单选题 Pity those who aspire to put the initials PhD after their names. After 16 years of closely supervised education, prospective doctors of philosophy are left more or less alone to write the equivalent of a large book. Most social-science postgraduates have still not completed their theses by the time their grant runs out after three years. "They must then get a job and finish in their spare time, which can often take a further three years. By then, most new doctors are sick to death of the narrowly defined subject, which has blighted their holidays and mined their evenings.
The Economic and Social Research Council, which gives grants to postgraduate social scientists, wants to get better value for money by cutting short this agony. It would like to see faster completion rates: until recently, only about 25% of PhD candidates were finishing within four years. The ESRC’ s response has been to stop PhD grants to all institutions where the proportion taking less than four years is below 10%; in the first year of this policy the national average shot up to 39%. The ESRC feels vindicated in its toughness, and will progressively raise the threshold to 40% in two years. Unless completion rates improve further, this would exclude 55 out of 73 universities and polytechnics-including Oxford University, the London School of Economics and the London Business School.
Predictably, howls of protest have come from the universities, who view the blacklisting of whole institutions as arbitrary and negative. They point out that many of the best students go quickly into jobs where they can apply their research skills, but consequently take longer to finish their theses. Polytechnics with as few as two PhD candidates complain that they are penalized by random fluctuations in student performance. The colleges say there is no hard evidence to prove that faster completion rates result from greater efficiency rather than lower standards or less ambitious doctoral topics.
The ESRC thinks it might not be a bad thing if PhD students were more modest in their aims. It would prefer to see more systematic teaching of research skills and fewer unrealistic expectations placed on young men and women who are undertaking their first piece of serious research. So in future its grants will be given only where it is convinced that students are being trained as researchers, rather than carrying out purely knowledge-based studies.
The ESRC can not dictate the standard of thesis required by external examiners, or force departments to give graduates more teaching time. The most it can do is to try to persuade universities to change their ways. Recalcitrant professors should note that students want more research training and a less elaborate style of thesis, too.

单选题 By the time new doctors get a job and try to finish their theses in spare time ______.
A. most of them died of some sickness
B. their holidays and evenings have been ruined by their jobs
C. most of them are completely tired of the narrowly defined subject
D. most of their grants run out

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】文章第一段指出“not completed their theses by the time their grant runs out after three years”，即大多数的博士研究生在用完他们的拨款后并不能在三年内取得学位，然后他们必须“get a job and finish in their spare time”，故选项D正确。选项A曲解了“sick to death”的意思，它表示极度厌倦；文章指出是“the narrowly defined subject"毁掉了他们的假日和夜晚，故选项B错误；选项C表述不够精确，博土生是由于这些论文耽误了他们很多美好时光而感到厌倦，并不是本身讨厌这些课题。

单选题 Oxford University would be excluded out of those universities that receive PhD grants from ESRC, because the completion rate of its PhD students' theses within four years is lower than ______.
A. 25% B. 40% C. 39% D. 10%

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】文中第二段，叙述了ESRC's response，指出它第一年的政策the national aver- age shot up to 39%，随后指出除非进一步提高completion rates否则，诸如牛津大学之类的学校就将会被排除在外，可判断如果completion rate低于39%就可能会被排除，其中提到的 40%只是一种设想。

单选题 All the following statements are the argument against ESRC’ s policy except
A. all the institutions on the blacklist are arbitrary and negative
B. there is no hard evidence to prove that faster completion rates result from greater efficiency rather than lower standards or less ambitious doctoral topics
C. many of the best students go quickly into jobs where they can apply their research skills, but consequently take longer to finish their theses
D. some polytechnics are penalized by random fluctuations in student performance

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】文章第三段讲述了反对者的声音。他们认为"the blacklisting of whole institutions as arbitrary and negative"，作者并没有说这是事实，故答案为选项A。选项B、C和D均可在第三段中找到。

单选题 The ESRC would prefer ______.
A. that the students were carrying out purely knowledge-based studies rather than being trained as researchers
B. to see higher standards of PhD students' theses and more ambitious doctoral topics
C. more systematic teaching of research skills to fewer unrealistic expectations placed on inexperienced young PhD students
D. that PhD students were less modest in their aims

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】文章第四段指出：“if PhD students were more modest in their aims”the ESRC认为不是一件坏事情，故排除选项B和D；又谈到the ESRC更希望年轻人多学一些“systematic teaching of research skills”，而不是“unrealistic expectations”，故选项C正确。同时指出将只拨款给那些将学生作为研究者而不是单纯的学知识来培养的学校，故选项A错误。

单选题 What the ESRC can do is to ______.
A. force departments to give graduates more teaching time
B. try to persuade universities to change their ways
C. dictate the standard of thesis required by external examiners
D. note that students want more research training and less elaborate style of thesis

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】文章最后一段指出：the ESRC既不能“dictate the standard of thesis required by external examiners”，即选项C；也不能"force departments to give graduates more teaching time"，即选项A。它所能做的只是"try to persuade universities to change their ways"，即试图劝说高校改变它们的方式，故选项B正确。而选项D是提醒recalcitrant professors应该注意的问题。