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

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

admin2012-11-30  84
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 did the author mainly concern about as he sat listening to McCardell accept his election?
选项 A、The ability of McCardell to take full responsibility of the liberal-arts college.
B、The difficulty of undergraduate liberal education encountered at present.
C、The necessity of reforming liberal arts in new economic and cultural climate.
D、The possibility for common people to learn about Homer or Shakespeare.
答案B
解析 根据题干关键词McCardell accept his election定位到原文第一段第二句：As I sat listening to McCardell accept his election, I thought…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. 可知，作者反复思考的问题是，在如今侧重效率和确切性的经济和文化氛围中提出 有力的论点使人信服大学通识教育的重要性有多么的难，通识教育是如此地奢侈，又似乎是如此地古老。即作者最关心的是目前大学通识教育所遇到的困难，故选B 项。
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