Every year in late April, students at Renmin University of China become the subjects of admiration and jealousy of their peers on other campuses in Beijing. Why? Because they get a week off in the middle of term, the so-called spring break.
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It’s been a unique tradition of our school for a decade,” said Wang Yueran, 20, a journalism major at Renmin University, who organized a weeklong trip to Sichuan with 12 classmates last year.
But having fun is just one dimension of the spring break. Field trips, voluntary work, and social projects are all on students’ to-do lists. Experts say the spring break is not just for students to enjoy a few days off, but for them to gain new experiences beyond the campus walls.
Push them out
The traditional Chinese belief of the exploration of knowledge and truth emphasizes “reading 10,000 books and traveling 10,000 miles”, which indicates the importance of experience as much as theory. But while Chinese universities have the tradition of spring outings, what’s the benefit of making spring break an institution?
Qin Jianguo, of the student affairs office at Shenzhen University, thinks the idea of the spring break in some universities in China comes from the intention of pushing students out of the ivory tower to experience more diversity in their lives.
“Take traveling for example. A week traveling is a very different experience to a one- or two-day outing,” said Qin. “Students are expected to acquire the spirit of teamwork and compromise, and learn survival and communication skills when put out there in an unfamiliar context.”
Diverse approaches
Many countries have similar vacations in the middle of the semester for students to do things out of their own interest. Taking Japan as an example, instead of partying like their US counterparts, many Japanese students choose to work as interns or engage in study-related projects.
“The spring break is an opportunity for many of our students to put their learning to use,” said Hiroshi Kanno, dean of the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University, in the school’s description of a recent spring break project.
As for Chinese students who take a week off around the Labor Day holiday, many tend to do volunteer work. Duan Zhipeng, a 22-year-old economics major at Renmin University, applied for a project to go back to his hometown in Jiangxi province to introduce his university’s enrollment policies and campus culture to local high school students.
Not a trend yet
Apart from Renmin University, only a few other universities, such as Yantai University, have a spring break for their students. The concept in China is still far from the culture and norms built around it in the US.
Wei Xiang, a professor specializing in holiday economics at Beijing International Studies University, said that the spring break is a good experiment for universities to make study schedules smoother in order to give students more options to arrange their own leisure and study activities.
小題1:According to the text, up to now, Apart from Renmin University, which University has a spring break for their students.
| A．Yantai University |
| B．Peking University |
| C．Suzhou University |
| D．Nankai University |
小題2:The underlined word “it” refers to ______
| A．field trips | B．exploration of knowledge |
| C．spring break | D．ivory tower |
小題3:According to the passage,why do the students in the other universities admire the students at Renmin University?
| A．Because they tend to do volunteer work. |
| B．Because they go home to meet their relatives. |
| C．Because they get a spring break. |
| D．Because they have lesser courses . |
小題4:Which of the following is the best title?
| A．Reading 10,000 books and traveling 10,000 miles |
| B．Spring break expands horizons |
| C．Enjoy yourselves |
| D．A weeklong trip |
小題5:Which of the following is Not true according to the passage?
| A．Spring break can help students to gain new experiences beyond the campus walls. |
| B．Students are expected to acquire the spirit of teamwork through pring break. |
| C．Spring break can help students tolearn survival and communication skills when in an unfamiliar context. |
| D．Spring break is not common in the US. |
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