2018年06月六级第3套长篇阅读匹配原文翻译及答案

A) As a high school junior, everything in my life revolved around getting into the right college. I diligently attended my SAT, ACT, and Advanced Placement test preparation courses. I juggled cross-country and track schedules, newspaper staff, and my church's youth group and drama team. I didn't drink, party, or even do much dating. The right college, I thought, was one with prestige, one with a name. It didn't have to be the Ivy League, but it needed to be "top school."

作为一名高中三年级学生，我生活中的一切都围绕着进入理想的大学。我勤奋地参加SAT、ACT和AP考试准备课程。我兼顾越野跑和田径训练、报社工作，以及教会的青年小组和戏剧团队。我不喝酒、不参加派对，甚至很少约会。我认为理想的大学应该是有声望、有名气的。它不一定是常春藤联盟，但必须是“顶尖学校”。

B) Looking back now, nine years later, I can't remember exactly what it was about these universities that made them seem so much better. Was it a curriculum that appeared more rigorous, perhaps? Or an alumni network that I hoped would open doors down the line? Maybe. "I do think there are advantages to schools with more recognition," notes Marybeth Gasman, a professor of higher education at the University of Pennsylvania. "I don't necessarily think that's a reason to go to one."

如今，九年过去了，我无法准确记得这些大学究竟为何显得如此优秀。也许是课程看起来更严谨？或者是我期望校友网络能为未来打开大门？也许吧。“我确实认为知名学校有其优势，”宾夕法尼亚大学高等教育教授Marybeth Gasman指出。“但这不一定是选择它们的理由。”

C) In reflection, my firm belief in the power of the brand was naive, not to mention a bit snobby. I quickly passed over state schools and southern schools, believing their curriculum to be automatically inferior to northeastern or western counterparts. Instead, I dreamed of living in New York City and my parents obliged me with a visit to New York University's (NYU) campus. During the tour, tuition fees were discussed. (NYU is consistently ranked one of the country's most expensive schools, with room and board costs totaling upwards of $64,000 a year.) Up until then, I hadn't truly realized just how expensive an education can be. Over the next few months, I realized not only could I not afford my dream school, I couldn't even afford the ones where I'd been accepted. City University of New York (CUNY), Rutgers University, and Indiana University were out of reach as were Mississippi State and the University of Alabama, where I would have to pay out-of-state fees. Further complicating my college search was a flourishing stack career—I wanted to keep running but my times weren't quite fast enough to secure a scholarship.

回想起来，我曾坚定相信品牌的力量，这很天真，更不用说有点势利了。我迅速忽略了州立学校和南方学校，认为它们的课程自动不如东北部或西部的学校。相反，我梦想着住在纽约市，父母便带我参观了纽约大学（NYU）校园。在参观过程中，讨论了学费问题。（NYU一直被列为全国最昂贵的学校之一，食宿费用每年高达64,000美元以上。）直到那时，我才真正意识到教育可以如此昂贵。在接下来的几个月里，我不仅负担不起梦想中的学校，甚至负担不起已经录取我的学校。纽约城市大学（CUNY）、罗格斯大学和印第安纳大学遥不可及，密西西比州立大学和阿拉巴马大学也是如此，因为我需要支付州外学费。更复杂的是，我有一段蓬勃发展的田径生涯——我想继续跑步，但成绩不够快，无法获得奖学金。

D) And so, at 11pm on the night of Georgia State University's (GSU) midnight deadline, I applied online. Rated No.466 overall on Forbes' Lists Top Colleges, No. 183 in Research Universities, and No. 108 in the South, I can't say it was my top choice. Still, the track coach had offered me a walk-on spot, and I actually found the urban Atlanta campus a decent consolation prize after New York City.

于是，在乔治亚州立大学（GSU）午夜截止日期的晚上11点，我在线提交了申请。它在福布斯顶级大学榜单上总体排名第466位，研究型大学排名第183位，南方大学排名第108位，我不能说它是首选。尽管如此，田径教练给了我一个试训名额，而且我发现在亚特兰大市区的校园在纽约之后算是不错的安慰奖。

E) While it may have been practical, it wasn't prestigious, But here's the thing: I loved my "lower-tier" university. (I use the term "low-tier" cautiously, because GSU is a well-regarded research institution that attracts high quality professors and faculty from all over the country.) We are taught to believe that only by going to the best schools and getting the best grades can we escape the rat race and build a better future. But what if lower-tier colleges and universities were the ticket to escaping the rat race? After all, where else can you leave school with a decent degree—but without a lifetime of debt?

虽然它可能很实用，但不够知名。但问题是：我爱我的“低层”大学。（我谨慎使用“低层”一词，因为GSU是一所备受尊敬的研究机构，吸引了全国的高质量教授和教员。）我们被教导相信，只有进入最好的学校、取得最好的成绩，才能逃离激烈竞争，创造更美好的未来。但如果低层院校正是逃离激烈竞争的途径呢？毕竟，哪里还能让你带着一个不错的学位离开学校，却不用背负一生的债务？

F) My school didn't come pre-packaged like the more popular options, so we were left to take care of ourselves, figuring out city life and trying to complete degree programs that no one was championing for us to succeed in. What I'm saying is, I loved my university because it taught us all to be resourceful and we could make what we wanted out of it.

我的学校不像更受欢迎的选项那样预先包装好，所以我们需要自己照顾自己，摸索城市生活，并努力完成那些没人会为我们加油助威的学位课程。我想说的是，我爱我的大学，因为它教会了我们所有人随机应变，我们可以从中创造自己想要的东西。

G) I was lucky enough to have my tuition covered by a lottery-funded scholarship called HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) When I started college, the HOPE scholarship was funded by the state of Georgia and offered to graduating high school seniors with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Living costs and books I paid for with money earned during high school, supplemented by a small college fund my deceased grandfather left for me and a modest savings account my parents created when I was born.

