2009年12月20日四級A卷

1、Part IIReading Comprehension （Skimming and Scanning）（15 minutes）Colleges taking another look at value of merit-based aid*Good grades and high test scores still matter a lot to many colleges as they award financial aid.But with low-income students projected to make up an ever-larger share of the coll

2、ege-bound population in coming years, some schools are re-examing whether that aid, typically known a“smerit aid”, is the most effective use of precious institutional dollars.George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for example, said last week that it would cut the value of its average meri

3、t scholarships by about one-third and reduce the number ofrecipients （接受者 ）, pouring the savings, about $2.5million, into need-based aid. Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., made a similar decision three years ago.Now, Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., says it will phase out merit scholarships alt

4、ogether. No current merit-aid recipients will lose their scholarships, but need-based aid alone will be awarded beginning with students entering in fall 2008.Not all colleges offer merit aid; generally, the more selective a school, the less likely it is to do so. Harvard and Princeton, for example,

5、offer generous need-based packages, but many families who dont meet needeligibility （資格 ） have been willing to pay whatever they must for a big-name school.For small regional colleges that struggle just to fill seats, merit aid can be an important revenue-builder because many recipients still pay en

6、ough tuition dollars over and above scholarship amount to keep the institution running.But for rankings-conscious schools in between, merit aid has served primarily as a tool to recruit top students and to improve their academic profiles“. Theyre trying to buy students,”says Skidmore Colllege econom

7、ist Sandy Baum.Studies show merit aid also tends to benefit disproportionately students who could afford to enroll without it.“As we look to the future, we see a more pressing need to invest in need-based aid, ”says Monica Inzer, dean of admission and financial aid at Hamilton, which has offered mer

8、it scholarships for 10 years. During that time, it rose in US News & World Reports ranking of the best liberal arts colleges, from 25 to 17.Merit aid, which benefited about 75 students a year, or about 4% of its student body, at a cost of about $1 milion a year, “served us well,”Inzer says, but “to

9、be discounting the price for families that dont need financial aid doesnt feel right any more.”Need-based aid remains by far the largest share of all student aid, which includes state, federal and institutional grants. But merit aid, offered primarily by schools and states, is growing faster, both o

10、verall and at the institutional level.Between 1995-96 and 2003-04, institutional merit aid alone increased 212%, compared with 47% for need-based grants. At least 15 states also offer merit aid, typically in a bid to enroll top students in the states public institutions.But in recent years, a growin

11、g chorus （異口同聲 ） of critics has begun pressuring schools to drop the practice. Recent decisions by Hamilton and others may be “a sign that people are starting to realize that theres this destructive competition going on”. says Baum, co-author of a recent College Report that raises concerns about the

12、 role of institutional aid not based on need.David Laird, president of the Minnesota Private College Council, says many of his schools would like to reduce their merit aid but fear that in doing so, they would lose top students to their competitors.“No one can take one-sided action”, says Laird, who

13、 is exploring whether to seek an exemption （豁 免） from federal anti-trust laws so member colleges can discuss how they could jointly reduce merit aid. “This is a merry-go-round thats going very fast, and none of the institutions believe they can sustain the risks of trying to break away by themselves

14、”.A complicating factor is that merit aid has become so popular with middle-income families, who dont qualify for need-basedaid, that many have come to depend on it. And, as tuitions continue to increase, the line between merit and need blurs.That is one reason Allegheny College doesnt plan to drop

15、merit aid entirely.“We still believe in rewarding superior achievements and know that these top students truly value the scholarship,”says Scott Friedhoff, Alleghenys vice president for enrollment.Emory Un iversity in Atla nta, which boasts a $4.7 billio n en dowme nt(捐贈),mean while, is tak ing anot

16、her approach. This year, it announced it would eliminate loans for needy students and cap them for middle-income families. At the same time, it would expand its 28-year-old merit program.“Yeah, were playing the merit game,” acknowledges Tom Lancaster, associate dean for undergraduate education. But

17、it has its strong points, too, he says,“The fact of the matter is, it snot just about the lowest-income people. Itsthe average American middle-class family whosbeing priced out of the market.”*A few words about merit-based aid:Merit-based aid is aid offered to students who achieve excellence in a gi

18、ven area, and is generally known as academic, athletic and artistic merit scholarships.Academic merit scholarships are based on studentsgrades, GPA and overall academic performance during high school. They are typically meant for students going straight to college right after high school. However, t

19、here are scholarships for current college students with exceptional grades as well. These merit scholarships usually help students pay tuition bills, and they can be renewed each year as long as the recipients continue to qualify. In some cases, students may need to be recommended by their school or

20、 a tearcher as part of the qualification process.Athletic merit scholarships are meant for student that excel (突出) in sports of any kind, from football to track and field events. Recommendation for these scholarships is required, since exceptional athletic performa nee has to be recog ni zed by a co

