For years, studies have found that first-generation college students—those who do not have a parent with a college degree—lag other students on a range of education achievement factors. Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are higher. But since such students are most likely to advance economically if they succeed in higher education, colleges and universities have pushed for decades to recruit more of them. This has created “a paradox” in that recruiting first-generation students, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has “continued to reproduce and widen, rather than close” an achievement gap based on social class, according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in the journal Psychological Science.

But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem, suggesting that an approach (which involves a one-hour, next-to-no-cost program) can close 63 percent of the achievement gap (measured by such factors as grades) between first-generation and other students.

The authors of the paper are from different universities, and their findings are based on a study involving 147 students (who completed the project) at an unnamed private university. First generation was defined as not having a parent with a four-year college degree. Most of the first-generation students (59.1 percent) were recipients of Pell Grants, a federal grant for undergraduates with financial need, while this was true only for 8.6 percent of the students with at least one parent with a four-year degree.

Their thesis—that a relatively modest intervention could have a big impact—was based on the view that first-generation students may be most lacking not in potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face most college students. They cite past research by several authors to show that this is the gap that must be narrowed to close the achievement gap.

Many first-generation students “struggle to navigate the middle-class culture of higher education, learn the ‘rules of the game,’ and take advantage of college resources,” they write. And this becomes more of a problem when colleges don’t talk about the class advantages and disadvantages of different groups of students. “Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can affect students’ educational experiences, many first-generation students lack insight about why they are struggling and do not understand how students ‘like them’ can improve.”

1.Recruiting more first-generation students has _________.

A reduced their dropout rates

B narrowed the achievement gap

C missed its original purpose

D depressed college students

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。根据recruiting和first-generation students定位到首段尾句，可知很多第一代大学生走向失败，意味着高等教育拉大了社会阶层之间的差距；而前一句提到只要这些学生顺利完成高等教育，就最有可能取得经济上的进步。可见C“未能实现最初的目的”更符合原文，故选C。

2.The authors of the research article are optimistic because _________.

A their findings appeal to students

B the recruiting rate has increased

C the problem is solvable

D their approach is costless

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据optimistic定位到第二段，可知作者乐观是因为文章概述了问题的潜在解决方案，即有办法缩小第一代学生和其他学生之间的成绩差距，故选C。

3.The study suggests that most first-generation students _________.

A are from single-parent families

B study at private universities

C are in need of financial support

D have failed their collage

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据most first-generation students定位到第三段，根据最后一句可知59.1%（大多数）的第一代大学生都获得了佩尔助学金（为经济困难的学生提供的），可见大多数第一代大学生需要经济上的支持，故选C。

4.The authors of the paper believe that first-generation students _________.

A may lack opportunities to apply for research projects

B are inexperienced in handling their issues at college

C can have a potential influence on other students

D are actually indifferent to the achievement gap

解析：选B。 B 细节理解题。根据第四段可知，他们的论点是基于这种观点：第一代大学生可能最缺乏的不是潜力，而是如何处理大多数大学生会面临的实际问题的知识。B“处理问题方面缺乏经验”更符合原文，故选B。

5.We may infer from the last paragraph that _________.

A universities often reject the culture of the middle-class

B students are usually to blame for their lack of resources

C social class greatly helps enrich educational experiences

D colleges are partly responsible for the problem in question

解析：选D。D 推理判断题。根据题目定位到尾段，可知第一代大学生正努力适应高等教育中的阶级文化、游戏规则和资源利用，而高校不谈论这些问题，使很多第一代大学生面临的问题变得更严重。可见高校对第一代大学生面临的问题负有责任。故选D。