Universities Branch Out

　　As never before in their long history, universities have become instruments of national competition as well as instruments of peace. They are the place of the scientific discoveries that move economies forward, and the primary means of educating the talent required to obtain and maintain competitive advantage. But at the same time, the opening of national borders to the flow of goods, services, information and especially people has made universities a powerful force for global integration, mutual understanding and geopolitical stability.

　　In response to the same forces that have driven the world economy, universities have become more self-consciously global: seeking students from around the world who represent the entire range of cultures and values, sending their own students abroad to prepare them for global careers, offering courses of study that address the challenges of an interconnected world and collaborative(合作的)research programs to advance science for the benefit of all humanity.

　　Of the forces shaping higher education none is more sweeping than the movement across borders. Over the past three decades the number of students leaving home each year to study abroad has grown at an annual rate of 3.9 percent, from 800,000 in 1975 to 2.5 million in 2004. Most travel from one developed nation to another, but the flow from developing to developed countries is growing rapidly. The reverse flow, from developed to developing countries, is on the rise, too. Today foreign students earn 30 percent of the doctoral degrees awarded in the United States and 38 percent of those in the United Kingdom. And the number crossing borders for undergraduate study is growing as well, to 8 percent of the undergraduates at America’s best institutions and 10 percent of all undergraduates in the U.K. In the United States, 20 percent of the newly hired professors in science and engineering are foreign-born, and in China many newly hired faculty members at the top research universities received their graduate education abroad.

　　Universities are also encouraging students to spend some of their undergraduate years in another country. In Europe, more than 140,000 students participate in the Erasmus program each year, taking courses for credit in one of 2,200 participating institutions across the continent. And in the United States, institutions are helping place students in the summer internships(实习) abroad to prepare them for global careers. Yale and Harvard have led the way, offering every undergraduate at least one international study or internship opportunity—and providing the financial resources to make it possible.

　　Globalization is also reshaping the way research is done. One new trend involves sourcing portions of a research program to another country. Yale professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Tian Xu directs a research center focused on the genetics of human disease at Shanghai’s Fudan University, in collaboration with faculty colleagues from both schools. The Shanghai center has 95 employees and graduate students working in a 4,300-square-meter laboratory facility. Yale faculty, postdoctors and graduate students visit regularly and attend videoconference seminars with scientists from both campuses. The arrangement benefits both countries; Xu’s Yale lab is more productive, thanks to the lower costs of conducting research in China, and Chinese graduate students, postdoctors and faculty get on-the-job training from a world-class scientist and his U.S. team.

　　As a result of its strength in science, the United States has consistently led the world in the commercialization of major new technologies, from the mainframe computer and the integrated circuit of the 1960s to the Internet infrastructure(基础设施)and applications software of the 1990s. The link between university-based science and industrial application is often indirect but sometimes highly visible: Silicon Valley was intentionally created by Stanford University, and Route 128 outside Boston has long housed companies spun off from MIT and Harvard. Around the world, governments have encouraged copying of this model, perhaps most successfully in Cambridge, England, where Microsoft and scores of other leading software and biotechnology companies have set up shop around the university.

　　For all its success, the United States remains deeply hesitant about sustaining the research- university model. Most politicians recognize the link between investment in science and national economic strength, but support for research funding has been unsteady. The budget of the National Institutes of Health doubled between 1998 and 2003, but has risen more slowly than inflation since then. Support for the physical sciences and engineering barely kept pace with inflation during that same period. The attempt to make up lost ground is welcome, but the nation would be better served by steady, predictable increases in science funding at the rate of long-term GDP growth, which is on the order of inflation plus 3 percent per year.

　　American politicians have great difficulty recognizing that admitting more foreign students can greatly promote the national interest by increasing international understanding. Adjusted for inflation, public funding for international exchanges and foreign-language study is well below the levels of 40 years ago. In the wake of September 11, changes in the visa process caused a dramatic decline in the number of foreign students seeking admission to U.S. universities, and a corresponding surge in enrollments in Australia, Singapore and the U.K. Objections from American university and business leaders led to improvements in the process and a reversal of the decline, but the United States is still seen by many as unwelcoming to international students.

