5. Passage Twenty-Seven Out of all the students who enroll in a massive open online course 【MOOC】， only about 5 percent complete the course and receive a certificate of accomplishment. This statistic is often cited as evidence that MOOCs are fatally flawed (有缺陷的) and offer little educational value to most students. Yet more than 80 percent of students who fill out a post-course survey say they met their primary objective. How do we look at these two facts? We’re used to focusing on completion rates in higher education， but they’re not the only—or even the most meaningful—indicator of engagement in open online courses. With no cost to enroll， no punishment for dropping out， and little reward for actually earning a certificate， MOOCs are fundamentally different from traditional classes—and students use them in fundamentally different ways. Data from more than 1.8 million students enrolled in 36 MOOCs offered by the University of Pennsylvania show that students treat MOOCs like a buffet (自助餐)， sampling the material according to their interests and career goals. Some are curious about the subject matter and just watch one or two video lectures; others use the discussion forums to connect with their intellectual peers around the world. Of all enrolled students， nearly 60 percent watch at least one video， complete at least one assignment， or post at least once in a forum. So focusing on the tiny fraction of students who complete a MOOC is misguided. The more important number is the 60 percent engagement rate. Students may not finish a MOOC with a certificate of accomplishment， but the courses nonetheless meet the educational goals of millions. What is the author’s attitude toward MOOCs?

43. The factory is trying every means to (_____)_ the wholesale price of its products.

A. 　pull down

B. 　 bring down

C. 　 put down

D. 　 set down

3. . Passage Twenty All friendships require a certain amount of chemistry. But when two people of the opposite sex become friends， sometimes those friendly feelings can start to resemble something more like sexual tension. Male-female friendships can be an emotional minefield of hidden desires. Does this mean you secretly want to jump into bed with all of your friends? Of course not. But do you ever wonder how many of them might be interested if the opportunity presented itself? Maybe you and your platonic (柏拉图式的) friendship are just a bad breakup and a bottle of wine away from crossing that boundary and hooking up (结合). So can two people of the opposite sex ever really be “just friends?” The Hollywood answer to this age-old question is a decisive HELL NO. On screen， male-female friendships always turn into something more. Harry and Sally， Chandler and Monica， Jim and Pam … … Do I need to go on? Even the characters in Just Friends wind up becoming much more than the film’s definitive title suggests. Cinematic stories dictate that when reasonably attractive men and women befriend one another， they are always on the road to romance， whether they realize it or not. But how much truth is there to this friendship as foreplay theory? It is not a whole lot. Real life isn’t a romantic comedy. Men and women go to school together， work together and hang out in plenty of platonic settings without falling hopelessly in love with one another. Last year， a close female friend of mine moved in with a new male roommate. My immediate reaction was， “You two are definitely going to sleep together.” It seemed to me that a single man and woman living under the same roof would inevitably end up doing it. Much to my surprise， the roommate romance never happened. Almost one year later， the two of them have never even come close to seeing each other naked. Instead， their way of life has come to resemble a sexless marriage. They cook for each other， argue over domestic chores and insist that they never， ever think about each other “that way.” In the movie Just Friends， the two leading characters ( ) .

A. are just friends

B. have romance

C. don’t realize their true relationship

D. can never be friends again

5. Passage Twelve What are the differences between public and private in American higher education? A big difference involves money. Public colleges and universities charger for an education just like private schools. But state schools cost less because they get money from the states that started them to educate local citizens. As a result， out-of-state and international students usually pay more than state residents， at least the first year. The state with the most residents， almost forty million， is California. Its systems of two-year and four-year colleges and universities are among the largest in the world. But the example we are going to focus on today is to the north of California， in a much smaller state on the West Coast: Oregon. The University of Oregon， located in Eugene， is one of the campuses in the Oregon University System. The cost for undergraduates this year is $6，000 for state residents. Housing is an additional $8，000. Non-residents pay the same for housing——but almost $20，000 for tuition and fees. Let’s see how these numbers compare to a private college in Oregon. Lewis and Clark College in Portland has 4，000 students， compared to 20，000 at the University of Oregon. Housing costs $800 more than at the state school. But the big difference is tuition. The published price at Lewis and Clark is almost $34，000. Yet Lewis and Clark is one of the few American colleges to offer financial aid for international students. Each year it awards financial aid to twenty students from other countries. And it says the average award last year was 19，000 dollars. That would make Lewis and Clark cheaper for international students than the University of Oregon. But， of course， prices alone do not say anything about the quality of a school or the value of an education. We can conclude from the passage that the cost and the quality of a university are

