2009年12月英语四级真题及答案解析_CET4(标准完整版)

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2009年12月英语四级考试真题

Part I Writing (30 minutes)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on the topic of Creating a Green Campus. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below:

1. 建设绿色校园很重要

2. 绿色校园不仅指绿色的环境．．．

3. 为了建设绿色校园，我们应该．．．

注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上。

Creating a Green Campus

Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For question 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.

Colleges taking another look at value of merit-based aid

Good grades and high tests scores still matter—a lot—to many colleges as they award financial aid.

But with low-income students projected to make up an ever-larger share of the college-bound population in coming years, some schools are re-examining whether that aid, typically known as “merit aid”, is the most effective use of precious institutional dollars.

George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for example, said last week that it would cut the value of its average merit scholarships by about one-third and reduce the number of recipients(接受者), pouring the savings, about $2.5 million, into need-based aid. Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., made a similar decision three years ago.

Now, Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., says it will phase out merit scholarships altogether. No current merit-aid recipients will lose their scholarships, but need-based aid alone will be awarded beginning with students entering in fall 2008.

Not all colleges offer merit aid; generally, the more selective a school, the less likely it is to do so. Harvard and Princeton, for example, offer generous need-based packages, but many

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families who don’t meet need eligibility(资格)have been willing to pay whatever they must for a

big-name school.

For small regional colleges that struggle just to fill seats, merit aid can be an important

revenue-builder because many recipients still pay enough tuition dollars over and above the

scholarship amount to keep the institution running.

But for rankings-conscious schools in between, merit aid has served primarily as a tool to

recruit top students and to improve their academic profits. “They’re trying to buy students,” says

Skidmore College economist Sandy Baum.

Studies show merit aid also tends to benefit disproportionately students who could afford to

enroll without it.

“As we look to the future, we see a more pressing need to invest in need-based aid,” says

Monica Inzer, dean of admission and financial aid at Hamilton, which has offered merit

scholarships for 10 years. During that time, it rose in US News & World Report’s ranking of the

best liberal arts colleges, from 25 to 17.

Merit aid, which benefited about 75 students a year, or about 4% of its student body, at a cost

of about $ 1 million a year, “served us well,” Inzer says, but “to be discounting the price for

families that don’t need financial aid doesn’t feel right any more.”

Need-based aid remains by far the largest share of all student aid, which includes state,

federal and institutional grants. But merit aid, offered primarily by schools and states, is growing

faster, both overall and at the institutional level.

Between 1995-96 and 2003-04, institutional merit aid alone increased 212%, compared with

47% for need-based grants. At least 15 states also offer merit aid, typically in a bid to enroll top

students in the state’s public institutions.

But in recent years, a growing chorus(异口同声)of critics has begun pressuring schools to

drop the practice. Recent decisions by Hamilton and others may be “a sign that people are starting

to realize that there’s this destructive competition going on,” says Baum, co-author of a recent

College Report that raises concerns about the role of institutional aid not based on need.

David Laird, president of the Minnesota Private College Council, says many of his schools

would like to reduce their merit aid but fear that in doing so, they would lose top students to their

competitors.

“No one can take one-sided action,” says Laird, who is exploring whether to seek an

exemption(豁免)from federal anti-trust laws so member colleges can discuss how they could

jointly reduce merit aid, “This is a merry-go-round that’s going very fast, and none of the

institutions believe they can sustain the risks of trying to break away by themselves.”

A complicating factor is that merit aid has become so popular with middle-income families,

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who don’t qualify for need-based aid, that many have come to depend on it. And, as tuitions

continue to increase, the line between merit and need blurs.

That’s one reason Allegheny College doesn’t plan to drop merit aid entirely.

“We still believe in rewarding superior achievements and know that these top students truly

value the scholarship,” says Scott Friedhoff, Allegheny’s vice president for enrollment.

Emory University in Atlanta, which boasts a $4.7 billion endowment(捐赠), meanwhile, is

taking another approach. This year, it announced it would eliminate loans for needy stud …… 此处隐藏：32640字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……