①Hartwick college, a small liberal-arts school in upstate New York, makes this offer to well-prepared students: earn your undergraduate deGREe in three years instead of four, (1) and save about $43,000—the amount of one year's tuition and fees. A number of innovative colleges are making the same offer to students anxious about saving time and money. And that's both an opportunity and a warning for the best higher-education system in the world.
②The United States has almost all of the world's best universities. A recent Chinese survey ranks 35 American universities among the top 50, eight among the top 10. Our research universities have been the key to developing the competitive advantages that help Americans produce 25 percent of all the world's wealth. In 2007, 623,805 of the world's brightest students were attrACTed to American universities.
③Yet, there are signs of peril within American higher education. U.S. colleges have to compete in a marketplace. Students may choose among 6,000 public, private, nonprofit, for-profit, or religious institutions of higher learning. In addition, almost all of the $32 billion the federal government provides for university research is awarded competitively.
④ (2) But many colleges and universities are stuck in the past. For instance, the idea of the fall-to-spring "school year" hasn't changed much since before the American Revolution, when we were a nation of farmers and students put their books away to work the soil during the summer. That long summer stretch no longer makes sense. Former George Washington University president Stephen J. Trachtenberg estimates that a typical college uses its facilities for academic purposes a little more than half the calendar year. "While college facilities sit idle, they continue to generate maintenance expenses that contribute to the high cost of running a college," he has written.
⑤Within academic departments, tenure, combined with age-discrimination laws, make faculty turnover—critical for a university to remain current in changing times—difficult. (3) Instead of protecting speech and encouraging persity and innovative thinking, the tenure system often stifles them: younger professors must win the approval of established colleagues for tenure, encouraging likemindedness and sometimes inhibiting the free flow of ideas.
⑥Meanwhile, tuition has soared, leaving graduating students with unprecedented loan debt. Strong campus presidents to manage these problems are becoming harder to find, and to keep. In fACT, students now stay on campus almost as long as their presidents. The average amount of time students now take to complete an undergraduate deGREe has stretched to six years and seven months as students interrupted by work, inconvenienced by unavailable classes, or lured by one more football season find it hard to graduate.
⑦ConGREss has tried to help students with college costs through Pell Grants and other forms of tuition support. But some of their fixes have made the problem worse. The stack of conGREssional regulations governing federal student grants and loans now stands twice as tall as I do. filling out these forms consumes 7 percent of every tuition dollar.
⑧For all of these reasons, some colleges like Hartwick are rethinking the old way of doing things and questioning decades-old assumptions about what a college deGREe means. For instance, why does it have to take four years to earn a diploma? This fall, 16 first-year students and four second-year students at Hartwick, enrolled in the school's new three-year deGREe program. According to the college, the plan is designed for high-ability, highly motivated students who wish to save money or to move along more rapidly toward advanced deGREes.
⑨By eliminating that extra year, three-year deGREe students save 25 percent in costs. (4) Instead of taking 30 credits a year, these students take 40. During January, Hartwick runs a four-week course during which students may earn three to four credits on or off campus, including a number of international sites. Summer courses are not required, but a student may enroll in them—and pay extra. Three-year students get first crack at course registration. There are no changes in the number of courses professors teach or in their pay.
⑩The three-year deGREe isn't a new idea. Geniuses have always breezed through. (5) Judson College, a 350-student institution in Alabama, has offered students a three-year option for 40 years. Students attend "short terms" in May and June to earn the credits required for graduation. Bates College in Maine and Ball State University in Indiana are among other colleges offering three-year options.
11. (6) Changes at the high-school level are also helping to make it easier for many students to earn their undergrad deGREes in less time. One of five students arrives at college today with Advanced Placement credits amounting to a semester or more of college-level work. Many universities, including large schools like the University of Texas, make it easy for these AP students to graduate faster.
12.For students who don't plan to stop with an undergraduate deGREe, the three-year plan may have an even GREater appeal. Dr. John Sergent, head of Vanderbilt University Medical School's residency program, enrolled in Vanderbilt's undergraduate college in 1959. He entered medical school after only three years as did "four or five of my classmates." My first year of medical school counted as my senior year, which meant I had to take three to four labs a week to get all my sciences in. I basically skipped my senior year." says Sergent he still had time to be a student senator and meet his wife
13.There are, however, drawbacks to moving through school at such a brisk pace. (7) For one, it deprives students of the luxury of time to roam intellectually. Compressing everything into three years also leaves less time for growing up, engaging in extracurricular ACTivities, and studying abroad. On crowded campuses it could mean fewer opportunities to get into a prized professor's class. Iowa's Waldorf College has graduated several hundred students in its three-year-deGREe programs, but is now phasing out the option. Most Waldorf students wanted the full four-year experience—academically, socially, and athletically. (8) And faculty members will be wary of any change that threatens the core curriculum in the name of moving students into the workforce.
