Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, put a plan to make higher education at public universities free at the cent

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问题     Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, put a plan to make higher education at public universities free at the centre of his upstart campaign for the presidency in 2015. The idea seemed radical, even gimmicky. Now some democrats oppose the notion, for example Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, and their arguments still pack a punch. Why indeed should taxpayers’ money be spent on the children of the rich rather than more generous financial aid for the poor?
    Across much of the rich world, a public-university education is free or nearly free, apart from the cost of books and living expenses. But those in America and Britain pay tuition fees which are high and growing higher. Places like America and Britain pass some of this increase on to students in the form of higher fees, with the understanding that poorer students will receive financial aid while richer ones will bear the full tuition bill.
    To many politicians in these places, this seems just. Unlike primary or secondary education, university is a minority pursuit in most advanced economies. Only about 45% of adults aged 25 to 34 have some post-secondary education. Those people tend to come from richer families. A universal programme that mostly benefits a well-off not-quite-half of the country would seem a strange aspiration for egalitarian-minded politicians. Better to target aid at those from poorer families.
    However, supporters of free university marshal a number of practical arguments. University attendees are more likely to come from wealthier families precisely because university is not free. Several analyses of the introduction of tuition fees in Britain found a negative effect on university attendance. A report produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimated that an increase of £1,000 ($1,243) in tuition fees is associated with a decline of 3.9 percentage points in the rate at which recent school-leavers choose to go on to university. Work by Thomas Kane of Harvard University found a response of similar magnitude in America. And research by Susan Dynarski of the University of Michigan and Judith Scott-Clayton of Columbia University concludes that both attendance and completion rates are higher when education is more affordable.
    But the most powerful arguments for free university are about values rather than economic efficiency. There are broad social benefits to a well-educated citizenry, because new ideas allow society as a whole to prosper. Amid constant technological change, a standing offer of free higher education may represent an important component of the social safety-net. Universality reinforces the idea that free education is not a makeshift form of redistribution, but part of a system of collective insurance forming an egalitarian society.
By citing Pete Buttigieg, the author intends to show__________.

选项 A、taxpayers’ interests have been seriously damaged
B、the new proposal appears unfair to the poor
C、some democrats are against Bernie Sanders’ proposal
D、richer students will afford the full tuition bill

答案 C

解析 根据题干关键信息Pete Buttigieg可定位到第一段第三句。该句指出Now some democrats oppose the notion,for example Pete Buttigieg,the mayor of South Bend,and their arguments still pack a punch.(现在,一些民主党人士反对这一提议,比如南本德市市长皮特.布蒂吉格,而且他们的论点仍然很有说服力),由此可知,举Pete Buttigieg的例子是为了说明一些民主党人士对于上文提出的观点持反对态度,即对于上文提到的Bernie Sanders对公立大学高等教育应该免费持反对态度,故选项[C]为正确答案。
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