单选题 For years, studies have found that first-generation college students—those who do not have a parent with a college degree—lag other students on a range of education achievement factors. Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are higher. But since such students are most likely to advance economically if they succeed in higher education, colleges and universities have pushed for decades to recruit more of them. This has created "a paradox" in that recruiting first-generation students, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has "continued to reproduce and widen, rather than close" an achievement gap based on social class, according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in the journal Psychological Science.
But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem, suggesting that an approach (which involves a one-hour, next-to-no-cost program) can close 63 percent of the achievement gap (measured by such factors as grades) between first-generation and other students.
The authors of the paper are from different universities, and their findings are based on a study involving 147 students (who completed the project) at an unnamed private university. First generation was defined as not having a parent with a four-year college degree. Most of the first-generation students (59.1 percent) were recipients of Pell Grants, a federal grant for undergraduates with financial need, while this was true only for 8.6 percent of the students with at least one parent with a four-year degree.
Their thesis—that a relatively modest intervention could have a big impact—was based on the view that first-generation students may be most lacking not in potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face most college students. They cite past research by several authors to show that this is the gap that must be narrowed to close the achievement gap.
Many first-generation students "struggle to navigate the middle-class culture of higher education, learn the "rules of the game," and take advantage of college resources," they write. And this becomes more of a problem when collages don"t talk about the class advantage and disadvantages of different groups of students. Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can affect students" educational experience, many first-generation students lack sight about why they are struggling and do not understand how students like them can improve.

单选题 Recruiting more first-generation students has ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干问：招收更多的“初代”大学生______。根据关键词recruit，first-generation students定位到首段的下列内容：This has created "a paradox" in that recruiting first-generation students, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has "continued to reproduce and widen, rather than close" an achievement gap based on social class...其中根据rather than close an achievement gap based on social class可排除选项B。选项A和D是无关选项。由This has created "a paradox" in that recruiting first-generation students与选项C missed its original purpose是同义替换，paradox“自相矛盾，似是而非的观点”，所以正确答案为C。

单选题 The author of the research article is optimistic because ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干问：研究论文的作者是乐观的，因为______。根据关键词the article，optimistic定位到第二段的“But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem”，即这篇文章相当乐观，因为针对这个问题，它已经勾勒出一个可能的解决方案。as引导的原因状语从句与选项A the problem is solvable“此问题可以解决”意思一致，因此答案为A。

单选题 The study suggests that most first-generation students ______.

单选题 The authors of the paper believe that first-generation students ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。根据关键词first-generation students定位到第四段的下列内容：Their thesis—that a relatively modest intervention could have a big impact—was based on the view that first-generation students may be most lacking not in potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face most college students. 即他们的论文基于一个观点：“初代”大学生最缺乏的不是潜力，而是实践知识，关于如何应对大多数大学生都会面对的问题的实践知识。也就是说，他们在应对大学里各种状况的方面缺乏经验，对应选项D。其中are inexperienced与原文的lacking in practical knowledge对应；handling their issues与how to deal with the issues对应；at college与that face most college students对应。

单选题 We may infer from the last paragraph that ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 推理题。本题可定位到末段的下列内容：Many first-generation students struggle to navigate the middle-class culture of higher education, learn the "rules of the game," and take advantage of college resources, they write. And this becomes more of a problem when collages don"t talk about the class advantage and disadvantages of different groups of students. 定位的两个句子是并列关系，均提出“初代”学生中存在的与社会阶层有关的问题。第五段第三句以一个because所引导的原因状语从句点明中心，明确该问题的来源：美国高校未承认社会阶层对学生教育经历的影响，故答案为D。