“快速” 两年制本科学位有望成为英格兰地区学生未来的一大选择。与三年制课程相比，两年制课程总共可省下 20% 的学费。负责英国大学事务的大臣山姆·吉马（ Sam Gyimah ）已证实，政府有计划允许英国大学对较短、较密集的课程收取更高的学费。

文字稿

Instead of studying for three years, at 30 weeks a year, the government wants more universities to provide fast-track courses with degrees taught in two years with 45 weeks of studying.

比起每年三十周、共计三年的学制，英国政府希望更多的大学能提供快速课程，两年教授本科学位，每年学习四十五周。

These shorter, more intensive courses would mean savings of about £5,500 in tuition fees and a year's worth of accommodation and living costs. The Universities Minister Sam Gyimah thinks it’ll particularly help to reverse the decline in the number of mature students.

这些耗时更短、更密集的课程意味着每个学生能省下约5500镑的学费以及一年的住宿费和生活费。英国大学事务大臣山姆·吉马认为这一做法尤其有利于扭转成人学生人数下降的趋势。

Even though the overall cost would be lower than studying for three years, each year would have tuition fees equivalent to about £11,000 per year - above the current maximum limit of 9,250. Such a change of the fee system would have to be approved by Parliament and that could prove a significant stumbling block.

尽管两年制本科学位的总花费要低于三年制的学费，但每年的学费相当于1.1万英镑，高于目前每年9250英镑的上限。这种收费体系的改革需要获得议会的批准，而这也许会成为两年制本科学位课程是否能成功推行最大的阻碍。

1. 词汇

fast-track 快速的
intensive 密集的
tuition fees 学费
accommodation 住宿
living costs 生活费
mature students 成人学生
equivalent to 相当于…
maximum limit 最高限额
approved 被批准
stumbling block 障碍物、绊脚石

2. 阅读理解：请在读完上文后，回答下列问题 。

1. Apart from tuition fees, what other costs would these shorter, more intensive courses save?

2. What is the cap on the current tuition fees per year?

3. True or false? The government wants more universities to provide longer courses.  

4. Which word in the text means ‘to change a trend to the opposite of what it was’?

3. 答案

1. Apart from tuition fees, what other costs would these shorter, more intensive courses save?
Apart from tuition fees, these shorter, more intensive courses would save a year's worth of accommodation and living costs.

2. What is the cap on the current tuition fees per year?
The cap on the current tuition fees is £9,250 per year.

3. True or false? The government wants more universities to provide longer courses.  
False. The government wants more universities to provide fast-track courses with degrees taught in two years instead of studying for three years.

4. Which word in the text means ‘to change a trend to the opposite of what it was’?
Reverse.