结果就是，许多签证中心的工作堆积如山——比如在洛杉矶，学生们需要等待多达40天才能拿到签证。但在印度次大陆这个问题尤为突出。在巴基斯坦，5000名志向远大的学生所递交的签证申请仍未被受理，另外还有9000名学生正因无理由遭拒而进行申诉。

这场僵局主要影响了富裕且受过良好教育的学生，他们都来自对英国具有战略重要性的国家。许多精英大学对此忧心忡忡，它们中有的一直拥有全球客户。“我们都极为担心这会损害英国高等教育在海外的声誉，特别是在印度次大陆，而此时此刻英国大学的财政状况正面临巨大的压力，”伦敦经济学院招生政策主管西米恩·安德伍德说。

国际学生对英国大学至关重要。虽然英国以及欧洲学生每年的平均学费高达3225英镑，但是对他们进行教育的成本远远高于这个数字。国家对差额给予部分补贴，而且为此它也限制了本国及欧盟学生的人数。而海外学生每年平均学费为1.2万英镑，每年为英国贡献超过15亿英镑的收入，占所有大学总收入的8%。

为了吸引这些重要顾客，各个大学都提供机场接机服务，举办各项活动安置学生，并安排警方上门服务以加快签证管理手续的办理。但是如果这些学生无法来到英国，那这些用心良苦的营销策略都将付诸东流。今年，尽管英镑疲软使英国学费相对较低，一些大学的非欧盟国家新生人数仍旧因为签证困难而下跌了五分之一。

10月5日，正在对伊斯兰堡进行访问的内政部长艾伦·约翰逊承诺增加人手，将签证办理时间从60天减至15天，并帮助巴基斯坦建立一个全国反恐机构，减轻签证制度所面临的压力。然而，他的介入将无法帮助今年那些被挡在英国门外的学生。而且，如果这些问题得不到解决，那么可能会有更多的外国学生将选择美国或澳大利亚的大学。





Unit 72


Sal Monella is a poisonous gangster hell bent on infection, and a pimple is a power-mad oil gland. That's life——and a quirky twist on salmonella and acne——in the animated world of Ozzy ＆ Drix, part of the WB network's Saturday-morning lineup. This was the first season for what might be called a “smartoon.”It was in the top programs among kids ages 2 to 11. And it's coming back this fall.

Instead of battling mystical monsters, Ozzy ＆ Drix cleverly personifies body parts——a muscle cell is a police chief——to teach kids about their bodies. Rather than lecture kids about smoking, Ozzy ＆ Drix turns nicotine into Nick O'Teen, a smarmy villain with long claws that hook into brains and cause addictions. Bad guys like Nick are taken down by the title stars: Osmosis “Ozzy”Jones, a street-smart white blood cell, and Drix, an uptight but intelligent cold pill with a chest full of medicine. White blood cells help fight infection, and Drix is a medicine chest. Get it?

Ozzy ＆ Drix makes a point of tackling “issues that are very real to the day-to-day lives of kids,”says David Foster, a Harvard University internist who helps develop story lines for the show. “We hope they take an interest in what is going on inside them.”That's why all the action occurs within 13-year-old Hector, who contracts diseases, encounters peer pressure, and even drinks spoiled milk. “This poor kid has been through a lot,”says Producer Alan Burnett.

Pun fun. The slap-your-knee, ba-dum-dum humor takes many forms. Ozzy and Drix set up a detective firm behind Hector's cornea——they're “private eyes”——to ensure him a safe adolescence. Blood cells race like cars through Hector's arteries and past a “roadside”billboard reading “Peace for the Middle Ear.”There's a rock concert at the Diaphragm Club featuring the band Metabolica. Ozzy and Drix drive a Cel Camino.

“This is a very interesting direction for broadcasters to take,”says Sandra Calvert, a psychologist and director of the Children's Digital Media Center at Georgetown University. “We rarely see someone go after the health area.”Kids go for the slapstick and drama while adults are drawn to the puns and parodies, and the dual enjoyment sparks questions and conversation, she says.

Consider an upcoming episode in which Hector eats bad sausage containing parasitic worms. A spoof of jaws begins as his stomach becomes a sea of acid dotted with boats. On one, Ozzy teams up with grizzled Captain Quinine——recalling movie shark hunter Quint and the fact that quinine was once used to treat parasites. Ozzy and the Cap'n blow up the monsters with bicarbonate of soda. A soothing end, not for the worms, but for Hector's upset stomach.

注（1）：本文选自U. S. News ＆ World Report；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2002年真题Text 4 和Text 2第5题。

1. From the first three paragraphs, we learn that______.

A) Ozzy ＆ Drix is a cartoon about a good guy fighting a bad guy.

