阅读理解
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 dedicated 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. "
单选题
When a college tries to be "all things to all people'' ( Line 1, Para. 1 ) it aims to ________.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】推断题。题目询问当大学试图“八面玲珑满足所有人的所有需要”时，大学的目的是什么。文章第1段前半部分指出，大学在这样做时越发地迎合了一种狭隘的功利主义，未能使学生培养出纵观全局的视野。然后，文章说到这样做的弊端时，指出在许多“学术领域，学习活动不顾上下背景；技能不是被当成了手段，而是被看作了目的”。这里，“skills... have become ends”是解题的关键，题干中的aims to 是文章中ends的改写。所以正确答案是B项。A项“同时满足所有各种学生的需求”，如果真有这样的大学，当然是最理想的了，问题在于，受批评的大学恰恰未能满足有些学生要培养全局视野、提高综合素养的要求；C项断章取义，文章指出，大学提供了灵活地修完学分就可以毕业的方式，并不是说鼓励学生“尽可能多地修课”；D项完全与文章的意思相背。
单选题
By saying that "in too many academic fields, the work has no context" ( Line 4, Para. 1 ) the author means that the teaching in these areas________.