美國高校正努力增加男大學生人數

黃連英

Gates is 18 years old and lives in Chicago， Illinois. His family wants him to go to college in the fall. But Gates is thinking about going to a trade school instead. He says he worries about the cost of college and is not sure if it will be valuable to him.

Women now make up about 58 percent of U.S. college undergraduates. That information comes from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The percentage of men in higher education is getting smaller each year.

College officials say some ideas about men and boys add to the enrollment difficulties. Rick Childers， a college teacher said many male students he meets face the same outdated ideas about masculinity that he did. In that old way of thinking， going to college was not something a strong man would do.

Ioakim Boutakidis， a professor of California State University Fullerton noted that some officials think men already have more advantages than women. As a result， those schools may be less likely to offer special support for male students. Overall， men of color are less likely to attend college than white men. Because of this， Boutakidis said he thinks schools should focus on men of color first.

Some colleges across the country have started to do that. Californias large community college system has increased support of its A2MEND program. The program aims to attract and keep Black men.

One way it does this is by giving one-on-one mentoring and providing places for the students to meet. The program hopes this will make Black students feel welcome and build a sense of community. Amanuel Gebru， president of the A2MEND board said he thinks colleges should hire more Black professors.

In New Jersey， Montclair State University has tried several ways to attract male students from communities in that state. This includes providing tutoring， counseling， food and other things students need.

But many communities still believe men do not belong in college， said assistant provost Daniel Jean. “Theres an anti-intellectual environment thats gotten worse，” he said. “The definition of manhood is often flawed.”

（材料來自“51VOA”網站，有刪改）

1. Whats the function of the first paragraph？

A. To introduce the topic.

B. To tell us the authors opinion.

C. To give background information.

D. To arouse the readers interest.

2. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 3 and Paragraph 4？

A. The difficulties with male students to enroll for a college.

B. The measures some colleges take to attract male students.

C. The reasons for the decrease of male college undergraduates.

D. The outdated ideas preventing male students from going to college.

3. Which of the following isnt included in the A2MEND programme？

A. Providing one-on-one instruction.

B. Providing food that students need.

C. Providing places for the students to meet.

D. Developing studentss sense of community.

4. What does Daniel Jean think of the percentage of men in higher education？

A. Itll be much larger.

B. Itll be enlarged little by little.

C. Itll be the same as before.

D. It may be smaller than before.

參考答案

1. A。解析：推理判斷題。材料第一段提到Gates的家人希望他去上大學，但是他正在考慮去一所職業學校。由此引出話題：接受高等教育的男性比例逐年下降。故選A。

2. C。解析：推理判斷題。材料第三段主要講述了有關上大學的一些錯誤觀念導致一些男生不想上大學；材料第四段提到一些高校對男學生不夠關注，不大可能提供任何特殊幫助。綜合起來看，這兩段解釋了接受高等教育的男性比例逐年下降的原因。故選C。

3. B。解析：細節理解題。根據材料第六段的第一個和第二個句子，我們可知A、C、D選項都與A2MEND項目有關。根據材料倒數第二段，我們可知B選項的內容是Montclair State University采取的措施。故選B。

4. D。解析：觀點態度題。根據最后一段中Daniel Jean所說的話，我們可知Daniel Jean認為“反智”環境變得越來越糟糕，男子氣概的定義往往是有缺陷的。這就意味著他認為高校里男大學生比例下降的可能性更大。故選D。