Four in 10 Chinese complain about the great gap between large investments in education and its returns, a recent nationwide survey has showed.
The Horizon Research Consultancy Group polled 3,355 residents aged 16 to 60 in both urban and rural areas, including Beijing and Shanghai.
The survey found that only 16 percent of respondents believed their investments on education gave good returns.
Those with higher education voiced greater disappointment at the quality of education received, the survey showed.
People in the rural areas generally gave more positive feedback（反馈）on the quality of education than those from the cities, the survey found.
"Our education has been focusing on an examination-oriented system," Huo Qingwen, the deputy director of language education testing service center under the Beijing Foreign Studies University, told China Daily yesterday.
"The survey result doesn't surprise me, as I had heard complaints not only from the students, but also from the teachers who have been asked to focus more about the exam-passing rate," Huo said.
"The job market is still hungry for talented staff, but many graduates are not competent(胜任的) because the posts require more practical experience and creative ability of workers," Huo added.
Most university graduates prefer jobs in large cities, causing an imbalance in human resources between urban and rural areas, Hong said.
The graduates would get better job options if they chose to work at the grassroots (基础的) level because of the government's preferential policies, including the waiving of tuition for those willing to work in the country's rural and western regions, he added.
About 580,000 graduates last year found county- or village-level jobs, and more than 550,000 got jobs in the central and western regions, Ministry of Education figures showed.
"Because many graduates focus only on jobs with high salaries and that are directly relevant to their specialties, they miss other good work opportunities," Kong Xiang, a Beijing graduate who works as an English teacher in a college located at a remote area in Yunnan province, said.
The recent survey showed that education costs form one-quarter of an urban family's income, while it forms one-third of a rural family's income.
46．According to the passage, most people think that _______
A. the investments in education gave them good returns.
B. the investments in education don’t bring them good results.
C. college students are satisfied with their the education received.
D. People in the cities are more satisfied with the quality of education than those in the rural areas.
47．Which of the following is NOT mentioned?
A. China’s education has been focusing on an examination-oriented system .
B. Both the teachers and students are asked to pay more attention to the exam-passing rate.
C. The job market now does not lack university graduates.
D. Most university graduates enjoy hunting jobs in large cities.
48. What would happen to the graduates if they chose to work at the grassroots level?
A. They would get higher salaries. B. They would get lower salaries.
C. Their tuition would be free. D. They would get better job choices.
49. How much does the education cost according to the survey ?
A. One-third of a family's income.
B. one-quarter of a rural family's income.
C. 25% of an urban family's income.
D. Three in ten a rural family's income.
50. Which of the following can be the best title of this passage.
A. The gap between investments in education and its returns
B. Education and university graduates
C. China’s higher education
D. Education costs
The British aren’t having as many children as they used to. One reason is that people are having children much older than before, meaning they have fewer years in which they can have them. After years at university, they need a few years of work experience before they can get the job they want. They might then get married, but it’s incredibly expensive to buy a house in the UK.
The above explains why young British people now don’t move out of their parents’ home until they are around 30 years old on average. It is not until they are 30 that they can afford their own home. Increasingly, it is not until that age that they can afford to get married and start a new life in a new home. It’s only after this age that many young people start thinking about having a child.
So a British person manages to get a job, get a home and get married. Why isn’t he or she then having at least two children on average? The main reason is that it is quite expensive to bring up a child in the UK. Why is it expensive? Well, these days, both parents need to work just to pay for their home and living expenses. Because both parents are at work, that means they then need to pay someone to look after their child during the day. Paying for this childcare is nearly always expensive.
The recent financial crisis is making things even harder for families, since unemployment is rising and even fewer people can afford to have children. With so much pressure on families, is it any surprise that the divorce rate is so high?
So what is Britain doing to try and save the British family? The government is trying to make it cheaper to have children. For example, there have been increases in money families can claim from the state each month. Also, there are increasing government subsidies for nursery schools, so that parents do not need to pay so much for child care.
The government is also trying to reduce the number of hours British parents have to work to earn enough money to pay their bills. If parents didn’t have to work so many hours, they’d have more time to spend with their children and wouldn’t need to spend so much on childcare. On average, a Briton works 49 hours a week, which is the most in Europe. The state is now considering introducing laws to encourage companies to improve their employees’ work-life balance. Let’s hope they’re not too late to save the British family. Otherwise, the British will always be too tired, and won’t have enough time and money, to have children. Young British people live in their parents’ home until around 30 because .
| A．They are allowed to get married at 30 |
| B．they can’t find jobs to support themselves |
| C．they can’t afford a house of their own until then |
| D．they enjoy family life with their parents |
The British are now having fewer children than before for all the following reasons EXCEPT that .
