《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词3500》Unit 34 我不会让儿子上大学

　　Unit 34
I Won't Let Our Boy Go to University
I've refused to allow my stepson Jim to go to university  because it will be too expensive and a waste of time. People think I'm  selfish or uncaring. But I think more parents will come to accept my  way of thinking. Britain's university system is failing to serve  either society or our children.
I can't remember when I began to change my mind on education.  Like many middle-class parents, I had assumed that going to university  was what children should do. It's one of the reasons we sent im to an  expensive private boarding school with a good academic reputation,  rather than a weak  but free local one. Education was more important  than nice cars, new kitchens, or skiing holidays.
Jim is a teenager of whom any parent would be proud. He's  charming, considerate and helpful; he's a genius at things like  hanging pictures and mending door handles; he's good with children;  he's handsome. But he's shown little interest in study.
It's not Jim's intellect¹ that's the problem, but an inbuilt  reluctance² to do any more work than necessary to get by. We've tried  every method to make him work harder: blackmail³, bribery⁴, threats.  None of it has worked. For his final exams, Jim got a D and two Es.  Even allowing for our low expectations, this came as a shock to his  mother and me.
"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." "Not at all," the teacher insisted, and then named a  string of universities I'd barely⁵ heard of, claiming they'd be perfect  for Jim.
It was at this point I realized how completely out of touch I  was with the current educational thought. In the early 1980s when I  was at school, a student with such poor grades as Jim's would never be  considered university material. Since then the percentage of eligible  population in Britain has risen from 14% to an astonishing 44%. The  educational system is cramming⁶ even the most mediocre⁷ students into a  degree curse.
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 priority⁸ over the quality of the courses.
Another fact is that when I went to university, a degree still  counted for something. These days, the degree is so devalued that you  are far better off going straight into the job market than spending  three years treading⁹ water, running up big debts.
Maybe it would be worth it if, as a result of his or her  degree, your child would have a well-paid career. But there are now  too many graduates running after too few graduate obs, and employers  are becoming suspicious¹⁰ of the value of degrees.

1 intellect   

n.理智，才智，有才智的人，知识分子

参考例句：

• Newton is a man of great intellect.牛顿有非凡的才智。
• It is not often that one so young has such a giant intellect.年纪这样轻、智力又如此高的人可不多。

2 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

3 blackmail   

n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓

参考例句：

• She demanded ＄1000 blackmail from him.她向他敲诈了1000美元。
• The journalist used blackmail to make the lawyer give him the documents.记者讹诈那名律师交给他文件。

4 bribery   

n.贿络行为，行贿，受贿

参考例句：

• FBI found out that the senator committed bribery.美国联邦调查局查明这个参议员有受贿行为。
• He was charged with bribery.他被指控受贿。

5 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。

6 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》

7 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。

8 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。

9 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）

10 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。