經濟學人精讀筆記20：研究生擴招意味著什么？

標簽（空格分隔）： 經濟學人

Part 1

As more young people seek degrees, the returns both to them and to governments are lower. Employers demand degrees for jobs that never required them in the past and have not become more demanding since. In a desperate attempt to stand out, students are studying even longer, and delaying work, to obtain master’s degrees. In South Korea, a country where about 70% of young workers have degrees, half of the unemployed are graduates. Many students are wasting their own money and that of the taxpayers who subsidise them.

參考譯文：追求學位的年輕人越來越多，學位的回報便隨之降低，對他們自己和政府來說都是如此，對于那些過去并沒有學位要求的作業職位，雇主現在提出了要求，而這些作業并沒有變得更難，為了能脫穎而出，學生們拼盡全力，進一步延長求學時間，延后作業來獲得碩士學位，在韓國，大約70%的年輕勞動力有大學學位，而失業者中有一半是大學畢業生，許多學生在浪費自己的錢，也在浪費資助他們的納稅人的錢，

分句1

As more young people seek degrees, the returns both to them and to governments are lower.

追求學位的年輕人越來越多，學位的回報便隨之降低，對他們自己和政府來說都是如此，

??語篇分析：①句為中心句，亮出觀點：追求學位的人越多，回報便越低，

• as… as+句子這一結構常用于引出背景，相當于中文中的“隨著…；在…的背景下”，句子時態用一般現在時，比如這篇文章的副標題
  ◇As higher education expands, returns are falling.
  再比如
  ◇隨著科技的發展 As technology develops, …
  ◇隨著人口老齡化As population ages,…，
  大家在今后的學習程序中多多留意as的這一用法，靈活運用于自己的作文中，[寫作推薦]

• seek 后面可以直接跟賓語，表示“尋求”、“謀求”，比如
  ◇追名逐利seek fame and fortune，
  ◇尋求政治避難seek political asylum，

• seek sth也可以表示“尋找”，相當于look for sth，比如
  ◇找作業seek employment / jobs，
  ◇找物件Many single people are seeking that special someone.2017年4月，政府劃定雄安新區(Xiongan New Area)，房價暴漲，當地土著的身價也不同了，當月經濟學人一篇報道中就提到一則“雄安男”的征婚啟事：Male, 53, two acres in Xiongan, seeking woman, 25 or younger, beautiful, preferably with study-abroad experience.

  • seek 后面還可以跟不定式，seek to do sth 指“力圖做某事；想方設法做某事”(If you seek to do something, you try to do it)，在寫作中我們可以用seek to do sth 替換掉try to do sth比如◇Local schools are seeking to reduce the dropout rate.當地學校在尋找辦法降低輟學率，

  • seek還可以構成合成詞， -seeker指“找…的人、追求…的人”，比如找作業的人job seeker，追求出名的人 publicity seeker，asylum seeker尋求政治避難的人 [寫作推薦]

分句2

Employers demand degrees for jobs that never required them in the past and have not become more demanding since.

對于那些過去并沒有學位要求的作業職位，雇主現在提出了要求，而這些作業并沒有變得更難，

??語篇分析：②③句解釋說明①句原因，②句從雇傭者角度指出：作業難度一樣，但雇主要求更高，

• demanding形容物表示“要求高的，需要高技能的”(needing a lot of skill, patience, effort, etc)，我們可以用demanding來替換difficult，形容任務的難度，我們在《經濟學人》一篇在線教育的文章有這樣一句話：Less demanding professions also put up huge barriers to entry. 即便要求不那么高的專業職位也設定了巨大的準入門檻，類似的表達還有challenging，也可用于替換difficult，

• since 除了作連詞引導句子外，還常用作副詞，指“自…以后；從…以來”，常與現在完成時或過去完成時連用，可置于句中和句尾，since的這一用法在外刊出現的頻率很高，試看下面的例句：
  ◇He left home two weeks ago and we haven't heard from him since. 他兩周前離家外出，我們至今還沒有他的音信，
  ◇Last summer Vancouver imposed a 15% tax on foreigners’ house purchases. The city’s property market has since cooled.去年夏天，溫哥華開始對外國人購房加征15%的稅，樓市自此已降溫，

分句3

In a desperate attempt to stand out, students are studying even longer, and delaying work, to obtain master’s degrees.

