What a waste of money! In return for an average of ￡ 44,000 of debt,students get an average of only 14 hours of lecture and tutorial time a week in Britain. Annual fees have risen from£1,000 to $9,000 in the last decade. But contact time at university has barely risen at all. And graduating doesn’t even provide any guarantee of a decent job:sixin ten graduates today are in non-graduate jobs.
No wonder it has become fashionable to denounce many universities as little more that elaboratecom-tricks(骗术). There’s a lotfor students to complain about the repayment threshold for paying back loans will be frozen for five years, meaning that lower-paid graduals have to start repaying their loans, and maintenance grants have been replaced by loans meaning that students from poorer backgrounds face higher debt than those with wealthier parents.
Yet it still pays to go to university. If going to university doesn’t work out, students pay very little—if any—of their tuition fees back, you only start repaying when you are earning £21, 000 a year. Almost half of graduates—those who go on to earn less—will have a portion of their debt written off. It’s not just the lectures and tutorials that are important. Education is the sum of what students teach each other in between lectures and seminars. Students do not merely benefit while at university, studies show they go on to be healthier and happier than non-graduates, and also far more likely to vote.
Whatever your talents, it is extraordinarily difficult to get a leading job in most fields without having been to university. Recruiters circle elite universities like vulturous(兀鹰). Many top firms will not even look at applications from those who lack a 2.1, i.e., an upper-second class degree, from an elite university. Students at university also meet those likely to be in leading jobs in the future, forming contacts for life. This might not be right, but school-leavers who fail to acknowledge as much risk making the wrong decision about going to university.
Perhaps the reason why so many universities offer their students so little is they know studying at a top university remains a brilliant investment even if you don’t learn anything .Studying at university will only become less attractive if employers shift their focus away from where someone went to university—and there is no sign of that happening anytime soon. School-leavers may moan, but they have little choice but to embrace university and the student debt that comes with it.
51. What is the author’s opinion of going to university?
A) It is worthwhile after all.
B) It is simply a waste of time.
C) It is hard to say whether it is good or bad.
D) It is too expensive for most young people.
52. What does the author say about the employment situation of British university graduates?
A) Few of them are satisfied with the jobs they are offered.
B) It usually takes a long time for them to find a decent job.
C) Graduates from elite universities usually can get decent jobs.
D) Most of them take jobs which don’t require a college degree.
53. What does the author say is important for university students besides classroom instruction?
A) Making sure to obtain an upper-second class degree.
B) Practical skills they will need in their future careers.
C) Interactions among themselves outside the classroom.
D) Developing independent and creative thinking abilities.
54. What is said to be an advantage of going to university?
A) Learning how to take risks in an ever-changing world.
B) Meeting people who will be helpful to you in the future.
C) Having opportunities of playing a leading role in society.
D) Gaining up-to-date knowledge in science and technology.
55. What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A) It is natural for students to make complaints about university education.
B) Few students are willing to bear the burden of debt incurred at university.
C) University education is becoming attractive to students who can afford it.
D) The prestige of the university influences employers’ recruitment decisions.
答案解析
51. [A]
本题问的是作者的观点。文都英语老师希望大家记住，任何时候，问谁的观点就只能找谁的观点，千万不能偷换主语。像这种观点态度题，一般在文章的结尾出现、或者是通过作者的用词的字里行间来体现。在第三段的段尾指出，研究表明上过大学的学生们不仅在大学里面受益，而且他们通常会比没上过大学的学生更加健康和快乐。从这句话能看出，作者对上大学还是持一种赞成的态度的。所以选A项。
52. [D]
本题根据题干中的专有名词British可以回到原文定位至第一段，在第一段的文末，作者说：大学毕业不能保证一个很好的工作，60%的人从事的工作都和他们之前的专业不相关。这和D选项为近义表达。
53. [C]
根据题干中的关键词可以定位至第三段的倒数第二句话，教育是学生在讲座和研讨会之间的互相学习。而讲座和研讨会是在课堂之外的，所以这和C选项的含义相近。
54. [B]
关于上大学的好处，这在第四段的第四句话有提到，“学生在大学里有可能会遇到以后可能会处于领导地位的人”，这和B选项的“遇见那些未来对你会有帮助的人”含义相同。
55. [D]
本题为推理题，切记推理题一定要是自己推理出来的，原文中已有的，或者是推的太远的选项都是不对的。在最后一段的第一句话中，作者有说“也许为什么许多大学没有教给他们学生许多东西的原因是，他们知道即使学生什么都没有学到，但是在一个顶级学校里学习，就是对未来的一个美好的投资”。这句话的表达和D项含义相近。
