The organization representing British universities has expressed concern about the potential effect of tuition fees（学费）after figures showed a drop of more than 6% in student applications with less than a month to go before the deadline for 2013 applications.
Data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) showed there were 265,784 university applications by UK-based candidates up to 17 December, 6.3% down on the parallel period in the admissions cycle the year before. While this is less than the 8.4% year-on-urea fall seen in earlier Ucas figures, released in mid-November, the coming January deadline makes it ever more likely that the total 2013 applicant figure will see a second sizeable fall following the introduction of annual fees of up to ￡9,000.
Nicola Dandridge, the chairman of Universities UK, said : “However, we must be concerned about any drops in the numbers applying to university and in particular, we must look closely at how the increase in graduate contributions in England may be affecting the decisions of promising students. However ,the December figures show a drop in numbers across the UK, suggesting that it is not only a question of tuition fees in England putting off from applying.”
A report of the Uncas figures to mid-December shows a 6.5% fall for applicants in England and 11.7% for those in Wales, with smaller drops of 3.9% for Scotland and 0.5% for Northern Ireland. Scottish students at home institutions pay on fees, while those from Northern Ireland have fees capped to ￡3,575 for Northern Irish universities.
Dandridge added: “No one should be put off applying to university because of worries about finance.”
“It is important that no one is put off applying to university because they do not have information about the student support available to them. Most new students don’t need to pay directly. There will be more financial support for those from poorer families and everyone will make lower loan repayments than they do now once they are in well paid jobs.”A drop of more than 6% for 2013 applications is probably the effect of .
| A．the increased tuition fees |
| B．the approaching deadline |
| C．the concern from applicants |
| D．the difficulties with applications |
Compared with the previous year, the fall in student applications is .
| A．3.9% | B．6% | C．6.3% | D．8.4% |
Why is the fall for application the smallest in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
| A．Because they have more financial support. |
| B．Because the tuition is much cheaper for them. |
| C．Because the education is better there. |
| D．Because the universities are free for them. |
Which of the following is true?
| A．The application for universities is on a rise continuously. |
| B．The fall for applications is due to family problems. |
| C．The education in Scotland and Northern Ireland is worse. |
| D．The rise of tuition fees has an effect on applications. |
The last paragraph tells us that .
| A．everyone should apply to university |
| B．students may get financial supports |
| C．lower loan repayments is unavailable |
| D．most new students will not pay fees |
In America, when people say “man’s best friend”, they don’t mean another person. Instead, they are talking about a lovely animal：A dog! These words show the friendship between people and animals. Dogs and other pets can give happiness to people’s lives. Some people regard their pets as their children. A few even leave all their money to their pets when they die!
Animals can help people, too. Dogs can be taught to become the “eyes” for a blind person or “ears” for a deaf people. Scientists have found that pets help people live longer! They make people happier, too. Because of that, animals are brought into hospitals for “visit”.
Americans hold “Be---Kind-to-Animals Week” in the first week of May. Pets shows are held during the week. Even if you don’t live in America, you, too, can do this. How? First, think about how animals make your life richer. If you have a pet, take more time this week to play with it. Remember to give it delicious food. Also, be sure to keep your pet from those unwanted babies.
f you don’t have a pet, be kind to animals around you. For example, if you see a street dog, don’t kick it or throw things at it. Instead, just leave it alone, or better yet, make friends with it. If others around you do bad things to an animal, try to stop them. As people, we must protect animals who can’t speak for themselves. “A few even leave all their money to their pets when they die!” means that__________
| A．pets have the right to inherit (继承) money. |
| B．money can give pets happiness. |
| C．it’s the best way to spend money. |
| D．some pets are treated as children. |
Why are dogs brought to hospitals?
| A．Because they are ill and need to see doctors. |
| B．Because they can make the patients happier. |
| C．Because they can find out the problems of the patients. |
| D．Because doctors can do experiments on them. |
What’s the most popular activity in the “Be-Kind-to-Animals Week”?
| A．Holding a pet show in the week. |
| B．Playing with pets the whole week. |
| C．Cooking delicious food for pets. |
| D．Making friends with other people’s pets. |
What’s the passage mainly about?
| A．A lot of people are interested in dogs. |
| B．Dogs can help people do many things. |
| C．Pets are lovely and need care and protection. |
| D．We have done a lot of things for pets. |
The words“man’s best friends”shows____________.
| A．the friendship between people. |
| B．the friendship between people and animals. |
| C．the friendship between animals. |
| D．the friendship between men and women |
The 47-year-old singer talks about the new album Symphony（交响乐） that came out of a “very dark time”, including her decision to give up trying to have children. “People have suggested I could adopt,” Brightman says. “But work is central to my life now. And so I am going to put it to one side. After a while not having children becomes the norm and perhaps that might sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything different. I’m not hurt by not having children. My life and career are incredibly rich.”