為了能脫穎而出，學生們拼盡全力，進一步延長求學時間，延后作業來獲得碩士學位，

??語篇分析：③句從學生角度指出：為了脫穎而出，學生紛紛追求研究生學歷，

• desperate adj. 不顧一切的, 拼命的

• in a/an attempt to do sth 表示“企圖…；為了…”，比如 ◇In an attempt to ward off criticism, the government has made education a priority.為了避免受到批評，政府已決定優先發展教育，

  • 同樣表目的表達還有：in an effort to do sth,as a way to do sth,as a way of doing sth,均可以用來替換in order to sth，[寫作推薦]

• stand out 指“出眾；顯眼”(to be much better than other people)，比如 ◇ We had lots of good applicants for the job, but one stood out from the rest. 這份作業有很多人選，但有一個人十分出眾，

• standout [?st?nda?t]既可作名詞也可作形容詞，指“突出的人/事物；突出的/顯眼的”，比如◇He was the standout in last Saturday’s game.在上周六的比賽中他表現突出，
  master’s degree 碩士學位 這里再整體跟大家講一下，大學里的學位分為初、中、高三個等級，

  • 初級學位即學士學位Bachelor’s degree，獲得學士學位的人被稱為Bachelor，

  • 中級學位是碩士學位，即Master’s degree, 獲得碩士學位的人被稱為Master，如工商管理學碩士MBA (=Master of Business Administration)，

  • 大學里的最高一級學位是博士學位，即doctorate，獲得博士學位的人被稱為Doctor，注意，doctorate是指博士學位，而不是指拿到博士學位的人，比如◇Tom received his doctorate last month, so he is a Doctor now.

  • 但是PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) 既可以指博士學位，又可以指拿到博士學位的人，比如◇Tom is a PhD / has a PhD.博士后 (Postdoctoral researcher) 不是學位名稱，而是指那些在取得博士學位之后在大學或科研機構中有限期地專門從事相關研究或深造的人，

分句4

④In South Korea, a country where about 70% of young workers have degrees, half of the unemployed are graduates. ⑤Many students are wasting their own money and that of the taxpayers who subsidise them.

在韓國，大約70%的年輕勞動力有大學學位，而失業者中有一半是大學畢業生，許多學生在浪費自己的錢，也在浪費資助他們的納稅人的錢，

• subsidise 為動詞，表示“給…津貼，給…補貼”(if a government or organization subsidizes a company, activity etc, it pays part of its costs)，這是外刊的高頻詞匯，名詞形式為subsidy，

Part 2

Spending on universities is usually justified by the “graduate premium”—the increase in earnings that graduates enjoy over non-graduates.These individual gains, the thinking goes, add up to an economic boost for society as a whole. But the graduate premium is a flawed unit of reckoning. Part of the usefulness of a degree is that it gives a graduate jobseeker an advantage at the expense of non-graduates. It is also a signal to employers of general qualities, such as intelligence and diligence, that someone already has in order to get into a university. Some professions require qualifications. But a degree is not always the best measure of the skills and knowledge needed for a job. With degrees so common, recruiters are using them as a crude way to screen applicants. Non-graduates are thus increasingly locked out of decent work.

參考譯文：
在大學教育上花錢通常受到一個理由的支撐——“畢業生溢價”，即大學畢業生比非大學畢業生賺得多，人們認為，這些個人所得累積起來對整個社會是一種經濟推動，但畢業生溢價是一個有問題的計算指標，學位的一部分用處是給了大學畢業生求職上的優勢，而這是以非大學畢業生的相對劣勢為代價的，學位也向雇主傳達了一個信號，表明求職者具備聰明和勤奮等綜合素質——他們能考上大學就少不了這些，有些職業對資質有要求，但學位并不總是衡量作業所需技能和知識的最佳尺度，學位如此常見，結果成了招聘人員篩選求職者的一種簡單粗暴的方法，結果，非大學畢業生越來越多地被那些體面的作業拒之門外，

分句1

①Spending on universities is usually justified by the “graduate premium”—the increase in earnings that graduates enjoy over non-graduates. ②These individual gains, the thinking goes, add up to an economic boost for society as a whole.

