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Section C
Directions: Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words.
By almost any measure, there is a boom in Internet-based instruction. In just a few years, 34 percent of American universities have begun offering some form of distance learning (DL), and among the larger schools, it’s close to 90 percent. If you doubt the popularity of the trend, you probably haven’t heard of the University of Phoenix. It grants degrees entirely on the basis of online instruction. It enrolls 90,000 students, a statistic used to support its claim to be the largest private university in the country.
While the kinds of instruction offered in these programs will differ, DL usually indicates a course in which the instructors post syllabi (课程大纲), reading assignment, and schedules on websites, and students send in their assignments by e-mail. Generally speaking, face-to-face communication with an instructor is minimized or eliminated altogether.
The attraction for students might at first seem obvious. Primarily, there’s the convenience promised by courses on the Net: you can do the work, as they say, in your pajamas. But figures indicate that the reduced effort results in a reduced enthusiasm to the course. While dropout rate for all freshmen at American universities is around 20 percent, the rate for online students is 35 percent. Students themselves seem to understand the weaknesses internal in the setup. In a survey conducted for Cornell, the DL division of Cornell University, less than a third of the respondents expected the quality of the online course to be as good as the classroom course.
Clearly, from the schools’ perspective, there’s a lot of money to be saved. Although some of the more ambitious programs require new investments in servers and networks to support collaborative software, most DL courses can run on existing or minimally upgraded systems. The more students who enroll in a course but don’t come to campus, the more school saves on keeping the lights on in the classrooms, paying doorkeepers, and maintaining parking lots. And, while there’s evidence that instructors must work harder to run a DL course for a variety of reasons, they won’t be paid any more, and might well be paid less.
(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN 10 WORDS.)
78. The author mentioned the University of Phoenix to make us believe that _____________.
79. According to the second paragraph, if you apply for a DL course, you will have little chance to _______________.
80. What are the two negative effects the convenience of DL brings about?
81. Universities show great passion for DL programs for the purpose of _________________.
第II卷 (共47分)
I. Translation
Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.
82. 千万别卷入那件事，否则你将自寻麻烦。(involve)
83. 寒冷的天气让大多数濒危动物很难在这里生存。(it)
84. 据我所知，提前预报地震仍是一个难以达到的目标。（ahead）
85. 直到高中毕业，大部分学生才开始意识到没有最好地利用在校的时间。（Not…）
86. 鼓励孩子们阅读的目的不在于读多少本书，而在于培养他们热爱读书。(lie)
II. Guided Writing
Directions: Write an English composition in 120 - 150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.
以下图表反映了若干年来电影观众量和电视观众量的变化情况。请简要解读图表内容并简要说明引起数量变化的原因 （请从方便性、经济性、选择性角度分析）。
