2015考研英语阅读集中练Capital of Culture_大学英语阅读

2015考研英语阅读集中练Capital of Culture

　　Washington still bows the knee to New York and Chicago when it comes to culture. But it has a good claim to be America s intellectual capital. It has the greatest collection of think-tanks on the planet, and it regularly sucks in a giant share of the country s best brains. Washington is second only to San Francisco for the proportion of residents 25 years and older with a bachelor s degree or higher.

　　Washington s intellectual life has been supercharged during the Bush years, despite the Decider s aversion to ideas. September 11th, 2001, put questions of global strategy at the centre of the national debate. Most of America s intellectual centres are firmly in the grip of the left-liberal establishment. For all their talk of diversity American universities are allergic to a diversity of ideas. Washington is one of the few cities where conservatives regularly do battle with liberals. It is also the centre of a fierce debate about the future direction of conservatism.

　　The danger for Washington is that this intellectual and cultural renaissance will leave the majority of the citizens untouched. The capital remains a city deeply divided between over-educated white itinerants and under-educated black locals. Still, the new Shakespeare theatre is part of job-generating downtown revival. Twenty years ago downtown was a desert of dilapidated buildings and bag people. Today it is bustling with life. If Washington is struggling to fix the world, at least it is making a reasonable job of fixing itself.