The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions o

The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprisingeight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern UnitedStates. The term is most commonly used to refer to those eight schoolsconsidered as a group. The term is also connected with academic excellence,selectivity in admissions, and social elitism(精英主义).

The term became official, especially in sportsterminology, after the formation of the NCAA Division I athletic conference in1954, when much of the nation polarized around favorite college teams. “IV” wasused because originally the league consisted only of four members. The use ofthe phrase is no longer limited to athletics, and now represents an educationalphilosophy inherent to ( 固有的，内在的)the nation's oldest schools. In addition,Ivy League schools are often viewed by the public as some of the mostprestigious （著名的）universities worldwide and are often rankedamongst the best universities in the United States and worldwide. The eightinstitutions are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University,Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University ofPennsylvania, and Yale University.

All of the Ivy League's institutions place near thetop in the U.S. News & World Reportcollege and university rankingsand rank within the top one percent of the world's academic institutions interms of financial endowment(捐助). Seven of the eightschools were founded during America's colonial period; the exception isCornell, which was founded in 1865. Ivy League institutions, therefore, accountfor seven of the nine Colonial Colleges chartered before the AmericanRevolution. The Ivies are all in the Northeast geographic region of the UnitedStates. All eight schools receive millions of dollars in research grants and othersubsidies from federal and state government.

Undergraduate enrollments among the Ivy League schoolsrange from about 4,000 to 14,000, making them larger than those of a typicalprivate liberal arts college and smaller than a typical public state university.Ivy League university financial endowments range from Brown's $2.01 billion toHarvard's $26 billion, the largest financial endowment of any academicinstitution in the world.

1.Which meaning can the term “the Ivy League” conveytoday?

A．The largestenrollment.                   B．The strongestgovernment support.

C．The mostexpensive schools.               D．First-classeducation.

2.From the passage, we know the word “Ivy” in “the IvyLeague” was first chosen to refer to _______.

A．a plant            B．a number          C．a sport            D．a spirit

3.Which of the following statements is true?

A．There is nolonger sports competition in the Ivy League.

B．Sevencolleges were set up before the USA was founded.

C．BrownUniversity has the smallest number of students.

D．Typicalpublic state universities are larger than the Ivies.

4.What is special about Cornell University in theLeague?

A．It is theoldest one.                      B．It wasfounded by colonists.

C．It has thesmallest endowment.             D．It is theyoungest one.

5.Which of the following can be the best title of thepassage?

A．The ABC of “The Ivy League”

B．BestUniversities in the USA

C．The FinancialIncome of American Universities

D．How to Applyto an Ivy League University

试题答案

【答案】

1.D

2.B

3.D

4.D

5.A 

【解析】

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