Hungry for the brightest students, many of the country’s stronger universities are actively discounting tuition （学费）．And it’s the high achievers, rather than the needy students, who are getting a good chunk of the money．The practice is remarkably widespread, reaching almost all but the 30 or so Ivy and other top colleges that forbid good grades-based financial aid．Schools are also becoming more aggressive in raising their discounts．At the DePauw University Website, enter an SAT or ACT score, grade point average and class rank, and a computer program immediately tells you what kind of "award"．Only "the real unlucky" pay full price any more．
About 76% of first-year students got some form of discount this year at 331 private schools．Average award per student: $7,000．At small schools with tuition under about $20,000, the average discount is even higher, with some schools returning over half their tuition．
Carnegie Mellon even tells students it will "negotiate（讨价还价）" and perhaps match financial-aid packages if kids are offered bigger awards at other schools．Much as banks and insurers offer special rates to their best customers, schools are giving the biggest breaks to their top students．Public four-year colleges, too, are offering discounts．
The flip side of big discounts is that less money is available to improve academic programs and keep school infrastructure （基础设施） up to date．Universities that have sharply increased their tuition discount rates have seen graduation rates fall, and that’s true even among highly selective schools．They get the students in the door, but don’t have the services to keep them．
小题1:From the first paragraph, we can judge that _______．
| A．all the universities don’t offer tuition discounts． |
| B．Ivy and other top colleges offer financial aid to the high achievers |
| C．the needy students get more money from the universities |
| D．the graduation rates of the students from highly selected schools fall |
小题2:The underlined words “flip side” in the last paragraph probably mean “_______”．
| A．advantage | B．disadvantage | C．bad practice | D．good function |
小题3:Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The brightest students are not at all hungry for stronger universities． |
| B．About 76% of first-year students got an award of $ 20,000 per year． |
| C．Public colleges never offer discounts to the students． |
| D．Colleges should concentrate more on the services to keep the students |
小题4:This passage mainly talks about _______．
| A．the great benefit of offering lower tuition |
| B．college tuition discounts in popularity |
| C．the top students in need of tuition discounts |
| D．reducing graduation rates due to big discounts |