Currently offered by some famous universities, MOOCs are attractive to people who do not have the financial resources to meet the growing costs of university education, or who do not have formal qualifications. They also allow participants to study at their own pace.

    The potential for MOOCs to deliver education is obviously vast—they could be considered as a huge step forwards in widening participation. They also have the potential to provide a unique window on universities that offer popular and valuable courses, they may attract some participants to register for formal fee-paying programmes at the same or other universities and are likely to promote new ways of on-line education.

    However, it is still very early days for MOOCs. The quality of the education provision is highly variable, with many courses offering only recordings of lectures, and delivery is particularly difficult in some special fields that require practical classes, research projects or extensive library access. Besides, wider engagement with participants requires very considerable resource. Even limited feedback or examination becomes a major task if there are several thousand students in the class.

Considering the challenges, some people argue MOOCs will soon evaporate (蒸发). But they certainly provide good opportunity for widening higher education, are a means of raising awareness of universities to audiences of tens or hundreds of thousands, and are well worthy of serious consideration.

在评选三好学生的时候，对徐亮同学是否当选产生了分歧。班级大多数同学认为徐亮够条件，但个别同学不同意。甲同学认为，期中考试徐亮的成绩比自己差了10分；乙同学认为，体育测试100米他比徐亮跑得快；丙同学说，他的书法在区里得过奖，而徐亮没有。对此，徐亮失去了信心，觉得自己确实不行。

钱钟书指出：“史家追叙真人真事，每须遥体人情，悬想事势，设身局中，潜心腔内，忖之度之，以揣以摩，庶几入情合理。”这里他强调的是，历史学家（     ）