外刊精读｜为什么牛津和剑桥招生不公平了？

　　

　　今天是小芳老师陪你精读外刊的第31天

　　难度指数7级（共8级）

　　读前想想，下面内容用英语怎么说？

　　第一步：泛读原文（盲听1遍，泛读1遍，对照文本听1遍）

　　Oxford and Cambridge are meant to be elite institutions. They rank among the top universities in the world and their future success relies on them continuing to nurture a culture of excellence. Most people would agree that those lucky enough to be offered places should have been judged on their abilities, rather than their background. Historically, there has been some truth to the accusation that Oxbridge was not as open as it could have been to children from less privileged families.

　　Now it seems to have the opposite problem. As this newspaper revealed this week, for the first time state school pupils are more likely to get into the University of Cambridge than their private school counterparts. For the start of this academic year, private school students had an 18.8 per cent acceptance rate, compared to 19.9 per cent for state school pupils, with Oxford following a similar trajectory. The difference may seem small, but it has resulted in allegations of social engineering. It is claimed that universities are purposefully discriminating against young people on the basis of the school they went to.

　　This is a question of fairness. Private school students might enjoy certain advantages over their state school peers. They are likely to have received more support in preparing for the Oxbridge interview process, for example. However, the solution to that is not to crudely mark down the applications of candidates from fee-paying schools. As Melvyn Roffe, chair of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), says in today’s paper, there’s nothing just about using school type “as a ‘quick and dirty’ proxy measure”. Perversely, it may even end up penalising young people from poorer households who have been talented enough to win a bursary to a top private school.

　　Part of the issue is that universities are attempting to solve a problem that is not in their power to fix. Yes, they can bolster their access programmes and encourage students from poorer families to apply. But if these groups are not making it to Oxford or Cambridge in large enough numbers, then responsibility for that largely falls on the schools they attend. Some state schools have made great strides in encouraging academic excellence, including the likes of Katharine Birbalsingh’s Michaela Community School. Others are still failing their students.

　　There are dangers to universities indulging in superficial social engineering. For example, there are plenty of world-class institutions, in Britain and overseas, that will be all too happy to accept candidates rejected because of the school they went to. Oxford and Cambridge would be wise to re-examine their admission processes.

　　第二步：精读原文（精读1遍，对照文本听1遍，精读1遍）

　　读原文（精读1遍，对照文本听1遍）

　　01

　　Oxford and Cambridge?are meant to beelite?institutions. They rank among the top universities in the world and their future success relies on them continuing to?nurturea culture of excellence. Most people would agree that those lucky enough to be offered places should have been judged on their abilities, rather than their background. Historically, there has been some truth to the?accusation?that Oxbridge was not as open as it could have been to children from less?privileged families.

　　1.?are meant to be: 注定, e.g. I think they are meant to be a couple! 我觉得他们是天生的一对！

　　2.?elite: 社会精英, e.g. In these countries, only the elite can afford an education for their children. 在这些国家里，只有上层人士才供得起子女上学。

　　3.?nurture: 培养：These delicate plants need careful nurturing. 这些幼嫩的植物需要精心培育。

　　4.?a culture of excellence: 卓越的文化

　　5.?accusation: 控告, e.g. I don't want to make an accusation until I have some proof. 我要有一些证据以后才提出控告。

　　6.?privileged: 有特权的 e.g. Those in authority were in a privileged position. 有地位者自有特权。

　　翻译：牛津和剑桥大学是公认的精英教育机构。它们跻身于世界顶级大学之列，其未来的成功有赖于它们继续培育优秀的文化。大多数人都会同意，那些有幸被录取的人应该靠的是能力而不是背景受到评判。长期以来，人们指责牛津和剑桥大学没有向来自不太富裕家庭的孩子充分开放，这种指责有一定的道理。

　　02

　　Now it seems to have the opposite problem. As this newspaper revealed this week, for the first time state school pupils are more likely to get into the University of Cambridge than their private school?counterparts. For the start of this academic year, private school students had an 18.8 per cent acceptance rate, compared to 19.9 per cent for state school pupils, with Oxford?following a similar trajectory.?The difference may seem small, but it has resulted in?allegations of?social engineering. It is claimed that universities are purposefully?discriminating against young people on the basis of the school they went to.

　　1.?counterpart: 职位(或作用)相当的人, 同义词?opposite number, e.g. The Foreign Minister held talks with his Chinese counterpart. 外交部长与中国外交部长举行了会谈。

　　2.?following a similar trajectory: trajectory 轨道，e.g. My career seemed to be on a downward trajectory. 我的事业似乎在走下坡路。

　　表示趋势：follow a similar trajectory.

