北京师范大学考博英语真题回顾

2

Pitythose who aspire to put the initials PhD after their names. After 16 years ofclosely supervised education, prospective doctors of philosophy are left moreor less alone to write the equivalent of a large book. Most social-sciencepostgraduates have still not completed their theses by the time their grantruns out after three years. They must then get a job and finish in their sparetime, which can often take a further three years. By then , most new doctorsare sick to death of the narrowly defined subject which has blighted theirholidays and ruined their evenings.

TheEconomic and Social Research Council, which gives grants to postgraduate socialscientists, wants to get better value for money by cutting short this agony. Itwould like to see faster completion rates: until recently, only about 25% ofPhD candidates were finishing within four years. The ESRC’s response has beento stop PhD grants to all institutions where the proportion taking less thanfour years is below 10%; in the first year of this policy the national averageshot up to 39%. The ESRC feels vindicated in its toughness, and willprogressively raise the threshold to 40% in two years. Unless completion ratesimprove further, this would exclude 55 out of 73 universities andpolytechnics-including Oxford University, the London School of Economics andthe London Business School.

Predictably,howls of protest have come from the universities, who view the blacklisting ofwhole institutions as arbitrary and negative. They point out that many of thebest students go quickly into jobs where they can apply their research skills,but consequently take longer to finis their theses. Polytechnics with as few astwo PhD candidates complain that they are penalized by random fluctuations instudent performance. The colleges say there is no hard evidence to prove thatfaster completion rates result from greater efficiency rather than lowerstandards or less ambitious doctoral topics.

TheESRC thinks it might not be a bad thing if PhD students were more modest intheir aims. It would prefer to see more systematic teaching of research skillsand fewer unrealistic expectations placed on young men and women who areundertaking their first piece of serious research. So in future its grants willbe given only where it is convinced that students are being trained asresearchers, rather than carrying out purely knowledge-based studies.

TheESRC can not dictate the standard of thesis required by external examiners, orforce departments to give graduates more teaching time. The most it can do isto try to persuade universities to change their ways. Recalcitrant professorsshould note that students want more research training and a less elaboratestyle of thesis, too.

21. By time new doctors get a job and tryto finish their theses in spare time, .

A. most of them died of some sickness

B. their holidays and evenings have beenruined by their jobs

C. most of them are completely tired of thenarrowly defined subject

D. most of their grants run out

22. Oxford University would be excluded outof those universities that receive PhD grants from ESRC, because the completionrate of its PhD students’ theses within four years is lower than

.

A. 25% B. 40% C. 39% D. 10%

23. All the following statements are thearguments against ESRC’s policy except .

A. all the institutions on the blacklistare arbitrary and negative

B. there is no hard evidence to prove thatfaster completion rates result from greater efficiency rather than lowerstandards or less ambitious doctoral topics.

C. many of the best students go quicklyinto jobs where they can apply their research skills, but consequently takelonger to finish their theses.

D. some polytechnics are penalized byrandom fluctuations in student performance

24. The ESRC would prefer .

A. that the students were carrying outpurely knowledge-based studies rather than being trained as researchers.

B. to see higher standards of PhD students’theses and more ambitious doctoral topics

C. more systematic teaching of researchskills to fewer unrealistic expectations placed on inexperienced young PhDstudents.

D. that PhD students were less modest intheir aims

25. what the ESRC can do is to .

A. force departments to give graduates moreteaching time

B. try to persuade universities to changetheir ways

C. dictate the standard of thesis requiredby external examiners

D. note that students want more researchtraining and less elaborate style of thesis

考博必备！历年真题及答案

考博精品好课，就选新东方！