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Most high school seniors have now heard back about their college applications, a process often cast as a kind of 'Hunger Games,' with young Americans battling it out for a chance to attend one of more than 3,000 four-year degree-granting colleges, seeking help wherever it may come, believing that the result will determine the course of their lives. But despite the crush of advisers proffering their supposed expertise for money, the endeavor is covered in some plausible shifts in what counts most during admission process. 41 In 2014, Time magazine offered a startling notion to frazzled parents and anxious students worried about their college admissions packages: Those finely honed, painstakingly crafted essays 'might not make a difference for your college admission chances.' After all, at some schools, the pool of applicants is much too large for every essay to be read—at the University of Pennsylvania, for instance, only 1 in 7 essays is a factor in an admission decision, according to the university's dean of admissions. 42 Although William Hurst, writing in Inside Higher Ed, called on schools to end the 'extracurricular arms race,' noting that 'many American high schools push their students to excel in as many extracurricular activities as they can, often because they think this helps those students gain admission to top colleges and universities.' When colleges and universities were thought to be seeking 'well-rounded' students, applicants with long lists of curricular and extracurricular activities stood out as great candidates thanks to their broad interests. Students were expected to engage in sports, cooking clubs, debate and, of course, community service. 43 These days eight Ivy League schools are known as some of the most selective colleges in the United States. But these aren't the most selective schools around. Stanford University often takes less than 5 percent, the smallest share of applicants, and it isn't in the Ivy League. MIT, Caltech and the University of Chicago, all with acceptance rates of about 8 percent for the Class of 2020, are more selective than some of the Ivies, too. Plus, many schools may take a higher proportion of applicants but are equally picky about their credentials: A liberal arts school like St. John's would look dubiously at a savant engineer from a technical high school who hadn't taken humanities classes in his final years. 44 'In most cases, taking an AP(Advanced Placement) class and getting a B is a better choice than getting an A in a regular one,' according to the Princeton Review. Kaplan, a test-prep business, agrees. What's more, schools often weight difficult classes more heavily when tabulating GPAs, so these tips seem to make sense. Colleges and universities like to see students take challenging courses in high school. As Peterson's, an admission and test-prep agency, explains, high schools use distinct grading systems and offer courses that have the same name but varying degrees of difficulty. 