Is the 'Go to College' Message Overdone? Even in a weak job market, the old college try isn't the answer for everyone. A briefing paper from the Brookings Institution warns that "we may have overdone the message" on college, senior fellow Isabel Sawhill said. "We've been telling students and their families for years that college is the only way to succeed in the economy and of course there's a lot of truth to that," Ms. Sawhill said. "On average it does pay off... But if you load up on a whole lot of student debt and then you don't graduate, that is a very bad situation." One comment that people often repeat among the years of slow job growth has been the value of education for landing a job and advancing in a career. April's national unemployment rate stood at 7.5%, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate for high-school graduates over 25 years old who hadn't attended college was 7.4%, compared with 3.9% for those with a bachelor's degree or more education. The difference is even bigger among those aged 16-24. The jobless rate for those with only a high school diploma in that age group is about 20%. At the same time, recent research by Canadian economists cautions that a college degree is no guarantee of promising employment. Ms. Sawhill pointed out that among the aspects that affect the value of a college education is the field of one's major: Students in engineering or other sciences end up earning more than ones who major in the arts or education. The cost of tuition and the availability of financial aid are other considerations, with public institutions generally a better financial bargain than private ones. She suggested two avenues for improving the situation: increasing vocational -technical training programs and _ Europe's focus on early education rather than post-secondary learning. "The European countries put a little more attention to getting people prepared in the primary grades," she said. "Then they have a higher bar for whoever goes to college--but once you get into college,... What can we infer from the passage? A) Public institutions charge more for education. B) European universities are stricter with students. C) Students with certain skills are in great demand. D) Canadian students prefer to major in engineering.
C
(Question)
(2013*II,B)In 1947 a group of famous people from the art world headed by an Austrian conductor decided to hold an international festival of music,dance and theatre in Edinburgh.The idea was to reunite Europe after the Second World War. It quickly attracted famous names such as Alec Guinness,Richard Burton,Dame Margot Fonteyn and Marlene Dietrich as well as the big symphony orchestras .It became a fixed event every August and now attracts 400,000 people yearly. At the same time,the "Fringe" appeared as a challenge to the official festival.Eight theatre groups turned up uninvited in 1947,in the belief that everyone should have the right to perform,and they did so in a public house disused for years. Soon,groups of students firstly from Edinburgh University,and later from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge,Durham and Birmingham were making the journey to the Scottish capital each summer to perform theatre by littleknown writers of plays in small church halls to the people of Edinburgh. Today the"Fringe",once less recognized,has far outgrown the festival with around 1,500 performances of theatre,music and dance on every one of the 21 days it lasts.And yet as early as 1959,with only 19 theatre groups performing,some said it was getting too big. A paid administrator was first employed only in 1971,and today there are eight administrators working all year round and the number rises to 150 during August itself.In 2004 there were 200 places housing 1,695 shows by over 600 different groups from 50 different countries.More than 1.25 million tickets were sold. Who joined the"Fringe"after it appeared? A) Popular writers. B) University students. C) Artists from around the world. D) Performers of music and dance.
(Answer)
B
Ques: Deep in the wilderness of northern Kenya, two boys found a pair of crying cheetah cubs . The cubs' mother had been killed by a lion. The cheetahs were only a few weeks old. In the wild, about 9 out of 10 cheetah cubs die before they are three months old. They are food for lions. But these cubs were so lucky that they were saved by their "heroes", who brought them to Jane and Ian Craig. The Craigs help save endangered animals at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. The Craigs nursed the cheetah cubs back to health -- feeding them with bottles, sleeping with them, and comforting them. They named the cubs Sambu and Toki. But what would become of these cubs? How would they survive on their own? In the wild, cubs stay with their mothers until they are almost 2 years old. During that time, cheetah mothers teach their young how to hunt and how to protect themselves. The Craigs wouldn't be able to find a cheetah mother to teach the cubs. So they turned to a man named Simon King. King has spent more than twenty years studying cheetahs. He gave them a nod of approval when hearing about this, though taking care of two baby cubs would take a huge amount of time. For two years, he would need to have them at his side most of the time. But he felt there was no other choice. And so, when the brothers were one month old, King became their father. The brothers followed King everywhere. If they saw large dangerous and fierce mammals, King would growl at the cubs the way a mother cheetah would have, which was a signal for the cubs to stay away. They learned quickly. King taught the cheetahs to hunt using a toy rabbit as King pulled it around on a rope. With more lessons and training, the brothers began to hunt on their own. King is one proud father now. What worried the Craigs? A) There was no cheetah mother to teach the cubs. B) The cubs were dangerous. C) They had no time to take care of the cubs. D) There was no living place for the cubs.
Ans:
A