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UNIT1Collegejustisn'tspecialanymore1Ifyoucanrememberanythingaboutthe1960s,youweren'treallythere,sothesayinggoes.Itmaybetrueforthosewhospenttheircollegeyearsinahaze（阴霾、薄雾、疑惑）ofmarijuana（大麻）smoke.Butthereisonethingeveryoneremembersaboutthe1960s:Goingtocollegewasthemostexcitingandstimulating（刺激的）experienceofyourlife.2Inthe1960s,California'scollegesanduniversitieshadtransformedthestateintotheworld'sseventhlargesteconomy.However,Berkeley,theUniversityofCalifornia'smaincampus,wasalsowell-knownforitsstudentdemonstrations（示范、展示）andstrikes（罢工）,anditsatmosphereofpoliticalradicalism（激进主义）.WhenRonaldReaganranforofficeasgovernorofCaliforniain1966,heaskedifCalifornianswouldallowagreatuniversitytobebroughttoitskneesbyanoisy,dissidentminority（持不同政见的少数人）.Theliberals（自由主义者）repliedthatitwastheabilitytotoleratenoisy,dissidentminoritieswhichmadeuniversitiesgreat.3OnuniversitycampusesinEurope,masssocialistorcommunistmovementsgaverisetoincreasinglyviolentclashes（冲突）betweentheestablishment（确立、制定）andthecollegestudents,withtheirnewandpassionate（热情的）commitment（保证、承诺、献身）tofreedomandjustice.Muchoftheprotest（抗议、断言）wasabouttheVietnamWar.ButinFrance,thestudentsoftheSorbonneinParismanagedtoformanalliance（联盟、联合）withthetradeunionsandtolaunchageneralstrike,whichultimately（最后、根本上）broughtabouttheresignation（辞职）ofPresidentdeGaulle.4Itwasn'tjusttheactivism（行动主义）thatcharacterizedstudentlifeinthe1960s.Everywhere,goingtocollegemeantyourfirsttasteofrealfreedom,oflatenightsinthedormorintheJuniorCommonRoom（学生公共休息室）,discussingthemeaningoflife.Youusedtohavetogotocollegetoreadyourfirstforbiddenbook,seeyourfirstindie（独立的）film,orfindsomeonewhosharedyourpassionforJimiHendrixorLennyBruce.Itwasamomentofunimaginablefreedom,themostliberating（解放）inyourlife.5Butwhere'sthepassiontoday?What'sthematterwithcollege?Thesedayspolitical,socialandcreativeawakening（唤醒、觉醒）seemstohappennotbecauseofcollege,butinspiteofit.Ofcourse,it'struethathighereducationisstillimportant.Forexample,intheUK,PrimeMinisterBlairwasclosetoachievinghisaimofgetting50percentofallunderthirtiesintocollegeby2010(eventhoughacynic(愤世嫉俗者)wouldsaythatthiswastokeepthemofftheunemploymentstatistics).Yetcollegeeducationisnolongeratopicofgreatnationalimportance.Today,collegeisseenasakindofsmalltownfromwhichpeoplearekeen（渴望的）toescape.Somepeopledropout,butthemostapathetic（冷漠的、无动于衷的）staythecoursebecauseit'stoomuchefforttoleave.6Insteadoftheheady（任性的、顽固的）atmosphereoffreedomwhichstudentsinthe1960sdiscovered,studentstodayaremuchmoreserious.TheBritishCouncil（英国文化委员会）hasrecentlydoneresearchintothefactors（因素）whichhelpinternationalstudentsdecidewheretostudy.Indescending（递减次序）ordertheseare:qualityofcourses,employabilityprospects（前景、预期）,affordability（支付能力）,personalsecurityissues,lifestyle,andaccessibility（可达性）.Collegehasbecomeameanstoanend,anopportunitytoincreaseone'schancesontheemploymentmarket,andnotanendinitself,whichgivesyouthechancetoimagine,justforashortwhile,thatyoucanchangetheworld.7Thegapbetweenchildhoodandcollegehasshrunk（收缩，shrink的过去式）,andsohasthegapbetweencollegeandtherealworld.Oneofthereasonsmaybefinancial.Inanuncertainworld,manychildrenrelyontheirparents'supportmuchlongerthantheyusedto.Studentsleavinguniversityinthe21stcenturysimplycannotaffordtosetuptheirownhomebecauseit'stooexpensive.Anotherpossiblereasonisthecommunicationsrevolution.Gonearethedayswhenasonordaughterranghomeonceortwiceaterm.Todaystudentsareumbilically（母系地）linkedtotheirparentsbytheircellphones.Andasforfindinglike-mindedfriendstoshareapassionforobscure（晦涩的）literatureormusic,well,wehavetheInternetandchatroomstohelpusdothat.8Bliss（极乐、天赐之福）wasitinthatdawn（黎明、破晓）tobealive,9Buttobeyoungwasveryheaven（天堂）!10Wordsworth（华兹华斯，英国诗人）mayhavewrittentheselinesabouttheFrenchRevolution,buttheywerealsotrueforthestudentsofthe1960s.Sowhyaren'ttheytrueforthestudentsoftoday?