Unit 1 Higher Education task2
Now let me give you some idea of what you would see if you were to walk around Cambridge. Let us imagine that I am seeing the signs for the first time. It is a quiet market town and the shopping centre extends for quite a large area, but I notice more bookshops than one normally sees in country towns, and more tailors’ shops showing in their windows the black gowns that students must wear--long gowns that hang down to the feet for graduates and shorter ones for undergraduates.
In the centre of the town is the market place where several times each week country traders come to sell their produce. Everywhere there are teashops, some in modern and many in old buildings, reached by climbing narrow stairs. There is a great deal of bicycle traffic, mainly undergraduates who race along thoughtless of safety, with long scarves (in various colors to denote their college) wound round their necks.
Continuing, I find my way to the river which flows behind the college buildings and curls about the town in the shape of a horseshoe. This narrow river is the Granta, and a little farther on changes its name to the Cam. It flows slowly and calmly. The “Backs;”as this part of the town behind the colleges is called, have been described as the loveliest man-made view in England. It is indeed beautiful. To the left, across the stream, there are no buildings, merely meadows, colleges’ gardens and lines of tall trees. Everything is very green and peaceful. On the river bank are willow trees with their branches bending into the water and, at intervals along the river, stone bridges cross the stream and lead into the colleges which line the right bank. The deep colored brick or stone of the college walls, sometimes red and sometimes grey, is 500 years old. The walls rise out of their own reflection in the water and their color contrasts charmingly with glimpses of the many green lawns.
Walking along the river bank, where the only sound is the noise of the gentle wind in the tree tops, I came to my college, King’s College. Across a bridge and beyond a vast carpet of green lawn stands King’s College Chapel, the largest and most beautiful building in Cambridge and the most perfect example left of English fiftieth-century architecture.
The colleges join one another along the curve of the river. Going through a college gate one finds one is standing in an almost square space of about 70 yards known as a “court”. Looking down into the court on all sides are the buildings where the students live. The colleges are built on a plan common to all. There is a chapel, a library, and a large dining-hall. One court leads to another and each is made beautiful with lawns or a fountain or charming old stone path. The student gets a good impression of all the English architectural styles of the past 600 years ---the bad as well as the good.
There are 28 colleges, excluding three for women students. Women students do not play a very active part in university life at Cambridge, but they work harder than men.
It is difficult to walk around the quiet courts of the colleges without feeling a sense of peace and scholarship. And the sense of peace that green lawns always suggest to me is found in the town too, for often one is surprised to meet open stretched of grass in the midst of the streets and houses giving a charmingly cool countryside effect and reminding one of the more graceful days of the eighteenth century .I’ll finish as I began on that note, the feeling one has here of the past in the present, of continuing tradition and firm faith.
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KEY
A. a b a c
B. 1) They usually wear black gowns. Long gowns that hang down to the feet are for graduates, and shorter ones for undergraduates.
2) Women students do not play a very active part in university life at Cambridge, but they work harder than men.
C. 1) It is indeed beautiful .To the left, across the stream, there are no buildings, merely meadows, colleges’ gardens and lines of tall trees. Everything is very green and peaceful .On the river bank are willow trees with their branches bending into the water and, at intervals along the river, stone bridges cross the stream and lead into the colleges which line the right bank. The deep colored brick or stone of the college walls, sometimes red and sometimes grey, is 500 years old. The walls rise out of their own reflection in the water and their color contrasts charmingly with glimpses of the many green lawns.
