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　　As college students head back to school, the more sensible of them are wondering how they will pay for the privilege. There are some 21.5 million students in the United States this year, and many of them will be funding their college careers on borrowed money. Given that there is at present more than $1.3 trillion in student loans on the books, it's pretty clear that many college students are far from sensible.

　　The average student's debt upon graduation now approaches $40,000, and as college becomes ever more common and expensive, calls to make it "free" seem to be multiplying. Even Hillary Clinton says that when it comes to college, "Costs won't be a barrier."

　　But the only way college could be free is if the faculty and staff donated their time, the buildings required no maintenance, the campuses required no heating, cooling, or utilities of any kind, and every other expense simply disappeared. As long as it is impossible to produce something from nothing, though, costs are absolutely a barrier. The actual question we debate, regardless of whether we admit it, is who should pay for people to go to college. If students do not shoulder the cost, that cost will be shifted to someone else. And this is where things get interesting. No one seems to take the idea of free college for everyone seriously, but the idea of student loan forgiveness has somehow gained traction. In the end, though, it amounts to the same thing: The American taxpayer will be left holding a very expensive bag. But if taxpayers are to bear the cost of student loan forgiveness, shouldn't they have a say in how their money is used?

　　At a bare minimum, taxpayers should be able to decide what students will study on the public dime. If we are going to force taxpayers to foot the bill for college degrees, students should only study those subjects that are of greatest benefit to the taxpayers. After all, students making their own choices in this respect is what gave us the student loan problem in the first place. We simply do not need more poetry, gender studies, or sociology majors. Starbucks is fully stocked with baristas for the foreseeable future.

　　How do we know which subjects benefit society? Easy. Average starting salaries give a clear indication of what type of training society needs its new workers to have. Certainly, there are benefits to a college major beyond the job a student can perform. But if we're talking about the benefits to society - as opposed to the benefits to the student - the only thing that matters is what the major enables the student to produce for society. And the value of what the student can produce is reflected in the wage employers are willing to pay the student to produce it.

　　Today's wages tell us that we could use more computer engineers (average starting salary $65,000), nurses ($55,000), and statisticians ($53,000), and far fewer criminal justice majors ($35,000), social workers ($33,000), and elementary education majors ($32,000).

　　A low wage does not mean, for example, that elementary education isn't important. It is. A low wage simply means that there are already so many people in the market trained to teach elementary school that we don't need more of them. Meanwhile, there are few who are willing and able to perform jobs requiring a petroleum engineering major, so the value of one more of those people is very high (average starting salary, $103,000).

　　So we can go this way. We can have taxpayers pick up students' tuition in exchange for dictating what those students will study. Or we can allow students both to choose their majors and pay for their educations themselves. But in the end, one of two things is true: Either a college major is worth its cost or it isn't. If the major is worth its cost, taxpayer financing isn't needed. If the major is not worth its cost, taxpayer financing isn't desirable. Either way, taxpayers have no business paying for students' educations.

　　51. What does the author think of college students funding their education through loans?

　　B) They are acting in an irrational way.

　　52. In the author’ s opinion, free college education is ______.

　　A)impractical

　　53. What should students do if taxpayers are to bear their college costs?

　　C) Choose majors that will serve society’s practical needs.

　　54. What does the author say about the value of a student’s college education?

　　C) It is well reflected in their average starting salary.

　　55. What message does the author want to convey in the passage?

　　D) College students should fund their own education.

　　51答案：B) They are acting in an irrational way.

　　定位：根據(jù)題干信息college students funding their education through loans定位到文章段第二句“many of them will be funding their college careers on borrowed money.”和段第三句Given that there is at present more than $1.3 trillion in student loans on the books。

　　解析：作者態(tài)度題。根據(jù)定位句位置找到作者對于college students funding their education through loans的評價相關的句子，即段第三句后半部分“it's pretty clear that many college students are far from sensible.”翻譯為：顯然，許多大學生在這一方面(指代前面提到的大學生通過資助自己上學這件事)是不明智的”，即作者的態(tài)度。所以B正確，其中選項中的irrational(不合理的，荒謬的)是對far from sensible(sensible明智的，合乎情理的，far from 遠非)的同意替換。

　　52答案：A)impractical

　　定位：根據(jù)題干信息author’ s opinion, free college education，定位到第二段第二行“calls to make it "free" seem to be multiplying”和第三段句“But the only way college could be free is if the faculty and staff donated their time, the buildings required no maintenance, the campuses required no heating, cooling, or utilities of any kind, and every other expense simply disappeared”

　　解析：作者態(tài)度題。根據(jù)定位句位置找到作者對于“free college education”的評價句子有，“calls to make it "free" seem to be multiplying”和“But the only way college could be free is if the faculty and staff donated their time, the buildings required no maintenance, the campuses required no heating, cooling, or utilities of any kind, and every other expense simply disappeared。As long as it is impossible to produce something from nothing, though, costs are absolutely a barrier”翻譯為：“號召大學教育免費的呼聲越來越高”，“但是實現(xiàn)大學教育免費的辦法是教職員工奉獻他們的時間，教學辦公樓無需維修，校園不需要供應冷氣或暖氣，亦或所有的公用事業(yè)費和其他的費用都不存在了。既然不可能不付出任何代價就有成果，所以學費是個問題。”可以看出作者認為free college education是不切實際的，故B為正確答案，其中，impossible對應impractical(不現(xiàn)實的)。

　　53答案：C) Choose majors that will serve society’s practical needs.

　　定位：根據(jù)題干信息students ，if taxpayers bear their college costs，定位到第4段第2句“If we are going to force taxpayers to foot the bill for college degrees, students should only study those subjects that are of greatest benefit to the taxpayers.”以及第五段二句對subject的解釋“How do we know which subjects benefit society? Easy”

　　解析：細節(jié)題。根據(jù)定位信息，“If we are going to force taxpayers to foot the bill for college degrees, students should only study those subjects that are of greatest benefit to the taxpayers.”可以得知：大學生應該學習那些對于納稅人有利的科目。后面進一步解釋，即對社會有益的科目，綜合來看，C為正確選項。其中“serve society’s practical needs”為“benefit society”的同意改寫。

　　54答案：C) It is well reflected in their average starting salary.

　　定位：根據(jù)題干信息the value of a student’s college education 定位到第五段最后一句“And the value of what the student can produce is reflected in the wage employers are willing to pay the student to produce it.”

　　解析：細節(jié)題。根據(jù)定位句得知：大學生所能創(chuàng)造出的價值(即題干中大學教育的價值)體現(xiàn)在雇主會支付給他們的工資中。結合該段開頭，Average starting salaries give a clear indication of what type of training society needs its new workers to have.”大學生的平均起薪會清晰地體現(xiàn)社會需要這些剛入職場的員工所應具備的素質�？芍�答案為C.

　　55答案：D) College students should fund their own education.

　　定位：根據(jù)題干信息可以判斷，本題需結合段落大意和文章行文邏輯關系進行解答。

　　解析：主旨題。段引出大學生通過向外求助上學這一話題。第二三段指出免費的大學教育是不現(xiàn)實的，并指出納稅人資助這一現(xiàn)象。第四五段指出納稅人，作為資助者有權利決定學生們所學科目，并解釋了對社會有利的科目的衡量標準：工資。第六七段指出工資高低分布的不同工作及與教育的關系。最后一段得出結論：綜合來看。納稅人資助上學是沒有必要的。所以結論為大學生應該自助接受教育。故答案為D。

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