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考研英语阅读



重在培养语感

1.
人人都该上大学：






『远离高等教育在当今社会越来越成为一种时尚，
我们的社会为何如此铤而走险？』

Everyone Should Go to College

人人都该上大学

August 28th, 2011 | from Newsweek











About half of all young Americans now start at two- or four-year colleges. Is
this too many? About a third of the population
winds up
（使结束）
with at least a
bachelor
’
s degree. Too many as well? Charles Murray of the American Enterprise
Institute thinks so, and he
’
s far from alone. College work, Murray argues,
“
is
intellectually too demanding for most young people,
”
and thus enrollment should
be
capped
（胜过）
at 10 percent, the 1940 level.





I beg to differ. Everyone has the capacity to succeed at college and benefit
from
what
it
has
to
offer.
I
leave
（留给）
to
others
whether
more
degrees
will
create
a
globally
competitive
workforce,
so
we
can
stand
down
（退出）
the
Chinese.
Nor
am
I
impressed
that
bachelor's
holders
average
$$58,613
versus
$$31,283
for
high-school
graduates. My reasons, rather, are intellectual, aesthetic, even ethical.





Things happen at college, whether you major in medieval philosophy or fashion
merchandising.
Since
attendance
is
voluntary
(and
should
remain
that
way),
passing
tests and turning in assignments show a willingness to do things you may not like,
as an investment in your future. The campus experience also leads to you seeing
yourself
in
modern
terms.
Graduates
tend
to
be
more
open-minded,
not
due
to
liberal
professors, but because they know they
’
ve chosen a new kind of life.





I have been teaching for longer than I care to say, and always offer a course
for
entering
freshmen.
Moreover,
I
am
at
a
public
college,
whose
students
lack
the
scores
and
records
usually
demanded
by
more
selective
schools.
And
I
’
ve
discovered
something quite elemental: all young people have knowledge- thirsty minds that can
be awakened and encouraged to examine the world they inhabit.





So
why
do
we
hear
so
many
professors
describe
their
pupils
as
hostile
to
learning,
with
a
leavening
（渐变）
of
indolence
（懒惰，
懒散）
?
(Not
to
mention
tales
of
cheating,
purchased papers, and Internet surfing during class.) I
’
ll
stipulate
（保证，规
定）
the
obvious:
colleges
want
good
students.
But
by
that,
they
generally
mean
high
SATs and GPAs. Students who get 700s and 3.8s show they
’
ve agreed to perform by
the academic book, giving answers their elders expect. Sadly, this expectation
continues
at
college
where,
as
Harvard
’
s
Harvey
Mansfield
states,
professors
believe
“
that what they
’
re doing research on is exactly what students need to know.
”

Sophomores aren
’
t doctoral candidates eager to master
esoteric
（难懂的，秘传的）

disciplines
—
yet
what
occurs
in
most
college
classrooms
now
centers
on
the
interests
of professors rather than
stimulating
（激发）
the minds of undergraduates.





How
best
to
get
more
students
into
college
and
get
them
thinking?
A
start
would
be to
abandon the constrictions of academic fields
（
放弃戒律的学术领域）
. I know of
a class where a professor invites the students to ponder human nature. He cites
Alexander Hamilton, who wrote that human beings are
“
ambitious, vindictive, and
rapacious
.
”
And
then
Thomas
Jefferson, who
held
that
“
morality,
compassion,
and
generosity are innate elements in the human constitution.
”
This is a discussion
worthy of a college course, in which every one of us can bring information and
insights
（洞察力）
to
the
analysis.
This
can
also
happen
in
the
sciences.
Thus
there
’
s a geology course that starts with the professor saying,
“
After this semester,
you
’
ll never look at a rock in the same way again.
”
Of course, the students are
expected
to
put
in
（驶入）
a
lot
of
hard
work.
But
teachers
like
that
make
them
willing
to do it. (And they
’
re less likely to cheat or surf when they respect their
professors.)





We
may
not
all
think
the
same
way,
but
everyone
has
the

aptitudes
（倾向）
,
innate
and cultivated, needed for college-level learning. The very freshmen currently
binging
on
fraternity
（友爱，兄弟会）
row could be delivering a seminar paper on
Lady
Macbeth
—
the

onus
（责任，义务）

is
on
teachers.
Stirring
students
is
their
job.





A
friend
who
teaches
at
a
local
college
once
told
me
she
is
often
asked
by
friends,
“
Are your students any good?
”






Her reply: