As I made my way to my office last Thursday, I noticed an A4 poster stuck to the lift door. Then I noticed one on the wall, one on the noticeboard, and then one on my classroom door. In fact, they were stuck to nearly every available surface along the corridor. And they all had the same statement:"All I'm asking for is a little respect seeing I pay you PS9,000 a year." I still don't know what led to this flyer campaign -- it is said that it's linked to a group of students who were not given extra assignment grade for their examination -- but I could not help but become annoyed at the impolite language. I started to think about the ways that my students act and speak, and the way I acted and spoke during my time at university. I will admit that I didn't do all of the readings, and yes, I may have missed a couple of lectures throughout the year, but I completed all assignments and followed the guidelines presented to me, without expecting my lecturers to chase after me. I wish I could say the same for my students. As I walked through the car park with a colleague at the end of the day, we discussed the unrest that the posters had caused:"If you ask me,"he said,"all universities are going to need a customer services department before long."And there it was, plain and simple, the issue that I hadn't been able to explain: these young people weren't behaving like university students, they were behaving like customers. I recalled the student who told me he was disappointed with his low grade because he had"paid so much money". My colleague topped it: when one of his students was asked to leave a seminar for not completing the reading, he responded:"I pay you to teach me what's in the article, not the other way around." Last week I sent out the first round of grades for a module and had 12 emails of complaint within an hour. One in particular stood out for its misunderstanding of what it means to be a scholar. The student said the grade must be incorrect because he had turned up to all the lectures -- as if simply... What did the students really want to say through the flyer campaign? A) They hoped less homework would be given. B) They were upset about what they had done. C) They wanted to be respected by their teacher. D) They received much less than they had expected.
D
My l4-year-old son, John, and I spotted the coat at the same time in a second-hand clothing store. It stood out among big and old coats. It had beautiful tailoring and an unbelievable price: $28. I looked at my son and we both said nothing, but John's eyes shone. Dark, woolen topcoats were popular with teenage boys, but they could cost several hundred dollars new. This coat was even better. John tried it on and turned from side to side, eyeing himself in the mirror. The fit was perfect. John wore the coat to school the next day and came home with a big _ "Did the kids like your coat?" I asked. "They loved it," he said. Over the next few weeks, John changed. He was polite, less argumentative, more thoughtful, and on the whole much happier. "Good dinner, mom," he would say every evening. Without a word of objection he would carry in wood for the stove. One day when I suggested that he might start on his homework before dinner, John, who always put things off, said: "You're right. I guess I will." When I mentioned this incident to one of his teachers, she joked that the coat must have changed him. John and I both know we should never mistake a person's clothes for the real person within them. But there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see, for practicing standards of excellence in thought, speech, and behavior, and for matching what is on the inside to what is on the outside. What message does the author intend to deliver in the article? A) We should not judge people by their appearance. B) Life is full of possibilities when we are young. C) It's beneficial to try different things in our lives. D) What we wear could help shape who we are inside.
D
Recently,scientists attending a meeting in Chicago presented new studies showing how food and its production affect global warming.They offered some suggestions for how to eat in a more environmentally friendly way. For many years,scientists have warned us that our planet is getting warmer.If current trends continue,animals may start to die off and life could get very difficult for everyone.The temperature is rising because humans have been releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,which surround the planet and keep heat from escaping.One of these gases is carbon dioxide. Most carbon dioxide we produce comes from the process of making and eating food,the scientists reported in Chicago.The production of meat contributes to a lot of carbon dioxide.And much of meat's contribution comes from beef,which is responsible for releasing even more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The process of making a hamburger,for example,requires a lot of energy.A cow has to be fed and raised,and cow's wastes are a major source of greenhouse gases.After the cow is killed,the meat has to be processed and shipped to a consumer,which takes fuel.And most of the cow won't even be used for meat people eat. By the time a hamburger finally lands on a dinner plate,it has taken a heavy toll on the environment.It is believed that the process of making a halfpound allbeef burger adds about 19 times the weight of hamburgers in carbon dioxide. The message is clear:We can greatly reduce the production of greenhouse gases by eating less beef.Other kinds of meat like pork and chicken do less harm to the environment--at least in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases released.Nathan Pelletier,a scientist at Dalhousie University in Canada,reported that if everyone in industrial countries ate chicken instead of beef,we would cut the Earth's greenhouse gases by more than half. All kinds of meat,the scientists reported,are harder on the planet than vegetables.To grow and eat a pound of potatoes,for example,sends less than... The author believes one effective way to fight global warming is _ . A) we should eat no pork and no chicken B) we should eat more chicken than beef C) we should eat not meat but vegetables D) we should eat less meat and more vegetables
D