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  3. As colleges and universities send another wave of graduates out into the world this spring, thousands of other job seekers with

As colleges and universities send another wave of graduates out into the world this spring, thousands of other job seekers with

admin2010-08-21  40
问题    As colleges and universities send another wave of graduates out into the world this spring, thousands of other job seekers with liberal-arts degrees like Martin’s find themselves in a similarly difficult situation. True enough, this is an era of record-breaking lows in unemployment. But technology companies, which are contributing the lion’s share (最多的部分) of new jobs, are simultaneously declaring a shortage of qualified workers.
    It’s no surprise that high-tech companies rarely hire liberal-arts graduates. The need for technical expertise is so universal that even retailers are demanding such skills. "Company-wide, we’re looking for students with specific information-systems skills", says David McDearmon, director of field human resources at Dollar Tree Stores. "Typically we avoid independent-college students who don’t have them".
    Fortunately for Martin, some invaluable help was at hand when he needed it. The Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, a network of 15 liberal-arts colleges in the state, has teamed up with local companies to bridge the learning gap faced by its members’ graduates. VFIC invited 30 companies to link the needs of businesses with the skills being taught in college classrooms. With grants from corporate sponsors VFIC asked 20 information-technology managers to help its members create an exam, based on the work students will be expected to do in the real world, to test and certify their technological proficiency.
    The result, Tek. Xam, is an eight-part test that requires students to design a website, build and analyze spreadsheets (电子数据表), research problems on the Internet and demonstrate understanding of legal and ethical issues. Says Linda Dalch, president of VFIC: "If an art-history major wants a job at a bank, he needs to prove he has the skills. That’s where this certificate can help". This year 245 students at VFIC’s member colleges have gone through the program. The long-term hope is that Tek. Xam will win the same kind of acceptance as the LSAT or CPA for law or accounting students. "To know a student has taken the initiative and passed could mean that less training is needed", explains John Rudin, chief information officer at Reynolds Metals, one of the corporations that helped create the test.
    All this begs an important question: Has the traditional liberal-arts curriculum become outdated? College presidents naturally argue that the skills their schools provide are invaluable. A B.A. degree, says Mary Brown Bullock of Atlanta’s Agnes Scott Collage, "gives graduates the ability to reinvent themselves time and time again ... and the knowledge and thinking skills that transcend a particular discipline or time frame".
    Martin is finding that to be the truth. "It would be nice to have computer classes on my transcript (成绩单)", he says, but Tek. Xam has armed him with the power to learn those skills on his own — and a certificate to show he has done so. He’s now waiting to hear when his job as a network-support assistant for a large Boston firm will start.  
What can be inferred from the passage?
选项 A、Liberal-arts students are decreasing.
B、Companies seek employees with abundant knowledge.
C、Tek. Xam has been popular among liberal-arts students.
D、Tek. Xam supplements to the curriculum in independent colleges.
答案D
解析 本题属于推理判断题，问“可以从这篇短文中得出什么结论”。第三段说到“... to link the needs of businesses with the skills being taught in college classrooms.”，即该考试把企业的需求和大学的课堂结合起来了，第六段又提到“’It would be nice to have computer classes on my transcript (成绩单),’ he says, but Tek. Xam has armed him with the power to learn those skills on his own...”，也就是有了大学电脑课成绩和技术考试证书就能更好地就业。这就表明了，“Tek. Xam技术考试是独立学院课程的有益补充”，故选D项。
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