Ifapersontellsyouthatsomething-优题课

University is generally regarded as one of the most important times in a person’s life, yet the function of this institution continues to arouse debate. Many believe that arts subjects are too easy, that practical skills are more useful and that a chosen subject for study should be clearly linked to a career. However, this view is far too simplistic. Arts subjects are very difficult. They can prepare students for any number of careers as well as allowing the student to take time to make a decision. The function of the modern university is to cater to different types of student.
Arts subjects are not easy. For example, a degree in Literature is not an easy option. No question in a Literature class has a single, simple answer. Debate is conducted in a spirit of openness, texts are very closely analyzed and skills in close reading are developed. Literature is about language, our primary means of communication. Arts subjects require the same concentrated study as any other subject.
Arts subjects can prepare students for any number of careers. A degree in an arts subject teaches skills in well organized debates and defence of a position through the provision of evidence. These are applicable to many types of career. Law, for example. The point is that an undergraduate degree in any Arts subject trains the student in analysis and structure. Therefore, Arts graduates can pursue any number of careers.
Arts subjects allow the student to take time to choose a career. Love of the subject for its own sake may well be the initial motivation for the Arts undergraduate but because the subject they have chosen is not so clearly linked to a career they have time to reflect, making a decision only when they are absolutely certain. Students who pursue Arts subjects therefore have the leisure to make a carefully considered choice.
In conclusion, it is clear that Arts subjects are not a waste of time. They are flexible when it comes to relating them to a career and they allow the student to discover an appropriate career path. Many industries now acknowledge that a degree in Literature can be just as valuable as any other subject, especially when it is evident that Arts graduates tend to think more creatively. Not all undergraduates have clearly defined goals and not all subjects can be simply matched to a career. Acknowledging this difference should be the main function of a modern university
What does the author mainly argue in this article?

A．Universities should be aware of diversity	B．Universities should focus on practical courses.
C．Arts courses should be promoted.	D．Arts subjects are inappropriate for work.

What does the author imply about universities’ attitude to students?

A．They need to be more understanding of students’ needs.

B．They need to keep out arts students.

C．They need to link courses to careers.

D．They need to offer more arts courses.

The author suggests that technical subjects ____________.

A．are more important than arts subjects.	B．are more useful to the modern world.
C．have equal value to arts subjects.	D．are not as important as arts subjects.

From the article, we know skills acquired by arts undergraduates include___________.

A．Perception and investigation	B．Technique and motivation
C．Appreciation and dedication	D．Analysis and structure

According to the author, the students choose arts courses initially because ___________.

A．they are unsure about a career	B．they are interested in the subject
C．they hate technical subjects	D．they are creative people