2) It is difficult to walk around the quiet courts of the colleges without feeling a sense of peace and scholarship. And the sense of peace that green lawns always suggest to me is found in the town too, for often one is surprised to meet open stretched of grass in the midst of the streets and houses giving a charmingly cool countryside effect and reminding one of the more graceful days of the eighteenth century
Task 3
On March 7, US Consul General David Hopper and three other officials from the Visa Section of the American Embassy met with students at Peking University .One of the officials presented “Five Secrets”for getting a student visa. Secret One:
Get free, accurate information on applying for a student visa. Visit the US Embassy website. There is no charge for using these resources. Why pay to get the same information from other sources? Secret Two:
Be thoroughly prepared .Make sure you bring: Your I-20 form (or IAP-66 form); Your diploma;
Your standardized test score reports (TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, etc);
All letters and emails from the school, especially those that discuss scholarships, assistantships, fellowships and other forms of financial aid
Evidence of funding for your studies (bank documents, etc); Your business cards (if you have a job);
Any other documents that you think might be important Secret Three:
Answer those questions that are asked. Don’t give the visa officer a prepared speech! Here’s an example of what to avoid
Visa officer: Hi, how are you today?
Applicant: I’m going to study chemical engineering at X University Visa officer: X University? I’ve been to the campus many times. Applicant: I will surely return to china and find a good job with a major multinational
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company.
Visa officer: So tell me, what color is the sky?
Applicant: I was given a teaching assistantship because the school believes my test scores and
credentials are excellent.
These people are not communicating and the applicant is not advancing his cause! Secret Four
Tell the truth .If the visa officer thinks you’re lying, you won’t get a visa Secret Five
Come back to china. We mean that in two ways
1: Come back to see your family and maintain your ties to China. Keep up your friendships and professional contacts here. Students returning on vacation don’t even need to come in for an interview; they can simply use the drop-box service offered at many CITIC Bank locations.
2: Come back to China after you graduate. Use those advanced skills and theories that you learn in the US to make China a better place KEY A. b c
Task 4
John: I disagree, Peter. I don’t think it really matters what your educational background is.
Anyone who is bright enough is going to do well whatever their education
Peter: But John,…
John： In fact, I think some people carry on with their education when they would do a lot better
to get out and start building their own careers by learning things in real life
Peter: Yes, but the whole point is, life is getting so much more complicated these days that
unless you carry on with your studies you just can’t cope
John: For certain things, and certain people, okay .but to my mind, the big problem in education
is that you specialize too quickly. I mean, in England, you start specializing from the third year in secondary school, when you’re about 14. And it gets steadily narrower until you do your A-level in only two or three subjects. You either do languages, or natural science, or social science
Peter: But surely these days you have to John –you can’t possibly study everything, because
there’s just too much
John: Yes, but how many kids at the age of 16 really know what they want to do? How many of
them are convinced that the three subjects they’ve chosen, or have been recommended, are the ones that will let them follow the careers they eventually decide on?
Peter: Oh, I think most young people who stay on at school have a fair idea of what they want to
do.
John: I’m not so sure, Peter. And after all ,that’s not the end of it .When they get to university in
England ,the subjects they study are so narrow that they are only good for one things; so they are stuck with it
Peter: But I don’t really see that there is any alternative if people are going to learn enough to be
competent in their subject. They’ve got to specialize early, and I suppose those that
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John:
Peter: John: Peter: John: Peter: John:
Peter: John:
Peter: John:
Peter:
John:
realize they’ve made a mistake can always swap to something else
Ah, but that’s just it .You can’t .Suppose you study language at university and then decide that you are not cut out for it and would like to be a doctor .You’ve burnt your bridges. You can’t just change horses in midstream; you’ve got to go right back to the beginning and you lose years .I think the American system is much better In what way?
Well, for your first degree you’ve got to study a fairly wide range of subjects, and you can choose them yourself, within certain limits
Fine, but doesn’t that mean that American students with a first degree don’t have the depth of knowledge they should have? Should have for what?
Well, they often aren’t accepted for postgraduate work in England with just a first degree. Maybe not, but I don’t really think that’s important. They come out with a pretty good general knowledge in a wide area .After all, when you think about a lot of the stuff English students have to study, what good is it to them afterwards? I’m sure the majority of British students never use 90 percent of what they studied at university That maybe true of some arts subjects, but what about the science?
Even there, a lot of what they do at university is so academic and abstruse that they will never be able to put it to any practical use. I’m sure they would benefit far more from on-the-job experience. And if they’ve had a broader course of study they’ve got two advantages
How do you mean?
