New York Times-The already crazed competition for admission to the nation’s most famous universities and colleges became even more intense (激烈的) this year, with many recording the lowest acceptance rates.

Harvard College, for example, offered admission to only 7.1 percent of the 27,462 high school seniors who applied — or, put another way, it rejected 93 of every 100 applicants, many with extraordinary achievements, like a perfect score on one of the SAT exams. Yale College accepted 8.3 percent of its 22,813 applicants. Both rates were records.

Columbia College admitted 8.7 percent of its applicants, Brown University and Dartmouth College about 13 percent, and Bowdoin College and Georgetown University 18 percent — also records.

　 “We love the people we admitted, but we also love a very large number of the people who we were not able to admit,” said William R. Fitzsimmons, dean (主任) of admissions and financial aid at Harvard College.

Some colleges said they placed more students on their waiting lists than in recent years, in part because of uncertainty over how many admitted students would decide to enroll （登记入学）. Harvard and Princeton stopped accepting students through early admission this academic year; that meant that more than 1,500 students who would have been admitted in December were likely to have applied to many famous schools in the regular round.

Many factors contributed to the tightening of the competition at the most selective colleges, admissions deans said. The number of high school graduates in the nation has grown each year over the last decade and a half, experts estimate that the figure will reach the highest point this year or next, which might reduce the competition a little.

Other factors were the ease of online applications, expanded financial aid packages, an ambitious students’ applying to ever more colleges.

1．What’s the passage mainly about?

A．Harvard has the lowest admission rate this year.

B．Many factors have led to the intense competition.

C．Famous universities prefer to have more students on their waiting lists.

D．Admission to famous universities became even more difficult this year.

2．Which of the following has the highest acceptance rate this year?

A．Yale College.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．Georgetown University.

C．Columbia College.　　 　　　 D．Dartmouth College.

3．How many of the 20,000 applicants would be rejected by Columbia College this year?
A．18,260　　　 B．1,740　　　 C．18,350　　　 D．1,950

填空题

　　Music is not air or water. But for many Senior High students, music is an important and enjoyable part of life. This conclusion can be made following 21st Century Teens' summer survey on readers' attitudes to music.

　　Nearly 10,000 readers responded(回答) to the survey in our summer special issue.

　　Over half, 52 percent, said that they listen to music whenever they are free. Just 0.5 percent of students said they never listen to music. Most listen to both English and Chinese songs in equal amounts.

　　But, the survey showed that students have very different tastes and enjoy a wide variety of styles. “Our generation is diverse(多样化), and that's reflected in our tastes,” said Liu Yujia, a Senior 3 from High School attached to Xi'an Jiaotong University. Liu is a pop fan but also likes the R&B of Jay Chow(周杰伦), a big favourite among students in the survey.

　　About 32 percent of students listen to pop music. Behind pop came R&B(28 percent), Country(14 percent), Rock(9 percent)and others.

　　Only about 10 percent are diehard rock ‘n’ roll fans. An Qi, from Rizhao No. 1 High School, Shandong Province is one. A．Senior 1 girl said that the exciting rhythm has the power that takes her mind off school work and exams.

　　It is the melody(旋律) rather than the words or fame of singers that students like. Over 60 percent said they choose a song mainly because they like the music.

　　“Good music makes me believe that it was written just for me－even if it is the first time I listen to it. I think that is why music is so important to young people－more than movies, more than TV,” An Qi said.

　　TV and movies are the main ways that students hear new songs or music. Forty－six percent of students said they are affected by music played on TV or in films. Friends (21 percent) and radio(19 percent) also play an important role in introducing music to teenagers.

　　Parents have the least effect on students' taste and do not enjoy the same music. Just 3 percent listen to music that their parents introduce them to. More than half the teens surveyed, 54 percent, see nothing wrong with downloading music from the Internet.