Unit1
Enjoy the colorful campus life!
II. Basic Listening Practice
Keys: 1.C 2.D 3. B 4.D 5.A
III. Listening In
Task 1:On the first day
Keys:
(1)the first day
(2)changing
(3)really good
(4)hard workers
(5)went over her head
(6)explained
(7)notes
(8)Wednesday
(9)participation
(10)education
Task 2:How to select elective courses?
Keys:
(1)extra training
(2)chemistry
(3)accounting
(4)many fields of study
(5)better potential
(6)business degree
(7)challenging
(8)how to learn
(9)better understanding
(10)narrow-minded
Task3: How to get straight A's?
Keys:1.B 2.C 3. D 4.A 5.D
IV. Speaking Out
MODEL1
MODEL2
MODEL3
V. Let?ˉs Talk
Task 1:Maintaining the quality or increasing the intake?
Keys:
(1)quality
(2)young
(3)25
(4)difficult
(5)government
(6)quality
(7)cut
(8)extra-cautious
(9)afford
(10)experience
(11)more
(12)blame
(13)budget
(14)puzzled
(15)service
Task 2:What's your answer?
According to the interviewee,
it's difficult to strike a balance between maintaining the educational quality and making sure as many people as possible receive university education.
In the past years, China has been confronted with the same problem.
The university enrollment has been on the increase and some institutions of higher learning do not have enough teachers and teaching facilities,
thus affecting the educational quality.
Task 3:Let's group work!
VI. Further Listening and Speakingand Speaking
Listening Task:
Task1: Problems with our educational system
Script:
Hi, everybody. My topic today is "Problems with our educational system".
I disagree on a lot of the ways that things have happened for a long time in our educational system.
It seems that educators just want to give standardized tests,
which focus only on academic performance and neglect students' abilities and interest in other areas.
I think there are a lot of people who are very intelligent,
but haven't had the opportunities they could have had if they had learned in a broader-minded educational system.
I feel that a lot of courses that students are required to take in high school are too academic, and, as a result,
many kids have lost their interest in learning.Educators often fail to recognize various kinds of intelligence.
They simply exert a lot of pressure on students to be as well-rounded as possible.
I think being well-rounded isn't really possible.
And as a consequence, some students I believe to be intelligent can't get into good colleges if they,
you know, haven't scored well on the math section, even if they are brilliant writers.
Another thing that disturbs me is that the so-called weak students are separated from the rest of the school.
Some kids are kept in a separate class if their grades are lower than others'.
And they're very aware of their social position, you know.
I think it causes them to act in a way that is not really positive.
They're just acting in a way they are expected. Often their grades go from bad to worse. And that's pretty sad.
I think that many of the kids in those classes are intelligent,
but they never actually realize their potential because of the way they are treated early on in their education.
Keys:
(1)standardized tests
(2)abilities and interest
(3)interest
(4)pressure
(5)well-rounded
(6)get into good colleges
(7)the rest of the school
(8)from bad to worse
Task 2: The final exam
Script
At a university, there were four sophomores taking a chemistry course.
They were doing so well on all the quizzes, midterms, labs, etc. that each had an "A" so far for the semester.
These four friends were so confident that on the weekend before the final,
they decided to go up to the University of Virginia and party with some friends there.
They had a great time and didn't make it back to school until early Monday morning.
Rather than taking the final then,
they decided to find their professor after the final and explain to him why they missed it.
They explained that they had planned to come back in time for the final exam, but,
unfortunately, they had a flat tire on the way back and didn't have a spare.
As a result, they missed the final.
The professor thought it over and then agreed they could make up the final the following day.
The guys were relieved and elated.
The next day, the professor placed them in separate rooms, handed each of them a paper, and told them to begin.
They looked at the first problem, worth five points.
It was a simple question on a chemical reaction.
"Cool," they all thought at the same time, each one in his separate room, "this is going to be easy."
Each finished the problem and then turned the page.
On the second page was a question worth 95 points: "Which of the tires was flat?"
Keys:
(1)course
(2)quizzes
(3)semester
(4)confident
(5)party
(6)make
(7)missed
(8)they had a flat tire on the way back and didn't have a spare
(9)placed them in separate rooms, handed each of them a paper
(10)On the second page was a question worth
Task3: Harvard University
Script
Harvard University is the oldest institute of higher learning in the United States.