　　3.?allegation: 指控, 同义词 accusation, e.g., Several newspapers made allegations of corruption in the city's police department. 有几家报纸声称该市警察部门腐败。

　　4.?social engineering: the practice of making changes to laws in order to change society according to a political idea社会工程〔指通过修改法律使社会按照某一政治主张实行变革的做法〕

　　5.?discriminate: 区分，同义词 differentiate , distinguish

　　e.g. The computer program was unable to discriminate between letters and numbers. 这计算机程序不能辨别字母与数字。

　　写作Tip: 第一段讲背景，基于之前的背景，讲述现在的问题，也就是这一段要阐述的主要问题：风向变了。

　　翻译：现在似乎出现了一个相反的问题。正如本报本周所披露的，公立学校的学生第一次比私立学校的学生更有可能进入剑桥大学。在本学年开始时，私立学校学生的录取率为18.8%，而公立学校学生的录取率为19.9%，牛津大学的录取情况也类似。这种差异可能看起来很小，但它导致了社会工程的指控。有人声称，大学是在故意根据年轻人上的学校歧视他们。

　　03

　　This is a question of fairness. Private school students might enjoy certain advantages over their state school peers. They are likely to have received more support in preparing for the Oxbridge interview process, for example. However, the solution to that is not to?crudely?mark down?the applications of candidates from?fee-paying schools. As Melvyn Roffe, chair of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), says in today’s paper, there’s nothing just about using school type “as a ‘quick and dirty’?proxy measure”. Perversely, it may even end up penalising young people from poorer households who have been talented enough to win a?bursary?to a top private school.

　　1.?crude: 粗鲁的

　　2.?mark down: mark 打分，加down，打低分。

　　3.?fee-paying school: 自费的学校，公立学校是不缴费的。

　　4.?proxy measure: 间接测定

　　5.?bursary: an amount of money that is given to sb so that they can study, usually at a college or university (通常指大学的)奖学金

　　翻译：这是一个事关公平的问题。私立学校的学生可能比公立学校的学生享有某些优势。例如，他们在准备牛津和剑桥大学的面试过程中可能会得到更多的支持。然而，解决这个问题的办法不是粗暴地给来自自费学校的考生的申请打低分。正如校长联合大会的主席麦尔因·罗夫在今天的报纸上所说，把学校类型“作为一个‘快速而肮脏’的替代方法”完全不公平。它反倒可能最终惩罚那些来自贫困家庭，凭借足够的天赋赢得了顶级私立学校奖学金的年轻人。

　　04

　　Part of the issue is that universities are attempting to solve a problem that is not in their power to fix. Yes, they can?bolster?their access programmes and encourage students from poorer families to apply. But if these groups are not making it to Oxford or Cambridge in large enough numbers, then responsibility for that largely falls on the schools they attend. Some state schools have made great strides in encouraging academic excellence, including?the likes of?Katharine Birbalsingh’s Michaela Community School. Others are still failing their students.

　　1.?bolster: 加强, to bolster sb's confidence / courage / morale 增加某人的信心 / 勇气 / 士气

　　2.?the likes of: the like(s) of informal phrase。used for referring to a particular type of person or thing, e.g. I doubt they’d give one of those jobs to the likes of us.

　　翻译：问题的一部分在于，大学正试图解决一个它们无力解决的问题。是的，它们可以改进招生计划，鼓励来自贫困家庭的学生申请。但是，如果这些群体进入牛津或剑桥大学的人数不够多，那么责任就主要落在他们所就读的学校身上。一些公立学校在提升成绩方面取得了长足的进步，包括像凯瑟琳-伯巴辛格的米凯拉社区学校。而其他学校仍然在让学生们失望。

　　05

　　There?are dangers to universities?indulging in?superficial?social engineering. For example, there are plenty of world-class institutions, in Britain and overseas, that will be all too happy to accept candidates rejected because of the school they went to. Oxford and Cambridge would be wise to re-examine their admission processes.

　　1.?indulge: 沉溺(于…)：e.g. They went into town to indulge in some serious shopping. 他们进城去大肆购物。

　　2.?superficial: 浅薄的：e.g. a superficial analysis 粗略的分析

　　翻译：大学沉溺于表面的社会工程也有危险。例如，在英国和海外，有很多世界级的高校都非常乐意接受曾因他们过去就读的学校而被拒绝的考生。牛津和剑桥大学应当重新审视他们的录取程序。

　　第三步：阅读双语文章

　　上下滑动阅读双语全文

　　Oxford and Cambridge are meant to be elite institutions. They rank among the top universities in the world and their future success relies on them continuing to nurture a culture of excellence. Most people would agree that those lucky enough to be offered places should have been judged on their abilities, rather than their background. Historically, there has been some truth to the accusation that Oxbridge was not as open as it could have been to children from less privileged families.

