单项选择题

There was a time, not that long ago, when women were considered smart if they played dumb to get a man, and women who went to college were more interested in getting a "Mrs. degree" than a bachelor’s. Even today, it’s not unusual for a woman to get whispered and unrequested counsel from her grandmother that an advanced degree could hurt her in the marriage market. "There were so many misperceptions out there about education and marriage that I decided to sort out the facts," said economist Betsey Stevenson, an assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. So along with Wharton colleague Adam Isen, Stevenson calculated national marriage data from 1950 to 2008 and found that the marriage penalty women once paid for being well educated has largely disappeared. "In other words, the difference in marriage rates between those with college degrees and those without is very small," said Stephanie Coontz, a family historian at Evergreen State College. The new analysis also found that while high-school dropouts (辍学学生) had the highest marriage rates in the 1950s, today college-educated women are much more likely to marry than those who don’t finish high school. Of course, expectations have changed dramatically in the last half century. "In the 1950s, a lot of women thought they needed to marry right away," Coontz said. "Real wages were rising so quickly that men in their 20s could afford to marry early. But they didn’t want a woman who was their equal. Men needed and wanted someone who knew less." In fact, she said, research published in 1946 documented that 40 percent of college women admitted to playing dumb on dates. "These days, few women feel the need to play down their intelligence or achievements," Coontz said. The new research has more good news for college grads. Stevenson said the data indicate that modern college-educated women are more likely to be married before age 40, are less likely to divorce, and are more likely to describe their marriages as "happy". The marriages of well-educated women tend to be more stable because the brides are usually older as well as wiser, Stevenson said.What did Betsey Stevenson find about well-educated women in the past

A.Their marriage rate was higher than at present.
B.Their marriage rate was lower than at present.
C.Their divorce rate was higher than at present.
D.Their divorce rate was lower than at present.
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问答题

Back in the carefree days of the Noughties boom, Britain’s youngsters were swept along by the buy-now-pay-later culture embraced by consumers up and down the country. During a decade of near-full employment, many【C1】______quickly from one job—and one credit card—to another, and rainy days were such a distant memory that they【C2】______seemed worth saving for. But with the supply of cheap credit【C3】______up and a generation of school and university leavers about to【C4】______the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of the early 1990s recession are shocked into the【C5】______that the world of 2014 is very different. Katie Orme, 19, who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card after seeing the problems that her parents and 22-year-old sister have had with debt—just one of the【C6】______lessons that she has had to learn. Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been【C7】______for a job—and living at home with her parents—ever since. She has had to sign on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (实习 期) at the Prince’s Trust to improve her【C8】______. The Trust says that the number of calls from【C9】______people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. "It’s so hard to get a job at the moment," she says, "it’s better to go and get more qualifications so when more jobs are【C10】______you will be better suited."A) anxious E) flood I) neglected M) resumeB) available F) hardly J) painful N) searchingC) drying G) mostly K) realization O) skippedD) dynamic H) mug L) remedy【C1】

答案: 正确答案:O
问答题

Music in higher education: what is it worth[A] Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studied music A-level fell last year by 7%.[B] Many music educators speak of feeling marginalized (边缘化), with their subject excluded from the Ebacc (英国文凭考试) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths)—absent too from the Russell Group’s approved list of "facilitating subjects" (ones that will "keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you").[C] The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Academy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of inestimable (不可估量的) value in the workplace. Music education and cultural value[D] Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. "We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the other end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards," said one contributor.[E] One speaker argued that the relationship between music education and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. "Many of those who add cultural value to the country do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably falling rather than increasing." This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they gained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music.[F] However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjoyed by their European peers or the financial power of America, "only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding," as one panellist put it.Instrumental or natural[G] The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both on academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. "The qualities one would be after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of today’s economy are all those found in a music graduate," noted one commentator. "We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians," added another—top city firms, accountancy organisations and computing companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees.[H] There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. "It’s time for music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits," said one contributor. "The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We don’t sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value."[I] "People in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand," added another. "Why Either because we can’t assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society."Education access[J] Despite general consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than "music specialist schools, and private schools". Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding ring-fenced (专项的) money for music hubs (活动中心) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advantage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education.[K] In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among leading universities, misunderstanding by schools and hijacking (劫持) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated by tuition fees and employability.[L] A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of music in a public forum. "We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas," one panelist concluded. "We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the obvious value of music."Panel members in the discussion had different opinions about the relationship between music education and cultural value.

答案: 正确答案:D
单项选择题

Hollywood has a message for scientists: If you want something that’s 100% accurate in every way, go watch a documentary. The thing is, when it comes to movies, narrative wins. The writer’s job is to get the characters right, not the science, says Tse, who cowrote Watchmen, one of last year’s most-anticipated superhero films. It annoys him, too, when things don’t make sense. He spent a lot of time and energy trying to find a fix for a logical problem in Watchmen—that one character, Dan, uses a completely obvious password to hack into the computer of Adrian, who is supremely intelligent. But for practical reasons, that kind of problem often just can’t be fixed. Maybe it would take too long, in an already long movie, or distract too much from the narrative, or cost too much to shoot. Writers have faced similar problems with the TV show Heroes. The series follows a group of characters that have acquired superpowers: one is invisible, and one can walk through walls. One little boy can control electronics with his mind, which is "completely scientifically crazy," says Joe Pokaski, a writer who has worked on every one of the show’s 76 episodes. But scientific sense isn’t necessarily the point. As long as things make sense to the viewer, that’s good enough, and it can leave the show open to carry out its real business: exploring the characters’ struggle to figure out how to use their powers. And don’t even get Heroes writer Aron Coleite started on invisibility. In a scene from the first season of the show, two invisible men walked down a Manhattan street, bumping into people and things as they went. Coleite says, "We spend hours in a smelly room arguing about invisibility." Questions such as: Does invisibility extend to clothes Should the guys be walking down the street naked "We’re demonstrating it visually. We don’t bother people with saying, ’It’s an invisible field around them that blocks light, and that’s why Claude is wearing clothes’," Coleite says. All of this makes sense when you consider that most of these writers don’t have Ph.D.s in astrophysics (天体物理学). "You asked if we had a science background," said Pokaski, "No, we have a science fiction background. The more you try to explain, the sillier it sounds."What do we know about Hollywood documentaries