在大學教育上花錢通常受到一個理由的支撐——“畢業生溢價”，即大學畢業生比非大學畢業生賺得多，人們認為，這些個人所得累積起來對整個社會是一種經濟推動，

• justify [?d??st?fa?]為動詞，指“是…的正當理由；作為理由支持…”(to be a good and acceptable reason for sth) ◇ Nothing justifies murdering another human being.什么都不能成為殺人的正當理由，
  ◇ Your lateness won’t be justified by the traffic. 堵車可不是遲到的正當理由，

  • justified為形容詞，義為“合理的，有正當理由的”(If you describe a decision, action, or idea as justified, you think it is reasonable and acceptable) ，我們在紐約時報：孫楊被禁賽八年，冤嗎？|外刊精讀也講過，比如
    ◇In my opinion, the decision was wholly justified.我認為，這個決定完全合理，
    再比如考研英語2012 Text 1有這樣一句話：The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.該公司是新英格蘭地區的一家主要能源供應商，當它上周宣布將違背“遵守嚴格的核能管理條例”這一長期承諾時，激起了佛蒙特州人民的公憤，

  • justification表示“正當理由”(a good reason why sth exists or is done)，《新概念英語4》Lesson11一篇關于如何變老的文章也出現了這個詞，原句是：Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this feeling.有些老年人因為怕死而感到煩惱， 青年人有這種感覺是情有可原的，

  • 句型There is a justification for sth. 便表示“...是情有可原的，”

• the “graduate premium” 乍一看我們都不明白這是什么意思，但不用擔心，《經濟學人》往往會在這樣的專有名詞后面進行解釋，這里作者就用破折號引出一個同位語，解釋說明graduate premium 這一概念的內涵：the increase in earnings that graduates enjoy over non-graduates.大學畢業生比非大學畢業生賺得多的部分，

• premium [?pri?mi?m] 作可數名詞，指“額外費用；附加費用”(an extra payment added to the basic rate) ，比如◇ Consumers are prepared to pay a premium for organically grown vegetables. 消費者愿意多花錢購買有機蔬菜，

  • premium作形容詞指“高昂的，優質的”(higher than usual ; of high quality)，比如◇premium prices / products 奇高的價格；優質產品

• be at a premium 指“稀有；緊缺”(if something is at a premium, people need it or want it, but there is little of it available or it is difficult to get) ，比如◇During the Olympic Games, accommodation willbe at a premium. 奧運會期間住宿會很緊張，我們在經濟學人精讀社的寫作小課堂擴展過一系列關于“供應短缺”的地道表達，老學員可以復習一下，[寫作推薦]

• the thinking goes 人們認為，在文中作插入語，thinking作不可數名詞，指對某件事的看法、態度或見解，如：
  ◇The Administration's thinking changed as the war progressed. 隨著戰爭的進展，政府的態度改變了，go在這里指“…的內容是”，比如
  ◇The argument goes like this.論據的內容是這樣的，
  ◇We need to 'spread a little happiness', as the song goes.我們需要“散播一些幸福”，歌詞里是這樣唱的，
  ◇The story goes that my grandfather saved his captain's life in battle.據說我祖父在戰斗中救了他的上尉一命，[熟詞僻義]

• add up to sth 表示“總計為，合計為”(If amounts add up to a particular total, they result in that total when they are put together)，比如◇For a hit show, profits can add up to millions of dollars.一場熱門演出的利潤可達數百萬美元，

  • 再擴展兩個關于add的高頻地道表達：
    1.add up 表示“有道理，合乎情理”(to seem reasonable; to make sense)，相當于我們熟悉的make sense，比如
    ◇His story just doesn't add up. 他說的情況根本不合情理，
    2.add to sth 表示“使…增加，使…擴大”(to increase sth in size, number, amount, etc)，

• society as a whole 指“整個社會”，比如
  ◇It's going to benefit society as a whole. 這將令整個社會受益，比如《經濟學人》一篇關于青少年的文章提到：In America—though, phone-bashers should note, not in the rich world as a whole—suicides of young people are up. 在美國，年輕人的自殺率在上升——但抨擊手機的人要知道，富裕國家整體上并非如此，

分句2

③But the graduate premium is a flawed unit of reckoning. ④Part of the usefulness of a degree is that it gives a graduate jobseeker an advantage at the expense of non-graduates.

但畢業生溢價是一個有問題的計算指標，學位的一部分用處是給了大學畢業生求職上的優勢，而這是以非大學畢業生的相對劣勢為代價的，

• flawed [fl??d]指“有缺點的；有錯誤的”(having a flaw) ，比如《經濟學人》一篇關于中國高考的文章是這樣寫的：Some western universities see merit in China’s flawed exam

  • 反義表達是 flawless指“完美無缺的”(without flaws and therefore perfect)，

• unit of reckoning 計算單位

  • reckoning [?rek?n??]為名詞，指“估算；計算”(the act of calculating sth, especially in a way that is not very exact) ，比如◇ By my reckoning you still owe me ￡5. 我算計著，你還欠我 5 英鎊，

  • reckon為動詞，除了表示“想，認為”的意思，還可表示“估計，估算”，比如◇Angela quickly reckoned the amount on her fingers. 安吉拉掰著手指頭快速計算了一下數量，

