Things you need to know about studying there

Study style

Since the 1950s, the Netherlands has had courses in English especially for foreign students. Students are expected to be critical of what they read and hear, and to be able of working independently. Foreign students will soon notice that at Dutch institutions for higher learning people are expected to do a lot of talking. The most common form of teaching is the seminar or working group, where a small group of students work under a teacher’s supervision to analyze（分析）a certain problem. On exams, they have to show that they know the material, and that they have formed well-founded opinions on the subject.

Accommodations（住宿）

If you are in an exchange programme or an international course, it is quite possible that a room will be arranged for you. Accept it immediately, or you will regret it later. That’s because finding a place to live in a country as crowded as the Netherlands is not easy.

Before you leave China, ask your host institution whether or not housing will indeed be arranged in advance. If you are in the Netherlands and still looking for a place, ask the international relations office or the student dean for advice.

Expences

Tuition: （学费）

Bachelor’s degree：about 2,500 euros a year

Master’s degree: 5,000-12,000 euros a year

Living expenses:

Experience has shown that a year in the Netherlands costs a Chinese

Student about 450-700 euros a month.

Here is a breakdown of average prices of supermarket goods:

Litre of milk:      0.5—0.8 euro

Kilo of apples:     1.5 euros

Shampoo, 400ml:     4 euros

Tube of toothpaste:     1 euro

Bed sheet:      20 euros

Other expenses:

Haircut:        15 euros

Air ticket to China:        600-800 euros

Mobile phone call(one minute):  0.1-0.3 euro

Phone call to China (with IP card): 7 euros(one minute)

Postage stamp in the Netherlands:   0.39 euro

Stamp for China:        0.78 euro

(1 euro-about 10 yuan)

Transportation

Trains, buses and trams run throughout the country.

If you really want to sample Dutch life, and get around quickly and easily, buy yourself a bicycle. Most students buy second-hand bicycles. A reasonable one will cost you 70-120 euros.

You can find them at second-hand bicycle shops or at the bicycle parking facilities near railway stations.

1.Teachers want foreign students to do much talking and analyzing in order to make them        .

2.The passage implies that        .

3.It costs at least            a year for a Master degree.

4.Most students ride second-hand bicycles mainly because        .

FAT TIRE

BIKE TOURS

(FORMERLY MIKE’S TOURS—PARIS)

DAY BIKE TOUR

(Reservations(预订) not needed for this tour to visit Paris—you will love this tour!)

Whether you’re new or experienced, our goal is not to provide you with mind-bending dates and boring stories. Instead, we offer you the famous sites, all the education information, lots of unique and fascinating stories, fantastic photo options, a comfortable bike and excellent personal service from your guide. In fact, we want you to love Paris like we do and have a great time doing it! (4 hours)

*no tours July 25

NIGHT BIKE TOUR

(Reservations not needed for this tour to visit Paris—you will love this tour!)

Our Night Tour is the way to experience the “City of Light” at its best!

Ride through the Latin Quarter and witness the best nightlife in town. Pedal down the lle de la Cité, along the river and enjoy ice cream at Berthillon (Paris’s most famous ice cream shop). See the Louvre as never before (free concert often included) and relax onboard a boat trip on the Seine. Did we mention free wine is provided on the boat?

Make no mistake — this tour is 100% different form our Day Tour in both route and information. Over 65% of our customers take both tours and we hope you will too. Also, be sure to eat something before coming or the wine may give you an unexpected hit! (4.5 hours)

? 26 students, ? 28 adult (Day & Night combo; ? 44 student, ? 48 adult)

