unit7 1 (1)What are the purposes of the British education system? (2)Please comment on these purposes. (3)What are the main purposes of the Chinese education system? (4)Are there any differences or similarities in the education of the two nations? 答：(1)The purpose of the British education system is to teach children practical skills and socialize them. (2)Children learn practical skills, and the rules and values they need to become good citizens, to participate in the community, and to contribute to the economic prosperity of an advanced industrial economy. (3)The purpose of the Chinese education is to provide children with literacy and the other basic skills they will need to become active members of society. (4) In china, people think school is just about teaching children what are often called” the three Rs-“reading, writing and arithmetic”(reading, writing and arithmetic). 2. How does the British education reflect social class? British education reflect the deeper divisions in British society in which social class is still very important: class inequality can be erased or continued according to education policy. Whats more, the enduring feature of British education is the continuing debate over how “equal” educational opportunity should be. In British, the accent you speak with, the clothes you wear, and the schools you attend are all markers that identify your social class. The school (or college)tie is a clear marker of social class. Even on informal occasions you will sometimes see men wearing their school ties as belts to hold up their trousers proudly displaying their attendance at a certain school. In Britain, where you are educated is very important to you future. 3 what are the major changes that have taken place since World war 2? Is British education moving towards more progress or more equality? Pick up some examples from the text to illustrate your points. Other major changes to the British education system were caused by world war 。 This time, the new system would emphasize equality. The result was the 1944 Education Act which made entry to secondary schools and universities” meritocratic”. Children would be abilities they displayed. All children were given the right to a free secondary education and the main concern was to make sure more children had access to a good education. In the 1960s,comprehensive schools were introduced all over the country, which ended the division between grammar schools-where the most academically capable pupils were sent to be prepared for university-and vocational school where less successful pupils were sent to learn allowed to let children compete for places. 4. Why does the author say that universities in Britain have been rather elitist? 答：Most students were from the middle classes, attended good schools, performed well in their A-levels and received a fully-funded place in a university. In recent years, great efforts have been made to increase the numbers of and kinds of people that pursue higher education. Access for mature students and students without traditional A-level qualifications is widening. 5. (1) what is the Open University in Britain? (2)What do you think of this system? (1)The Open University offers a non-traditional route for people to take university level courses and receive a university degree. People can follow university courses through textbooks, TV and radio broadcasts, correspondence, videos, residential schools and a network of study centre. (2)It was the Open University which provided the inspiration for the founding of Chinas TV and Radio University.Unit 8 British Foreign Relations1.What and how did the British empire end? How did the British react to this reality? How did the end of British imperialism influence the psychology of the British and the making of Britains foreign policy?(1) The end of the great British empire was surprisingly rapid. In 1946, Jordan, in the Middle East, was granted independence. The following year, India and Pakistan followed suit. In 1948, Burma and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) were granted independence and left the Commonwealth as well, refusing to recognise the British monarch as the head of their new states. Throughout the next fewdecades, the process of decolonisation continued as other territories and possessions received their independence or were returned to their rightful rulers.(2) On the one hand, the British could no longer afford to maintain its empire; while Britain had won the war, it had paid a terrible price in terms of lives and in terms of economic destruction. On the other hand, the British realized that countries should be granted the independence and left to run their own affairs. People and territory should not just be treated as a source of economic resources for the ruling centres of commerce in Europe.(3)Because the end of the British empire is so comparatively recent, many people are still alive who can remember when Britain was one