The study of literature allows us to glimpse universal truths as well as encounter the diversity of human experience in all its

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问题     The study of literature allows us to glimpse universal truths as well as encounter the diversity of human experience in all its fascinating particularity. With expert guidance, an immersion in great novels, plays and poems can deliver a sense of spiritual headroom and wellbeing which lasts a lifetime.
    Such benefits—intangible but very real—were sadly not enough to persuade Sheffield Hallam University to continue to offer a standalone English literature degree to undergraduates. Amid falling demand generally for arts and humanities courses, a university spokesperson this week announced that the course was being suspended. The news prompted an outpouring of frustration from lecturers, and criticism from writers such as James Graham and Philip Pullman. It follows a similar move by the University of Cumbria last year and mounting cuts to humanities provision elsewhere. In May, recruitment for all performing arts courses at the University of Wolverhampton was suspended.
    This depressing trend is part of a wider pattern. It is understandable that young people from lower-income backgrounds, contemplating a working career shadowed by debt and punitive interest rates, might think twice about taking a non-vocational course. Applications for English studies, including English literature, have fallen steadily since 2012, when the cap on tuition fees was lifted to £9,000. There have also been drop-offs in other humanities subjects.
    Anxious that as many graduates as possible pay off their loans—for which the Treasury is ultimately on the hook—the government has focused on the virtues of Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Meanwhile, supposedly "dead end" university courses—those which fail to deliver an instant graduate premium in the job market—are coming under increasingly aggressive scrutiny. This year, the Office for Students set out plans to remove funding for "low quality" courses, defined as those where less than 60% of participants go into good jobs or further study soon after graduating.
    The overall approach is both wrong-headed and shortsighted. As Mr Graham points out, the arts and entertainment industry has become one of the few booming areas of the economy in which Britain can claim to be world-leading. Narrowing the humanities talent pool to a privileged subset of students will, in this sense, be self-defeating. More fundamentally, it will radically shrink the cultural horizons and options of those outside that elite group.
    After a decade of marketisation, a grimly utilitarian worldview is beginning to exercise a suffocating chokehold over much of England’s higher education sector. But the intrinsic quality and worth of a course cannot be fairly judged by reference to employment statistics and labour market outcomes. Sheffield Hallam’s decision must be a wake-up call for those concerned to preserve the future of the arts and humanities in our universities.
According to Mr Graham, the approach can result in________.

选项 A、the diminishing global status of arts and entertainment
B、the widening gap between people with and without talent
C、the shrinking of cultural horizons of privileged students
D、the eventual weakening of the overall British economy

答案A

解析 细节题。根据题干中的Mr Graham可定位至第五段。第二句和第三句说As Mr Graham points out, the arts and entertainment industry has become one of the few booming areas of the economy in which Britain can claim to be world-leading. Narrowing the humanities talent pool to a privileged subset of students will, in this sense, be self-defeating. (正如格雷厄姆先生所指出的那样,艺术和娱乐业已成为英国可以声称处于世界领先地位的少数蓬勃发展的经济领域之一。从这个意义上说,将人文学科的人才库缩小到一个享有特权的学生群体,会适得其反。)A项是对原文的正确概括,故正确。B项属于偷换概念,原文的意思是精英群体(学人文学科的人)和非精英群体(不学人文学科的人)的差距会变大,并不是有无天赋的人之间的差距变大,故排除该选项。C项属于张冠李戴,原文的意思是those outside that elite group(精英群体之外的人)的文化视野会缩小,而不是说privileged students(特权学生),故排除该选项。D项属于主观臆断,人文学科的人才库的缩小不一定导致经济衰退,故排除。故本题答案为A项。
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