Question

    What will higher education look like in 2050? That was the question addressed Tuesday night by Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University.

“We’re at the end of the fourth wave of change in higher education,” Crow began, arguing that research universities followed the initial establishment of higher education, Public colleges, and land-grant schools in the timeline of America.

In less than a half-century, he said, global market competition will be at its fastest rates of change ever, with several multitrillion — dollar economies worldwide. According to a recent projection, the nation’s population could reach 435 million, with a large percentage of those residents economically disadvantaged. In addition, climate change will be meaningfully uncontrollable in many parts of the world.

The everyday trends seen today, such as declining performance of students at all levels, particularly in math and science, and declining wages and employment among the less educated, will only continue. Crow maintained, and are to say the least, not contributing to fulfilling the dream of climbing the social ladder mobility, quality of life, sustainable environment, and longer life spans that most Americans share.

“How is it that we can have these great research universities and have negative-trending outcomes?” Crow said in a talk “I hold the universities accountable.... We are part of the problem.” Among the “things that we do that make the things that we teach less learnable,” Crow said, are the strict separation of disciplines, academic rigidity, and conservatism, the desire of universities to imitate schools at the top of the social ranks, and the lack of the computer system ability that would allow a large number of students to be educated for a small amount of money.

Since 2002, when Crow started being in charge at Arizona State — which he calls the “new American university” — he has led more than three dozen initiatives that aim to make the school “inclusive, scalable, fast, adaptive, challenge-focused, and willing to take risks.”

Among those initiatives were a restructuring of the engineering and life sciences schools to create more linkages between disciplines; the launch of the School of Earth and Space Exploration and the School of sustainability; the start of a Teachers College to address K-12 performance and increase the status of the Education Department at the university; and broadened access, increasing the freshman class size by 42 percent and the enrollment of students living below the poverty line by 500 percent.

Universities must start, Crow noted, “by becoming self-reflective architects, figuring out what we have and what we actually need instead of what legend tells us we have to be.” Research universities today have “run their course,” he added. “Now is the time for variety.”

During a discussion afterward, Crow clarified and expanded on some of his points. He discussed, for example, the school's distance-leading program. “Nearly 40 percent of undergraduates are taking at least one course online,” he said, which helps the school to keep costs down while advancing interactive learning technologies.

He said that Arizona State is working to increase the transfer and completion rates of community-college students, of whom only about 15 percent, historically, complete their later degrees. “We’ve built a system that will allow them to track into universities,” particularly where “culturally complex barriers” beyond finances limit even the most gifted students.

1.The fourth wave of change in America's higher education refers to ________.

A.public colleges B.land-grant schools

C.research universities D.initial higher education

2.Which is NOT part of the American dream most people share _________.

A.People enjoy a quality life. B.People live longer and longer.

C.The freedom to move around. D.An environment that is sustainable.

3.Which one is similar to the underlined word “architect” in meaning?

A.The author of the guidebook is an architect by profession.

B.If you want to refurnish the house, consult the architect.

C.Deng Xiaoping is one of the architects of the PRC.

D.Tom is considered one of the best landscape architect here.

4.With the distance-learning program, Arizona State University is able to ___________ .

A.enroll 40% of its students online

B.keep costs down without a loss of quality

C.provide an even greater number of courses

D.attract the most gifted students all over the world

Answer

1.C

2.C

3.C

4.B

【解析】

本文为一篇说明文。作者在文章预测了2050年高等教育和世界格局的变化。

1.推理判断题。根据第二段“We’re at the end of the fourth wave of change in higher education,” Crow began, arguing that research universities followed the initial establishment of higher education, Public colleges, and land-grant schools in the timeline of America.可知，“我们正处于高等教育第四波变革的尾声，”克劳说，他认为研究型大学是在美国建国初期建立的高等教育、公立学院和赠地学校之后出现的。由此推知，美国高等教育的第四波变革指的是研究型大学。故选C项。

2.细节理解题。根据第四段Crow maintained, and are to say the least, not contributing to fulfilling the dream of climbing the social ladder mobility, quality of life, sustainable environment, and longer life spans that most Americans share.可知，克劳坚持，至少可以说，对实现大多数美国人所共有的攀登社会阶梯的梦想——生活质量、可持续的环境和更长的寿命——没有贡献。由此可知，大多数美国人所共有梦想不包括C项The freedom to move around(自由地四处走动)。故选C项。

3.词义猜测题。根据第八段Universities must start, Crow noted, “by becoming self-reflective architects, figuring out what we have and what we actually need instead of what legend tells us we have to be.” Research universities today have “run their course,” he added. “Now is the time for variety.”(克劳指出，大学必须从“成为自我反思的建筑师开始，弄清楚我们拥有什么，我们实际上需要什么，而不是传说告诉我们必须成为什么。”他补充说，如今的研究型大学已经“走完了自己的路”。“现在是多样化的时候了。”)可知，大学要成为自己的设计师，为自己的发展路径进行规划。由此可知，划线词architect与C项Deng Xiaoping is one of the architects of the PRC.(邓小平是中华人民共和国的建筑师之一)中的architect意思相近。故选C项。

4.细节理解题。根据第九段Nearly 40 percent of undergraduates are taking at least one course online, he said, which helps the school to keep costs down while advancing interactive learning technologies.可知，近40%的本科生在网上至少学习一门课程，这有助于学校降低成本，同时推进互动学习技术。由此可知，通过远程教育，美国亚利桑那州大学可以在不影响教学质量的情况下减少开支，降低成本。故选B项。