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  3. A high-profile push by business groups to double the number of U. S. bachelor’s degrees awarded in science, math and engineering

A high-profile push by business groups to double the number of U. S. bachelor’s degrees awarded in science, math and engineering

admin2015-04-10  49
问题     A high-profile push by business groups to double the number of U. S. bachelor’s degrees awarded in science, math and engineering by 2015 is falling way behind target, a new report says. In 2005, 15 prominent business groups warned that a lack of expert workers and teachers posed a threat to U. S. competitiveness, and said the country would need 400,000 new graduates in the so-called STEM(science, technology, engineering and math)fields by 2015.
    In an update to be published Tuesday, the group reports the number of degrees in those fields rose slightly earlier in the decade, citing figures from the years after 2001 that have become available since the first report was published. But the number of degrees has since flattened out at around 225,000 per year.
    The coalition, representing groups such as the U. S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Defense Industrial Association, said there has been substantial bipartisan support in Washington for boosting science training, including passage last year of the America Competes Act, which promotes math and science.
    But Susan Traiman, director of education and work force policy for the Business Roundtable, an organization of corporate CEOs, said there’s been insufficient follow-through with funding to support the programs. Other countries, she said, are doing more to shift incentives toward science training. "The concern that CEOs have is if we wait for a Sputniklike event, it’s very hard to turn around and get moving on the kind of timeline we would need," said Traiman, referring to the Soviet Union’s launch of the first artificial satellite in 1957, which prompted a massive U. S. commitment to science investment.
    The report by the group Tapping America’s Potential, which has grown to represent 16 business groups, also argues that the failure of Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform has hurt U. S. competitiveness by making it difficult to retain high-skilled workers who study at American universities. While there appears to be, if anything, a surplus in the job market of scientists with doctoral degrees, the case for boosting bachelor’s degrees is stronger—particularly for people who go into teaching, where teachers who have college level subject training are generally more effective. Last week, The National Research Council—a group that provides policy advice under a Congressional charter—issued a report calling for more support for professional master’s degrees programs. The idea would be to provide advanced training to more people in fields like chemistry and biology, which require less time and money than doctoral degrees.
According to the passage, "flattened out"(Line 4, Paragraph 2)probably means
选项 A、rocketed.
B、fluctuated.
C、plateaued.
D、soared.
答案C
解析 根据本文内容，第二段第四行的flattened out的意思可能是[A]迅速上升。[B]波动。[C]达到稳定水平。[D]骤升。该句以but开头，可知与前句的rose slightly构成反义或对比关系。[A]和[D]都含有“迅速上升”的意思，故排除；[B]“波动”与上文构不成反义或对比关系。根据构词法可知：flatten(持平)应该来自flat，故选[C]“达到稳定水平”。
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