Passage Three
A college education can be very costly in the United States, especially at a private school. Rising costs have led more and more families to borrow money to help pay for college. As borrowing has increased, there are growing concerns that many students graduate with too much debt.
In 1993, less than one-half of graduates from four-year colleges had student loans. Now two-thirds of them do. Their average loan debt when they graduate is 19,000 dollars. At public universities, the average is 17,000 dollars. However, averages do not present the full picture. For example, in 2004, one-fourth of students with loans graduated more than 25,000 dollars in debt. And that did not include borrowing by their parents. Parents as well as students are borrowing more to pay for college.
Students from all economic levels are borrowing more. Corrected for inflation, student loans have increased around 60% in ten years. Researchers say one effect is that the higher the debts, the more likely graduates are to look only for high paying jobs. That means there is less chance they will take jobs in areas like teaching or other public service.
A study done in 2002 for a major student lender found that debts can also affect lives in other ways. Some students paying back their college loans said they delayed buying their first house. Some delayed marriage or having children.
In May, groups representing students, parents and college officials asked the government to change some of its loan repayment rules. The requested changes would recognize graduates who have difficulty repaying their loans because they do not earn very much. They would be able to pay less right after they graduate, then pay more as their earnings increase.
Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
33. Which is true about the graduates from four-year colleges now?
34. What will happen to the graduates with debts?
35. What is the government expected to do?
Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.
A Jewish proverb says that God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers. Here are some mothers who have achieved fame not only for their many diverse (36)accomplishments, but also because they have (37)distinguished themselves in their roles as mothers.
Rose Kennedy buried five of her nine children, (38)raised a president, two US senators, and (39)presided over one of the most famous families in American history—all with (40)elegance and dignity. “I looked on child-rearing not as a work of love and duty but as a profession that was fully as interesting and (41)challenging as any honorable profession in the world.” She once said. When she died at 105, she had 28 grandchildren and 41 great-grandchildren.
Hillary Clinton, who, despite enduring immense pain and endless (42)scrutiny, became the first First Lady to be elected to public office, has raised a (43)well-adjusted, level-headed daughter, Chelsea. She said, “For Bill and me, (44)there has been no experience more challenging, more rewarding and more humbling than raising our daughter. And we have learned that to raise a happy, healthy and hopeful child, it takes all of us.”
