单选题
{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} {{I}}Read the following text, choose the best
word for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET
1. {{/I}} British universities, {{U}}
{{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}under the burden of a huge increase in student
numbers, are {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}that the tradition of a
free education is at {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}. The
universities have {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}to impose an
admission fee on students to {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}a gap in
revenue if the government does not act to improve their finances and {{U}}
{{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}some public spending cutbacks.
The government responded to the universities' threat by setting up the most
fundamental {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}of higher education for a
generation, under a non-party troubleshooter, Sir Ron Dearing.
One in three school-leavers enters higher education, five times the number when
the last review took place thirty years ago. Everyone agrees a
system that is feeling the {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}after
rapid expansion needs a lot more money--but there is little hope of getting it
from the taxpayer and not much {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}for
attracting more finance from business. Most colleges believe
students should {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}to tuition costs,
something that is common elsewhere in the world {{U}} {{U}} 11
{{/U}} {{/U}}would mark a revolutionary change in Britain. Universities want
the government to introduce a loan {{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}}
{{/U}}for tuition fees and have suspended their own threatened action for now.
They {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}Dearing's advice, hoping it
will not be too late--some are already reported to be in financial
difficulty. As the century {{U}} {{U}} 14
{{/U}} {{/U}}its end, the whole {{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}}of
what a university should be is under the microscope. Experts {{U}}
{{U}} 16 {{/U}} {{/U}}how much they can use computers instead of
classrooms, talk of the need for {{U}} {{U}} 17 {{/U}}
{{/U}}learning and refer to students as "consumers". The
Confederation of British Industry, the key employers' organization, wants even
more expansion in higher education to help fight competition on world markets
from {{U}} {{U}} 18 {{/U}} {{/U}}Asian economies. But the
government has doubts {{U}} {{U}} 19 {{/U}} {{/U}}more
expansion. The Times newspaper agrees, complaining that quality has suffered as
student numbers {{U}} {{U}} 20 {{/U}} {{/U}}, with close
tutorial supervision giving way to "mass production methods more typical of
European universities."