*no tours June 21 & July 14

OUR HEADQUARTERS

0156581054 / www.FatTireBikeToursParis.com / info@ FatTireBikeToursParis.com

1. According to the schedule, which day might be appropriate for a Day & Night Combo?

      A. A Saturday in November.  B. Any day in June.

      C. A Friday in March.           D. A Monday in May.

2. If a teacher and his five students plan to visit Paris during daytime, they must pay __________.

       A. ?268   B. ?158   C. ?134   D. ?142

3. One may taste the best ice cream and enjoy free wine in __________.

      A. the Day Bike Tour            B. the Night Bike Tour

      C. the Tour on the Seine D. the Tour to the Louvre

4. The following statements are true EXCEPT __________.

       A. For further information, one can call 0156581054.

       B. One can attend free concert on the boat trip on the Seine.

       C. The route of the Day Bike Tour is totally different from that of the Night Bike Tour.

       D. No reservations are needed for attending both the Bike Tours.

First the ground shook in Haiti, then Chile and Turkey. The earthquakes keep coming hard and fast this year, causing people to wonder if something evil (邪恶的) is happening underfoot.

It’s not.

While it may seem as if there are more earthquakes occurring, there really aren’t. the problem is what’s happening above ground, not underground, experts say.

More people are moving into big cities that happen to be built in quake zones, and they’re rapidly putting up buildings that can’t withstand (经受) earthquakes, scientists believe.

And around-the-clock news coverage (报道) and better earthquake monitoring make it seem as if earthquakes are ever-present.

“I can definitely tell you that the world is not coming to an end,” said Bob Holdsworth, an expert in tectonics (筑造学) at Durharn University in the UK.

A 7.0 magnitude quake in January killed more than 230,000 people in Haiti. Last month, an 8.8 magnitude quake--- the fifth-strongest since 1900—killed more than 900 people in Chile. And two weeks ago, a 6.0 magnitude quake struck rural eastern Turkey, killing at least 57 people.

On average, there are 134 earthquakes a year that have a magnitude between 6.0 and 6.9, according to the US Geological Survey. This year is off to a fast start with 40 so far—more than in most years for that time period.

But that’s because the 8.8 quake in Chile generated a large number of strong aftershocks, and so many quakes this early in the year skews (扭曲) the picture, said Paul Earle, a US seismologist (地震学家).

Also, it’s not the number of quakes, but their devastating (破坏性的) impacts that gain attention, with the death tolls (死亡人数) largely due to construction standards and crowding, Earle added. “The standard mantra (咒语) is earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do, ” he said.

There have been more deaths over the past decades from earthquakes, said University of Colorado geologist Roger Bilham. In an opinion column last month in the journal Nature, Bilham called for better construction standards in the world’s big cities.

Of the 130 cities worldwide with populations of more than 1 million, more than half are prone (倾向于) to earthquakes, Bilham said.

Developing nations, where populations are booming, don’t pay attention to earthquake preparedness, Bilham said.” If you have a problem feeding yourself, you’re not really going to worry about earthquakes.”

Another reason quakes seem worse is that we’re paying attention more. The Haiti earthquake quickly followed by the 8.8 in Chile made everyone start to think.

But it won’t last, said US disaster researcher Deniis Mileti. “People are paying attention to the violent planet we’ve always lived on,” Mileti said.” Come back in another six months if there has been no earthquakes, most people will have forgotten it again. ”

73. What is the main idea of the article?

A. The number of earthquakes is increasing this year.     

B. The reasons why earthquakes are so devastating.

C. The reasons why recent earthquakes have struck large cities.

D. Why earthquakes seem to be more serious this year.

74. Which of the following is NOT a reason for the seeming increase in earthquakes this year，

according to the article?