A. the more the better

B. the more the worse

C. not necessarily related

D. closely related

4. Passage Ten Nowadays， children heavily cling to digital devices such as computers and smart phones. Some spend up to six hours a day on their digital devices. They can be playing games online with people elsewhere， updating their status on social media， texting friends， or looking for the latest apps to download to their computers or smart phones. This worried Martin Strott. He is the headmaster of the Old Hall School in Wellington， England. He was so concerned that he challenged his students to take part in a week of 【 “digital】 【detox”】， a program to reduce their reliance on digital devices. Mr. Strott told the local newspaper， the Shropshire Star， that too much screen time would affect the development of their social skills. At another interview with a magazine， he mentioned that this over-reliance on digital devices “takes away family time and reduces their chances of face-to-face communication” . The parents are happy with the program. But what about the children? Nine-year-old Fred usually spends around two hours on his digital devices at home after school and around 12 hours on weekends. For him， the digital detox experience was “really hard” . He said that he had been engaged in many interesting outdoor activities organized by the headmaster， but still missed his phone and online games. The idea of keeping children away from their digital devices for a while to prevent too much dependence on them is not particularly new. There have been similar practices in the United States. But are they effective in the long run? According to Mr. Strott， even if kids go back to their digital devices， the hope is that at least they will think about how they will use their time. How did Fred feel about his “digital detox” experience?

A. Tough.

B. Ashamed.

C. Enjoyable.

D. Attractive.

43. We were (_____)_ for half an hour in the traffic and so we arrived late.

A. 　 put down

B. 　 broken down

C. 　 help up

D. 　 kept off

5. Passage Twenty-One What will man be like in the future—in 5，000 or even 50，000 years from now? We can only make guesses， of course， but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today. For man is slowly changing all the time. Let us take an obvious example. Man， even five hundred years ago， was shorter than he is today. Now， on average， men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is relatively short period of time， so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller. Again， in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so， we still make use of only about 20% of the brain’s capacity. As time goes on， however， we shall have to use our brains more and more， and eventually we shall need larger ones. This is likely to bring about a physical change to the head， in particular the forehead will grow larger. Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact， we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over very long period of time it is likely that man’s eyes will grow stronger. On the other hand， we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These， as a result， are likely to grow weaker. At the same time， however， our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life. But what about hair? It will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future， then， both sexes are likely to be bald. Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at. This may well be true. All the same， in spite of all these changes， future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being， with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.The reason for behaving that future man will be different is that he ( ) .

A. is quickly changing

B. hopes for a change

C. never stops changing

D. will live a different life

34. By the time we got to the cinema the film (_____)_ for half an hour.

A. 　 has begun

B. 　 had begun

C. 　 has been on

D. 　 had been on

34. The teacher said that the earth (_____)_ around the sun.

A. 　 run

B. 　 ran

C. 　 runs

D. 　 was running

4. Passage Seven A few centuries ago， people looked at the birds and wondered what it would be like to fly like them. There were stories of heroes who glued bird feathers on their arms and flew up into the sky. About 500 years ago， some people dreamed a different dream. Instead of flying up to the sky， they dreamed of falling from the sky! In the 15th century， Italian inventors designed a cone-shaped (雏形) device that was supposed to bring a man down safely from a great height. The operator held on to a handle with straps strapped to his waist. This was the first known design for a parachute (降落伞) . Even the great inventor Leonardo da Vinci sketched a type of parachute. His parachute design was in the shape of a pyramid (金字塔). Other inventors also sketched their own designs for a parachute. Unfortunately， these were only designs on paper and no one tested them . A Croatian inventor named Fausto Veranzio looked at Leonardo da Vinci’s parachute design and replaced the pyramid shape with one that looked like a sail from a ship. When Veranzio was 65 years old， he fell ill. Thinking he would not live longer， he decided to try out his parachute invention. He built his parachute using wood and cloth. Strapping his invention to his waist， he jumped off the tall bell tower in his city. He landed safely! He was supposedly the first man to successfully use a parachute. However， some people thought this story was not true. If that was the case， then the first person to successfully use a parachute would go to a Frenchman named Louis-Sebastien Lenormand in 1783 .As for the first man who successfully used a parachute， ( ) .

A. it was said to be Leonardo da Vinci

B. we know for sure he was Veranzio

C. there were some historical records

D. we don’t know for sure yet

49. It is high time that the international community (_____)_ together to fight against terrorism.

A. 　 Work

B. 　 works

C. 　 worked

D. 　 working