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 an Answer Sheet 1. For question 1—7 choose the best answer from the four choices marked /A)，B)，C)and D). For questions 8—10 complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
What Will the World Be Like in Fifty Years?
This week some top scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, gave their vision of how the world will look in 2056, from gas-powered cars to extraordinary health advances, John Ingham reports on what the world’s finest minds believe our futures will be.
For those of us lucky enough to live that long, 2056 will be a world of almost perpetual youth, where obesity is a remote memory and robots become our companions.
We will be rubbing shoulders with aliens and colonizing outer space. Better still, our descendants might at last live in a world at peace with itself.
The prediction is that we will have found a source of inexhaustible, safe, green energy, and that science will have killed off religion. If they are right we will have removed two of the main causes of war-our dependence on oil and religious prejudice.
Will we really, as today’s scientists claim, be able to live for ever or at least cheat the ageing process so that the average person lives to 150?
Of course, all these predictions come with a scientific health warning. Harvard professor Steven Pinker says: “This is an invitation to look foolish, as with the predictions of domed cities and nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners that were made 50 year ago.”
Living longer
Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute in North Carolina, believes failing organs will be repaired by injecting cells into the body. They will naturally go straight to the injury and help heal it. A system of injections without needles could also slow the ageing process by using the same process to “tune” cells.
Bruce Lahn, professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago, anticipates the ability to produce “unlimited supplies” of transplantable human organs without the need for human donors. These organs would be grown in animals such as pigs. When a patient needed a new organ, such as a kidney, the surgeon would contact a commercial organ producer, give him the patient’s immunological profile and would then be sent a kidney with the correct tissue type.
These organs would be entirely composed of human cells, grown by introducing them into animal hosts, and allowing them to develop into an organ in place of the animal’s own. But Prof. Lahn believes that farmed brains would be “off limits”. He says: “Very few people would want to have their brains replaced by someone else’s and we probably don’t want to put a human brain in an animal body.”
Richard Miller, a professor at the University of Michigan, thinks scientist could develop “authentic anti-ageing drugs” by working out how cells in larger animals such as whales and human resist many forms of injuries. He says: “It is now routine, in laboratory mammals, to extend lifespan by about 40%. Turning on the same protective systems in people should, by 2056, create the first class of 100-year-olds who are as vigorous and productive as today’s people in their 60s”
Aliens
Colin Pillinger, professor of planetary sciences at the Open University, says: I fancy that at least we will be able to show that life did start to evolve on Mars well as Earth.” Within 50years he hopes scientists will prove that alien life came here in Martian meteorites(陨石).
Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, believes that in 50 years we may find evidence of alien life in the ancient permanent frost of Mars or on other planers.
He adds: There is even a chance we will find alien life forms here on Earth. It might be as different as English is to Chinese.
Princeton professor Freeman Dyson thinks it “likely” that life form outer space will be discovered before 2056 because the tools for finding it, such as optical and radio detection and data processing, are improving.
He says: “As soon as the first evidence is found, we will know what to look for and additional discoveries are likely to follow quickly. Such discoveries are likely to have revolutionary consequences for biology, astronomy and philosophy. They may also change the way we look at ourselves and our place in the universe.”
Colonies in space
Richard Gott, professor of astrophysics at Princeton, hopes man will set up a self-sufficient colony on Mars, which would be a “life insurance policy against whatever catastrophes, natural or otherwise, might occur on Earth.
“The real space race is whether we will colonise off Earth on to other worlds before money for the space programme runs out.”
Spinal injuries
Ellen Heber-Katz, a professor at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, foresees cures for injuries causing paralysis such as the one that afflicted Superman star Christopher Reeve.
She says: “I believe that the day is not far off when we will be able to prescribe drugs that cause severed (断裂的) spinal cords to heal, hearts to regenerate and lost limbs to regrow.”
“People will come to expect that injured or diseased organs are meant to be repaired from within, in much the same way that we fix an appliance or automobile: by replacing the damaged part with a manufacturer-certified new part.” She predicts that within 5 to 10 years fingers and toes will be regrown and limbs will start to be regrown a few years later. Repairs to the nervous system will start with optic nerves and, in time, the spinal cord.” Within 50 years whole body replacement will be routine,” Prof. Heber-Katz adds.