A.They are highly regarded by scientists.
B.They are scientifically accurate.
C.They are produced for scientists.
D.They are classified as narrative movies.
问答题

Back in the carefree days of the Noughties boom, Britain’s youngsters were swept along by the buy-now-pay-later culture embraced by consumers up and down the country. During a decade of near-full employment, many【C1】______quickly from one job—and one credit card—to another, and rainy days were such a distant memory that they【C2】______seemed worth saving for. But with the supply of cheap credit【C3】______up and a generation of school and university leavers about to【C4】______the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of the early 1990s recession are shocked into the【C5】______that the world of 2014 is very different. Katie Orme, 19, who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card after seeing the problems that her parents and 22-year-old sister have had with debt—just one of the【C6】______lessons that she has had to learn. Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been【C7】______for a job—and living at home with her parents—ever since. She has had to sign on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (实习 期) at the Prince’s Trust to improve her【C8】______. The Trust says that the number of calls from【C9】______people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. "It’s so hard to get a job at the moment," she says, "it’s better to go and get more qualifications so when more jobs are【C10】______you will be better suited."A) anxious E) flood I) neglected M) resumeB) available F) hardly J) painful N) searchingC) drying G) mostly K) realization O) skippedD) dynamic H) mug L) remedy【C2】

答案: 正确答案:F
问答题

Music in higher education: what is it worth[A] Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studied music A-level fell last year by 7%.[B] Many music educators speak of feeling marginalized (边缘化), with their subject excluded from the Ebacc (英国文凭考试) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths)—absent too from the Russell Group’s approved list of "facilitating subjects" (ones that will "keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you").[C] The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Academy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of inestimable (不可估量的) value in the workplace. Music education and cultural value[D] Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. "We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the other end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards," said one contributor.[E] One speaker argued that the relationship between music education and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. "Many of those who add cultural value to the country do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably falling rather than increasing." This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they gained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music.[F] However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjoyed by their European peers or the financial power of America, "only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding," as one panellist put it.Instrumental or natural[G] The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both on academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. "The qualities one would be after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of today’s economy are all those found in a music graduate," noted one commentator. "We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians," added another—top city firms, accountancy organisations and computing companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees.[H] There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. "It’s time for music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits," said one contributor. "The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We don’t sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value."[I] "People in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand," added another. "Why Either because we can’t assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society."Education access[J] Despite general consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than "music specialist schools, and private schools". Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding ring-fenced (专项的) money for music hubs (活动中心) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advantage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education.[K] In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among leading universities, misunderstanding by schools and hijacking (劫持) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated by tuition fees and employability.[L] A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of music in a public forum. "We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas," one panelist concluded. "We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the obvious value of music."Compared with their European and American peers, UK institutions lack enough political and financial support.

答案: 正确答案:F
单项选择题

There was a time, not that long ago, when women were considered smart if they played dumb to get a man, and women who went to college were more interested in getting a "Mrs. degree" than a bachelor’s. Even today, it’s not unusual for a woman to get whispered and unrequested counsel from her grandmother that an advanced degree could hurt her in the marriage market. "There were so many misperceptions out there about education and marriage that I decided to sort out the facts," said economist Betsey Stevenson, an assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. So along with Wharton colleague Adam Isen, Stevenson calculated national marriage data from 1950 to 2008 and found that the marriage penalty women once paid for being well educated has largely disappeared. "In other words, the difference in marriage rates between those with college degrees and those without is very small," said Stephanie Coontz, a family historian at Evergreen State College. The new analysis also found that while high-school dropouts (辍学学生) had the highest marriage rates in the 1950s, today college-educated women are much more likely to marry than those who don’t finish high school. Of course, expectations have changed dramatically in the last half century. "In the 1950s, a lot of women thought they needed to marry right away," Coontz said. "Real wages were rising so quickly that men in their 20s could afford to marry early. But they didn’t want a woman who was their equal. Men needed and wanted someone who knew less." In fact, she said, research published in 1946 documented that 40 percent of college women admitted to playing dumb on dates. "These days, few women feel the need to play down their intelligence or achievements," Coontz said. The new research has more good news for college grads. Stevenson said the data indicate that modern college-educated women are more likely to be married before age 40, are less likely to divorce, and are more likely to describe their marriages as "happy". The marriages of well-educated women tend to be more stable because the brides are usually older as well as wiser, Stevenson said.Not long ago, it was believed that women went to college in order to _______.

A.find a husband
B.get smart in the marriage market
C.learn to be a good wife
D.marry someone with a bachelor’s degree
单项选择题