我很幸运，学费由一个名为HOPE（教育资助优秀学生）的彩票资助奖学金覆盖。当我开始上大学时，HOPE奖学金由乔治亚州资助，提供给高中毕业、GPA在3.0或以上的学生。生活费和书本费我用高中期间赚的钱支付，并补充了已故祖父留给我的一小笔大学基金和我父母在我出生时创建的 modest 储蓄账户。

H) So what about all that name recognition? Sure, many of my colleagues and competitors have more glamorous alma maters than I do. As a journalist, I have competed against NYU, Columbia, and Northeastern graduates for jobs. And yet, not a single interviewer has ever asked me about my educational background. In fact, almost every interview I've ever had was due to a connection—one that I've gained through pure determination, not a school brand.

那么，所有这些名气有什么用呢？当然，我的许多同事和竞争对手都有比我更光鲜的母校。作为一名记者，我曾与NYU、哥伦比亚大学和东北大学的毕业生竞争工作。然而，没有一个面试官问过我的教育背景。事实上，我几乎每一次面试都是由于人脉——那是通过纯粹的决心获得的，而不是学校品牌。

I) According to The Boston Globe, students who earned their bachelor's in 2012 have an average monthly loan payment of $312, which is one-third more than those who graduated in 2004. Ultimately, that's the thing universities don't want to admit. Private universities are money-making institutions. If you can afford to buy prestige, that's your choice. For the rest of us, however, our hearty lower-tiered universities are just fine, thank you.

据《波士顿环球报》报道，2012年获得学士学位的学生平均每月贷款还款为312美元，比2004年毕业的学生多出三分之一。归根结底，这是大学不愿承认的事情。私立大学是赚钱的机构。如果你能买得起名声，那是你的选择。但对我们其余人来说，我们热心的低层大学就很好了，谢谢。

J) Wealthy universities talk up the benefits their name will give graduates; namely, strong alumni networks, star faculty, and a résumé boost. But you needn't attend an Ivy League school to reap those rewards. Ludacris and the former CEO of Bank of America Ken Lewis are alumni of my college, as well as VICE's first female editor-in-chief, Ellis Jones. Successful people tend to be successful no matter where they go to school. And lower-tier schools can have alumni networks just as strong as their big name counterparts. In fact, lower-tier school alumni networks are arguably stronger, because fellow alumni recognize that you didn't necessarily have an easy path to follow. They might be more willing to offer career help, because your less famous school denotes that, like them., you are also full of energy and perseverance.

富裕的大学夸耀其名称将给毕业生带来的好处；即强大的校友网络、明星教师和简历加分。但你不需要上常春藤学校才能获得这些回报。Ludacris和美国银行前首席执行官Ken Lewis是我的大学校友，还有VICE的第一位女主编Ellis Jones。成功人士往往无论在哪里上学都会成功。低层学校可以拥有与知名学校一样强大的校友网络。事实上，低层学校的校友网络可能更强，因为校友们意识到你不一定有一条容易的路要走。他们可能更愿意提供职业帮助，因为你不那么出名的学校表明，像他们一样，你也充满活力和毅力。

K) The Washington Post reported on a recent study by Princeton economists, in which college graduates, who applied to the most selective schools in the 12th grade were compared to those who applied to slightly less selective schools. They found that students with more potential earned more as adults, and the reverse held true as well, no matter where they went to school.

《华盛顿邮报》报道了普林斯顿经济学家最近的一项研究，其中将12年级申请了最具选择性学校的大学毕业生与申请了选择性稍低学校的毕业生进行了比较。他们发现，潜力更大的学生在成年后收入更高，反之亦然，无论他们在哪里上学。

L) Likewise, star faculty is not always found where you'd expect. Big name schools are not necessarily the best places for professors; plus, many professors split teaching time between multiple colleges and/or universities. This means, for instance, a CUNY student could reasonably expect to receive the same quality of instruction from a prestigious professor as they would if they were enrolled in the same class at NYU.

同样，明星教师并不总是在你期望的地方。名牌学校不一定是教授的最佳去处；此外，许多教授在多个学院和/或大学之间分配教学时间。这意味着，例如，CUNY学生可以合理地期望从一位知名教授那里获得与在NYU注册同一课程相同的教学质量。

M) It's possible that some hiring managers may be drawn to candidates with a particular educational résumé, but it's no guarantee. According to a 2012 survey described in The Atlantic, college reputation ranked lowest in relative importance of attributes in evaluating graduates for hire, beaten out by top factors like internships, employment during college, college major, volunteer experience, and extracurriculars.

一些招聘经理可能被具有特定教育简历的候选人吸引，但这没有保证。根据《大西洋月刊》描述的一项2012年调查，大学声誉在评估毕业生雇佣的属性相对重要性中排名最低，被实习、大学期间就业、大学专业、志愿者经历和课外活动等顶级因素超越。

N) Maybe students who choose less prestigious universities are bound to succeed because they are determined to. I tend to think so. In any case, if I could do it again, I'd still make the same choice. Today I'm debt-free, resourceful—and I understand that even the shiniest packaging can't predict what you'll find on the inside.

也许选择不太知名大学的学生注定会成功，因为他们决心如此。我倾向于这样认为。无论如何，如果重来一次，我仍会做出同样的选择。今天，我无债一身轻，足智多谋——我明白即使最闪亮的包装也无法预测内在的东西。