Текст 7. The medical course in the usa

After an 8-year-course in grade school and 4 years in high school the majority of the students enter colleges. It is the first step of the profession-orientated education. The students who want to become physicians choose a medical course. Factually, it is a premedical course and the students are called ‘premeds’ now. The entrance procedures include the results of tests in special subjects and the inclination of the student for the chosen profession.

The curriculum consists of such subjects as mathematics, physics, inorganic and organic chemistry, quantitative and qualitative chemical analysis, economics, philosophy, a foreign language and literature. Students usually spend 4 years at the college. After the finals the process of applying to a medical school begins. Only about a half of the applicants are accepted in spite of their 4-year specialization. The rules of the entry are similar to the British standard. The medical curriculum itself is very difficult. During the first two years a student masters the laboratory sciences, anatomy, biological chemistry, physiology, pharmacology and so on.

In the third and the fourth years the students get practical experience in the patients care. They study anesthesiology, dermatology, endocrinology, forensic medicine, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, radiology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, pediatrics, urology. At this time the students have an opportunity to spend considerable time in hospitals and get acquainted with many basic procedures and common disorders. They also make the rounds of the wards with someone of the staff.

After graduation from a medical school the students are awarded a degree of M.D. – Doctor of Medicine. However, they are still students. Next 2 years of internship come. Taking care of the patients the interns develop more skill and knowledge. If they pass clinical examinations they are allowed to practice medicine. In order to get specialization a doctor must work additional 3-7 years under the supervision of an authority specialist. This period is called residency.

Текст 8. Present Day Oxford

Over a third of students studying a science-based subject – it is quite a change for a University where at one time nearly every one studied theology. Oxford has long seized to be the preserve of the worldly sons of the aristocracy. Today it is an ability rather than money which buys a student a place here. They come from all walks of life and from all over the world drawn to a place whose reputation precedes it by about 800 years.

The modern day University is made up of over 30 different colleges and it is one of these that the students join when they apply to the University. The University oversees the activities of the colleges and provides lectures and laboratory facilities in all the different subject faculties. But it is in the colleges that students will eat, sleep and work. And it is the colleges that uphold the weekly one-to-one tutorial system, now almost unique to Oxford. An Oxford degree is still an invaluable seal of approval. Like most universities, however, Oxford offers more than 3 years hard labour.

But what is it that makes Oxford so unique? Ii is a University town like so many others but yet is it much more than this. Perhaps, the answer lies in its extraordinary combination of past and present, of its research and development. For most of the students this romantic combination of fact and myth is like a charm that draws them here. It is, perhaps, right that we should say here about Wren’s Sheldonian Theatre built for all University’s ceremonies. It is here that the students begin and end their academic career. They arrive straight from school fresh-faced in their gown and white-bow ties to be officially welcomed by the University at a ceremony called Matriculation. 3 years later they return to graduate. But how much has passed in between? The students will leave Oxford but they will never forget it. Each year a new intake of students will trample through its colleges and cobble streets leaving just a little trace of the present and the past. The story of Oxford is one of continual change. Its richness and diversity is a work of history. Oxford touches everyone.