单选题
Britain's universities are in an awful spin. Top
universities were overwhelmed by the 24% of A-level applicants with
indistinguishable straight A's; newer ones are beating the byways for
bodies. Curiously, both images of education—the weeping willows
of Cambridge and the futuristic architecture of UEL (University of East
London)—are cherished by the government. Ministers want to see half of all young
people in universities by 2010 (numbers have stalled at 42%), without letting go
of the world-class quality of its top institutions. Many argue
that the two goals are incompatible without spending a lot more money.
Researchers scrabble (寻找) for funds, and students complain of large classes and
reduced teaching time. To help solve the problem, the government agreed in 2004
to let universities increase tuition fees. Though low, the fees
have introduced a market into higher education. Universities can offer cut-price
tuition, although most have stuck close to the ￡3,000. Other incentives are more
popular. Newcomers to St. Mark & St. John, a higher-education college linked
to Exeter University, will receive free laptops. As
universities enter the third week of "clearing (调剂)", the marketing has become
weirder. Bradford University is luring students with the chance of winning an
MP3 player in a prize draw. Plymouth University students visited Cornish seaside
resorts, tempting young holiday-makers with surfboards and cinema vouchers
(代金券). These offers suggest that supply has surpassed demand.
Not so the top universities that make up the "Russell Group", however. Their
ranks include the likes of Imperial College London and Bristol University along
with Oxford and Cambridge. Swamped with applicants, only half offer any places
through clearing. They have a different problem: They need money to compete for
high-quality students and academics, both British and foreign, who could be
tempted overseas by better-heeled American universities or fast-improving
institutions in developing countries such as India. Higher fees
and excess supply are causing students to look more critically at just what
different universities have to offer. And the critical situation could become
more acute. The number of 18-year-olds in Britain will drop around 2010 and
decline over the following ten years, according to government
projections. Bahram Bekhradnia, the director of the Higher
Education Policy Institute, a think tank, says the government hasn't a hope of
getting 50% of young Britons into higher education by 2010. And the decline of
home-grown student numbers will have a "differential effect" on universities, he
reckons. Those at the bottom end will have to become increasingly "innovative"
about whom they admit and some may not survive. The Cambridge
shades evoked by Rupert Brooke were gentle, nostalgic (怀旧的) ones. Many vice
chancellors today are pursued by far more revengeful monsters of empty campuses,
deserted laboratories, failed institutions. Markets, after all, create
winners—and losers.
单选题
It can be learned from the first two paragraphs that ______.
A. even prestigious universities struggle to enroll excellent students
B. campus environment plays an important role in recruiting students
C. universities in Britain are unbalanced in student enrollment
D. top universities in the UK are all funded by the government