B) the target audience of Ozzy ＆ Drix are children

C) smartoon is a new type of cartoon

D) the purpose of Ozzy ＆ Drix is to help children fight against diseases

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?

A) Ozzy in the cartoon lacks experiences.

B) Hector's friends show sympathy to him when he contracts disease.

C) A new season of Ozzy ＆ Drix will be on show this fall.

D) Ozzy ＆ Drix mainly deals with battling frightening creatures.

3. According to Sandra Calvert, broadcasters may learn from Ozzy ＆ Drix______.

A) how to create humorous effect

B) that health area is worth exploring

C) that dual enjoyment of both kids and adults is the key to Ozzy ＆ Drix's success

D) that kids and adults alike take great fun in Ozzy ＆ Drix

4. Which of the following best defines the word “slapstick”（Line 3, Paragraph 5）?

A) Humorous acting.

B) Serious theme.

C) Interesting plot.

D) Instructive stories.

5. The author uses the episode in which Hector eats bad sausage containing parasitic worms to show______.

A) how the cartoon is plotted

B) how children feel when they fall ill

C) the pun and humor in the cartoon

D) the way children can be educated





篇章剖析


本篇是一篇说明文，通过点面结合来说明一档热门电视系列剧《奥兹和德里克斯》的内容、特点和吸引人之处等。第一段是对《奥兹和德里克斯》的简要介绍，突出了其“出奇”和“热门”两大特色；第二段和第三段说明了这个电视剧的主要内容，即以赋予身体各部分人性化的特点帮助孩子们了解自己的身体以及发生在日常生活中的问题；第四段和第五段介绍了该剧轻松幽默和老少咸宜的特点；第六段以一段剧情结束全文，让人更加深刻地体会这部剧作。





词汇注释


pimple /ˈpɪmp(ə)l/ n. 丘疹，面泡，疙瘩

gland /glænd/ n. 腺

quirky /ˈkwɜːki/ adj. 诡诈的，离奇的

salmonella /sælməˈnelə/ n. 沙门氏菌

acne /ˈækni/ n. 痤疮，粉刺

lineup /ˈlaɪnʌp/ n. 系列节目

personify /pɜːˈsɒnɪfaɪ/ vt. 赋予…以人性，使人格化

nicotine /ˈnɪkətiːn/ n. 烟碱，尼古丁

smarmy /ˈsmɑːmi/ adj. 令人厌烦的，爱说奉承话的，虚情假意的

osmosis /ɒzˈməʊsɪs,ɒs-/ n. 渗透（作用），渗透性

street-smart /ˈstriːtˈsmɑːt/ adj. 经验老到的

uptight /ˈʌptaɪt,ʌpˈtaɪt/ adj. 过分拘谨的；（行为、观点或品味）极端保守的

internist /ˈɪntɜːnɪst/ n. 〈美〉 内科医师

contract /kənˈtrækt/ v. 感染

cornea /ˈkɔːnɪə/ n. 【医】角膜

artery /ˈɑːtəri/ n. 【解】动脉

slapstick /ˈslæpstɪk/ n. 闹剧；滑稽剧

parody /ˈpærədi/ n. 模仿滑稽作品

spoof /spuːf/ n. 胡说；戏弄；哄骗

grizzled /ˈgrɪzld/ adj. 灰色的，头发斑白的





难句突破


Rather than lecture kids about smoking, Ozzy ＆ Drix turns nicotine into Nick O'Teen, a smarmy villain with long claws that hook into brains and cause addictions.

主体句式：Ozzy ＆ Drix turns nicotine into Nick O'Teen.

结构分析：这是一个复杂句，主句为Ozzy ＆ Drix turns nicotine into Nick O'Teen，Nick O'Teen后面有个较长的同位语，其中还含有定语从句。Rather than作为连接词引导从句，通常表示否定意义，意为“而不是”，用于和另外一种可以肯定的情况做比较。比如，Rather than sit in a cozy room, he works out in the cold air. 他没有在舒适的房间里安坐，而是冒着严寒在室外工作。

句子译文：对于吸烟，《奥兹和德里克斯》也没有采用对孩子们说教的方式，而是把尼古丁变成了一个名叫尼克·丁的口蜜腹剑的恶棍，它长着长长的爪子，并用它来钩住人的大脑，使人上瘾。





题目分析


1. B 推理题。文中第一段最后说这部卡通片“深受2~11岁孩子的欢迎”。第二段说要通过卡通片教孩子们认识自己的身体，第三段讲卡通片涉及的是孩子们日常生活中面临的实际问题。由此可见，答案为B：卡通片的目标人群为儿童。C项中的smartoon只是用来说明该卡通构思巧妙，而并不是新型卡通。