Hollywood has a message for scientists: If you want something that’s 100% accurate in every way, go watch a documentary. The thing is, when it comes to movies, narrative wins. The writer’s job is to get the characters right, not the science, says Tse, who cowrote Watchmen, one of last year’s most-anticipated superhero films. It annoys him, too, when things don’t make sense. He spent a lot of time and energy trying to find a fix for a logical problem in Watchmen—that one character, Dan, uses a completely obvious password to hack into the computer of Adrian, who is supremely intelligent. But for practical reasons, that kind of problem often just can’t be fixed. Maybe it would take too long, in an already long movie, or distract too much from the narrative, or cost too much to shoot. Writers have faced similar problems with the TV show Heroes. The series follows a group of characters that have acquired superpowers: one is invisible, and one can walk through walls. One little boy can control electronics with his mind, which is "completely scientifically crazy," says Joe Pokaski, a writer who has worked on every one of the show’s 76 episodes. But scientific sense isn’t necessarily the point. As long as things make sense to the viewer, that’s good enough, and it can leave the show open to carry out its real business: exploring the characters’ struggle to figure out how to use their powers. And don’t even get Heroes writer Aron Coleite started on invisibility. In a scene from the first season of the show, two invisible men walked down a Manhattan street, bumping into people and things as they went. Coleite says, "We spend hours in a smelly room arguing about invisibility." Questions such as: Does invisibility extend to clothes Should the guys be walking down the street naked "We’re demonstrating it visually. We don’t bother people with saying, ’It’s an invisible field around them that blocks light, and that’s why Claude is wearing clothes’," Coleite says. All of this makes sense when you consider that most of these writers don’t have Ph.D.s in astrophysics (天体物理学). "You asked if we had a science background," said Pokaski, "No, we have a science fiction background. The more you try to explain, the sillier it sounds."According to Tse, "practical reasons" often make it difficult to _______.

A.get the science right in movies
B.invent a less obvious password
C.stay focused on the narrative
D.reduce the length of movies
问答题

Music in higher education: what is it worth[A] Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studied music A-level fell last year by 7%.[B] Many music educators speak of feeling marginalized (边缘化), with their subject excluded from the Ebacc (英国文凭考试) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths)—absent too from the Russell Group’s approved list of "facilitating subjects" (ones that will "keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you").[C] The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Academy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of inestimable (不可估量的) value in the workplace. Music education and cultural value[D] Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. "We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the other end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards," said one contributor.[E] One speaker argued that the relationship between music education and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. "Many of those who add cultural value to the country do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably falling rather than increasing." This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they gained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music.[F] However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjoyed by their European peers or the financial power of America, "only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding," as one panellist put it.Instrumental or natural[G] The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both on academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. "The qualities one would be after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of today’s economy are all those found in a music graduate," noted one commentator. "We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians," added another—top city firms, accountancy organisations and computing companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees.[H] There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. "It’s time for music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits," said one contributor. "The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We don’t sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value."[I] "People in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand," added another. "Why Either because we can’t assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society."Education access[J] Despite general consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than "music specialist schools, and private schools". Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding ring-fenced (专项的) money for music hubs (活动中心) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advantage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education.[K] In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among leading universities, misunderstanding by schools and hijacking (劫持) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated by tuition fees and employability.[L] A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of music in a public forum. "We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas," one panelist concluded. "We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the obvious value of music."Last year, the number of students who study music A-level decreased.

答案: 正确答案:A
问答题

Back in the carefree days of the Noughties boom, Britain’s youngsters were swept along by the buy-now-pay-later culture embraced by consumers up and down the country. During a decade of near-full employment, many【C1】______quickly from one job—and one credit card—to another, and rainy days were such a distant memory that they【C2】______seemed worth saving for. But with the supply of cheap credit【C3】______up and a generation of school and university leavers about to【C4】______the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of the early 1990s recession are shocked into the【C5】______that the world of 2014 is very different. Katie Orme, 19, who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card after seeing the problems that her parents and 22-year-old sister have had with debt—just one of the【C6】______lessons that she has had to learn. Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been【C7】______for a job—and living at home with her parents—ever since. She has had to sign on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (实习 期) at the Prince’s Trust to improve her【C8】______. The Trust says that the number of calls from【C9】______people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. "It’s so hard to get a job at the moment," she says, "it’s better to go and get more qualifications so when more jobs are【C10】______you will be better suited."A) anxious E) flood I) neglected M) resumeB) available F) hardly J) painful N) searchingC) drying G) mostly K) realization O) skippedD) dynamic H) mug L) remedy【C3】

答案: 正确答案:C
单项选择题

There was a time, not that long ago, when women were considered smart if they played dumb to get a man, and women who went to college were more interested in getting a "Mrs. degree" than a bachelor’s. Even today, it’s not unusual for a woman to get whispered and unrequested counsel from her grandmother that an advanced degree could hurt her in the marriage market. "There were so many misperceptions out there about education and marriage that I decided to sort out the facts," said economist Betsey Stevenson, an assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. So along with Wharton colleague Adam Isen, Stevenson calculated national marriage data from 1950 to 2008 and found that the marriage penalty women once paid for being well educated has largely disappeared. "In other words, the difference in marriage rates between those with college degrees and those without is very small," said Stephanie Coontz, a family historian at Evergreen State College. The new analysis also found that while high-school dropouts (辍学学生) had the highest marriage rates in the 1950s, today college-educated women are much more likely to marry than those who don’t finish high school. Of course, expectations have changed dramatically in the last half century. "In the 1950s, a lot of women thought they needed to marry right away," Coontz said. "Real wages were rising so quickly that men in their 20s could afford to marry early. But they didn’t want a woman who was their equal. Men needed and wanted someone who knew less." In fact, she said, research published in 1946 documented that 40 percent of college women admitted to playing dumb on dates. "These days, few women feel the need to play down their intelligence or achievements," Coontz said. The new research has more good news for college grads. Stevenson said the data indicate that modern college-educated women are more likely to be married before age 40, are less likely to divorce, and are more likely to describe their marriages as "happy". The marriages of well-educated women tend to be more stable because the brides are usually older as well as wiser, Stevenson said.According to the first paragraph, what grandmother whispers to her granddaughter is usually _______.

