阅读理解。
Andy Steele lives just a few blocks from the campus of Black Hills State University in Spearfish,
S.D., so commuting (经常往返) to class isn't the problem. But he doesn't like lectures much, isn't a
morning person, and wants time during the day to restore motorcycles.
So Steele, a full-time senior business major, has been taking as many classes as he can from the
South Dakota State system's online offerings. He gets better grades and learns more, he says, and
insists he isn't missing out on the college experience.
"I still know a lot of people from my first two years living on campus, and I still meet a lot of people,"
he says. But now, he sets his own schedule.
At least 2.3 million people took some kind of online courses, according to a recent survey by The
Sloan Consortium, an online education group, and two-thirds of colleges offering "face-to-face" courses
also offer online ones. But what were once two different types of classes are looking more and more
alike and often falling into the same pool of students.
At some schools, online courses originally intended for non-traditional students living far from campus
have proved surprisingly popular with on-campus students. A recent study found 42 percent of the
students enrolled (登记) in its distance education courses were located on campus at the university that
was hosting the online courses.
Numbers vary depending on the policies of particular colleges, but other schools also have students
mixing and matching online and "face-to-face" credits. Motives range from lifestyle to adapting a job
schedule to getting into high-demand courses.
Washington State had about 325 on-campus undergraduates taking one or more distance courses last
year. As many as 9,000 students took both distance and in-person classes at Arizona State last year.
"Business is really about providing choices to their customers, and that's really what we want to do,"
said Sheila Aaker, extended services coordinator (协调人) at Black Hills State.
Many schools, such as Washington State and Arizona State, let departments and academic units
decide who can take an online course. They say students with legitimate academic needs-a conflict with
another class, a course they need to graduate that is full-often get permission, though they still must take
some key classes in person.
1. What is the purpose of the passage?
A. To introduce Steele to us, who prefers online courses.
B. To tell us about the development of campus courses.
C. To show the differences between campus courses and online courses.
D. To show more on-campus students are taking online courses.
2. We can learn from the passage that Andy Steele _______.
A. lives far from the campus
B. knows none of his classmates
C. wants to have his own lifestyle
D. doesn't get good marks
3. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. The undergraduates attend the online courses for different purposes.
B. It is expected that distance education is popular with on-campus students.
C. About 325 on-campus undergraduates took online courses in Washington last year.
D. Different colleges have different policies about online courses.
4. From what Sheila Aaker said in the passage, we can tell _______.
A. business is the most popular major in universities
B. colleges should provide more majors for students
C. where the similarity between business and colleges lies
D. why colleges offer online courses to on-campus students
