2011年6月英语六级考试真题试卷 - 快速阅读

Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)

Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A) , B) , C) and D) . For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.



American universities are accepting more minorities than ever. Graduating them is another matter

Bill Mills, the president of Bowdoin Colledge, was justifiably proud of Bowdoin's efforts to recruit minority students. Since 2003 the small, elite liberal arts school in Brunswick, Maine, has boosted the proportion of so-called under-represented minority students in entering freshman classes from 8% to 13%. "It is our responsibility to reach out and attract students to come to our kinds of places," he told a NEWSWEEK reporter. But Bowdion has well when it comes to actually graduating minorities. While 9 out of 10 black students routinely get their diplomas within six years, only 7 out of 10 black students made it to graduation day in several recent classes.

"If you look at who enters college, it now looks like America," says Hilary Pennington, director of postsecondary programs for the Bill&Melinda; Gates Foundation, which has closely studied enrollment paterns in higher education. But if you look at who walks across the stage for a diploma, it's still largely the white upper-income populaion."

The United States once had the highest graduation rate of any nation. Now it stands 10th. For the first time in American history, there is the risk that the rising generation will be less well educated than the previous one. The graduation rate among 25- to 34-year-olds is no better than the rate for the 55-to 64-year-olds who were going to college more than 30 years ago. Studies show that more and more poor and non-white students want to graduate from college-but their graduation rated fall far short of their dreams. The graduation rates for whites and Asians. As the minority population grows in the United States, low college graduation rates become a threat to national prosperity.

The problem is pronounced at public universities. In 2007 the University of Wisconsin-Madison-one of the top five or so prestigious public universties-graduated 81% of its white students within six years, but only 56% of its blacks. At less-selective state schools, the numbers get worse. During the same time frame, the University of Northern lowa graduated 67% of its white students, but only 39% of its blacks. Community colleges have low graduation rates generally-but rockbottom rates for minorities. A recent review of California community colleges found that while a third of the Asian students picked up their degrees, only 15% of African Americans did so as well.

Private colleges and universities generally do better, offer smaller classes and more personal attention. But when it comes to a significant graduation gap, Bowdoin had company. Nearby Colby College logged an 18-point difference between white and black graduates in 2007 and 25 points in 2006. Middlebury College in Vermont, another top school, had a 19-point gap in 2007 and a 22-points in 2006. The most selective private schools-Harvard, Yale, and Princeton show almost no gap between black and white gradation rates. But that may have more to do with their ability to select the best students. According to data gathered by Harvard Law School professor Lani Guinier, the most selective schools are more likely to choose blacks who have at least one immigrant parent from Africa or the Caribbean than black students who are descendants of American slaves.

"Higher education has been able to duck this issue for years, paticularly the more selective schools, by saying the responsibility is on the individual student," says Pennington of the Gates Foundation." If they fail, it's their fault." Some critics blame afformative action-students admitted with lower test scores and grades from shaky high schools often struggle at elite schools. But a bigger problem may be that poorhigh schools often send their students to colleges for which they are "undermatched", they could get into more elite, richer schoold, but instedad go to community colleges and low-rated state schools that lack the resources to help them. Some schools out for profit cynically increase tuitions and count on student loans and federal aid to foot the bill-knowing full well that the students won't make it. " The school keeps the money, but the kid leaves with loads of debt and no degree and no ability to get a better job. College are not holding up their end," says Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust. A college education is getting ever more expensive, Since 1982 tuitions have been rising at roughly twice the rate of inflation. In 2008 the net cost of attending a four-year public university-after financial aid-equaled 28% of median (中间的) family income, while a four-year private university cost 76% of median family income. More and more scholarships are based on merit, not need. Poorer students are not always the best-informed cunsumers. Often they wind up deeply in debt or simply unable to pay after a year or two and must drop out.

There once was a time when universities took pride in their dropout rates. Professors would begin the year by saying ,"Look to the right and look to the left. One of you is not going to be here by the end of the year." But such a Darwinian spirit is beginning to give way as at least a few colleges face up to the graduation gap. At the university of Wisconsin Madison, the gap has beeen roughly halved over the last three years. The university had poured resources into peer counseling to help students from inner-city schools adjust to the rigor(严格要求) and faster pace of a university classroon-and also to help minority students overcome the stereotype that they are less qualified. Wisconsin has a "laserlike focus" on building up student skills in the first three months, according to vice provost （教务长）Damon Williams.

State and federal governments could sharpen that focus everywhere by broadly publishing minority graduation rates. For years private colleges such as Princeton and MIT have has success bringing minorities onto campus in freshman year to give them some preparatory courses. The newer trend is to start recruiting poor and no-white students as early as the seventy grade, using innovative tools to identify kids with sophisticated verbal skills. Such programs can be expensive, of course but cheap compared with the millions already invested in scholarships and grants for kids who have little chance to graduate without special support.

With efforts and money, the graduation gap can be closed. Washington and Lee is a small, selective school in Lexington.Va. Its student body is less than 5% black and less than 2% Latino. While the school usually graduated about 90% of its whites, the graduation rate of its blacks and Latinos had dipped to 63% by 2007. "We went through a dramatic shift," says Dawn watkins the vice president for student affairs. The school aggressively pushed mentoring of minorities by other students and "partnering" with parents at a special pre-enrollment session. The school had its first-ever black homecoming. Last spring the school graduated the same proportion of minorities as it did whites. If the United States wants to keep up in the global economic race, it will have to pay systematic attention to graduating manorities, not just enrolling them.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

1. What is the author's main concern about American higher education?
A) The small proportion of minority students.
B) The low graduation rates of minority students.
C) The growing conflicts among ethnic groups.
D) The poor academic performance of students.

2. What was the pride of President Barry Mills of Bowdoin College?
A) The prestige of its liberal arts programs.
B) Its ranking among universities in Maine.
C) The high graduation rates of its students.
D) Its increased enrollment of minority students.

3. What is the risk facing America?
A) Its schools will be overwhelmed by the growing number of illegal immigrants.
B) The rising generation will be less well educated than the previous one.
C) More poor and non-white students will be denied access to college.
D) It is going to lose its competitive edge in higher education.

4. How many African-American students earned their degrees in California community colleges according to a recent review?
A) Fifty-six percent.
B) Thirty-nine percent.
C) Fifteen percent.
D) Sixty-seven percent.

5. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton show almost no gap between black and white graduation rates mainly because ________.
A) their students work harder
B) they recruit the best students
C) their classes are generally smaller
D) they give students more attention

6. How does Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust view minority students' failure to get a degree?
A) Universities are to blame.
B) Students don't work hard.
C) The government fails to provide the necessary support.
D) Affirmative action should be held responsible.

7. Why do some students drop out after a year or two according to the author?
A) They have lost confidence in themselves.
B) They cannot afford the high tuition.
C) They cannot adapt to the rigor of the school.
D) They fail to develop interest in their studies.

8. To tackle the problem of graduation gap, the University of Wisconsin-Madison helps minority students get over the stereotype that ____.
9. For years, private colleges such as Princeton and MIT have provided minority students with ___during freshman year.
10. Washington and Lee University is cited as an example to show that the gap of graduation ratesd between whites and minorities can _____.

【参考答案】
8. they are loss qualified
9. preparatory courses
10. be closed