In a recent announcement, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology（MIT）said that they have joined forces to offer free online courses in an effort to attract millions of online learners worldwide.
Beginning this fall, a number of courses developed by teachers at both universities will be offered online through a new $60 million program, known as edX. “Anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world can use our online courses,” Harvard President Drew Faust said during a meeting to announce the plan.
MIT has offered a program called OpenCourseWare for ten years that makes materials from more than 2,000 classes free online. It has been used by more than 100 million people. In December, the school announced it also would begin offering a special certificate, known as MITx, for people who plete certain online courses. Harvard has long offered courses to a wider population through a similar program.
The MITx will serve as the foundation for the new learning platform.
MIT President Susan Hockfield said more than 120,000 people signed up for the first MITx course. She said Harvard and MIT hope other universities will join them in offering courses on the open-source edX platform.
“Fasten your seatbelts,” Hockfield said.
Other universities, including Stanford, Yale and Carnegie-Mellon, have been experimenting with teaching to a global population online.
The Harvard-MIT program will be monitored by a not-for-profit（非盈利的）organization based in Cambridge, to be owned equally by the two universities. Both MIT and Harvard have provided $30 million to start the program. They also plan to use the edX platform to research how students learn and which teaching methods and tools are most successful.
【小题1】According to this text, edX is .A．a part of the free MIT OpenCourseWareB．a free puter program by MIT and HarvardC．a Harvard-MIT platform of free online coursesD．a free program online for universities worldwide【小题2】What is said about online education in the text?A．Universities have been trying online courses.B．About 2,000 online courses have been offered.C．Over 100 million people have finished courses online.D．Stanford and Yale together have courses similar to edX.【小题3】The underlined part in the text probably means “ ”.A．Get ready for the difficultiesB．Get ready for this educational changeC．Get prepared to plete the online coursesD．Get prepared to make materials for the edX courses【小题4】What can be said about MITx according to the text?A．It is first offered as part of the edX learning program.B．It is another free MIT-Harvard online learning program.C．It is a standard to recognize online learners’ achievement.D．It is a new kind of free online course of Harvard and MIT.C
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(答案→)C
解析：本文为新闻报道类文体。文章报道了Harvard和MIT联手向全球免费提供网上课程的事情。
【小题1】细节理解题。根据第一段话说Harvard和MIT联手向全球免费提供网上课程及第二段话“a number of courses developed by teachers at both universities will be offered online through a new $60 million program, known as edX”可知edX是这两所大学联手打造的一个网上免费授课的平台。故答案选C。
【小题2】细节判断题。B项应是2,000 classes；C项，应是100多万人使用，而不是完成了课程；D项文中没有谈到它们的课程是否相似。根据倒数第二段话“Other universities, including Stanford, Yale and Carnegie-Mellon, have been experimenting with teaching to a global population online”可知答案选A。
【小题3】词义推断题。此句的字面意思为“系好安全带”。结合文章的意思便是为这些大学在网上开设免费课程这一教育的变革做好准备。故答案为B。
【小题4】细节理解题。根据第三段“In December, the school announced it also would begin offering a special certificate, known as MITx, for people who plete certain online courses”可知MITx是承认修完课程的证书。故答案选C。