单选题 {{B}}Passage 4{{/B}}

Distance learning has moved far away from the traditional correspondence course, aimed at the individual student working alone. The global reach of the Internet makes it possible to unite geographically scattered students in a virtual classroom. Methods such as multimedia, video-conferencing and the Internet will increasingly allow students both to proceed at their own pace, and to interact with one another and their teachers.
Even without taking the technology to its limits, the idea of education as a lifelong process is catching on throughout the industrialized world. Already, working adults who pursue their studies part-time make up roughly half of students taking college courses in the United States.
However, there is debate in scholar circles about how far new technology should be used for teaching academic subjects in which personal contacts between teacher and student are still vital. Britain's Open University, for example, a world leader in distance education, has embraced information technology cautiously, believing it to be no substitute for books and the exchange of ideas at live tutorials and summer schools.
But the Open University is also moving with the tide. It has set up a "knowledge media institute" to explore ways of adopting information technology. Some teachers are concerned about this trend, arguing that the heavy investment that students are expected to make in computer and communications equipment contradicts the concept of "open" cost, of course, is and important factor in many developing countries, where few people have computers or even phones. {{U}}Rather than uniting the world, the new technologies could lead to societies of information haves and have-nots.{{/U}}

单选题 Distance learning is different from the traditional correspondence course in that______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】细节题。文章第一段最后一句“Methods such as multimedia，video-conferencing and the Internet will increasingly allow students both to proceed at their own pace，and to interact with one another and their teachers”(多媒体、电视会议和互联网都越来越多地使学生既能按照自己的速度学习，也能相互之间并且和老师交流)。故C符合题意。注意：A指的是traditional correspondence course。

单选题 In paragraph 2, "catch on" means______.

单选题 Scholarly circles' attitude toward distance learning can best be described as______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】细节题。第三段第一句“However，there is debate in scholar circles about how far the new technology should be used for teaching academic subjects in which personal contacts between teacher and student are still vital”(然而，这种新科技究竟在多大程度上能够被用于理论课教学，在学术圈内还有争议，在理论课上师生之间的交流是十分重要的)，后面又列举了几个例证。这些都充分说明了学术圈内对于远程教育的态度是谨慎的，B为正确答案。

单选题 Some teachers are concerned about distance learning because______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】词义推断。文章第四段最后一句“Rather than uniting the world，the new technologies could lead to societies of information haves and have-nots”(而不是把世界连接起来，这些新科技会导致信息社会的不公)，这里的不公当然就指的是穷人和富人之间的信息差距。A为正确答案。