My mother was confined to her room for an entire year.
A. 正确
B. 错误
Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.
One of the bitterest and most time-worn debates in student onion bars up and down the country is resolved as academic research confirms that in financial terms at least, arts degrees are a complete waste of time.
Getting through university boosts students' earnings by 25%, on a weighted average, or £220,000 over their lifetime, according to Professor Ian Walker of Warwick University--but if they study Shakespeare or the peasants' revolt instead of anatomy or contract law, those gains are likely to be completely wiped out.
The government is about to allow universities to charge students up to £3,000 a year for their degrees, arguing that it's a small price to pay compared with the financial rewards graduates reap later in life. But Prof. Walker's research shows there are sharp variations in returns according to which subject a student takes.
Law, medicine and economics or business are the most lucrative choices, making their average earnings 25% higher, according to the article, published in the office for national statistics' monthly journal. Scientists get 10-15% extra. At the bottom of the list are arts subjects, which make only a "small" difference to earnings--a small negative one, in fact. Just ahead are degrees in education--which leave hard pressed teachers an average of 5% better off a year than if they had left school at 18. "It's hard to resist the conclusion that what students learn does matter a lot; and some subject areas give more modest financial returns than others," Prof. Walker said. As an economist, he was quick to point out that students might gain non-financial returns from arts degrees: "Studying economics might be very dull, for example, and studying post-modernism might be a lot of fun."
What is the best title for the passage?
A. Professor Walker's Research.
B. How to Make Big Money.
C. Differences Between Science and Arts Degrees.
D. Studying Arts Has Negative Financial Outcome.
听力原文: The history of American newspapers has paralleled the history of our culture. As our society has changed, so have its newspapers.
Early colonial newspapers were designed for the elite—those who were interested in political and business information. With the advent of new technology, compulsory education and the major cultural changes brought on by industrialization and urbanization, newspapers moved into the popular culture with the advent of the penny press.
The significant changes in our society as the United States was transformed into a truly industrial nation between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the 20th century brought about many changes in American journalism, including the era of sensationalism, or yellow journalism.
Twentieth-century newspapers, for the most part, have attempted to blend objectivity and social responsibility. This era also has seen the development of electronic news media, interpretative reporting, investigative reporting, advocacy journalism, "new journalism" and specialized newspapers.
Wire services play an important role in gathering news and information for the mass media. The two largest American wire services are the Associated Press and United Press International. The other dominant worldwide news sources are AFP, Reuters and Tass, headquartered in Paris, London and Moscow, respectively.
Individual biases and other problems play a role in making mass communication a complex activity. Although the various functions of the media—to inform, entertain, influence, advertise and transmit culture—are criticized, the most severely criticized is the function to inform. Reasons for this are that people (1) tend to blame the messenger for unpleasant information, (2) fail to understand the watchdog function of the media, (3) believe the myth that the mass media dwell only on bad news and (4) bring their own biases into the information-sharing process.
26. What kind of people were early colonial newspapers designed for?
A. Business people.
B. Elite.
C. Immigrants.
D. People in the cities.
According to the passage, which of the following is the most severely criticized function
A. The function to influence.
B. The watchdog function.
C. The function to advertise.
D. The function to inform.