Weak dollar or no, $ 46,000—the price for a single year of undergraduate instruction amid the red brick of Harvard Yard—is【C1】______. But nowadays cost is【C2】______barrier to entry at many of America"s best universities. Formidable financial-assistance policies have【C3】______fees or slashed them deeply for needy students. And last month Harvard announced a new plan designed to【C4】______the sticker-shock for undergraduates from middle and even upper-income families too. Since then, other rich American universities have unveiled【C5】______initiatives. Yale, Harvard"s bitterest【C6】______, revealed its plans on January 14th. Students whose families make 【C7】______than $60,000 a year will pay nothing at all. Families earning up to $200,000 a year will have to pay an average of 10% of their incomes. The university will【C8】______its financial-assistance budget by 43%, to over $80m. Harvard will have a similar arrangement for families making up to $180,000. That makes the price of going to Harvard or Yale【C9】______ to attending a state-run university for middle-and upper-income students. The universities will also not require any student to take out 【C10】______to pay for their【C11】______, a policy introduced by Princeton in 2001 and by the University of Pennsylvania just after Harvard"s 【C12】______. No applicant who gains admission, officials say, should feel【C13】______ to go elsewhere because he or she can"t afford the fees. None of that is quite as altruistic as it sounds. Harvard and Yale are, after all, now likely to lure more students away from previously【C14】______options, particularly state-run universities, 【C15】______their already impressive admissions figures and reputations. The schemes also provide a【C16】______for structuring university fees in which high prices for rich students help offset modest prices for poorer ones and families are less【C17】______on federal grants and government-backed loans. Less wealthy private colleges whose fees are high will not be able to【C18】______Harvard or Yale easily. But America" s state-run universities, which have traditionally kept their fees low and stable, might well try a differentiated 【C19】______scheme as they raise cash to compete academically with their private【C20】______. Indeed, the University of California system has already started to implement a sliding-fee scale.
【答案解析】解析：考查动词辨析。本句的结构是一个选择的关系，or后面的slashed them deeply for needy students意为“为需要的学生大大降低了学费”，increased“增加”和doubled“加倍”显然不合适。而decreased“减少”和eliminated“除去，消除”相比，decreased是普通意义上的减少，与or后的语义有重复，故选择A．eliminated，代入句中，表示“大学强力推行的助学金政策已经帮助需求生全部或大部分地减免了上学费用”。
【答案解析】解析：考查名词辨析。本文第一段说“And last month Harvard announced a new plan…”，那么可以判断出这里指代前文哈佛的announcement。故正确答案为D．announcement。policy“政策”会造成语义残缺；若选择implementation“履行，实施”，由于本处并未提及该公告，故应当有implementation of…之类的描述；而adjustment“调节，调整”并未在文中提及，故排除。
【答案解析】解析：考查上下文语义及形容词辨析。既然对于学生的学费进行了区分收取，那么中低收人家庭所要负担的学费就较之前少一些，故可以不用再大规模地向联邦借贷。从前文“The universities will also not require any student to take out loans to pay for their tuition”也可以推断出此意。故应该是依赖程度更低，所以D．reliant“依赖的，依靠的”为正确答案。其他三项均不符合题意。