21、ach or a referee(裁判).Applica nts n eed to send in a tape containing their best performance.Artistic merit scholarships require that applicants excel in a given artistic area. This generally includes any creative field such as art, design, fashion, music, dance or writing. Applying for artistic merit

22、 scholarships usually requires that students submit paortfolio (選輯) of some sort, whether that includes a collection of artwork, a recording of a musical performance or a video of them dancing.1. With more and more low-income students pursuing higher education, a number of colleges areA) offering st

23、udents more merit-based aidB) revising their financial aid policiesC) increasing the amount of financial aidD) changing their admission processes2. What did Allegheny College in Meadville do three years ago?A) It tried to implement a novel financial aid program.B) It added $2.5 million to its need-b

24、ased aid program.C) It phased out its merit-based scholarships altogether.D) It cuts its merit-based aid to help the needy students.3. The chief purpose of rankings-conscious colleges in offering merit aid is to .A) improve teaching qualityB) boost their enrollmentsC) attract good studentsD) increas

25、e their revenues4. Monica Inzer, dean of admission and financial aid at Hamilton, believed .A) it doesnt pay to spend $1 million a year to raise its rankingB) it gives students motivation to award academic achievementsC) itsillogical to use so much money on only 4% of its studentsD) itsnot right to

26、give aid to those who can afford the tuition5. In recent years, merit-based aid has increased much faster than need-based aid due to .A) more government funding to collegesB) fierce competition among institutionsC) the increasing number of top studentsD) schoolsimproved financial situations6. What i

27、s the attitude of many private colleges toward merit aid, according to David Laird?A) They would like to see it reduced.B) They regard it as a necessary evil.C) They think it does more harm than good.D) They con sider it un fair to middle-class families.7. Why does nAlleghe ny College pla n to drop

28、merit en tirely?A) Risi ng tuiti ons have made college un affordable for middle-class families.B) With rising in comes, fewer stude nts are appl ying for n eed-based aid.C) Many students from middle-income families have come to rely on it.D) Rising in comes have disqualified many stude nts for n eed

29、-based aid.8. Annual ren ewal of academic merit scholarships depe nds on whether the recipie nts rema in9. Applica nts for athletic merit scholarships n eed a recomme ndati on from a coach or a referee whotheir excepti onal athletic performa nee.10. Applicants for artistic merit scholarships must pr

30、oduce evidenee to show their in aparticular artistic field.Part IVRead ing Comprehe nsion (Read ing in Depth) (25 mi nu tes)Sectio n AQuesti ons 47 to 56 are based on the followi ng passage.In families with two working parents, fathers may have more impact on a child s language developme nt tha n mo

31、thers, a new study suggests.Researchers 47 92 families from 11 child care centers before their children were a year old, in terviewi ng each to establish in come, level of educati on and child care arra ngeme nts. Overall, it was a group of well-educated middle-class families with married parents bo

32、th living in the home.When the children were 2, researchersvideotaped them at home in free-play sessions with both pare nt, 48 all of their speech. The study will appear in the November issue of The Jour nal of Applied Developme ntal Psychology.The scie ntists measured the_49 nu mber ofuttera nces (

33、話語)of the pare nts, the nu mber of differe nt words they used, the complexity of their senten ces and other 50 of their speech. On average, fathers spoke less than mothers did, but they did not differ in the length of utterances or proportion of questions asked.Fin ally, the researchers51 the childr

34、e n speech at age 3, using a sta ndardized Ian guage test.The only predictors of high scores on the test were the moth level of educati on, the 52 of child care and the nu mber of differe nt words the father used.The researchers 53 why the fathes speech, and not the moth6s, had an effect.ft swell 54

35、 that the motherslanguage does have an impact,said Nadya Pancsofar, the lead author of the study. It could be that the high-f unctioning mothers in the study had 55 had a stro ng in flue nce on their childre ns speech developme nt, Ms. Pan csofar said, 6r it may be that mothers are 56 in a way we di

36、d nmeasure in the study”A) alreadyF) describingK) recruitedB) an alyzedG) establishedL) totalC) aspectsH) qualityM) unconsciousD) charactersI) quotedN) unsureE) con tribut ingJ) record ingO) yetSect ion BPassage One Questi ons 57 to 61 are based on the follow ing passage.Throughout this long, tense

37、electi on, every one has focused on the preside ntial can didates and how theyll change America. Rightly so. But selfishly. I m more fascinated by Michelle Obama and what she might be able to do, not just for this country, but for me as an Afircan-American woman. As the potential First Lady, she wou

38、ld have the worldsattention. And that means that for the first time people will have a cha nce to get up close and pers onal with the type of Africa n-America n woma n they so rarely see.Usually, the lives of black wome n go largely un exam in ed. The prevaili ng theory seems to be that were all hot

39、-tempered si ngle mothers who can keep a man. Eve n in the world of make-believe, black women still cant escape the stereotype of being eye-roling, oversexed females raised by our n ever-married, alcoholic (酗酒的) mothers.These images have helped defi ne the way all black wome n are viewed, in clud in

