Last August, Joe and Mary Mahoney began looking at colleges for their 17-year-old daughter, Maureen. With a checklist of criteria in hand, the Dallas family looked around the country visiting half a dozen schools. They sought a university that offered the teenager’s intended major, one located near a large city, and a campus where their daughter would be safe.
“The safety issue is a big one,” says Joe Mahoney, who quickly discovered he wasn’t alone in his worries. On campus tours other parents voiced similar concerns, and the same question was always asked: what about crime? But when college officials always gave the same answer — “That’s not a problem here.” — Mahoney began to feel uneasy.
“No crime whatsoever?” comments Mahoney today. “I just don’t buy it.” Nor should he: in 1999 the U.S. Department of Education had reports of nearly 400,000 serious crimes on or around our campuses. “Parents need to understand that times have changed since they went to colleges,” says David Nichols, author of Creating a Safe Campus. “Campus crime mirrors the rest of the nation.”
But getting accurate information isn’t easy. Colleges must report crime statistics （统计数字) by law, but some hold back for fear of bad publicity, leaving the honest ones looking dangerous. “The truth may not always be obvious,” warns S. Daniel Carter of Security on Campus, Inc., the nation’s leading campus safety watchdog group.
To help concerned parents, Carter promised to visit campuses and talk to experts around the country to find out major crime issues and effective solutions.
小题1:The Mahoneys visited quite a few colleges last August ______.
A．to express the opinions of many parents
B．to choose a right one for their daughter
C．to check the cost of college education
D．to find a right one near a large city小题2:It is often difficult to get correct information on campus crime because some colleges
______.
A．receive too many visitors
B．mirror the rest of the nation
C．hide the truth of campus crime
D．have too many watchdog groups小题3:The underlined word “buy” in the third paragraph means ______.
A．mind
B．admit
C．believe
D．expect小题4:We learn from the text that “the honest ones” in the fourth paragraph most probably
refers to colleges ______.
A．that are protected by campus security
B．that report campus crimes by law
C．that are free from campus crime
D．the enjoy very good publicity小题5:What is the text mainly about?
A．Exact campus crime statistics.
B．Crimes on or around campuses.
C．Effective solutions to campus crime.
D．concerns about kids’ campus safety.
