The United States boasts the best public universities in the world. No young person should be turned away because they were born into a family without enough money for tuition; nor should getting a degree consign (把……置于) a person to decades of crippling debt. For the sake of fairness, class mobility, and the ideal of equality of opportunity, I believe generous financial aid should be available to all needy students for whom a four-year degree is the best way to achieve the American dream.
    But I also know America is overwhelmingly led by people with college degrees and white collar backgrounds—people who overvalue their own path to success and rig the system against others who'd thrive under a different approach. Our elites are too often blind to the value of education that is received away from college, whether through apprenticeships or vocational schools or on-the-job training. They don't always understand that there are lots of blue-collar jobs that are more fulfilling, better paying, and more in demand than lots of white-collar jobs. And they are blind to the wisdom in cultural enclaves where a young person is not considered 'culturally competent' until knowing how to perform CPR, help a stranger change a flat, or work alongside people from different social classes without taking offense when their etiquette is different than the etiquette at UCLA or Berkeley.
    So rather than promising free tuition, I have a more inclusive proposal: No matter your race or class or gender, you should be able to afford a degree from a public university without crippling debt if that path best maximizes your potential; and we should all value the important work being done at universities.
    The future I want to see begins with redoubling America's efforts at civic education in high school. Everyone with a high-school diploma should have learned all the tools they need to meaningfully participate as citizens in America's government-by-the-people. In fact, adults who want to study American civics now should have that opportunity.
    Next, for everyone who earns their diploma or GED, I propose financial aid for college or for an alternative investment in education that will help them toward any career that they choose, so long as they demonstrate that they're making an informed decision. Yes, we'll need to be watchful to fraudsters (行骗者) eager to get a piece of that money without offering valuable knowledge in return. But the problem will be no greater than under the status quo, when so much of the money that flows to public universities is wasted on administrative expansion and luxurious campus installations.
    Finally, so that those who pursue routes other than four-year colleges are treated more fairly, I propose legal reforms to eliminate obstacles like professional-licensing requirements that amount to no more than credentialism (文凭至上主义), and a shift away from insisting on a bachelor's degree for jobs that shouldn't require one.  

单选题

    The first paragraph indicates that the best way to realize personal values in America is by ______.

【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】

推理判断题。由题干中的the first paragraph和realize personal values定位到原文第一段最后一句。本题考查关于实现个人价值的问题。定位段最后一句的后半部分提到,对所有有需要的学生而言,实现美国梦的最佳途径就是获得四年大学的文凭,而所谓实现美国梦就是在美国实现个人价值,可见其最佳方式就是接受高等教育,故D为答案。

单选题

    According to the author, what may be the problem of the elites? ______

【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】

推理判断题。由题干中的the elites定位到原文第二段。本题考查作者对社会精英的分析。定位段对掌控美国社会的精英们进行了剖析,指出他们对自己的成功之路太过看重,因而在教育发展、职业选择、社会文化内容的理解方面都局限于将自己的价值观作为判断依据,可见作者认为他们的眼界不够开阔,故答案为A。

单选题

    It is implied that the aim to reinforce high school education is to ______.

【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】

推理判断题。由题干中的reinforce high school education定位到原文第四段第一、二句。本题考查加强美国高中教育的目的。定位句提到,美国人应加倍致力于高中阶段的公民教育,作者理想中的未来是每一个获得高中文凭的人都已学会在美国民治社会中作为公民积极参与其中所需的全部技能。由此推测,加强高中教育的目的就是培养出合格的公民,故答案为D。

单选题

    The author suggests that the key to effective financial aid should lie in ______.

【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】

事实细节题。由题干中的financial aid定位到原文第五段第一句。本题考查作者对有效经济援助的建议。定位句提到,作者建议给每一个获得文凭或普通同等学历证书的人提供大学教育的经济援助或进行类似的教育投资,目的在于帮助这些人恰当地选择职业,可见作者认为有效的经济援助需要帮助人们进行职业选择,故答案为B。

单选题

    What is the conclusion of the last paragraph? ______

【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】

推理判断题。由题干中的the last paragraph定位到原文最后一段。本题考查文章最后一段所做出的论断。作者在定位段中提出建议,要求消除文凭至上主义的职业认证壁垒,还特别指出,消除本不需要学士学位的工作对文凭的要求,可见作者认为文凭要求要根据实际需要而设立,故答案为D。