单选题
Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft chairman without a
single earned university degree, is by his success raising new doubts about the
worth of the business world's favorite academic title: the MBA (Master of
Business Administration). The MBA, a 20th century product,
always has borne the mark of lowly commerce and greed on the tree-lined campuses
ruled by purer disciplines such as philosophy and literature.
But even with the recession apparently cutting into the hiring of business
school graduates, about 79,000 people were expected to receive MBAs in 1993.
This is nearly 16 times the number of business graduates in 1960, a testimony to
the widespread assumption that the MBA is vital for young men and women who want
to run companies some day. "If you are going into the corporate
world it is still a disadvantage not to have one," said Donald Morrison,
professor of marketing and management science. "But in the last five years or
so, when someone asks, 'Should I attempt to get an MBA?' The answer a lot more
is: 'It depends.'" The success of Bill Gates and other
non-MBAs, such as the late Sam Walton of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., has helped
inspire self-conscious debates on business school campuses over the worth of a
business degree and whether management skills can be taught.
The Harvard Business Review printed a lively, fictional exchange of letters to
dramatize complaints about business degree holders. The article called MBA hires
"extremely disappointing" and said "MBAs want to move up too fast, they don't
understand politics and people, and they aren't able to function as part of a
team until their third year. But by then, they're out looking for other
jobs." The problem, most participants in the debate
acknowledge, is that the MBA has acquired an image of future riches and power
far beyond its actual importance and usefulness. Enrollment in
business schools exploded in the 1970s and 1980s and created the assumption that
no one who pursued a business career could do without one. The growth was fueled
by a drive against the anti-business values of the 1960s and by the women's
movement. Business people who have hired or worked with MBAs
say those with the degrees often know how to analyze systems but are not so
skillful at motivating people. "They don't get a lot of grounding in the people
side of the business", said James Shaffer, vice-president and principal of the
Towers Perrin Management Consulting Firm.
单选题
According to Paragraph 2, what is the general attitude towards business
on campuses dominated by purer disciplines?
B.quit their jobs once they are familiar with their workmates.
C.receive salaries that do not match their professional training.
D.cherish unrealistic expectations about their future.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 此题考查对文章信息的捕捉。
此题最好用排除法,文中均未提过ABC三项的说法,而D项则在第七段可找到相似说法:“The problem...is that the MBA has acquired an image of future riches and power far beyond its actual importance and usefulness”,即。问题在于...MBA已被套上了一圈光环,其对未来权力及富裕的期望远远超出了它自身实际的重要性和用途。”
单选题
What is the passage mainly about?
A.The reason for an enrollment in MBA programs.
B.The necessity of reforming MBA programs in business schools.
C.Doubts about the worth of holding an MBA degree.
D.A debate held recently on university campuses.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 此题考查学生综合概括中心思想的能力。
A项“为什么MBA项目要招生”,是无关项。B项“改革MBA项目的必要性”,说得过于肯定,文中意见尚未到达论证“必须改革”的地步。D项“在大学校园上展开的一场辩论”,说得过于泛泛。文章从头至尾围绕一个主题。doubts or debates over the worth of MBA”。