Obesity
Sydney Brenner, senior distinguished fellow of the Crick-Jacobs Center in California, won the 2002 Nobel Prize for Medicine and says that if there is a global disaster some humans will survive-and evolution will favor small people with bodies large enough to support the required amount of brain power.” Obesity,” he says.” will have been solved.”
Robots
Rodney Brooks, professor of robotics at MIT, says the problems of developing artificial intelligence for robots will be at least partly overcome. As a result, “the possibilities for robots working with people will open up immensely”
Energy
Bill Joy, green technology expert in California, says:” The most significant breakthrough would be to have an inexhaustible source of safe, green energy that is substantially cheaper than any existing energy source.”
Ideally, such a source would be safe in that it could not be made into weapons and would not make hazardous or toxic waste or carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.
Society
Geoffrey Miller, evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico, says: The US will follow the UK in realizing that religion is not a prerequisite (前提)for ordinary human decency.
“This, science will kill religion-not by reason challenging faith but by offering a more practical, universal and rewarding moral framework for human interaction.”
He also predicts that “absurdly wasteful” displays of wealth will become unfashionable while the importance of close-knit communities and families will become clearer.
These three changes, he says, will help make us all” brighter, wiser, happier and kinder”.
1. What is john lngham’s report about?
A) A solution to the global energy crisis
B) Extraordinary advances in technology.
C) The latest developments of medical science
D) Scientists’ vision of the world in half a century
2. According to Harvard professor Steven Pinker, predictions about the future_____.
A) may invite trouble
B) may not come true
C) will fool the public
D) do more harm than good
3. Professor Bruce Lahn of the University of Chicago predicts that____.
A) humans won’t have to donate organs for transplantation
B) more people will donate their organs for transplantation
C) animal organs could be transplanted into human bodies
D) organ transplantation won’t be as scary as it is today
4. According to Professor Richard Miller of the University of Michigan, people will____.
A) life for as long as they wish
B) be relieved from all sufferings
C) live to 100 and more with vitality
D) be able to live longer than whales
5. Princeton professor Freeman Dyson thinks that____.
A) scientists will find alien life similar to ours
B) humans will be able to settle on Mars
C) alien life will likely be discovered
D) life will start to evolve on Mars
6. According to Princeton professor Richard Gott, by setting up a self-sufficient colony on Mars, Humans_____.
A) might survive all catastrophes on earth
B) might acquire ample natural resources
C) will be able to travel to Mars freely
D) will move there to live a better life
7. Ellen Heber-Katz, professor at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, predicts that_____.
A) human organs can be manufactured like appliances
B) people will be as strong and dynamic as supermen
C) human nerves can be replaced by optic fibers
D) lost fingers and limbs will be able to regrow
8. Rodney Brooks says that it will be possible for robots to work with humans as a result of the development of _____
9. The most significant breakthrough predicted by Bill Joy will be an inexhaustible green energy source that can’t be used to make__.
10. According to Geoffrey Miller, science will offer a more practical, universal and rewarding moral framework in place of_______.
试题详解
本文探讨了未来五十年世界的样子。文章从8个方面进行了细致的阐述，例如寿命、外星人、肥胖症、太空移民、医疗、机器人、能源危机、社会和谐等。
1. D
题干中的John Ingham和report出现在文中的第一段末尾。The world’s finest minds指的就是科学家。
2. B
根据题干关键词Harvard professor Steven Pinker定位文中第六段第二句话。此题的关键是理解教授作的比喻an invitation to look foolish。教授认为，对未来的预测好比是封愚蠢的邀请函，正如五十年前对穹顶城市和核能真空吸尘器(都没有实现)的预测一样。显然教授对预测所持的怀疑态度。
3. A
关键词Professor Bruce Lahn of the University of Chicago出现在文章第一个小标题下面的第二段首句。题干中的predict和原文中的participate是同义词，其宾语就是教授的预测。
4. C
此题关键词也非常明确，为Richard Miller of the University of Michigan，定位于文章第一个小标题下面的第四段首句。选项中的live to 100等同于文中的the first class of 100-year-olds，with vitality等同于文中的as vigorous and productive as today’s people in their 60s。
5. C
Princeton professor Freeman Dyson出现在文章的第二个小标题下面的第四段。教授认为，科学家很有可能在2056年之前发现外太空生命。
6. A
关键词Richard Gott出现在第三个小标题下面的第一段。原文中which引导的定语从句意思为：这将是一种生命保险政策，是人类能够应对发生在地球上的各种灾难，无论是自然的，还是其他的。
7. D
此题有一定难度，关键词Ellen Heber-Katz很容易定位，在第四个小标题下面的第一段，但是该段没有提到选项中的信息。需要换词重新定位，利用题干中predict定位在第三段的第二句话中。
8. artificial intelligence
利用关键词Rodney Brooks定位在文章第六个小标题。题干中的as a result of和原文中的as a result都表示因果关系，前者原因在后，结果在前，后者原因在前，结果在后。
9. weapons
由题干中的Bill Joy定位在小标题Energy下面。教授的话语中之提到了重要的突破，没有提及这种能源不能用作什么，于是往后延伸一段，文中could not be made into 和题干中的can’t be used to同义转换。
10. religion
根据关键词Geoffrey Miller, practical, universal and rewarding moral定位在原文倒数第二段。文中提到科学会kill religion，而题干中的in place of和kill同义转换。
Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete statements in the fewest possible words. Please write your answers on Answer Sheet 2.