First of all, they will have a better understanding of the world in general, so they will be more flexible in their jobs, and then if things do go wrong they will be able to switch jobs more easily
That all sounds very simple, but I think you're still underestimating the amount of pure learning that you need these days, particularly in technical and scientific areas. I mean even at school these days, children have to learn far more things than we did when we were at school
All the more reason why we should not try to concentrate on such a few things at such an early age. Things are changing so rapidly these days that we have to change with them. When we were younger, there was a pretty good chance that we would be able to carry on in the profession we’d chosen until we retired. But these days, people have got to be prepared to change their jobs and learn new skills as technology moves ahead. Take just the area of the office, for example. How many offices…
KEY
A.1) You are not well suited for it /You do not have the necessary qualities or abilities for it 2) You cannot go back to the previous situation/you cannot change your mind 3)You can’t change halfway the subjects you choose to study B. b a c a a b C略
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Task 5
That a record 572,509 foreign students from 180 countries attended colleges and universities in the US in the past academic year is perhaps the most vivid indication that there are important advantages in American higher education.
No other country receives even half as many foreign students, yet international students represent only 3 percent of the total enrollment at US colleges and universities .In all ,some 15 million students attend America’s institutions of higher education
These statistics illustrate four major features of the American higher education system which make it attractive to the domestic and foreign students: size, diversity, flexibility and accessibility.
Today there are more than 3,600 institutions of higher education in the United States. Some of the large state university system, such as those in New York, California and Texas, comprise dozens of campuses and hundreds of thousands of enrolled students. Indeed, higher education has become one of the biggest “industries” in the US, employing some 3 million people
The range and diversity of institution and program of study in the US are even more impressive. The system encompasses both prestigious private universities such as Harvard and Stanford, which are among the best in the world, and local publicly funded community colleges: both huge state university campuses enrolling 40,000-50,000 students and tiny private institutes with fewer than 100 students.
American higher education is diverse in other ways, too. Not only do most colleges and universities enroll foreign students, but foreign faculties and visiting scholars play an important role on many campuses, particularly at the numbers of students and faculty from ethnic minorities, particularly Asian-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have been steadily increasing. As a result, the campus communities of many American universities reflect in microcosm the diversity of larger society
Higher education in the US is also unique in offering an enormous variety of subjects and course options, ranging from Aerospace Engineering to Women’s Studies and from Art to Zoology .Because it is dependent on tuition for funding, higher education in the US is student-centered and consumer-oriented: institutions teach what society as a whole thinks is useful .For example, the large public of different degree programs and have academic catalogues listing thousands of courses.
The variety of programs and courses contributes to the flexibility of the American system. Undergraduates usually begin their program taking “general education”, “liberal arts” or “core curriculum” courses--in order that they might become more “well-rounded” students--and only later select their major in many cases, not until their second year.
Because they do not specialize from the very beginning, undergraduate students have more options than their counterparts in other countries. Not infrequently, American undergraduates change their mind and decide to take a different major but this does not oblige them to start over, for at least part of their course work can still be applied to the new degree
Most academic programs include “elective course” which students can sometimes take outside their main field of study. This gives them added choice in planning their education, and enables them to broaden their perspective by learning about other subjects. Thus much is left up to the student, who is expected to choose from a bewildering variety of institutions, degree programs and courses, and often must depend on his /her academic advisers for help in planning a program of study
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The size, diversity and flexibility of the American higher education system all contribute to its accessibility. Americans take for granted that everyone, regardless of their origin, should have a right to a higher education, and opportunities do exist for a large percentage of college-age young people to pursue postsecondary studies. It should be remembered that in the US the category “higher education” can encompass vocational, technical, professinal and other specialized training
Fundamental to American culture is the high value it places on education. At whatever level, education is considered a form of self-improvement, which can lead to new career opportunities, economic advances and personal betterment, regardless of one’s age. An increasing number of older ,”non-traditional “students are attending colleges and universities in the US, many having gone back including a large number of retires people ,enroll in noncredit college course (in other words, courses not leading to a degree)every year
KEY
domestic ,diversity ,flexibility more than 3,600
campuses ,enrolled students about 3 million
Harvard, Stanford community colleges state universities faculties
ethnic minorities
subjects and course options student consumer flexibility
specialize elective courses a higher education postsecondary a new career retired people
Task 6 Part 1
We know that something called “education” is a good thing. And all African states therefore spend a large proportion of government revenue on it. But, I suspect that for us in Africa the underlying purpose of education is to turn us into black Europeans, or black Americans, because our education policies make it quite clear that we are really expecting education in Africa to enable us to emulate the material achievements of Europe and America. We have not begun to think seriously about whether such material achievements are possible or desirable
The primary purpose of education is the liberation of man .To “liberate” is to “set free”. It implies impediments to freedom having been thrown off. But a man can be physically free from restraint and still be unfree if his mind is restricted by habits and attitudes which limit his humanity.
