Recently I attended several meetings where we talked about ways to retain students and keep younger faculty members from going elsewhere.
It seems higher education has become an industry of meeting-holders whose task it is to “solve” problems——real or imagined. And in my position as a professor at three different colleges, the actual problems in educating our young people and older students have deepened, while the number of people hired——not to teach but to hold meetings——has increased significantly. Every new problem creates a new job for an administrative fixer. Take our Center for Teaching Excellence. Contrary to its title, the center is a clearing house (信息交流中心)for using technology in classrooms and in online courses. It’s an administrative sham (欺诈) of the kind that has multiplied over the last 30 years.
I offer a simple proposition in response: Many of our problems — class attendance, educational success, student happiness and well-being——might be improved by cutting down the bureaucratic (官僚的) mechanisms and meetings and instead hiring an army of good teachers. If we replaced half of our administrative staff with classroom teachers, we might actually get a majority of our classes back to 20 or fewer students per teacher. This would be an environment in which teachers and students actually knew each other.
The teachers must be free to teach in their own way——the curriculum should be flexible enough so that they can use their individual talents to achieve the goals of the course. Additionally, they should be allowed to teach, and be rewarded for doing it well. Teachers are not people who are great at and consumed by research and happen to appear in a classroom. Good teaching and research are not exclusive, but they are also not automatic companions. Teaching is an art and a craft, talent and practice; it is not something that just anyone can be good at. It is utterly confusing to me that people do not recognize this, despite the fact that pretty much anyone who has been a student can tell the difference between their best and worst teachers.
What does the author say about present-day universities?
According to the author, what kind of people do universities lack most?
What does the author imply about the classes at present?
What does the author think of teaching ability?
What is the author’s suggestion for improving university teaching?
问题1选项
A.They are effectively tackling real or imagined problems.
B.They often fail to combine teaching with research.
C.They are over-burdened with administrative staff.
D.They lack talent to fix their deepening problems.
问题2选项
A.Good classroom teachers.
B.Efficient administrators.
C.Talented researchers.
D.Motivated students.
问题3选项
A.They facilitate students’ independent learning.
B.They help students form closer relationships.
C.They have more older students than before.
D.They are much bigger than is desirable.
问题4选项
A.It requires talent and practice.
B.It is closely related to research.
C.It is a chief factor affecting students’ learning.
D.It can be acquired through persistent practice.
问题5选项
A.Creating an environment for teachers to share their teaching experiences.
B.Hiring more classroom teachers and allowing them to teach in their own way.
C.Using high technology in classrooms and promoting exchange of information.
D.Cutting down meetings and encouraging administrative staff to go to classrooms.
第1题:C
第2题:A
第3题:D
第4题:A
第5题:B
【定位】根据题干中的present-day universities定位至第2段。
【解析】本题询问作者对大学目前状态的看法。第2段首句先提到高等教育变成了“开会业”(has become an industry of meeting-holders);第 2 句提到，一方面教育问题日益加深(problems... have deepened), 另一方面开会的教职工人数明显增加(number of people hired... has increased significantly)。段末也提到名不副实的行政机构(administrative sham)越来越多，综合上述内容，可推断作者认为行政管理人员过多，但却不能解决实际问题，由此可知C项“大学有过多的行政人员”与原文意思相符。
【定位】根据题干中的universities lack most定位至第3段第1句。
【解析】本题询问作者认为大学最缺乏什么样的人。第3段开头，作者就提议，许多问题可以通过减少官僚机构,聘用大量优秀老师得以改善(hiring an army of good teachers)。后面进一步对其进行解释，如果把一半的行政人员替换成任课教师，这样课堂上每个老师对应的学生人数就会减少，这是有利于教学的。说明， 当前的任课教师人数偏少，这与A项“优秀的任课教师”表意一致，因此A项正确。
【定位】根据题干中的classes at present定位至第3段第2句。
【解析】本题询问作者对目前课堂有哪些暗示。第3段提到如果我们把一半的行政人员替换成任课教师，大 多数课堂可以实现每个教师对应20个或更少的学生，也就是说现在缺少足够的任课教师，所以课堂上学生人数更多，故D项“课堂比理想的规模要大”正确。
【定位】根据题干中的teaching ability定位至第4段第5句。
【解析】本题询问作者是如何看待教学能力的。第4段第5句提及教学是一门艺术、一门手艺、一项才能 (talent)和一种实践(practice)，它并不是任何人都擅长的。所以只有A项“需要天赋和实践”正确，其中复现了原文talent和practice这两个关键词。
【定位】根据题干中的 suggestion 和 improving university teaching 定位至带 3、4 段。
【解析】本题询问作者关于改善大学教学的建议是什么。第3段首句提到的offer a simple proposition “提供一个看法”与题干的suggestion对应,冒号后的建议简单来说就是减少行政人数，增加教师(cutting down the bureaucratic mechanisms and meetings and... hiring an army of good teachers)。第 4 段则继续展开该建议，开头提到必须给教师自由，让他们以自己的方式教学(teachers must be free to teach in their own way)，且课程设置应该非常灵活(the curriculum should be flexible enough) 。B 项 中的 Hiring more teachers“雇用更多的任课教师”与第 3 段对应;allowing them to teach in their own way “允许他们以自己的方式教学”则与第4段对应，故B项正确。