Founded 16 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth,
the university has grown from nine students with a single master to the present enrollment of more than 21,000 students,
including undergraduates and students in 10 graduate and professional schools.
Over 14,000 people work at Harvard, including more than 2,100 faculty members.
Harvard has produced eight American presidents and many Nobel Prize winners.
During its early years, Harvard offered a classic academic course based on the model of English universities,
but consistent with the prevailing Puritan philosophy.
Although many of its early graduates became ministers in Puritan churches throughout New England,
the university was never formally affiliated with a specific religious group.
Under President Pusey, Harvard started what was then the largest fundraising campaign in the history of American higher education.
It was an 82.5-million-dollar program for the university.
The program increased faculty salaries, broadened student aid, created new professorships,
and expanded Harvard's physical facilities.
NeiI L. Rudenstine took office as Harvard's 26th president in 1991.
As part of an overall effort to achieve greater coordination among the university's schools and faculties,
Rudenstine encouraged academic planning and identified some of Harvard's main intellectual priorities.
He also stressed the importance of the university's excellence in undergraduate education,
the significance of keeping Harvard's doors open to students from families of different economic backgrounds,
and the task of adapting the research university to an era of both rapid information growth and serious fund shortage.
Keys: 1.B 2.A 3. C 4.D 5.D
Viewing and speaking:
Task 1:University budget cuts
Script
Host: Well, David Lammy, the University Minister, joins me from Westminster.
Now thanks for joining us this lunchtime,
Mr. Lammy. How do these cuts... tie in with your much trumpeted commitment to increasing higher education?
Interviewee: Well, I think it's important to remind viewers that we will spend well over 12 billion pounds on higher education this year and to also say that there will be more students at university next year than ever before in our history.
But what is important is that when they get to university, is that they have good facilities, good buildings,
that they have good contact with their lecturers and, for students from poorer backgrounds that they receive a grant.
And you know 40 percent of students who are going to university are in receipt of some grants. So we have to plan...
Host:But there's going to be less money next year. That's the bottom line, isn't it?
Interviewee: Er, we are asking universities to make a one percent cut in their teaching grant.
That's 51 million out of a total budget of over five billion.
Look, I think there are families across the country preparing for Christmas spending a bit less and they're,
you know, it's a lot more than one percent that they're, they're feeling.
So I think this is reasonable to ask universities if we are to ensure that we can continue to send more young people to university and we remain committed to that.
Host:And briefly, what about these two-year degrees? This is a reduction in standards, isn't it?
Interviewee:Well, we, we, we... It's important in this country that we remember that students aren't just the classic 18- to 21-year-old undergraduates.
We want mature students. We want more parttime students and over the last few years we've been growing the number of foundation degree,
two-year degrees that ensure that transition into high university and high level skills.
That's what we want to support and that's what we're indicating in the grant letter that we've sent to universities over the last few days.
Host:OK. David Lammy, thank you so much for joining us.
Interviewee:Thank you.
Keys:
(1)increasing
(2)12 / twelve
(3)more
(4)facilities
(5)lecturers
(6)poorer
(7)grant
(8)one
(9)budget
(10)less
(11)young
(12)classic
(13)part-time
(14)growing
(15)two-year
Task 2:Talk after viewing
Script
There will be more students at universities next year than ever before in our history.
When they get to university, they have good facilities, good buildings, as well as good contact with their lecturers.
Students from poorer backgrounds receive a grant.
40 percent of students who are going to university will receive some sort of grant.
Unit 1 test
Part I
Keys: 1.A 2.B 3.D 4.B 5.D
Part II
(1)for
(2)with
(3)opportunity
(4)tuition
(5)explore
(6)encounter
(7)adventure
(8)As with any country, it is not advisable to carry large amounts of cash around with you
(9)Traveler's checks are one of the safest and easiest ways to transport money, because you may have them replaced if they get lost or stolen
(10)It is wise to bring about $100 with you in U.S. cash, so you will be able to manage upon your arrival in the States
Part III
1.C 2.A 3.B 4.D 5.A
Part IV
1.C 2.A 3.A 4.D 5.C 6.B 7.A 8.C 9.B 10.C
