attend college.Most schools and universities in Europe, however, are free of tuition.In fact, children are expected to attend college there.

　　5．The author wrote the first paragraph mainly to ．

　　A．tell the differences between Europe and America

　　B．advise people to travel to Europe and America

　　C．introduce the topic of this passage to the readers

　　D．persuade people to live in a European country

　　6．Which of the following shows the Americans' perception of time?

　　A．An ancient house has a history of 200 years.

　　B．Europe has been at least 2，000 years old.

　　C．A hundred kilometres is a long way to drive.

　　D．It is proper to drive a distance of 100 kilometres.

　　7．The underlined phrase "parking and traffic congestion"

　　in Paragraph 3 means " "．

　　A．people like parking their cars on the road

　　B．the cars go through the parks now and then

　　C．it is easy to park and drive on the highway

　　D．parking is not easy and the traffic is heavy

　　8．It can be concluded from the last paragraph that ．

　　A．Americans are richer than Europeans

　　B．Americans work harder than Europeans

　　C．the children in Europe needn't go to school

　　D．it costs Americans a lot of money to go to college

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　C

　　Forty years ago，Finland was a small country with mediocre(普通的)public schools.Today，Finland is still small but no one calls Finland's public schools mediocre any more.

　　In 2000，the Finns surprised the world when their 15­year­old scored at the top of a closely watched international exam called the PISA.Finland has stayed near the top ever since，while the US scores around the middle.

　　Pasi Sahlberg，an official with Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture，is in Seattle this week to share the story of Finland's success，and what states like Washington can learn from it.

　　Sahlberg's message，although he is too polite to put it so bluntly(坦率地)：Stop testing so much；trust teachers more；give less homework；shorten the school day.

　　On Tuesday，in a room filled with teachers，principals，professors，school­board members and policy makers，Sahlberg joked about the Finns' reputation(名声)for being quiet，humble people."When Finland hit the top of the PISA，"he said，"the biggest disbelievers were the Finns."

"More seriously，Finland never set out to create the world's top school system. Instead，"he said，"the country decided in the 1970s that it wanted to ensure that a student's success didn't depend on family background."

　　"Finland relied on cooperation among teachers and schools，rather than on competition.Rather than judging teachers and schools based on test scores，"he said，"Finland puts trust in its teachers and principals.Teachers develop the curriculum in Finland，and design their own tests.There are no national tests，except one at the end of high school."

　　That's just the start.Along with a shorter school day，Finnish students don't even start school until they are 7 years old.Many primary schools have a policy against giving homework.

　　"But Finland，"he said，"succeeded in part by adopting ideas from the US and other countries.And those countries，"he said，"can learn from Finland，too."

　　9．What might be the author's purpose of writing the passage?

　　A．To introduce a Finnish official.

　　B．To compare the education systems of Finland and the US.

　　C．To share the story of Finland's success in education.

　　D．To ask the US to improve its education.

　　10．People first learned Finland's success in education from ．

　　A．its students' performance in an international exam

　　B．its international exchange programs

C．lectures given by Pasi Sahlberg