精美英文欣赏:我不会让儿子上大学(下)

"Surely", I suggested to Jim's teacher, "the course Jim got on with such low marks would be the sort of course that wouldn't be worth doing anyway."

“真的是这样，”我和吉米的老师建议道，“吉米得分很低的课程就没有必要再读下去。”

"Not at all," the teacher insisted, and then named a string of universities I'd barely¹ heard of, claiming they'd be perfect for Jim.

“这是不对的，”老师坚持说，然后拿出一系列我几乎都没有听过的大学的列表给我看，说这些学校都适合吉米。

It was at this point I realized how completely out of touch I was with the current educational thought.

此时此刻我感觉自己完全不了解现在的教育理念。

In the early 1980s when I was at school, a student with such poor grades as Jim's would never be considered university material.

20世纪80年代早期，我还是学生的时候，像吉米这样成绩差的学生会被视为不适合读大学。

Since then the percentage of eligible² population in Britain has risen from 14% to an astonishing 44%. The educational system is cramming³ even the most mediocre⁴ students into a degree curse.

从那时起，英国符合上大学的学生比例从14%上升到了44%。填鸭式的教育系统使得普通学生都可以继续读大学。

It affects the sort of the courses that universities offer: undemanding ones such as film studies and surfing; it affects the way universities advertise themselves—with student bar sizes and local clubs given priority⁵ over the quality of the courses.

这影响了大学教授的课程：要求不高的电影研究和冲浪；影响大学推销自己的方式——学生酒吧大小和当地社团的重要性高于课程质量。

Another fact is that when I went to university, a degree still counted for something.

还有一个事实，我上大学时，学位还是有价值的。

These days, the degree is so devalued that you are far better off going straight into the job market than spending three years treading⁶ water, running up big debts.

而现在，学位已经贬值，你还不如直接参加工作，而不是冒险浪费三年的时间，积累巨额债务。

Maybe it would be worth it if, as a result of his or her degree, your child would have a well-paid career.

上大学也许是值得的，因为他或者她的学历，你的孩子能有一份高薪的职业。

But there are now too many graduates running after too few graduate obs, and employers are becoming suspicious⁷ of the value of degrees.

但是太多的毕业生没有达到毕业的要求，雇主们开始怀疑学位的价值。

1 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

2 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

3 cramming   

n.塞满，填鸭式的用功v.塞入( cram的现在分词 )；填塞；塞满；（为考试而）死记硬背功课

参考例句：

• Being hungry for the whole morning, I couldn't help cramming myself. 我饿了一上午，禁不住狼吞虎咽了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She's cramming for her history exam. 她考历史之前临时抱佛脚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 mediocre   

adj.平常的，普通的

参考例句：

• The student tried hard,but his work is mediocre. 该生学习刻苦，但学业平庸。
• Only lazybones and mediocre persons could hanker after the days of messing together.只有懒汉庸才才会留恋那大锅饭的年代。

5 priority   

n.优先处理的事，居先，优先（权）

参考例句：

• The development of the national economy is a top priority.发展国民经济是应予以最优先考虑的事。
• Things should be taken up in order of priority.办事应有个先后次序。

6 treading   

v.踩，踏( tread的现在分词 )；踩成；踏出；步行于

参考例句：

• She tripped along joyfully as if treading on air. 她高兴地走着，脚底下轻飘飘的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• But after hours of treading water, poor exhausted Smith drowned. 但经过与洪水几个小时的斗争，可怜的史密斯精疲力竭，溺水身亡。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

7 suspicious   

adj.可疑的，容易引起怀疑的，猜疑的，疑心的

参考例句：

• A man was hanging about the house in a suspicious manner.一个男人在房子周围可疑地荡来荡去。
• He's so suspicious he would distrust his own mother.他这个人疑心太重，连自己的母亲也不相信。