限時閱讀訓練

A

Modern American universities

總詞數：399words

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Question：What is your dream college like？

現代美國大學——哈佛大學、耶魯大學和哥倫比亞大學，是八所常春藤盟校中的三所，它們都是美國最頂尖的高等學府——治學嚴謹，教授知識淵博，學生素質好。

Before the 1850s the United States had a number of small colleges， most of them dating from colonial days. They were small， churchconnected institutions whose primary concern was to shape the moral character of their students.

Throughout Europe， institutions of higher learning had developed， bearing the ancient name of university. In Germany a different kind of university had developed. The German university was concerned primarily with creating and spreading knowledge， not morals. Between midcentury and the end of the 1800s， more than nine thousand young Americans， dissatisfied with their training at home， went to Germany for advanced study. Some of them returned to become presidents of respectable colleges—Harvard， Yale， Columbia—and transform them into modern universities. The new presidents broke all ties with the churches and brought in a new kind of faculty.

Professors were hired for their knowledge of a subject， not because they were of the proper faith and had a strong arm for disciplining students. The new principle was that a university was to create knowledge as well as pass it on， and this called for a faculty composed of teacher scholars. Drilling and learning by rote were replaced by the German method of lecturing， in which the professors own research was presented in class. Graduate training leading to the Ph. D.， an ancient German degree signifying the highest level of advanced scholarly attainment， was introduced. With the establishment of the seminar system， graduate students learned to question， analyze， and conduct their own research.

At the same time， the new university greatly expanded in size and course offerings， breaking completely out of the old， constricted curriculum of mathematics， classics， rhetoric， and music. The president of Harvard pioneered the elective system， by which students were able to choose their own courses of study. The notion of major fields of study emerged. The new goal was to make the university relevant to the real pursuits of the world. Paying close heed to the practical needs of society， the new universities trained men and women to work at its tasks， with engineering students being the most characteristic of the new regime. Students were also trained as economists， architects， agriculturalists， social welfare workers， and teachers.

時文限時閱讀小練：

Which word can best describe the authors attitude to the modern universities in the USA？

A. Doubtful. B. Indifferent.

C. Neutral. D. Regretful.

參考答案：C

B

Move to Venus

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Question：What would we do if all the resources on

Earth were used up？

移民金星——面對地球資源日漸短缺的問題，科學家提出了移民金星的大膽設想。金星是太陽系中除太陽和月亮外最亮的星，猶如一顆耀眼的鉆石。

If the population of the earth goes on increasing at its present rate， there will eventually not be enough resources left to sustain life on the planet. By the middle of the 21st century， if present trends continue， we will have used up all the oil that drives our cars， for example. Even if scientists develop new ways of feeding the human race， the crowded conditions on earth will make it necessary for us to look for open space somewhere else. But none of the other planets in our solar system are capable of supporting life at present. One possible solution to the problem， however， has recently been suggested by an American scientist， Professor Carl Sagan.

Sagan believes that before the earths resources are completely exhausted it will be possible to change the atmosphere of Venus and to create a new world almost as large as earth itself. The difficulty is that Venus is much hotter than the earth and there is only a tiny amount of water there.

Sagan proposes that algae organisms （海藻有機物） that can live in extremely hot or cold atmospheres and at the same time produce oxygen， should be bred in conditions similar to those on Venus. As soon as this has been done， the algae will be placed in small rockets. Spaceships will then fly to Venus and fire the rockets into the atmosphere. In a fairly short time， the algae will break down the carbon dioxide into oxygen and carbon.

When the algae have done their work， the atmosphere will become cooler， but before man can set foot on Venus it will be necessary for the oxygen to produce rain. The surface of the planet will still be too hot for men to land on it but the rain will eventually fall and in a few years something like earth will be reproduced on Venus.

時文限時閱讀小練：

One of the difficulties for the human race to land on Venus is .

A. the shortage of the algae

B. the shortage of carbon

C. the much hotter climate

D. the much cooler climate

參考答案：C

（作者：康傳桂，海安縣李堡中學）