If movie trailers(预告片)are supposed to cause a reaction, the preview for "United 93" more than succeeds. Featuring no famous actors, it begins with images of a beautiful morning and passengers boarding an airplane. It takes you a minute to realize what the movie’s even about. That’s when a plane hits the World Trade Center. the effect is visceral(震撼心灵的). When the trailer played before "Inside Man" last week at a Hollywood theater, audience members began calling out, "Too soon!" In New York City, the response was even more dramatic. The Loews Theater in Manhattan took the rare step of pulling the trailer from its screens after several complaints.
“United 93” is the first feature film to deal explicitly with the events of September 11, 2001, and is certain to ignite an emotional debate. Is it too soon? Should the film have been made at all? More to the point, will anyone want to see it? Other 9/11 projects are on the way as the fifth anniversary of the attacks approaches, most notably Oliver Stone's " World Trade Center." but as the forerunner, “United 93” will take most of the heat, whether it deserves it or not.
The real United 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field after 40 passengers and crew fought back against the terrorists. Writer-director Paul Greengrass has gone to great lengths to be respectful in his depiction of what occurred, proceeding with the film only after securing the approval of every victim's family. "Was I surprised at the agreement? Yes. Very. Usually there’re one or two families who're more reluctant," Greengrass writes in an e-mail. "I was surprised at the extraordinary way the United 93 families have welcomed us into their lives and shared their experiences with us." Carole O'Hare, a family member, says, “They were very open and honest with us, and they made us a part of this whole project.” Universal, which is releasing the film, plans to donate 10% of its opening weekend gross to the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund. That hasn't stopped criticism that the studio is exploiting a national tragedy. O’Hare thinks that’s unfair. “This story has to be told to honor the passengers and crew for what they did,” she says. “But more than that, it raises awareness. Our ports aren’t secure. Our borders aren’t secure. Our airlines still aren’t secure, and this is what happens when you’re not secure. That’s the message I want people to hear.”
1. The trailer for “United 93” succeeded in ____ when it played in the theaters in Hollywood and New York City.
2. The movie “United 93” is sure to give rise to _______________.
3. What did writer-director Paul Greengrass obtain before he proceeded with the movie?
4. Universal, which is releasing “United 93”, has been criticized for _________.
5. Carole O’Hare thinks that besides honoring the passengers and crew for what they did, the purpose of telling the story is to _________ about security.
