Taiwan's annual university admissions tests are taking place this week. Tens of thousands of students are trying to give the right answers to math and language questions. High scores permit students to enter the top schools.

However, these tests will not be in place for much longer. The current examinations require that students memorize facts in high school classes. They do not test critical thinking or creative problem solving abilities.

Officials in Taiwan plan to change the admissions test to also measure imagination and the ability to innovate.

Taiwanese officials see the progress China and South Korea are making in the information technology field. By comparison, Taiwan is losing technology business. There is concern that younger people are afraid of the risk of starting a company or inventing something.

The Ministry of Education wants to encourage young Taiwanese to innovate. So, it will begin a new selection process for university students. They hope the best schools will start to accept people with new business ideas.

The new admissions policy will take effect in 2018. It will include personal interviews with interested students. The Ministry wants high school graduates to show they excel outside of class.

Ma Hsiang-ping is the ministry's deputy director for higher education. She said Taiwan will lose competitiveness if all the inventing is done in other countries. She said the ministry hopes new admissions policies will reshape the 12-year public education system. She said it should not focus only on memorization of facts but also on the growth of other skills. Ms. Ma said that the written admissions test should be used only to show that a student has basic knowledge.

Taiwan is dependent largely on high-tech exports. The Swiss business school, International Institute for Management Development (IMD) made a list of the most competitive countries in 2014. Taiwan was at number 13, but Singapore was number 3 and Hong Kong was number 4. These numbers worry Taiwanese officials.

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1.What ability is mainly tested in Taiwan’s current examinations?

A Problem solving ability.

B Critical thinking ability.

C Creative thinking ability.

D Facts memorizing ability.

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。根据文章第二段可知台湾目前的考试只考记忆能力，故选D。

2.What does the underlined word “innovate” in the third paragraph probably mean?

A create

B solve

C learn

D memorize

解析：选A。A 猜测词义题。根据第二段末句的They do not test critical thinking or creative problem solving abilities，可知台湾目前的考试没有考查学生的批评性思维或创造性解决问题的能力，因此台湾地区官员希望做出改变，并希望他们具有这样的能力，故选A。

3.The new Taiwanese admissions test will bring in a new aspect of ______.

A written test

B oral test

C skill test

D invention test

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据文章第六段第二句It will include personal interviews..., 可知， 改革后的入学考试将包括面试，即口试，故选B。

4.What worries Taiwanese officials ?

A Taiwan is not independent in economy at present.

B The Swiss business school didn’t think highly of Taiwan.

C Taiwan is not as internationally competitive as other areas.

D Taiwanese students aren’t as good as those of other countries.

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。由文章最后一段可知，台湾在很大程度上依赖于高端技术出口，而在14年最具竞争力的国家和地区的排名中，却远落后于新加坡和香港，从而引发政府的担忧，故选C。

5.From the passage, we can infer that ______.

A Taiwan will become stronger than other areas in economy

B students in Taiwan will work harder than any students abroad

C imagining ability will play a more important role in tests in Taiwan

D students with good basic knowledge will be welcomed by universities

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。由全文可知，由于台湾目前的考试只考查学生的记忆能力，而忽略批评性思维或创造性解决问题能力以及想象力的培养，政府将改变这种教育体制，把批评性思维或创造性解决问题的能力及想象力纳入考查范围，因此它们的作用会逐渐加大，故选C。