Talking about growing up in a large family in Berkhamsted (father a property developer who later committed suicide), she says: “I was gifted as a child, and very musical. I seemed to be good at anything to do with the arts. At 5，I understood the music I was dancing to and had an eye for costume.” She first appeared in a West End musical at 11 and hated boarding school.
Brightman led the saucy dance troupe（辣妹三人舞） Hot Gossip and had her first hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper in 1978. At 18 she married a music manager called Andrew Graham Stewart. “I was probably in love but I can’t remember. Girls change such a lot between 18 and 22. It didn’t really work out.” In 1981 she was spotted by Lloyd Webber. She became his leading lady in Song and Dance, Requiem and Phantom of the Opera. They married in 1984.
Brightman says she felt hostility(敌意) “from the beginning. I haven’t tried to understand it. I’ve done very well everywhere else, especially the US, where I now live, I just accept it for what it is. The more you are away from Britain, the more you appreciate it. But I don’t miss it, although I miss my family. Our profession can be uncomfortable but I enjoy what I do. I get on with it.”The first paragraph tells us that _____.
| A．Brightman is very popular around the world except in America |
| B．Brightman’s musical style is a mixture of opera, pop and jazz |
| C．the British people don’t like her for her style of music |
| D．Brightman is much older than Andrew Lloyd Webber |
Brightman decided to give up having children because _____.
| A．she could adopt one |
| B．her life and career were unbelievably rich without children |
| C．she felt it normal not to have children |
| D．she was too busy |
The following statements are true except ______.
| A．Brightman first appeared in a West End musical at 5 |
| B．Brightman disliked life on the campus |
| C．Brightman was very gifted when she was young |
| D．The saucy dance troupe made Brightman famous |
The underlined word in the fourth paragraph probably means _____.
| A．located | B．admired | C．followed | D．found |
What does the author try to say in the last paragraph by quoting Brightman’s words?
| A．Brightman has to accept the fact that she is not liked in Britain |
| B．Brightman lives in America but she loves her own country |
| C．The British coldness towards Brightman led to her hatred to her homeland |
| D．Brightman was at a loss why she was not welcome in Britain |
When Emily Beardmore first heard that a trip was being planned by the biology class at Windsor High School, she thought about how much fun it would be.
“I thought it would be a really good experience to go with other friends and teachers to another country in an environment other than a vacation environment,” the 17-year-old girl said.
A few months later, Emily got her chance when she and 14 of her classmates, along with biology teacher Tamara Pennington went to Costa Rica for eight days in late May.
“It was not just a tour,” said Pennington, who organized the trip. “You can go any place in the world on just a tour. This one was really working with the sea turtles (海龟) and practicing conservation(保护). It just seemed like the perfect science field trip for kids who think they want to get into science to see what it's really like to be out in the field and enjoy themselves.”
Emily said her time on the turtle program, which was the focus of the trip, was “crazy.”“We were walking on the beach at night and you can’t see anything—just see a big black dot.” She said with a laugh. “I was not expecting the turtles to be that big.” The turtles are leatherback turtles, which are becoming extinct (灭绝) because their eggs are used as food.
“When they would move their legs while laying their eggs they were really hard to control because they were a lot more powerful than you would imagine,” Emily said.
Once the eggs were collected, the students took them back to a hatchery(孵化场) and dug holes to copy the hole the mother turtle had made and then buried the eggs for the 60 days needed to hatch.
“The experience was so cool,” Emily said. “You go to another country to see what their culture is like and learn what their everyday lives are like. It made me really want to help out my mom a lot more than I do, and value what I have.”What did Pennington consider the trip to be?
| A．It was a common tour to a foreign country. |
| B．It was a journey to practice what students learned. |
| C．It was to attract students’ interest in science. |
| D．It was a trip to do practical science activities. |
From what Emily said on her turtle program, we know that.
| A．she was afraid of walking on the beach at night |
| B．she didn’t dare to catch the powerful turtles |
| C．she had thought turtles were small animals |
| D．she got crazy at the sight of turtles at night |
What did Emily learn from her experience?
| A．She learned to be grateful to her teachers. |
| B．She understood the importance of what she had. |
| C．She realized the beauty of foreign culture. |
| D．She knew the importance of everyday life |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Teens Help Fight Turtle Extinction. |
| B．Teens Take a tour to Costa Rica. |
| C．Teens Have a Research on Turtles. |
| D．Teens Learn to be Independent. |
I have been using the Internet since I was five years old, when my dad first sat me down in front of a computer and connected me the World Wide Web.