试题详解
1. causing a reaction
根据题干关键词Hollywood 和New York City定位在第一段的倒数第二、三句中，但是经过仔细对比，根本就没有出现题干中所提及的《93号航班》预告片。因此，转换关键词重新定位，选用题干中的trailer和succeed定位到原文第一句。本题考查《93号航班》的预告片在好莱坞和纽约成功上映之后，取得了什么样的成功。文章第一句前半句指出，电影预告片应该能够引起观众的反应，后半句指出《93号航班》的预告片真是太成功了。换句话说，这部预告片成功地引起了观众的反应。Succeed in后面用动词的非谓语形式，即causing a reaction。
2. an emotional debate
根据题干中的is sure to和give rise to定位到原文第二段第一句。本题考查《93号航班》必定会引发的影响。题干中的is sure to和give rise to分别是对原文中的is certain to和ignite的同义转述，ignite的宾语an emotional debate就是本题的答案。
3. The approval of every victim’s family
这个题目问的是Paul Greengrass获得了什么，很显然需要寻找obtain的宾语，应该是一个名词或名词性结构。利用题目中的关键词Writer-director Paul Greengrass和proceeded with the movie 定位文章第三段第二句话。此题唯一的难点就是需要逻辑转换，题干是before，而文中是after，而文中的securing正是获得的含义，是分词形式，后面的the approval of every victim's family是做宾语。所以答案是the approval of every victim's family。
4. exploiting a national tragedy
根据题干中的Universal，releasing“United 93”和criticized定位到原文第三段第六、七句。本题考查发行影片《93号航班》的环球公司受指责的原因。题干中的短语be criticized for是对原文中的criticism引导的同位语从句的同义转换。因此可以得知公司受到指责时因为exploit national tragedy，因题干所填为for的宾语，所以采用分词形式exploiting。
5. raise awareness
根据题干中的Carole O’Hare，honoring the passengers and crew定位到文章最后。本题考查Carole 0’Hare所认为的拍摄这部影片的目的和意义。题干中用besides引出其中的一个目的：honoring the passengers and
crew for what they did，接着文章又用一个but引出另外一个目的：But more than that，it raises awareness。由于题干中空格前有不定式to，所以答案为raise awareness。
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C), and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage one
Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage
Imagine waking up and finding the value of your assets has been halved. No, you're not an investor in one of those hedge funds that failed completely. With the dollar slumping to a 26-year low against the pound, already-expensive London has become quite unaffordable. A coffee at Starbucks, just as unavoidable in England as it is in the United States, runs about $8.
The once all-powerful dollar isn't doing a Titanic against just the pound. It is sitting at a record low against the euro and at a 30-year low against the Canadian dollar. Even the Argentine peso and Brazilian real are thriving against the dollar.
The weak dollar is a source of humiliation, for a nation's self-esteem rests in part on the strength of its currency. It's also a potential economic problem, since a declining dollar makes imported food more expensive and exerts upward pressure on interest rates. And yet there are substantial sectors of the vast U.S. economy-from giant companies like Coca-Cola to mom-and-pop restaurant operators in Miami-for which the weak dollar is most excellent news.
Many Europeans may view the U.S. as an arrogant superpower that has become hostile to foreigners. But nothing makes people think more warmly of the U.S. than a weak dollar. Through April, the total number of visitors from abroad was up 6.8 percent from last year. Should the trend continue, the number of tourists this year will finally top the 2000 peak? Many Europeans now apparently view the U.S. the way many Americans view Mexico-as a cheap place to vacation, shop and party, all while ignoring the fact that the poorer locals can't afford to join the merrymaking.
The money tourists spend helps decrease our chronic trade deficit. So do exports, which thanks in part to the weak dollar, soared 11 percent between May 2006 and May 2007. For first five months of 2007, the trade deficit actually fell 7 percent from 2006.
If you own shares in large American corporations, you're a winner in the weak-dollar gamble. Last week Coca-Cola's stick bubbled to a five-year high after it reported a fantastic quarter. Foreign sales accounted for 65 percent of Coke's beverage business. Other American companies profiting from this trend include McDonald's and IBM.
American tourists, however, shouldn't expect any relief soon. The dollar lost strength the way many marriages break up- slowly, and then all at once. And currencies don't turn on a dime. So if you want to avoid the pain inflicted by the increasingly pathetic dollar, cancel that summer vacation to England and look to New England There, the dollar is still treated with a little respect.
52. Why do Americans feel humiliated?
A) Their economy is plunging
B) They can't afford trips to Europe
C) Their currency has slumped
D) They have lost half of their assets.
53. How does the current dollar affect the life of ordinary Americans?
A) They have to cancel their vacations in New England
B) They find it unaffordable to dine in mom-and-pop restaurants.
C) They have to spend more money when buying imported goods.
D) They might lose their jobs due to potential economic problems.
The once all-powerful dollar isn't doing a Titanic against just the pound. It is sitting at a record low against the euro and at a 30-year low against the Canadian dollar. Even the Argentine peso and Brazilian real are thriving against the dollar.