14."Most high governmental officials who speak of education policy seem to conceive of education in this light—as a way to ensure economic competitiveness and continued economic growth," Derek Bok, president emeritus of Harvard told The Washington Post. "I strongly disaGREe with this approach." Another risk: the new campus schedules might eventually produce less revenue for the institution and longer working hours for faculty members.
15.Adopting a three-year option will not come easily to most schools. Those that wish to tackle tradition and make American campuses more cost-conscious may find it easier to take Trachtenberg's advice: open campuses year-round. "You could run two complete colleges, with two complete faculties, he says. "That's without cutting the length of students' vacations, increasing class sizes, or requiring faculty to teach more.
16.Whether they experiment with three-year deGREes, offer year-round classes, challenge the tenure system—or all of the above—(9) universities are slowly realizing that to stay competitive and relevant they must adapt to a rapidly changing world.
17.Expanding the three-year option or year-round schedules may be difficult, but it may be less difficult than asking ConGREss for additional help asking legislators for more state support, or asking students for even higher tuition payments. (10) Campuses willing to adopt convenient schedules along with more-focused, less-expensive deGREes may find that they have a competitive advantage in attrACTing bright, motivated students. These sorts of innovations can help American universities avoid the perils of success.
1. Why did Hartwick College start three-year deGREe programs?
A. To create chances for the poor.
B. To enroll more students.
C. To cut students’ expenses.
D. To solve its financial problems.
答案：C
解析：定位至首段首句后半部分。
2. By quoting Stephen Trachtenberg the author wants to say that__________.
A. American universities are resistant to change
B. the summer vacation contributes to student growth
C. college facilities could be put to more effective use
D. the costs of running a university are soaring
答案：C
解析：Stephen Trachtenberg定位至第4段。四段首句是段落中心句，后面的论据都支持这个观点即很多大学还保留着过去的模式。引言表明对于教学设施的实用也停留于过去，言下之意改变不够，可以变的更好。答案A拒绝改变有一定干扰性，但“拒绝”跟观点对应不上。
3. The author thinks the tenure system in American universities_________.
A. suppresses creative thinking
B. creates conflicts among colleagues
C. guarantees academic freedom
D. is a sign of age discrimination
答案：A
解析：tenure定位至五段，重点在段中Instead of转折之后，creative改写原文innovative，suppress改写原文stifle。
4. What is said about the new three-year deGREe program at Hartwick?
A. Its students have to earn more credits each year.
B. Non-credit courses are eliminated altogether.
C. Its faculty members teach more hours a week.
D. Some summer courses are offered free of charge.
答案：A
解析：对应第九段第二句。
5. What do we learn about Judson College’s three-year deGREe program?
A. It has been running for several decades.
B. It is open to the brightest students only.
C. It is the most successful in the country.
D. It has many prACTical course on offer.
答案：A
解析：Judson定位至第十段第二句，该句提出该学校运行三年学位计划已经40年。
6. What changes in high schools help students earn undergraduate deGREe in three years?
A. Curriculums have been adapted to students’ needs.
B. More students have Advanced Placement credits.
C. More elective courses are offered in high school.
D. The overall quality of education has improved.
答案：B
解析：high school定位至第十一段，整段就只提到一个因素即AP课程，其他选项都没有来源。
7. What is said to be a drawback of the three-year college program?
A. Students have to cope with too heavy a workload.
B. Students don’t have much time to roam intellectually.
C. Students have little time to gain prACTical experience.
D. Students don’t have prized professors to teach them.
答案：B
解析：drawbacks定位至第十三段首句，第二句开始列举drawback，即是B选项。
8. College faculty members are afraid that the pretext of moving students into the workforce might pose a threat to ____________.
答案：the core curriculum
解析：题干定位至十三段末句，该句提到收到威胁地即是the core curriculum。
9. Universities are increasingly aware that they must adapt to a rapidly changing world in order to __________.
答案：stay competitive and relevant
解析：题干定位句十六段末，答案即是该句中唯一的不定式表目的。
10. Convenient academic schedules with more-focused, less-expensive deGREes will be more attrACTive to _______.
答案：bright, motivated students
解析：题干定位至末段倒数第二句，答案即是attrACT后的内容
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