A.taken as a warning
B.regarded as out-of-date
C.given voluntarily
D.accepted unwillingly
单项选择题

Hollywood has a message for scientists: If you want something that’s 100% accurate in every way, go watch a documentary. The thing is, when it comes to movies, narrative wins. The writer’s job is to get the characters right, not the science, says Tse, who cowrote Watchmen, one of last year’s most-anticipated superhero films. It annoys him, too, when things don’t make sense. He spent a lot of time and energy trying to find a fix for a logical problem in Watchmen—that one character, Dan, uses a completely obvious password to hack into the computer of Adrian, who is supremely intelligent. But for practical reasons, that kind of problem often just can’t be fixed. Maybe it would take too long, in an already long movie, or distract too much from the narrative, or cost too much to shoot. Writers have faced similar problems with the TV show Heroes. The series follows a group of characters that have acquired superpowers: one is invisible, and one can walk through walls. One little boy can control electronics with his mind, which is "completely scientifically crazy," says Joe Pokaski, a writer who has worked on every one of the show’s 76 episodes. But scientific sense isn’t necessarily the point. As long as things make sense to the viewer, that’s good enough, and it can leave the show open to carry out its real business: exploring the characters’ struggle to figure out how to use their powers. And don’t even get Heroes writer Aron Coleite started on invisibility. In a scene from the first season of the show, two invisible men walked down a Manhattan street, bumping into people and things as they went. Coleite says, "We spend hours in a smelly room arguing about invisibility." Questions such as: Does invisibility extend to clothes Should the guys be walking down the street naked "We’re demonstrating it visually. We don’t bother people with saying, ’It’s an invisible field around them that blocks light, and that’s why Claude is wearing clothes’," Coleite says. All of this makes sense when you consider that most of these writers don’t have Ph.D.s in astrophysics (天体物理学). "You asked if we had a science background," said Pokaski, "No, we have a science fiction background. The more you try to explain, the sillier it sounds."Heroes is written in the way that the audience will take superpowers as _______.

A.beyond explanation
B.beyond imagination
C.scientifically crazy
D.practically reasonable
问答题

Music in higher education: what is it worth[A] Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studied music A-level fell last year by 7%.[B] Many music educators speak of feeling marginalized (边缘化), with their subject excluded from the Ebacc (英国文凭考试) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths)—absent too from the Russell Group’s approved list of "facilitating subjects" (ones that will "keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you").[C] The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Academy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of inestimable (不可估量的) value in the workplace. Music education and cultural value[D] Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. "We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the other end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards," said one contributor.[E] One speaker argued that the relationship between music education and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. "Many of those who add cultural value to the country do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably falling rather than increasing." This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they gained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music.[F] However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjoyed by their European peers or the financial power of America, "only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding," as one panellist put it.Instrumental or natural[G] The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both on academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. "The qualities one would be after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of today’s economy are all those found in a music graduate," noted one commentator. "We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians," added another—top city firms, accountancy organisations and computing companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees.[H] There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. "It’s time for music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits," said one contributor. "The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We don’t sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value."[I] "People in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand," added another. "Why Either because we can’t assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society."Education access[J] Despite general consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than "music specialist schools, and private schools". Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding ring-fenced (专项的) money for music hubs (活动中心) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advantage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education.[K] In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among leading universities, misunderstanding by schools and hijacking (劫持) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated by tuition fees and employability.[L] A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of music in a public forum. "We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas," one panelist concluded. "We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the obvious value of music."Russell Group’s facilitating subjects received severe criticism as they are driving students away from music study in higher education.

答案: 正确答案:K
单项选择题

There was a time, not that long ago, when women were considered smart if they played dumb to get a man, and women who went to college were more interested in getting a "Mrs. degree" than a bachelor’s. Even today, it’s not unusual for a woman to get whispered and unrequested counsel from her grandmother that an advanced degree could hurt her in the marriage market. "There were so many misperceptions out there about education and marriage that I decided to sort out the facts," said economist Betsey Stevenson, an assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. So along with Wharton colleague Adam Isen, Stevenson calculated national marriage data from 1950 to 2008 and found that the marriage penalty women once paid for being well educated has largely disappeared. "In other words, the difference in marriage rates between those with college degrees and those without is very small," said Stephanie Coontz, a family historian at Evergreen State College. The new analysis also found that while high-school dropouts (辍学学生) had the highest marriage rates in the 1950s, today college-educated women are much more likely to marry than those who don’t finish high school. Of course, expectations have changed dramatically in the last half century. "In the 1950s, a lot of women thought they needed to marry right away," Coontz said. "Real wages were rising so quickly that men in their 20s could afford to marry early. But they didn’t want a woman who was their equal. Men needed and wanted someone who knew less." In fact, she said, research published in 1946 documented that 40 percent of college women admitted to playing dumb on dates. "These days, few women feel the need to play down their intelligence or achievements," Coontz said. The new research has more good news for college grads. Stevenson said the data indicate that modern college-educated women are more likely to be married before age 40, are less likely to divorce, and are more likely to describe their marriages as "happy". The marriages of well-educated women tend to be more stable because the brides are usually older as well as wiser, Stevenson said.What did Betsey Stevenson find about well-educated women in the past

A.Their marriage rate was higher than at present.
B.Their marriage rate was lower than at present.
C.Their divorce rate was higher than at present.
D.Their divorce rate was lower than at present.
问答题

Back in the carefree days of the Noughties boom, Britain’s youngsters were swept along by the buy-now-pay-later culture embraced by consumers up and down the country. During a decade of near-full employment, many【C1】______quickly from one job—and one credit card—to another, and rainy days were such a distant memory that they【C2】______seemed worth saving for. But with the supply of cheap credit【C3】______up and a generation of school and university leavers about to【C4】______the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of the early 1990s recession are shocked into the【C5】______that the world of 2014 is very different. Katie Orme, 19, who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card after seeing the problems that her parents and 22-year-old sister have had with debt—just one of the【C6】______lessons that she has had to learn. Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been【C7】______for a job—and living at home with her parents—ever since. She has had to sign on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (实习 期) at the Prince’s Trust to improve her【C8】______. The Trust says that the number of calls from【C9】______people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. "It’s so hard to get a job at the moment," she says, "it’s better to go and get more qualifications so when more jobs are【C10】______you will be better suited."A) anxious E) flood I) neglected M) resumeB) available F) hardly J) painful N) searchingC) drying G) mostly K) realization O) skippedD) dynamic H) mug L) remedy【C4】

