英语六级(CET6)考试阅读理解预测试题及答案(4)_大学英语阅读

英语六级(CET6)考试阅读理解预测试题及答案(4)

　　There once was a time when universities took pride in their dropout rates. Professors would begin the year by saying, Look to the right and look to the left. One of you is not going to be here by the end of the year. But such a Darwinian spirit is beginning to give way as at least a few colleges face up to the graduation gap. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the gap has been roughly halved over the last three years. The university has poured resources into peer counseling to help students from inner-city schools adjust to the rigor （严格要求）and faster pace of a university classroom and also to help minority students overcome the stereotype that they are less qualified. Wisconsin has a laserlike focus on building up student skills in the first three months, according to vice provost （教务长）Damon Williams.

　　State and federal governments could sharpen that focus everywhere by broadly publishing minority graduation rates. For years private colleges such as Princeton and MIT have had success bringing minorities onto campus in the summer before freshman year to give them some prepara tory courses. The newer trend is to start recruiting poor and non-white students as early as the seventh grade, using innovative tools to identify kids with sophisticated verbal skills. Such pro grams can be expensive, of course, but cheap compared with the millions already invested in scholarships and grants for kids who have little chance to graduate without special support.