Last Wednesday in Sewanee, Tenn., the University of the South elected a new leader, John M. McCardell Jr. As I sat listening to

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问题     Last Wednesday in Sewanee, Tenn., the University of the South elected a new leader, John M. McCardell Jr. As I sat listening to McCardell accept his election, I thought, not for the first time, about the difficulty of making the case for something so expensive and so seemingly old—an undergraduate liberal education—in an economic and cultural climate that favors efficiency and tangibility(确切性). It is inarguably hard to monetize a familiarity with Homer or an intimacy with Shakespeare.
    It is just possible, though, that the traditional understanding of the liberal arts may help us in our search for new innovation and new competitiveness. The next chapter of the nation’s economic life could well be written not only by engineers but by entrepreneurs who, as products of an apparently different education, have formed a habit of mind that enables them to connect ideas that might otherwise have gone unconnected. As Alan Brinkley, the historian and former provost(院长) of Columbia, has argued, liberal education is a crucial element in the creation of wealth, lobs, and, one hopes, a fairer and more just nation.
    Barack Obama started out at such a school before moving to Columbia, where the core curriculum requires undergraduates to be grounded in basic literature, philosophy, and history. Steve Jobs, who dropped out of Oregon’s Reed College, nevertheless credits a calligraphy class he attended there with providing part of the inspiration for the Macintosh. Employers say all the time that they value clarity of writing and verbal expression, and that they often find liberal-arts graduates expert in both.
    We need to make sure that the liberal arts prepare people for a good life, not just the good life. For too long private colleges like mine have been seen, with more than a little justice, as provinces of the already wealthy. Such institutions devote a lot of resources to remedying this, but educations at the more elite private schools are prohibitively expensive, and always will be.
    Which is why the state universities that guarantee liberal-arts programs should continue that good work. There is never enough money, but cutting the liberal arts is a false economy.
    The other emerging market is the world of online education. I am unapologetically prejudiced. Yet the fact remains that digital educational enterprises are to the 21st century what public universities were in previous generations: accessible and more affordable means for people to better their minds and their lives.
    For some the future will be shaped by a Sewanee, for others by a business course taught online. The unifying theme that connected my own reflections among the bishops was straightforward: if the country is to prosper—economically, culturally, morally—we have to trust in the institutions, old and new, that nurture creativity, and then hope for the best.
What is the author’s attitude toward online education?

选项 A、Definitely opposed.
B、Strongly doubted.
C、Completely welcome
D、Reasonably accepted.

答案D

解析 根据题干关键词attitude,online education定位到原文第六、七段。第六段第二句提到:I m unapologetically prejudiced, Yet the fact remains that digital educational enterprises are to the 21st century what public universities were in previous generations....可知,尽管我对网上教育持有偏见。然而,存在的事实是数字化教育企业提供了大众高等教育为前几代人所提供的东西,即我们应当肯定网上教育。第七段第一、二句又提到For some the future will be shaped by a Sewanee, for others by a business course taught online.The unifying theme…was straightforward: if the country is to prosper...we have to trust in the institutions, old and new, that nurture creativity…可知,一些人的未来会由传统学校来塑造,而另一些人的未来则会由网上教育塑造。统一的主题是:如果国家要繁荣发展,我们就得相信培养创造性的学术机构,无论它们是旧的还是新的。所以由上可知作者对于网上教育的态度是合理地接受的,故选D 项。
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