2. C 细节题。从文章第一段末it's coming back this fall可知新一季的Ozzy ＆ Drix即将在秋季上映。文中第二段提到Ozzy是street-smart，这个词的意思是“阅历丰富的，经验老到的”，选项A不对。文中第三段提到Hector患病后遭遇了peer pressure，即同伴的压力，可见同伴们都不喜欢患病的他，选项B不对。第二段特意提到了instead of battling mystical monsters，也就是说这部卡通一改和怪物斗争的模式，选项D不对。所以只有答案C正确。

3. B 细节题。文章第五段一开头就引用Sandra Calvert的话说，这是广播公司可以发展的一个非常有趣的方向，接着又说，以前很少见到涉足保健领域的话题。可见，她的意思是广播公司在保健领域大有可为。

4. A 语义题。文章第四段开头说“The slap-your-knee, ba-dum-dum humor takes many forms.”接下来举例说明，并在第五段说孩子们喜欢这种slapstick，根据上下文判断，“幽默的表演”应该是最佳选项。

5. C 推理题。从第三段可知双关和幽默是该剧最大的特点，在最后一段的剧情里，作者说奎宁船长的名字让人想起猎鲨专家奎恩特以及奎宁曾用于治疗寄生虫病的事情，可见作者是以此举例说明这部卡通剧作的双关和幽默。





参考译文


沙门氏是一伙恶毒的、会传染疾病的坏蛋，而粉刺则是一个迷恋权利的油脂腺。这就是《奥兹和德里克斯》这档华纳电视网周六早晨系列节目中展现的生活——而且是对于沙门氏菌和粉刺最离奇的一次改编。而这仅是这部堪称 “聪明卡通”的系列片的第一季。在2至11岁的孩子中，它是最受欢迎的一档节目。第二季将在今年秋季上映。

《奥兹和德里克斯》中并没有和神秘怪兽做斗争的内容，而是将人体的某些部位赋予了人性化的特征——一个肌肉细胞担任了警察局长——目的是教孩子们了解自己的身体。对于吸烟，《奥兹和德里克斯》也没有采用对孩子们说教的方式，而是把尼古丁变成了一个名叫尼克·丁的口蜜腹剑的恶棍，它长着长长的爪子，并用它来钩住人的大脑，使人上瘾。像尼克这样的坏蛋都被卡通片里的明星们制服了：善于渗透的奥兹琼斯是一个经验老到的白血球；拘谨聪明的德里克斯则是一粒肚子里装满药的感冒药丸。白血球们帮助抗击感染，而德里克斯则是个药箱子。这下明白了吧？

《奥兹和德里克斯》涉及的都是“孩子们日常生活中面对的真实问题”，参与该电视剧剧情编写的哈佛大学内科医生大卫·福斯特说道。“我们希望孩子们对发生在自己体内的事情感兴趣。”所以所有的故事都发生在13岁的赫克托体内。这个孩子染病在身，感受到了来自同伴的压力，甚至还喝下了变质的牛奶。“这个可怜的小家伙受了不少罪，”制片人艾伦·伯内特说道。

片中的双关语非常有趣。拍膝盖、打拍子这一类的幽默都通过很多形式表现出来。奥兹和德里克斯在赫克托的角膜后面成立了一家侦探事务所——他们是“私人的眼睛”——为的是确保他安全度过青春期。血细胞经过赫克托的动脉时好像汽车一样飞驰而过，经过一个“路边”广告牌，上面写着“中耳需要安宁”。“横膈膜俱乐部”正在举办一场“新陈代谢乐队”的专场摇滚音乐会。奥兹和德里克斯开的是一辆卡米诺牌细胞汽车。

“对于广播公司来说，这是一种非常有趣的发展方向，”乔治敦大学儿童数字媒体中心主任，心理学家桑德拉·卡尔弗特说道。“我们很少见到有人在健康领域做文章。”孩子们喜欢有趣刺激的情节，而大人们也被片中的双关语和滑稽的模仿所吸引，这种老少皆宜的片子能引发思考和讨论。

以接下来的一幕中赫克托尔吃了含有寄生虫的变质香肠为例。危险的情况以一种轻松搞笑的方式被演绎了出来。他的胃变成一片酸性物质的海洋，上面漂着几叶扁舟。其中一艘小船上坐着奥兹和头发花白的奎宁船长，他们同舟共济——这让人想起了电影中的猎鲨专家奎恩特，以及奎宁曾被用来对付寄生虫的事。奥兹和船长用碳酸水中的重碳酸盐把那些怪物统统炸死了。对虫子们来说，这是灭顶之灾，但对赫克托尔翻江倒海的胃来说，结局令人宽慰。





Unit 73


Both the House and the Senate have recently passed bills to reform student lending, and observers think a final bill may land on the president's desk in a month. Democrats have always been critical of federal interest-rate subsidies to private lenders, which is how student loans are organised. They are spurred on by scandal——many lenders like Student Loan Xpress have been caught handing illegal kickbacks to college aid officials——and by the fact that a private-equity consortium, led by J. C. Flowers, is in the process of buying out Sallie Mae, the largest student lender. This has put a spotlight on the fat margins of the $85 billion-a-year student-loan industry, where Sallie Mae's five-year average return on equity was an astonishing 52% per year.