答案: 正确答案:E
单项选择题

Hollywood has a message for scientists: If you want something that’s 100% accurate in every way, go watch a documentary. The thing is, when it comes to movies, narrative wins. The writer’s job is to get the characters right, not the science, says Tse, who cowrote Watchmen, one of last year’s most-anticipated superhero films. It annoys him, too, when things don’t make sense. He spent a lot of time and energy trying to find a fix for a logical problem in Watchmen—that one character, Dan, uses a completely obvious password to hack into the computer of Adrian, who is supremely intelligent. But for practical reasons, that kind of problem often just can’t be fixed. Maybe it would take too long, in an already long movie, or distract too much from the narrative, or cost too much to shoot. Writers have faced similar problems with the TV show Heroes. The series follows a group of characters that have acquired superpowers: one is invisible, and one can walk through walls. One little boy can control electronics with his mind, which is "completely scientifically crazy," says Joe Pokaski, a writer who has worked on every one of the show’s 76 episodes. But scientific sense isn’t necessarily the point. As long as things make sense to the viewer, that’s good enough, and it can leave the show open to carry out its real business: exploring the characters’ struggle to figure out how to use their powers. And don’t even get Heroes writer Aron Coleite started on invisibility. In a scene from the first season of the show, two invisible men walked down a Manhattan street, bumping into people and things as they went. Coleite says, "We spend hours in a smelly room arguing about invisibility." Questions such as: Does invisibility extend to clothes Should the guys be walking down the street naked "We’re demonstrating it visually. We don’t bother people with saying, ’It’s an invisible field around them that blocks light, and that’s why Claude is wearing clothes’," Coleite says. All of this makes sense when you consider that most of these writers don’t have Ph.D.s in astrophysics (天体物理学). "You asked if we had a science background," said Pokaski, "No, we have a science fiction background. The more you try to explain, the sillier it sounds."After the discussion on invisibility, writers of Heroes decide to _______.

A.extend invisibility to clothes
B.make an invisible field
C.demonstrate the questions in the show
D.leave the questions unanswered
问答题

Music in higher education: what is it worth[A] Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studied music A-level fell last year by 7%.[B] Many music educators speak of feeling marginalized (边缘化), with their subject excluded from the Ebacc (英国文凭考试) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths)—absent too from the Russell Group’s approved list of "facilitating subjects" (ones that will "keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you").[C] The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Academy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of inestimable (不可估量的) value in the workplace. Music education and cultural value[D] Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. "We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the other end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards," said one contributor.[E] One speaker argued that the relationship between music education and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. "Many of those who add cultural value to the country do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably falling rather than increasing." This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they gained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music.[F] However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjoyed by their European peers or the financial power of America, "only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding," as one panellist put it.Instrumental or natural[G] The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both on academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. "The qualities one would be after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of today’s economy are all those found in a music graduate," noted one commentator. "We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians," added another—top city firms, accountancy organisations and computing companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees.[H] There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. "It’s time for music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits," said one contributor. "The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We don’t sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value."[I] "People in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand," added another. "Why Either because we can’t assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society."Education access[J] Despite general consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than "music specialist schools, and private schools". Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding ring-fenced (专项的) money for music hubs (活动中心) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advantage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education.[K] In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among leading universities, misunderstanding by schools and hijacking (劫持) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated by tuition fees and employability.[L] A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of music in a public forum. "We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas," one panelist concluded. "We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the obvious value of music."The value of music study in higher education shouldn’t be justified from a non-musical point of view.

答案: 正确答案:H
单项选择题

There was a time, not that long ago, when women were considered smart if they played dumb to get a man, and women who went to college were more interested in getting a "Mrs. degree" than a bachelor’s. Even today, it’s not unusual for a woman to get whispered and unrequested counsel from her grandmother that an advanced degree could hurt her in the marriage market. "There were so many misperceptions out there about education and marriage that I decided to sort out the facts," said economist Betsey Stevenson, an assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. So along with Wharton colleague Adam Isen, Stevenson calculated national marriage data from 1950 to 2008 and found that the marriage penalty women once paid for being well educated has largely disappeared. "In other words, the difference in marriage rates between those with college degrees and those without is very small," said Stephanie Coontz, a family historian at Evergreen State College. The new analysis also found that while high-school dropouts (辍学学生) had the highest marriage rates in the 1950s, today college-educated women are much more likely to marry than those who don’t finish high school. Of course, expectations have changed dramatically in the last half century. "In the 1950s, a lot of women thought they needed to marry right away," Coontz said. "Real wages were rising so quickly that men in their 20s could afford to marry early. But they didn’t want a woman who was their equal. Men needed and wanted someone who knew less." In fact, she said, research published in 1946 documented that 40 percent of college women admitted to playing dumb on dates. "These days, few women feel the need to play down their intelligence or achievements," Coontz said. The new research has more good news for college grads. Stevenson said the data indicate that modern college-educated women are more likely to be married before age 40, are less likely to divorce, and are more likely to describe their marriages as "happy". The marriages of well-educated women tend to be more stable because the brides are usually older as well as wiser, Stevenson said.Coontz pointed out that, in the last half century, _______.

