单选题 In recent years American society has become increasingly dependent on its universities to find solutions to its major problems. It is the universities that have been charged with the principal responsibility for developing the expertise to place men on the moon; for dealing with our urban problems, and with our deteriorating environment; for developing the means to feed the world's rapidly increasing population. The effort involved in meeting these demands presents its own problems. In addition, this concentration on the creation of new knowledge significantly impinges on the universities' efforts to perform their other principal functions, the transmission and interpretation of knowledge -- the imparting of the heritage of the past and the preparing of the next generation to carry it forward.
With regard to this, perhaps their most traditionally sanctioned task, colleges and universities today find themselves in a serious bind generally. On the one hand, there is the American commitment, entered into especially since World War II, to provide higher education for all young people who can profit from it. The result of the commitment has been a dramatic rise in enrollments in our universities, coupled with a radical shift from the private to the public sector of higher education. On the other hand, there are serious and continuing limitations on the resources available for higher education.
While higher education has become a great "growth industry", it is also simultaneously a tremendous drain on the resources of the nation. With the vast increase in enrollment and the shift in priorities away from education in state and federal budgets, there is in most of our public institutions a significant decrease in per capita outlay for their students. One crucial aspect of this drain on resources lies in the persistent shortage of trained faculty, which has led, in turn, to a declining standard of competence in instruction.
Intensifying these difficulties is, as indicated above, the concern with research, with its competing claims on resources and the attention of the faculty. In addition, there is a strong tendency for the institutions' organization and functioning to conform to the demands of research rather thorn those of teaching.

单选题 According to the author, ______ is the most important function of institutions of higher education.
A. creating new knowledge
B. providing solutions to social problems
C. making experts on sophisticated industries out of their students
D. preparing their students to transmit inherited knowledge
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】第—段最后一句提到了高等教育的主要功能:此外,强调新知识的创新有意义地影响着大学去行使其主要功能,传输和阐释知识—即传授历史的遗产并准备为下一代发扬。
单选题 According to the passage, one cause for the difficulties of American higher education is that_____
A. the government has stopped giving public institutions as much financial support as it used to
B. America has always been encouraging young people to go to college
C. many public institutions have replaced private ones
D. the government only finances such researches as that or placing man on the moon
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】第三段第二句提到,随着招生规模的大幅度增加以及教育在州和联邦预算中的重要性的丧失,在多数公立院校中人均教育经费明显的减少
单选题 The phrase "impinge on" in Paragraph 1 most probably means______
A. promote B. rely on
C. have an impact on D. block
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】impinge on“冲击,影响”。参见题1,该句意为,强调新知识的创新有意义地影响着大学去行使其主要功能。
单选题 A serious outcome brought out by the shortage of resources is that______
A. many public institutions have to cut down enrollments of students
B. teachers are not qualified enough for satisfactory performance in classes
C. some institutions have to reduce the expenses on research
D. there is keen competition for resources and attention of faculty between public and private
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】第三段最后一句指出,这种资源耗尽的重要方面在于训练有素的教师队伍的长期匮乏,这使教育水平下降。
单选题 Which of the following statements is not true?______
A. American society has failed to provide these institutions with adequate resources to meet their needs
B. Though in difficulty, these institutions are determined to fulfil both research and teaching
functions
C. American society has relied too much on their institutions of higher education to allow them for easy adjustment to all their functions
D. More resources and efforts of faculty are needed for research work than teaching work
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】最后一段最后一句提到,此外,教育机构和功能的强烈的趋向是满足研究而不是教学的需要。(B)项内容明显不符题意。