Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:
The Carnegie Foundation report says that many colleges have tried to be “all things to all people”. In doing so, they have increasingly catered to a narrow minded careerism while failing to cultivate a global vision among their students. The current crisis, it contends, does not derive from a legitimate desire to put learning to productive ends. The problem is that in too many academic fields, the work has no context; skills, rather than being means, have become ends. Students are offered a variety of options and allowed to pick their way to a degree. In short, driven by careerism, “the nation's colleges and universities are more successful in providing credentials (文凭) than in providing a quality education for their students.” The report concludes that the special challenge confronting the undergraduate college is one of shaping an “integrated core” of common learning. Such a core would introduce students “to essential knowledge, to connections across the disciplines, and in the end, to application of knowledge to life beyond the campus.”
Although the key to a good college is a high—quality faculty, the Carnegie study found that most colleges do very little to encourage good teaching. In fact, they do much to undermine it. As one professor observed: “Teaching is important, we are told, and yet faculty know that research and publication matter most.” Not surprisingly, over the last twenty years colleges and universities have failed to graduate half of their four-year degree candidates. Faculty members who dedicate themselves to teaching soon discover that they will not be granted tenure (终身任期), promotion, or substantial salary increases. Yet 70 percent of all faculty say their interests lie more in teaching than in research. Additionally, a frequent complaint among young scholars is that “There is pressure to publish, although there is virtually no interest among administrators or colleagues in the content of the publications.”
36. When a college tries to be “all things to all people”(Lines 1-2, Para. 1), it aims to .
A) satisfy the needs of all kinds of students simultaneously
B) focus on training students in various skills
C) encourage students to take as many courses as possible
D) make learning serve academic rather than productive ends
37. By saying that “in too many academic fields, the work has no context”(Lines 4-5, Pare. 1) the author means that the teaching in these areas .
A) ignores the actual situation
B) is not based on the right perspective
C) only focuses on an integrated core of common learning
D) gives priority to the cultivation of a global vision among students
38. One of the reasons for the current crisis in American colleges and universities is that .
A) a narrow vocationalism has come to dominate many colleges
B) students don't have enough freedom in choosing what they want to learn
C) skills are being taught as a means to an end
D) students are only interested in obtaining credentials
39. American colleges and universities failed to graduate half of their four-year degree candidates because .
A) most of them lack high-quality faculties
B) the interests of most faculty members lie in research
C) there are not enough incentives for students to study hard
D) they attach greater importance to research and publication than to teaching
40. It can be inferred from the passage that high-quality college education calls for .
A) putting academic work in the proper context
B) a commitment to students and effective teaching
C) the practice of putting learning to productive ends
D) dedication to research in frontier areas of knowledge
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