The months and years went by. I had been Joe’s apprentice for four years.
One evening, Joe and I were sitting in the village inn. A stranger came in, a big, tall man, with heavy eyebrows. The man had large, very clean white hands. To my surprise, I recognized the man. I had seen him at Miss Havisham’s many years before. He had frightened me then. He frightened me a little now.
‘I think there is a blacksmith here----name of Joe Gargery,’ the man said in his loud voice.
‘That’s me!’ Joe answered. He stood up.
‘You have an apprentice, known as Pip,’ the stranger went on. ‘Where is he? ’
‘Here!’ I cried, standing beside Joe.
‘I wish to speak to you both. I wish to speak to you privately, not here,’ the man said. ‘Perhaps I could go home with you.’
We walked back to the workshop in silence. When we were in the sitting room, the man began to speak.
‘My name is Jaggers,’ he said. ‘I am a lawyer in London, where I am well-known. I have some unusual business with young Pip here. I am speaking for someone else, you understand. A client who doesn’t want to be named. Is that clear?’
Joe and I nodded.
‘I have come to take your apprentice to London,’ the lawyer said to Joe. ‘You won’t stop him from coming I hope?’
‘Stop him? Never! ’ Joe cried.
‘Listen, then. I have this message for Pip. He has ---- great expectations!’
Joe and I looked at each other, too surprised to speak.
‘Yes, great expectations’ Mr. Jaggers repeated. ‘Pip will one day be rich, very rich. Pip is to change his way of life at once. He will no longer be a blacksmith. He is to come with me to London. He is to be educated as a gentleman. He will be a man of property.’
And so, at last, my dream had come true. Miss Havisham----because Mr. Jaggers’ client must be Miss Havisham----had plans for me after all. I would be rich and Estella would love me!
Mr. Jaggers was speaking again. ‘There are two conditions,’ he said, looking at me. ‘First, you will always be known as Pip. Secondly,’ Mr. Jaggers continued, ‘the name of your benefactor is to be kept secret. One day, that person will speak to you, face to face. Until then, you must not ask any questions. You must never try to find out this person’s name. Do you understand? Speak out!’
‘Yes, I understand,’ I answered. ‘My benefactor’s name is to remain a secret.’
‘Good,’ Mr. Jaggers said. ‘Now, Pip, you will come into your property when you come of age----when you are twenty-one. Until then, I am your guardian. I have money to pay for your education and to allow you to live as a gentleman. You will have a private teacher. His name is Mr. Matthew Pocket and you will stay at his house.’
I gave a cry of surprise. Some of Miss Havisham’s relations were called Pocket. Mr. Jaggers raised his eyebrows.
‘Do you not want to live with Mr. Pocket? Have you any objection to this arrangement?’ he said severely.
‘No, no, none at all,’ I answered quickly.
‘Good. Then I will arrange everything,’ Mr. Jaggers went on. ‘Mr. Pocket’s son has rooms in London. I suggest you go there. Now when can you come to London?’
I looked at Joe.
‘At once, if Joe has no objection,’ I said.
‘No objection, Pip old chap,’ Joe answered.
‘Then you will come in one week’s time,’ Mr. Jaggers said, standing up. ‘You will need new clothes. Here is some money to pay for them. Twenty guineas.’
He counted the money and put it on the table.
‘Well, Joe Gargery, you are saying nothing,’ Mr. Jaggers said to Joe firmly. ‘I have money to give to you too.’
The underlined word “apprentice” in paragraph 1 means ____________.

A．a very good friend and companion

B．someone who has no money but is very skilled at their job

C．a young person who is being trained for a particular job

D．a person with no education living with another family

The author describes Mr. Jaggers as having ‘large, very clean white hands’ in order to ____________.

A．show how Pip recalls Mr Jaggers

B．provide a description of Mr. Jaggers to the readers only

C．indicate that Mr. Jaggers remains indoors a lot and doesn’t get much sun

D．show Mr Jaggers often washes his hands to rid himself of his own bad deeds as a lawyer

At the end of the passage above, Mr. Jaggers says he also has money to give Joe because ____________.

A．he believes he can also help Joe become a gentleman

B．he is repaying money loaned to Joe previously by the benefactor

C．the secret benefactor wants Joe to be his personal blacksmith

D．Joe will have to hire a new worker

Which of the following is not true according to the passage?

A．Joe is happy that Pip will go to London.

B．Mr. Jaggers does not want other people to know he is a lawyer.

C．Pip hopes Miss Havisham will help him become a gentleman

D．Pip will become very rich when he comes of age.

If someone has an accident in the afternoon, you should ____________.

A．Phone 37499	B．Ensure no one enters the danger area
C．Report to the Police station at J J Thomson Ave	D．Call an ambulance on 1-999

Where do you think you can find this notice?

A．In the Assembly area	B．At the Fire station
C．At the University	D．At Turner Hospital

Anytime you hear the fire alarm, you should _____________.

A．go to the Assembly area	B．phone the Fire brigade on 37499
C．use the red ‘break glass boxes’	D．make sure the fire alarms aren’t being tested

All writers dream of success. Yet some writers turn their back on success the moment it comes along. J.D. Salinger, the American author, is a good example.
On the face of it, the future did not look promising for the teenage Salinger. He seems always to have been running away from something. First it was school, then he dropped out of New York University. Finally, after failing to find a career in his father’s food import business and dropping out of yet another college he decided that his destiny was to be a writer. In the same year he joined a writing class at Columbia University which was taught by Whit Burnett, founder and editor of a magazine called Story. The March-April issue contained a story written by Salinger entitled ‘The Young Folks’. In it there are early versions of the moody, selfish youths that appear in his later fiction. Soon, his stories were appearing in various mass-circulation magazines but it was the famous New Yorker which he dreamed of, believing that publication within its covers would indicate his future potential as a serious writer.
Salinger has a huge reputation around the world yet it rests mainly on just one novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Published in 1951, it soon became highly popular with teenagers who identified with the hero’s powerful sense of dissatisfaction. Its success made Salinger a public figure. Most writers, of course, would welcome this. Salinger, however, hated it and refused it. He moved to a small house in Cornish, New Hampshire, where he lived away from society until his death in 2010 at the age of 91.
For Salinger, fame and artistic honesty were not the same thing. Some people become writers because they wish their works to speak for themselves. Salinger appears to have been disgusted by the idea that he had become the spokesman for a generation. In death he has perhaps achieved his highest goal: to be out of the spotlight, represented only by his work.
According to the article, J.D. Salinger is an example of _____________.
A. a selfish and moody youth B. a serious writer who hates fame
C. a famous American author D. someone who lives away from society
Salinger’s career as a writer improved greatly and his reputation was assured after he ____________.

