2014年四川大学考博英语真题5

Passage Five

For this generation of young people,the future looks bleak.Only one in six is working full time.Three out of five live with their parents or other relatives.A large majority-73 percent-think they need more education to find a successful career,but only half of those say they will definitely enroll in the next few years.No,they are not the idle youth of Greece or Spain or Egypt.They are the youth of America,the world's richest country,who do not have college degrees and aren't getting them anytime soon.Whatever the sob stories about recent college graduates spinning their wheels as baristas or clerks,the situation for their less-educated peers is far worse.For this group,finding work that pays a living wage and offers some sense of security has been elusive.

Despite the continuing national conversation about whether college is worth it given the debt burden it entails,most high school graduates without college degrees said they believe they would be unable to get good jobs without more education.

Getting it is challenging,though,and not only because of formidable debt levels.Ms.McClour and her husband,Andy,have two daughters under 3 and another due next month.She said she tried enrolling in college classes,but the workload became too stressful with such young children.Mr.McClour works at a gas station.He hates his work and wants to study phlebotomy,but the nearest school is an hour and half away.

Many of these young people had been expecting to go to college since they started high school,perhaps anticipating that employers would demand skills high schools do not teach.Just one in ten high school graduates without college degrees said they were"extremely well prepared by their high school to succeed in their job after graduation."These young people worried about getting left behind and were pessimistic about reaching some of the milestones that make up the American dream.More than half-56 percent-of high school graduates without college diplomas said that their generation would have less financial success than their parents.About the same share believed they would find work that offered health insurance within that time frame.Slightly less than half of respondents said the next few years would bring work with good job security or a job with earnings that were high"enough to lead a comfortable life".They were similarly pessimistic about being able to start a family or buy a home.

The online survey was conducted between March 21 and April 2,and covered a nationally representative survey of 544 high school graduates from the classes of 2006-11 who did not have bachelor's degrees.The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 5 percentage points.

21．What does the underlined phrase"spinning their wheels"mean in Paragraph 1?

A．fastening the pace

B．confusing the situation

C．asking for help

D．scooting out

22．What will the high school graduates probably do according to the article?

A．Find jobs right after graduation.

B．Receive further study in college.

C．Go to join the national conversation.

D．Pay for the debt.

23．What does the story of"Andy and Ms.McClour"try to inform us?

A．They both prefer making money to education.

B．Colleges do not accept students who are married and have children.

C．Although people are eager to join in the college,life burden may block in the way.

D．None of the above.

24．What is the financial outlook for this generation compared with their parents?

A．They have a prosperous outlook compared with the last generation.

B．Their financial situation is not as successful as their parents.

C．It depends on how hard they work and their educational background.

D．Not mentioned in the article.

25．What can we infer from the last sentence?

A．The online survey is done nationally.

B．The result of the survey is completely trustworthy.

C．There is more or less inaccuracy of the survey.

D．The survey will have a continuous part coming soon.

【参考译文】

对于这一代年轻人来说，未来看起来很黯淡。只有六分之一的人是全职工作。五分之三的人与父母或其他亲戚住在一起。绝大多数人(73%)认为，他们需要接受更多教育才能找到一份成功的职业，但其中只有一半的人表示，他们肯定会在未来几年入学。不，他们不是希腊、西班牙或埃及那些无所事事的年轻人。他们是美国的年轻人，世界上最富有的，他们没有大学文凭，也不会很快拿到。不管最近大学毕业生做咖啡师或店员的悲惨故事如何，那些受教育程度较低的同龄人的情况要糟糕得多。对于这群人来说，找到一份既能维持生计、又能给他们带来安全感的工作并不容易。

尽管全国都在讨论大学是否值得，因为它会带来沉重的债务负担，但大多数没有大学学位的高中毕业生表示，他们相信，如果没有更多的教育，他们就无法找到好工作。

然而，要做到这一点是很有挑战性的，不仅因为债务水平高得可怕。麦克卢尔和她的丈夫安迪有两个不到3岁的女儿，还有一个下个月就要生了。她说她曾试着报读大学课程，但由于孩子太小，课业压力太大。麦克卢尔在加油站工作。他讨厌工作，想学习静脉切开术，但离最近的学校有一个半小时的路程。

这些年轻人中有许多人从高中开始就期待着上大学，也许他们以为雇主会要求高中不教的技能。只有十分之一的没有大学学位的高中毕业生说他们“为毕业后的工作做好了充分的准备”。这些年轻人担心落后，对实现美国梦的一些里程碑感到悲观。在没有大学文凭的高中毕业生中，超过一半56%的人说他们这一代人的经济成就不如他们的父母。大约有同样比例的人认为他们会在这段时间内找到提供医疗保险的工作。略少于一半的受访者表示，未来几年将会有一份稳定的工作，或者一份收入“足以过上舒适生活”的工作。他们同样对能否组建家庭或买房感到悲观。

这项在线调查是在3月21日至4月2日之间进行的，调查对象是544名未取得学士学位的2006-11年级高中毕业生。抽样误差范围为正负5个百分点。

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