阅读理解。
It's very interesting to note where the debate about diversity is taking place. It is taking
place primari1y in political circles. Here at the College Fund, we have a lot of contact with
top corporate (公司的) leaders; none of them is talking about getting rid of those instruments
that produce diversity. In fact, they say that if their companies are to compete in the g1oba1
village and in the global market place, diversity is an imperative. They also say that the need
for talented, skilled Americans means we have to expand the pool of potential employees.
And in looking at where birth rates are growing and at where the population is shifting,
corporate America understands that expanding the pool means promoting policies that help
provide skills to more minorities, more women and more immigrants. Corporate leaders
know that if that doesn't occur in our society, they will not have the engineers, the scientists,
the lawyers, or the business managers they will need.
Likewise, I don't hear people in the academy saying, "Let's go backward. Let's go back
to the good old days, when we had a meritocracy (不拘一格降人才)" (which was never
true-we never had a meritocracy, although we've come closer to it in the last 30 years, ) I
recently visited a great little college in New York where the campus has doubled its minority
population in the last six years. I talked with an African American who has been a professor
there for a long time, and she remembers that when she first joined the community, there
were fewer than a handful of minorities on campus. Now, all of us feel the university is better
because of the diversity. So where we hear this debate is primarily in political circles and in
the media-not in corporate board rooms or on college campuses.
1. The underlined word "imperative" in Para. l most probably refers to something .
A. superficial
B. remarkable
C. debatable
D. essential
2. Which of the following groups of people still differ in their views on diversity?
A. Minorities
B. Politicians
C. Professors
D. Managers
3. High corporate leaders seem to be in favor of promoting diversity so as to .
A. lower the rate of unemployment
B. win equal political rights for minorities
C. be competitive in the world market
D. satisfy the demands of a growing popu1ation
4. It can be inferred from the passage that __________.
A. meritocracy can never be realized without diversity
B. American political circles will not accept diversity
C. it is unlikely that diversity will occur in the U. S. media
D. minorities can only enter the fields where no debate is heard about diversity
5. According to the passage diversity can be achieved in American society by .
A. expanding the pool of potential employees
B. promoting policies that provide skills to employees
C. training more engineers, scientists lawyers and business managers
D. providing education for all regardless of race or sex
