2013年自考英語(二)課文譯文:不公平的優勢
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不公平的優勢
According to the writer Walter Ellis, author of a book called the Oxbridge Conspiracy, Britain is still dominated by the old-boy network: it isn't what you know that matters, but who you know. He claims that at Oxford and Cambridge Universities (Oxbridge for short) a few select people start on an escalator ride which, over the years, carries them to the tops of British privilege and power. His research revealed that the top professions all continue to be dominated, if not 90 per cent, then 60 or 65 per cent, by Oxbridge graduates.
作家瓦爾特?埃利斯是《牛津――劍橋幫》一書的作者，他認為英國仍在牛津――劍橋老同學關系網的控制下：一個人懂什么不重要，重要的是他認識誰。他說，在牛津和劍橋兩所大學(簡稱牛津――劍橋)求學的少數經過嚴格選拔的優秀人才一開始就登上了青云之梯，幾年之后，他們便乘青云之梯登上了特權和權力的頂峰。他的研究表明，所有最好的職位仍繼續由劍橋畢業生把持著，百分比不到90%，也有60%或65%。
And yet, says Ellis, Oxbridge graduates make up only two per cent of the total number of students who graduate from Britain's universities. Other researches also seem to support his belief that Oxbridge graduates start with an unfair advantage in the employment market. In the law, a recently published report showed that out of 26 senior judges appointed to the High Court last year, all of them went to private schools and 21 of them went to Oxbridge.
然而，埃利斯指出，牛津――劍橋畢業生只占全英國大學畢業生的20%。另外一些研究似乎也證實了他的這一看法，即牛津――劍橋畢業生在就業市場上從一開始就擁有不公平的優勢。一份新近發表的報告表明，在法律界，去年由高等法院任命的26名高級法官都上過私立學校，其中21名曾就讀過牛津――劍橋。
But can this be said to amount to a conspiracy? Not according to Dr. John Rae, a former headmaster of one of Britain's leading private schools, Westminster:
但這能說明形成了幫派嗎?英國最好的私立學校威斯敏斯特學校的前任校長約翰?雷博士對此持反對看法。
"I would accept that there was a bias in some key areas of British life, but that bias has now gone. Some time ago -- in the 60s and before ?entry to Oxford and Cambridge was not entirely on merit. Now, there's absolutely no question in any objective observer's mind that, entry to Oxford and Cambridge is fiercely competitive."
“我承認過去在英國生活的某些重要領域里存在著偏見，但現在這種偏見已不存在了。在60年代或更早的某個時期，進入牛津或劍橋大學不一定全靠學業成就?，F在毫無疑問，在任何客觀的觀察者眼里，入牛津和劍橋大學的競爭是異常的激烈。”
However, many would disagree with this. For, although over three-quarters of British pupils are educated in state schools, over half the students that go to Oxbridge have been to private, or "public" schools. Is this because pupils from Britain's private schools are more intelligent than those from state schools, or are they simply better prepared?
然而，許多人不同意這種看法。因為盡管英國3/4以上的學生在國立大學接受教育，但去牛津――劍橋大學讀書的學生的半數以上曾上過私立學校，即所謂的“公學”。這難道是私立學校的學生比那些公立學校的學生更聰明嗎?或是就是比他們準備得更充分嗎?
On average, about $ 5,000 a year is spent on each private school pupil, more than twice the amount spent on state school pupils. So how can the state schools be expected to compete with the private schools when they have far fewer resources? And how can they prepare their pupils for the special entrance exam to Oxford University, which requires extra preparation, and for which many public school pupils traditionally stay at school and do an additional term?
每年每個私立學校的平均費用是五仟英磅，是國立學生的兩倍多。所以，如果公立學校開設的課程少得多，怎么能指望他們與私立學校競爭呢?又怎么能讓學生準備好牛津大學的專門入學考試呢?這個考試需要額外的準備，為此，許多公立學校的學生一般要在校多學一個學期。
Until recently, many blamed Oxford for this bias because of the university's special entrance exam (Cambridge abolished its entrance exam in 1986). But last February,Oxford University decided to abolish the exam to encourage more state school applicants. From autumn 1996, Oxford University applicants, like applicants to other universities, will be judged only on their A level results and on their performance at interviews, although some departments might still set special tests.
直到最近，許多人還指責大學專門入學考試存有偏見(劍橋大學在1986年廢止了入學考試)。不過，牛津大學在去年二月決定廢止考試，以鼓勵更多的國立學生申請入學。自1996九六年秋，申請就讀牛津大學的學生像申請其他大學的學生一樣，將只根據他們中學的A級學業成績和面試表現來判斷錄取與否，當然有些系部可能會進行專門的考試。
However, some argue that there's nothing wrong in having elite places of learning, and that by their very nature, these places should not be easily accessible. Most countries are run by an elite and have centres of academic excellence from which the elite are recruited. Walter Ellis accepts that this is true:
不過，有些人反駁說，設置精英學校沒有什么不妥;他們還說，從本質上講，這類學校就不應該輕易地可以入學。多數國家是由杰出的人才領導著，并有高水平的人才集聚的學術中心。瓦爾特?埃利斯認為這一點是正確的。
"But in France, for example, there are something like 40 equivalents of university, which provide this elite through a much broader base. In America you've got the Ivy League, centred on Harvard and Yale, with Princeton and Stanford and others. But again, those universities together -- the elite universities -- are about ten or fifteen in number, and are being pushed along from behind by other great universities like, for example, Chicago and Berkeley. So you don't have just this narrow concentration of two universities providing a constantly replicating elite.”
“但比如在法國，有40所水平相當的大學，這些大學通過更寬的基礎上培養精英人才。再比如美國，有“常春藤”聯合會，核心是哈佛和耶魯，其他的還有普林斯頓和斯坦福大學等等。不過這些大學――一流的大學，加起來總數有10～15所，并且有芝加哥、伯克利和其他院校緊隨其后，這樣就不存在集中在兩所院校范圍狹窄地培養近親精英人才的局面了?！?/STRONG>
When it comes to Oxford and Cambridge being elitist because of the number of private school pupils they accept, Professor Stone of Oxford University argues that there is a simple fact he and his associates cannot ignore:
當談到牛津大學和劍橋大學因錄取私立學校學生數量之多而成為一流大學時，牛津大學的斯頓教授說，他和他的同事們不能忽視這樣一個簡單的事實：
"If certain schools do better than others then we just have to accept it. We cannot be a place for remedial education. It's not what Oxford is there to do.”
“如果某些學校做得比別的學校好，我們必須接受這種現實。我們不是進行補習教育的場所，這不是牛津大學所做的事。”
However, since academic excellence does appear to be related to the amount of money spent per pupil, this does seem to imply that Prime Minister John Major's vision of Britain as a classless society is still a long way off. And it may be worth remembering that while John Major didn't himself go to Oxbridge, most of his ministers did.
19 不過，既然學習優異確實看來與在每個學生身上花的錢有關，那么這似乎在暗示，首相梅杰要讓英國成為無階級的社會的設想還十分遙遠。而且值得注意的是，約翰?梅杰雖本人沒有.
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