下面小编跟大家一起了解考研英语试题词汇句子解析，希望对大家的学习有所帮助。
The subtle and intelligent little book The Marketplace of Ideas: Reform and Resistance in the American University should be read by every student thinking of applying to take a doctoral degree. They may then decide to go elsewhere. For something curious has been happending in American universities, and Louis Menand, a professor of English at Harvard University, captured it skillfully.
subtle adj. 微妙的，精细的,敏感的
apply v. 申请
applying to take a doctoral degree
doctoral degree
curious adj. 古怪的
something curious something 的修饰语都是放在其后
His concern is mainly with the humanities: literature, languages, philosophy and so on. These are disciplines that are going out of style: 22% of American college graduates now major in business compared with only 2% in history and 4% in English. However, many leading American universities want their undergraduates to have a grounding in the basiccanon of ideas that every educated person should possess. But most find it difficult to agree on what a 'general education' should look like. At Harvard, Mr. Menand notes, 'the great books are read because they have been read' - they form a sort of social glue.
disciplines n. 科目
out of style
are goting out of style
compared with
undergraduate n. 大学本科生
undergraduates
grounding n. 基础
a grounding in ...
note
glue n. 胶水、粘合剂
a sort of social glue
But most find it difficult to agree on what a 'general education' should look like.
One reason why it is hard to design and teach such courses is that they cut across the insistence by top American universities that liberal-arts education and professional education should be kept separate, taught in different schools. Many students experience both varieties. Although more than half of Harvard undergraduates end up in law, medicine or business, future doctors and lawyers must study a non-specialist liberal-arts degree before embarking on a professional qualification.
insistence n. 坚持，主张
the insistence
cut across 打断
cut across the insistence 打断坚持，打断主张
liberal-arts education 人文教育
professional education 专业教育
embark v. 从事，着手
embark on
a professional qualification
embark on a professional qualification
before embarking on a professional qualifiction
non-specialist liberal-arts degree
Besides professionalising the professions by this separation, top American universities have professionlised the professor. The growth in public money for academic research has speeded the process: federal research grants rose fourfold between 1960 and 1990, but faculty teaching hours fell by half as research took is toll. Professionalism has turned the acquisition of a doctoral degree into a prerequisite for a successful academic career: as late as 1969 a third of American professors did not possess one. But the key idea behind professionalisation, argues Mr. Menand, is that ' the knowledge and skills needed for a particular specialisation are transmissible but not transferable.' So disciplines acquire a monopoly not just over the production of knowledge, but also over the production of the producers of knowledge.

acquisition n.
acquire v. 获得
transmissible adj. 能传送的,可传达的
transferable adj. 可转化的
monopoly n.垄断权，垄断
So disciplines acquire a monopoly not just over the production of knowledge, but also over the production of the producers of knowledge.
prerequisite n. 先决条件
a successful academic career
possess
as late as 1969 a third of American professors did not possess one.
one = a doctoral degree
separation n. 分离
this separation
professionlising the professions 使专业更加专业化
professor n. 教授
profession n. 专业
professionalising v. 使职业化，使专业化
professionalism n. 专业化，专业
professionalisation n. 专业化
professorship n. 教授职位
specialisation n. 专业化 = specialization
grants n. 津贴
federal research grants
fourfold adv. 四倍
faculty n. 全体教员
toll
No disciplines have seized on professionalism with as much enthusiasm as the humanities. You can, Mr. Menand points out, become a lawyer in three years and a medical doctor in four. But the regular time it takes to get a doctoral degree in the humanities is nine years. Not surprisingly, up to half of all doctoral students in English drop out before getting their degrees.
seized - seize v. 抓住
enthusiasm n. 热情，热心
point out
note
1.No disciplines have seized on professionalism with as much enthusiasm as the humanities.
2. Not surprisingly, up to half of all doctoral students in English drop out before getting their degrees.
Equally unsurprisingly, only about half end up with professorships for which they entered graduate school. There are simply too few posts. This is partly because universities contine to produce ever more PhDs. But fewer students want to study humanities subjects: English departments awarded more bachelor's degrees in 1970-71 than they did 20 years later. Fewer students require few teachers. So, at the end of a decade of thesis-writing, many humanities students leave the profession to do something for which they have not been trained.
unsurprisingly adv.意料中的，不出所料的
graduate school 研究生院
post n. 岗位，职位
posts
department n. 系
English departments 英语系
award
bachelor's degree 学士学位
award bachelor's degrees
thesis-writing 论文写作
1.There are simply too few posts
2.But fewer students want to study humanities subjects
3.Fewer students require few teachers.
4.many humanities students leave the profession to do something for which they have not been trained.
The key to reforming higher education, concludes Mr. Menand, is to alter the way in which 'the producers of knowledge are produced.' Otherwise, academics will continue to think dangerously alike, increasingly detached from the societies which they study, investigate and criticise. 'Academic inquiry, at least in some fields, may need to become less exclusionary and more holistic.' Yet quite how that happens, Mr. Menand does not say.
higher education 高等教育
reform higher education
alter v.改变
alike adv. adj 相似的 ，通常放在句尾
detach vt. 分离，脱离
increasing detached...
inquiry n. 探究、调查
academic inquiry 学术探究
exclusionary adj. 排他性
holistic adj. 整体的
Academic inquiry, at least in some fields, may need to become less exclusionary and more holistic.