The justification for a university is that it preserves the connection between knowledge and the zest for life，by uniting the young and the old in the imaginative consideration of learning．The university imparts information，but it imparts it imaginatively．At least，this is the function that it should perform for society．A university that fails in this respect has no reason for existence．This atmosphere of excitement，arising from imaginative consideration，transforms knowledge．A fact is no longer a bare fact；it is invested with all its possibilities．It is no longer a burden on the memory：it is energizing as the poet of our dreams，and as the architect of our purposes．
Imagination is not to be divorced from the facts：it is a way of illuminating the facts．It works by eliciting the general principles which apply to facts，as they exist，and then by an intellectual survey of alternative possibilities which are consistent with those principles．It enables man to construct an intellectual vision of a new world，and it preserves the zest for life by the suggestion of satisfying purposes．Youth is imaginative，and if the imagination is strengthened by discipline，this energy of imagination can be，in GREat measure，preserved throughout life．Fools act on imagination without knowledge；pedants（学究）act on knowledge without imagination．The task of a university is to weld together imagination and experience．
The universities have trained the intellectual pioneers of our civilization—the priests，the lawyers，the statesmen，the doctors，the men of science，and the men of letters．The way in which a university should function in the preparation for an intellectual career，such as modern business or one of the older professions is by promoting the imaginative consideration of various general principles underlying that career． Hence，instead of drudgery（单调辛苦的工作）issuing as a blind rule of thumb（墨守陈规），the properly trained man has some hope of obtain- ing an imagination disciplined by detailed facts and by necessary habits．
1．Which statement best states the main idea of the passage？
A）The proper function of a university is the imaginative acquisition of knowledge．
B）A university is imaginative with other occupations．
C）The importance of imagination hampers all types of human endeavor．
D）The intellectual pioneers are full of imagination．
2．According to the passage，reasonable imagination ．
A）works as an intellectual survey
B）transfers knowledge and trains many pioneers
C）is a way of illuminating the facts，not separating them from practice
D）is invested with all possibilities
3．According to the author，the task of a university is ．
A）to join imagination with experience
B）to enable men to construct an intellectual vision of a new world
C）to divorce itself from facts and general principles
D）to preserve the zest for life
4．In Paragraph 3，“the men of letters”most probably means ．
A）persons who mail letters every day
B）persons who write works respected for expressions of thought and imaginations
C）professors and lecturers in the university
D）persons with literacy and a sense of imagination
5．The properly trained men obtain an imagination ．
A）promoted by consideration of general principles
B）trained with underlying facts and a career
C）issuing as a blind rule of thumb
D）controlled by detailed facts and by necessary habits
参考答案：ACABD
