Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 31 to 35
Universities love overseas students – they are clever and hardworking, they bring different cultures to seminars and student life and they pay their way. In Britain, universities are getting ready to enroll more overseas students. The British Council has published a report predicting that overseas student numbers could soar to more than 800,000 by 2018. In 2010, figures put the total at over 400,000 international students out of two and a half million students in UK higher education and it is clear that this influx is having an enormous impact on universities and colleges.
These students bring welcome fees, of course, but they are also likely to be very intelligent students who inject new cultural influences and bring changes to the old university systems. Their demand for vocational subjects such as business, biotechnology and information technology, rather than traditional academic subjects, is affecting what is taught as well.
The impressive expansion of foreign students has already had a significant impact on higher education. Overseas student numbers, including European Union students, have risen from 270,000 in 2002 to 400,000 in 2010. During this time the number from China jumped more than tenfold, and numbers from India have been going up. In contrast, the number of students from other countries has fallen, reflecting their governments’ efforts to educate more of their young people at home, as well as competition from Australia and the USA. But as the Asian tiger economies expand their own universities, the good news for places like the London School of Economics is that there are more and more graduates looking to improve their qualifications or to pursue research in their subjects.
(Adapted from Achieve IELTS by Louis Harrison, Caroline Cushen and Susan Hutchison)
Question 31. What is the passage mainly about?
A. How to avoid culture shock when living in Western countries?
B. How international students are changing Western university life
C. How to become an overseas student?
D. The decline in the number of overseas students at Western universities
Question 32. The word “soar” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______.
A. ascend B. decline C. hurt D. slump
Question 33. According to the paragraph 2, overseas students can help to _______.
A. abolish tuition fees for domestic students B. bring only negative influences on the culture
C. introduce new changes to the old education system D. Increase the demand for core subjects
Question 34. The word “their” in paragraph 3 refers to _______.
A. universities B. graduates C. foreign students D. students
Question 35. According to the passage, which of the following is true?
A. The number of overseas students in Britain has already reached its limit
B. Foreign students’ abilities are often underestimated by Western universities
C. The number of foreign students from India has fallen over a specific period of time
D. Some countries tried to persuade their young students to pursue their education at home