The U.S. Department of Labor statistics(统计) show that there is an oversupply of college trained workers and that this oversupply is increasing. Already there have been more than enough teachers, engineers, physicists, aerospace experts, and other specialists. Yet colleges and graduate schools continue every year to turn out highly trained people to pete for jobs that aren’t there. The result is that graduates cannot enter the professions for which they were trained and must take temporary jobs which do not require a college degree.
On the other hand, there is a great need for skilled workers of all sorts: carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, TV repairmen. These people have more work than they can deal with, and their annual ines are often higher than those of college graduates. The old gap that white —collar workers make a better living than blue collar workers no longer holds true. The law of supply and demand now favors the skilled workmen.
The reason for this situation is the traditional myth that college degree is a passport to a prosperous future. A large part of American society matches success in life equally with a college degree. Parents begin indoctrinating(灌输) their children with this myth before they are out of grade school. High school teachers play their part by acting as if high school education were a preparation for college rather than for life. Under this pressure the kids fall in line. Whether they want to go to college or not doesn’t matter. Everybody should go to college, so of course they must go. And every year college enrollments(入学) go up and up, and more and more graduates are overeducated for the kinds of jobs available to them.
One result of this emphasis on a college education is that many people go to college who do not belong there. Of the sixty percent of high school graduates who enter college, half of them do not graduate with their class. Many of them drop out within the first year. Some struggle on for two or three years and then give up.
【小题1】It’s implied but not stated in the passage that .A．many other countries are facing the same problemB．white-collar workers in the US used to make more money than blue-collar workersC．fewer students will prefer to go to college in the futureD．the law of supply and demand has a strong effect on American higher education【小题2】Which of the following is NOT a reason why college enrollments go up every year？ A．Many people believe that the only way to success is a college education.B．Many parents want their children to go to college.C．High school teachers urge their students to go to college.D．Every young man and woman wants to go to college.【小题3】By saying that “many people go to college who do not belong there”, the author means that .A．many people who are not fit for college education go to collegeB．many people who do not have enough money go to collegeC．many people who go to college drop out within the first yearD．many people who go to college have their hopes destroyed【小题4】We can infer from the passage that the author believes that .A．every young man and woman should go to collegeB．college education is a bad thingC．people with a college education should receive higher payD．fewer people should go to college while more should be trained for skilled jobsB
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(答案→)B
解析：
本文通过调查分析告诉人们要改变传统观念应首先考虑选择技术工作的培训—因为它人才缺乏，待遇更高。
【小题1】推断题。阅读全文可知A、C 原文没有提到，D 在原文已明确提到，再根据 The old gap that white-collar workers make a better living than blue collar workers no longer holds true. The law of supply and demand now favors the skilled workmen 可推知在人们的眼中，白领工人以前比蓝领工人赚钱多，故B 为正确选项。
【小题2】细节题。根据Whether they want to go to college or not doesn’t matter. Everybody should go to college, so of course they must go 可知上大学不是出于学生本意，而是出于父母及学校等方面的压力，可见D 不是大学入学人数增加的原因。
【小题3】推断题。根据最后一段Of the sixty percent of high school graduates who enter college, half of them do not graduate with their class. Many of them drop out within the first year. Some struggle on for two or three years and then give up 可知作者列举了三种情况，说明有些人不适合大学教育，故选A。
【小题4】推断题。阅读全文可知作者通过调查告诉人们大学教育人才过多，而技术工人又非常缺乏，因而待遇反而更高；接着又分析了造成这种状况的传统观念；最后还谈到了很多上了大学却因种种原因无法完成学业，所有这些都在暗示人们上大学的人应该减少，而参加技术工作培训的人应该增多，故选D。