2014年下半年大学英语四级考试阅读提升训练（七）_第3页

　　Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage:

　　One of the most interesting paradoxes(逆说)in America today is that Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, is now engaged in serious debate about what a university should be, and whether it is measuring up.

　　Like the Roman Catholic(天主教的)Church and other ancient institutions, it is asking-still in private rather than in public-whether its past assumptions about faculty, authority, admissions, courses of study, are really relevant to the problems of the 1980's.

　　Should Harvard-or any other university-be an intellectual sanctuary(圣坛), apart from the political and social revolution of the age, or should it be a laboratory for experimentation with these political and social revolutions, or even an engine of the revolution? This is what is being discussed privately in the big houses of faculty members around the Harvard Yard.

　　The issue was defined by Walter lippmann, a distinguished Harvard graduate, several years ago.

　　"If the universities are to do their work, " he said, "they must be independent and they must be disinterested--- They are places to which men can turn for judgements which are unbiased by special interest. Obviously, the moment the universities fall under political control, or under the control of private interest, or the moment they themselves take a hand in politics and the leadership of government, their value as independent and disinterested sources of judgement is weakened --- "

　　This is part of the argument that is going on at Harvard today. Another part is the argument among the students that a university is the keeper of our ideals and morals, and should not be "disinterested" but activist in bringing the nation's ideals and actions together.

　　Harvard's men of today seem more troubled and less sure about personal, political and acadimic purpose than they did at the beginning. They are not even clear about how they should debate and resolve their problems, but they are struggling with them privately, and how they come out is bound to influence American university and political life in the 1980's.

　　11.The issues in the debates on Harvard's goals are whether the universities should remain independent of society and its problems, and whether they should ________.

　　A) fight for freedom

　　B) overcome the widespread drug dependency(依赖)

　　C) take an active part in solving society's problems

　　D) support our old and established institutions

　　12.In regard to their goals and purposes in life, the author believes that Harvard men are becoming _______.

　　A) more sure about them

　　B) less sure about them

　　C) more hopeful of reaching a satisfactory answer

　　D) completely disappointed at ever reaching a satisfactory answer

　　13.A "paradox" is ________.

　　A) an unusual situation

　　B) a parenthetical(插入成分的)expression

　　C) an abnormal condition

　　D) a self-contradiction

　　14.In the author's judgement, the argument going on at Havard ________.

　　A) is a sad symbol of our general bewilderment(迷惑)

　　B) will soon be over, because times are bound to change

　　C) is of interest mostly to Harvard men and their friends

　　D) will influence future life in America

　　15.As used in the passage, the expression "is bound to" means________.

　　A) is certain to

　　B) is sure of

　　C) is necessary to

　　D) is essential to