Grammar questions

If ambition is to be well regarded, the rewards of ambition — wealth, distinction, control over one's destiny — must be deemed worthy of the sacrifices made on ambition's behalf. If the tradition of ambition is to have vitality, it must be widely shared; and it especially must be highly regarded by people who are themselves admired, the educated not least among them. In an odd way, however, it is the educated who have claimed to have give up on ambition as an ideal. What is odd is that they have perhaps most benefited from ambition — if not always their own then that of their parents and grandparents. There is a heavy note of hypocrisy in this, a case of closing the barn door after the horses have escaped — with the educated themselves riding on them.

It is generally believed that ambition may be well regarded if ______.
[A] its returns well compensate for the sacrifices
it is rewarded with money, fame and power
[C] its goals are spiritual rather than material
[D] it is shared by the rich and the famous

In the first sentence,why use "to be",what does it imply or indicate?
what does "worthy of " mean here?
What are the first sentence talking about?