A.women have got more chances for education
B.women have fought hard for equality with men
C.people’s wage levels have sharply risen
D.people’s outlook has been greatly different
问答题

Back in the carefree days of the Noughties boom, Britain’s youngsters were swept along by the buy-now-pay-later culture embraced by consumers up and down the country. During a decade of near-full employment, many【C1】______quickly from one job—and one credit card—to another, and rainy days were such a distant memory that they【C2】______seemed worth saving for. But with the supply of cheap credit【C3】______up and a generation of school and university leavers about to【C4】______the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of the early 1990s recession are shocked into the【C5】______that the world of 2014 is very different. Katie Orme, 19, who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card after seeing the problems that her parents and 22-year-old sister have had with debt—just one of the【C6】______lessons that she has had to learn. Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been【C7】______for a job—and living at home with her parents—ever since. She has had to sign on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (实习 期) at the Prince’s Trust to improve her【C8】______. The Trust says that the number of calls from【C9】______people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. "It’s so hard to get a job at the moment," she says, "it’s better to go and get more qualifications so when more jobs are【C10】______you will be better suited."A) anxious E) flood I) neglected M) resumeB) available F) hardly J) painful N) searchingC) drying G) mostly K) realization O) skippedD) dynamic H) mug L) remedy【C5】

答案: 正确答案:K
单项选择题

Hollywood has a message for scientists: If you want something that’s 100% accurate in every way, go watch a documentary. The thing is, when it comes to movies, narrative wins. The writer’s job is to get the characters right, not the science, says Tse, who cowrote Watchmen, one of last year’s most-anticipated superhero films. It annoys him, too, when things don’t make sense. He spent a lot of time and energy trying to find a fix for a logical problem in Watchmen—that one character, Dan, uses a completely obvious password to hack into the computer of Adrian, who is supremely intelligent. But for practical reasons, that kind of problem often just can’t be fixed. Maybe it would take too long, in an already long movie, or distract too much from the narrative, or cost too much to shoot. Writers have faced similar problems with the TV show Heroes. The series follows a group of characters that have acquired superpowers: one is invisible, and one can walk through walls. One little boy can control electronics with his mind, which is "completely scientifically crazy," says Joe Pokaski, a writer who has worked on every one of the show’s 76 episodes. But scientific sense isn’t necessarily the point. As long as things make sense to the viewer, that’s good enough, and it can leave the show open to carry out its real business: exploring the characters’ struggle to figure out how to use their powers. And don’t even get Heroes writer Aron Coleite started on invisibility. In a scene from the first season of the show, two invisible men walked down a Manhattan street, bumping into people and things as they went. Coleite says, "We spend hours in a smelly room arguing about invisibility." Questions such as: Does invisibility extend to clothes Should the guys be walking down the street naked "We’re demonstrating it visually. We don’t bother people with saying, ’It’s an invisible field around them that blocks light, and that’s why Claude is wearing clothes’," Coleite says. All of this makes sense when you consider that most of these writers don’t have Ph.D.s in astrophysics (天体物理学). "You asked if we had a science background," said Pokaski, "No, we have a science fiction background. The more you try to explain, the sillier it sounds."Watchman and Heroes are similar in that they are both _______.

A.about superpowers
B.science fiction stories
C.short of scientific logic
D.the year’s most anticipated
单项选择题

There was a time, not that long ago, when women were considered smart if they played dumb to get a man, and women who went to college were more interested in getting a "Mrs. degree" than a bachelor’s. Even today, it’s not unusual for a woman to get whispered and unrequested counsel from her grandmother that an advanced degree could hurt her in the marriage market. "There were so many misperceptions out there about education and marriage that I decided to sort out the facts," said economist Betsey Stevenson, an assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. So along with Wharton colleague Adam Isen, Stevenson calculated national marriage data from 1950 to 2008 and found that the marriage penalty women once paid for being well educated has largely disappeared. "In other words, the difference in marriage rates between those with college degrees and those without is very small," said Stephanie Coontz, a family historian at Evergreen State College. The new analysis also found that while high-school dropouts (辍学学生) had the highest marriage rates in the 1950s, today college-educated women are much more likely to marry than those who don’t finish high school. Of course, expectations have changed dramatically in the last half century. "In the 1950s, a lot of women thought they needed to marry right away," Coontz said. "Real wages were rising so quickly that men in their 20s could afford to marry early. But they didn’t want a woman who was their equal. Men needed and wanted someone who knew less." In fact, she said, research published in 1946 documented that 40 percent of college women admitted to playing dumb on dates. "These days, few women feel the need to play down their intelligence or achievements," Coontz said. The new research has more good news for college grads. Stevenson said the data indicate that modern college-educated women are more likely to be married before age 40, are less likely to divorce, and are more likely to describe their marriages as "happy". The marriages of well-educated women tend to be more stable because the brides are usually older as well as wiser, Stevenson said.The effect of education on marriage has been found to be_______.

A.favorable
B.insignificant
C.long-lasting
D.extensive
问答题

Music in higher education: what is it worth[A] Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studied music A-level fell last year by 7%.[B] Many music educators speak of feeling marginalized (边缘化), with their subject excluded from the Ebacc (英国文凭考试) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths)—absent too from the Russell Group’s approved list of "facilitating subjects" (ones that will "keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you").[C] The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Academy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of inestimable (不可估量的) value in the workplace. Music education and cultural value[D] Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. "We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the other end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards," said one contributor.[E] One speaker argued that the relationship between music education and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. "Many of those who add cultural value to the country do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably falling rather than increasing." This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they gained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music.[F] However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjoyed by their European peers or the financial power of America, "only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding," as one panellist put it.Instrumental or natural[G] The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both on academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. "The qualities one would be after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of today’s economy are all those found in a music graduate," noted one commentator. "We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians," added another—top city firms, accountancy organisations and computing companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees.[H] There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. "It’s time for music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits," said one contributor. "The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We don’t sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value."[I] "People in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand," added another. "Why Either because we can’t assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society."Education access[J] Despite general consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than "music specialist schools, and private schools". Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding ring-fenced (专项的) money for music hubs (活动中心) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advantage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education.[K] In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among leading universities, misunderstanding by schools and hijacking (劫持) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated by tuition fees and employability.[L] A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of music in a public forum. "We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas," one panelist concluded. "We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the obvious value of music."More and more foreign students come to UK universities to study music.

