Entering a university is an important part of a person’s life. Today, many people go to study and train for a future job in subjects like law (法律), medicine or education. But the university is not a modern invention. It has a history that is over a thousand years.
The world’s oldest university, AL-Azhar, is in Cario, Egypt. It was first built as a mosque for religion (宗教寺院) in A.D.972. A few years later, learners and teachers began meeting in the mosque. They read and talked about the subject of law. Around 988, leaders in the city of Cario decided to open up a school for higher learning and the University of AL-Azhar was founded.
At AL-Azhar, there were many university ‘firsts’. Different subjects were set up. The earliest ones taught at AL-Azhar were in law and religion. In a course, students read and studied with the teacher, but there was also free discussion. Often, students and teachers talked about a topic (題目), and there was no ‘right’ answer. Finally, famous teachers from around the world came to AL-Azhar to teach and do deep studies on the subjects they were interested in. At the university, people studied the past, but it was also a place for exchanging new ideas.
Over a thousand years later, AL-Azhar is still an important university in the world. Its library keeps more than 250,000 of the world’s oldest and most valuable (有價值的) books. Today, many of the world’s most important universities such as Oxford and Harvard still follow the traditions started at AL-Azhar.
小題1:From the first paragraph（段落） we know that _________.
| A．universities are important to the city life |
| B．the university is a quite new invention |
| C．university education may help a person find law。 |
| D．the university has a history of more than a thousand years |
小題2:AL-Azhar was first built for _______.
| A．education | B．religion | C．a meeting | D．law |
小題3:Which of the following are the earliest subjects taught in the University of AL-Azhar?
| A．Education and medicine. | B．Religion and law. |
| C．Free discussion. | D．History and tradition. |
小題4:Which of the following is not true about the University of AL-Azhar?
| A．AL-Azhar was built in the city of Cario in Egypt. |
| B．AL-Azhar didn’t become a university until the years around 988. |
| C．The University of AL-Azhar was a place to read books. |
| D．Now AL-Azhar is still one of the famous universities in the world. |