45 ''Diversity' isn't why colleges need affirmative action,' Bloomberg View's Noah Feldman declared in 2012. The fact that some universities, like Texas A&M, have increased diversity while banning affirmative action might suggest that schools don't need such programs to keep their campuses diverse. But affirmative action programs do appear to increase diversity at colleges and universities. Today, affirmative action has lost much judicial support, and public opinion polls on these programs show mixed results. The Supreme Court permits race-conscious admissions policies at colleges and universities only to pursue 'diversity' in student populations, not to compensate African Americans for centuries of racially discriminatory public policy. A. Some admission measures that aroused ambivalent attitudes B. Admissions essays that don't matter C. University selecting criteria causing misunderstanding D. Elite universities where competitions are most fierce E. The more versatile, the better chance to succeed F. University candidates' neglect on admission counselors' advices G. Ordinary results in hard classes superior than excellences in easy ones
问答题
【正确答案】B
【答案解析】本文节选自The Washington Post(《华盛顿邮报》)，原文标题是Five Myths About College Admissions(关于大学生录取的五大误解)。文章主要介绍了人们对大学生录取标准的五大误解。第一段讲述了美国高中生对申请大学的重视及其在这一过程中所有的疑惑。第二至六段从申请论文、才艺、名牌大学竞争、课程分数以及招生指标这五个方面讲述了学生在大学申请过程中应注意的问题。 第二段第一句中出现了essays和might not make a difference这样的字眼，意为“那些润色良好、构思辛苦的申请论文‘可能不会影响录取机会’”，由此可知，本段是对申请论文的误解，故选B项“无关紧要的申请论文”。 [参考译文] 大多数高中毕业生已经收到了大学申请的回复，这一申请过程通常被视为一种“饥饿游戏”。美国年轻人为了能够进入三千多所本科院校中的一所而奋斗并到处寻求帮助。他们认为最终的结果会决定他们一生的进程。尽管有大量顾问为了金钱会给学生提供所谓的专家意见，但是，那些努力的学生对于录取过程中的重点仍然感到似是而非。 无关紧要的申请论文 2014年，《时代周刊》向疲惫的家长和为录取程序担忧的学生提出了一个令人吃惊的观点：那些润色良好、构思辛苦的申请论文“可能不会影响录取机会”。毕竟，有些学校的申请人数太多了，以至于不可能所有的申请论文都被读到。例如，根据宾夕法尼亚大学招生办主任的说法，七篇文章中只有一篇会成为决定录取结果的因素。 才艺越多，成功的机会就越大 尽管威廉·赫斯特在《高等教育内幕》一书中号召学校停止“课外活动的军备竞赛”，并指出，美国许多高中仍鼓励学生在课外活动中尽可能地表现出优秀的一面，因为他们认为这能帮助学生被顶尖高等院校录取。但是人们认为高等院校更偏向于招收全能型学生，即在学业和课外活动方面都表现优秀的申请人会由于其兴趣的广泛而胜出。学生因此被要求参加体育活动、烹饪俱乐部、辩论大赛等活动，当然也要参加社区服务。 名牌大学竞争最为激烈 如今，在美国，常春藤联盟的八所学校被认为是竞争最为激烈的学校。但是，这些学校的竞争还不算最激烈的。斯坦福大学的录取率低于5%，它是美国录取率最低的学校，但该校不属于常春藤联盟。麻省理工学院、加州理工和芝加哥大学在2020年的录取率大约为8%，也低于一些常春藤联盟的学校。另外，虽然很多学校会有较高的录取率，但是也会对申请人的资历非常挑剔：像圣约翰学院这样的文科院校会质疑在技术类高中最后一年里没有修人文类课程的优秀理科生。 高难度课程的良好分数要好过简单课程的优秀分类 根据《普林斯顿评论》的说法，“多数情况下，在常规课程中取得A的成绩不如在高级课程中取得B的成绩。”考前培训机构卡普兰公司也同意这一观点。另外，学校在计算平均分时往往更加重视高难度课程，因此这样的观点是有道理的。高等院校希望学生们在高中学习有挑战性的课程。入学与考前培训机构彼得森公司解释说，每所高中会采用不同的评分体系，即使开设的课程名称相同，但难度却差别很大。 一些引起矛盾态度的招生指标 彭博资讯的诺阿·费德曼在2012年说道：“大学的反歧视行动并不是为了增加学生的‘多样性’。”像德州A&M大学这样的学校，在禁止反歧视行动的同时也增加了学生的多样性。这也许表明，学校并不需通过这些行动来保持校园的多样性。但是，反歧视行动的确也会促进高等院校学生的多样性。今天，反歧视行动已经失去了很多司法上的支持，公众对于这些措施的看法不一。最高法院允许高校中有种族意识的录取政策只是去追求学生的“多样性”，而不是去弥补非裔美国人几百年来的种族歧视公共政策。 A．一些引起矛盾态度的招生指标 B．无关紧要的申请论文 C．造成误解的大学录取标准 D．名牌大学竞争最为激烈 E．才艺越多，成功的机会就越大 F．大学申请者忽视入学专家的建议 G．高难度课程的良好分数要好过简单课程的优秀分数
【答案解析】第四段第一句中出现了eight Ivy League schools，该句意为“如今，在美国，常春藤联盟的八所学校被认为是竞争最为激烈的学校”，后面还提到了其他的名牌大学。由此可知，本段是对名牌大学录取率高低的错误估计，认为常春藤联盟的八所学校录取率最低，竞争最激烈，故D项“名牌大学竞争最为激烈”更适合作为本段标题。
问答题
【正确答案】G。
【答案解析】第五段第一句中出现了AP class, a regular one，该句意为“根据《普林斯顿评论》的说法，‘多数情况下，在常规课程中取得A的成绩不如在高级课程中取得B的成绩’”，由此可知，本段是对录取标准中关于学生学业成绩要求的误解，故选G项“高难度课程的良好分数要好过简单课程的优秀分数”。