Skimming-and-Scanning

Reading Comprehension (Multiple Choice+Blank Filling)

(每小题：1 分)

Directions: Read the following passage or passages and then answer the questions. For the first 7 questions in each passage, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D. For the remaining 3 questions in the same passage, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.

Questions 1 to 10 are based on the same passage or dialog.

Western Students Learn Chinese Through Television

In an age when television is a vital entertainment medium, more and more people are using it as a study aid. In Britain, the Open University, founded in 1969, encourages home-based students to study for Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees using a combination of television and radio programmes and mail work, where students send in assignments to their instructors and have them returned after evaluation.

The Open University has no formal entrance requirements for its students and is designed particularly for people who have missed out on a formal higher education because of lack of money or opportunity in the past. The system works very well in Britain; similar programmes operate in many other countries. Television learning is not limited to university level education, however. Courses that use educational television programmes as a component may cover a wide variety of subjects, from accounting and statistics to language study. Because so many people use television learning to help them improve their employment opportunities, most television learning courses are job-related in nature.

Study programmes may include marketing and business management. Also, in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, language courses in Spanish, French, and Mandarin are also popular. Those who promote the televison courses talk of the opportunity it gives for people to learn "in their own place, at their own pace, and in their own time".

Business programmes are very popular around the world. An increasing number of people in management and marketing are studying for business certificates and choose the televison open learning system as an alternative form of study. Some students study at home on a full-time basis and students also include young mothers, busy workers, and secondary school pupils. Many people study purely out of interest.

The TV "open learning" Chinese programme running in Australia and New Zealand was developed by Griffith University in Queensland and Macquarie University in Sydney. Lessons involve a half-hour programme on television followed up by at least 10 hours of study each week. The course is equal to a quarter of a year's full-time study; students get a huge resource pack which includes textbooks and workbooks, tapes, and a wide range of other materials.

There is no limit on student numbers in the course because students do not have to be sitting in lecture rooms. They learn at their own speed, have one-on-one mail sessions with their instructors, and can play back a lesson on video as many times as they wish, going over pronunciation repeatedly until they are confident that they have it right.

Susan Sun, instructor and class teacher of the Modern Standard Chinese course at the Auckland College of Technology, has been using the Chinese television course for the past three years. She has taught Modern Standard Chinese for the past 10 years as a first language in China and as a second language in New Zealand. She says her course has an emphasis on teaching communicative Chinese. "It is designed to serve the needs of busy, self-motivated people such as university students, teachers, and those employed in public service or

working in business. There is also a strong following from people who have a general interest in Chinese people or Chinese language and culture."

Sun says there is a big demand to learn Mandarin in Australia and New Zealand. "Business people welcome the programme because it allows them to learn the language quickly and put their new-found knowledge into use."

One of her students was enrolled in the course because her employer, a carpet-cleaning company, was experiencing a growth in the number of Chinese clients they were servicing and felt it would offer the company a business advantage if staff could speak the language.

Sun says other businesses in Australia and New Zealand are realising the value of learning Chinese because of increasing trade with China.

Students studying through the television "open learning" programmes are as close to their instructor as the telephone; a phone hotline is available to all students, 24 hours a day. Contact with instructors can also be made through e-mail or fax, and tapes of questions and answers are also exchanged on a regular basis.

The aim of the Modern Standard Chinese course is to get students speaking fluently. "Some of the other language courses offered are strong on literature," Sun says. But she wants her students to feel confident enough to go to China and be able to communicate with the people. "It is all about the spontaneous learning of speech."

The "open learning" method of study is very challenging. To be successful, students need to be greatly motivated. But this has not stopped a number of students in the Chinese course from going on to study for a Bachelor of Arts degree in the language.

1.Students in the Open University ________________.

A. are using radio programs

B. are entertaining themselves with TV

C. are studying at home

D. are learning about television

2.Having evaluated the students' assignments, the instructors will ________________.

A. put them on television

B. return them to the students

C. send new assignments to them

D. use them as a study aid

3.Many people use TV learning in order to ________________.

A. make more friends

B. become college teachers

C. have chances to get better jobs

D. study nature and environment

4.Business programs on TV ________________.

A. are able to teach language too

B. are alternatives to studying

C. are only for young mothers

D. are welcome throughout the world

5.The TV "open learning" Chinese program provides students with ________________.

A. a huge resource pack of materials

B. a class at Griffith University

C. a course at Macquarie University

D. a year's worth of full-time study

6.Open learning language students can learn until ________________.

A. they improve their speed

B. they are confident

C. they get mail from instructors

D. they reach a limit

7.Susan Sun focuses her course on ________________.

A. making students motivated

B. working in a business

C. communicating in Chinese

D. learning Chinese culture

8.The "open learning" Mandarin programs enable business people to learn the language quickly and

put_____into use.

9.Many business people in Australia and New Zealand are aware of the value of learning Chinese due

to _______.

10.If students want to succeed through the "open learning" method of study, they need to be______ .