More students than ever before are taking a gap year (间隔年)before going to university.It used to be called the "year off”between school and university. The gap­year phenomenon originated(起源) with the months left over to Oxbridge applicants between entrance exams in November and the start of the next academic year.

      This year,25,310 students who have accepted places in higher education institutions have put off their entry until next year, according to statistics on university entrance provided by the University and College Admissions Service(UCAS).

      That is a record 14.7% increase in the number of students taking a gap year. Tony Higgins from UCAS said that the statistics are good news for everyone in higher education.“Students who take a well­planned year out are more likely to be satisfied with, and complete, their chosen course.Students who take a gap year are often more mature and responsible, " he said.

      But not everyone is happy.Owain James，the president of the National Union of Students(NUS), argued that the increase is evidence of student hardship—young people are being forced into earning money before finishing their education.“New students are now aware that they are likely to leave university up to ￡15,000 in debt.It is not surprising that more and more students are taking a gap year to earn money to support their study for the degree.NUS statistics show that over 40% of students are forced to work during term time and the figure increases to 90% during vacation periods,”he said.

        There are two factors (determine) an individual's intelligence. The first is thesort of brain he is born . Human brains differ (consider), some beingmore capable than others.

howevergood a brain he has to begin with, an individual will have a low intelligenceunless he has opportunities to learn. So the second factor is what happens tothe individual—the sort of environment he is brought up. If an individualis handicapped(受阻碍)environmentally, itis (like) that his brain will fail to develop and he will never attain thelevel of intelligence of which he is capable.

        Theimportance of environment in determining an individual's intelligence can(show) by the case of the twins, Peter and Mark. When the twins were threemonths old, parents died, andthey were placed in separate foster homes. Peter was brought up by parents oflow intelligence with poor (education) opportunities. Mark was educated inthe home of well­to­do parents had been to college. This environmentaldifference continued until the twins were in their late teens, when they weregiven tests to measure their intelligence. Mark's I．Q. was 125, twenty­five points higherthan the average and fully forty points higher than his twin brother.