　　牛津和剑桥大学是公认的精英教育机构。它们跻身于世界顶级大学之列，其未来的成功有赖于它们继续培育优秀的文化。大多数人都会同意，那些有幸被录取的人应该靠的是能力而不是背景受到评判。长期以来，人们指责牛津和剑桥大学没有向来自不太富裕家庭的孩子充分开放，这种指责有一定的道理。

　　Now it seems to have the opposite problem. As this newspaper revealed this week, for the first time state school pupils are more likely to get into the University of Cambridge than their private school counterparts. For the start of this academic year, private school students had an 18.8 per cent acceptance rate, compared to 19.9 per cent for state school pupils, with Oxford following a similar trajectory. The difference may seem small, but it has resulted in allegations of social engineering. It is claimed that universities are purposefully discriminating against young people on the basis of the school they went to.

　　现在似乎出现了一个相反的问题。正如本报本周所披露的，公立学校的学生第一次比私立学校的学生更有可能进入剑桥大学。在本学年开始时，私立学校学生的录取率为18.8%，而公立学校学生的录取率为19.9%，牛津大学的录取情况也类似。这种差异可能看起来很小，但它导致了社会工程的指控。有人声称，大学是在故意根据年轻人上的学校歧视他们。

　　This is a question of fairness. Private school students might enjoy certain advantages over their state school peers. They are likely to have received more support in preparing for the Oxbridge interview process, for example. However, the solution to that is not to crudely mark down the applications of candidates from fee-paying schools. As Melvyn Roffe, chair of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), says in today’s paper, there’s nothing just about using school type “as a ‘quick and dirty’ proxy measure”. Perversely, it may even end up penalising young people from poorer households who have been talented enough to win a bursary to a top private school.

　　这是一个事关公平的问题。私立学校的学生可能比公立学校的学生享有某些优势。例如，他们在准备牛津和剑桥大学的面试过程中可能会得到更多的支持。然而，解决这个问题的办法不是粗暴地给来自自费学校的考生的申请打低分。正如校长联合大会的主席麦尔因·罗夫在今天的报纸上所说，把学校类型“作为一个‘快速而肮脏’的替代方法”完全不公平。它反倒可能最终惩罚那些来自贫困家庭，凭借足够的天赋赢得了顶级私立学校奖学金的年轻人。

　　Part of the issue is that universities are attempting to solve a problem that is not in their power to fix. Yes, they can bolster their access programmes and encourage students from poorer families to apply. But if these groups are not making it to Oxford or Cambridge in large enough numbers, then responsibility for that largely falls on the schools they attend. Some state schools have made great strides in encouraging academic excellence, including the likes of Katharine Birbalsingh’s Michaela Community School. Others are still failing their students.

　　问题的一部分在于，大学正试图解决一个它们无力解决的问题。是的，它们可以改进招生计划，鼓励来自贫困家庭的学生申请。但是，如果这些群体进入牛津或剑桥大学的人数不够多，那么责任就主要落在他们所就读的学校身上。一些公立学校在提升成绩方面取得了长足的进步，包括像凯瑟琳-伯巴辛格的米凯拉社区学校。而其他学校仍然在让学生们失望。

　　There are dangers to universities indulging in superficial social engineering. For example, there are plenty of world-class institutions, in Britain and overseas, that will be all too happy to accept candidates rejected because of the school they went to. Oxford and Cambridge would be wise to re-examine their admission processes.

　　大学沉溺于表面的社会工程也有危险。例如，在英国和海外，有很多世界级的高校都非常乐意接受曾因他们过去就读的学校而被拒绝的考生。牛津和剑桥大学应当重新审视他们的录取程序。

　　第三步：回答问题（评论区回答问题）

　　Reading Questions：

　　1.

　　1. What are Oxford and Cambridge meant to be?

　　2. What is the problem now found by a newspaper?

　　3. Whare are fee-paying schools?

　　滑动查看答案

　　Q1

　　Oxford and Cambridge are meant to be elite institutions.

　　Q2

　　For the first time state school pupils are more likely to get into the University of Cambridge than their private school counterparts.

　　Q3

　　Private institutes.

　　今天是小芳老师陪你精读外刊的第31天

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