The weak dollar is a source of humiliation, for a nation's self-esteem rests in part on the strength of its currency. It's also a potential economic problem, since a declining dollar makes imported food more expensive and exerts upward pressure on interest rates. And yet there are substantial sectors of the vast U.S. economy-from giant companies like Coca-Cola to mom-and-pop restaurant operators in Miami-for which the weak dollar is most excellent news.
Many Europeans may view the U.S. as an arrogant superpower that has become hostile to foreigners. But nothing makes people think more warmly of the U.S. than a weak dollar. Through April, the total number of visitors from abroad was up 6.8 percent from last year. Should the trend continue, the number of tourists this year will finally top the 2000 peak? Many Europeans now apparently view the U.S. the way many Americans view Mexico-as a cheap place to vacation, shop and party, all while ignoring the fact that the poorer locals can't afford to join the merrymaking.
The money tourists spend helps decrease our chronic trade deficit. So do exports, which thanks in part to the weak dollar, soared 11 percent between May 2006 and May 2007. For first five months of 2007, the trade deficit actually fell 7 percent from 2006.
If you own shares in large American corporations, you're a winner in the weak-dollar gamble. Last week Coca-Cola's stick bubbled to a five-year high after it reported a fantastic quarter. Foreign sales accounted for 65 percent of Coke's beverage business. Other American companies profiting from this trend include McDonald's and IBM.
American tourists, however, shouldn't expect any relief soon. The dollar lost strength the way many marriages break up- slowly, and then all at once. And currencies don't turn on a dime. So if you want to avoid the pain inflicted by the increasingly pathetic dollar, cancel that summer vacation to England and look to New England There, the dollar is still treated with a little respect.
52. Why do Americans feel humiliated?
A) Their economy is plunging
B) They can't afford trips to Europe
C) Their currency has slumped
D) They have lost half of their assets.
53. How does the current dollar affect the life of ordinary Americans?
A) They have to cancel their vacations in New England
B) They find it unaffordable to dine in mom-and-pop restaurants.
C) They have to spend more money when buying imported goods.
D) They might lose their jobs due to potential economic problems.
By some studies, selective schools do enhance their graduates' lifetime earnings. The gain is reckoned at 2-4% for every 100-poinnt increase in a school's average SAT scores. But even this advantage is probably a statistical fluke(偶然). A well-known study examined students who got into highly selective schools and then went elsewhere. They earned just as much as graduates from higher-status schools.
Kids count more than their colleges. Getting into Yale may signify intelligence, talent and ambition. But it's not the only indicator and, paradoxically, its significance is declining. The reason: so many similar people go elsewhere. Getting into college is not life only competition. Old-boy networks are breaking down. Princeton economist Alan Krueger studied admissions to one top Ph.D. program. High scores on the GRE helped explain who got in; degrees of prestigious universities didn't.
So, parents, lighten up. The stakes have been vastly exaggerated up to a point, we can rationalize our pushiness. America is a competitive society; our kids need to adjust to that. But too much pushiness can be destructive. The very ambition we impose on our children may get some into Harvard but may also set them up for disappointment. One study found that, other things being equal, graduates of highly selective schools experienced more job dissatisfaction. They may have been so conditioned to being on top that anything less disappoints.
57. Why dose the author say that parents are the true fighters in the college-admissions wars?
A) They have the final say in which university their children are to attend
B) They know best which universities are most suitable for their children.
C) They have to carry out intensive surveys of colleges before children make an application.
D) They care more about which college their children go to than the children themselves.
58. Why do parents urge their children to apply to more school than ever?
A) They want to increase their children chances of entering a prestigious college.
B) They hope their children can enter a university that offers attractive scholarships.
C) Their children will have a wider choice of which college to go to.
D) Elite universities now enroll fewer students than they used to.
59. What does the author mean by kids count more than their college (Line1, Para. 4)?
A) Continuing education is more important to a person success.
B) A person’s happiness should be valued more than their education.
C) Kids’ actual abilities are more important than their college background
D) What kids learn at college cannot keep up with job market requirements.
60. What does Krueger study tell us?
A) Getting into Ph.D. programs may be more competitive than getting into college.
B) Degrees of prestigious universities do not guarantee entry to graduate programs.
C) Graduates from prestigious universities do not care much about their GRE scores.
D) Connections built in prestigious universities may be sustained long after graduation.
