7 January, 2014
A new report says more and more international students are attending colleges and universities in the United States. It also notes a large increase in the number of international students from China.
These findings are from the latest Open Doors Report. The report documents the record number of international students in the United States during 2012, 2013 school year. It says more than seven hundred sixty-four thousand four-hundred such students were attending American colleges and universities during the last two years. That represents an increase of almost six percent than one year earlier.
On the other hand, the number of Americans studying overseas (海外) increased by one percent, which reached nineteen thousand this year.
The report says one hundred ninety-four thousand students at American colleges and universities were from
China. That is an increase of more than twenty-three percent over the year before. Peggy Blumenthal, an expert(专家) of international education, described the effect of the increase in Chinese students.
"Now they have been coming for some time. But this year was the highest level ever." She says many Chinese families are able to pay for the highest-quality education for their children. The children mainly choose to study in America.
"We know many of them have enough income to be able to afford to send them anywhere in the world that they want to go. And for the most part, looking around the world, Chinese students still prefer to come to the United States as their choice."
Chinese students are not the only ones who want to attend American colleges and universities. After China, India sends the second largest number of students to the United States for higher education. India has about one hundred thousand students in American schools. South Korea is third with about seventy two thousand students.
Why do so many foreign students study in the United States? Peggy Blumenthal provides one reason.
"The advantage America has is that we have a huge system and a very perfect system. So there are over four thousand universities and colleges in the United States. Among them are some top ones in the world, and what that tells us is there is still a lot of room to host international students."
Foreign students represent less than four percent of the total student population in American higher education. And from Learning English, that's the VOA Special English Education Report. I'm Bob Doughty. Thanks for listening.Bob Doughty seems to be ________.
| A．an exchange student from the USA |
| B．an expert of international education |
| C．a viewer of VOA |
| D．a reporter from VOA |
Which country below has the fewest students studying overseas?
| A．South Korea | B．India | C．China | D．America |
Which is NOT the reason why so many Chinese students go to the USA for further study?
A. Lots of Chinese families are able to pay for the highest-quality education for their children
B. The USA has a huge and a very perfect education system.
C. There is a lot of room to host international students in the USA.
D. The USA has some top universities and colleges in the world.Which of the following statement is true?
| A．China has 122,000 more students than South Korea at American colleges and universities. |
| B．The number of Americans studying overseas is becoming smaller and smaller. |
| C．The number of Asian students has an increase of 6% over the past two years. |
| D．Most of the international students in the United States are Chinese. |
This passage from VOA Special English is most likely to be ________.
| A．An advertisement | B．A radio programme | C．A science report | D．A tour guide |
“Everything happens for the best,” my mother said whenever things weren’t going my way. “Don’t worry, one day your luck will change.” Mother was right, as I discovered after I had finished my college education. I had decided to try for a job in radio. One day, I wanted to host(主持) a sports program. I went to Chicago and knocked on the door of every station. But I got turned down every time.
In one station, a kind lady said my problem was that I hadn’t got enough experience. “ Get some work with a small station and work your way up,” she said.
I went back home. I couldn’t get a job there, either. Then my dad told me a businessman had opened a store and needed someone to help him. But again, I didn’t get the job.
I felt really down. “ Your luck will change,” Mom said to me. Dad lent me the car to help me to look for my job. I tried another radio station in Iowa. But the owner, a nice man, told me he had already had someone.
As I left his office, I asked, “How can someone be a sports announcer(播音员) if he can’t get a job in a radio station?”
I was waiting for the lift when I heard the man call. “ What did you mean? Do you know anything about football?” He put me in front of a microphone and asked me to try to imagine that I was giving my opinion on a football game, I succeeded.
On my way home, Mom’s words came back to me, “One day your luck will change, Son. And when it happens, it’ll feel doubly(加倍的) good because of all the hard work you’ve had.” At that moment I knew what just what she meant.What’s the writer’s ideal(理想的) job?
| A．A sportsman | B．A shop assistant |
| C．A sports announcer | D．A businessman |
Why didn’t the writer get the job in Chicago?
| A．because he was too young |
| B．Because he didn’t get college education |
| C．Because he’s got a good-looking person |
| D．Because he hadn’t got enough experience |
Which of the following is true according to the article?
| A．You just need wait for some time, then luck will come. |
| B．Luck will come if you try your best to do everything. |
| C．It’s important for you to wait for luck. |
| D．You should trust your mother. |
The sentence “But I got turned down every time.” means “______”
| A．But I was refused every time |
| B．But I was successful every time |
| C．But I lost my way every time |
| D．But the door of every station was always closed |
What’s the best title of this passage?
| A．Mother’s words |
| B．Everything Happens For The Best |
| C．No One Is Always Lucky |
| D．To Find A Job In Radio Is Difficult |
When you wave to a friend, you are using body language. When you smile at someone you mean to be friendly. When you put one finger in front of your mouth, you mean “be quiet.”
Yet, people in different countries may use different body languages.
Once an Englishman was in Italy. He could speak little Italian. One day while he was walking in the street, he felt hungry and went into a restaurant. When the waiter came, the Englishman opened his mouth, put his fingers into it and took them out again and moved his lips. In this way, he meant to say, “ Bring me something to eat.” But the waiter brought him a lot of things to drink,
first tea, then coffee then milk, but no food.