　　Most Americans recognize that universities contribute to the nation’s well-being through their scientific research, but many fear that foreign students threaten American competitiveness by taking their knowledge and skills back home. They fail to grasp that welcoming foreign students to the United States has two important positive effects: first, the very best of them stay in the States and—like immigrants throughout history—strengthen the nation; and second, foreign students who study in the United States become ambassadors for many of its most cherished (珍视) values when they return home. or at least they understand them better. In America as elsewhere, few instruments of foreign policy are as effective in promoting peace and stability as welcoming international university students.

　　1. From the first paragraph we know that present-day universities have become ________.

　　A) more popularized than ever before B) in-service training organizations

　　C) a powerful force for global integration D) more and more research-oriented

　　2. Over the past three decades, the enrollment of overseas students has increased ________.

　　A) at an annual rate of 8 percent B) at an annual rate of 3.9 percent

　　C) by 800,000 D) by 2.5 million

　　3. In the United States, how many of the newly hired professors in science and engineering are foreign-born?

　　A)38% B)10% C)30% D)20%

　　4. How do Yale and Harvard prepare their undergraduates for global careers?

　　A)They give them chances for international study or internship.

　　B)They arrange for them to participate in the Erasmus program.

　　C)They offer them various courses in international politics.

　　D)They organize a series of seminars on world economy.

　　5. An example illustrating the general trend of universities’ globalization is ________.

　　A)Yale’s establishing branch campuses throughout the world

　　B)Yale’s student exchange program with European institutions

　　C)Yale’s helping Chinese universities to launch research projects

　　D)Yale’s collaboration with Fudan University on genetic research.

　　6. What do we learn about Silicon Valley from the passage?

　　A)It is known to be the birthplace of Microsoft Company.

　　B)It was intentionally created by Stanford University.

　　C)It is where the Internet infrastructure was built up.

　　D)It houses many companies spun off from MIT and Harvard.

　　7. What is said about the U.S. federal funding for research?

　　A)It has increased by 3 percent. B)It doubled between 1998 and 2003.

　　C)It has been unsteady for years. D)It has been more than sufficient.

　　8. The dramatic decline in the enrollment of foreign students in the U.S. after September 11 was caused by ________.

　　9. Many Americans fear that American competitiveness may be threatened by foreign students who will ________.

　　10. The policy of welcoming foreign students can benefit the U.S. in that the very best of them will stay and ________.

　　参考答案：

　　1.C 2.B 3.D 4.A 5.D 6.B 7.C

　　8. changes in the visa process 9. take their knowledge and skills back home

　　10. strengthen the nation

　　

　　Protect Your Privacy When Job-hunting Online

　　Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person’s personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain.

　　The numbers associated with identity theft are beginning to add up fast these days. A recent General Accounting Office report estimates that as many as 750,000 Americans are victims of identity theft every year. And that number may be low, as many people choose not to report the crime even if they know they have been victimized.

　　Identity theft is “an absolute epidemic,” states Robert Ellis Smith, a respected author and advocate of privacy. “It’s certainly picked up in the last four or five years. It’s worldwide. It affects everybody, and there’s very little you can do to prevent it and, worst of all, you can’t detect it until it’s probably too late.”

　　Unlike your fingerprints, which are unique to you and cannot be given to someone else for their use, you personal data, especially your social security number, your bank account or credit card number, your telephone calling card number, and other valuable identifying data, can be used, if they fall into the wrong hands, to personally profit at your expense. In the United States and Canada, for example, many people have reported that unauthorized persons have taken funds out of their bank or financial accounts, or, in the worst cases, taken over their identities altogether, running up vast debts and committing crimes while using the victims’ names. In many cases, a victim’s losses may included not only out-of-pocket financial losses, but substantial additional financial costs associated with trying to restore his reputation in the community and correcting erroneous information for which the criminal is responsible.

　　According to the FBI, identity theft is the number one fraud committed on the Internet. So how do job seekers protect themselves while continuing to circulate their resumes online? The key to a successful online job search is learning to manager the risks. Here are some tips for staying safe while conducting a job search on the Internet.