• give sb an advantage 指“給予某人優勢”，

• part of sth 部分part of前面不用a，
  ◇Part of what I'm searching for is a reason for that slowing.我正在查找的問題當中，一部分就是要弄清楚進度因為什么原因慢了下來，

• jobseeker 指“求職者” 類似的表達還有：job hunters

• at the expense of sth表示“在犧牲（或損害）…的情況下；以損害某人/某物為代價”(with loss or damage to sb / sth)，類似的表達還有at the cost of sth, come at the price of sth，比如《紐約時報》在一篇文章中曾這樣批判孔子學院:On American college campuses, accepting money from the Beijing-backed Confucius Institute has come at the price of academic freedom: There are mounting concerns that the language and cultural centers financed by the institute prohibit discussion on issues that place China in a critical light.在美國的大學校園里，接受來自受北京支持的孔子學院的資金，已經帶來了失去學術自由的代價：孔子學院資助的語言和文化中心禁止討論用批判性眼光看待中國的議題，引起了人們日益增長的擔憂， [寫作推薦]

分句3

⑤It is also a signal to employers of general qualities, such as intelligence and diligence, that someone already has in order to get into a university.⑥Some professions require qualifications.

學位也向雇主傳達了一個信號，表明求職者具備聰明和勤奮等綜合素質——他們能考上大學就少不了這些，有些職業對資質有要求，

• signal n. 信號；暗號；導火線

-general qualities 綜合素質

• intelligence and diligence 聰明勤奮 這里使用了“尾韻”這一修辭手法，

分句4

⑦But a degree is not always the best measure of the skills and knowledge needed for a job.

但學位并不總是衡量作業所需技能和知識的最佳尺度，

• measure [?me??r] 作名詞指“…是某事物的體現; 是對某事物的評判標準” be a sign of the importance, strength etc of something, or a way of testing or judging something)，比如《經濟學人》一篇關于青少年的文章曾提到：It is revealing of broader attitudes that, in Britain, “teenagers hanging out on the streets” is a standard measure of anti-social behaviour. 在英國，“青少年三五成群流連街頭”被視為反社會行為的典型表現，這就表明了大眾的普遍態度，近義表達還有gauge，yardstick, 也是表示“衡量標準”的高頻詞匯，

  • 再擴展一個地道表達：measure up (to sb/sth) 表示“達到預期的要求；符合標準”(to be as good, successful, etc. as expected or needed)，比如◇The job failed to measure up to her expectations.這項作業沒有滿足她的期望，

分句5

⑧With degrees so common, recruiters are using them as a crude way to screen applicants. ⑨Non-graduates are thus increasingly locked out of decent work.

學位如此常見，結果成了招聘人員篩選求職者的一種簡單粗暴的方法，結果，非大學畢業生越來越多地被那些體面的作業拒之門外，

• recruit [r??kru?t]指“招聘，招收”新成員(to find new people to work in a company, join an organization, do a job, etc)，recruiter [r??kru?t?r] 指“招聘人員”，

• screen [skri?n]作動詞指“篩選，篩查”(to check people or things to see whether they are acceptable or suitable)，比如◇ I use my answerphone to screen my phone calls. 我用電話答錄機篩選打來的電話，[熟詞僻義]

• lock sb out (of sth) 既可表示字面義“把人鎖/關在門外”，也可指抽象意義上的“把…拒之門外”

  • 再擴展一個表達lock sth down，表示“封鎖，監禁”，我們說的封城，便稱作lock down，《經濟學人》一篇關于武漢封城的文章便以此為標題，

• crude為形容詞，指“粗略的”(not exact or without any detail, but generally correct and useful)，比如◇Birthplace data are only the crudest indicator of actual migration paths.出生地資訊只能非常粗略地顯示實際移民程序，crude 還可指“天然的”，我們常說的原油便稱作crude oil，

  • crude還可指“粗俗的，下流的”(offensive or rude, especially in a sexual way)，往往與性有關，近義詞還有vulgar，比如《紐約時報》一篇關于中國互聯網審查的文章提到：Like the internet elsewhere, China’s online community can truck in crude or inflammatory content. China’s toughness may sound appealing to some Americans frustrated by what Facebook, Twitter or YouTube allow.和其他地方的互聯網一樣，中國的網路社區也會傳播粗俗或煽動性的內容，一些對Facebook、Twitter或YouTube的尺度感到沮喪的美國人，可能會覺得中國的強硬態度聽上去頗具吸引力，

• decent adj. 得體的；正派的；相當好的

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