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1、2009年12月大学英语四级考试试题Part Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on the topic of Creating a Green Campus. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below:1. 建设绿色校园很重要2. 绿色校园不仅指绿色的环境3. 为了建设绿色校园，我们应该Creating a Green CampusPar
2、t Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. Colleges taking another look at value of merit-based aidGood grades and high tests scores still mattera lotto many colleges as
3、 they award financial aid.But with low-income students projected to make up an ever-larger share of the college-bound population in coming years, some schools are re-examining whether that aid, typically known as “merit aid”, is the most effective use of precious institutional dollars.George Washing
4、ton University in Washington, D.C., for example, said last week that it would cut the value of its average merit scholarships by about one-third and reduce the number of recipients(接受者), pouring the savings, about $2.5 million, into need-based aid. Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., made a similar
5、 decision three years ago.Now, Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., says it will phase out merit scholarships altogether. No current merit-aid recipients will lose their scholarships, but need-based aid alone will be awarded beginning with students entering in fall 2008.Not all colleges offer merit ai
6、d; generally, the more selective a school, the less likely it is to do so. Harvard and Princeton, for example, offer generous need-based packages, but many families who dont meet need eligibility(资格)have been willing to pay whatever they must for a big-name school.For small regional colleges that st
7、ruggle just to fill seats, merit aid can be an important revenue-builder because many recipients still pay enough tuition dollars over and above the scholarship amount to keep the institution running.But for rankings-conscious schools in between, merit aid has served primarily as a tool to recruit t
8、op students and to improve their academic profits. “Theyre trying to buy students,” says Skidmore College economist Sandy Baum.Studies show merit aid also tends to benefit disproportionately students who could afford to enroll without it.“As we look to the future, we see a more pressing need to inve
9、st in need-based aid,” says Monica Inzer, dean of admission and financial aid at Hamilton, which has offered merit scholarships for 10 years. During that time, it rose in US News & World Reports ranking of the best liberal arts colleges, from 25 to 17.Merit aid, which benefited about 75 students a y
10、ear, or about 4% of its student body, at a cost of about $ 1 million a year, “served us well,” Inzer says, but “to be discounting the price for families that dont need financial aid doesnt feel right any more.”Need-based aid remains by far the largest share of all student aid, which includes state,
11、federal and institutional grants. But merit aid, offered primarily by schools and states, is growing faster, both overall and at the institutional level.Between 1995-96 and 2003-04, institutional merit aid alone increased 212%, compared with 47% for need-based grants. At least 15 states also offer m
12、erit aid, typically in a bid to enroll top students in the states public institutions.But in recent years, a growing chorus(异口同声)of critics has begun pressuring schools to drop the practice. Recent decisions by Hamilton and others may be “a sign that people are starting to realize that theres this d
13、estructive competition going on,” says Baum, co-author of a recent College Report that raises concerns about the role of institutional aid not based on need.David Laird, president of the Minnesota Private College Council, says many of his schools would like to reduce their merit aid but fear that in
14、 doing so, they would lose top students to their competitors.“No one can take one-sided action,” says Laird, who is exploring whether to seek an exemption(豁免)from federal anti-trust laws so member colleges can discuss how they could jointly reduce merit aid, “This is a merry-go-round thats going ver
15、y fast, and none of the institutions believe they can sustain the risks of trying to break away by themselves.”A complicating factor is that merit aid has become so popular with middle-income families, who dont qualify for need-based aid, that many have come to depend on it. And, as tuitions continu
16、e to increase, the line between merit and need blurs.Thats one reason Allegheny College doesnt plan to drop merit aid entirely.“We still believe in rewarding superior achievements and know that these top students truly value the scholarship,” says Scott Friedhoff, Alleghenys vice president for enrollment.Emory University in Atlanta, which boasts a $4.7 billion endow
