阅读试题

In a recent announcement, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said that they have joined forces to offer free online courses in an effort to attract millions of online learners worldwide.

Beginning this fall, a number of courses developed by teachers at both universities will be offered online through a new $60 million program, known as edX. "Anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world can use our online courses," Harvard President Drew Faust said during a meeting to announce the plan.

MIT has offered a program called OpenCourseWare for ten years that makes materials from more than 2,000 classes free online. It has been used by more than 100 million people. In December, the school announced it also would begin offering a special certificate, known as MITx, for people who complete certain online courses. Harvard has long offered courses to a wider population through a similar program.

The MITx will serve as the foundation for the new learning platform.

MIT President Susan Hockfield said more than 120,000 people signed up for the first MITx course. She said Harvard and MIT hope other universities will join them in offering courses on the open-source edX platform.

"Fasten your seatbelts," Hockfield said.

Other universities, including Stanford, Yale and Carnegie-Mellon, have been experimenting with teaching to a global population online.

The Harvard-MIT program will be monitored by a not-for-profit (非盈利的) organization based in Cambridge, to be owned equally by the two universities. Both MIT and Harvard have provided $30 million to start the program. They also plan to use the edX platform to research how students learn and which teaching methods and tools are most successful.

阅读试题

53. According to this text, edX is _______.

A. a part of the free MIT OpenCourseWare

B. a free computer program by MIT and Harvard

C. a Harvard-MIT platform of free online courses

D. a free program online for universities worldwide

54. What is said about online education in the text?

A. Universities have been trying online courses.

B. About 2,000 online courses have been offered.

C. Over 100 million people have finished courses online.

D. Stanford and Yale together have courses similar to edX.

55. The underlined part in the text probably means " 　 ".

A. Get ready for the difficulties

B. Get ready for this educational change

C. Get prepared to complete the online courses

D. Get prepared to make materials for the edX courses

56. What can be said about MITx according to the text?

A. It is first offered as part of the edX learning program.

B. It is another free MIT-Harvard online learning program.

C. It is a standard to recognize online learners' achievement.

D. It is a new kind of free online course of Harvard and MIT.

参考译文

在最近的公告上，哈佛大学和麻省理工学院表示他们联手加大了提供免费在线课程的力度，以吸引全球数以百万计的在线学习者。

从今年秋季开始，由两所大学的老师开发的许多课程将通过一个新的6000万美元计划即edx(网络在线教学计划)来进行在线授课。哈佛校长德鲁·福斯特在一次会议上公布该计划时透露：“在世界上的任何地方只要能联网都可以使用我们的在线课程。”

麻省理工学院提供了一个为期10年的开放课程工具，这一工具可以获得2000堂在线免费课程的材料。该工具的使用量已经超过1亿人。12月份，学校还宣布它也将为那些完成了某些在线课程的人提供一个特殊的证书即MITx。哈佛通过一个类似的项目长期为广大人民提供课程服务。

MITx是为新的学习平台打基础的。

麻省理工学院的校长苏珊·霍克菲尔德说十二万人报名参加了第一期的MITx课程。她说哈佛大学和麻省理工学院希望其他大学能够加入他们，为开放资源型网路教学平台提供课程。

霍克菲尔德说：“要为网络教学做好准备”。

其他大学一直在研究对全球人进行在线教学，其中包括斯坦福大学、耶鲁大学和卡内基-梅隆大学。

哈佛和麻省理工学院的这一计划是建立在剑桥大学基础上的一个非盈利性组织，由两所学校共有，平分秋色。麻省理工学院和哈佛大学共提供了3000万美元来启动该项目。他们还计划利用edX平台来研究学生如何学习以及哪一种教学的方式方法是最成功的。

答案解析

53. C 考查细节理解。由第二段的内容可知edX是一个免费在线课程平台。

54. A 考查细节理解。由第三段以及第七段可知大学已经在尝试在线课程。

55. B 考查句意理解。由上文哈佛和麻省理工学院开设在线课程并希望其他大学加入他们的行列可知，画线部分意为”为教育形式的变化做好准备”。

56. C考查细节理解。由第三段第三句可知MITx是评估学习者学习成绩的标准。