40、g Michelle Obama. Before she ever gets the cha nce to commit to a cause, charity or foun dati on as First Lady, her most urge nt and perhaps most complicated duty may be simply to be herself.It wont be easy. Because few main stream publicatio ns have done in-depth features on regular African-America

41、n women, little is known about who we are, what we think and what we face on a regular basis. For better or worse, Michelle will represe nt us all.Just as she will have her critics, she will also have millions of fans who usually have little interest in the First Lady. Many African-Ameircan blogs ha

42、ve written about what theyd like to see Michelle bring to the White Housemainly showing the world that a black woman can support her man and raise a strong black family. Michelle will have to work to please everyone an impossible task. But for many African-American women like me, just a little of he

43、r poise ( 沉著), confidence and intelligence will go a long way in changing an image thats been around for far too long.57. Why does Michelle Obama hold a strong fascination for the author?A) She serves as a role model for African-American women.B) She possesses many admirable qualities becoming a Fir

44、st Lady.C) She will present to the world a new image of African-American women.D) She will pay closer attention to the interests of African-American women.58. What is the common stereotype of African-American women according to the author?A) They are victims of family violence.B) They are of an infe

45、rior social group.C) They use quite a lot of body language.D) They live on charity and social welfare.59. What do many African-Americans write about in their blogs.A) Whether Michelle can live up to the high expectations of her fans.B) How Michelle should behave as a public figure.C) How proud they

46、are to have a black woman in the White House.D) What Michelle should do as wife and mother in the White House.60. What does the author say about Michelle Obama as a Firse Lady?A) However many fans she has, she should remain modest.B) She shouldnt disappoint the Afircan-American community.C) However

47、hard she tries, she cant expect to please everybody.D) She will give priority to African-American women s concerns.61. What do many African-American women hope Michelle Obama will do?A) Help change the prevailing view about black women.B) Help her husband in the task of changing America.C) Outshine

48、previous First Ladies.D) Fully display her fine qualities.Passage TwoWhen next years crop of high-school graduates arrive at Oxford University in the fall of 2009, theyll be joined by a new face: Andrew Hamilton, the 55-year-old provost (教務(wù)長 ) of Yale, wholl become Oxfords vice-chancellora position

49、equivalent to university president in America.Hamilton isnt the only educator crossing the Atlantic. Schools in France, Egypt, Singapore, etc. have also recently made top-level hires from abroad. Higher education has become a big and competitive business nowadays, and like so many businesses,its gon

50、e global. Yet the talent flow isnt universal. High-level personnel tend to head in only one direction: outward from America.The chief reason is that American schools dont tend to seriously consider lookingabrad. For example, when the board of the University of Colorado searched for a new president,

51、it wanted a leader familiar with the state government, a major source of the university s budget. “We didnt do any global consideration,”says Patricia Hays, the boards chair. The board ultimately picked Bruce Benson, a 69-year-old Colorado businessman and political activist (活動家) who is likely to do

52、 well in the main task of modern university president: fund-raising. Fund-raising is a distinctively American thing, since U.S. schools rely heavily on donations. The fund-raising ability is largely a product of experience and necessity.Many European universities, meanwhile, are still mostly depende

53、nt on government funding. But government support has failed to keep pace with rising student numbers. The decline in government support has made fund-raising an increasingly necessary ability among administrators, and has hiring committees hungry for Americans.In the past few years, prominent school

54、s around the world have joined the trend. In 2003, when Cambridge University appointed Alison Richard, another former Yale provost, as its vice-chancellor, the university publicly stressed that in her previous job she had overseen(監(jiān)督) a major strengthening ofYales financial position.”O(jiān)f course, fund

55、-raising isnt the only skill outsiders offer. The globalization of education means more universities will be seeking heads with international experienee of some kind to promote international programs and attract a global student body. Foreigners can offer a fresh perspective on established practices

56、.62. What is the current trend in higher education discussed in the passage?A) Institutions worldwide are hiring a dministrators from the U.S.B) A lot of political activists are being recruited as administrators.C) America n uni versities are en rolli ng more intern ati onal stude nts.D) Un iversity

57、 preside nts are pay ing more atte ntio n to fun d-rais ing.63. What is the chief con sideratio n of America n uni versities whe n hiri ng top-level admi nistrators.A) Their political correct ness.B) Their ability to raise fun ds.C) Their fame in academic circles.D) Their admi nistrative experie nee

58、.64. What do we learn about European universities from the passage?A) The tuiti ons they charge have bee n rising con siderably.B) Their operati on is un der strict gover nment supervisi on.C) They are stre ngthe ning their positi on by globalizati on.D) Most of their reve nues come from the gover nment.65. Cambridge Uni versity appo in ted Alis on Richard as its vice-cha ncellor chiefly because.A) she was known to be good at rais ing moneyB) she could