英语六级阅读理解练习：大学教育

Now that we have doubled the number of young people arttending college, a diploma cannot even guarantee a job. The most charirable conclusion we can reach is that college probably has very little, if any, effect on people and things at all. Today, the false premises are easv to see:

First,college doesn't make people intelligent, ambitious, happy or liberal. It's the other way around. Intelligent, ambitious, happy, liberal people are arttracted to higher education in the first place.

Second,college can't claim much credit for the learning experiences that really change students while theyare there. Jobs, history, and most of all. the sheer passage of time, have as big an impact as anything even indirectly related to the campus.

Third, colleges have changed so radically that a freshman entering in the fall or 1974 can't be sure to gain even the limited value research studies assigned to colleges in the 60s. The sheer size of undergraduate campuses of the 1970s makes college even less stimulating now than it was 10 years ago. Today even motivated students are disappointed with their college courses and professors.

Finally,a college diploma no longer opens as many vocational doors.Employers are beginning to realize thatwhen they pay cxtra for someone with a diploma, they are paying only for an empty credential. The fact is that most of the work for which employers now expect college training is now or has been capably done in the past by people without higher education.

College, then, may be a good place for those few young people who are really drawn to academic work. who would rather read than eat, but it has become too expensive, in money, time, and intellectual effort to serve as a holding pen for large numbers of our young. We ought to make it possible for those reluctant, unhappy students to find alternative ways of growing up, and more realistic preparation for the years ahead.

1.What does the author think of college nowadays'?

2.Jobs or anything indirectly related to college can also_______________________.so college can't deserve much credit for what students achieve.

3.Compared with the colleges in the 1970s, those in the l960s were___________________.

4.Employers now begin to realize that a college diploma is no more than a(n)______________.

5.For the young people who would prefer to read rather than eat,college may be_________________.

答案：

1.[It has very little effect on people and things./Ineffective.]

[定位]根据题干中college和nowadays定位到首段。

解析：原文首段描述了大学的一些现状，并得出结论“即便大学能对人和事有所影响，这影响也是微乎其微的”，that从句中的内容即为答案，也可概括为Ineffective。

2.[have a big impact on students]

[定位]根据anything indirectly related to和much credit定位到第3段。

解析：原文中先说结果(学校不应当邀功请赏)后阐述原因，空格中需填人原因部分。题干中的主语Jobs or anything... to college可在原文第3段第2句找到相同的表述，此处只需将原文have as big an impact as改写为have a big impact on students即可。

3.[more stimulating]

[定位]根据题干中the l970s定位到第4段。

解析：题干中的1960s是原文中in years ago的同义替换。原文说“70年代本科院校的规模使大学比10年前更加令人兴奋不起来”，由此可知，60年代的大学更让学生感到兴奋。故应把原文中的less stimulating改为more stimulating即为答案。

4.[empty credential]

[定位]根据题干中employers和college diploma定位到倒数第二段第2句。

解析：原文提到雇主们开始意识到给有文凭的人付更多的工资不过是因为雇员持有一张空洞的学历证书，可知在他们看来文凭只是空洞的学历证，题干中的no　more than对应原文中的only for，介词for后的内容为答案。

5.[a good place]

[定位]根据read rather than eat定位到最后一段首句。

解析：原句结构为College... may be a good place for...题干中的would prefer to对应原文中的would rather，空白处需要一个名词(词组)作表语，故a good place为答案。