I’ve always felt like a master of the Internet world. AOL Instant Messaging, MSN, Gmail, Facebook, Myspace -- I’ve got it all under control. I thought there was nothing more to it besides checking my e-mail and wasting my time, until I was introduced to electronic commerce(e-commerce): business on the Internet.
Some online businesses are run from one-room home offices. Others have hundreds of employees (雇员) across the world. Have you ever heard of Amazon.com, Yahoo.com?
My friends often said they got cheap textbooks off Amazon.com, or had a good deal (交易) on Steve Madden shoes that were on sale at SteveMaden.com. Unfortunately for me, I continued my “e-commerceless” Web-surfing, not knowing about all the deals I was missing out on.
That is, of course, until my sister finally sold the idea to me.
“Why are all these packages arriving in the mail for you, Katy?” I asked her one day. Strange envelopes (信封) had been put on our doorstep for weeks now, each one always addressed to my sister; and we all know little sisters should never be getting more mail than their elders!
“Oh, it’s the things I ordered online!” she answered. I watched speechlessly as she opened them. There was no way our parents were letting her spend that much money- online or off!
“How much did all of this coat?”
“Oh, only about $15 in all!” She said excitedly. “Everything on eBay is on sale! It’s a way better than going to the mall.”
I felt as if there had been a store right in my backyard that I had never walked into! That week, I ordered a used Spanish textbook for my summer course online for 10 percent of the publishing price. A few days later, I bought an iPod protector and a book or two via the wonderful eBay.com.From the first two paragraph we can conclude that the author
| A．had no experience using computers |
| B．had no idea of what e-commerce is |
| C．only used the Internet to check e-mail |
| D．thought surfing the Internet was a waste of time |
The writer didn’t find out about e-commerce until
| A．he stopped web-surfing |
| B．he visited a store in his backyard |
| C．his sister explained the packages she got by mail |
| D．his friends told him about the online deals they made |
We can infer from the last paragraph that the author.
| A．never enjoyed shopping that much |
| B．loves the big store in her backyard |
| C．feels she is a true master of the Internet |
| D．has begun to enjoy online shopping |
What’s the purpose of the article?
| A．To tell the readers how he begins online shopping. |
| B．To do business on the Internet. |
| C．To make an online shopping ad. |
| D．To advise people not to do online shopping |
John H. Johnson was born in a black family in Arkansas City in 1918. His father died in an accident when John was six. He was reaching the high school age, but his hometown offered no high school for blacks.
Luckily he had a strong-willed caring mother. John remembered that his mother told him many times, “Son，you can be anything you want really to be if you just believe.” She told him not to depend on others，including his mother. “You have to earn success,” she said. “All the people who work hard don’t succeed, but the only people who do succeed are those who work hard.”
These words came from a woman with less than a third grade education. She also knew that believing and hard work don’t mean everything. So she worked hard as a cook for two years to save enough to take her son, who was then 15，to Chicago.
Chicago in 1933 was not the promised land that black southerners were looking for. John’s mother and stepfather could not find work. But here John could go to school, and here he learned the power of words — as an editor of the newspaper and yearbook at Du Sable High School. His wish was to publish a magazine for blacks.
While others discouraged (使气馁) him, John’s mother offered him more words to live by: “Nothing beats a failure but a try.” She also let him pawn（典当）her furniture to get the ＄500 he needed to start the Negro magazine.
It is natural that difficulties and failures followed John closely until he became very successful. He always keeps his mother’s words in mind: “Son, failure is not in your vocabulary!”
Now John H. Johnson is one of the 400 richest people in America — worth $150 million. John’s father died in ________.
| A．1922 | B．1933 | C．1924 | D．1923 |
John’s mother decided to move to Chicago because _______.
| A．his father died when John was very young |
| B．life was too hard for them to stay on in their hometown |
| C．there were no schools for black people in their hometown |
| D．John needed more education badly |
John’s mother ________．
| A．didn’t believe in or depend on others |
| B．thought no one could succeed without working hard |
| C．believed one would succeed without working hard |
| D．thought one could be whatever one wanted to be |
The story mainly tells us ________ .
| A．about the spiritual support John’s mother gave him |
| B．how John H. Johnson became successful |
| C．about the importance of a good education |
| D．about the key to success for blacks |