評論
打印
C
Diana Jacobs thought her family had a workable plan to pay for college for her 21-year-old twin sons: a combination of savings, income, scholarships, and modest amount of borrowing. Then her husband lost his job, and the plan fell apart.
"I have two kids in college, and I want to say 'come home,' but at the same time I want to provide them with a good education," says Jacobs.
The Jacobs family did work out a solution: They asked and received more aid from the schools, and each son increased his borrowing to the maximum amount through the federal loan (貸款) program. They will each graduate with $20,000 of debt, but at least they will be able to finish school.
With unemployment rising, financial aid administrators expect to hear more families like the Jacobs. More students are applying for aid, and more families expect to need student loans. College administrators are concerned that they will not have enough aid money to go around.
At the same time, tuition（學費）continues to rise. A report from the NationalCenter for Public Policy and Higher Education found that college tuition and fees increased 439% from 1982 to 2007, while average family income rose just 147%. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade.
"If we go on this way for another 25years, we won't have an affordable system of higher education," says Patrick M. Callan, president of the center. "The middle class families have been financing it through debt. They will send kids to college whatever it takes, even if that means a huge amount of debt."
Financial aid administrators have been having a hard time as many companies decide that student loans are not profitable enough and have stopped making them. The good news, however, is that federal loans account for about three quarters of student borrowing, and the government says that money will flow uninterrupted.
66. according to Paragragh 1, why did the plan of the Jacobs family fail?
A. The twins wasted too much money.
B. The father was out of work.
C. Their savings ran out.
D. The family fell apart.
67. How did the Jacobs manage to solve their problem?
A. They asked their kids to come home.
B. They borrowed $20,000 from the school.
C. They encouraged their twin sons to do part-time jobs.
D. They got help from the school and the federal government.
68. Financial aid administrators believe that _________.
A. more families will face the same problem as the Jacobses
B. the government will receive more letters of complaint
C. college tuition fees will double soon
D. America's unemployment will fall
69. What can we learn about the middle class families from the text?
A. They blamed the government for the tuition increase.
B. Their income remained steady in the last decade.
C. They will try their best to send kids to college.
D. Their debts will be paid off within 25 years.
70. according to the last paragraph, the government will_________.
A. provide most students with scholarships
B. dismiss some financial aid administrators
C. stop the companies from making student loans
D. go on providing financial support for college students
D
Since the 1970s, scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers. Brain-computer interface(BCI) technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines.
Recently, two researchers, Jose Millan and Michele Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic school in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated（展示）a small robotic wheelchair directed by a person's thoughts.
In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right hand. He could even talk as he watched the vehicle and guided it with his thoughts.
"Our brain has billions of nerve cells. These send signals through the spinal cord （脊髓）to the muscles to give us the ability to move. But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles," Tavella says. "Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices"
The researchers designed a special cap for the user. This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp(頭皮) and sends them to a computer. The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path. They help the computer react to commands from the brain.
Prof. Millan, the team leader, says scientists keep improving the computer software that interprets brain signals and turns them into simple commands. "The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped in two categories: communication, and controlling devices. One example is this wheelchair."
He says his team has set two goals. One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit from. And the other is to guarantee that they can use the technology over long periods of time.
71. BCI is a technology that can _________.
A. help to update computer systems
B. link the human brain with computers
C. help the disabled to recover
D. control a person's thoughts
72. How did Tavella operate the wheelchair in the laboratory?
A. By controlling his muscles.
B. By talking to the machine.
C. By moving his hand.
D. By using his mind.
73. Which of the following shows the path of the signals described in Paragraph 5?
A. scalp → computer → cap → wheelchair
B. computer → cap→ scalp → wheelchair
C. scalp → cap→ computer → wheelchair
D. cap → computer → scalp → wheelchair
74. The team will test with real patients to __________.
A. make profits from them
B. prove the technology useful to them
C. make them live longer
D. learn about their physical condition
75. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A. Switzerland, the BCIResearchCenter
B. New Findings About How the Human Brain Works
C. BCI Could Mean More Freedom for the Disabled
D. Robotic Vehicles Could Help to Cure Brain Injuries
