单选题 The rapid rise in college costs has caught the attention of Congress, which is taking steps to at least give the public reason to hope for a break on tuition bills.
New legislation, expected to clear the House and Senate after press time on July 31, includes provisions designed to put pressure on colleges, universities, and states to rein in the escalating price of a college education.
The best potential for doing so, some experts say, lies in the searchable college data that the US Department of Education will post online to bring transparency (透明度) to tuition rates and the "net price" students pay after receiving aid.
One set of lists would spotlight the 5 percent of institutions with the largest percentage tuition increase over the past three years—in categories such as public, private, four-year, and two-year. They would have to report to the Ed Department the reasons for the tuition hikes .
"There are lists that no college or university wants to be on. They don"t want to be on The Princeton Review"s Top 10 party school list...and they"re not going to or want to be on the list...saying they have raised their tuition faster than others," says Terry Hartle, a senior vice president at the American Council on Education, a higher education advocacy and research group in Washington. But it"s difficult to predict the level of impact such supervision will have, given the variety of factors that affect college pricing, he adds.
Within a year of the bill"s passage, students and parents should be able to use online calculators to estimate what any given college would cost based on their income level and family situation. Since most students receive financial aid, it"s important for families to see this net price, experts say, rather than simply compare based on the full-charge "sticker price."
There"s little agreement about how effective these new requirements of the Higher Education Opportunity Act will be, but many experts say they can"t hurt.
单选题 The word "escalating" (Para. 2) is closest in meaning to "______".
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[考点] 词语含义
此题考查考生根据文章具体内容判断词语含义的能力。问题问：文章第二段中的“escalating”与四个选项中哪个选项的意思最接近?文章第一段指出，(美国)大学学费的急剧上涨已经引起了国会的关注，这至少表明国会正在采取措施，让公众有理由盼望不要再收到学费账单；第二段提出，新的立法包含了一些条款，这些条款旨在给各个大学或各个州施加压力，以控制正在“escalating”的大学费用。由此可以判断，“escalating”的意思就是“急剧上涨”。所以，本题正确答案是A。
干扰项B：缓慢下降的；干扰项C：激烈竞争的；干扰项D：突然变化的。
单选题 According to the passage, which colleges or universities will be more likely to be spotlighted?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[考点] 细节判断
此题考查考生根据文章具体内容进行细节判断的能力。问题问：根据文章内容，哪些大学更有可能被曝光?文章第四段指出，在过去三年学费上涨百分比最高的学校中，将有5%的学校被列出曝光，这些学校包括公立学校、私立学校、两年制学校以及四年制学校。由此可以判断，那些学费上涨最快的学校更有可能被曝光。所以，本题正确答案是C。
干扰项A：那些没有数据可查的学校；干扰项B：那些学费上涨幅度不透明的学校；干扰项D：那些没有位居前十名的学校。这三个选项内容与原文不符。
单选题 What does the word "hike" (Para. 4) most probably mean in the passage?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[考点] 词语含义
此题考查考生根据文章具体内容判断词语含义的能力。问题问：文章第四段中的“hike”是什么意思。文章第一段即提出，大学学费上涨已引起国会的关注。第二段指出，新的立法包括一些旨在严格控制大学学费上涨的条款。第四段提出，过去三年学费上涨百分比最高的学校将被曝光，而这些学校必须向教育部汇报学费“hike”的原因。由此可以判断，那些被曝光的学校需要向教育部汇报的是学费增加的问题。所以，本题正确答案是A：涨价。
干扰项B：变化；干扰项C：压力；干扰项D：关注。
单选题 It"s hard to anticipate the impact of the new legislation on controlling tuition increase because ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[考点] 细节判断
此题考查考生根据文章具体内容进行细节判断的能力。问题问：新的立法对抑制学费上涨的作用很难预料，因为______。文章第五段指出，没有学校希望自己因学费上涨过快而上黑名单。但是要想预测这些监管措施的影响程度也很难，因为影响大学费用的因素各异。由此可以判断，新的立法对抑制学费上涨的作用很难预料，因为影响大学费用的因素很多。所以，本题正确答案是C。
干扰项A：没有大学希望被曝光；干扰项B：学校都拒绝将学费公开；干扰项D：新的立法没有制定相关提案。这三个选项内容与原文不符。
单选题 What is the author"s attitude toward controlling the increasing college tuition fees?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[考点] 观点态度
此题考查考生根据文章具体内容判断观点态度的能力。问题问：作者对于抑制学费上涨是什么态度。文章第一段提到，高校学费急剧上涨引起了国会的关注，接下来介绍了为解决这一问题而制定的新的立法以及专家们的意见和建议。文章最后一段提出，对于新的高等教育机会法案要求将起到多大作用，一直鲜有共识，但许多专家认为，这些新的要求不会有害。由此可以推断，作者对抑制学费上涨持肯定的态度。所以，本题正确答案是A。
干扰项B：批判的；干扰项C：漠不关心的；干扰项D：中立的。