　　1. Check for a privacy policy.

　　If you are considering posting your resume online, make sure the job search site your are considering has a privacy policy, like CareerBuilder.com. The policy should spell out how your information will be used, stored and whether or not it will be shared. You may want to think twice about posting your resume on a site that automatically shares your information with others. You could be opening yourself up to unwanted calls from solicitors (推销员).

　　When reviewing the site’s privacy policy, you’ll be able to delete your resume just as easily as you posted it. You won’t necessarily want your resume to remain out there on the Internet once you land a job. Remember, the longer your resume remains posted on a job board, the more exposure, both positive and not-so-positive, it will receive.

　　2. Take advantage of site features.

　　Lawful job search sites offer levels of privacy protection. Before posting your resume, carefully consider your job search objective and the level of risk you are willing to assume.

　　CareerBuilder.com, for example, offers three levels of privacy from which job seekers can choose. The first is standard posting. This option gives job seekers who post their resumes the most visibility to the broadest employer audience possible.

　　The second is anonymous (匿名的) posting. This allows job seekers the same visibility as those in the standard posting category without any of their contact information being displayed. Job seekers who wish to remain anonymous but want to share some other information may choose which pieces of contact information to display.

　　The third is private posting. This option allows a job seeker to post a resume without having it searched by employers. Private posting allows job seekers to quickly and easily apply for jobs that appear on CareerBuilder.com without retyping their information.

　　3. Safeguard your identity.

　　Career experts say that one of the ways job seekers can stay safe while using the Internet to search out jobs is to conceal their identities. Replace your name on your resume with a generic (泛指的) identifier, such as “Intranet Developer Candidate,” or “Experienced Marketing Representative.”

　　You should also consider eliminating the name and location of your current employer. Depending on your title, it may not be all that difficult to determine who you are once the name of your company is provided. Use a general description of the company such as “Major auto manufacturer,” or “International packaged goods supplier.”

　　If your job title is unique, consider using the generic equivalent instead of the exact title assigned by your employer.

　　4. Establish and email address for your search.

　　Another way to protect your privacy while seeking employment online is to open up an email account specifically for your online job search. This will safeguard your existing email box in the event someone you don’t know gets hold of your email address and shares it with others.

　　Using an email address specifically for you job search also eliminates the possibility that you will receive unwelcome emails in your primary mailbox. When naming your new email address, be sure that it doesn’t contain references to your name or other information that will give away your identity. The best solution is an email address that is relevant to the job you are seeking such as Salesmgr2004@provider.com.

　　5. Protect your reference.

　　If your resume contains a section with the names and contact information of your references, take it out. There’s no sense in safeguarding your information while sharing private contact information of your references.

　　6. Keep confidential (机密的) information confidential.

　　Do not, under any circumstances, share your social security, driver’s license, and bank account numbers or other personal information, such as race or eye color. Honest employers do not need this information with an initial application. Don’t provide this even if they say they need it in order to conduct a background check. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book – don’t fall for it.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

　　1. Robert Ellis Smith believes identity theft is difficult to detect and one can hardly do anything to prevent it.

　　2. In many cases, identity theft not only causes the victims’ immediate financial losses but costs them a lot to restore their reputation.

　　3. Identity theft is a minor offence and its harm has been somewhat overestimated.

　　4. It is important that your resume not stay online longer than is necessary.

　　5. Of the three options offered by CareerBuilder.com in Suggestion 2, the third one is apparently most strongly recommended.

　　6. Employers require applicants to submit very personal information on background checks.

　　7. Applicants are advised to use generic names for themselves and their current employers when seeking employment online.

　　8. Using a special email address in the job search can help prevent your from receiving ________.

　　9. To protect your references, you should not post online their ________.

　　10. According to the passage, identity theft is committed typically for ________.

　　参考答案：

　　1. Y 2. Y 3. N. 4. Y. 5. NG 6. N 7. Y

　　8. unwelcome emails

　　9. names and contact information

　　10. economic gain