Text2With the extension of democratic rights in the first half of the nineteenth century and the ensuing decline of the Federalist establishment, a new conception of education began to emerge.Education was no longer a confirmation of a preexisting status, but an instrument in the acquisition of higher status.For a new generation of upwardly mobile students, the goal of education was not to prepare them to live comfortably in the world into which they had been born, but to teach them new virtues and skills that would propel them into a different and better world.Education became training; and the student was no longer the gentlemaninwaiting, but the journeyman apprentice for upward mobility.
A、In the nineteenth century a college education began to be seen as a way to get ahead in the world.The founding of the landgrant colleges opened the doors of higher education to poor but aspiring boys from nonAngloSaxon, workingclass and lowermiddleclass backgrounds.The myth of the poor boy who worked his way through college to success drew millions of poor boys to the new campuses.And with this shift, education became more vocational: its object was the acquisition of practical skills and useful information.
B、For the gentlemaninwaiting, virtue consisted above all in grace and style, in doing well what was appropriate to his position; education was merely a way of acquiring polish.And vice was manifested in gracelessness, awkwardness, in behaving inappropriately, discourteously, or ostentatiously.For the apprentice, however, virtue was evidenced in success through hard work.The requisite qualities of character were not grace or style, but drive, determination, and a sharp eye for opportunity.While casual liberality and even prodigality characterized the gentleman, frugality, thrift, and selfcontrol came to distinguish the new apprentice.And while the gentleman did not aspire to a higher station because his station was already high, the apprentice was continually becoming, striving, struggling upward.Failure for the apprentice meant standing still, not rising.
C、第26题：Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?
D、［A］ Democratic ideas started with education.
E、［B］ Federalists were opposed to education.
F、［C］ New education helped confirm people’s social status.
G、［D］ Old education had been in tune with hierarchical society.
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试题解析
推理题。文章第一段第一句指出，随着19世纪上半叶民主权利的扩展以及随之而来的联邦主义机构的削弱，一种新的教育观念出现了。接下来的内容主要是围绕这种新的教育观念展开论述。从第一句话中可以得知，是民主权利的扩展带来了新的教育观念的产生，［A］项颠倒了二者的先后关系，故错误。文中提到“新”的教育观念是在联邦主义机构削弱的情况下产生的，由此可以得出，新的教育观念与联邦主义有些冲突，并不能得出联邦主义者反对整个教育即［B］ 项的结论。第二句作者指出，教育不再是对人们先前地位的确定，而成了获得更高地位的手段。因此［C］ 项与文意不符。同时通过该句“不再”(no longer)可以推断出，从前的教育可以确定人们的社会地位，因此［D］ 项为正确答案。
