British universities -Money and meaning

Studying a “useless” field at Oxbridge costs a mint in forgone earnings

mint:這里是“巨款”的意思痊银，而forgone這里是“放棄象踊、沒有也行”的意思（to abstain or refrain from; do without）灾部，

簡潔卻生動碎税，用中文翻譯就是：巨款上學放棄掙錢蛀恩。

Sceptics of higher education often complain that universities offer too many frivolous degrees with little value in the workplace. Since elite universities tend to produce higher-earning graduates than less selective institutions do, you might expect them to teach more practical courses. Yet data from Britain’s department for education show the opposite. Undergraduate students at prestigious universities are more likely to study purely academic fields such as philosophy and classics, whereas those at less choosy ones tend to pick vocational topics such as business or nursing.

1根时、frivious: 1) (of people or their behaviour) silly or amusing, espcecially wjen such behaviour is not suitable.

2) having no useful or serious purpose 這里應(yīng)當是第二個意思。

2、prestigious: respected and admired as very important or of very high quality.

3耍休、choosy: careful in choosing; difficult to please 精挑細選；愛挑剔货矮；難取悅羊精。

果然哪里的高等教育都有相似的問題。有利于就業(yè)的專業(yè)似乎是學生們的心頭好囚玫，自然希望辛苦入學的“好學行酰”多教授一些實用的技能。而那些名校們反而會開放那些純學術(shù)的專業(yè)抓督。

What could explain this seeming contradiction? One reason is that employers treat a degree from a top university as a proxy for intelligence. This means that students at elite institutions can study bookish subjects and still squeak by financially. The median Cambridge graduate in a creative-arts subject—the university’s least lucrative group of courses, including fields such as music—earns around ￡25,000 ($32,400) at age 26. Economics students from less exalted universities, such as Hull, make a similar amount.

1燃少、proxy: 1) the authority that you give to sb to do sth for you, when you can not do it yourself.代理權(quán)

2) a person who has been given the authortiy to represetn sb else.代理人；代表

這里是“代表”铃在，但不太清楚對應(yīng)哪一個意思阵具。

2、squeak: to only just manage to win sth, pass a test. 勉強通過定铜；僥幸成功

3阳液、lucrative: producing a large amout of money; making a large profit 獲利多

4、exalt: 1) to make sb rise to a higher rank or postion; somtimes to one that they do not deserve 提拔宿稀，有時候是提拔到不該得到的職位上

2) to praise sb/sth very much.贊揚

這一段闡述了矛盾的原因趁舀。雇傭者們以學校來衡量智慧，因為名校學生往往能兼顧經(jīng)濟和繁重的學業(yè)祝沸。即使是知名學校的藝術(shù)專業(yè)矮烹，學生們的畢業(yè)收入可能和學校不如他們好、但是是經(jīng)濟專業(yè)的學生的收入差不多罩锐。

Yet even though Oxbridge students can pretend to read “Ulysses” for years and still expect a decent salary, they end up paying a large opportunity cost by pursuing the arts. That is because employers reserve the highest starting wages for students who both attended a leading university and also studied a marketable subject. Cambridge creative-arts graduates earn ￡11,000 more at age 26 than do those from Wrexham Glyndwr University, whose arts alumni are the lowest-earning in Britain. In contrast, Cambridge economics graduates make ￡44,000 more than do those from the University of Salford, where the economics course is the country’s least remunerative.

1奉狈、remunerative: (formal) paying a lot of money 報酬豐厚的

本段繼續(xù)列舉事實。美術(shù)專業(yè)的學生們?yōu)榱俗非笏囆g(shù)涩惑，犧牲的是大筆的金錢仁期。他們假裝著能讀晦澀難懂的《尤利西斯》，也期望著能有體面的收入竭恬。事實上跛蛋，雇傭方希望的是名牌學校、熱門專業(yè)的學生痊硕。后面就用實實在在的數(shù)字列舉赊级，展現(xiàn)這一扎心的狀況。

Many gifted arts students would struggle to crunch numbers. But for those who can excel at both, the cost of sticking with the arts, in terms of forgone wages, is steep. Cambridge creative-arts students have a level scores close to those of economics students at Warwick, but earn about half as much. That is tantamount to giving up an annuity worth ￡500,000.

1岔绸、crunch: to deal with large amounts of data very quickly 處理信息（快速大量）

2理逊、steep: 1) rising or falling quickly, not gradually. 陡峭的 2) (of a rise or fall in an amount) sudden and very big 突然橡伞；大起大落

3) (informal) too much; unreasonable 過高的；過分的晋被；不合理的 這里是第三個意思兑徘。

3、tantamount: having the same bad effect as sth else 等于羡洛；效果一樣

4挂脑、annuity:?a fixed amount of money paid to sb each year, usually for the rest of their life 養(yǎng)老金

繼續(xù)慘淡扎心的事實。就算是名校的藝術(shù)專業(yè)又能如何翘县？薪酬相比次級學校的經(jīng)濟專業(yè)學生最域，還是很難過。

Who can afford such indulgence? The answer is Oxbridge students, who often have rich parents. At most universities, students in courses that lead to high-paying jobs, such as economics and medicine, tend to come from wealthier families, partly because such applicants are more likely to have the examination scores necessary to be accepted. At Oxbridge, however, no such correlation exists. History and philosophy students there come from richer parts of Britain, on average, than their peers studying medicine do.

1锈麸、indulgence:1） sth that you allow yourself to have even though it is not essential 嗜好镀脂；愛好；享受

2）willingness to ignore the weaknesses in sb/sth 寬容忘伞；包涵薄翅；

3）(usually disapproving) the state or act of having or doing whatever you want; the state of allowing sb to have or do whatever they want 沉溺；放縱氓奈；縱容

這里是第一個意思翘魄。（個人意見）

2、correlation: a connection between two things in which one thing changes as the other does 相互關(guān)系舀奶；相關(guān)

最后暑竟，牛津的藝術(shù)專業(yè)學生還是需要有錢的父母兜底。大多數(shù)學校育勺，學經(jīng)濟但荤、醫(yī)藥等熱門“好學科”的孩子們有相比其他專業(yè)的學生更富有的父母，但是牛津的情況恰恰相反涧至。