完形填空
A. Is there still a place for the tiddlers? 'That's an explicit yes,' says Bob Shea of NACUBO, 'but do there need to be mergers and acquisitions? That's an unequivocal yes as well.' Many small colleges serve niche markets, including a large faith-based one. 'Many students wouldn't go to college at all or would be lost in a large one,' says Ms. Brown. B. Part of the problem, at least for small liberal arts institutions, is that parents and would-be students are questioning the value of the liberal arts. They want a solid return, in the form of a well-paying job, for their four-year investment. There are still an awful lot of small places: about 40% of degree-granting colleges have fewer than 1,000 students. But enrolment at these institutions has fallen by more than 5% since 2010, while the student population has increased overall. C. Some tiny colleges rely on donations to save the day. Alumni are concerned about the value of their own degree if the college closes, but donors can grow weary. Marlboro, meanwhile, is using its endowment to offer scholarships to one student from each state in an effort to expand its usual pool from New England and to open up new student pipelines. It saw success straight away. It increased its student population by 6% this academic year, after years of falling enrolment. D. Visitors stand out at Marlboro College's pastoral campus in the woods of Vermont, but not because they are special or even unexpected. With 190 enrolled students and just a few dozen faculty and staff, everyone knows everyone. The student-faculty ratio is five to one, about the lowest in the country. The college administration has worked hard to stay small: the student population has rarely topped 350. But in the years since its founding after the Second World War, Marlboro has often skirted financial ruin. In 1993 it had only a few payrolls left in the bank. It was rescued by a foundation. Today it is looking for ways to save itself and already seeing some success. E. To attract students, some colleges are reducing their sticker price, but this is not sustainable for colleges without healthy endowments. According to the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), 49% of independent colleges and universities give discounts, up from 38% a decade ago. F. Alice Brown, a former head of the Appalachian College Association, a network of tiny colleges in the Appalachian Mountains, thinks more must merge or close. The Berklee College of Music (4,371 students) and the Boston Conservatory (730 students) merged in June. Small colleges often share accountants or laboratories already. G. Marlboro is not alone in facing revenue and enrolment pressures. Burlington College (70 students), also in Vermont, shut its doors over the summer. Sweet Briar, a well-regarded women's college in Virginia, nearly closed to its 245 students last year. A last minute bout of fundraising by alumni saved it, for now. Moody's, a credit-ratings agency, said in 2015 that the pace of closures and mergers will accelerate and could triple from an average of five per year over the next few years. Dennis Gephardt of Moody's says closures and mergers will be concentrated among the smallest colleges. D→ 41 → 42 → 43 → 44 → 45
【答案解析】文章第二段的主要内容是：万宝路学院并不是唯一面临收入和招生压力的学校。后文举例说明命运相同的小型学院还有几所。后文接着引用了信用评级机构穆迪的观点，即学院的关闭和合并的速度将会加快，并在未来几年内可能是现在速度的三倍。该段最后引用丹尼斯·格普哈特的观点：学院的关闭和合并将集中在最小规模的学院。由此可知，这段主要介绍了许多学院关闭和合并成为一种趋势，尤其是小规模的学院。最后一句提到微型学院关闭和合并的问题，所以下文应该围绕微型学院存在的问题来进行讨论。选项B就是紧紧围绕小型学院存在的问题展开的，这个段落的三个句子主语中分别包含小型学院的相关信息，small liberal arts institutions、there are still an awful lot of small places和enrolment at these institutions，与上文呼应，关系密切，故为答案。
【答案解析】上一段提到小型学院开始采取降低学费的方式吸引学生。而剩余的备选项只有选项A和选项F。仔细阅读两个选项的内容可以发现，选项A的最后一句是“Many students wouldn't go to college at all or would be lost in a large one,” says Ms. Brown.而选项F的第一句话是Alice Brown, a former head of the Appalachian College Association, a network of tiny colleges in the Appalachian Mountains, thinks more must merge or close.同一个人物(Brown)出现在两个选项中，而选项F有对人物的具体介绍，应该出现在前面，因此，本题的正确答案是选项F，主要介绍布朗女士对小型学院生存和发展的看法。