| A．they have fewer years to have children |
| B．they live much shorter lives than before |
| C．it is more expensive to bring up a child |
| D．people are losing their jobs because of the recent financial crisis |
To make it cheaper to have children, the British government is .
| A．bringing down prices |
| B．raising the salaries of parents |
| C．reducing family income tax |
| D．increasing subsidies for families and nursery schools |
It can be inferred from the text that .
| A．with long work hours, it is hard for British parents to balance life and work |
| B．more and more families in Britain are breaking up because they are having fewer children |
| C．among Europeans, British people work hardest and earn the least |
| D．childcare takes up too much energy and time for the British |
The underlined word “subsidies” in Paragraph 5 means _________.
| A．food paid by the government |
| B．school buildings for poor students |
| C．free transportation |
| D．money from the government to benefit the public |
She is quiet, soft-spoken and has a kind face and a strong heart. She is my mom, Lili.
When I was nine, Lili quitted her job and started her own business. She said she didn’t want to stay at home and work as a housewife: “It’s a waste of life.” Lili became so busy that she spent less and less time with me. She didn’t help me with my schoolwork. It was, in her words, “so that you can develop your independence”. We quarreled because she rarely showed up at parents’ meetings.
Like mother, like daughter. I have many things in common with Lili. I want everything to be under control. I want to be perfect and I don’t expect other people to help me. I push myself hard to achieve my goals.
After I started to go to high school, Lili and I were too busy to communicate much with each other.
In biology class I began to be depressed. When the teacher showed us a picture of a butterfly, I was scared and screamed. I had a vision of thousands of butterflies flying toward me.
That night I told Lili about it. The next morning, I saw that she had red eyes with black circles around them.
She took me to see a therapist (治疗师). Three hours later, the therapist told Lili that my life was like a wheel spinning (旋转) faster and faster and that was the reason for what had happened to me. I only realized it when my body couldn’t stand the pressure anymore. At these words, Lili burst into tears. “It’s all my fault, she’s just a kid and I didn’t have time to take care of her….” To be honest, I had never seen Lili cry before.
After that, Lili began to spend more time at home, cooking and dragging me to do sports. I realized she was the one who would always be there when I was in real trouble. No mom is perfect, but she is the one who really cares about her kid.Lili quitted her job and started her own business because _________.
| A．she wanted to make more money | B．she was not willing to look after me |
| C．she didn’t want to waste her life | D．she likes keeping busy |
We quarreled because __________.
| A．she began to spend less and less time with me |
| B．she didn’t help me with my schoolwork. |
| C．she seldom attended the parents’ meetings in my school. |
| D．Lili and I were too busy to communicate much with each other. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Most women don’t want to be a housewife. |
| B．Most children want their mothers to accompany them at home. |
| C．We need to understand our mothers’ busy life. |
| D．Although mothers are not perfect, they all love the children |
Which of the following statements is WRONG?
| A．Lili is a quiet, strong-willed woman. |
| B．Lili began to spend more time at home after visiting the therapist. |
| C．I was scared and screamed in biology class because I hate butterflies. |
| D．I only realized my life was like a wheel when my body couldn’t stand the pressure anymore. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Mom Does Care. | B．A Busy but Successful Mother. |
| C．Change From Mother to Businessman. | D．A Student’s Opinion on Mother. |
About half American teenagers do not get enough sleep on school nights.They get an average of sixty to ninety minutes less than experts say they need.
One reason for this is biology.Experts say teens are biologically programmed to go to sleep later and wake up later than other age groups.Yet many schools start classes as early as seven in the morning.As a result，many students go to class feeling like sixteenyearold Danny.He is an active teen— except in the morning.“Getting up in the morning is pretty terrible.I’m just very out of it and tired.Through the first and second period I can hardly stay awake,” he said.
Michael Breus is a psychologist.Teens，he says，need to sleep eight to nine hours or even nine to ten hours a night.He says sleepy teens can experience a form of depression(消沉) that could have big influence on their general well being.It can affect not just their ability in the classroom but also on the sports field and on the road.So what can schools do about sleepy students？The psychologist says one thing they can do is to start classes later in the morning.Studies show that students can improve by a full letter grade in their first and second period classes.
