Nine of the ten campuses of the University of California—led by Berkeley—once again made it into an annual ranking of the world's leading universities. All's well in Californian higher education, it might seem. But that is not what Pat Brown or Clark Kerr would say, were they alive today. They were, respectively, governor of the state and president of the University of California in 1960, when California adopted a " master plan" that became an international model. Their aim was not only to have excellent public universities, but to give the state's population nearly universal and free access to them. Some pupils would enter so-called community colleges for a two-year vocational programme, others one of the(now 23)campuses of the California State University, and the best might go to a UC campus. In order to assure access for all, tuition charges were banned—only " fees" for some costs other than education were allowed. Most funding was to come from taxpayers. The premise was that higher education was a public good for the state, which was nursing its own future entrepreneurs and taxpayers. As Mr. Kerr put it, the universities were "bait(诱饵)to be hung in front of industry, with drawing power greater than low taxes or cheap labour". That consensus has been overturned. In 1990, the state paid 78% of the cost of educating each student. That ratio dropped to 47% last year, and will fall even more during the current academic year, after the latest round of budget cuts, overseen by Jerry Brown, the current governor and son of Pat Brown. In some ways, California has now inverted the priorities of the older Brown's era. Spending on prisons passed spending on universities in around 2004. This has led to concerns that the public universities might lose their excellence. It takes money to attract the best professors, and the best students follow them. An alternative to worse public universities, however, is quasi-privatized(半私有化)ones. That seems to be the route taken in California. Thus students will this year, for the first time, pay more for tuition than the state gives in funding. This follows years of tuition fee increases far steeper than the average at American public universities. A place at a UC campus can easily now cost $ 13,000, or $31,000 including housing given California's high costs. To raise other revenues, the various campuses also admit ever more out-of-state students(who pay three times more)and target rich graduates for more donations. Led by the business and law schools, they behave increasingly like private universities, in other words. This strategy retains pockets of excellence. But it also runs counter to the philosophy of the master plan, by pricing ever more Californian families out of a place. The state now ranks 41st in the number of college degrees awarded for every 100 of its high school graduates.
单选题 Pat Brown and Clark Kerr attempted to set up excellent public universities, as well as______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:事实细节题。本题考查帕特·布朗和克拉克·科尔的办学理念。定位句提到了他们的两个目标:一是打造优秀的公立大学;二是要使全州的人能够近乎普遍及免费地上这些大学。由此可知,C)“使全州的人能够普遍及免费地上这些大学”为本题答案。A)“打造大学的世界典范”、B)“同州内所谓的社区大学竞争”和D)“为全州的人提供两年的专业培训”在原文未提及,均可排除。
单选题 What does Mr. Kerr imply by saying "bait(诱饵)to be hung in front of industry"(Line 4, Para 3)?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:语义理解题。本题考查对科尔所说的话的理解。定位句指出,就像科尔先生说的那样,大学是“悬在工业前的诱饵,具有比低税收或廉价劳动力更大的吸引力”。根据“就像科尔先生说的那样”可以看出,这句话是对前一句的同义表达。前一句中提到,在科尔那个时代,高等教育是全州的公共福利,其目的是培养自己未来的企业家和纳税人。由此可知,A)“大学为工业培养未来的精英”符合原文,故为本题答案。B)“大学禁止收取学费”是科尔那个时代的大学采取的政策,故排除;C)“高等教育是全州的福利”没有体现出大学与工业之间的关系,故排除;D)“大学比低税收或廉价劳动力更有吸引力”并不是这句话真正要表达的意思,故排除。
单选题 What is the concern on the public universities since the state spending on universities has dropped?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:事实细节题。本题考查公众对于公立大学的担心。定位句指出,公众的担心是:公立大学可能会不再如此优秀。B)“不再优秀”与原文相符,故为本题答案。A)“不能吸引优秀的教授”、C)“收费过高”和D)“半私有化”均不符合文意,故排除。
单选题 Campuses in California receive students from other states for the purpose of______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:事实细节题。本题考查加州的多所大学录取本州以外的学生的目的。定位句指出,为了提高其他收入,加州的多所大学也录取了更多的本州以外的学生(需要支付3倍以上的学费),而且为了获取更多的赞助费,这些大学把目标瞄向了富裕的校友。D)“提高其他收入”符合文意,故为本题答案。A)“获得更多赞助费”是这些大学把目标瞄向富裕的校友的目的,故排除;B)“表现得越来越向私立大学靠拢”和C)“弥补毕业生的不足”均不符合文意,故排除。
单选题 What can we infer from the passage about higher education in California?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:推理判断题。本题考查的是对全文内容的理解。本文介绍了加州的高等教育问题,分别阐述了现今的多所大学与以前相比做出了哪些政策上的调整:向本州的学生收取越来越多的学费;招收更多本州以外的学生;把目标瞄向富有的校友等。并在原文最后一段对加州的高等教育做出总结——这些大学的表现越来越向私立大学靠拢。由此可知,B)“随着发展,加州的高等教育越来越向私立大学靠拢”符合原文,故为本题答案。A)“昂贵的开支使得加州的孩子无法获得教育”太过绝对,故排除;C)“它只培养自己未来的企业家和纳税人”是以前那个时代的特点,现今已经有所不同,故排除;D)“它培养的企业创始人、发明家和纳税人越来越少”,原文未提及,故排除。