答案: 正确答案:E
问答题

Back in the carefree days of the Noughties boom, Britain’s youngsters were swept along by the buy-now-pay-later culture embraced by consumers up and down the country. During a decade of near-full employment, many【C1】______quickly from one job—and one credit card—to another, and rainy days were such a distant memory that they【C2】______seemed worth saving for. But with the supply of cheap credit【C3】______up and a generation of school and university leavers about to【C4】______the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of the early 1990s recession are shocked into the【C5】______that the world of 2014 is very different. Katie Orme, 19, who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card after seeing the problems that her parents and 22-year-old sister have had with debt—just one of the【C6】______lessons that she has had to learn. Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been【C7】______for a job—and living at home with her parents—ever since. She has had to sign on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (实习 期) at the Prince’s Trust to improve her【C8】______. The Trust says that the number of calls from【C9】______people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. "It’s so hard to get a job at the moment," she says, "it’s better to go and get more qualifications so when more jobs are【C10】______you will be better suited."A) anxious E) flood I) neglected M) resumeB) available F) hardly J) painful N) searchingC) drying G) mostly K) realization O) skippedD) dynamic H) mug L) remedy【C6】

答案: 正确答案:J
问答题

Music in higher education: what is it worth[A] Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studied music A-level fell last year by 7%.[B] Many music educators speak of feeling marginalized (边缘化), with their subject excluded from the Ebacc (英国文凭考试) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths)—absent too from the Russell Group’s approved list of "facilitating subjects" (ones that will "keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you").[C] The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Academy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of inestimable (不可估量的) value in the workplace. Music education and cultural value[D] Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. "We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the other end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards," said one contributor.[E] One speaker argued that the relationship between music education and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. "Many of those who add cultural value to the country do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably falling rather than increasing." This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they gained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music.[F] However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjoyed by their European peers or the financial power of America, "only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding," as one panellist put it.Instrumental or natural[G] The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both on academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. "The qualities one would be after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of today’s economy are all those found in a music graduate," noted one commentator. "We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians," added another—top city firms, accountancy organisations and computing companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees.[H] There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. "It’s time for music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits," said one contributor. "The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We don’t sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value."[I] "People in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand," added another. "Why Either because we can’t assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society."Education access[J] Despite general consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than "music specialist schools, and private schools". Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding ring-fenced (专项的) money for music hubs (活动中心) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advantage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education.[K] In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among leading universities, misunderstanding by schools and hijacking (劫持) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated by tuition fees and employability.[L] A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of music in a public forum. "We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas," one panelist concluded. "We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the obvious value of music."The absence of music subject from Ebacc and Stem grouping gives some music educators a sense of marginalization.

答案: 正确答案:B
问答题

Back in the carefree days of the Noughties boom, Britain’s youngsters were swept along by the buy-now-pay-later culture embraced by consumers up and down the country. During a decade of near-full employment, many【C1】______quickly from one job—and one credit card—to another, and rainy days were such a distant memory that they【C2】______seemed worth saving for. But with the supply of cheap credit【C3】______up and a generation of school and university leavers about to【C4】______the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of the early 1990s recession are shocked into the【C5】______that the world of 2014 is very different. Katie Orme, 19, who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card after seeing the problems that her parents and 22-year-old sister have had with debt—just one of the【C6】______lessons that she has had to learn. Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been【C7】______for a job—and living at home with her parents—ever since. She has had to sign on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (实习 期) at the Prince’s Trust to improve her【C8】______. The Trust says that the number of calls from【C9】______people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. "It’s so hard to get a job at the moment," she says, "it’s better to go and get more qualifications so when more jobs are【C10】______you will be better suited."A) anxious E) flood I) neglected M) resumeB) available F) hardly J) painful N) searchingC) drying G) mostly K) realization O) skippedD) dynamic H) mug L) remedy【C7】

答案: 正确答案:N
问答题

Back in the carefree days of the Noughties boom, Britain’s youngsters were swept along by the buy-now-pay-later culture embraced by consumers up and down the country. During a decade of near-full employment, many【C1】______quickly from one job—and one credit card—to another, and rainy days were such a distant memory that they【C2】______seemed worth saving for. But with the supply of cheap credit【C3】______up and a generation of school and university leavers about to【C4】______the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of the early 1990s recession are shocked into the【C5】______that the world of 2014 is very different. Katie Orme, 19, who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card after seeing the problems that her parents and 22-year-old sister have had with debt—just one of the【C6】______lessons that she has had to learn. Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been【C7】______for a job—and living at home with her parents—ever since. She has had to sign on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (实习 期) at the Prince’s Trust to improve her【C8】______. The Trust says that the number of calls from【C9】______people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. "It’s so hard to get a job at the moment," she says, "it’s better to go and get more qualifications so when more jobs are【C10】______you will be better suited."A) anxious E) flood I) neglected M) resumeB) available F) hardly J) painful N) searchingC) drying G) mostly K) realization O) skippedD) dynamic H) mug L) remedy【C8】

答案: 正确答案:M
问答题

Music in higher education: what is it worth[A] Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studied music A-level fell last year by 7%.[B] Many music educators speak of feeling marginalized (边缘化), with their subject excluded from the Ebacc (英国文凭考试) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths)—absent too from the Russell Group’s approved list of "facilitating subjects" (ones that will "keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you").[C] The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Academy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of inestimable (不可估量的) value in the workplace. Music education and cultural value[D] Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. "We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the other end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards," said one contributor.[E] One speaker argued that the relationship between music education and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. "Many of those who add cultural value to the country do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably falling rather than increasing." This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they gained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music.[F] However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjoyed by their European peers or the financial power of America, "only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding," as one panellist put it.Instrumental or natural[G] The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both on academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. "The qualities one would be after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of today’s economy are all those found in a music graduate," noted one commentator. "We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians," added another—top city firms, accountancy organisations and computing companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees.[H] There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. "It’s time for music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits," said one contributor. "The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We don’t sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value."[I] "People in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand," added another. "Why Either because we can’t assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society."Education access[J] Despite general consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than "music specialist schools, and private schools". Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding ring-fenced (专项的) money for music hubs (活动中心) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advantage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education.[K] In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among leading universities, misunderstanding by schools and hijacking (劫持) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated by tuition fees and employability.[L] A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of music in a public forum. "We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas," one panelist concluded. "We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the obvious value of music."It’s warned that the postgraduate students who study music might decrease in the next five years.

