An industrial society, especially one as centralized and concentrated as that of Britain, is heavily dependant on certain essential services: for instance, electricity supply, water, rail and road transport, the harbors. The area of dependency has widened to include removing rubbish, hospital and ambulance services, and, as the economy develops, central computer and information services as well. If any of these services ceases to operate, the whole economic system is in danger.

　　It is this interdependency of the economic system that makes the power of trade unions such an important issue. Single trade unions have the ability to cut off many economic blood supplies. This can happen more easily in Britain than in some other countries, in part because the labor force is highly organized. About 55 per cent of British workers belong to unions, compared to under a quarter in the United States. For historical reasons, Britain's unions have tended to develop along trade and occupational lines, rather than on an industry-by-industry basis, which makes wage policy, democracy in industry and the improvement of procedures for fixing wage levels difficult to achieve.

　　There are considerable strains and tensions in the trade union movement, some of them arising from their outdated and inefficient structure. Some unions have lost many members because of industrial changes. Others are involved in arguments about who should represent workers in new trades. Unions for skilled trades are separate from general unions, which means that different levels of wages for certain jobs are often a source of bad feeling between unions. In traditional trades which are being pushed out of existence by advancing technologies, unions can fight for their members' disappearing jobs to the point where the jobs of other union's members are threatened or destroyed. The printing of newspapers both in the United States and in Britain has frequently been halted by the efforts of printers to hold on to their traditional highly-paid jobs.

　　21. Why is the question of trade union power important in Britain?

　　A. The economy is very much interdependent.

　　B. Unions have been established a long time.

　　C. There are more unions in Britain than elsewhere.

　　D. There are many essential services.

　　22. Because of their out-of-date organization some unions find it difficult to______.

　　A. change as industries change B. get new members to join them

　　C. learn new technologies D. bargain for high enough wages

　　23. Disagreements arise between unions because some of them

　　A. try to win over members of other unions

　　B. ignore agreements

　　C. protect their own members at the expense of others

　　D. take over other union's jobs

　　24. It is difficult to improve the procedures for fixing wage levels because______.

　　A. some industries have no unions

　　B. unions are not organized according to industries

　　C. only 55 per cent of workers belong to unions

　　D. some unions are too powerful

　　25. Which of the following is NOT TRUE?

　　A. There are strains and tensions in the trade union movement.

　　B. Some unions have lost many members.

　　C. Some unions exist in the outdated structure.

　　D. A higher percentage of American workers belong to unions than that of British workers.

　　21. A 22. A 23. C 24. B 25. D

　　Colleges and Universities

　　More than 60 percent of all high school graduates continue their formal education after graduation. Many attend colleges that offer four-year programs leading to a bachelor's degree. College students are called undergraduates, and their four years of study are divided into the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. In most colleges the first two years are designed to provide a broad general education, and during this time the college student is usually required to take courses in general areas of study, such as English, science, foreign languages, and social science. By the junior year the student begins to major in one particular field of study, or discipline.

　　Some institutions of higher learning offer only the four-year college program. A university offers graduate or post-college programs, as well. Graduate degrees in fields such as English literature, chemistry, and history are granted by graduate schools of arts and sciences. These schools may offer one- or two-year programs leading to a master's degree (M. A. ), and programs lasting three years or more that lead to the degree of doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D. ). A candidate for a Ph. D. must meet certain course requirements in his field, pass written and oral examinations, and present a written thesis based on original research. Some universities offer postdoctoral programs that extend study and research beyond the Ph. D.

　　Many universities also have what are called professional schools for study in such fields as law, medicine, engineering, architecture, social work, business, library science, and education. Professional schools differ widely in their requirements for admission and the lengths of their programs. Medical students, for example, must complete at least three years of premedical studies at an undergraduate school before they can enter the three- or four-year program at a medical school. Engineering and architecture students, on the other hand, can enter a four- or five-year professional school immediately upon completion of secondary school.

　　The various disciplines, or fields of study, are organized by department. These departments are staffed by faculty members ranging from full professors to

　　instructors. A full professor has tenure, which is permanent appointment with guaranteed employment at the institution until his retirement. Ranking below the full professors are the associate professors, who may or may not have tenure, depending on the policy of the particular college or university. Next are the assistant professors, who do not have tenure. At the bottom of this academic ladder are the instructors. They are usually young teachers who have just received their doctorates or will receive them shortly. Sometimes graduate students are employed as part-time teaching assistants while they are completing their graduate work.

　　Today almost 5 million men and more than 3 million women attend more than 2500 colleges and universities. Approximately 85 percent of these schools are coeducational, which means that both men and women are enrolled in the same institutions. Colleges range in size from a few hundred students to many thousands. Several universities have more than 20, 000 undergraduate and graduate students on one campus. A number of large state institutions maintain branches on several different campuses throughout the state. Classes vary from seminars, or small discussion groups, of fewer than twenty to large lecture courses for hundreds of students.