2014年12月英语六级听力真题：短文一（网友版）

英语自学网

　　
       
                　　Many foreign students are attracted not only to the academic programs at a
particular U.S. college but also to the larger community, which affords the
chance to soak up the surrounding culture. Few foreign universities put much
emphasis on the cozy communal life that characterizes American campuses from
clubs and sports teams to student publications and drama societies. “The campus
and the American university have become identical in people’s minds,” says Brown
University President Vartan Gregorian. “In America it is assumed that a
student’s daily life is as important as his learning experience.”
       
       
                　　Foreign students also come in search of choices. America’s menu of
options—research universities, state institutions, private liberal-arts schools,
community colleges, religious institutions, military academies—is unrivaled. “In
Europe,” says history professor Jonathan Steinberg, who has taught at both
Harvard and Cambridge, “there is one system, and that is it.” While students
overseas usually must demonstrate expertise in a specific field, whether law or
philosophy or chemistry, most American universities insist that students sample
natural and social sciences, languages and literature before choosing a field of
concentration.
       
       
                　　Such opposing philosophies grow out of different traditions and power
structures. In Europe and Japan, universities are answerable only to a ministry
of education, which sets academic standards and distributes money.
       
       
                　　While centralization ensures that all students are equipped with roughly
the same resources and perform at roughly the same level, it also discourages
experimentation. “When they make mistakes, they make big ones,” says Robert
Rosenzweig, president of the Association of American Universities. “They set a
system in wrong directions, and it’s like steering a supertanker.”
       
       
                　　16. What does the speaker say characterizes American campuses?
       
       
                　　17. What does Brown University president Vartan Gregorian say about
students' daily life?
       
       
                　　18. In what way is the United States unrivaled according to the
speaker?
       
       
                　　19. What does the speaker say about universities in Europe and Japan?