The Englishman was sorry that he was not able to tell the waiter he was hungry. He was ready to leave the restaurant when another man came in. The man put his hands on his stomach, and this body language was good enough for the waiter. In a few minutes, the waiter brought him a large plate of bread and meat.
Finally the Englishman had his meal in the same way.
根据短文内容, 回答下列问题。
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Mails, games, music, news, chat rooms and shopping! The Interent is part of our life today. It’s easy to get onto the Internet. The only thing we need to do is to use a modem(调制解调器) which is used for connecting a computer to a telephone line. The Internet is changing and growing all the time. More and more people have computers and use the Internet. Using the Internet means surfing the World Wide Web(that’s the “WWW” you always hear about). The Internet has a large number of websites(网站). They are the places where you go to get information and do things.
Where do these websites come from? They are made by web designers. What happens when you click on a word or a picture? You are sent to another page. It’s all because of the web designers. Web designers do a lot of work by using a computer programming(程序编制) language.
Is web design all about computer programming? No, it’s about making something new. Web designers must imagine a lot when they are making a website. It must look good and be fun to use. A big part of web design is art. They choose the best pictures and colors to make the website look good. They also write the things that you see on the website. An important part of their job is to share ideas with the website manager about how to design the website well.
根据短文内容，选择正确答案。
| A．it’s easy and useful |
| B．it’s changing and growing |
| C．websites are designed quite well |
| D．people can design a computer |
| A．“WWW” means “World Wide Web”. |
| B．There’re a few websites on the web. |
| C．The Internet has changed people’s lives. |
| D．We can do things like shopping on the Internet. |
| A．write all the articles on the website by themselves |
| B．follow the managers’ ideas |
| C．be creative |
| D．share computer with the website manager |
| A．the modem’s help |
| B．the telephone line’s help |
| C．the web designers’ work |
| D．the website manager’s work |
| A．computer programming language |
| B．the web designers’ work |
| C．how to make a website |
| D．how to use the Internet |
A few weeks ago, a friend from an unknown Smile Groups sent me $120 to do good things. Since then I have used the money in the US. It has helped families and strangers and generally raise a lot of smiles. They have warmed my heart, but none was so much as the gift I was able to give an hour ago.
I was in a charity shop, looking at the second-hand books. It happened that the bookshelves were next to the toy shelf. I noticed a group of poorly dressed women standing behind me. As they looked through the cloth shelf, a little girl about three years old came over to the shelf. Immediately her attention was caught by a toy pram(手推车). She spoke to her mother and she asked the shop assistant how much it cost. $3 was the answer.
The mum looked down at her child, perhaps thinking what she still had to buy and how much money she has left. Then she shook her head. The child did not behave (表现)as badly as some might. Being told “no” was not new for her but she could not keep the disappointment (失望的)from her face.
I had a total of $ 5 in my pocket. I touched the mother on the shoulder, put the money in her hand and said, “Buy her a doll, too”.
I did not wait to see the end. After all, it was not about being thanked. I walked out of the shop and into the sunshine.
The money the friend gave me was to help me find happiness of the world. Was there any better way, I wondered, to get so much happiness for so little money than to buy a little girl a toy and a doll to sit in it?
根据短文内容，选择正确答案。
| A．To help others who need help. |
| B．To buy something to eat. |
| C．To do bad things. |
| D．To buy a boy pram for a child. |
| A．to thank his friend for his help |
| B．to do some shopping |
| C．to donate(捐助) to a charity organization |
| D．to make a donation in happiness |
| A．because she did not want to behave badly in public |
| B．because she knew her mother did not have enough money |
| C．because she was afraid her mother would be angry |
| D．because she had got used to being refused |
| A．he had no money then |
| B．he had already finished his task |
| C．he was afraid the other women might ask him for help |
| D．he was in a hurry |
| A．It is the cheapest gift he has given so far. |
| B．It is the most heart-warming experience. |
| C．It is the first time that he has helped others. |
| D．The little girl is the youngest person he had helped. |
阅读表达:阅读短文，按要求回答问题。
A mother planted many kinds of vegetables in her garden. One morning she said to her daughter, "Betty, come here. Look at all these little yellow marks on the leaves of the cabbages. They are eggs of a kind of insects. They are very beautiful but very bad for cabbages. This afternoon you must find all the eggs on the leaves and kill them. In this way, you will help us have better, greener and bigger cabbages.
Betty didn't think she should do it at once and in the end she forgot all about it. Her mother was ill for a few days and couldn't work in her garden. When she was well, she took Betty to the garden to see the cabbages. To their surprise, the insects had eaten up every leaf. When Betty saw this, she was upset and began to cry. Then her mother said to her, "We should never put off what we have to do today till tomorrow. And you must learn to deal with the things while they are small, or it will turn into a big problem."What’s in the garden?(no more than four words)
___________________________________________________________________Betty didn't think she should find the eggs at once, did she? (no more than three words)
___________________________________________________________________What happened to the leaves? (no more than seven words)
___________________________________________________________________How did Betty feel after she saw the cabbages after a few days? (no more than three words)
___________________________________________________________________What can you learn from the passage?
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