Education is incomplete if it enables man to work out elaborate schemes for universal peace but does not teach him how to provide good food for himself and his family. It is equally incomplete if it teaches man to be an efficient tool user and tool maker, but neglects his
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personality and his relationship with his fellow human beings
There are professional men who say, “My market value is higher than the salary I am receiving in Tanzania.” But no human being has a market value ---except a slave. When people say such things, in effect they are saying, “This education I have been given has turned me into a marketable commodity, like cotton or sisal,” And they are showing that, instead of liberating their humanity by giving it a greater chance to express itself, the education they have received has degraded their humanity. Their education has converted them into objects----repositories of knowledge like rather special computers
We condemn such people .Yet it is our educational system which is instilling in boys and girls .the idea that their education confers a price tag on them ---which ignores the infinite and priceless value of a liberated human being, who is cooperating with others in building a civilization worthy of creatures made in the image of God
Part2
A formal school system devised and operated without reference to the society in which its graduates will live, is of little use as an instrument of liberation for people of Africa. At the same time, learning just by living and doing in the existing society would leave us so backward socially and technologically that human liberation in the foreseeable future is out of the question. Somehow we have to combine the two systems. We have to integrate formal education with the society and use education as a catalyst for change in that society
Inevitably it takes time to change. We have not solved the problem of building sufficient self-confidence t refuse what we regard as the world’ best (whatever that may mean), and to choose instead the most appropriate for our conditions. We have not solved the problem of our apparent inability education and life, and education and production. We have not solved the problem of overcoming the belief that academic ability marks out a child or an adult as especially praiseworthy, or as deserving a privileged place in society
This is not a failure within the formal education system. It is a failure of society as a whole. Indeed, the educationalists have advanced in these matters more than other sections of the community. But our society has not yet accepted that character, cooperativeness and a desire to serve are relevant to a person’s ability to benefit from further training
KEY
A. b a a c b
B. little use for the liberation of African people
To overcome the social and technological backwardness formal education society Catalyst social change
II. the world’s best the most appropriate
Integrate education and life, and education and production
That we should judge a child or an adult by their academic ability III．The formal education system society as a whole Cooperativeness a desire to serve
Task 7
For beauty and for romance the first place among all the cities of the United Kingdom must be given to Oxford. The impression that Oxford makes upon those who, familiar with her
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from early years, have learnt to know and love her in later life is remarkable. Teeming with much that is ancient, she appears as the embodiment of youth and beauty .Exquisite in line, sparkling with light and color, she seem ever bright and young, while her sons fall into decay and perish. “Alma Mater!” they cry, and love her for her loveliness, till their dim eyes can look on her no more
And this is for the reason that the true livableness of Oxford cannot be learnt at once. As her charms have grown from age to age, so their real appreciation is gradual. Not that she cannot catch the eye of one who sees her for the first time, and smiling, hold him captive, This she can do now and then; but even so her new lover has yet to learn her preciousness
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