TASK 4. (0-7)
Read two texts about the beginning of student life. For questions 4.1.-4.7., choose
the answer that best matches the text and circle the appropriate letter (A, B, C or D).
Text 1
THE ARRIVAL
“David,” my mother said, “we are here.”
I sat up straight as we passed through the main gate of Harvard Yard in a caravan of
unassuming vehicles, rooftops glaring under the noonday sun. Police officers conducted
the stammering traffic along the designated route. Freshmen and parents lugged suitcases and
boxes heaped with bedding, posing for photos before the red-brick dormitories with
the shameless glee of tourists. A pair of lanky boys sailed a Frisbee over late-summer grass in
lazy parabolas.
A timpani concerto pounded in my chest as we made landfall upon the hallowed ground that
had been locked in my sights for years. We’d arrived. I’d arrived.
“For the tuition we’re paying,” my father said, carefully reversing into a spot, “you’d think
they could give us more than twenty minutes to park.”
My parents climbed out of the car and circled around to the popped trunk. After tugging in
vain at my door handle, I tapped on the window. “Where’d he go?” I could hear my mother ask.
“In here,” I shouted, knocking louder.
“Sorry, thought you got out,” my father said following my liberation.
I checked in under a white tent and received my room key, a bulky orientation packet and
an ID card. It read David Alan Federman, Harvard Student. When we reached Matthew Hall,
we shuffled to the fourth floor. The doors were marked with signs listing the occupants and
their hometowns, stamped with Harvard’s Veritas shield.
My roommate, Steven Zenger, had yet to arrive. I claimed the front room, envisioning it
would lead to impromptu visitors, a revolving door of campus characters popping in, lounging
on my bed, gossiping late into the night.
My parents took my student card and fetched the remaining stuff as I unpacked. “Well,” said
my mother after setting down the final box. “This is exciting. I wish I were starting college
again.”
“And I bet you’ll find your tribe,” my father added. “You’ll have a great time here,” he said
with the hollow brightness of an appliance manual congratulating you on your purchase.
“Yep.” Sensing more imperatives and prophecies, which I was fed up with, I opened
the door to let them out. After our own swift hug, my mother pushed my father into initiating
an avuncular, back-patting clinch and they left.
The door swung shut with a muted click. I resumed unpacking, yanking the price tags off
a few items. I was standing inside my closet, hanging shirts, when the door flew open and my
roommate bounded into the room, his equally enthusiastic parents in tow.
“David!” he said. “Almost didn’t see you. I’m Steven.” He walked over with his arm
puppetishly bobbing for me to shake.
“If I look different from my Facebook photo, it’s because I got braces again last week,” he
said. “But just for six months. Or five and three quarters now.”
MAD-1A
All hopes I had of a roommate who would upgrade me to a higher social stratum snagged on
the gleaming barnacles of Steven’s orthodontia. I could sit back and laugh at the irony of it.
He would have fit right in at my cafeteria table at Garret Hobart High, where I sat with
a miscellaneous coalition of outcasts who had banded together less out of friendship than
survival instinct. We rarely associated outside of school and sheepishly nodded when passing
in the halls, aware that each of us somehow reduced the standing of the other.
adapted from Loner by Teddy Wayne
4.1. Upon his arrival on campus, David
A. chose to take pleasure in the summer afternoon.
B. encountered a problem when trying to leave the car.
C. was reluctant to get out of the car and unpack.
D. was overwhelmed by negative emotions.
4.2. David decided to take the front room because
A. he wanted to avoid the hustle of campus life.
B. his roommate had already reserved the other one.
C. he anticipated the prospects of intense socializing.
D. it was more convenient to move all his belongings there.
4.3. While parting from his parents, David
A. was weary of their comments.
B. was spontaneously embraced by his father.
C. received skeptical remarks about his new stage of life.
D. appreciated their efforts to help him settle down as a freshman.
4.4. In the last paragraph, David
A. ridicules the people Steven hangs out with.
B. expresses his disappointment with Steven.
C. cherishes hopes that Steven might upgrade his social status.
D. points to the differences between his schoolmates and Steven.
MAD-1A
Text 2
DON’T RUSH WITH YOUR MAJOR
May 1st is traditionally the deadline for high school seniors in the US to finally make a decision
about where they’re going to college in the fall. In the coming months, seniors and their parents
will inevitably be tormented with questions about the choice of school they made.
Such questions are more than often followed by this one: What’s your major going to be?
Even in today’s fast-moving economy, where industries expand and contract at an alarming
pace, students are often asked to select a major at 18. But the truth is that most college freshmen
really have a rather vague idea of what they want to do, even if they declare a major before they
arrive on campus.
That’s why a quarter of freshmen change their major by the end of their first year of college
and around 50% say they intend to change it. Some students hedge their bets by picking two
majors, one they favor and one they think might offer them better career prospects and a bigger
paycheck. At some elite schools, the ranks of double majors now make up 30 to 40 percent of
graduates.
Unfortunately, given the rising price of a college education, too many decisions about majors
these days are driven by the expected return on investment after graduation. Lifetime earnings
between bachelor degree recipients can vary greatly depending on the major. According to
a study released by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce,
graduates with the highest-paying major (petroleum engineering) earn $3.4 million more than
those with the lowest-paying major (early childhood education) during the course of a career.
The study, which analyzed wages for 137 college majors, found that of the 25 highest-paying
majors, all were in either the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and maths) or
business and economics.
However, Tony Carnevale, the director of the Georgetown Center, warns students who pick
their majors solely on the basis of the expected paycheck not to count their money too quickly
because salaries differ greatly within majors. He notes, for example, that the top quarter earners
who majored in humanities or the liberal arts make more than the bottom quarter of engineering
majors.
If freshmen see majors as flexible, they should be encouraged to explore their options in their
first year of college to see what actually interests them. There’s no need to rush the decision.
adapted from www.independent.co.uk
MAD-1A
4.5. The phrase “students hedge their bets by picking two majors” used in the 3rd
paragraph means that students
A. treat choosing both of their majors too lightheartedly.
B. put their chances of successfully completing both majors at risk.
C. commit to two majors in the hope of ensuring better career prospects for themselves.
D. doubt their ability to comply with the requirements imposed by both majors.
4.6. According to the article, the choice of academic discipline is often conditioned by
A. the amount of money an undergraduate can save while doing the major.
B. the affordability of tuition fees charged by colleges.
C. the labour market value of a particular major.
D. concerns about paying back student loans.
4.7. Tony Carnevale draws attention to the fact that
A. one fourth of students typically choose high-paying majors.
B. completing a major in engineering guarantees economic prosperity.
C. degree holders in some majors are disappointed with their income.
D. there are discrepancies in earnings among the graduates from the same major.
TRANSFER YOUR ANSWERS TO THE ANSWER SHEET!
MAD-1A
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