单选题 In the past, American colleges and universities were created to serve a dual purpose to advance learning and to offer a chance to become familiar with bodies of knowledge already discovered to those who wished it. To create and to impart, these were the distinctive features of American higher education prior to the most recent, disorderly decades of the twentieth century. The successful institution of higher learning had never been one whose mission could be defined in terms of providing vocational skills or as a strategy for resolving societal problems. In a subtle way Americans believed higher education to be useful, but not necessarily of immediate use.
Another purpose has now been assigned to the mission of American colleges and universities. Institutions of higher learning--public or private--commonly face the challenge of defining their programs in such a way as to contribute to the service of the community.
This service role has various applications. Most common are programs to meet the demands of regional employment markets, to provide opportunities for upward social and economic mobility, to achieve racial, ethnic, or social integration, or more generally to produce "productive" as compared to " educated" graduates. Regardless of its precise definition, the idea of a service-university has won acceptance within the academic community.
One need only be reminded of the change in language describing the two-year college to appreciate the new value currently being attached to the concept of a service-related university. The traditional two-year college has shed its pejorative "junior" college label and is generally called a "community" college, a clearly value-laden expression representing the latest commitment in higher education. Even the doctoral degree, long recognized as a required "union card" in the academic world, has come under severe criticism as the pursuit of learning for its own sake and the accumulation of knowledge without immediate application to a professor"s classroom duties. The idea of a college or university that performs a triple function--communicating knowledge to students, expanding the content of various disciplines, and interacting in a direct relationship with society--has been the most important change in higher education in recent years.
This novel development, however, is often overlooked. Educators have always been familiar with those parts of the two-year college curriculum that have a "service" or vocational orientation. It is important to know this. But some commentaries on American postsecondary education tend to underplay the impact of the attempt of colleges and universities to relate to, if not resolve, the problems of society. What"s worse, they obscure a fundamental question posed by the service-university--what is higher education supposed to do?

单选题 The opening paragraph is written in Order to state

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 逻辑结构题。本题问：开头一段是为了阐述什么?第1段第1句写道：“过去美国成立大专院校的双重目的是增进知识并为那些想了解已发现的大量知识的人提供机会。创造与传授是本世纪最近几十年动荡不安之前美国高等教育的特征。”接着谈到解决社会问题也不是过去美国高等教育的目的。可见，作者写第1段是为了阐述过去美国高等教育的目的。“高等教育”的英语表达是：higher education, education of higher learning, college education, postsecondary education。[B]“美国不同教育机构的使命”不能入选，因为“不同教育机构”的内涵太宽，不仅仅指“高校”。[D]也不能入选，因为从全文内容来看，第1段写过去高等教育的任务，后面各段写到这个任务现在的变化。所以，第1段不是在谈“美国高等教育的发展历史”。

单选题 One of the recent, important changes in higher education relates to

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 细节理解题。本题问：高等教育最近发生的重要变化之一与什么有关?第2段指出，目前高等教育被赋予了新的使命，即“在设置学校的课程时要考虑到将来能增加社会服务”。第4段第1句又指出：“只要注意一下描述专科学校时语言上的变化，我们就能了解到最近赋予服务性大学概念的新价值。”故应选[B]。[A]“课程现代化”，与段落内容不符，文中只说到设置与地区市场需要的课程(第3段)，并未说“课程现代化”。[C]“向学生传授知识”答非所问。[D]“使教育与生产相结合”。从第3段内容来看，只及一点，不及其余，属片面性。而[B]“服务性教育的概念”包括第3段中提到的各个方面的内容，具有很强的包容性。

单选题 The service role of colleges specifically aims to

单选题 It can be inferred from the text that there exists a tendency to

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 推理判断题。本题问：从本文可以推理，目前存在一种什么倾向?最后一段中写道：“但对美国高等教育的有些评论往往不能充分显示出大专院校努力联系，如果不是解决，社会问题所起的作用。更糟糕的是，它们模糊了服务性大学所提出的一个根本性问题——高等教育应该做什么?”可见，这些评论反映出一种倾向：没有看到服务性大学的重要意义。故应选[A]。play down意为“故意缩小某事的意义，贬低”。[B]“强调了服务性教育的功能”。本题让考生推理，既然是推理，那就是说，在正面阐述服务性教育的功能时还存在的另一倾向。故应排除[B]，而选[A]。[C]“改变基础教育的使命”与最后一段内容不符。[D]“夸大高等教育中的变化”，属正反颠倒，故不能入选。