At present the federal government subsidises student loans in two ways. First, the government lends through the William D. Ford direct loan programme, which competes with private lenders and has about a quarter of the student-loan market. Second, private lenders get subsidies that allow them to lower the interest rates they charge students. In the past, lenders have successfully resisted proposed reductions to their subsidies of as little as ten basis points by threatening to leave the market. Now the bills are proposing to reduce subsidies by 50-55 basis points.

The principal terms of both bills are sensible. They increase the maximum “Pell Grant”for low-income students from $4,050 currently to $5,400 by 2011. The funding comes by cutting about $18 billion-19 billion in lender subsidies over five years. Next, graduates' loan repayments are capped at a manageable percentage of income and all debt is cancelled after 25 years of repayment. Finally, the bills provide more loan forgiveness for graduates who enter public-service careers, including police, firefighters, nurses and inner-city teachers. Taken together, these are the biggest changes since the student-loan system was created, in 1965, as part of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programmes.

The biggest risk in cutting the interest-rate subsidies is that banks may leave student lending en masse, or that smaller lenders may be forced out of the market. This would mean few choices for students and possibly a large number of borrowers swamping the government programme. “Congress still wants lending to be profitable, just not too profitable,”says Ajita Talwalker of TICAS, a non-partisan institute that studies the accessibility and affordability of higher education. This may prove a tough balancing act, since no one knows what the right number is.

Critics still find the bills defective. Higher-education costs have risen much faster than inflation or aid increases, so students have been paying more out-of-pocket and taking more private loans. Yet both bills do little to tackle the rise in tuition costs. Richard Vedder of Ohio University points out that productivity is a major problem; professors in many schools have a weekly teaching workload that is a third lighter than 40 years ago, but their pay and benefits have increased. All sides agree there needs to be more transparency in costs and an element of price competition. As far as the bills at hand are concerned, many experts are calling for the House to drop its entitlement programmes, which make certain spending mandatory, and to direct the money to the Pell Grants.

注（1）：本文选自Economist；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2001年真题Text 2 和Text 4第4题（本习题第5题）。

1. The expression “land on the president's desk”（Line 2, Paragraph 1) means that_______.

A) something flies to or drops on the president's desk

B) something is put on the president's desk for decoration

C) something is sent for the president's approval

D) something is presented to the president as a gift

2.

Cutting the interest-rate subsidies is risky because_______.

A) it might leave students few choices to borrow money

B) it might lead to a huge loss for banks and private lenders

C) it might make government programmes less profitable

D) it might damage the whole student-loan system

3. The writer mentioned the “50-55 basis points”at the end of the 2nd paragraph to show that_______.

A) government will support their own programmes rather than private lenders

B) the government is unwilling to subsidize private lenders

C) private lenders fail to lobby the congressmen

D) the Congress is determined to make some big changes

4. It can be indicated from the last paragraph that______.

A) the increase of high-education cost is mainly due to inflation in recent years

B) the bill is believed by some people to be unpromising since it does not grasp the key problem

C) the rising tuition cost is solely caused by the decreasing productivity of university professors

D) more competition will be soon introduced into the market of students' loan thanks to the bill

5. Toward the issue of student lending and high-education costs, the attitude of many experts seems to be_______.

A) indifferent

B) unsatisfactory

C) objective

D) biased





篇章剖析


本文就学生贷款改革这一事项展开了讨论。第一段首先介绍了关于学生贷款出现的一些问题和丑闻；第二段介绍了联邦政府对学生贷款进行补贴的方式；第三段介绍了改革学生贷款法案中一些重要的内容；第四、五段指出了目前仍然存在的一些问题。





词汇注释


spur /spɜː/ v. 鞭策，刺激

kickback /ˈkikbæk/ n. 回扣，酬金

consortium /kənˈsɔːtɪəm/ n. 社团，协会

spotlight /ˈspɒtˈlaɪt/ n. 聚光灯

equity /ˈekwɪti/ n. 资产净值

cap /kæp/ v. 给…定一个上限

swamp /swɒmp/ v. 陷入沼泽，淹没

transparency /trænsˈpærənsi/ n. 透明，透明度

mandatory /ˈmændətəri/ adj. 命令的，强制的





难句突破


They are spurred on by scandal——many lenders like Student Loan Xpress have been caught handing illegal kickbacks to college aid officials——and by the fact that a private-equity consortium, led by J. C. Flowers, is in the process of buying out Sallie Mae, the largest student lender.