雅思考试

【分析解答题】Para 1.The need for a satisfactory education is more important than ever before. Nowadays, without a qualification from a reputable school or university, the odds of landing that plum job advertised in the paper are considerably shortened. Moreover, one's present level of education could fall well short of future career requirements.
    para 2.It is no secret that competition is the driving force behind the need to obtain increasingly higher qualifications. In the majority of cases, the urge to upgrade is no longer the result of an insatiable thirst for knowledge. The pressure is coming from within the workplace to compete with ever more qualified job applicants, and in many occupations one must now battle with colleagues in the reshuffle for the position one already holds. 
    para 3.Striving to become better educated is hardly a new concept. Wealthy parents have always been willing to spend the vast amounts of extra money necessary to send their children to schools with a perceived educational edge. Working adults have long attended night schools and refresher courses. Competition for employment has been around since the curse of working for a living began. Is the present situation so very different to that of the past?
    para 4. The difference now is that the push is universal and from without as well as within. A student at secondary school receiving low grades is no longer as easily accepted by his or her peers as was once the case. Similarly, in the workplace, unless employees are engaged in part-time study, they may be frowned upon by their employers and peers and have difficulty even standing still. In fact, in these cases, the expectation is for careers to go backwards and earning capacity to take an appreciable nosedive. 
    para 5.At first glance, the situation would seem to be laudable; a positive response to the exhortation by a former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, for australia to become the `clever country'. Yet there are serious ramifications according to at least one educational psychologist. Dr Brendan Gatsby has caused some controversy in academic circles by suggesting that a bias towards what he terms `paper'excellence might cause more problems than it is supposed to solve. Gatsby raises a number of issues that affect the individual as well as society in general. 
    para 6.Firstly, he believes the extra workload involved is resulting in abnormally high stress levels in both students at secondary school and adults studying after working hours. Secondly, skills which might be more relevant to the undertaking of a sought_after job are being overlooked by employers interviewing candidates without qualifications on paper. These two areas of concern for the individual are causing physical and emotional stress respectively. 
    para 7.Gatsby also argues that there are attitudinal changes within society to the exalted role education now plays in determining how the spoils of working life are distributed. Individuals of all ages are being driven by social pressures to achieve academic success solely for monetary considerations instead of for the joy of enlightenment. There is the danger that some universities are becoming degree factories with an attendant drop in standards. Furthermore, our education system may be rewarding doggedness above creativity; the very thing Australians have been encouraged to avoid.But the most undesirable effect of this academic paper chase, Gatsby says,is the disadvantage that `user pays'higher education confers on the poor, who invariably lose out to the more financially favoured. 
    para 8.Naturally, although there is agreement that learning can cause stress, Gatsby's comments regarding university standards have been roundly criticised as alarmist by most educationists who point out that, by any standard of measurement, Australia's education system overall, at both secondary and tertiary levels, is equal to that of any in the world.
    TRUE／FALSE／NOT GIVEN
    1.It is impossible these days to get a good job without a qualification from a respected institution.
2.Most people who upgrade their qualifications do so for the joy of learning.
3.In some jobs, the position you hold must be reapplied for.
4.Some parents spend extra on their children's education because of the prestige attached to certain schools
5.According to the text, students who performed bally at school used to be accepted by their classmates.
6.Employees who do not undertake extra study may find their salary decreased by employers.
7.Australians appear to have responded to the call by a former Prime Minister to become better qualified.
8.Australia's education system is equal to any in the world in the opinion of most educationists.

【单选题】ostriCh ChiCks rEArED on FArms A must BE kEpt in inCuBAtors until mAturE. B ArE vEry inDEpEnDEnt. C nEED looking AFtEr CArEFully.

【分析解答题】NHS chief praises fall in waiting list timesThe National Health Service could hit its most politically sensitive target early, Sir NigelCrisp, the NHS chief executive, said on Friday.In his most bullish annual report since taking office four years ago, Sir Nigel said waiting times were falling faster and further than ever before, quality was improving and services were being redesigne
D、And productivity — hard though it is to measure — was improving, he sai
D、"Something big is happening within the NHS," Sir Nigel said, as the government reported that it had reached its target in March with only 48 patients waiting more than nine months for an operation.The maximum wait for an out-patient appointment is down to 17 weeks from 21 weeks a year ago. Just over 40,000 are now waiting over 13 weeks for an appointment against 400,000 in March 2000. The service has also reduced by almost 60,000 the number of people waiting between six and nine months for in-patient procedures.The reduction seems to suggest that genuine changes are taking place in the way the NHS is organising services to make them more efficient — rather than simply achieving the shorter maximum waits by "tail-gunning" the end of the waiting list.What is as yet missing is robust data to show that average waits are also starting to fall significantly."Not only are we hitting all of our targets in order to speed up patient care, but by reforming the way we work we are also improving the quality of patients care," Sir Nigel sai
D、"The NHS is using the extra funding" — an extra ￡6bn. last year — "to good effect, with major improvements in quality and quantity".With extra capacity in treatment centres due to start coming online it was possible that the NHS would hit the target of having no-one wait for more than six months, once on a waiting list, ahead ofDecember next year. Although the figures are not as robust as those used to measure hospital activity, Sir Nigel said it was clear more treatment was being provided outside hospitals, in a quicker and more convenient way for patients. Evidence for that includes the number of patients referred to hospital by GPs remaining almost flat last year while a ￡21 million increase in the bill for modern drugs to counter heart failure has brought an estimated reduction of 20,000 hospital admissions.With a big government review under way on how to measure productivity in the public services, Sir Nigel said the NHS still lacked "an adequate way of measuring overall productivity", but indicated there were clear improvements in the productivity of individual services.

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