Passage 2
The year at an American college is divided into 2 semesters or 3 quarters. Semesters are 15 weeks； quarters are 10 weeks. Americ- an college students usually attend school from September to May. They can also study during the summer. Students choose their classes a few weeks before the start of each term. Universities offer (提供) a great many classes in the students' main area of study and in other areas as well. Students must take both. These include (包括) science, math, computer, hist- ory and English. Other classes may be just for fun, like dance,th- eater or sports. Tests usually are given in the middle of the term and at the end. The final exams are very important. In some class- es, the professor (教授） asks the students to write a research pa- per instead of taking a test.
Classes usually are organized through lectures (讲座) . For example, a student may attend 2 or 3 lectures a week by the professor. As many as several hundred students sit at each lecture.Sometimes they also attend a smaller class to ask questions and discuss what the professor says. These small classes are taught by professor's assistants. In science classes, students also have a long laboratory (实验的) class each week.
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