2015考研英语二阅读：Text 2

　　Text 2

　　For years，studies have found that fiest-generation college students – those who do not have a parent with a college – lag other students on a range of education achievement factors. Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are higher. But since such students are most likely to advance economically if they succeed in higher education, colleges and universities have pushed for decades to recuit more of them.. This has created “a paradox” in that recruiting first-generation students, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has “continued to reproduce and whden, rather than close” an achievement gap based on social class, according to the depressing beginning ofa paper forthcoming in the joutnal Psychological Science.

　　But the article is actually quite optimisitic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem, suggesting that an approach (which involves a one-hour, next-to-no-cost program) can close 63 percent of the achievement gap (measured by such factors as grades) between first-generation and other students.

　　The authors of the paper are from different universities, and their finding are based on a study invoving 147 students (who completed the project) at an unnamed private university. First generation was defined as not having a parent with a four-year college degree. Most of the first-generation students (59.1 percent) were recipients of Pell Grants, a federal grant for undergraduates with at least one parent with a four-year degree.

　　Their thesis – that a relatively modest intervention could have a big impact – was based on the view that first-generation students may be most lacking not in potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face most college students. They cite past research by several authors to show that this is the gap that must be narrowed to close the achievenebt gap.

　　Many first-generation students “struggle to navigate the middle-class culture of higher education, learn the ‘rules of the game,’ abd take advantage of college resources,” they write.And this becomes more of a problem when college don’t talk about the class advantages and disadvantages of diffierent groups of students. “Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can affect about why they are struggling and do not understand how students ‘like them’ can improve.

　　26 Recruiting more first-generation students has__________

　　A. reduced their dropout rates

　　B.narrowed the achievement gap

　　C.missed its original purpose

　　D.depressed college students

　　27 The authors of the research article are optimisitic because_________

　　A.the problem is solvable

　　B. their approach is costless

　　C.the recruiting rate has increased

　　D.their finding appeal to students

　　28 The study suggests that most first-generation students_________

　　A.study at private universities

　　B.are from single-parent families

　　C.are in need of financial support

　　D.have failed their college

　　29 The authors of the paper believe that first-generation students_________

　　A are actually indifferent to the achievement gap

　　B.can have a potential influence on other students

　　C.may lack opportunities to apply for research projects

　　D.are inexperienced in handing their issues at college

　　30 We may infer from the last paragraph that_________

　　A. universities often reject the culture of the middle-class

　　B.students are usually to blame for their lack of resources

　　C.social class greatly helps enrich educational experiences

　　D.colleges are partly responsible for the problem in question