Eric Peterson is the head of St.George’s School in the northeastern state of Rhode Island.He wanted to see if a thirtyminute delay(推迟)would make a difference.It did.He says visits to the health center by tired students decreased by half.Late arrivals to the first period fell by a third.And students reported that they were less sleepy during the day.Eric Peterson knows that changing start times is easier at a small school like his.But he is hopeful that other schools will find a way.What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．Later classes，fewer sleepy teens |
| B．Early birds have good food |
| C．Early to bed and early to rise |
| D．Fewer classes，more happiness |
The underlined word“this”in the second paragraph refers to________.
| A．teenagers’ staying up |
| B．teenagers’ getting up late |
| C．teenagers’ not getting enough sleep |
| D．teenagers’ not studying seriously |
Michael Breus thinks that________.
| A．teens should get up early |
| B．teens need enough sleep to be lively |
| C．depression is common in teens |
| D．the first period class should be cut off |
The last paragraph tells us________.
| A．Eric Peterson visits the health center every day |
| B．it’s not easy for Eric Peterson to change start times |
| C．students in St.George’s School can get up later than before |
| D．students in St.George’s School aren’t late for school any more |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Danny is a lazy boy and always late for school. |
| B．Teens should go to bed early and get up early, too. |
| C．The psychologist has no idea how to solve the problem. |
| D．Enough sleep makes a healthy and active student. |
Mary Jean Price Walls graduated second in her class in 1950.She had high hopes when she applied to a local college,Southwest Missouri State College.But after sending off her application，she spent months waiting for a reply.It never came.
Worse than simply being denied admission(拒绝接收)，the school didn’t reply to her at all.It wasn’t a matter of her school records，but of her skin color：Wallsis African American，and in those days，that fact alone closed a lot of doors. “I was sad and I was hurt,”Walls told ABC News.“I did not expect the skin color would affect my application.I thought I could go to university like other students.”
Four years later，the government declared that all schools should not discriminate against(歧视)African Americans— but it was too late for Walls.She’d moved on with her life, becoming a wife and a mother，and working as an elevator operator.She retired last year，at the age of 77.
She stayed quiet about the unfairness she’d faced in Missouri State.Her son，Terry，went through school records and found that she’d been the first black student to ever apply to the college.Today,four percent of the Southwest Missouri State College body is African American—including Terry.
Although it’s too late for Missouri State to change the past，the school is awarding Walls with an honorary degree(荣誉学位)from the school.While she knows it’s too late for herto change the course of her own life with the degree，it’s a chance for her to show her family that Missouri State has changed in the last 60 years，and there’s not a single door closed to them anymore.Walls couldn’t enter the local college because________.
| A．her examination performance is too bad |
| B．girls were not allowed to go to college |
| C．she was an AfricanAmerican student |
| D．her parents had no enough money to support her |
Before she was denied Walls thought that________.
| A．her application would be accepted as others’ |
| B．it was hard to become a college student |
| C．it was impossible for her to be admitted |
| D．she could be the best student in her college |
What can we know about Walls’s son?
| A．He helped his mother get the honorary degree. |
| B．He is a good student who teachers like best. |
| C．He was admitted by the college once his mother applied to. |
| D．He wants to be a government official who can help his mother. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Walls did not fight for her right to education. |
| B．The college did not receive Walls’s application. |
| C．Walls got a good job after she received the degree. |
| D．The government gave Walls some money for the wrongs. |
Walls’s honorary degree suggests that________.
| A．she could change her life with the degree |
| B．her dream of going to college has come true |
| C．she has been leading a happy life with her family |
| D．great changes have taken place in Missouri State |
I began working in journalism（新闻工作）when I was eight. It was my mother’s idea. She wanted me to “make something” of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition.
With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself highly visible, making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. When it was suppertime, I walked back home.
“ How many did you sell, my boy?” my mother asked.
“ None.”
“ Where did you go?”
“ The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues.”
“ What did you do?”
“ Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post.”
“ You just stood there?”
“ Didn’t sell a single one.”
“ My God, Russell!”
Uncle Allen put in, “ Well, I’ve decided to take the Post.” I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickle（五分镍币）. It was the first nickle I earned.
Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address adults with self-confidence（自信）, and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.
One day, I told my mother I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business.
“ If you think you can change your mind like this,” she replied, “ you’ll become a good-for-nothing.” She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines. Whenever I said no, she would scold me.
My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful journalist as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love.Why did the boy start his job young?
| A．He wanted to be famous in the future. |
| B．The job was quite easy for him. |
| C．His mother had high hopes for him. |
| D．The competiton for the job was fierce. |
From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was _______.
| A．excited | B．interested | C．ashamed | D．disappointed(失望的) |
What did the mother do when the boy wanted to give up?
| A．She forced him to continue. | B．She punished him. |
| C．She gave him some money. | D．She changed her plan. |
What does the underlined phrase “this battle”（last paragraph） refer to?
| A．The war between the boy’s parents. |
| B．The arguing between the boy and his mother. |
| C．The quarrel between the boy and his customers. |
| D．The fight between the boy and his father. |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．The early life of a journalist. |
| B．The early success of a journalist. |
| C．The happy childhood of the writer. |
| D．The important role of the writer in his family. |
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