines can’t allow jets to fly in the thin air

4.The European Space Agency hoped to ________.

A. be in charge of testing the technology

B. play the leading role in jet technology

C. use jets with the new engine to launch satellites

D. buy all the products made by Reaction Engines

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

What I wish I had known at 18

As this year’s new intake of students begin university life, we asked speakers at the FT’s Weekend Festival — authors, comedians, academics and FT columnists — to tell us what they wish they had known when they were 18, and for their tips on getting the most out of university.

Martin Wolf, FT chief economics commentator

The answer to that question ‘what do you wish you had known at 18?’ is nothing. I already knew that university was going to be very exciting, intellectually rewarding as it turned out to be for me — I was at Oxford for six years. It changed me very profoundly intellectually. I’m sure I didn’t know what was going to happen to me and if I look back on my life now — this is more than 50 years ago — all pleasure and excitement comes out of the things you never expected.

Jamie Susskind, barrister and author of ‘Future Politics’

The first people you meet are not necessarily going to be your best friends - don’t worry about it. Don’t get caught up in trying to go to the parties everyone’s expected to go to, rather, try to find people with whom you can forge close connections and who will be with you decades afterwards. You may identify them by doing more listening than speaking. When a lot of people get to university, understandably, they want to tell their new friends who they are and where they are from — but it’s as important to listen, and drink in all these incredibly different people from backgrounds that are completely unlike your own.

Phil Wang, comedian

Break up with your girlfriend or boyfriend, don’t stay together. Leave everyone behind. Your love is not special, there’s a wider world out there and you should take advantage of it. Also, join some societies. I didn’t do that, and I wish I had. It’s possible to feel that you don’t deserve to be there. You should be aware that everybody feels that way. Either have a balanced experience or excel at something, but don’t be mediocre at one thing. If you’re going to be average, at least be average at a bunch of things so you have a full experience.

1.We can learn from the second paragraph that Martin thinks his university life was _____.

A.Nothing special. B.Totally unexpected.

C.Interesting and rewarding. D.Confusing.

2.According to Jamie, how can we make friends in a university?

A.Develop close relationship with the first people we meet.

B.Go to parties as more as possible.

C.Tell others our personal stories.

D.Listen to others and be friends with people different from us.

3.What does the underlined word “mediocre” mean in the fourth paragraph?

A.common B.normal C.content D.bored

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Almost 55,000 people who have had a major impact on British society are profiled in a new 60-volume book that has taken 12 years to compile.

It has cost more than ￡25 million and taken 10,000 writers to update the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Murder victims Stephen Lawrence and James Bulger are among those joining the likes of Queen Victoria and Gandhi.

The new version of the dictionary, which was founded in 1882, costs ￡7,500 and takes up 12 feet of shelf space.

Projects director Robert Faber said Stephen Lawrence was included because his death triggered "dramatic developments in British policing and social policy".

Women make up 10% of the entries - double the previous share - and include Queen Elizabeth I, Dusty Springfield, Linda McCartney and Virginia Woolf, whose father compiled the first edition.

Alongside the famous names are lesser known individuals such as the inventor of snooker, army reservist (预备役军人) Neville Chamberlain.

Stephen Lawrence and James Bulger were both included because of the "overwhelming soul-searching (真挚的自我反省、深思) and examination of education and social policy" which followed their deaths.

Mr Faber said: "These are not just people who were killed but people who had an impact. Jill Dando is there as much for her career but also because her death became a public event.

"So many of these people have seized the public imagination and have contributed to public debate."？

2.It can be inferred that Jill Dando _____.

3._____ are collected in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

4.How much does a volume of the new version cost on average?

高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析