61.One possible result of pushing children into elite universities is that______
A) they earn less than their peers from other institutions
B) they turn out to be less competitive in the job market
C) they experience more job dissatisfaction after graduation
D) they overemphasize their qualifications in job application
试题详解
Passage One
52.C
细节题。由题干中的humiliated定位到原文第三段第一句。本题提问美国人感到屈辱的原因。第三段第一句指出：美元贬值是屈辱之源。因为货币是否坚挺在一定程度上体现了一个民族的自尊心。由此可以得出，美国人感到屈辱是因为他们的货币持续走弱。
53.C
细节推理题。本题可以通过第52题与第53题的定位，利用依次而下的顺序出题原则，定位在文章第三段的后半部分。原文中提到了美元贬值造成的影响：进口物品的价格飞涨.对利率的压力也不断增大。对普通民众影响较大的是前者，也就意味着民众在购买进口食品时需要花更多的钱。
54.D
细节题。根据题干关键词Europeans定位到原文第四段。整段文字都就谈论欧洲人的想法，但是在段末出现了明显的特殊标点，出题重心显现 —— 很多欧洲人眼中的美国就像美国人心中的墨西哥一样，是一个价格低廉，购物聚会的好去处。这说明欧洲人认为美元贬值后，美国时他们比较理想的旅游目的地。
55.C
暗示推论题。依据文章顺序出题原则，答案定位到原文最后三段。但倒数第二、三段为举例，而举例的目的是为了证明作者的观点。因此答案应该在文章末段最后两句：如果想避免伤痛，最好取消去英国的 旅行，转而前往新英格兰旅行，换句话说，就是取消去国外的旅行，转而在国内旅行。这里的关键是需要丰富的背景知识，England指代英国，而New England指代美国的新英格兰州。
56.A
猜词题。答案在文章最后一段开头。所猜句子开头有单词and出现，表明该句与上句之间在意思上是递进平行的，前句含义为：美元走弱就像许多婚姻一样，是慢慢的，最后突然爆发。因此，所猜句的含义与之保持一支：目前这种持续走弱的形势不会在短期内发生转变，不会立即走强，选项A是对这句的正确理解。
Passage Two
57.D
细节题。由题干中的parents are the true fighters定位到第一段第一句。题干中的内容与原文首句几乎无异。但是题干由Why提问，考查原因，从第一段的信息词our first choice，a prize demonstrating how well we raised them等，可以看出孩子要上家长首选的大学，并且大学情况如何将表明家长对孩子教育的优劣。处处体现家长的攀比心理。最后三句表明家长虽然不承认他们比孩子在上大学问题上更痴迷更在意，但是他们却承认在此基础上所设计的种种理由都是不真实，有偏见或是虚幻不切实际的。最后一句更能体现作者的态度，对于Aaron和Nicole而言，能否上斯坦福大学并不重要。由此可见，更在乎学校优劣的是父母而不是孩子。
58.A
细节题。由题干中urge their children to apply to more schools定位到第二段第一、二句。本段第一句说家长还是存在一种名校的恐慌，即担心孩子无法进入名校，由此萌生让学生申请多所学校的想法。第三句紧接着提出名校毕业生的种种优势，如能够接受更好的教育，更有可能成功等。由此可知，家长们让孩子向更多的大学提出申请是为了保障孩子有更多的机会迈人名校门槛。
59.C
猜词题。答案在文章第四段。题干中的count意为“很重要”，第二句话意思是：进入耶鲁大学也许意味着天资聪颖、才华横溢、雄心勃勃。随后作者用but引出真正的想法：但这并不是唯一的指标，现在这种重要性已经开始下降了。由此可以推断，学生除了努力学习进好大学，也要学习其他。
60.B
细节推论题。由题干中的Krueger’s study定位到第四段最后两句。这两句话介绍了Alan Krueger的研究结果：最能说明谁被录取的是GRE的高分，而不是一流大学的学位证书。进一步证明前面提出的观点：上大学不是人生的唯一竞争，能上名校并不一定就代表在以后的人生路上处处优越于别人。B选项 “名牌大学学位并不能保证一定有进入研究生等更高领域学习的机会”，与原文一致。
6l. C
细节推论题。根据顺序出题原则定位到最后一段，文章最后一段提到我们把上名校和孩子的未来之间的利害关系过于夸大，too much pushiness将是毁灭性的。其结果是名校毕业生在未来的工作中有更多的不满。c)和原文中graduates of highly selective schools experienced more job dissatisfaction是同义转述。
