美文欣赏素材

5th week 周三组美文欣赏素材(龙雨、谢立鑫)

Modern American Universities

Before the 1850's, the United States had a number of small colleges, most of them dating from colonial days. They were small, church connected institutions whose primary concern was to shape the moral character of their students.

Throughout Europe, institutions of higher learning had developed, bearing the ancient name of university. In Germany a different kind of university had developed. The German university was concerned primarily with creating and spreading knowledge, not morals. Between midcentury and the end of the 1800's, more than nine thousand young Americans, dissatisfied with their training at home, went to Germany for advanced study. Some of them returned to become presidents of venerable colleges -- Harvard, Yale, Columbia -- and transform them into modern universities.

The new presidents broke all ties with the churches and brought in a new kind of faculty. Professors were hired for their knowledge of a subject, not because they were of the proper faith and had a strong arm for disciplining students. The new principle was that a university was to create knowledge as well as pass it on, and this called for a faculty composed of teacher-scholars.

Drilling and learning by rote were replaced by the German method of lecturing, in which the professor's own research was presented in

class. Graduate training leading to the Ph.D., an ancient German degree signifying the highest level of advanced scholarly attainment, was introduced. With the establishment of the seminar system, graduate students learned to question, analyze, and conduct their own research.

At the same time, the new university greatly expanded in size and course offerings, breaking completely out of the old, constricted curriculum of mathematics, classics, rhetoric, and music.

The president of Harvard pioneered the elective system, by which students were able to choose their own courses of study. The notion of major fields of study emerged. The new goal was to make the university relevant to the real pursuits of the world. Paying close heed to the practical needs of society, the new universities trained men and women to work at its tasks, with engineering students being the most characteristic of the new regime. Students were also trained as economists, architects, agriculturalists, social welfare workers, and teachers.

现代美国大学

19 世纪 50 年代以前美国有一些小的学院，大多数成立于殖民时期。 它们是与教会挂钩的小机构，主要目的是培养学生的道德品行。 当时在欧洲各地，高等教育机构已经发展 起来，用的是一个古老的名称--大学。 德国已经发展出一种不同类型的大学。 德国大学关 心

的主要是创造知识和传播知识，而不是道德教育。

从世纪中叶到世纪末，有 9000 多名美 国青年因不满国内所受的教育而赴德深造。 他们中的一些人回国后成为一些知名学府--哈 佛、耶鲁、哥伦比亚的校长并且把这些学府转变成了现代意义的大学。 新校长们断绝了和教会的关系，聘请了新型的教职员，聘用教授根据的是他们在学科方面的知识，而不是正确的信仰和约束学生的强硬手段。 新的原则是大学既要传播知识也要创造知识。 这就需要由学者型老师组成教工队伍。

靠死记硬背和做练习来学习的方法变为德国式的讲解方法。 德 国式的讲解就是由教授讲授自己的研究课题。 通过研究生性质的学习可以获得表明最高学 术造诣的古老的德国学位--博士学位。 随着讨论课制度的建立，研究生们学会了提问、分 析以及开展他们自己的研究。

同时，新式大学学校规模和课程设置完全突破了过去那种只 有数学、经典著作、美学和音乐的狭窄课程表。

哈佛大学的校长率先推出选课制度，这样 学生们就能选择自己的专业。主修领域的概念也出现了。新的目标是使大学对实际社会更有 用。 密切关注着社会上的实际需求，新的大学着意培养学生解决问题的能力。 工程系学生 成为新式教育体制下最典型的学生。学生们还被培训成为经济学家、建筑师、农学家、社会 工作人员以及教师。

A word a day keep your dictionary away! *** constrain ***

[kənˈstreɪn] vt.强迫; 强使; 限制; 约束;

第三人称单数：constrains过去分词：constrained现在进行时：constraining过去式：constrained

【释义】 1.VERB约束;限制;强迫To constrain someone or something means to limit their development or force them to behave in a particular way.语法信息

Women are too often constrained by family commitments and by low expectations...

女性往往受到家庭责任和低期望值的束缚。

constrained

These will be very constrained budgets designed to get the deficit down.

这些预算旨在减少赤字，将会大大受限。 2.PHRASE觉得被迫(做某事)If you feel constrained to do something, you feel that you must do it, even though you would prefer not to.语法信息 For some reason he felt constrained to lower his voice.

不知怎么的，他觉得自己必须得压低声音。

【用法】 词根：strain

=tighten,表示"拉紧"

同根词 n.

constraint强迫,结束;强制力 (constrain[v.限制,约束;克制,抑制]+t→n.强迫,结束;强制力)

restraint抑制,制止 (restrain抑制,制止+t→n.抑制,制止)

overstrain过度紧张, 过劳 (over超过+strain拉紧→v.使过度紧张, 使工作过度 v.过度紧张 n.过度紧张, 过劳)

v.

strain拉紧;紧张;扭伤;竭尽全力 (strain拉紧→v.拉紧;紧张;扭伤;竭尽全力 n.拉紧;负担)

constrain限制,约束;克制,抑制 (con一起+strain拉紧→拉到一起→限制,强制)

refrain节制, 避免, 制止 (re回+frain=strain拉紧→v.节制, 避免, 制止)

【例句】

1. The police used horses to constrain the crowd from violence. 警察骑着马阻止那群人诉诸暴力.

2. It's the capacity of those roads which is going to constrain the amount of travel by car that can take place.

制约驾车出行量的将会是那些道路的通行能力。