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。