Attendingauniversityisanimportantpartofaperson’slife.Todaymanypeoplegotoauniversitytostudyandtrainforafuturejobinsubjectslikelawmedicineoreducation.Buttheuniversityisnotamoderninvention.Ithasahistorythatisoverathousandyearsold.

Theworld’soldestuniversityAl-AzharisinCairoEgypt.ItwasfirstbuiltasamosqueinA.D.972.Afewyearslaterlearnersandteachersbeganmeetinginthemosquein“tutoringcircles”.Theyreadandtalkedaboutthesubjectoflaw.Around988leadersinthecityofCairodecidedtocreateaschoolforhigherlearningandtheUniversityofAl-Azharwasfounded.

AtAl-Azharthereweremanyuniversity‘firsts.’Courseswerecreated.TheearliestonestaughtatAl-Azharwereinlawandreligion.Inacoursestudentsreadandstudiedwiththeteacherbuttherewasalsofreediscussion.Oftenstudentsandteacherstalkedaboutatopicandtherewasno‘right’answer.FinallyscholarsfromaroundtheworldcametoAl-Azhartoteachanddoresearch.Attheuniversitypeoplestudiedthepastbutitwasalsoaplaceforsharingnewideas.

OverathousandyearslaterAl-Azharisstillanimportantuniversityintheworld.Itslibrarycontainsmorethan250000oftheworld’soldestandmostvaluablebooks.Todaymanyoftheworld’smostimportantuniversitiessuchasOxfordandHarvardstillfollowthetraditionsstartedatAl-Azhar.

1.What’sthispassagemainlyabout?

A.Thehistoryoftheworld’soldestuniversity.

B.Theimportanceofattendingauniversity.

C.Therelationshipbetweenuniversityandfuturejob.

D.Theinventionofamodernuniversity.

2.Thefirstuniversitywasfoundedover_____yearsago.

A.ahundred B.hundredsof C.athousand D.thousandsof

3.Theoldestuniversityintheworldis_____.

A.Oxford B.Cambridge C.Harvard D.Al-Azhar

4.Whatdoestheunderlinedword“course”meaninthispassage?

A.Aseriesoflessons. C.Aperiodoftime.

C.Aseriesofactions. D.Agroupofprofessors.