大学英语读写教程2_(第三版)_unit_2_课文textA.docVIP

College –the ladder to success? Text A The humanities: Out of date? 1?When the going gets tough, the tough take?accounting.?When the job market worsens, many students?calculate?they cant major in English or history.?They have to study something that?boosts?their?prospects?of landing a job. 2?The data show that as students have increasingly shouldered the ever-rising cost of tuition, they have?defected?from the study of the humanities and toward?applied?science and hard skills that they?bet?will lead to employment.?In other words, a college education is more and more seen as a means for economic betterment rather than a means for human betterment.?This is a trend that is likely topersist?and even?accelerate. 3?Over the next few years, as labor markets struggle, the humanities will probably continue their long slide in?succession.?There already has been a nearly 50 percent decline in the portion of?liberal?arts majors over the past generation, and it is?logical?to think that the trend is?bound?to continue or even accelerate.?Once the?dominant?pillars?of university life, the humanities now play little roles when students take their college tours.?These days, labs are more?vivid?and?compelling?than libraries. 4?Here, please allow me to stand up for and?promote?the true value that the humanities add to peoples lives.?Since ancient times, people have?speculated?about the?mystery?of those inner forces that drive some people to greatness and others to?self-destruction.This inner drive has been called many things over the centuries.?The famous psychologist,?Sigmund Freud, called it the unconsciousmind or, more familiarly, instinct. 5?From the beginning of time, this inner aspect of our being, this drive that can be constructive or?destructive, has captured our imagination.?The stories of this amazing struggle have formed the basis of cultures the world over.?Historians,?architects, authors,philosophers?and artists have captured the words, images and meanings of this inner s