A. Greater underground activity.      

B. A larger number of buildings prone to damage during earthquakes.

C. Around-the-clock news coverage.   

D. Better earthquake monitoring.

75. According to the article, it is safe to say that ______.

A. there is an evil force beneath the world’s surface

B. large cities are always built in quake zones

C. enough attention has been paid to reducing the impact of earthquakes

D. the earthquake in Chili caused many aftershocks.

76. According to the article, the greater damage of earthquakes this year can be mainly caused by ______.

A. the occurrence of larger earthquakes

B. insufficient warnings about earthquakes

C. poor construction standards and overcrowding

D. an increase in large cities

After blogging regularly for two months, people felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those who didn’t blog. Blogging can help you feel less isolated, more connected to a community and more satisfied with your friendships. Both online and face-to-face, a new Australian research has found
Researchers James Baker and Professor Susan Moore from Swinburne have written two papers investigating the psychological benefits of blogging-regularly updating personal web pages with information that invites others to comment.
The first, published in the latest issue of the journal CyberPsychology and Behaviour.  compares the mental health of people intending to blog with that of people not planning to blog. Moore says the researchers messaged 600 MySpace users personally and directed them to an online survey. A total of 134 completed the questionnaire. 84 intended to blog and 50 didn’t.
“We found potential bloggers were less satisfied with their friendships and they felt less socially integrated; they didn’t feet as much part of a community as the people who weren’t interested in blogging …”Moore says. “It was as if they were saying ‘I’m going to do this blogging and it’s going to help me’.”
And it seemed to do the trick, as the researchers’ second study shows. This study which is yet to be published, was conducted two months later. The researchers sent out questionnaires(调查问卷)to the same group of MySpace users, this time 59 responded Bloggers reported a greater sense of belonging to a group of like-minded people and feeling more confident because they could rely on others for help. All respondents, whether or not they blogged, reported feeling less anxious, depressed and stressed after two months of online social networking.
“So going onto MySpace had lifted the mood of all participants in some way,” Moore says. “Maybe they’d just made more social connections.”
Moore acknowledges this is early research and hopes to follow a larger group of people for a longer period time to test some of the research findings.
66. What does the passage mainly tell us?
A. The mental health of bloggers.
B. Blogging improves one’s social life.
C. What kind of people are likely to blog.
D. Blogging has become more and more popular.
67. It can be inferred from the fourth paragraph that _________.
A. those who were not interested in blogging didn’t have good mental health
B. people were likely to become bloggers if they felt socially isolated
C. potential bloggers were those who had mental health problems
D. potential bloggers usually held a wrong view about blogging
68.The purpose of the second study is to find out _________.
A. what people do on MySpace
B. how many people became bloggers
C. how people felt after blogging for two months
D. how many people kept blogging after two months
69. The second study shows that________.
A. online social networking can do people good
B. only bloggers benefit from online social networking
C. not many potential bloggers became real bloggers
D. not all bloggers found the help they needed
70. The main purpose of people going onto MySpace is probably to _______.
A. exchange goods                  B. entertain themselves
C. seek help                           D. exchange views

A 7.0 magnitude（级）earthquake killed more than 230,000 people in Haiti. Then an 8.8 magnitude quake killed more than 900 people in Chile. And few weeks later, a 6.0 magnitude quake struck rural eastern Turkey, killing at least 57 people.
The earthquakes kept coming hard and fast.   1 It’s not. The problem is what’s happening above ground, not underground, experts say.
  2 They’re rapidly putting up buildings that can’t stand up to earth quakes, scientists believe.
And news reports and better earthquake monitoring make it seem as if earth quakes are increasing all the time.
On average, there are 134 earthquakes a year that have a magnitude between 6.0 and 6.9. So far this year there have been 40 earthquakes—more than in most years for that time period. But that’s because the 8.8 quake in Chile caused a large number of strong aftershocks.
Also, it’s not the number of quakes, but their destructive effects that gain attention. The death is largely due to building standards,   3  Paul Earle, a US seismologist, called for better building standards in the world’s big cities.
Of the 130 cities worldwide with populations of more than I million, more than half are likely to be hit by earthquakes.   4 “If you have a problem feeding yourself, you’re not really going to worry about earthquakes,” said Paul.
The earthquakes made everyone start to think   5  “People are paying attention to the violent planet we’re always lived on. Come back an another six moths if there has been no earthquakes, most people will have forgotten it again,” said US disaster researcher Dennis Mileti.