Passage Three The American research university is a remarkable institution, long a source of admiration and wonder. The idyllic ( 田园诗的 ), wooded campuses, the diversity and energy of the student populations, and, most of all, the sheer volume of public and private resources available to nm them, have made them the envy of the world. Seen from the inside, however, everything is not quite so rosy. Setting aside the habitual complexity of medical schools, which have separate healthcare and finance issues, the structure of these institutions is straightforward and consistent. The bedrock of each university is a system of discipline-specific departments. The strength of these departments determines the success and prestige of the institution as a whole. This structure raises a few obvious questions. One is the relevance of the department-based structure to the way scientific research is done. Many argue that in a host of areas -- ranging from computational biology and materials science to pharmacology and climate science -- much of the most important research is now interdisciplinary in nature. And there is a sense that, notwithstanding years of efforts to adapt to this change by encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration, the department-based structure of the university is essentially at odds with such collaboration. A second set of issues surrounds the almost static nature of the departmental system. In a country where most things are highly fluid, the fields covered by departments, as well as the pecking order ( 权势等级) between them, have remained largely unchanged for many years. As people and money have flowed, particularly over the past twenty years, to the south and the southwest, the strongest US universities and departments remain embedded in the northeast and in California. League tables drawn up by the National Academy of Sciences and others show little movement in this pecking order, even over several decades. Another, perhaps more contentious, issue concerns the relevance of the modem research university to the community it serves. The established model, whatever else its strengths and weaknesses, reflects the desire of the middle classes for undergraduate training that prepares their offspring for a stable career. But how does it serve a society in which people may have to retrain and recreate their careers throughout their lives The passage begins with the presentation of the American research university_______