A．failed to pursue a career in business

B．attended a writing class at Columbia University

C．published the novel ‘The Catcher in the Rye’

D．became a spokesman for young people

Which event in his early life confirmed his status as a serious writer?

A．Publication in a magazine.

B．Being taught by Whit Burnett.

C．Having a story accepted by the ‘New Yorker’.

D．Dropping out of New York University.

There is a famous story about British poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was writing a poem when he was interrupted by a knock at the door.
This was an age before telephones. Someone was delivering a message. When Coleridge got back to his poem, he had lost his inspiration. His poetic mood had been broken by the knock on his door. His unfinished poem, which could otherwise have been a masterpiece, would now never be more than a fragment (片段).
This story tells how unexpected communication can destroy an important thought，which brings us to the cellphone.
The most common complaint about cellphones is that people talk on them to the annoyance of people around them. But more damaging may be the cellphone’s disruption (中断) of our thoughts.
We have already entered a golden age of little white lies about our cellphones, and this is by and large a healthy, protective development. “I didn’t hear it ring” or “I didn’t realize my phone had shut off” are among the lies we tell to give ourselves space where we’re beyond reach.
The notion of being unreachable is not a new concept – we have “Do Not Disturb” signs on the doors of hotel rooms. So why must we feel guilty when it comes to cellphones? Why must we apologize if we decide to shut off the phone for a while?
The problem is that we come from a long-established tradition of difficulty with distance communication. Until the recent mass deployment (使用) of cellphones, it was easy to communicate with someone next to us or a few feet away, but difficult with someone across town, the country or the globe. We came to take it for granted.
But cellphones make long-distance communication common, and endanger our time by ourselves. Now time alone, or a conversation with someone next to us which cannot be interrupted by a phone, is something to be cherished. Even cellphone devotees, myself usually included, can’t help at times wanting to throw their phone away, or curse the day they were invented.
But we don’t and won’t, and there really is no need. All that’s required to take back our private time is a general social recognition that we have the right to it. In other words, we have to develop a healthy contempt (轻视) for the rings of our own phones. Given the ease of making and receiving cellphone calls, if we don’t talk to the caller right now, we surely will shortly later.
A cellphone call deserves no greater priority (优先考虑的事) than a random (随机的) word from the person next to us. Though the call on my cellphone may be the one–in–a–million from Steven Spielberg–who has finally read my novel and wants to make it his next movie. But most likely it is not, and I’m better off thinking about the idea I just had for a new story, or the slice of pizza I’ll eat for lunch.
What is the point of the anecdote（轶事，趣闻） about the poet Coleridge in the first three paragraphs?

A．To direct readers’ attention to the main topic.

B．To show how important inspiration is to a poet.

C．To emphasize the disadvantage of not having a cellphone.

D．To encourage readers to read the works of this poet.

What does the writer think about people telling “white lies” about their cellphones?

A．It is a way of signaling that you don’t like the caller.

B．It is natural to tell lies about small things.

C．It is basically a good way to protect one’s privacy.

D．We should feel guilty when we can’t tell the truth.

According to the author, what is the most annoying problem caused by cellphones?

A．People get annoyed by the cellphone rings that they fail to notice anything else.

B．People feel guilty when they are not able to answer their cellphones.

C．Cellphones interrupt people’s private time.

D．With cellphones it is no longer possible to be unreachable.

What does the last paragraph suggest?

A．A person who calls us from afar deserves more of our attention.

B．Steven Spielberg once called the author to talk about the author’s novel.

C．You should always finish your lunch before you answer a call on the cellphone.

D．Never let cellphones interfere too much with your life.