答案: 正确答案:L
问答题

Back in the carefree days of the Noughties boom, Britain’s youngsters were swept along by the buy-now-pay-later culture embraced by consumers up and down the country. During a decade of near-full employment, many【C1】______quickly from one job—and one credit card—to another, and rainy days were such a distant memory that they【C2】______seemed worth saving for. But with the supply of cheap credit【C3】______up and a generation of school and university leavers about to【C4】______the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of the early 1990s recession are shocked into the【C5】______that the world of 2014 is very different. Katie Orme, 19, who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card after seeing the problems that her parents and 22-year-old sister have had with debt—just one of the【C6】______lessons that she has had to learn. Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been【C7】______for a job—and living at home with her parents—ever since. She has had to sign on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (实习 期) at the Prince’s Trust to improve her【C8】______. The Trust says that the number of calls from【C9】______people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. "It’s so hard to get a job at the moment," she says, "it’s better to go and get more qualifications so when more jobs are【C10】______you will be better suited."A) anxious E) flood I) neglected M) resumeB) available F) hardly J) painful N) searchingC) drying G) mostly K) realization O) skippedD) dynamic H) mug L) remedy【C9】

答案: 正确答案:A
问答题

Music in higher education: what is it worth[A] Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studied music A-level fell last year by 7%.[B] Many music educators speak of feeling marginalized (边缘化), with their subject excluded from the Ebacc (英国文凭考试) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths)—absent too from the Russell Group’s approved list of "facilitating subjects" (ones that will "keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you").[C] The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Academy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of inestimable (不可估量的) value in the workplace. Music education and cultural value[D] Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. "We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the other end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards," said one contributor.[E] One speaker argued that the relationship between music education and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. "Many of those who add cultural value to the country do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably falling rather than increasing." This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they gained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music.[F] However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjoyed by their European peers or the financial power of America, "only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding," as one panellist put it.Instrumental or natural[G] The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both on academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. "The qualities one would be after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of today’s economy are all those found in a music graduate," noted one commentator. "We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians," added another—top city firms, accountancy organisations and computing companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees.[H] There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. "It’s time for music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits," said one contributor. "The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We don’t sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value."[I] "People in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand," added another. "Why Either because we can’t assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society."Education access[J] Despite general consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than "music specialist schools, and private schools". Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding ring-fenced (专项的) money for music hubs (活动中心) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advantage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education.[K] In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among leading universities, misunderstanding by schools and hijacking (劫持) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated by tuition fees and employability.[L] A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of music in a public forum. "We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas," one panelist concluded. "We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the obvious value of music."Collaboration and innovation are among the skills that decent music students must hold.

答案: 正确答案:G
问答题

Back in the carefree days of the Noughties boom, Britain’s youngsters were swept along by the buy-now-pay-later culture embraced by consumers up and down the country. During a decade of near-full employment, many【C1】______quickly from one job—and one credit card—to another, and rainy days were such a distant memory that they【C2】______seemed worth saving for. But with the supply of cheap credit【C3】______up and a generation of school and university leavers about to【C4】______the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of the early 1990s recession are shocked into the【C5】______that the world of 2014 is very different. Katie Orme, 19, who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card after seeing the problems that her parents and 22-year-old sister have had with debt—just one of the【C6】______lessons that she has had to learn. Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been【C7】______for a job—and living at home with her parents—ever since. She has had to sign on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (实习 期) at the Prince’s Trust to improve her【C8】______. The Trust says that the number of calls from【C9】______people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. "It’s so hard to get a job at the moment," she says, "it’s better to go and get more qualifications so when more jobs are【C10】______you will be better suited."A) anxious E) flood I) neglected M) resumeB) available F) hardly J) painful N) searchingC) drying G) mostly K) realization O) skippedD) dynamic H) mug L) remedy【C10】

答案: 正确答案:B
问答题

Music in higher education: what is it worth[A] Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studied music A-level fell last year by 7%.[B] Many music educators speak of feeling marginalized (边缘化), with their subject excluded from the Ebacc (英国文凭考试) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths)—absent too from the Russell Group’s approved list of "facilitating subjects" (ones that will "keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you").[C] The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Academy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of inestimable (不可估量的) value in the workplace. Music education and cultural value[D] Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. "We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the other end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards," said one contributor.[E] One speaker argued that the relationship between music education and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. "Many of those who add cultural value to the country do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably falling rather than increasing." This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they gained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music.[F] However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjoyed by their European peers or the financial power of America, "only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding," as one panellist put it.Instrumental or natural[G] The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both on academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. "The qualities one would be after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of today’s economy are all those found in a music graduate," noted one commentator. "We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians," added another—top city firms, accountancy organisations and computing companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees.[H] There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. "It’s time for music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits," said one contributor. "The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We don’t sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value."[I] "People in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand," added another. "Why Either because we can’t assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society."Education access[J] Despite general consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than "music specialist schools, and private schools". Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding ring-fenced (专项的) money for music hubs (活动中心) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advantage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education.[K] In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among leading universities, misunderstanding by schools and hijacking (劫持) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated by tuition fees and employability.[L] A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of music in a public forum. "We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas," one panelist concluded. "We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the obvious value of music."It is believed by numerous people that the accessibility of musical study is far from satisfying.

答案: 正确答案:J
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